The Impact of Racial Trauma on African Americans

This paper outlines a psychological perspective that can be used to understand the impact of racial experiences on the functioning of African Americans in the United States. A principle aim of psychology is to understand individual variation in functioning by using theories, research, and broad hypotheses that explain and predict human functioning and apply them to understand specific behaviors of individuals. Many of us observe variations in levels of functioning of persons with similar experiences. For example, two children live in the same family, with the same parents, and share many similar experiences and challenges. Yet, one child seems to have little problems managing and coping with stresses, and the other child has severe psychological symptoms with little stress. Psychology not only aims to explain these differences but also uses these explanations to develop clinical interventions that improve functioning.