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There are three major cultural and social factors that influence views on gender and sexuality: laws, religion and social norms.
Laws
In the United States and other Western countries cisgender women have greater legal protections than in other parts of the world. Globally, inequality is still enforced through laws in many parts of the world. For example, laws and policies prohibit women from equal access and ownership to land, property, and housing. Economic and social discrimination results in fewer life choices for women, rendering them vulnerable to poverty and human trafficking. Gender-based violence affects at least 30% of women globally. Some women who are victims of violence often have few legal protections or have limited legal recourse (United Nations Office of High Commissioner, 2018). For example, in some cultures, a woman may not be able to have her attacker arrested or prosecuted.
Within the United States there has been greater acceptance of homosexuality and gender questioning that has resulted in a rapid push for legal change. Laws such as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), both of which were enacted in the 1990s, have been met severe resistance and legal challenges on the grounds of being discriminatory toward sexual minority groups. Globally, a significant number of governments have recognized and legalized same-sex marriages. As of 2017, over 24 countries have enacted national laws allowing gays and lesbians to marry. These laws have mostly be enacted and enforced in Europe and the North America. In Mexico, some jurisdictions allow same-sex couples to wed, while others do not (Pew, 2013).
Religion
Most religions have addressed the role for sexuality in human interactions. Different religions have different views of sexual morality. Most religions regulate sexual activity or assign normative values to certain sexual behaviors or thoughts through moral codes of conduct. Some religions distinguish between sexual activities that are practiced for biological reproduction (only allowed between males and females who are married) as moral and other activities practiced for sexual pleasure, as immoral. Sexual restriction is a universal of culture and typically defines incest and sex with animals as taboo or unacceptable behavior.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) includes procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia for non-medical reasons. According to the World Health Organization (2018), FGM is recognized internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women and reflects strongly held beliefs about inequality between the sexes. Female genital mutilation has no health benefits for girls or women. The practice predates religion and there are no religious texts that prescribe the practice; however, there are some religious leaders who believe the practice has religious support and encourage its continued practice.
Female genital mutilation is mostly concentrated in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, as well as locations with migrants from these areas including the United States. Female Genital Mutilation and is almost exclusively conducted on minors and is used as a way to regulate female sexuality and promote chastity. In cultures where FGM is practiced, a female who does not conform or submit to the procedure may be rejected by her community or find it difficult to find a mate and marry. Despite long held tradition and cultural norms ideas and beliefs about FGM are changing.
Norms
Cross-national research on sexual attitudes in industrialized nations reveals that normative standards differ across the world. For example, several studies have shown that Scandinavian students are more tolerant of premarital sex than are North American students (Grose, 2007). A study of 37 countries reported that non-Western societies like China, Iran, and India valued chastity highly in a potential mate, while Western European countries such as France, the Netherlands, and Sweden placed little value on prior sexual experiences (Buss, 1989).
For cultures that score high on Hofstede’s Masculinity/Femininity dimension there exists a sexual double standard which prohibits premarital sexual intercourse for women but promotes it for men (Hofstede, 2001; Reiss, 1960). This standard has evolved into allowing women to engage in premarital sex only within committed love relationships, but allowing men to engage in sexual relationships with as many partners as they wish without condition (Milhausen and Herold, 1999). As a result, a woman is likely to have fewer sexual partners in her lifetime than a man. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the average 35-year-old woman has had three opposite-sex sexual partners while the average 35-year-old man has had twice as many (Centers for Disease Control, 2011).
Attitudes about sexuality can differ widely, even among Western cultures. For example, according to a 33,590-person survey across 24 countries, 89% of Swedes responded that there is nothing wrong with premarital sex, while only 42% of Irish responded this way. From the same study, 93% of Filipinos responded that sex before age 16 is always wrong or almost always wrong, while only 75% of Russians responded this way (Widmer, Treas, and Newcomb, 1998). Sexual attitudes can also vary within a country. For instance, 45% of Spaniards responded that homosexuality is always wrong, while 42% responded that it is never wrong; only 13% responded somewhere in the middle (Widmer, Treas, and Newcomb, 1998).
Of industrialized nations, Sweden is thought to be the most liberal when it comes to attitudes about sex, including sexual practices and sexual openness. The country has very few regulations on sexual images in the media, and sex education, which starts around age six and is a compulsory part of Swedish school curricula. Sweden’s permissive approach to sex has helped the country avoid some of the major social problems associated with sex. For example, rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease are among the world’s lowest (Grose, 2007). It would appear that Sweden, a culture low on the masculinity dimension, may be a model for the benefits of sexual freedom and frankness. However, implementing Swedish ideals and policies regarding sexuality in other, more politically conservative, nations would likely be met with resistance.
While in most Western, industrialized cultures like the United States exclusive heterosexuality is viewed as the sexual norm, there are cultures with different attitudes regarding homosexual behavior. In some instances, periods of exclusively homosexual behavior are socially prescribed as a part of normal development and maturation. For example, in parts of New Guinea, young boys are expected to engage in sexual behavior with other boys for a given period of time because it is believed that doing so is necessary for these boys to become men (Baldwin & Baldwin, 1989).
Kosofsky Sedgwick (1985) described nonsexual same-sex relationships along a continuum which she termed homosocial. Women enjoy more fluidity along the continuum than males in Western cultures, specifically North America. For example, females can express homosocial feelings through hugging, hand-holding, and physical closeness. In contrast, males refrain from these behaviors since they violate heterosexual norms for males. Women have more flexibility and can express more behavior variations along the heterosocial-homosocial spectrum but male behavior is subject to strong social sanction if it veers into what is considered homosocial. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/06%3A_Culture_and_Sexuality/6.08%3A_Sexuality_and_Culture.txt |
Gender stereotypes and cultural norms maintain gender and sexual inequalities in society. Differential treatment on the basis of gender is also referred to gender discrimination or sexism and is an inevitable consequence of gender stereotypes. Sexism varies in its level of severity. In parts of the world where women are strongly undervalued, young girls may not be given the same access to nutrition, health care, and education as boys. Further, they will grow up believing that they deserve to be treated differently from boys (Thorne, 1993; UNICEF, 2007). Gender stereotypes typically maintain gender inequalities in society. The concept of ambivalent sexism recognizes the complex nature of gender attitudes, in which women are often associated with positive and negative qualities (Glick & Fiske, 2001). It has two components. First, hostile sexism refers to the negative attitudes of women as inferior and incompetent relative to men. Second, benevolent sexism refers to the perception that women need to be protected, supported, and adored by men. There has been considerable empirical support for benevolent sexism, possibly because it is seen as more socially acceptable than hostile sexism.
With regard to sexuality, there is a substantial body of evidence showing that homosexuals and bisexuals are treated differently than heterosexuals in schools, the workplace, and the military. Much of this discrimination is based on stereotypes, misinformation, and homophobia — an extreme or irrational aversion to homosexuals. In the United States, major policies to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation have not been enacted until recently and are largely the result of local changes rather than national or federal policy.
6.10: Reducing Gender Bias and Inequality
Gender inequality based on gender bias is found in varying degrees in most societies around the world, and the United States is no exception. As an individualist culture, North Americans believe that people should be free to pursue whatever family and career responsibilities they desire but enculturation and stereotyping combine to limit the ability of girls and boys and women and men alike to imagine less traditional possibilities.
As we learned in earlier chapters, biased attributions lead to negative stereotyping and discrimination but being aware of your personal biases, as well as situations or contexts where you experience bias helps reduce cultural. It is important to remember that biases are not permanent and can be shaped and changed to limit their impact on our thoughts and behaviors (Dasgupta, 2013). In addition to self-awareness, demonstrating empathy (understanding and sharing the feelings of someone else) and taking a culturally relativist perspective is another way to reduce gender bias. When we consider the experiences of people who are different from us, we are less likely to make negative and hasty judgments. Challenging and correcting gender stereotypes in everyday activities is another way that we can reduce gender bias as individuals.
To further reduce gender inequality at a systemic or global level cultures should work to reduce infant and mother mortality, close gaps in health care and education among girls and increase employment opportunities and living wages for men and women (World Economic Forum, 2019). Increased enforcement of existing laws against gender-based employment discrimination and against sexual harassment will also reduce gender and sexuality-based inequality in the workplace. Globalization and cultural transmission has facilitated improvements in gender inequality but more can be done to challenge traditional possibilities and increase the opportunities for both females and males. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/06%3A_Culture_and_Sexuality/6.09%3A_Discrimination.txt |
Gender roles are well-established social constructions that may change from culture to culture and over time. For example, there has been an increase in children’s toys attempting to cater to both genders (such as Legos marketed to girls), rather than catering to traditional stereotypes. As society’s gender roles and gender restrictions continue to fluctuate, the legal system and the structure of American society, as well as other cultures, will continue to change and adjust.
We often make assumptions about how others should think and behave based on external appearance that represent biological characteristic but the process of defining gender and sexuality is complex and includes variations. There are some cultural universals but also culturally specific ways of defining masculinity, femininity, and sexuality. Furthermore, variations of sex, gender, and sexual orientation occur naturally throughout the animal kingdom. More than 500 animal species have homosexual or bisexual orientations (Lehrer, 2006). Gender inequality and discrimination are reinforced across cultures and within cultures through stereotypes and misunderstandings, as well as social norms and legal statutes. The traditional binary ways of understanding human differences are insufficient for understanding the complexities of human culture. As gender roles fluctuate, societies will continue to change and adjust.
6.12: Vocabulary
Ambivalent sexism is the concept of gender stereotypical attitudes that encompasses both positive and negative qualities.
Benevolent sexism is the “positive” element of ambivalent sexism, which recognizes that women are perceived as needing to be protected, supported, and adored by men
Cisgender is a term for when a person’s birth sex corresponds with his/her gender identity and gender role
Gender refers to the cultural, social, and psychological meanings that are associated with masculinity and femininity.
Gender constancy refers to the awareness that gender is constant and does not change simply by changing external attributes; develops between 3 and 6 years of age
Gender discrimination or sexism refers to differential treatment on the basis of gender
Gender identity is a person’s psychological sense of being male or female.
Gender roles are the behaviors, attitudes, and personality traits that are designated as either masculine or feminine in a given culture.
Gender schema theory is a theory of how children form their own gender roles argues that children actively organize others’ behavior, activities, and attributes into gender categories or schemas.
Gender stereotypes are the beliefs and expectations people hold about the typical characteristics, preferences, and behaviors of men and women.
Hostile sexism refers to the negative element of ambivalent sexism, which includes the attitudes that women are inferior and incompetent relative to men.
Sex refers to the biological category of male or female as defined by physical differences in genetic composition and in reproductive anatomy and function.
Sexual orientation refers to the direction of emotional and erotic attraction toward members of the opposite sex, the same sex, or both sexes.
Heterosexual refers to opposite-sex attraction.
Homosexual refers to same-sex attraction.
Intersex is a term for an individual born with either an absence or some combination of male and female reproductive organs, sex hormones, or sex chromosomes.
Transgender is a term for a person whose gender identity or gender role does not correspond with his/her birth sex. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/06%3A_Culture_and_Sexuality/6.11%3A_Summary.txt |
Emotions are rapid information-processing systems that help us act with minimal thinking (Tooby & Cosmides, 2008). Problems associated with birth, battle, death, and seduction have occurred throughout evolutionary history and emotions evolved to aid humans in adapting to those problems rapidly and with minimal conscious cognitive intervention. If we did not have emotions, we could not make rapid decisions concerning whether to attack, defend, flee, care for others, reject food, or approach something useful, all of which were functionally adaptive in our evolutionary history and helped us to survive. For instance, drinking spoiled milk or eating rotten eggs has negative consequences for our welfare. The emotion of disgust, however, helps us immediately act by not ingesting them in the first place or by vomiting them out. This response is adaptive because it aids, ultimately, in our survival and allows us to act immediately without much thinking. In some instances, taking the time to sit and rationally think about what to do, calculating cost–benefit ratios in one’s mind, is a luxury that might cost one one’s life. Emotions evolved so that we can act without that depth of thinking.
Physiological Component of Emotion
Emotions prepare the body for action by simultaneously activating certain systems and deactivating others in order to prevent the chaos of competing systems operating at the same time, allowing for coordinated responses to environmental stimuli (Levenson, 1999). For instance, when we are afraid, our bodies shut down temporarily unneeded digestive processes, resulting in saliva reduction (a dry mouth); blood flows disproportionately to the lower half of the body; the visual field expands; and air is breathed in, all preparing the body to flee. One common misunderstanding many people have when thinking about emotions, however, is the belief that emotions must always directly produce action. This is not true. Emotion certainly prepares the body for action; but whether people actually engage in action is dependent on many factors, such as the context within which the emotion has occurred, the perceived consequences of one’s actions and previous experiences (Baumeister, Vohs, DeWall, & Zhang, 2007; Matsumoto & Wilson, 2008).
Behavioral Component of Emotion
Emotions prepare us for behavior and they are important motivators of future behavior. Many of us strive to experience the feelings of satisfaction, joy, pride, or triumph in our accomplishments and achievements. At the same time, we also work very hard to avoid strong negative feelings. For example, once we have felt the emotion of disgust when drinking the spoiled milk, we generally work very hard to avoid having those feelings again (e.g., checking the expiration date on the label before buying the milk, smelling the milk before drinking it, watching if the milk curdles in one’s coffee before drinking it). Emotions, therefore, not only influence immediate actions but also serve as an important motivational basis for future behaviors.
Emotions are expressed both verbally through words and nonverbally through facial expressions, voices, gestures, body postures, and movements. Research suggests that we are quite sensitive to the emotional information communicated through body language, even if we’re not consciously aware of it (de Gelder, 2006; Tamietto et al., 2009). The fact is that humans are constantly expressing emotions when interacting with others. Emotions and their expressions communicate information to others about our feelings and intentions.
Cognitive Component of Emotion
Emotions are also connected to thoughts and memories. Cognitive processes (thinking) play an important role in interpreting the events that triggered the emotional response in the first place. Imagine you are walking down a trail and you think you see a snake. Chances are physiological responses are happening automatically (rapid heartbeat and breathing, sweating, muscle tension) as your body prepares for action. Suddenly, you realize that it is not a snake on the trail but just a piece of climbing rope left behind. Your appraisal of the situation as non-threatening signals to your body that it can deactivate the arousal system. These appraisals are informed by our experiences, backgrounds, and culture. This means that different people may have different emotional experiences even when faced with similar circumstances.
Memories are not just facts that are encoded in our brains, they are colored with the emotions felt at those times the facts occurred (Wang & Ross, 2007). In this way emotions serve as the neural glue that connects those disparate facts in our minds. That is why it is easier to remember happy thoughts when happy, and angry times when angry. Emotions serve as the affective basis of many attitudes, values, and beliefs that we have about the world and the people around us. Without emotions those attitudes, values, and beliefs would be just statements without meaning, and emotions give those statements meaning. Emotions influence our thinking processes, sometimes in constructive ways, sometimes in unconstructive ways. It is difficult to think critically and clearly when we feel intense emotions, but easier when we are not overwhelmed with emotions (Matsumoto, Hirayama, & LeRoux, 2006). | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/07%3A_Culture_and_Emotion/7.01%3A_Components_of_Emotions.txt |
As you might expect (after reading about the components of emotion), people tend to respond similarly in terms of physiological (or bodily) expression. Also, our ability to recognize and produce facial expressions of emotion appears to be universal. Research conducted with individuals born blind at birth found that the same facial expression of emotions were produced (smiling when happy, frowning when sad), despite these individuals never having the opportunity to observe these facial displays of emotion in other people. This suggests that facial muscles movements involved in generating emotional expressions is universal and not the result of learned behavior. Charles Darwin’s book The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals (1872) very similar morphology in the facial expressions of non-human primates like chimpanzees and orangutans to human facial expressions. In fact, there is substantial evidence for seven universal emotions that are each associated with distinct facial expressions. These include: happiness, surprise, sadness, fright, disgust, contempt, and anger (Ekman & Keltner, 1997).
Ekman and Friesen (1972) conducted one of the first scientific studies of emotion which raised important questions about the role of culture in shaping universal components of emotion. Ekman and Friesen then took photos of people posing with these different expressions (Figure 1). With the help of colleagues at different universities around the world, Ekman and Friesen showed these pictures to members of vastly different cultures, gave them a list of emotion words (translated into the relevant languages) and asked them to match the facial expressions in the photos with their corresponding emotion words on the list (Ekman & Friesen, 1971; Ekman et al., 1987).
Across cultures, participants matched each picture to the same emotion word at levels greater than chance. This led Ekman and his colleagues to conclude that there are universally recognized emotional facial expressions.
• Happiness
• Surprise
• Sadness
• Fright
• Disgust
• Contempt
• Anger (Ekman & Keltner, 1997).
At the same time, Ekman and Friesen found considerable variability across cultures in recognition rates. For instance, 95% of participants in the United States associated a smile with happiness, only 69% of Sumatran participants made the same association. Similarly, 86% of participants in the United States associated wrinkling of the nose with disgust, but only 60% of Japanese made the same association with a wrinkled nose (Ekman et al., 1987). Ekman and colleagues interpreted this variation as demonstrating cultural differences in the way that people show or display emotion (Ekman, 1972).
Cultural display rules are a collection of culturally specific standards that govern the type and frequency of emotional displays that are socially acceptable (Malatesta & Haviland, 1982). In the United States we are taught that “big boys don’t cry” or we laugh at our boss’s jokes even though we don’t think they are funny.
A more recent study simultaneously studied physiological responses and facial expressions and found that regardless of culture, people tend to respond similarly in terms of physiological (or bodily) expression. European American and Hmong (pronounced “muhng”) American participants were asked to relive various emotional episodes in their lives (e.g., when they lost something or someone they loved; when something good happened) (Tsai, Chentsova-Dutton, Freire-Bebeau, & Przymus, 2002). At the level of physiological arousal (e.g., heart rate), there were no differences in how the participants responded but their facial expressive behavior told a different story.
When reliving events that elicited happiness, pride, and love, European Americans smiled more frequently and more intensely than did their Hmong counterparts—though all participants reported feeling happy, proud, and in love at similar levels of intensity. And similar patterns have emerged in studies comparing European Americans with Chinese Americans during different emotion-eliciting tasks (Tsai et al., 2002; Tsai, Levenson, & McCoy, 2006; Tsai, Levenson, & Carstensen, 2000). While the physiological aspects of emotional responses appear to be similar across cultures, their accompanying facial expressions are more culturally distinctive.
By affecting how individuals express their emotions, culture also influences how people experience them as well. In the United States it is acceptable to express negative emotions like fear, anger, and disgust both alone and in the presence of others, while Japanese individuals only do so while alone (Matsumoto, 1990). Matsumoto, Yoo and Nakagawa (2008) found that individuals from collectivist cultures were more likely to engage in suppression of emotional reaction so they can evaluate which response is most appropriate in a given context (Matsumoto, Yoo, & Nakagawa, 2008).
Increasing research has demonstrated cultural differences not only in display rules, but also the degree to which people focus on the face rather than other aspects of the social context (Masuda, Ellsworth, Mesquita, Leu, Tanida, & Van de Veerdonk, 2008), and on different features of the face (Yuki, Maddux, & Matsuda, 2007) when perceiving others’ emotions. For example, people from the United States tend to focus on the mouth when interpreting others’ emotions, whereas people from Japan tend to focus on the eyes. Cultural differences exist when evaluating and interpreting emotional experiences that underlie facial expressions of emotion but there is a distinct in-group advantage. Individuals from the same culture to will recognize the emotions of others of the same culture somewhat better than those from a different culture.
Our culturally moderated emotions can help us engage in socially appropriate behaviors, as defined by our cultures, and avoid cultural miscommunication. Matsumoto argues (2018) that without display rules it would be very difficult for groups and societies to function effectively, and even for humans to survive as a species, if emotions were not regulated in culturally defined ways for the common, social good. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/07%3A_Culture_and_Emotion/7.02%3A_Emotions_and_Culture.txt |
Motivation describes the wants or needs that direct behavior toward a goal. Motivations can be intrinsic (arising from internal factors) or extrinsic (arising from external factors). Intrinsically motivated behaviors are performed because of the sense of personal satisfaction that they bring, while extrinsically motivated behaviors are performed in order to receive something from others.
