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AAJP June 2021 Article Spotlight: Joel Wong and Keiko McCullough wrote “The Intersectional Prototypicality Model: Understanding the Discriminatory Experiences of Asian American Women and Men”

By June 27, 2021August 5th, 2021

This June’s Asian American Journal of Psychology’s feature article is written by Joel Wong and Keiko McCullough, who provided information about their research and writing the article below. Check out the journal for the full article.

https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Faap0000208 and here is the link for the ToC for the June issue: https://psycnet.apa.org/PsycARTICLES/journal/aap/12/2

Writing this article was profoundly meaningful for both of us because of our lived experiences as Asian Americans. Although we cited research and theories in support of the Intersectional Prototypicality Model, this model also reflects our personal experiences as well as those of many other Asian Americans. We included practical examples, such as Jeremy Lin’s experiences of being a hypo-prototypical professional basketball player, the omission of Asian American women from a 2019 Monitor on Psychology article featuring women of color researchers, the representation of Asian women in pornography, and the challenges that Asian American men face as dating partners. We hope our article will draw attention to the dual constructs of hypo-prototypicality (being perceived as less representative of a social group or role) and hyper-prototypicality (being perceived as having exaggerated attributes of a prototypical group member) as well as how they shape the types of discrimination committed against Asian Americans.

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Joel Wong is a Professor of Counseling Psychology and Chair of the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology at Indiana University Bloomington. His research interests include Asian American mental health, the psychology of men and masculinities, and positive psychology (the psychology of gratitude and the psychology of encouragement). Dr. Wong is a fellow of the Asian American Psychological Association and of the American Psychological Association (Division 17, 45, and 51).

Keiko M. McCullough is a Doctoral Candidate in Counseling Psychology at Indiana University Bloomington. Her research primarily investigates the intersections of race, gender, and media using both quantitative and qualitative methods. She has served as the student representative of the American Psychological Association’s division of the Psychology of Women and the Asian American Psychological Association’s division of Asian Americans with Multiple Heritages.