Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park, 1984 Associate Professor Member, Community and Clinical Psychology Program rhwatts@gsu.edu 404-413-6304 1130 Urban Life

Interests: At the broadest level I am interested are in human diversity – how we are influenced by race, gender, sexual orientation, age, social class, and other socially meaningful attributes. The social meaning of these attributes shape, and are shaped by our life experiences in ways that are important for psychologists to understand. I am especially interested in the dynamics of oppression, privilege, identity, culture, and the application of these ideas to social problems. Although I appreciate the distinctive experiences that make every population unique, much of my work has focused on people of African descent.

My research is related to the psychology of liberation, and over the years I have focused increasingly on sociopolitical development (SPD) theory – the process of psychological growth that leads to an understanding of societal forces and their affect on us. An understanding of social injustice without taking action is as inhumane as the injustice itself, so in the last four years my basic theoretical and research work has looked at the connection – or lack thereof between an awareness of injustice and a willingness to act. A cogent social analysis that can discern social injustice, along with a sense of agency and the means to take action are all part of sociopolitical development. At least that is what my research suggests so far.

Psychology typically limits its attention to moral, cognitive and other forms of personal development, and only recently has it considered the importance of political development. Somehow (in the USA at least) an understanding of the inner as well as behavioral aspects of sociopolitical identity has fallen between the cracks that separate psychology, sociology, and political science. Community psychology is one of the few specialties to give this topic serious attention. Because I am trained as both a community and clinical psychologist, I have abiding interest in the inner dynamics of SPD as well as its role in social transformation.

My published work on the topic of sociopolitical development includes an interview study on African American social activists 35 years old and younger in New York City, San Francisco, and Chicago. The insights of my colleagues and I led to the work of our current study on youth sociopolitical development among Atlanta area teenagers and youth in the Young People’s Project in Chicago. I am also part of a national group of scholars who met as part of a Ford Foundation initiative. This very rewarding collaboration resulted in an edited book titled Beyond Resistance! Youth Activism and Community Change. In 2007 I worked with a national group of scholars on a research agenda for youth civic engagement as part of a Spencer Foundation initiative. The growing attention given to civic development by both scholars and grantmakers was very evident there. Whether you call it liberation psychology, sociopolitical development, or youth civic engagement, for me there is a common thread: people working together to understand, strategize and combat social injustice.

Graduate students who are part of our “Action Research Group” at Georgia State University have made many fundamental contributions to this work, including research on the organizational roles and factors that influence youth SPD, research on the influence of social identity (race, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation and gender) on sociopolitical development, and the measurement of racial and cultural orientation in African American youth. Measurement has been a priority in our quantitative research. There are simply too few measures of social analysis (aka critical consciousness) and other concepts that are essential to a psychology of political development. Our future aims include an exploration of how work for social justice contributes to healthy youth development as measured by traditional indicators.

In the years prior to my arrival at GSU, much of my work was on gender as well as political development; specifically, action research on manhood development interventions and organizations. I co-edited a special journal issue (also published as a book) on this topic in 1998. In my contribution I attempted to operationalize Freire’s notion of critical consciousness and apply it to the sociopolitical development of young African American men using an action research methodology. My colleagues and I are convinced that popular youth culture, though often maligned, can also play a useful role in sociopolitical and positive youth development. We used rap videos and film as a way to increase young men’s critical thinking skills. I hope future research will demonstrate that critical consciousness generalizes to the critical appraisal of media in everyday life and to an ability to think critically about a wide variety of academic and political topics.

I coordinate the joint clinical-community psychology program at GSU, and I was once a director of clinical psychology training and another university. However, I am not involved in traditional clinical activities such as psychotherapy and assessment at this time. I draw on my clinical training when doing psycho-educational groups—typically with men. I have been continuously involved in men’s group work for 20 years. My teaching interests include program evaluation, African American psychology, consultation, and qualitative research methods.