Think about why you are currently in college. Are you here because you enjoy learning and want to pursue an education to make yourself a more well-rounded individual? If so, then you are intrinsically motivated. However, if you are here because you want to get a college degree to make yourself more marketable for a high-paying career or to satisfy the demands of your parents, then your motivation is more extrinsic in nature. In reality, our motivations are often a mix of both intrinsic and extrinsic factors, but the nature of the mix of these factors might change over time (often in ways that seem counter-intuitive). Physical reinforcement (such as money) and verbal reinforcement (such as praise) may affect an individual in very different ways. Tangible rewards (i.e., money) tend to have more negative effects on intrinsic motivation than do intangible rewards (i.e., praise). The expectation of the extrinsic motivator by an individual is crucial: If the person expects to receive an extrinsic reward (money) then intrinsic motivation for the task tends to be reduced. If there is no such expectation (no money), and then extrinsic motivation is presented as a surprise, then intrinsic motivation (personal desire) for the task tends to persist (Deci et al., 1999).
Our thoughts, behaviors and motivations are strongly influenced by affective experiences known as drive states. These drive states motivate us to fulfill goals that are beneficial to our survival and reproduction. Drive states differ from other affective or emotional states in terms of the biological functions they accomplish. All affective states are positive or negative and serve to motivate approach or avoidance behaviors (Zajonc, 1998) but drive states are unique. Drive states generate behaviors that result in specific benefits for the body. For example, hunger directs individuals to eat foods that increase blood sugar levels in the body, while thirst causes individuals to drink fluids that increase water levels in the body. Sleep and sexual arousal are also drive states that generally function to promote our survival and reproduction.
According to the drive theory of motivation, deviations from our stable state creates physiological needs. These needs result in psychological drive states that direct behavior to meet the need and, ultimately, bring the system back to homeostasis – back to balance. For example, if it’s been a while since you ate, your blood sugar levels will drop below normal. This low blood sugar will induce a physiological need and a corresponding drive state (i.e., hunger) that will direct you to seek out and consume food. Many homeostatic mechanisms, such as blood circulation and immune responses, are automatic and nonconscious. Some may require direction action.
Different drive states have different triggers. Most drive states respond to both internal and external cues, but the combinations of internal and external cues, and the specific types of cues, differ between drives. Hunger, for example, depends on internal, visceral signals as well as sensory signals, such as the sight or smell of tasty food. Once we have engaged in a behavior that successfully reduces a drive, we are more likely to engage in that behavior whenever faced with that drive in the future (Graham & Weiner, 1996). Drive states affect many psychological processes, such as perception, attention, emotion, and motivation, and influences the behaviors that these processes generate.
7.04: Summary
Recognizing cultural similarities and differences in emotion may provide insights into other psychological health and well-being, as well as preventing potentially harmful miscommunication. Although misunderstandings are unintentional, they can result in negative consequences including pervasive prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination. Future research examining other cultural contexts is needed. Because more and more people are being raised within multiple cultural contexts (e.g., for many Chinese Americans, a Chinese immigrant culture at home and mainstream American culture at school), more research is needed to examine how people negotiate and integrate these different cultures in their emotional lives (for examples, see De Leersnyder, Mesquita, & Kim, 2011; Perunovic, Heller, & Rafaeli, 2007).
7.05: Vocabulary
Emotions are rapid information-processing systems that help us act with minimal thinking
Extrinsic motivation arises from external factors, things outside the person
Intrinsic motivation arises from internal factors; things within the person
Moods are subjective states of being that occur over long periods of time
Motivation describes the wants or needs that direct behavior toward a goal | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/07%3A_Culture_and_Emotion/7.03%3A_Motivation.txt |
You have probably noticed that some people are very social and outgoing while others are very quiet and reserved. Some people seem to worry a lot while others never seem to get anxious. Each time we use words like social, outgoing, reserved or anxious to describe people around us, we are talking about a person’s personality. Personality is one of the things that make us unique from one another. Our personalities are thought to be long term, stable, and not easily changed (Caspi, Roberts, & Shiner, 2005) leading some psychologists argue that personality is heritable and biological.
Personality is not the same thing as character, which refers to qualities that a culture considers good and bad. Temperament, as we learned earlier, is hereditary and includes sensitivity, moods, irritability, and distractibility. In this way, temperament can be seen as part of our personality and offers support for biological and universal aspects of personality.
Once we understand someone’s personality, we can predict how that person will behave in a variety of situations. Think about what it takes to be successful in college. You might say that intelligence is factor in college success and you would be correct but personality researchers have also found that traits like Conscientiousness play an important role in college success. Highly conscientious individuals study hard, get their work done on time, and are less distracted by nonessential activities that take time away from school work. Over the long term, this consistent pattern of behaviors can add up to meaningful differences in academic and professional development. Personality traits are not just a useful way to describe people; they actually help psychologists predict if someone is going to be a good worker, how long he or she will live, and the types of jobs and activities the person will enjoy.
There are many psychological perspectives that try to explain personality including behaviorist, humanist and sociocultural perspectives. This chapter will focus solely on the trait theory of personality and how combinations of traits create unique personality profiles. This chapter will also review how personality traits are identified and measured across cultures.
8.02: Trait Theory
Personality traits reflect people’s characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Trait theory in psychology rests on the idea that people differ from one another based on the strength and intensity of basic trait dimensions. There are three criteria that characterize personality traits: (1) consistency, (2) stability, and (3) individual differences.
• Individuals must be somewhat consistent across situations in their behaviors related to the trait. For example, if they are talkative at home, they tend also to be talkative at work.
• A trait must also be somewhat stable over time as demonstrated behaviors related to the trait. For example, at age 30 if someone is talkative they will also tend to be talkative at age 40.
• People differ from one another on behaviors related to the trait. People differ on how frequently they talk and so personality traits such as talkative exist.
A major challenge for trait theorists was how to identify traits. They started by generating a list of English adjectives (after reading about bias in Chapter 3 I bet you can see a problem here). Early trait theorists Allport and Odbert identified about 18, 000 words in the English language that could describe people (Allport & Odbert, 1936). The list was later reduced to 4,500 by Allport but even this was far too many traits. In an effort to make the list of traits more manageable, Raymond Cattell (1946, 1957) narrowed the list to 16 factors and developed a personality assessment called the 16PF. Later, psychologists Hans and Sybil Eysenck focused on temperament (Eysenck, 1990, 1992; Eysenck and Eysenck, 1963) and hypothesized two specific personality dimensions: extroversion/introversion and neuroticism/stability.
While Cattell’s 16 factors may be too broad, the 2-factor system proposed by the Eysenck’s has been criticized for being too narrow. Another personality theory, called the Five Factor Model (FFM), effectively hits a middle ground. The five factors are commonly referred to as the Big Five personality traits (McCrae & Costa, 1987). It is the most popular theory in personality psychology today and the most accurate approximation of the basic trait dimensions (Funder, 2010). Traits are scored along a continuum, from high to low rather than present or absent (all or none). This means that when psychologists talk about Introverts (e.g., quiet, withdrawn, reserved) and Extroverts (e.g., outgoing, social, talkative), they are not really talking about two distinct types of people but rather they are talking about people who score relatively low or relatively high along a continuous dimension.
The five traits are openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. A helpful way to remember the traits is by using the mnemonic OCEAN.
Scores on the Big Five traits are mostly independent which means that a person’s position on the continuum for one trait tells very little about their standing on the other traits. For example, a person can be extremely high in Extraversion and be either high or low on Neuroticism. Similarly, a person can be low in Agreeableness and be either high or low in Conscientiousness. In the FFM you need five scores to describe most of an individual’s personality. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/08%3A_Culture_of_Self_and_Personality/8.01%3A_Introduction_to_Personality.txt |
We have learned that culture is transmitted to people through language, as well as through social norms which establish acceptable and unacceptable behaviors which are then rewarded or punished (Henrich, 2016; Triandis & Suh, 2002). With an increased understanding of cultural learning, psychologists have become interested in the role of culture in understanding personality.
The idea that personality can be described and explained by five traits has important implications, as does the fact that most personality tests were constructed and initially tested in Western countries (e.g., method validation from Chapter 3). Western ideas about personality may not apply to other cultures (Benet-Martinez & Oishi, 2008).
There are two main cultural approaches for researching personality.
• Etic traits are considered universal constructs that are evident across cultures and represent a biological bases of human personality. If the Big Five are universal then they should appear across all cultures (McCrae and Allik, 2002).
• Emic traits are constructs unique to each culture and are determined by local customs, thoughts, beliefs, and characteristics. If personality traits are unique to individual cultures then different traits should appear in different cultures.
Cross cultural research of personality uses an etic framework and researchers must ensure equivalence of the personality test through validation testing. The instrument must include equivalence in meaning, as well as demonstrate validity and reliability (Matsumoto & Luang, 2013). For example, the phrase feeling blue is used to describe sadness in Westernized cultures but does not translate to other languages. Differences in personality across cultures could be due to real cultural differences, but they could also be consequences of poor translations, biased sampling, or differences in response styles across cultures (Schmitt, Allik, McCrae, & Benet-Martínez, 2007).
Most of the cross-cultural research on FFM and Big Five has been done using the NEO-PI (and its subsequent revisions) which has demonstrated equivalence, reliability and validity across several cross-cultural studies (Costa & McCrae, 1987; McCrae, Costa & Martin, 2005). Research using the NEO-PI found support for the entire Five-Factor Model in Chinese, Dutch, Italian, Hungarian, German, Australian, South African, Canadian, Finnish, Polish, Portuguese, Israeli, Korean, Japanese, and Filipino samples, in addition to other samples (McCrae, Costa, Del Pilar, Rolland, & Parker, 1998).
Rentfrow, Kosinski, Stillwell, Gosling, Jokela and Potter (2013) identified regional personality differences within the United States using the Big Five personality dimensions. The researchers analyzed responses from over 1.5 million individuals found that there are three distinct regional personality clusters
Cluster 1 is in the Upper Midwest and Deep South and is dominated by people who fall into the friendly and conventional personality which is defined by moderately high levels of Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness, moderately low Neuroticism, and very low Openness. The cluster has predominantly White residents with comparatively low levels of education, wealth, economic innovation, and social tolerance but are civically engaged in their communities.
Cluster 2 includes the West and is dominated by people who are more relaxed, emotionally stable, calm, and creative which is defined as low Extraversion and Agreeableness, very low Neuroticism, and very high Openness. There are disproportionate numbers of non-White residents in this region, in addition to people who are wealthy, educated, and economically innovative.
Cluster 3 includes the Northeast which has more people who are stressed, irritable, and depressed. The personality profile shows low Extraversion, very low Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, very high Neuroticism, and moderately high Openness. There are disproportionate numbers of older adults and women in this region, in addition to affluent and college-educated individuals.
One explanation for the regional differences is selective migration (Rentfrow et al., 2013). Selective migration is the concept that people choose to move to places that are compatible with their personalities and needs. For example, a person high on the agreeable scale would likely want to live near family and friends, and would choose to settle or remain in such an area. In contrast, someone high on openness would prefer to settle in a place that is recognized as diverse and innovative (such as California).
Personality tests rely on self-report which is susceptible to response bias like socially desirability responding. To evaluate this possibility, McCrae and colleagues (2005) recruited students from 50 cultural groups and modified the NEO-PI to be in the third person (i.e., he, she, his, her). The research participants were asked to complete the form on someone else that they knew very well (McCrae et al., 2005). The same five factors emerged in this study. These results provided empirical support for the FFM and for the use of self-report instruments when conducting cross-cultural personality research. Think about it – there was no reason for the students to respond in a desirable way because they were answering questions about someone else. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/08%3A_Culture_of_Self_and_Personality/8.03%3A_Five_Factor_Model_and_Cross-Cultural_Research.txt |
Finding similar factors across many cultures has provided support for the universality of of the FFM personality trait structure. The five dimensions (Big Five) also seem to emerge in similar developmental stages (McCrae & Costa, 1997; McCrae et al., 1999) which provides additional support for universal traits. Longitudinal studies have found consistency in personality changes that occur across the lifetime, in both adults and adolescents (McCrae, et al., 1999; McCrae et al., 2000). Big Five research conducted with American and Flemish teens showed similar changes in personality from ages 12 to 18 (McCrae, et al., 2000) In addition, the period from young adulthood to middle adulthood is associated with increases in Conscientiousness and Agreeableness (Donnellan & Lucas, 2008) and decreases in Neuroticism, Openness, and Extraversion in several countries, including the United States, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Croatia, and South Korea (McCrae, et al.,1999; Terracciano, McCrae, Brant, & Costa, 2005).
Big Five or More
Although support for the Big Five across cultures is strong, it is unclear whether or not the Big Five personality traits are the best possible measure of personality for all cultures. Some researchers suggest that important aspects of some cultures are not captured by the Five Factor Model (Funder, 2010; Ashton, et al., 2004; Ashton & Lee, 2007). Results from several European and Asian studies have found overlapping dimensions with the Five Factor Model, as well as additional, culturally unique dimensions (Church, 2002). Several cross-cultural studies have identified other dimensions of personality not captured by the Big Five including traits unique to China, Denmark, Bolivia and the Philippines.
Chinese psychologists created an indigenous personality test named the Chinese Personality Assessment Inventory (CPAI) which identified several traits that were not part of the Big Five that have been labelled Interpersonal Relatedness (Cheung, Leung, Fan, Song, Zhang, & Zhang, 1996; Cheung, et al., 2001). Support for this model was originally developed in studies conducted in mainland China and Hong Kong, China, but the existence of the Interpersonal Relatedness dimension of personality has also been found in samples from Singapore, Hawaii, and the Midwestern United States.
A distinct Filipino personality structure was also identified when an indigenous personality test was used in conjunction with a Western developed personality test. Church and colleagues (1998, 2002) used indigenous Filipino personality scales and the revised NEO-PI and found that there was overlap between the Filipino scales and the Five Factor Model. Researchers also found several unique indigenous factors such as Pagkamadaldal (Social Curiosity) and Pagkamapagsapalaran (Risk-Taking) that had predictive power greater than the Five Factor Model alone (Katigbak, Church, Guanzon-Lapeña, Carlota, & del Pilar, 2002). These new indigenous factors are highly predictive of smoking, gambling, praying and tolerance of behaviors outside of social norms (Matsumoto & Luang, 2013).
Studies conducted in Denmark and the Netherlands found an authoritarian personality structure. Hofstede and colleagues (1993) analyzed data from 1,300 Danes and found a sixth dimension not related to the five-factor model which they labelled Authoritarianism. This is an interesting finding because dominance and authoritarianism is connected to animal studies and animal personality (Hofstede, Bond & Luk, 1993).
Tsimane, a horticultural group living in the Bolivian Amazon were administered a modified version of the FFM and there was little support for the five factors – two factors emerged that were not part of the Big Five. This is an example of research that used a non-industrial, non- WEIRDO sample and raises questions about whether FFM can generalize to non-industrial cultures (Gurven et al., 2013).
Ashton and Lee (2007) identified Honesty-Humility as a sixth dimension of personality when using English and Asian based adjectives to describe traits. People high in this trait are sincere, fair, and modest; whereas those low in the trait are manipulative, narcissistic, and self-centered. The HEXACO model is often used when traits of agreeableness or emotions are of particular interest in research. It should be clear that although there is strong support for the Big Five across cultures, some research suggests the existence of other traits besides simply the Big Five, which may ultimately improve our understanding of personality across different cultures.
8.05: Cultural Considerations and Personality
When measuring personality, we need to remember that when comparing traits across cultures we are using group averages. There are certainly differences in personality traits between cultural groups but there is still a lot variability that exists within a specific culture (McCrae et al., 2005). Individualist cultures and collectivist cultures place emphasis on different basic values. People who live in individualist cultures tend to believe that independence, competition, and personal achievement are important. Individuals in Western nations such as the United States, England, and Australia score high on individualism (Oyserman, Coon, & Kemmelmier, 2002). People who live in collectivist cultures value social harmony, respectfulness, and group needs over individual needs. Individuals who live in countries in Asia, Africa, and South America score high on collectivism (Hofstede, 2001; Triandis, 1995). These values influence personality. For example, Yang (2006) found that people in individualist cultures displayed more personally oriented personality traits, whereas people in collectivist cultures displayed more socially oriented personality traits.
We also need to remember that people do not act consistently from one situation to the next and people are influenced by situational forces and culture. For example, individuals who score high on the Extraversion scale are likely to be outgoing and enjoy socializing but where, when and how they socialize will be influenced by culture (McCrae et al., 1998).
Indigenous Personality
Much of this chapter has been dedicated to the etic approach for understanding personality which posits that personality is innate, biological and universal but still acknowledges that culture plays an important in shaping personality by way of geography (environment), resources, and social supports.
Indigenous Personality is a perspective that suggests personality can only be understood and interpreted within the context of the culture. In this way personality is considered emic, meaning that it is culturally specific and can only understood within the culture from which it originates. This means that personality is not something that can be measured by a universal test.
The indigenous approach came about in reaction to the dominance of Western approaches to the study of personality in non-Western settings (Cheung et al., 2011). Because Western-based personality assessments cannot fully capture the personality constructs of other cultures, the indigenous model has led to the development of personality assessment instruments that are based on constructs relevant to the culture being studied (Cheung et al., 2011). Although there is debate within the indigenous psychology movement about whether indigenous psychology represents a more universalistic or a more relativistic approach (Chakkarath, 2012), most of these 10 characteristics are advocated by the majority of those in the indigenous psychology movement. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/08%3A_Culture_of_Self_and_Personality/8.04%3A_Big_Five_as_Universals.txt |
At the foundation of all human behavior is the self—our sense of personal identity and of who we are as individuals. Because an understanding of the self is so important, it has been studied for many years by psychologists (James, 1890; Mead, 1934) and is still one of the most important and most researched topics in psychology (Dweck & Grant, 2008; Taylor & Sherman, 2008).
Identity
Identity refers to the way individuals understand themselves as part of a social group. It is a universal construct and depends on how we view ourselves and how we are recognized by others. Identity may be acquired indirectly from parents, peers, and other community members or more directly through enculturation. A person may hold multiple identities such as teacher, father, or friend. Each position has its own meanings and expectations that are internalized as identity. In this way, the specific content of any individual’s or group’s identity is culturally determined. Also, forming a connection with your identity is influenced by your culture. For example, in the United States it is common to link identity with a particular ethnic or racial group (e.g., Hispanic, African American, Asian American, and Jewish American among others) but we should remember that these categories are products of immigration and history. The history is unique to the United States so individuals from other cultures do not identify with the same cultural groups (Matsumoto & Luang, 2013).
We should also think of identity as dynamic and fluid. It can change depending on the context and the culture. Think about it – when someone asks you where you are from, if you are in a foreign country you might say the United States. In a different situation you might say that you are from California even though you were actually born in Kansas and in a very small state like Hawaii you might identify by your high school (Matsumoto & Luang, 2013).
Our personal identity is the way that we understand ourselves and is closely related to our concept of self. Social identity reflects our understanding that we are part of social groups. Our sense of self is linked to how we see the world around us and how we see our relationships.
Self
Some nonhuman animals, including chimpanzees, orangutans, and perhaps dolphins, have at least a primitive sense of self (Boysen & Himes, 1999). We know this because of some interesting experiments that have been done with animals. In one study (Gallup, 1970), researchers painted a red dot on the forehead of anesthetized chimpanzees and then placed the animals in a cage with a mirror. When the chimps woke up and looked in the mirror, they touched the dot on their faces, not the dot on the faces in the mirror. This action suggests that the chimps understood that they were looking at themselves and not at other animals, and thus we can assume that they are able to realize that they exist as individuals. Most other animals, including dogs, cats, and monkeys, never realize that it is themselves they see in a mirror.
