The absence of a meaningful conception of Negro culture has forced the interpretation of almost all psychology's data on the Negro into two seemingly dichotomous categories: either that of biological incapacity, i.e., genetic inferiority, or social deviance and pathology, i.e., environmental deprivation. The cultural difference theory asserts that the statistical differences noted by psychologists in intelligence testing, in family and social organization, and in attitude studies of the Negro community are surface manifestations of the viable, structured culture of the Negro American. Acquisition of new cultural patterns cannot occur without recognition of and respect for existing cultural patterns. The failure of psychology to recognize a distinct black culture has four main sources: the basic ethnocentrism of psychology, the socio-political myths surrounding our conception of assimilation, ignorance concerning the fundamental notion of culture, and embarrassment of the black middle class and the white liberal to deal with culturally rooted behavioral differences. (JM)