Selected Publications

Watts, R., Williams, N.C., & Jagers, R. (2003).  Sociopolitical development. American Journal of Community Psychology, 31, 185-194.

Watts, R., Griffith, D., & Abdul-Adil, J. (1999).  Sociopolitical development as an antidote for oppression:  Theory and action.  American Journal of Community Psychology, 27, 255-272.

Watts, R., Flanagan, C. (2007). Pushing the Envelope on Youth Civic Engagement: A Developmental and Liberation Psychology Perspective. Journal of Community Psychology, 35, 1–14.

Watts, R., Abdul-Adil, J., & Pratt, T. (2002). Enhancing critical consciousness in young African American men: A Psycho-educational Approach.  Psychology of Men and Masculinity, 3, 41-50.

Watts, R., & Guessous, O. (2006). Sociopolitical development: The missing link in research and policy on adolescents.  In S. Ginwright, P. Noguera, & J. Cammarota (Eds.)  Beyond Resistance! Youth Activism and Community Change: New Democratic Possibilities for Practice and Policy for America's Youth. NY: Routledge.

Watts, R., & Abdul-Adil, J. (1997). Promoting critical consciousness in young, African-American men. Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community, 16, 63-86.

Watts, R. , Armstrong, M., Cartman, O., & Guessous, O., (under review). Theory and findings on Youth Sociopolitical Development. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science.

Watts, R. (under review).  Community psychology practice under extenuating circumstances: delivering social and intellectual product in the land of the dollar.  In I. Serrano-García, et al. (Eds) Proceedings from the First International Conference of Community Psychology.  The University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus.

Watts, R. (in press). Community psychologists who go beyond the profession. In J. Kelly (Ed). The stories of five community psychologists: Applied careers inside and outside of academia. NY: Haworth Press.

Watts, R. (2004). Integrating Social Justice and Psychology.  The Counseling Psychologist, 32, 855 - 865.

Watts, R. (2001).  Exploring liberation psychology (special section editor).  The Community Psychologist, 34, 24-27. Published by SCRA Division 27, American Psychological Association.

Watts, R. (1993b).  Community action through manhood development:  A look at concepts and concerns from the front-line.  American Journal of Community Psychology, 21, 333-359.

Watts, R. (1992b). Racial identity and preferences for social-change strategies among African Americans.  Journal of Black Psychology, 18. 1-18.

Watts, R. (1992a). Elements of a psychology of human diversity. Journal of Community Psychology, 20, 116-131.

Watts, R. & Serrano-García, I.  (2003). The quest for a liberating community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 34. 

Trickett, E., Watts, R., & Birman, D. (1993). Human diversity:  Still hazy after all these years.  Journal of Community Psychology, 21, 264-279.

Riger, S., Reyes, O., Watts, R., Kelly, J., Shinn, M., Cherniss, C., Jason, L., & Trickett, E. (2004). “The Faculty Consensus Panel: Deconstructing Participatory Research.” In L. Jason et al., (eds.) Participatory Community Research: Theories and Methods in Action. American Psychological Association.

McMahon, S., & Watts, R. (2002).  Ethnic identity in urban African American youth: Exploring links with self-worth, aggression, and other psychosocial variables.  Journal of Community Psychology, 30, 411-431.

Guessous, O., Watts, R., & Darnell, A. (2005). Social Justice. In L. Sherrod, C. Flanagan, et al. (eds.) Youth activism: An international encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Recent Funded Projects

Metro Atlanta Youth-Adult Alliance. Funded by the Hill Snowdon Foundation. A collaborative project with Project South.  (2005-2006).

Youth Matters Retreat Project. Funded by the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta. (2005-2007).The Youth Leadership Development Project.  Funded by the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta. A collaborative project with Project South.  (2005-2006)

Civil Rights Activists in the Information Age: The Development of Math Literacy Workers in the Young People's Project Youth Sociopolitical Development. Funded by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) (2004-5).

Youth Sociopolitical Development: Funded by the Georgia State University Research Initiation Grant program (2003-4).