Infants who have similar red dots painted on their foreheads recognize themselves in a mirror in the same way that chimps do, and they do this by about 18 months of age (Asendorpf, Warkentin, & Baudonnière, 1996; Povinelli, Landau, & Perilloux, 1996). The child’s knowledge about the self continues to develop as the child grows. By two years of age, the infant becomes aware of his or her gender as a boy or a girl. At age four, the child’s self-descriptions are likely to be based on physical features, such as hair color, and by about age six, the child is able to understand basic emotions and the concepts of traits, being able to make statements such as “I am a nice person” (Harter, 1998).
By the time children are in grade school, they have learned that they are unique individuals, and they can think about and analyze their own behavior. They also begin to show awareness of the social situation—they understand that other people are looking at and judging them the same way that they are looking at and judging others (Doherty, 2009). | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/08%3A_Culture_of_Self_and_Personality/8.06%3A_Self_and_Culture.txt |
Part of what is developing in children as they grow is the fundamental cognitive part of the self, known as the self-concept. The self-concept is a knowledge representation that contains knowledge about us, including our beliefs about our personality traits, physical characteristics, abilities, values, goals, and roles, as well as the knowledge that we exist as individuals.
The specific content of our self-concept powerfully affects the way that we process information relating to ourselves. But how can we measure that specific content? One way is by using self-report tests. One of these is a deceptively simple fill-in-the-blank measure that has been widely used by many scientists to get a picture of the self-concept (Rees & Nicholson, 1994). All of the 20 items in the measure are exactly the same, but the person is asked to fill in a different response for each statement. This self-report measure, known as the Twenty Statements Test (TST), can reveal a lot about a person because it is designed to measure the most accessible—and thus the most important—parts of a person’s self-concept.
Twenty Statements Test
Try it for yourself (at least 5 times)
I am (fill in the blank) _______________________________
I am (fill in the blank) _______________________________
I am (fill in the blank) _______________________________
I am (fill in the blank) _______________________________
I am (fill in the blank) _______________________________
Although each person has a unique self-concept, we can identify some characteristics that are common across the responses given by different people on the measure.
• Physical characteristics
• Personality
• Social identity
Physical characteristics are an important component of the self-concept, and they are mentioned by many people when they describe themselves. If you’ve been concerned lately that you’ve been gaining weight, you might write, “I am overweight.” If you think you’re particularly good looking (“I am attractive”), or if you think you’re too short (“I am too short”). Those things might have been reflected in your responses. Our physical characteristics are important to our self-concept because we realize that other people use them to judge us. People often list the physical characteristics that make them different from others in either positive or negative ways (“I am blond,” “I am short”), in part because they understand that these characteristics are salient and thus likely to be used by others when judging them (McGuire, McGuire, Child, & Fujioka, 1978).
A second aspect of the self-concept relating to personal characteristics is made up of personality traits—the specific and stable personality characteristics that describe an individual (“I am friendly,” “I am shy,” “I am persistent”). These individual differences are important determinants of behavior, and this aspect of the self-concept varies among people.
The remainder of the self-concept reflects its more external, social components; for example, memberships in the social groups that we belong to and care about. Common responses for this component may include “I am an artist,” “I am Jewish,” and “I am a mother, sister, daughter.” As we will see later in this chapter, group memberships form an important part of the self-concept because they provide us with our social identity —the sense of our self that involves our memberships in social groups. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/08%3A_Culture_of_Self_and_Personality/8.07%3A_Characteristics_of_the_Self-Concept.txt |
Although we all define ourselves in relation to these three broad categories of characteristics—physical, personality, and social – some interesting cultural differences in the relative importance of these categories have been shown in people’s responses to the TST. For example, Ip and Bond (1995) found that the responses from Asian participants included significantly more references to themselves as occupants of social roles (e.g., “I am Joyce’s friend”) or social groups (e.g., “I am a member of the Cheng family”) than those of American participants. Similarly, Markus and Kitayama (1991) reported that Asian participants were more than twice as likely to include references about other people in their self-concept as did their Western counterparts. This greater emphasis on either external or social aspects of the self-concept reflects the relative importance that collectivistic and individualistic cultures place on an interdependence versus independence (Nisbett, 2003).
Interestingly, bicultural individuals who report acculturation to both collectivist and individualist cultures show shifts in their self-concept depending on which culture they are primed to think about when completing the TST. For example, Ross, Xun, and Wilson (2002) found that students born in China but living in Canada reported more interdependent aspects of themselves on the TST when asked to write their responses in Chinese, as opposed to English. These culturally different responses to the TST are also related to a broader distinction in self-concept, with people from individualistic cultures often describing themselves using internal characteristics that emphasize their uniqueness, compared with those from collectivistic backgrounds who tend to stress shared social group memberships and roles. In turn, this distinction can lead to important differences in social behavior.
One simple yet powerful demonstration of cultural differences in self-concept affecting social behavior is shown in a study that was conducted by Kim and Markus (1999). In this study, participants were contacted in the waiting area of the San Francisco airport and asked to fill out a short questionnaire for the researcher. The participants were selected according to their cultural background: about one-half of them indicated they were European Americans whose parents were born in the United States, and the other half indicated they were Asian Americans whose parents were born in China and who spoke Chinese at home.
After completing the questionnaires (which were not used in the data analysis except to determine the cultural backgrounds), participants were asked if they would like to take a pen with them as a token of appreciation. The experimenter extended his or her hand, which contained five pens. The pens offered to the participants were either three or four of one color and one or two of another color (the ink in the pens was always black). As shown in Figure 1 and consistent with the hypothesized preference for uniqueness in Western, but not Eastern cultures, the European Americans preferred to take a pen with the more unusual color, whereas the Asian American participants preferred one with the more common color.
Through these and other experiments two dimensions of self-concept emerged, the independent construal (concept) and the interdependent concept. Western, or more individualist cultures, view the self as separate and focus on self, independence, autonomy and self-expression are reinforced through social and cultural norms. This is the independent self-concept. Non-western or collectivistic cultures view the self as interdependent and inseparable from social context and individuals socialized to value interconnectedness consider the thoughts and behaviors of others. Fitting in is valued over standing out.
Results from the TST studies described earlier provide additional support for the role of culture in shaping self-concept. Different demands that cultures place on individual members means that individuals integrate, synthesize, and coordinate worlds differently, producing differences in self-concept. Variations in self-concepts occur because different cultures have different rules of living and exist within different environments (natural habitat).
Intra-cultural Differences in Self-Concept
Cultural differences in self-concept have even been found in people’s self-descriptions on social networking sites. DeAndrea, Shaw, and Levine (2010) examined individuals’ free-text self-descriptions in the About Me section in their Facebook profiles. Consistent with the researchers’ hypothesis, and with previous research using the TST, African American participants had the most the most independently (internally) described self-concepts, and Asian Americans had the most interdependent (external) self-descriptions, with European Americans in the middle.
As well as indications of cultural diversity in the content of the self-concept, there is also evidence of parallel gender diversity between males and females from various cultures, with females, on average, giving more external and social responses to the TST than males (Kashima et al., 1995). Interestingly, these gender differences have been found to be more apparent in individualistic nations than in collectivistic nations (Watkins et al., 1998). | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/08%3A_Culture_of_Self_and_Personality/8.08%3A_Self_and_Culture.txt |
There is neuro-cultural evidence supporting the two definitions of self-construals first proposed by Markus and Kitayama (e.g., independent and interdependent, 1991). Neuro-cultural research of self uses neuroscience and imaging techniques to describe and understand the biological processes that underlie our understanding of self (Chiao, Harada, Komeda, Li, Mano, Saito….2009; Zhu, Zhang, Fan, & Hana, 2007). One of the more common methods of determining brain areas that pertain to different cognitive processes is by using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) which measures blood flow in the brain. Areas with higher blood flow on fMRI scans are said to be activated. Chiao, et al., (2009) using fMRI results identified individualistic and collectivistic views of self in samples of Japanese and American students.
Chiao and colleagues (2009) found that participants who viewed themselves collectivistically showed greater fMRI activation in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) than those who viewed themselves individualistically. The reverse is true when people describe themselves individualistically but these results were not clearly associated with specific cultures (e.g., Japan and United States). As described by the researchers, “cultural values and not necessarily their cultural affiliation” modulated the neural responses in their brains.
8.10: Beyond East and West Differences
The work by Markus and Kitayama (1991) has had a major effect on social, personality and developmental psychology and raised awareness for cultural considerations in psychology. Despite the positive impact, there has been limited empirical support for independent and interdependent self-construals (Matsumoto, 1999) with some studies reporting contradictory findings. Recent research conducted by 71 researchers, across 33 countries and encompassing 55 cultural groups challenged the dichotomous view first proposed by Markus and Kitayama. The researchers conducted a series of studies (Vignoles…. 2016) that examined a single dimension of Independent/Interdependent, Western cultures as wholly independent, the relationship between individualist and collectivist cultures and Independent/Interdependent self-construals, as well as the role of religious heritage and socioeconomic development of cultures. Using data from over 7,000 adults, the authors identified seven dimensions that encompass both independent and interdependent self-construals:
• Difference
• Connection
• Self-Direction
• Self-Reliance
• Consistency
• Self-Expression
• Self-Interest
At the level of the individual these seven dimensions represent the different ways that we see ourselves and our relationships with other people. The dimensions can also represent cultural norms about self that are reinforced and maintained by cultural practices and social structures.
When the researchers tested the 7-dimension model, their results contradicted many long-held beliefs about independent, individualistic, interdependent and collectivist cultures. First, Western cultures scored above average on five of the dimensions but were below average on the dimensions self-reliance and consistency. Thus, the common view that Western cultures are wholly independent was not supported.
Latin American cultures had scores very similar to Western cultures on the difference and self-expression dimensions but scored higher on consistency and self-interest which also challenged the common view of Latin America as wholly interdependent. The economically poorest samples in the study scored highest on self-interest and were negatively associated with individualism, whereas Western cultures scored high on commitment to others which challenges the view that rich Western cultures are selfish.
Religious heritage was also an important variable in the study. Muslim and Catholic samples had very distinct dimension profiles that showed high scores for consistency. This may be related to the tenets of both faiths that salvation is related to behaviors so behaving consistently – across different situations and settings would be important.
The results of Vignoles and colleagues demonstrated that self, whether measured at the individual level or cultural level, is not binary. Independence and interdependence is a complex interaction of heritage, socioeconomic development, settlement patterns, and ecological contexts. By moving away from a dichotomous view of self, psychologists have an opportunity to expand our understanding of self and its relationship to culture. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/08%3A_Culture_of_Self_and_Personality/8.09%3A_Neural_Basis_for_Self.txt |
Related to self-concept is self-enhancement, the processes that we use to bolster self-esteem. Early research linked enhancement with individualistic cultures (Kitayama et al., 1999; Heine et al., 1999) however evidence for the culturally specific model has been mixed. The more commonly accepted view, pancultural perspective, argues that all cultures engage in enhancement but how, when and to what extent differs by culture (Brown, 2010; Becker et al., 2014; Sedikides et al., 2015). Cai and colleagues (2016) explored a pancultural theory of self-enhancement in Western (US) and Eastern (China) samples. Results revealed that participants endorsed more positive traits when describing themselves and also endorsed more negative traits as non-self-descriptive. The degree of this effect was higher in the Western than Eastern sample confirming that self-enhancement is positive in both cultures but it is higher among the Western sample.
Imagine you are the lead on a major work project and have been asked to provide a status update on the project to the executive board. You and your team spend hours preparing the presentation. At the end of the presentation, one of the board members congratulates you on the project and the presentation. In reply you say, “I am dedicated to this project and work really hard to meet the expectations.” This could be considered an example of self-enhancement because you emphasize your dedication and role to the project.
Self-effacement is the tendency to downplay one’s virtues or characteristic. In general Asians tend to be more self-effacing (although most studies only use samples from Japan and China) (Kurman, 2003). Under normal conditions, self-effacement is a facet of modesty and is not a lack of confidence or of self-esteem. Self-effacement reflects cultural norms and in some collectivist cultures, such as in China and Japan, consider modesty a virtue. Self-effacing tactics are used to reduce the social risk of offending others so in this way self-effacement is not linked to self-esteem.
Let’s consider our earlier scenario and the congratulations offered by a board member. If this time you say, “It had nothing to do with me, it is my team.” This could be considered an example of self-effacement because you understate your role and emphasize the team members.
Most of the research in this area has focused on cross-cultural research between Western and Eastern cultures. Suzuki and colleagues (2008) examined the role of self-enhancement and self-effacement and reactions to criticism among multicultural, female youth in the United States. Results revealed that European American and African American youth had more self-enhancing reactions to praise. Asian American and Hispanic youth were less self-enhancing and more self-effacing than the other two groups. The differences in reactions to praise were explained by differences in generational histories in the United States and cultural exposure. The youth with the highest self-enhancing reactions (European Americans and African Americans) were all born in the United States with greater exposure to individualist norms.
Asian American and Hispanic study participants reported that at least one person in their household were born abroad in less individualist and more collectivist cultures. These differences explain why the Asian American and Hispanic youths might have had more self-effacing reactions.
Better than average effect (BTAE; Wylie, 1979) is considered a form of bias or inaccuracy in self-assessment because while most people are average, only a minority of people recognize this reality. Research using the direct method asks participants to evaluate themselves in comparison to an average person on a single test (scale). Using the indirect method participates rate themselves and the average person on separate scales and average evaluation is subtracted from the ratings. Research on the BTAE that in the United States adults typically consider themselves to be more intelligent and more attractive than average and this effect was stronger for male than females. Early studies found that BTAE was associated with individualistic and not collectivist cultures; one researcher even asserted that it was not found in Japan but this research was not conclusive. It is possible that BTAE is correlated with age. Zell (2016) found that older adults rated themselves worse than average on some age-related measures. One study that examined prisoners and BTAE found that a significant number considered themselves to be more prosocial than other prisoners (Sedikides, Meek, Alicke & Taylor, 2013). | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/08%3A_Culture_of_Self_and_Personality/8.11%3A_Self-Enhancement_and_Self-Effacement.txt |
Personality traits are not just a useful way to describe people; they actually help psychologists predict if someone is going to be a good worker, how long he or she will live, and the types of jobs and activities the person will enjoy. The culture in which you live is one of the most important factors that shapes your personality and Western ideas about personality may not be applicable to other cultures. In fact, there is evidence that the strength of personality traits varies across cultures. It may be most productive to think of the Five Factor Model as a framework for beginning to explore systematically individual differences in behavior within a particular culture.
Identity and self are linked concepts that encompasses what we think and feel about ourselves, as well as our relationships with others. Neuro-cultural research confirms self as a universal but culture contexts define the conditions that self will be expressed. For example, certain values are emphasized or sanctioned within culture (e.g., modesty, independence, cooperation, empathy). Independent and interdependent self-concepts coexist simultaneously within individuals and culture provides the framework for self-expression
8.13: Vocabulary
Better than average effect (BTAE] is considered a form of bias or inaccuracy in self-assessment because while most people are average, only a minority of people recognize this reality
Characteristic refers qualities of culture and what is considered good and bad within a specific culture.
Cultural identity (sometimes called collective identity) is similar to social identity and refers to our group members and the recognition that we are members of a group.
Identity is a psychological term used to explain the way individuals understand themselves as part of a social group and are recognized by others as members of the social group
Independent self refers to a sense of self that views the self as a bounded entity (separate) from others that are seen as important
Interdependent self refers to a sense of self that views the self as integrate, flexible and depends on the context or the situation; fundamental connectedness to others
Personal identity is the way that we understand ourselves (e.g., personality, traits, and preferences) and is closely related to our concept of self.
Personality is one of the things that make us unique from one another and are long term, stable, and not easily changed. Considered heritable and biological.
Personality traits reflect patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are relatively consistency and stable but are influenced by situational determinants
Social identity reflects our understanding that we are members of groups.
Self is a psychological construct that unconsciously and automatically influences our thoughts, actions, and feelings.
Self-concept refers to cognitive representations of one’s own self or images one has about oneself; our sense of self is linked to how we see the world around us and is also linked to how we see our relationships.
Self-effacement is the tendency to downplay one’s virtues or characteristics
Self-enhancement is the name given to psychological processes that we use to bolster self-esteem
Temperament is a hereditary aspect of personality, including sensitivity, moods, irritability, and distractibility. Temperament can be seen as part of our personality. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/08%3A_Culture_of_Self_and_Personality/8.12%3A_Summary.txt |
The meaning of health has evolved over time but early definitions of health focused on the theme of the body’s ability to function. Originally health was seen as a state of normal function that could be disrupted from time to time by disease. Disease is a broad reference to any condition that impairs normal functioning of the body. Most Western countries focus on the physical processes – pathology, biochemistry and physiology of a disease – as primary contributors to health. This is known as the biomedical model. According to the biomedical model, health means freedom from disease, pain, or defect but does consider the role of social factors or individual subjectivity. There is a contrasting model of health that takes a more holistic approach, often referred to as traditional medicine.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines traditional medicine as “the sum total of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures” (WHO, 2019). In 1977, American psychiatrist George Engel developed an interdisciplinary model that looked at the interconnection between biology, psychology, and socio-environmental factors. With his biopsychosocial approach, Engel strived for a more holistic approach to health by recognizing that each patient has his or her own thoughts, feelings, and history.
Engel’s biopsychosocial model views the development of illness through the complex interaction of biological factors (genetic, biochemical), psychological factors (mood, personality, behavior) and social factors (cultural, familial, socioeconomic, medical). For example, a person may have a genetic predisposition for depression, but he or she may have social factors such as extreme stress at work and family life, and psychological factors such as a perfectionistic tendency, which when combined can trigger this genetic code for depression.
9.02: Global Definition of Health
Health, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (WHO, 2019). This definition has been subject to controversy, as it may have limited value for implementation. Generally, the context in which we live our lives is critical for our health and quality of life. It is increasingly recognized that health is maintained and improved not only through the advancement and application of health science, but also through intelligent lifestyle choices and efforts of the individual, as well as larger society.
According to the World Health Organization the main determinants of health include:
• Social environment
• Economic environment
• Physical environment
• Individual characteristics and behavior
• Global Indicators of Health
Health indicators are quantifiable characteristics of a population which researchers use for describing the health of a population. Adopting a standard system with reliable measures for defining health is important for global monitoring of changes in health (see Chapter 3 for more about reliability). Researchers using data collected from around the world look for patterns in identifying, preventing, and treating disease. There are three common global health indicators identified by The World Health Organization (WHO) that directly and indirectly measure and monitor global health:
1. Life expectancy
2. Infant mortality
3. Subjective well-being
These three indicators serve as standard measures to assist health professionals working in both developed and developing countries. Each indicator is discussed in greater detail.
9.03: Life Expectancy
Life expectancy (LE) is a statistical measure of the average time an organism (in our case human) is expected to live, based on the year of its birth, its current age and other demographic factors including gender. There are great variations in life expectancy between different parts of the world, mostly caused by differences in public health, medical care, and diet. Comparing life expectancies from birth across countries can be problematic. There are differing definitions of live birth versus stillbirth even among more developed countries, and less developed countries often have poor reporting.
Worldwide, the average life expectancy at birth was 71.5 years, 68.4 years for males and 72.8 years for females over the period 2010–2015 according to United Nations World Population Prospects (UN Population Prospects, Revised 2015).
In the United States, African-American people have shorter life expectancies than their European-American counterparts. For example, white Americans born in 2010 are expected to live until age 78.9, but black Americans only until age 75.1. In contrast, Asian-American women live the longest of all ethnic groups in the United States, with a life expectancy of 85.8 years. The life expectancy of Hispanic Americans is 81.2 years (Center for Disease Control, CDC, 2019).
Overall, the United States ranks 49 globally in LE. The highest life expectancy is found in Monaco (Europe) and the lowest life expectancy is found in Angola (Africa) (“Life Expectancy”, 2019). Ranking 49 in the world in life expectancy doesn’t sound so bad when you consider over 200 countries contribute data but it is problematic and concerning given the comparative abundance of resources of the United States. Some argue that the United States, with access to health sciences, technology, and supported innovation should be a global leader in life expectancy rates with a much higher global ranking.
9.04: Health in American Culture
Given that the United States spends more on health care than most (if not all) industrialized nations in the world, one could reasonably expect the American people to be some of the healthiest citizens in the world. How is it then that modern Americans are significantly less healthy than other societies and, may even be expected to live shorter lives than previous generations? In previous chapters, westernized ideals of control, choice, short-term time orientation, and capitalism were explored as influencing how young people are enculturated in the United States.
In this chapter, aspects of western culture will be viewed through the lens of their impact on our physical health including our perceptions of health, desire to be health and access to health education and resources. In this chapter we will explore the impact of American culture on four aspects of health in United States society:
• American diet
• Sleep hygiene
• Socio-economic status
• Ethnic and racial disparity | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/09%3A_Culture_and_Physical_Health/9.01%3A_What_Does_it_Mean_to_be_Healthy.txt |
The history of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrition guides includes over 100 years of American nutrition advice. The guides have been updated over time to adopt new scientific findings and new public health marketing techniques. The current guidelines are the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015 – 2020. What the government promotes as a healthy diet has not only changed over the course of generations but is often heavily influenced be societal values at that time.
These guidelines have been criticized over time as not accurately representing scientific information about optimal nutrition, and as being overly influenced by profit, personal interest, and the agricultural industries the USDA promotes. The introduction of the USDA’s food guide pyramid in 1992 attempted to express the recommended servings of each food group into the American diet.
MyPlate is the current nutrition guide published by the United States Department of Agriculture, consisting of a diagram of a plate and glass divided into five food groups. It replaced the USDA’s MyPyramid diagram in 2011, ending 19 years of food pyramid iconography (USDA, 2019).
Diet is the sum of food consumed by an organism or group, and should not be confused with dieting, which refers to food restriction with the goal of weight control. Numerous studies have attempted to identify contributing factors for poor health habits in the United States that have contributed to rising rates of obesity and diseases related to obesity. These studies have resulted in numerous hypotheses as to what those key factors are. A common theme is that of too much food, too little exercise, and a sedentary schedule; however, these themes are increasingly viewed as overly simplistic and lacking in awareness to the complex approaches that are needed to improve healthy living for all Americans. For example, while dieting, people tend to consume more low-fat or fat-free products, even though those items can be just as damaging to the body as the items with fat. Currently, less than 20% of all Americans meet the recommended minimum dietary guidelines for optimal health (“Health Diet”, n.d).
Other factors not directly related to caloric intake and activity levels are also believed to contribute to lowered physical fitness and higher body-mass index (BMI) rates. These include careers that involve long hours of sitting, decreased ability to delay gratification, and heavy marketing to promote unhealthy foods. Genetics are also believed to be a factor that contributes to higher BMI. In a 2018 study, researchers stated that the presence of the human gene APOA2 could result in a higher BMI in individuals. Also, the probability of obesity can even start before birth due to things that the mother does such as smoking and gaining a lot of weight.
Among the complex factors impacting eating habits in American culture are two key enculturated trends:
• Consumer culture
• Mixed media messaging
Consumer culture focuses on the spending of the customer’s money on material goods to attain a lifestyle in a capitalist economy. Over the years, people of different age groups are employed by marketing companies to help understand the beliefs, attitudes, values, and past behaviors of the targeted consumers. As consumers grow increasingly removed from food production, the role of product creation, advertising, and publicity become the primary vehicles for information about food. With processed food as the dominant category, marketers have almost infinite possibilities in developing their products for mass appeal.
Today’s American citizens are inundated with marketed messages that food choices should be fast, bring us pleasure, and meet our emotional needs over physiological needs. Of the food advertised to children on television, 73% is fast or convenience foods (“Consumer Culture”, 2019). Additionally, Americans are often enculturated to pursue personal satisfaction while also adhering to unrealistic standards of fitness and attractiveness. Our consumer culture promotes these conflicting standards with mixed messaging in various media formats.
Mixed messaging can refer to any communication that is contradictory, inconsistent, or unclear, especially in its motive or intent. Media advertisements, athletic and entertainer role-models, and character storylines are often embedded (subtly, or at times, overtly) with the message that Americans “deserve” to feel good but must also look good in the process.
With 1 out of 3 adults and 1 out of 6 children in the United States categorized as excessively overweight by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) it is imperative to examine the factors affecting this damaging trend (Obesity, 2019). We will talk in Chapter 10 about the cultural relationship Americans have with diet and appearance, which contributes to the formation of eating disorders, further damaging overall health and well-being. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/09%3A_Culture_and_Physical_Health/9.05%3A_Diet.txt |
Sleep hygiene is the recommended behavioral and environmental practice that is intended to promote better quality sleep. Sleep hygiene recommendations include establishing a regular sleep schedule, using naps (with care), avoiding physical or mental exercise too close to bedtime, limiting worry, limiting exposure to light in the hours before sleep, getting out of bed if sleep does not come, not using bed for anything but sleep and sex, avoiding alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, and other stimulants in the hours before bedtime, and having a peaceful, comfortable and dark sleep environment.
One set of recommendations relates to the timing of sleep. For adults, getting less than 7–8 hours of sleep is associated with a number of physical and mental health deficits. A top sleep hygiene recommendation is allowing enough time for sleep. There is also focus on the importance of waking up each around the same time every morning and generally having a regular sleep schedule
Human sleep needs vary by age and among individuals. Sleep is considered to be adequate when there is no daytime sleepiness or dysfunction. Researchers have found that sleeping 7–8 hours each night correlates with longevity and cardiac health in humans, though many underlying factors may be involved in the causality behind this relationship.
Research also suggests that sleep patterns vary significantly across cultures (“Sleep”, 2019). Sleep deprivation, also known as insufficient sleep or sleeplessness, is the condition of not having enough sleep. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 79% of Americans are currently getting less than the recommended 7-hour minimum of quality sleep per night. The United States experiences some of the highest rates of sleep deprivation and sleep disorder rates in the industrialized world; it is worth examining aspects of American culture that contribute to this trend.
Researchers examining health trends in the United States have highlighted our time-sensitive culture, emphasis on technology, and general attitudes toward sleep as contributing factors to our sleep hygiene. In 2000, the average American worked 1,978 hours per year, 500 hours more than the average German but 100 hours less than the average Czechoslovakian (“Sleep”, 2019). Overall the United States labor force is one of the most productive in the world, largely due to its workers working more than those in any other post-industrial country (excluding South Korea). Americans generally hold working and being productive in high regard. Being busy and working extensively is a source of pride for many and, as they say in America, “time is money.” Additionally, while there is little dispute that technology has enhanced our daily lives, studies show it is also negatively impacting our sleep habits. The increased stimulation of our devices can make it more difficult to unwind at the end of the night, while the unique light put off by these devices also block key sleep hormones. According to the National Sleep Foundation (2019), children (ages 6-17) who slept in the same room as an electronic device reduced the amount of quality sleep by one-hour each night.
Overall health is correlated with the quantity and quality of our sleep. Studies have shown that those who engaged in protective habits (e.g., getting 7–8 hours of sleep regularly, not smoking or drinking excessively, exercising) had fewer illnesses, felt better, and were less likely to die over a 9–12-year follow-up period (Belloc & Breslow 1972; Breslow & Enstrom 1980). For college students, health behaviors can even influence academic performance. Poor sleep quality and quantity are related to weaker learning capacity and academic performance (Curcio, Ferrara, & De Gennaro, 2006). Overall, people with sleep less are more likely to be obese, report higher levels of stress, and/or report symptoms of a mood disorder than those who obtain optimal levels of sleep each night (CDC, 2014). | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/09%3A_Culture_and_Physical_Health/9.06%3A_Sleep_Hygiene.txt |
Socioeconomic status (SES) is an economic and social combined total measure of a person’s economic and social position in relation to others, based on income, education, and occupation; however, SES is more commonly used to depict an economic difference in society as a whole. Socioeconomic status is typically broken into three levels (high, middle, and low) to describe the three places a family or an individual may fall in relation to others. Recently, there has been increasing interest from researchers on the subject of economic inequality and its relation to the health of populations.
Socioeconomic status is an important source of health inequity, as there is a very robust positive correlation between socioeconomic status and health. Socioeconomic status in the United States is related to health outcomes. Individuals higher in the social hierarchy, typically, enjoy better health than do those lower in the hierarchy. Low income and education levels have been shown to be strong predictors of a range of physical and mental health problems. These health problems may be due to environmental conditions in living and workspaces, increased levels of stress, lack of access to healthcare, food scarcity or poor nutrition. This correlation suggests that it is not only the poor who tend to be sick when everyone else is healthy, but that there is a continual gradient, from the top to the bottom of the socio-economic ladder, relating status to health.
Education in higher socioeconomic families is typically stressed as more important, both within the household, as well as the local community. In poorer areas, where food, shelter and safety are priority, education often takes a backseat – becomes less of a priority. American youth are particularly at risk for many health and social problems in the United States. Overall, lower socioeconomic status has been linked to chronic stress, heart disease, ulcers, type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, certain types of cancer, and premature aging.
Social class in the United States is a controversial issue, having many competing definitions, models, and even disagreements over its very existence. Many Americans believe that in the country there are just three classes: the American rich; the American middle class; the American poor. Most definitions of the social classes in the United States entirely ignore the existence of parallel Black, Hispanic and minorities communities. SES differences in health have long been associated by many Americans as related to poor impulse control, unhealthy habits, and an overall lack of motivation (Braveman, et al, 2010). One difficulty with this oversimplification is that these attitudes reduce poverty (and related problems associated with lower SES) as a problem with the individual rather than a reflection of complex societal components that contribute to poor health and lower life expectancy. The assumption that individual choices and internal control are enough to overcome the impact of poverty further adds to the difficulty impoverished people have in overcoming economic hardships. Educational, economic, and health care inequity within lower SES groups have each been shown to correlate with poor health must be addressed in order to create meaningful change in the health of Americans (Braveman, et al, 2010). Given the ranking of the United States across global indicators, we might do well to address poor health of Americans as a social problem and not a personal problem. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/09%3A_Culture_and_Physical_Health/9.07%3A_Socioeconomic_Status_%28SES%29.txt |
The United States is a racially diverse country. Race and ethnicity in the United States is a complex topic both because the United States has a racially and ethnically diverse population and because of a history of racism involving slavery and segregation that persists to present day. At the federal level, race and ethnicity have been categorized separately. Race refers to a classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, ancestry, genetics or social relations, while ethnicity refers to a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities such as common ancestry, language, history, society, culture or nation. Race and health refers to how being identified with a specific race influences health.
Race and ethnicity often remain undifferentiated in health research. Differences in health status, health outcomes, life expectancy, and many other indicators of health in different racial and ethnic groups are well documented. Some individuals in certain racial groups receive less care, have less access to resources, and live shorter lives in general. Epidemiological data indicates that racial groups are unequally affected by diseases, in terms or morbidity and mortality. These health differences between racial groups create racial health disparities.
Health disparities are defined as preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations. Health disparities are intrinsically related to the historical and current unequal distribution of social, political, economic and environmental resources (“Health Equity”, 2019). The relation between race and health has been studied from a multidisciplinary perspective, paying attention to how racism influences health disparities and how environmental factors and physiological factors respond to each other and to genetics.
Current evidence supports the notion that these racially centered disparities continue to exist and are a significant social health issue. A current report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC, 2019) found that 700 women died from preventable complications of pregnancy in the United States, a rate higher than any other developed country, but the rate of death was higher for Black and Native American women. The death rate for Black mothers was over 3 times higher than for white mothers and the rate for Native American mothers was over 2 times higher than for white mothers. A majority of these deaths are largely preventable and some relate to implicit racial bias that is unrelated to social status, income or education.
Minority populations have increased exposure to environmental hazards that include lack of neighborhood resources, structural and community factors as well as residential segregation that result in a cycle of disease and stress (Gee, 2004). Racial segregation is another environmental factor that occurs through the discriminatory action of those organizations and working individuals within the real estate industry, whether in the housing markets or rentals. Even though residential segregation is noted in all minority groups, blacks tend to be segregated regardless of income level when compared to Latinos and Asians. Thus, segregation results in minorities clustering in poor neighborhoods that have limited employment, medical care, and educational resources, which is associated with high rates of criminal behavior (Williams, 2005). In addition, segregation affects the health of individual residents because the environment is not conducive to physical exercise due to unsafe neighborhoods that lack recreational facilities and have nonexistent recreational space.
Racial and ethnic discrimination adds an additional element to the environment that individuals have to interact with daily. Individuals that report discrimination have been shown to have an increased risk of hypertension in addition to other physiological stress-related affects (Mujahid, 2011). The high magnitude of environmental, structural, socioeconomic stressors leads to further compromise on the psychological and physical being, which leads to poor health and disease (Gee, 2004). | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/09%3A_Culture_and_Physical_Health/9.08%3A_Race_and_Ethnicity.txt |
Many of the factors explored in American health also relate to global health such as:
• Access to health education and care
• Socioeconomic and racial disparities
• Food or housing scarcity
Health disparities are also due in part to cultural factors that involve practices based not only on sex, but also gender status. For example, in China, health disparities have distinguished medical treatment for men and women due to the cultural phenomenon of preference for male children. Additionally, a girl’s chances of survival are impacted by the presence of a male sibling. Girls do have the same chance of survival as boys if they are the oldest girl – they have a higher probability of being aborted or dying young if they have an older sister.
In India, SES and gender-based health inequities are apparent in early childhood. Many families provide better nutrition for boys in the interest of maximizing future productivity given that boys are generally seen as breadwinners. In addition, boys receive better care than girls and are hospitalized at a greater rate. The magnitude of these disparities increases with the severity of poverty in a given population.
Additionally, the cultural practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) is known to impact women’s health, though is difficult to know the worldwide extent of this practice. Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting and female circumcision, is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. While generally thought of as a Sub-Saharan African practice, it may have roots in the Middle East as well. The estimated 3 million girls who are subjected to FGM each year potentially suffer both immediate and lifelong negative effects. Long-term consequences include urinary tract infections, bacterial vaginosis, pain during intercourse, and difficulties in childbirth that include prolonged labor, vaginal tears, and excessive bleeding (“Female Genital Mutilation”, 2019).
Globally, the poorest countries in the world remain the least healthy (CDC, 2018). In 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified the need for multiple countries to unify in targeting health disparity and basic rights/needs. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a collection of 17 global goals set by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 2015 for the year 2030. According to the United Nations, the long-term target is to reach the communities farthest behind and most in need.
There are 169 targets for the 17 goals. Each target has between 1 and 3 indicators used to measure progress toward reaching the targets. There are many obstacles to realizing this global call to end human suffering, improve the environment, and ensure access to basic needs. Critics of SDG’s highlight the high cost of achieving even the initial target goals and suggest the plan is overly complex. Currently, world leaders continue to work with the United Nations in pursuit of global peace and prosperity to improve human health and well-being.
9.10: Summary
There is considerable cultural variation in what it means to be healthy. The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a widely adopted definition of health to include a biopsychosocial approach to well-being. For many, the identification of health versus illness often depends on subjective labeling of how a person feels in the moment, but in reality, overall health is determined by a complex set of variables. There is a great deal of intracultural variability in the United States when it comes to health and well-being. In particular, disparity exists in groups based on socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity when it comes to access to health resources and care. Additionally, enculturated experiences, perceptions, and values further influence American health in regard to diet and sleep hygiene. The future of health in the United States and globally will be shaped by the ability of future generations to tackle the complex challenges faced within each culture.
9.11: Infant Mortality
Infant mortality is the death of young children under the age of 1 and infant mortality rate (IMR) is the number of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births. Infant mortality rate is used to standardize infant deaths for global comparisons (WHO, 2019). Premature birth is the largest contributor to the IMR. Other leading causes of infant mortality are birth asphyxia, pneumonia, congenital malformations, diseases and malnutrition. Many factors contribute to infant mortality, such as the mother’s level of education, environmental conditions, and political and medical infrastructure. Improving sanitation, access to clean drinking water, immunization against infectious diseases, and other public health measures can help reduce high rates of infant mortality.
The reported IMR provides one statistic which reflects the standard of living in each nation. However, the method of calculating IMR often varies widely between countries, based on how they define a live birth and how many premature infants are born in the country. For these reasons, reporting infant mortality rate can be inconsistent and may be understated. Of the 27 most developed countries, the United States has the highest IMR, despite spending much more on health care per capita. In particular, IMR varies greatly by race and socio-economic status (“Infant Mortality”, 2019). These numbers are disconcerting given the resources available and technological advances available for health care in the United States. The relatively high IMR raises questions about culture and the impact this racial and socio-economic disparity has on infant health. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/09%3A_Culture_and_Physical_Health/9.09%3A_Global_Health_Cross-Cultural_Comparisons.txt |
Subjective well-being (SWB) is the scientific term for happiness and life satisfaction —thinking and feeling that your life is going well, rather than badly. Levels of subjective well-being are influenced by both internal factors, such as personality and outlook, and external factors, such as the society in which they live. Some of the major determinants of SWB are a person’s inborn temperament, the quality of their social relationships, the societies they live in, and their ability to meet their basic needs. Although there are additional forms of SWB, the three in the table below have been studied extensively. The table also shows that the causes of the different types of happiness can be somewhat different.
There are different causes of happiness, and that these causes are not identical for the various types of SWB and high SWB is achieved by combining several different important elements (Diener & Biswas-Diener, 2008). People who promise to know the key to happiness are oversimplifying.
Some people experience all three elements of happiness and are very satisfied, enjoy life, and have only a few worries or other unpleasant emotions. Other unfortunate people are missing all three. For example, imagine an elderly person who is completely satisfied with her life—she has done most everything she ever wanted—but is not currently enjoying life that much because of the infirmities of age. There are others who show a different pattern who are having fun, but who are dissatisfied and believe they are wasting their lives.
Importantly, researchers have also studied the outcomes of SWB and have found that people you report being happier are more likely to be healthier and live longer, to have better social relationships, and to be more productive at work (Diener & Tay, 2012; Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener, 2005). In other words, people high in SWB seem to be healthier and function more effectively compared to people who are chronically stressed, depressed, or angry. Happiness does not just feel good in the moment, but it is good for people over time and for those around them.
Money and Happiness
A certain level of income is needed to meet our needs, and very poor people are frequently dissatisfied with life (Diener & Seligman, 2004); however, having more and more money has diminishing returns. This means that higher and higher incomes make less and less difference to happiness. Wealthy nations tend to have higher average life satisfaction than poor nations, but the United States has not experienced a rise in life satisfaction over the past decades, even as income has doubled. The goal is to find a level of income that you can live with and earn.
You should not let your aspirations continue to rise so that you always feel poor, no matter how much money you have. Research shows that materialistic people often tend to be less happy, and putting your emphasis on relationships and other areas of life besides just money is a wise strategy. Money can help life satisfaction, but when too many other valuable things are sacrificed to earn a lot of money—such as relationships or taking a less enjoyable job—the pursuit of money can harm happiness.
Self – Examination
Although it is beneficial generally to be happy and satisfied, this does not mean that people should be in a constant state of euphoria. In fact, it is appropriate and helpful sometimes to be sad or to worry. At times a bit of worry mixed with positive feelings makes people more creative. Most successful people in the workplace seem to be those who are mostly positive but sometimes a bit negative. You do not need to be happiness superstar in order to be a superstar in life. What is not helpful is to be chronically unhappy. If you feel mostly positive and satisfied, and yet occasionally worry and feel stressed, this is probably fine as long as you feel comfortable with this level of happiness. If you are a person who is chronically unhappy much of the time, changes are needed, which may include some professional support.
9.13: Vocabulary
Biopsychosocial model views human health as the result of reciprocal influences of bodily, psychological, interpersonal, and cultural influences over time and situations.
Diet is the sum of food consumed by an organism or group.
Disparity results when there is a difference, imbalance, or inconsistency where one should not otherwise exist.
Drive States are affective experiences that motivate us to fulfill goals that benefit our survival.
Food scarcity is the result of having limited access to adequate food and nutrition due to cost, proximity and/or other resources.
Disease is a broad reference to any condition that impairs normal functioning of the body.
Illness refers to the individual’s own experience with his/her disease.
Infant mortality is the death of young children under the age of 1.
Life expectancy (LE) is a statistical measure of the average time an organism is expected to live, based on the year of its birth, its current age and other demographic factors including gender.
Subjective well-being (SWB) is a self-reported measure of overall health and wellness. It encompasses general and subjective areas of one’s own life.
Sleep hygiene is a variety of different practices and habits that are necessary to have good nighttime sleep quality and full daytime alertness.
Social determinants are complex social structures and economic systems that can drive most health inequalities such as access to health care or education.
Socioeconomic status (SES) is an economic and social combined total measure of a person’s economic and social position in relation to others, based on income, education, and occupation. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/09%3A_Culture_and_Physical_Health/9.12%3A_Subjective_Well-Being.txt |
A psychological disorder is a condition characterized by abnormal thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Psychopathology is the study of psychological disorders, including their symptoms, etiology (i.e., their causes), and treatment. The term psychopathology can also refer to the manifestation of a psychological disorder. Although consensus can be difficult, it is extremely important for mental health professionals to agree on what kinds of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are truly abnormal in the sense that they genuinely indicate the presence of psychopathology. Certain patterns of behavior and inner experience can easily be labeled as abnormal and clearly signify some kind of psychological disturbance. The person who washes his hands 40 times per day and the person who claims to hear the voices of demons exhibit behaviors and inner experiences that most would regard as abnormal. Abnormal refers to beliefs and behaviors that suggest the existence of a psychological disorder.
On the other hand, consider the nervousness a young man feels when talking to attractive women or the loneliness and longing for home a freshman experiences during her first semester of college—these feelings may not be regularly present, but they fall in the range of normal. So, what kinds of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors represent a true psychological disorder? Psychologists work to distinguish psychological disorders from inner experiences and behaviors that are merely situational, idiosyncratic, or unconventional.
Progress in the treatment of mental illness necessarily implies improvements in the diagnosis of mental illness. A standardized diagnostic classification system with agreed-upon definitions of psychological disorders creates a shared language among mental health providers and aids in clinical research. While disorders have been recognized as far back as the ancient Greeks, it was not until 1883 that German psychiatrist Emil Kräpelin (1856–1926) published a comprehensive system of psychological disorders that centered on a pattern of symptoms (i.e., syndrome) suggestive of an underlying physiological cause. Other clinicians also suggested classification systems that became popular but the need for a single, shared system paved the way for the American Psychiatric Association’s 1952 publication of the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). The most recent version is the DSM-5 (2013). Each revision reflects an attempt to help clinicians streamline diagnosis and work better with other diagnostic systems such as health diagnoses outlined by the World Health Organization (WHO).
10.02: Summary
Psychological disorders are conditions characterized by abnormal thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Although challenging, it is essential for psychologists and mental health professionals to agree on what kinds of inner experiences and behaviors constitute the presence of a psychological disorder. Inner experiences and behaviors that are atypical or violate social norms could signify the presence of a disorder; however, each of these criteria alone is inadequate. Harmful dysfunction describes the view that psychological disorders result from the inability of an internal mechanism to perform its natural function. Many of the features of harmful dysfunction conceptualization have been incorporated in the American Psychological Association (APA) formal definition of psychological disorders. According to this definition, the presence of a psychological disorder is signaled by significant disturbances in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; these disturbances must reflect some kind of dysfunction (biological, psychological, or developmental), must cause significant impairment in one’s life, and must not reflect culturally expected reactions to certain life events. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/10%3A_Culture_and_Mental_Health/10.01%3A_What_is_Mental_Illness.txt |
While the concept of mental or psychological disorders is difficult to define, and no definition will ever be perfect, it is recognized as an extremely important concept and therefore psychological disorders (aka mental disorders) have been defined as a psychological dysfunction which causes distress or impaired functioning and deviates from typical or expected behavior according to societal or cultural standards. This definition includes three components (3 Ds)
• Dysfunction
• Distress
• Deviance
Dysfunction includes disturbances in a person’s thinking, emotional regulation, or behavior that reflects significant dysfunction in psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning. In other words, dysfunction refers to a breakdown in cognition, emotion, and/or behavior. For instance, an individual experiencing the delusion that he is an omnipotent deity has a breakdown in cognition because his thought processes are not consistent with reality. An individual who is unable to experience pleasure has a breakdown in emotion. Finally, an individual who is unable to leave her home and attend work due to fear of having a panic attack is exhibiting a breakdown in behavior.
Distress can take the form of psychological or physical pain, or both at the same time. Simply put, distress refers to suffering. Alone though, distress is not sufficient enough to describe behavior as abnormal. Think about it – the loss of a loved one causes even the most “normally” functioning individual pain and suffering. An athlete who experiences a career ending injury would display distress as well. Suffering is part of life and cannot be avoided. Impairment refers to when the person experiences a disabling condition that limits the ability to engage in activities of daily living (e.g., can no longer maintain minimum standards of hygiene, pay bills) or participate in social events (e.g., attending social events), work or school. Impairment can also interfere with the ability to perform important life roles (e.g., student, caregiver or parent).
A closer examination of the word abnormal shows that it indicates a move away from what is normal, typical, or average. Deviance refers to behavior that violates social norms or cultural expectations because culture determines what is normal. When a person is said to be deviant when he or she fails to follow the stated and unstated rules of society, called social norms. As you might expect there is a lot of cultural variation in acceptable behavior.
Earlier we learned about cultural relativism and shat is considered normal by a culture can change over time due to shifts in accepted values and expectations. For instance, just a few decades ago homosexuality was considered taboo in the United States and it was included as a mental disorder in the first edition of the DSM; but today, it is generally accepted. Likewise, public displays of affection, do not cause a second look by most people unlike the past when these outward expressions of love were restricted to the privacy of one’s own house or bedroom. In the United States, crying is generally seen as a weakness for males but if the behavior occurs in the context of a tragedy then it is appropriate and understandable. Finally, consider that statistically deviant behavior is not necessarily negative. Cognitive genius is an example of behavior that is not the norm. Abnormality alone is not an indication of a disorder or problem.
Though not part of the DSM -5 conceptualization of what abnormal behavior is, many clinicians add a fourth D – dangerousness to this list. Dangerousness refers to when behavior represents a threat to the safety of the person or the safety of others. Individuals expressing suicidal intent, those experiencing acute paranoid ideation combined with aggressive impulses (e.g., wanting to harm people who are perceived as being out to get them), and many individuals with antisocial personality disorder may be considered dangerous. Mental health professionals (and many other professionals including researchers) have a duty to report to law enforcement when an individual expresses an intent to harm themselves or others. Individuals with depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder are typically no more a threat to others than individuals without these disorders. It is very important to remember that having a mental disorder does not automatically mean that a person is dangerous and most dangerous individuals are not mentally ill. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/10%3A_Culture_and_Mental_Health/10.03%3A_Making_a_Diagnosis_%28The_3_Ds%29.txt |
References to mental illness can be found throughout history. The evolution of mental illness, however, has not been linear or progressive but rather cyclical. Whether a behavior is considered normal or abnormal depends on the context surrounding the behavior and thus changes as a function of a particular time and culture. In the past, uncommon behavior or behavior that deviated from the sociocultural norms and expectations of a specific culture and period has been used as a way to silence or control certain individuals or groups.
As a result, a less cultural relativist view of abnormal behavior has focused on whether behavior poses a threat to oneself or others or causes so much distress that it interferes with one’s responsibilities or relationships with family and friends.
Historical Explanations
Throughout history there have been three general theories of the etiology (causes) of mental illness: supernatural, somatogenic, and psychogenic.
• Supernatural theories attribute mental illness to possession by evil or demonic spirits, displeasure of gods, eclipses, planetary gravitation, curses, and sin.
• Somatogenic theories identify disturbances in physical functioning resulting from either illness, genetic inheritance, or brain damage or imbalance.
• Psychogenic theories focus on traumatic or stressful experiences, maladaptive learned associations and cognitions, or distorted perceptions.
Etiologicaltheories of mental illness determine the care and treatment mentally ill individuals receive. Modern treatments of mental illness are mostly associated with the establishment of hospitals and asylums, beginning in the sixteenth century, to house and confine the poor, homeless, unemployed, criminals and those with mental illness. While inhumane by today’s standards, the view of insanity at the time likened individuals with mental illness to animals (i.e., animalism) who did not have the capacity to reason, could not control themselves, were capable of violence without provocation, did not have the same physical sensitivity to pain or temperature, and could live in miserable conditions without complaint.
Etiological theories coexist today in what the psychological discipline holds as the biopsychosocial model of explaining human behavior. While individuals may be born with a genetic predisposition for a certain disorder, certain psychological stressors need to be present for the development of the disorder. Sociocultural factors such as sociopolitical or economic unrest, poor living conditions, trauma or problematic interpersonal relationships are also viewed as contributing factors. As much as we want to believe that in present day we are above the historical treatments now considered inhumane, or that the present is always the most enlightened time, we should not forget that our thinking today continues to reflect the same underlying somatogenic and psychogenic theories of mental illness discussed throughout this superficial and brief history of mental illness.
10.05: Culture-Bound Disorders
In medicine and medical anthropology, a culture-bound syndrome, culture-specific syndrome, or folk illness is a combination of psychiatric (brain) and somatic (body) symptoms that are considered to be a recognizable disease only within a specific society or culture. There are no objective biochemical or structural alterations of body organs or functions and the disease is not recognized in other cultures. The term culture-bound syndrome was included in the fourth version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) which also includes a list of the most common culture-bound conditions.
Within the ICD-10 (Chapter V) framework culture-specific disorders are characterized by:
• Categorization as a disease in the culture.
• Widespread familiarity in the culture.
• Complete lack of familiarity or misunderstanding of the condition to people in other cultures.
• No objectively demonstrable biochemical or tissue abnormalities.
• The condition is usually recognized and treated by the folk medicine of the culture.
Some culture-specific syndromes involve somatic symptoms (pain or disturbed function of a body part), while others are purely behavioral. Some culture-bound syndromes appear with similar features in several cultures, but with locally specific traits. The term culture-bound syndrome is controversial since it reflects the different opinions of anthropologists and psychiatrists. Some examples of culture-bound syndromes currently identified in the global community include Dhat syndrome, Zar, and Susto.
• Dhatsyndrome is a condition found in the cultures of the Indian subcontinent in which male patients report that they suffer from premature ejaculation or impotence, and believe that they are passing semen in their urine.
• Zar is the term for a demon or spirit assumed to possess individuals, mostly women, and to cause discomfort or illness. This condition is found in the cultures of the Horn of Africa and adjacent regions of the Middle East.
• Susto is a cultural illness primarily among Latin American cultures. It is described as a condition of being frightened and “chronic somatic suffering stemming from emotional trauma or from witnessing traumatic experiences lived by others.”
Changes to society in the last decade, including technological advancements and increased globalization, has broadened cross-cultural influences and reduced cultural isolation. Recent changes to DSM-5 (reduced from25 to 9 disorders) and the ICD-11 suggest a trend toward better understanding cultural influences rather than culturally specific disorders. Some researchers (Ventriglio, Ayonrinde, and Bhugra, 2016) argue that this interconnection calls into question our perception of truly culturally specific conditions. Idioms and culture-specific descriptions of disorders often overlap with symptoms seen in another culture (just called something else). Rather than disorders being confined to specific cultures, the emphasis has changed to better recognition of the expression of symptoms and sources of distress within each culture in order to improve healthcare and treatment.
10.06: Universal Disorders
I am sure you have realized that it can be difficult to get a professional consensus on the definition of a disorder and whether it exists outside of a cultural context. Universal disorder refers to the incidence of a particular set of symptoms as occurring across various cultures and circumstances and includes mental illnesses. Universal disorders focus on the genetic and biological factors contributing to the condition, in addition to cultural and contextual factors.
While the debate about culturally specific versus universal conditions continues in regard to clinical diagnosis, most experts agree that viewing illness through the lens of culture is imperative when addressing symptoms, societal stigma, and treatment options. In this chapter, we will explore the symptoms and diagnostic criteria of four mental health categories seen across the globe:
• Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
• Anxiety Disorders
• Eating Disorders
• Psychosis | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/10%3A_Culture_and_Mental_Health/10.04%3A_History_of_Mental_Illness.txt |
Everyone experiences brief periods of sadness, irritability, or euphoria. This is different than having a mood disorder, such as MDD or Bipolar Disorder (BD), which are characterized by a constellation of symptoms that causes people significant distress or impairs their everyday functioning.
A major depressive episode (MDE) refers to symptoms that co-occur for at least two weeks and cause significant distress or impairment in functioning, such as interfering with work, school, or relationships. Core symptoms include feeling down or depressed or experiencing anhedonia—loss of interest or pleasure in things that one typically enjoys. According to the DSM-5 (APA, 2013) the criteria for an MDE require five or more of the following nine symptoms, including one or both of the first two symptoms, for most of the day:
• depressed mood
• diminished interest or pleasure in almost all activities
• significant weight loss or gain or an increase or decrease in appetite
• insomnia or hypersomnia
• psychomotor agitation or retardation
• fatigue or loss of energy
• feeling worthless or excessive or inappropriate guilt
• diminished ability to concentrate or indecisiveness
• recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal ideation, or a suicide attempt
These symptoms cannot be caused by physiological effects of a substance or a general medical condition (e.g., hypothyroidism).
Cross-Cultural Considerations
In a nationally representative sample, lifetime prevalence rate for MDD is 16.6% (Kessler, Berglund, Demler, Jin, Merikangas, & Walters, 2005). This means that nearly one in five Americans will meet the criteria for MDD during their lifetime.
Although the onset of MDD can occur at any time throughout the lifespan, the average age of onset is mid-20s, with the age of onset decreasing with people born more recently (APA, 2000). Prevalence of MDD among older adults is much lower than it is for younger cohorts (Kessler, Birnbaum, Bromet, Hwang, Sampson, & Shahly, 2010). The duration of MDEs varies widely but MDD tends to be a recurrent disorder with about 40%–50% of those who experience one MDE experiencing a second MDE (Monroe & Harkness, 2011). An earlier age of onset predicts a worse course.
Women experience two to three times higher rates of MDD than do men (Nolen-Hoeksema & Hilt, 2009). This gender difference emerges during puberty (Conley & Rudolph, 2009). Before puberty, boys exhibit similar or higher prevalence rates of MDD than do girls (Twenge & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2002). Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is inversely correlated with socioeconomic status (SES), a person’s economic and social position based on income, education, and occupation. Higher prevalence rates of MDD are associated with lower SES (Lorant, Deliege, Eaton, Robert, Philippot, & Ansseau, 2003), particularly for adults over 65 years old (Kessler et al., 2010). Independent of SES, results from a nationally representative sample found that European Americans had a higher prevalence rate of MDD than did African Americans and Hispanic Americans, whose rates were similar (Breslau, Aguilar-Gaxiola, Kendler, Su, Williams, & Kessler, 2006). The course of MDD for African Americans is often more severe and less often treated than it is for European Americans, however (Williams et al., 2007) Native Americans have a higher prevalence rate than do European Americans, African Americans, or Hispanic Americans (Hasin, Goodwin, Stinson & Grant, 2005). Depression is not limited to industrialized or western cultures; it is found in all countries that have been examined, although the symptom presentation as well as prevalence rates vary across cultures (Chentsova-Dutton & Tsai, 2009).
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one’s own death. While not everyone who is clinically depressed has suicidal ideation, it is important to recognize that depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, and substance abuse — including alcoholism and the use of benzodiazepines — are risk factors for suicide. Those who have previously attempted suicide are at a higher risk for future attempts. There are a number of treatments that may reduce the risk of suicide for individuals struggling with mental illness.
Resources are also commonly in place at local colleges. Consider searching your school website and/or talking with a trusted faculty/staff member to learn more about resources available to students. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/10%3A_Culture_and_Mental_Health/10.07%3A_Major_Depressive_Disorder_%28MDD%29.txt |
Anxiety is a natural part of life and, at normal levels, helps us to function at our best. For people with anxiety disorders, anxiety is overwhelming and hard to control. Anxiety disorders develop out of a blend of biological (genetic) and psychological factors that, when combined with stress, may lead to the development of impairment. Primary anxiety-related diagnoses include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, specific phobia, social anxiety disorder (social phobia), post-traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Anxiety can be defined as a negative mood state that is accompanied by bodily symptoms such as increased heart rate, muscle tension, a sense of unease, and apprehension about the future (APA, 2013; Barlow, 2002).
While many individuals experience some levels of worry throughout the day, individuals with anxiety disorders experience symptoms of a greater intensity and for longer periods of times than the average person. Additionally, they are often unable to control their worry, tension, and/or predictive dread through various coping strategies, which directly interferes with their ability to engage in daily social and occupational tasks.
Characteristic symptoms of anxiety:
• Negative mood state characterized by unease, worry, tension, and/or dread.
• Frequent doubts regarding self-worth and/or ability to handle problems.
• Future-based, “predicative” fears for events.
• Difficulty with cognitive rumination, racing thoughts, and inability to calm the mind.
• Physiological cues (racing heart, sweat, bodily tension, among others) often accompanying cognitive symptoms, resulting in changing sleep/eating patterns.
Anxiety disorders often occur along with other mental disorders, in particular depression, which may occur in as many as 60% of people with anxiety disorders. The fact that there is considerable overlap between symptoms of anxiety and depression and that the same environmental triggers can provoke symptoms in either condition. These factors may help to explain this high rate of comorbidity.
Cross-Cultural Considerations
About 12% of people are affected by an anxiety disorder in a given year, and between 5% and 30% are affected at some point in their life. They occur about twice as often in females as males and generally begin before the age of 25. The most common are specific phobia which affects nearly 12% and social anxiety disorder which affects 10% of individuals at some point in their life. Rates of anxiety appear to be higher in the United States and Europe than other parts of the world.
10.09: Eating Disorders
While nearly two out of three adults in the United States struggle with issues related to being overweight, a smaller, but significant, portion of the population has eating disorders that typically result in being normal weight or underweight.
Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by the maintenance of a body weight well below average through starvation and/or excessive exercise. Individuals suffering from anorexia nervosa often have a distorted body image. A distorted body image is referred to as body dysmorphia in the research literature and it means that people with anorexia nervosa view themselves as overweight even though they are not. Anorexia nervosa is associated with a number of significant negative health outcomes including bone loss, heart failure, kidney failure, amenorrhea (cessation of the menstrual period), reduced function of the gonads, and in extreme cases, death. Furthermore, there is an increased risk for a number of psychological problems, which include anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and substance abuse (Mayo Clinic, 2012a).
Estimates of the prevalence of anorexia nervosa vary from study to study but generally range from less than 1% to just over 4% in women. Generally, prevalence rates are considerably lower for men (Smink et al., 2012).
Bulimia Nervosa
People with bulimia nervosa engage in binge eating behavior (consuming large amounts of food) that is followed by an attempt to compensate for the large amount of food consumed. Purging the food by inducing vomiting or through the use of laxatives are two common compensatory behaviors. Some affected individuals engage in excessive amounts of exercise to compensate for their binges. Bulimia is associated with many adverse health consequences that can include kidney failure, heart failure, and tooth decay. In addition, these individuals often suffer from anxiety and depression, and they are at an increased risk for substance abuse (Mayo Clinic, 2012b). The lifetime prevalence rate for bulimia nervosa is estimated at around 1% for women and less than 0.5% for men (Smink, van Hoeken, & Hoek, 2012).
Eating Disorders and Cross-Cultural Considerations
While both anorexia and bulimia nervosa occur in men and women of many different cultures, Caucasian females from Western societies tend to be the most at-risk population. Recent research indicates that females between the ages of 15 and 19 are most at risk, and it has long been suspected that these eating disorders are culturally-bound phenomena that are related to messages of a thin ideal often portrayed in popular media and the fashion world (Smink et al., 2012). While social factors play an important role in the development of eating disorders, there is also evidence that genetic factors may predispose people to these disorders (Collier & Treasure, 2004).. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/10%3A_Culture_and_Mental_Health/10.08%3A_Anxiety_Disorders.txt |
Most of you have probably had the experience of walking down the street in a city and seeing a person you thought was acting oddly. They may have been dressed in an unusual way, perhaps disheveled or wearing an unusual collection of clothes, makeup, or jewelry that did not seem to fit any particular group or subculture. They may have been talking to themselves or yelling at someone you could not see. If you tried to speak to them, they may have been difficult to follow or understand, or they may have acted paranoid or started telling a bizarre story about the people who were plotting against them. If so, chances are that you have encountered an individual with schizophrenia or another type of psychotic disorder.
Schizophrenia is a devastating psychological disorder that is characterized by major disturbances in thought, perception, emotion, and behavior. About 1% of the population experiences schizophrenia in their lifetime, and usually the disorder is first diagnosed during early adulthood (early to mid-20s). Schizophrenia and the other psychotic disorders are some of the most impairing forms of psychopathology, frequently associated with a profound negative effect on the individual’s educational, occupational, and social function. Sadly, these disorders often manifest right at time of the transition from adolescence to adulthood, just as young people should be evolving into independent young adults.
The spectrum of psychotic disorders includes schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, delusional disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, schizophreniform disorder, brief psychotic disorder, as well as psychosis associated with substance use or medical conditions. Even when they receive the best treatments available, many with schizophrenia will continue to experience serious social and occupational impairment throughout their lives. In the United States, the cost of schizophrenia, including direct costs (e.g., outpatient, inpatient, drugs, and long-term care) and non-health care costs (e.g., law enforcement, reduced workplace productivity, and unemployment) was estimated to be \$62.7 billion in 2002.
The main symptoms of schizophrenia include hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking, disorganized or abnormal motor behavior, and negative symptoms (APA, 2013). A hallucination is a perceptual experience that occurs in the absence of external stimulation. Auditory hallucinations (hearing voices) occur in roughly two-thirds of patients with schizophrenia and are by far the most common form of hallucination (Andreasen, 1987). The voices may be familiar or unfamiliar, they may have a conversation or argue, or the voices may provide a running commentary on the person’s behavior (Tsuang, Farone, & Green, 1999).
Delusions are false beliefs that are often fixed, hard to change even when the person is presented with conflicting information, and are often culturally influenced in their content (e.g., delusions involving Jesus in Judeo-Christian cultures, delusions involving Allah in Muslim cultures). They can be terrifying for the person, who may remain convinced that they are true even when loved ones and friends present them with clear information that they cannot be true. There are many different types or themes to delusions.
Positive Symptoms
Talking to someone with schizophrenia is sometimes difficult, as their speech may be difficult to follow, either because their answers do not clearly flow from your questions, or because one sentence does not logically follow from another. This is referred to as disorganized speech, and it can be present even when the person is writing. Disorganized behavior can include odd dress, odd makeup (e.g., lipstick outlining a mouth for 1 inch), or unusual rituals (e.g., repetitive hand gestures).
Negative Symptoms
Some of the most debilitating symptoms of schizophrenia are difficult for others to see. These include what people refer to as negative symptoms or the absence of certain things we typically expect most people to have. For example, anhedonia or amotivation reflect a lack of apparent interest in or drive to engage in social or recreational activities. These symptoms can manifest as a great amount of time spent in physical immobility. Importantly, anhedonia and amotivation do not seem to reflect a lack of enjoyment in pleasurable activities or events (Cohen & Minor, 2010; Kring & Moran, 2008; Llerena, Strauss, & Cohen, 2012) but rather a reduced drive or ability to take the steps necessary to obtain the potentially positive outcomes (Barch & Dowd, 2010). Flat affect and reduced speech (alogia) reflect a lack of showing emotions through facial expressions, gestures, and speech intonation, as well as a reduced amount of speech and increased pause frequency and duration.
Cross-Cultural Considerations
It is clear that there are important genetic contributions to the likelihood that someone will develop schizophrenia, with consistent evidence from family, twin, and adoption studies. (Sullivan, Kendler, & Neale, 2003) but there is no such thing as the schizophrenia gene. It is more likely that the genetic risk for schizophrenia reflects the summation of many different genes that each contribute something to the likelihood of developing psychosis (Gottesman & Shields, 1967; Owen, Craddock, & O’Donovan, 2010). Further, schizophrenia is a very heterogeneous disorder, which means that two different people with schizophrenia may each have very different symptoms (e.g., one has hallucinations and delusions, the other has disorganized speech and negative symptoms).
About 0.3% to 0.7% of people are affected by schizophrenia during their lifetimes. In 2013 there were an estimated 23.6 million cases globally. Males are more often affected, and on average experience more severe symptoms. About 20% of people eventually do well and a few recover completely, while about 50% have lifelong impairment. Social problems, such as long-term unemployment, poverty and homelessness, are common. The average life expectancy of people with the disorder is ten to twenty-five years less than for the general population. This is the result of increased physical health problems and a higher suicide rate (about 5%). In 2015 an estimated 17,000 people worldwide died from behavior related to, or caused by, schizophrenia. There is also a higher than average suicide rate associated with schizophrenia.
The term for schizophrenia in Japan was changed from “mind-split disease” to “integration disorder,” to reduce stigma. The new name was inspired by the biopsychosocial model and as a result the percentage of people who were informed of the diagnosis increased from 37 to 70% over three years. A similar change was made in South Korea in 2012. A professor of psychiatry, Jim van Os, has proposed changing the English term to “psychosis spectrum syndrome”.
Individuals with severe mental illness, including schizophrenia, are at a significantly greater risk of being victims of both violent and non-violent crime. Schizophrenia has been associated with a higher rate of violent acts, but most appear to be related to substance abuse. Media coverage relating to violent acts by individuals with schizophrenia reinforces public perception of an association between schizophrenia and violence. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/10%3A_Culture_and_Mental_Health/10.10%3A_Psychosis.txt |
Mental disorders are common, affecting tens of millions of people each year. Worldwide, more than one in three people in most countries report sufficient criteria for at least one at some point in their life. In the United States, 46% qualify for a mental illness within their lifetime, with less than 1 out of 5 receiving a diagnosis. An ongoing survey indicates that anxiety disorders are the most common in all but one country, followed by mood disorders in all but two countries, while substance disorders and impulse-control disorders were consistently less prevalent. Estimates suggest that less than half of people with mental illnesses in industrialized societies will receive treatment.
The World Health Organization (WHO, 2004) stated that “Prevention of these disorders is obviously one of the most effective ways to reduce the [disease] burden.”
Mental Illness and the Cost to Society
This leads us to consider the cost of mental illness to society. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) indicates that depression is the number one cause of disability across the world “and is a major contributor to the global burden of disease.” Serious mental illness costs the United States an estimated \$193 billion in lost earnings each year. They also point out that suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States and 90% of those who die from suicide have an underlying mental illness.
Approximately, 37% of students with a mental disorder age 14 and older drop out of school which is the highest dropout rate of any disability group, and 70% of youth in state and local juvenile justice systems have at least one mental disorder. In terms of worldwide impact, the costs for mental illness are greater than the combined costs of cancer, diabetes, and respiratory disorders (Whiteford et al., 2013).
10.12: Reducing Stigma around Mental Illness
Negative societal responses to people with mental illnesses may be the single greatest barrier to the development of mental health programs worldwide Stigma happens when a personal with mental illness is viewed in a negative way because of their symptoms or behaviors associated with the condition. Unfortunately, negative attitudes and beliefs toward people who have a mental health condition are common.
Stigma can lead to discrimination, which can be experienced on a personal level (e.g., social isolation, exclusion or bullying) or it may be experienced at a structural or system level (e.g., employment, education, and housing). The stigma associated with mental illness makes most people reluctant to talk about their experiences of having strange thoughts or deep sadness. As a result of stigma, individuals are less likely to seek help or treatment for their mental illness. Discrimination may be obvious and direct, such as someone making a negative remark about a person with mental illness or someone getting treatment. Or it may be unintentional or subtle, such as someone avoiding a person with mental illness because they think people with mental illness unstable, violent or dangerous.
Several national and international organizations (National Alliance on Mental Health, World Health Organization, and European Commission) have provided several recommendations for reducing stigma surrounding mental illness:
• Know the facts about mental illness
• Educate others by challenging and correcting myths about mental illness
• Recognize personal biases
• Be conscious of language and power of words to perpetuate negative attitudes
• Support people with mental illness by offering encouragement
10.13: Summary
Psychological disorders are conditions characterized by abnormal thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Although challenging, it is essential for psychologists and mental health professionals to agree on what kinds of inner experiences and behaviors constitute the presence of a psychological disorder. Inner experiences and behaviors that are atypical or violate social norms could signify the presence of a disorder; however, each of these criteria alone is inadequate. Harmful dysfunction describes the view that psychological disorders result from the inability of an internal mechanism to perform its natural function. Many of the features of harmful dysfunction conceptualization have been incorporated in the American Psychological Association (APA) formal definition of psychological disorders. According to this definition, the presence of a psychological disorder is signaled by significant disturbances in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; these disturbances must reflect some kind of dysfunction (biological, psychological, or developmental), must cause significant impairment in one’s life, and must not reflect culturally expected reactions to certain life events.
10.14: Vocabulary
Biopsychosocial Model is a perspective that attributes disturbance(s) to the complex interaction of bodily, psychological, and sociocultural factors
Cultural relativism is the idea that cultural norms and values of a society can only be understood on their own terms or in their own context.
Maladaptive is a term referring to behaviors that cause people who have them physical or emotional harm, prevent them from functioning in daily life, and/or indicate that they have lost touch with reality and/or cannot control their thoughts and behavior (also called dysfunctional).
Mental Illness is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning.
Psychogenic refers to a disorder effect that originates from the brain instead of other physical organs (i.e. the cause is psychological rather than physiological).
Somatogenic refers to a disorder developing from physical/bodily origins
Stigma happens when a personal with mental illness is viewed in a negative way because of their symptoms or behaviors associated with the condition
Universal disorder refers to the incidence of a particular set of symptoms that occur across various cultures and circumstances. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/10%3A_Culture_and_Mental_Health/10.11%3A_Barriers_to_Treatment.txt |
Group Membership
Psychologists study groups because nearly all human activities (e.g., working, learning, worshiping, relaxing, playing, and even sleeping) occur in groups and these groups have a profound impact on our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Some researchers believe that groups may be humans’ most useful innovation that facilitated social norms and language development (Boyd & Richerson, 2005; Henrich, 2016; Aiello & Dunbar, 1993). Groups provide us with the means to reach goals that we otherwise wouldn’t if we remained alone. The advantages of group life may be so great that humans are biologically prepared to seek membership and avoid isolation.
Need to Belong
Humans have a powerful need to belong. Baumeister and Leary (1995) describe this need as “a pervasive drive to form and maintain at least a minimum quantity of lasting, positive, and impactful interpersonal relationships (p. 497)” and most of us satisfy this need by joining groups. It doesn’t matter if a person is from Israel, Mexico, or the Philippines, we all have a strong need to make friends, start families, and spend time together. Across individuals, societies, and generations, we consistently seek inclusion over exclusion, membership over isolation, and acceptance over rejection. People who are accepted members of a group tend to feel happier and more satisfied.
When people are deliberate excluded from groups the experience is highly stressful leading to depression, confused thinking, and even aggression (Williams, 2007). When researchers used an fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scanner to track neural responses to exclusion, they found that people who were left out of a group activity displayed heightened cortical activity in two specific areas of the brain, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior insula. These areas were associated with the experience of physical pain sensations (Eisenberger, Lieberman, & Williams, 2003). It hurts literally, to be left out of a group.
Identity and Membership
Groups not only satisfy the need to belong, they also provide members with a sense of identity, the universal construct that is shaped by our view of ourselves and how we are recognized by others (Chapter 8). Demographic qualities such as sex or age can influence us if we categorize ourselves based on these qualities. Social identity theory asserts that we categorize ourselves and form a social identity based on the degree to which we identify as a member of a particular social group (e.g., man, woman, Anglo, elderly, or college student) (Tajfel & Turner, 1979/1986). We don’t just classify ourselves, we also categorize other people into social categories. Social identity theory explains our tendency to favor an in-group (people we perceive to be like us) over an outgroup (people we perceive to be different from us).
When we strongly identify with an in-group, our own well-being becomes bound to the welfare of that group which increases our willingness to make personal sacrifices for its benefit. We see this with sports fans who heavily identify with a favorite team. These fans become elated when the team wins and sad when the team loses. Heavily committed fans often make personal sacrifices to support their team, such as braving terrible weather, paying high prices for tickets, and standing and chanting during games.
People also take credit for the successes of other in-group members, remember more positive than negative information about in-groups, are more critical of the performance of out-group than of in-group members, and believe that their own groups are less prejudiced than are out-groups (Shelton & Richeson, 2005). Attitudes and beliefs about out-groups are often associated with infrahumanization which is the tendency to see out-groups as less human, or as having less humanity than in-groups (Vaes, Paladino, Castelli, Leyens, & Giovanazzi, 2004). We have seen this in history as a justification for genocide or ethnic cleansing (Castano & Giner-Sorolla, 2006). Though a strong group identity can bind individuals together, it can also drive divisions between different groups, reducing overall trust and cooperation on a larger scale. People are generally less likely to cooperate with members of an out-group (Allport, 1954; Van Vugt, Biel, Snyder, & Tyler, 2000).
11.02: Group Interactions and Culture
Triandis and colleagues (1988) found that in/out-group relationships were highly correlated with individualistic and collectivistic values of cultures. Members of individualistic cultures belong to multiple in-groups and move easily from in-group to in-group. People from individualistic cultures were not attached to any one single in-group because they belong to many different groups. Additionally, members were more likely to treat out-group persons more equally, with less distinction between in-groups and out-group. Individuals from collectivistic cultures tended to belong to fewer in-groups than individualistic cultures but had much greater commitment to the groups they belong to.
Consider, if a group leader (e.g., politician, chief, religious figure) has to decide between providing financial support for one program or another. She may be more likely to give resources to the group that more closely represents her own in-group. This psychological process, of being more comfortable with people like yourself, can have important and lasting consequences for the out-group members. In-group favoritism (preferences for the in-group) is found for many different types of social groups, in many different settings, on many different dimensions, and in many different cultures (Bennett et al., 2004; Pinter & Greenwald, 2011). In-group favoritism also occurs on trait ratings, such that in-group members are rated as having more positive characteristics than are out-group members (Hewstone, 1990).
Van de Vliert (2011) examined in-group favoritism using three major components that shape culture: ecology, resources and people (Chapter 2). Using data from almost 180 countries, in-group favoritism was highest in cultures with the lowest income and harshest most demanding climates (e.g., extreme heat or cold) and lowest in cultures with high national income and demanding climates. By examining ecology, national wealth and group preferences collectively, rather than individually, a picture begins to emerge that suggests in-group favoritism likely co-evolved with culture, as groups adapted to survive ecological challenges with limited resources. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/11%3A_Culture_and_Social_Behavior/11.01%3A_Group_Interactions.txt |
Cooperation refers to the ability of humans to work together toward common goals and is required for survival. Groups with better member cooperation were more likely to survive (Bowles et al., 2012). As we learned earlier (see Chapter 2) cooperation occurs in non-human primates (e.g., chimpanzees, bonobos) but it is almost exclusively limited to kin and is almost never extended to strangers (Melis & Semmann, 2010). Some psychologists believe that complex cooperation among humans is related to psychological processes like empathy, trust, group identity, memory, shared intentionality and culture (Matsumoto & Juang, 2013; Moskowitz & Piff, 2018).
Our ability to understand someone’s emotional experience, empathy, occurs when we take on perspective of the person and try to understand his or her point of view. When empathizing with a person in distress, the natural desire to help is often expressed as a desire to cooperate. Trust is the belief that another person’s actions will be beneficial to one’s own interests (Kramer, 1999) which enables us to work together as a single unit. When it comes to cooperation, trust is necessary and critical (Pruitt & Kimmel, 1977; Parks, Henager, & Scamahorn, 1996; Chaudhuri, Sopher, & Strand, 2002); however, our willingness to trust others depends on their actions and reputation. One common example of the difficulties in trusting others that you might be familiar with is a group project for a class. Many students dislike group projects because they worry about social loafing, the way that one person expends less effort but still benefits from the efforts of the group.
Over time, individuals develop a reputation for helping or for loafing. Willingness to cooperate with others depends on their prior actions and reputation and our memory of the events. Nowak and Sigmund (1998) demonstrated with a mathematical model that a person with a reputation for helping gets help later on, regardless of whether they provided help to you directly in the past. In a study that used an economic game, found that as the game progressed donations (help) were more frequently given to individuals who had been generous in earlier rounds of the game (Wedekind & Milinski, 2000). Individuals who were perceived as cooperative gained a reputational advantage, earning them more partners willing to cooperate and a larger overall monetary reward.
There are cultural differences in the belief about the goodness of people, which can be seen as a measure of trust. High trust refers to positive expectations about the behaviors of others (returning a lost wallet) and low trust refers to negative expectations about the behaviors of others (keeping a lost wallet). High trust societies are more likely to cooperate without sanctions (punishment); however, there is a lot of variation in cooperation across cultures (Gatcher et al., 2010) and willingness to sanction group members is moderated by factors like social norms, country gross domestic product (GDP) and individual reputation (whether someone has helped in the past) (Balliet & Van Lange, 2013).
Economists and psychologists often use the Prisoner’s Dilemma to examine cooperation and competition experimental studies. In the prisoner’s dilemma, the participants are shown a payoff matrix in which numbers are used to express the potential outcomes for the each of the players in the game, given the decisions made by each player. The payoffs are chosen beforehand by the experimenter in order to create a situation that is similar to a real-world outcome and are normally arranged so that each individual is better off acting in his or her immediate self-interest. If all individuals act according to their self-interest, then everyone will be worse off. Yamagishi (1986, 1988) categorized Japanese and American participants into low trust and high trust categories and then asked them to take part in an experiment where they could give other participants money (a variation of the prisoner’s dilemma). High trusters provided more cooperation without the presence of sanctions and low trusters provided more cooperation with sanctions. Culture variation in levels of trust (high/low) is present within and across cultures. It appears that across cultures punishment promotes cooperation of social loafers in societies with high trust more than low trust societies (Balliet & Van Lange, 2013). High trust cultures are more willing to punish social loafers. Low trust cultures may not share the social norm of ‘no free rides’ so punishment isn’t going to work in those situations.
Group identification can strongly influence cooperation and people are generally reluctant to cooperate with members of an out-group, or those outside the boundaries of one’s own social group (Allport, 1954). Matsumoto and Hwang (2011) used the Prisoner’s Dilemma to examine whether cultural differences were related to intercultural (between cultures) competition and cooperation. Researchers used the prisoner’s dilemma to test their hypothesis. Students were paired as same-sex and same ethnicity or same sex but different ethnicity. The pairs with different ethnicities had fewer cooperative behaviors and more competitive behaviors.
Using a variation of the Prisoner’s Dilemma among small-scale subsistence societies revealed that the interdependence of a group (i.e., relying on one another for survival) predicted the likelihood of cooperation. For example, among the people of the Lamelara in Indonesia, who survive by hunting whales in groups of a dozen or more individuals, donations in the ultimatum game were extremely high, approximately 58% of the total sum. In contrast, the Machiguenga people of Peru, who are generally economically independent at the family level, donated much less on average, about 26% of the total sum. The interdependence of people for survival, therefore, seems to be a key component of why people decide to cooperate with others (Henrich et al., 2001).
Cooperation is an important part of our everyday lives and even though cooperation can sometimes be difficult to achieve, certain practices, such as emphasizing shared goals and engaging in open communication, can promote teamwork and even break down rivalries. Though choosing not to cooperate can sometimes achieve a larger reward for an individual in the short term, cooperation is often necessary to ensure that the group as a whole is successful. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/11%3A_Culture_and_Social_Behavior/11.03%3A_Cooperation.txt |
As discussed earlier, the social groups we belong to, help form our identities (Tajfel, 1974) and people are often biased against others outside of their own social group (out-groups), showing prejudice (emotional bias), stereotypes (cognitive bias), and discrimination (behavioral bias). These three aspects of bias are related, but they each can occur separately from the others (Dovidio & Gaertner, 2010; Fiske, 1998).
Stereotypes
A stereotype is a specific belief or assumption (thoughts) about individuals based solely on their membership in a group, regardless of their individual characteristics. Stereotypes can be positive or negative and when overgeneralized are applied to all members of a group. For example, the model minority stereotype of Asian Americans as highly intelligent, diligent and good at math can be damaging professionally, academically (Trytten et al., 2012). These beliefs are overgeneralized to all members of the group, even though many of the individual group members may in fact be struggle academically and professionally.
Another example of a well-known stereotype involves beliefs about racial differences among athletes. As Hodge, Burden, Robinson, and Bennett (2008) point out, black male athletes are often believed to be more athletic, yet less intelligent, than their white male counterparts. These beliefs persist despite a number of high profile examples to the contrary. Sadly, such beliefs often influence how these athletes are treated by others and how they view themselves and their own capabilities. Stereotypes are universal. Whether or not you agree with a stereotype the content of stereotypes is generally well-known within in a given culture (Devine, 1989).
Prejudice
Prejudice is a negative attitude and feeling toward an individual based solely on one’s membership in a particular social group (Allport, 1954; Brown, 2010). Prejudice is common against people who are members of an unfamiliar cultural group. An example of prejudice is having a negative attitude toward people who are not born in the United States. Although people holding this prejudiced attitude do not know all people who were not born in the United States, they dislike them due to their status as foreigners.
Explicit prejudice, negative feelings about an out-group that are openly admitted, is very difficult to measure because this is generally not socially acceptable. This means that tests and instruments measuring prejudice may be susceptible to socially desirable responding (Chapter 2). To address this research bias, psychologists have developed several ways to measure implicit prejudice, which is the relatively automatic and unconscious in-group preference. The most famous instrument used is the Implicit Association Test (IAT;Greenwald, Banaji, Rudman, Farnham, Nosek, & Mellott, 2002; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998). The IAT is done on the computer and measures how quickly you can sort words or pictures into different categories. People may explicitly deny prejudice but when they’re given this computer task to categorize people from these out-groups that automatic or unconscious hesitation (a result of having mixed evaluations about the out-group) will show up in the test. Numerous studies have revealed, people tend to be faster at pairing their own group with good categories as compared to pairing others’ groups. In fact, this finding generally holds regardless if one’s group is measured according race, age, religion, nationality, and even temporary, insignificant memberships. Automatic associations and unconscious responses are often driven by society’s stereotypes and can result in discrimination like allocating fewer resources to disliked out-groups (Rudman & Ashmore, 2009).
Discrimination
When someone acts on prejudiced attitudes toward a group of people this is known as discrimination. Discrimination is negative action toward an individual as a result of one’s membership in a particular group (Allport, 1954; Dovidio & Gaertner, 2004). As a result of holding negative beliefs (stereotypes) and negative attitudes (prejudice) about a particular group, people often treat the target of prejudice poorly. Discrimination can extend to institutions or social and political systems.
Institutional discrimination refers to practices (at the social level) which serve to reinforce social norms for preference, privilege and limited access to services and resources. In the United States, African Americans have lower life expectancy, experience higher risk for a cardiac events and higher rates of anxiety and depression than others racial and ethnic groups in the United States (Williams, 1999; Williams & Mohammed, 2009). Native American populations experience higher rates of injury than other ethnic and racial groups (Williams, 1999). These disparities are not simply the result of lifestyle choices but represent systemic practices in healthcare that treat racial and ethnic minorities differently, as well as the effect of chronic prejudice and racism (Gee & Ford, 2011; Williams, 1999; Williams & Mohammed, 2009).
Suicide rates among lesbians and gays are substantially higher than rates for the general population, and it has been argued that this in part due to the negative outcomes of prejudice, including negative attitudes and social isolation (Halpert, 2002). Stigmatized individuals who report experiencing more exposure to discrimination or other forms of unfair treatment also report more depression, anger, and anxiety and lower levels of life satisfaction and happiness (Swim, Hyers, Cohen, & Ferguson, 2001). Exposure to chronic and persistent discrimination is harmful to our health. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/11%3A_Culture_and_Social_Behavior/11.04%3A_Stereotypes_Prejudice_and_Discrimination.txt |
You have probably noticed that we often adopt the preferences, actions and attitudes of the people around us like fashion, music, foods, and entertainment. Our views on political issues, religious questions, and lifestyles also reflect, to some degree, the attitudes of the people we interact with. Decisions about risk-taking behaviors such as smoking and drinking are also influenced by whether the people we spend time with engage in these activities. Psychologists refer to this tendency to act and think like the people around us as conformity. Consider a classic study conducted many years ago by Solomon Asch (1956). Male college students gave wrong answers to a simple visual judgment task rather than go against the group (Asch, 1956). Variations of Asch’s procedures have been conducted numerous times across many cultures (Bond, 2005; Bond & Smith, 1996) and conformity appears to be a universal construct. Bond and Smith (1996) analyzed the results of 133 studies that used Asch’s line-judging task in 17 different countries that were categorized as collectivist or individualist in orientation. Results were significant, conformity was greater in more collectivist countries than in individualistic countries. Compared with individualistic cultures, people who live in collectivist cultures place a higher value on the goals of the group than on individual preferences. They also are more motivated to maintain harmony in their interpersonal relations.
Conformity and Culture
Kim and Markus (1999) examined conformity using advertisements from popular magazines in the United States and in Korea to see if they emphasized conformity and uniqueness differently. As you can see Figure 1, the researchers found that while magazines ad from the United States tended to focus on uniqueness (e.g., “Choose your own view!”; “Individualize”) Korean ads tended to focus more on themes of conformity (e.g., “Seven out of 10 people use this product”; “Our company is working toward building a harmonious society”).
Although the effects of individual differences on conformity tend to be smaller than those of the social context, they do matter. And gender and cultural differences can also be important. Conformity, like most other psychological processes represents an interaction between culture and the individual.
11.06: Obedience
Although we may be influenced by the people around us more than we recognize, whether we conform to the norm is up to us but sometimes decisions about how to act are not so easy. Sometimes we are directed by a more powerful person to do things we may not want to do. Psychologists who study obedience are interested in how people react when given an order or command from someone perceived to be in a position of authority. In many situations, obedience is a good thing like obeying parents, teachers, and police officers but there is a dark side to obedience. When “following orders” or “just doing my job,” people can violate ethical principles, break laws or harm other people. It was this unsettling side of obedience that led to some of the most famous and most controversial research in the history of psychology.
Milgram (1963, 1965, 1974) wanted to know why so many otherwise decent German citizens went along with the brutality of the Nazi leaders during the Holocaust so he conducted a series of laboratory investigations. In his now famous deception study, Milgram found that 65% of research participants were willing to administer, what they believed were, 330-volt electric shocks to a fellow research participant despite hearing cries and protests. No one was hurt or injured during this study, the research participant receiving the electric shocks was a confederate – part of the study – but the actual research participants did not know this. They were willing to administer electric shocks because the experimenter told them to continue. These were not cruel people but they followed the experimenter’s instructions to administer what they believed to be excruciating if not dangerous electric shocks to an innocent person.
Obedience and Culture
The initial research was conducted using male participants but Milgram found that women participants followed the experimenter’s instructions at exactly the same rate that the men had. Some people have argued that today we are more aware of the dangers of blind obedience than we were when the research was conducted in the 1960s; however, findings from partial and modified replications of Milgram’s procedures recently conducted suggest that people respond to the situation today much like they did a half a century ago (Burger, 2009). Cross cultural studies of obedience found rates of obedience similar to those of Milgram. The United States had an obedience rate of 61% and the mean across other cultures was about 66%. Some countries had much lower rates of obedience (India reported 42% and Spain reported about 50%) while some countries had much higher rates of obedience (Germany and Austria reported about 80%) (Blass, 2011). Culture and social norms shape perspectives of authority, obedience and interact with individual decision making.
Decades of research on social influence, including conformity and obedience make it clear that we live in a social world and that, for better or worse, much of what we do reflects the people we encounter and the groups we belong to. Disturbing implications from the research are that, under the right circumstances, each of us may be capable of acting in some very uncharacteristic and perhaps some very unsettling ways.
11.07: Summary
For humans, group membership promotes survival, motivation, and a sense of self.
Through the process of enculturation, we learn who belongs in our group (in-group) and who does not belong (out-group). Commitment to our groups can be positive and enriching or destructive which results in infrahumanization, negative stereotypes and discrimination. We are individuals, with unique personalities, motivations and desires but culture influences our group membership and our social identity.
11.08: Vocabulary
Collectivist cultures are those in which the primary unit of measurement is the group; likely to emphasize duty and obligation over personal aspirations
Compliance occurs when there is a direct request to change your behavior or attitude and you agree.
Conformity occurs when you change your attitude or behavior to match a perceived social norm; this can be voluntary or involuntary (unconscious). There is not a direct request to change.
Cooperation or the coordination of multiple individuals toward a goal that benefits the entire group, is a fundamental feature of human social life.
Discrimination is behavior that advantages or disadvantages people based only on their group membership; this refers to behaviors
Empathy is the ability to understand someone’s emotional experience; we take on that person’s perspective and try to understand his or her point of view,
Entitativity is the process that shifts a group of individuals who might be gathered at the same place to suddenly coalescence as a group with goals and intent Social identity theory notes that people categorize each other into groups, favoring their own group.
Explicit prejudice occurs at the conscious level, is deliberately formed and is easy to self-report
Favoritism is the preferential treatment for ingroup members
Implicit prejudice occurs at the unconscious level, is involuntarily formed and unknown to us
Individualist cultures are those in which the primary unit of measurement is the individual. Individualists are likely to emphasize uniqueness and personal aspirations over social duty.
Infrahumanization is a perception of the outgroup, the belief that others are less human – more animal like; we have seen this in history as a reason for genocide of a group
In group refers to people who belong to the same social group as you; are generally viewed more favorably than members of an out group
Out group refers to people who belong to different social groups than you; generally viewed less favorably than members of an in group
Obedience occurs when one responds to an order or command from a person in a position of authority or by a person that is perceived to be in authority.
Prejudice is an evaluation (judgement) or emotion toward people merely based on their group membership; this can occur consciously or unconsciously.
Stereotypes are beliefs that characterizes people based merely on their group membership. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/11%3A_Culture_and_Social_Behavior/11.05%3A_Conformity.txt |
Some of the most important and fundamental moral principles seem to be universally held by all people in all cultures and do not change over time. It has been found that starting at about age 10, children in most cultures come to a belief about harm-based morality—that harming others, either physically or by violating their rights, is wrong (Helwig & Turiel, 2002). Some research suggests that morality development begins much earlier in human development. Hamlin and colleagues used a puppet morality play in an experiment with infants and toddlers that found children preferred people who help others reach a goal (prosocial behaviors) and avoided people who were harmful, or who get in the way of others reaching a goal. As early as 3 months age, humans are evaluating the behaviors of others and assigning a positive value to helpful, cooperative behaviors (Hamlin et al., 2007; Hamlin & Wynn, 2011) and negative values to harmful or selfish behaviors. These fundamental and universal principles of morality include individual rights, freedom, equality, autonomy and cooperation.
The theory that has the most cross-cultural empirical support is Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development, a cognitive development theory inspired by the work of Piaget. Moral development refers to the changes in moral beliefs as a person grows older and gains maturity.
According to Kohlberg’s theory, morality is based on the concept of equality and reciprocity of helping that can be predicted at certain ages. To develop this theory, Kohlberg posed moral dilemmas to people of all ages; however, they were all White, males from the United States. One of Kohlberg’s best-known moral dilemmas is commonly known as the Heinz dilemma and participants were asked to decide what Heinz should do.
In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctor’s thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost to make. He paid \$200 for the radium and charged \$2000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman’s husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together about \$1000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to see it cheaper or let him pay later. The druggist said, “No, I discovered the drug and I’m going to make money from it.” So, Heinz got desperate and broke into the man’s store to steal the drug for his wife. Should the husband have done that? (Kohlberg, 1969, p. 379).
After presenting this and other moral dilemmas, Kohlberg reviewed people’s responses. Kohlberg was not interested in whether participants answered yes or no to the dilemma but rather he was interested in the reasoning behind their answer. Depending on the rationale, Kohlberg placed people into different stages of moral reasoning. Kohlberg identified three main levels of moral reasoning:
• Pre-conventional
• Conventional
• Post-conventional
Each level is associated with increasingly complex stages of moral and cognitive development. According to Kohlberg, an individual progresses from the capacity for pre-conventional morality (before age 9) to the capacity for conventional morality (early adolescence), and toward attaining post-conventional morality (once formal operational thought is attained), which only a few fully achieve. Kohlberg placed responses that reflected the reasoning that Heinz should steal the drug because his wife’s life is more important than the pharmacist making money in the highest stage. The value of a human life overrides the pharmacist’s greed. It is important to realize that even those people who have the most sophisticated, post-conventional reasons for some choices may make other choices to avoid getting into trouble (e.g., pre-conventional reasons). | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/12%3A_Culture_and_Morality/12.01%3A_Universal_Morality.txt |
There is cross-cultural support for Kohlberg’s theory of moral development (Gibbs, et al., 2007; Snarey, 1985). It appears that people progress through the stages in the same order; however, individuals in different cultures seem to do so at different rates. Some researchers question the universality of all stages in all cultures. For example, the highest level of Kohlberg’s theory posits that individual principles should override social or cultural tradition and laws. Inherent in this view is a hierarchy which is inconsistent with collectivist cultural values. Additionally, Kohlberg’s theory does not consider relationships, affiliation or justice. As you might expect, his work has been criticized for using only White, males from the Midwestern United States and for his assertion that women seem to be deficient in their moral reasoning abilities when compared to men.
Carol Gilligan (1982) criticized Kohlberg’s theory and instead proposed that males and females reason differently about morality. She argued that girls and women focus more on staying connected and maintaining interpersonal relationships, whereas boys and men emphasize justice and individual rights. She labelled these the Morality of Caring and the Morality of Justice. Additionally, Shaffer and colleagues (2002) argued that Kohlberg’s theory neglects to consider the central role that emotion plays in morality. Given that emotions play a critical role in influencing our thoughts and motivating our actions, it seems critical that emotion be part of the model. Other models of morality have emerged to address these limitations and the most widely discussed within cultural psychology is the Three Ethic Model of Morality.
12.03: Cultural Alternatives to Moral Development
Shweder and colleagues (1984; 1987) proposed a new model of ethics that address concepts consistent with the moral belief systems of many cultures and not restricted to Western values of autonomy and individual rights. Cultural anthropologists and some cultural psychologists argue that morality is not always universal but rather unique cultural experiences shape views of fairness, morality and justice. Using fieldwork in India with adults and children of the Brahman class (sometimes referred to as the untouchables), Shweder and colleagues found that Western morality of harm avoidance and individual rights was insufficient and neglected other cultural definitions of morality and so created the Three Ethic Model of Morality:
• Ethic of Autonomy most closely aligns with Kohlberg’s theory of morality with an emphasis on harm, rights, justice and personal autonomy. Principles of fairness emerge very early in development, prior to socialization influences (Wainryb, 2006; Sunbar, 2018). Children in diverse cultures such as the United States, India, China, Turkey, and Brazil share a pervasive view about upholding fairness and the wrongfulness of inflicting harm on others (Wainryb, 2006).
• Ethic of Community refers to being part of an organized community and recognizing that you have a social role within that community. This ethnic encompasses relationships, social obligations, duty, hierarchy and interdependence on community members.
• Ethic of Divinity addresses our relationship with a higher power, divinity, the sacred, godliness and the order of the natural world.
Cross-cultural research has found support for the Three Ethic Model of Morality and the role of culture and moral judgment across different populations (Haidt, Koller & Dias, 1993). Haidt and colleagues found that children and adults in the United States and individuals with high socioeconomic status (SES) provided responses more consistent with ethics of autonomy than community or divinity. Samples of children and adults from Brazil had broader definitions of morality that extended beyond harm and autonomy.
Intracultural research within the United States has found that political liberals and conservatives emphasize different moral foundations with regard to harm and fairness (Graham, Haidt, & Nosek, 2009). The moral foundations of the groups were the same (no real moral differences between the political groups) but the degree of endorsement for some morals was significantly different for political conservatives and liberals. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/12%3A_Culture_and_Morality/12.02%3A_Cultural_Considerations_of_Kohlbergs_Theory.txt |
An essential part of morality involves determining what is considered “right” or “fair” in social interactions. As humans, we want things to be fair, we try to be fair ourselves, and we react negatively when we see things that are unfair. There is cultural variation regarding fairness because we determine what is or is not fair by relying on another set of social norms; the beliefs about how people should be treated fairly (Tyler & Lind, 2001; Tyler & Smith, 1998).
Most of us are familiar with the concept of equality, which suggests that everyone is treated the same and provided the same resources to succeed. For example, a health clinic in a small village can be open to everyone, but some villagers may lack the means to get to the village, or may not be able to afford medication. In this scenario, equality of health services has created a disparity of care – is that fair?
Another example that most of you are familiar with is applying for a job online. Most organizations, regardless of size almost exclusively use online recruitment and application processes which provides one system that everyone can use to apply for a job. One system and one platform that is the same for everyone – that’s equality, right? Except that the online application process may not be compatible with screen readers for the visually impaired and blind or the hiring algorithm may exclude you because of that D you earned in math. An underlying assumption of equality is that everyone starts in the same place and equally benefits from the same supports, which may or may not be the case.
Equity means ensuring that resources are equally distributed based on needs (Omrani-Khoo et al., 2013). Equity requires accounting for historical and current inequalities among groups of people who have been marginalized, excluded or experienced institutional discrimination. In this way, the concept of fairness is then based on the social and historical context. In our example about the clinic, health care workers might provide mobile care to reach villagers who cannot come to the clinic. They might also dispense medication on a sliding scale of payment so poor patients can get the treatment they need. When applying for a job, alternative applications and formats can be available for persons with disabilities when applying for jobs. The underlying assumption of equity is that everyone starts from a different place and receives the specific support and accommodations needed to produce fairness.
Equality and equity are separate constructs and sameness does not always translate into fairness, particularly across cultures. Justice, refers to the legal or philosophical perspective through which fairness is administered for the distribution of wealth, opportunities for personal activity, and social privileges. Current social justice efforts emphasize removing obstacles and underlying systemic barriers so that inequity is addressed and everyone receives equal access and resources. In the online application example, employers could ensure that their online platform is compatible with screen readers, videos have closed captions, fonts, colors and contrast can be adjusted to facilitate the process for individuals of all abilities.
One type of social fairness, known as distributive justice, refers to our judgments and perceptions about whether and how available rewards (resources) and costs are shared by (distributed across) group members. For example, if two people work equally hard on a project, they should get the same grade on it but if one works harder than the other, then the more hardworking partner should get a better grade. Distributive fairness is based on our perceptions of equity and is shaped by cultural norms.
Berman and colleagues (1984) presented American and Indian participants with a scenario about how to distribute a company bonus to employees. Findings revealed that American workers distributed the bonus based on equity norms (individual contributions to the company); whereas, the Indian workers distributed the bonus along need-based norms.
Recent research found that when presented with an uneven number of items, children tend to throw one item away rather than share the item unequally between two people they did not know. Paulus (2015) conducted a cross-cultural study to determine whether inequality aversion (e.g., throwing away rather than unequally sharing) is a universal concept. Results revealed that 6-7-year-old children in South Africa and the United States were more likely to throw out a resource rather than distribute it unequally. We might think of this as ‘better to be fair’. Ugandan children were more likely to distribute the resource even if it was unequally distributed. We might think of this as ‘wrong to waste’. These results challenge inequality aversion as a universal and suggests that there are cross-cultural differences in how children’s fairness-related decision making develops. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/12%3A_Culture_and_Morality/12.04%3A_Social_Fairness.txt |
Things seem fair and just when we see that balances in rewards and costs are occurring, but things seem unfair and unjust when rewards and costs are not balanced. The preference for fairness has been proposed to be a basic human impulse (Tyler & Blader, 2000), and when we perceive unfairness, we also experience negative emotional responses in brain regions associated with reward and punishment (Tabibnia, Satpute, & Lieberman, 2008). The experience of unfairness is associated with negative emotions, including anger and contempt, whereas fairness is associated with positive emotions.
Humans believe in the importance of fairness in part because if we did not, then we would be forced to accept the fact that life is unpredictable and that negative things can occur to us at any time. Believing in fairness allows us to feel better because we can believe that we get what we deserve and deserve what we get (e.g., just world hypothesis). These beliefs allow us to maintain control over our worlds. To believe that those who work hard are not rewarded and that accidents happen to good people forces us to concede that we too are vulnerable.
One way to create a “just world” is to reinterpret behaviors and outcomes so that the events seem to be fair and one way that people do this is by blaming the victim (Lerner, 1980). Blaming the victim means interpreting the negative outcomes that occur to others internally so that it seems that they deserved them. When we see that bad things have happened to other people, we tend to blame the people for them, even if they are not at fault. We may believe that poor people deserve to be poor because they are lazy, that crime victims deserve to be victims because they were careless, and that people with AIDS deserve their illness. In fact, the more threatened we feel by an apparent unfairness, the greater is our need to protect ourselves from the dreadful implication that it could happen to us, and the more we disparage the victim.
We learned earlier about infrahumanization, which is the tendency to see outgroups as less human or as having less humanity. Infrahumaziation refers to attitudes and beliefs and dehumanization refers to behaviors that undermine the individuality, humanness and rights of others. Denying humanity in others can lead to moral judgements and dehumanization may be a consequence, as well as a cause of harmful behavior against individuals deemed as immoral (Bastian, Laham, Wilson, Haslam, & Koval, 2010; Bastian et al., 2011). For example, someone who violates social, cultural, religious norms can be viewed as immoral, which can initiate sanctions (formal and informal) as well as violence. Once an individual or group is found less human or immoral, treating them differently is seen as justified, ethical and natural. For this reason, dehumanization is viewed as a central component to intergroup violence because frequently groups or individuals who are considered immoral are treated unfairly.
Members of a minority group or other marginalized individuals and groups (e.g., sexual orientation, gender, disability, class, heritage, race) are susceptible and vulnerable to various forms of dehumanization. The Jewish Holocaust during World War II and slavery in the United States are infamous examples of dehumanization at its extreme.
12.06: Summary
Morality is a universal construct that is tied to the essence of what it means to be human and avoiding things harmful to ourselves and to others. Our moral development is enculturated – we learn our morality – which means that morality, fairness and justice will be shaped by the unique experiences of our culture. As humans we believe in fairness and when things are not fair we must change our perception to protect ourselves from the reality that we are vulnerable and not in control of the events that happen to us. Infrahumanization can result from these changes in our thinking which can lead to making judgments about others as immoral. Dehumanization can seem justified and ethical when we fail to see the humanity in others, particularly members of marginalized and minority groups. When deciding what is right, wrong and fair, it is important that we recognize within ourselves the capacity to moralize and make judgements about others.
Across human history, our humanity has often been tied to our morals and values. Morals vary from person-to-person but cultures create codes of conduct based on shared values and expectations. Theories of morality have developed to explain the distribution of resources and justice. Equality, equity, and justice are independent constructs that are prioritized differently across cultural interpretation of what is fair. The ecology and resources of a culture shape the development of belief systems and sanctions. Dehumanization can be used by those who look to justify discrimination while preserving moral identity.
12.07: Vocabulary
Ethics are a set of concepts and principles that guide us in determining what behavior constitutes right and wrong conduct.
Ideals are the principals or values that one actively pursues as a goal.
Justice refers to the legal or philosophical theory by which fairness is administered.
Morality refers to intentions, decisions, and actions that are considered “proper” based on standards/principals.
Values are broad preferences concerning appropriate course of action or outcome. Reflects our sense of what “ought” to be. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/12%3A_Culture_and_Morality/12.05%3A_Psychological_Reactions_to_Unfair_Behavior.txt |
Acculturation is the process of social, psychological, and cultural change that occurs as a result of blending between cultures (see Chapter 2). Immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and sojourners are typically the people we think of having to adapt to a new culture (Schwartz et al., 2010) but can happen to anyone who enters a new culture and must adjust to new norms, values and systems. We learned earlier that enculturation is the process through which we first learn about a culture and we can think of acculturation as the process for learning about a second culture.
The effects of acculturation can be seen at multiple levels in both the original (native) and newly adopted (host) cultures. At the group level, acculturation often results in changes to culture, customs, religious practices, diet, healthcare, and other social institutions. Some of the most noticeable group level effects of acculturation include changes in food, clothing, and language. At the individual level, the process of acculturation refers to the socialization process by which people adopt the values, customs, norms, attitudes, and behaviors of a host culture. This process has been linked to changes in daily behavior, as well as numerous changes in psychological and physical well-being.
13.02: Culture Shock
As part of the acculturation process individuals may experience culture shock, which occurs when individuals move to a cultural environment which is different from their own. It can also describe the disorientation we feel when exposed to an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration to a new country, a visit to a new country, move between social environments (e.g., moving away for college), or transitioning to another type of life (e.g, dating after divorce). Common issues associated culture shock include: loss of status (e.g., provider to unemployed), unfamiliar social systems and social norms (e.g., agencies rather than extended kin networks), distance from family and friends, information overload, language barriers, generation gap, and possible technology gap. There is no way to prevent culture shock because everyone experiences and reacts to the contrasts between cultures differently.
Culture shock consists of at least one of four distinct phases:
• Honeymoon
• Negotiation
• Adjustment
• Adaptation
Honeymoon
During this period, the differences between the old and new culture are seen in a romantic light. For example, after moving to a new country, an individual might love the new food, the pace of life, and the locals’ habits. During the first few weeks, most people are fascinated by the new culture. They associate with individuals who speak their language and who are polite to the foreigners. Like most honeymoon periods, this stage eventually ends.
Negotiation
After some time (usually around three months depending on the individual), differences between the old and new culture become more apparent and may create anxiety or distress. Excitement may eventually give way to irritation, frustration and anger as one continues to experience unpleasant events that are strange and offensive to one’s own cultural attitude. Language barriers, stark differences in public hygiene, traffic safety, food accessibility and quality may heighten the feelings of disconnection from the surroundings.
Living in a different environment can have a negative, although usually short term, effect on our health. While negotiating culture shock we may have insomnia because of circadian rhythm disruption, problems with digestion because of gut flora due to different bacteria levels and concentrations in food and water, and difficulty in accessing healthcare or treatment (e.g., medicines with different names or active ingredients).
During the negotiation phase, people adjusting to a new culture often feel lonely and homesick because they are not yet used to the new environment and encounter unfamiliar people, customs and norms every day. The language barrier may become a major obstacle in creating new relationships. Some individuals find that they must pay special attention to culturally specific body language (e.g., arms crossed, smiling), conversation tone, and linguistic nuances and customs (e.g, handshake, turn taking, ending a conversation). International students often feel anxious and feel more pressure while adjusting to new cultures because there is special emphasis on their reading and writing skills.
Adjustment
As more time passes (usually 6 to 12 months) individuals generally grow accustomed to the new culture and develop routines. The host country no longer feels new and life becomes “normal”. Problem-solving skills for dealing with the culture have developed and most individuals accept the new culture with a positive attitude. The culture begins to make sense, and negative reactions and responses to the culture have decreased.
Adaption
In the adaptation stage individuals are able to participate fully and comfortably in the host culture but this does not mean total conversion or assimilation. People often keep many traits from their native culture, such as accents, language and values. This stage is often referred to as the bicultural stage. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/13%3A_Living_in_a_Multicultural_World/13.01%3A_Acculturation.txt |
Culture shock and the stages of culture shock are part of the acculturation process. Scholars in different disciplines have developed more than 100 different theories of acculturation (Rudiman, 2003); however contemporary research has primarily focused on different strategies and how acculturation affects individuals, as well as interventions to make the process easier (Berry, 1992).
Berry proposed a model of acculturation that categorizes individual adaptation strategies along two dimensions (Berry, 1992). The first dimension concerns the retention or rejection of an individual’s native culture (i.e. “Is it considered to be of value to maintain one’s identity and characteristics?”). The second dimension concerns the adoption or rejection of the host culture. (“Is it considered to be of value to maintain relationships with the larger society?”) From these two questions four acculturation strategies emerge:
• Assimilation occurs when individuals adopt the cultural norms of a dominant or host culture, over their original culture.
• Separation occurs when individuals reject the dominant or host culture in favor of preserving their culture of origin. Separation is often facilitated by immigration to ethnic enclaves.
• Integration occurs when individuals are able to adopt the cultural norms of the dominant or host culture while maintaining their culture of origin. Integration leads to, and is often synonymous with biculturalism.
• Marginalization occurs when individuals reject both their culture of origin and the dominant host culture.
Studies suggest that the acculturation strategy people use can differ between their private and public areas of life (Arends-Tóth, & van de Vijver, 2004). For instance, an individual may reject the values and norms of the host culture in his private life (separation) but he might adapt to the host culture in public parts of his life (i.e., integration or assimilation). Moreover, attitudes towards acculturation and the different acculturation strategies available have not been consistent over time. For example, for most of American history, policies and attitudes have been based around established ethnic hierarchies with an expectation of one-way assimilation for predominantly white European immigrants (Fredrickson, 1999).
The metaphor of the melting pot has been used to describe the immigration history of the United States but it doesn’t capture the experiences of many immigrant groups (Allen, 2011). Generally, immigrant groups who were white, or light skinned, and spoke English were better able to assimilate but immigrant groups that we might think of as white today were not always considered white enough. For example, Irish and Italian immigrants were discriminated against and even portrayed as black in cartoons that appeared in newspapers and it wasn’t until 1952 that Asian immigrants were allowed to become citizens of the United States (Allen, 2011).
Within the United States, separation as an acculturation strategy can still be seen today in some religious communities such as the Amish and the Hutterites. An integration strategy for acculturation can be observed within Deaf culture. Individuals who are deaf use a different language to communicate, learn about their culture and language from institutions and not their family (most deaf children have hearing parents) and are united by shared experiences as persons with disabilities. Deaf individuals in the United States live within the dominant culture and share the same cultural values but are separated by language and disability (Maxwell-McCaw, et al., 2000). Members of the Deaf culture have created their own unique cultural and social norms for communicating, interacting and experiencing the world around them.
Some acculturation research suggests that the integrated acculturation strategy has the most favorable psychological outcomes (Nguyuen, et al., 2007; Okasaki, et al., 2009) for individuals adjusting to a host culture and marginalization has the least favorable outcomes (Berry, et al., 2006). Additionally, marginalization has been described as a maladaptive acculturation and coping strategy (Knust et al., 2013). Other researchers have argued that the four strategies have very little predictive validity because people do not always fall neatly into the four categories (Kunst et al., 2013; Schwartz et al., 2010). Situational determinants (e.g., traveling with family, familiarity with language) and environment factors also impact the availability, advantage, and selection of different acculturation strategies (Zhou, 1997). | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/13%3A_Living_in_a_Multicultural_World/13.03%3A_Berrys_Model_of_Acculturation.txt |
As noted in the earlier section, language can play a large role in the intensity of culture shock and an individual’s adaptation to a new culture. A bilingual or multilingual person can traditionally be defined as an individual who uses (understands and produces) two (or more) languages on a regular basis (Grosjean, 2013). Globally, the majority of individuals who speak English also speak at least one other language fluently.
• 56% of Europeans speak more than one language (2018 Eurostat Yearbook)
• 20% of Americans speak more than one language (2016 US Census Report)
• 19% of Canadians speak more than one language (2018 Government of Canada)
It is not uncommon for individuals in China and Africa to speak many languages. There are 7 major languages in China and more in India and Africa when including specific regional and tribal dialects. Around the global monolingual speakers are the minority (Grosjean, 2013).
A bilingual person’s initial exposure to both languages may have started in early childhood (e.g. before age 3) (Baker, 2006) but exposure may also begin later in life. It is often assumed that bilinguals must be equally proficient in their languages but proficiency typically varies by domain. For example, a bilingual person may have greater proficiency for work-related terms in one language, and family-related terms in another language (Grosjean, 2013).
Takano and Nado (1993) describe the foreign language effect (FLE) which refers to a temporary decline in thinking by those who use a second language rather than their native language. They explain that when an individual is spoken to, in the second language, linguistic processing (not cognitive processing) is necessary for an appropriate response and to accommodate the processing thinking declines. With practice and increased proficiency, the decline diminishes (i.e., interpreters). Using German, Korean and English speakers, the researchers found that the FLE was larger when the discrepancy between the native and foreign languages was greater (e.g., German and Korean) and smaller when the differences between the native and foreign languages were smaller (e.g., German and English) (Takano & Nado, 1995).
Research examining the interaction between bilingual individuals’ first language and second language has shown that both languages have an influence on one another, and on cognitive functioning outside of language. For example, research on executive functions such as working memory, perception, and attentional and inhibitory control, has suggested that bilinguals have cognitive advantages over their monolingual peers (Marian & Shook, 2012).
Psychological and cultural research has identified differences among multilingual and bilingual speakers when speaking the foreign language. For example, Ervin (1964) found that English/French bilinguals demonstrated different characteristics and emotions when telling stories (based on Thematic Apperception Test) in English versus in French. Matsumoto and colleague (2008) found that Spanish and English-speaking Mexican bilinguals were more accurate in judging emotions in English but inferred greater intensity of subjective experience in the expresser in Spanish.
Additionally, there appear to be age-related benefits for bilinguals. Speaking more than one language appears to help older adults reduce cognitive decline and some research has suggested that bilingual ability can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease (Marian & Shook, 2012). It should be noted that there is strong disagreement over how findings on cognitive benefits should be interpreted. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of studies have found mixed evidence for cognitive advantages in healthy adults. Some have suggested that publication bias (only publishing studies that show positive cognitive benefits) has provided a distorted view of the evidence (Lenhonten, 2013). Though mixed, research results have found support for cognitive, psychological and cultural differences in the experiences of bilingual and multilingual individuals.
13.05: Switching
As we learned earlier, individuals who are fully immersed in more than one culture likely have a bicultural or multicultural identity, which may or may not be associated with language ability or proficiency. Bicultural individuals may experience difficulty balancing identities because of the influence of both cultures. Bicultural identity may also have positive effects on individuals, in terms of the additional knowledge they acquire from belonging to more than one culture. Using knowledge from more than one culture, individuals are able to make cognitive, behavioral and linguistic switches to negotiate different social interactions and situations. We are going to learn about two types of cultural switching:
• Cultural frame switching
• Code switching
13.06: Cultural Frame Switching
Cultural frame switching refers to the process of bicultural or multicultural individuals accessing different culture-specific mental modules or changing their perspective of the world, depending on the language that is used (Hong, Chiu, & Kung, 1997). Research with bicultural individuals has shown that the presence of culture-specific cues can elicit culture-specific, attributions values and personality differences. Benet-Martinez and colleagues (2002) found that Chinese American biculturals displayed more internal attributions when primed with American icons (e.g., Superman), and more external attributions when primed with Chinese icons (e.g., Great Wall) Similarly, Hong Kong Chinese and Chinese Americans generated more collective self-descriptions when their Chinese identity was activated, than did North Americans. In a different study, North Americans and Chinese Americans generated more individual self-descriptions, when their American identity was activated, than did Hong Kong Chinese (Hong, Ip, Chiu, Morris, & Menon, 2001).
Different personality traits were activated among Spanish – English bilinguals when completing a personality questionnaire in English (Ramírez-Esparzaa, Goslinga, Benet-Martínez, Potter & Pennebaker, 2004). Spanish-English speakers scored higher on measures on Extraversion, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness when completing the questionnaire in English.
From a practical standpoint, culturally influenced differences in language and meaning can lead to some interesting encounters, ranging from awkward to informative to disastrous. Words in two different languages that may seem to be exact translations of each other are likely to have different sets of culture-specific conceptual associations. For example, in Taiwan, Pepsi used the slogan “Come Alive with Pepsi” only to later find out that when translated it meant, “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead” (Kwintessential Limited, 2012). Another example is the ‘Got Milk? campaign which was very successful in the United States. When this phrase was translated literally into Spanish as “Tienes (Do you have) Leche (milk)?” for use in its Hispanic media debut there were some serious problems. That particular phrase is taken literally in the Hispanic culture to mean, “Are you lactating?” This was definitely not what the advertisers had in mind but underscores the importance of cultural frame switching when engaging bicultural or multicultural individuals. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/13%3A_Living_in_a_Multicultural_World/13.04%3A_Bilingualism_and_Culture.txt |
Code-switching involves changing from one way of speaking to another between or within interactions and includes changes in accent, dialect, language (Martin & Nakayama, 2010). Code-switching can also refer to the process of multicultural individuals using more than one language in conversation or other communicative acts (e.g., gestures, body language, and understood contexts). By using different languages at the same time the brain switches back and forth between transmitting and receiving messages. Code-switching among multicultural individuals creates a dual communication system in which people are able to maintain their identities with their in-group but can still acquire tools and gain access needed to function in larger dominant society (Yancy, 2011).
There are many reasons that people might code-switch. There has been cross-cultural research indicating that an accent can activate stereotypes and change perceptions (Bourhis, Giles & Lambert, 1975; Dixon & Mahoney, 2004). In the United States, people who have a Southern accent are perceived as being less intelligent and having a lower socioeconomic status when compared to individuals with a standard American accent (Phillips, 2010). If an individual believes that their accent is leading others to form unfavorable impressions, they can consciously change their accent with much practice and effort. Once their ability to speak without their Southern accent is honed, they may be able to switch very quickly between their native accent when speaking with friends and family and their modified accent when speaking in professional settings.
Increased outsourcing and globalization have produced heightened pressures for code-switching among call center workers in India. Although many Indians learn English in school as a result of British colonization, their accents often active negative stereotypes and reactions among Western customers calling for help or customer service support. Some Indian call center workers completed intense training to be able to code-switch and accommodate the speaking style of their customers (Pal, 2004) and there has been a growing trend toward accent neutralization as a response to racist verbal abuse call center workers receive from customers (Nadeem, 2012).
People who work or live in multilingual settings may code-switch many times throughout the day, or even within a single conversation. Some cultural linguists have argued that as a result of social media, the majority of Americans engage in code-switching regularly. Words like text, tweet, liked, googled and communicating with symbols (e.g., emojis) are used every day, across technological platforms and by individuals of all ages. Also, within the United States, some people of color may engage in code-switching when communicating with dominant group members because they fear they may be negatively judged and switching may minimize perceived differences. Code-switching may also signal a shift from formal interactions to more informal interactions and individuals may code-switching to reinforce their ingroup identity (Heller, 1992).
As our interactions continue to occur in more multinational contexts, the expectations for code-switching and accommodation are sure to increase. It is important for us to consider the intersection of culture and power to think critically about the ways in which expectations for code-switching may be based on cultural biases and how we can avoid ethnocentric bias and misinterpretations.
13.08: Challenges to Living in a Multicultural World
Up to this point we have largely focused on many benefits of living in a multicultural world including the cognitive and psychological benefits of bilingualism, cultural frame switching and the regular use of code-switching in the age of social media. This section will focus on many some of the challenges that persist when living in a multicultural world.
Cultural Reaffirmation
Cultural reaffirmation is a phenomenon that occurs when multicultural individuals living in multicultural societies endorse even more traditional values than persons from the native country or monoculture individuals. There have been several instances observed in Western and Eastern cultures. For example, Kosmitzki (1996) examined monocultural and bicultural Germans and Americans who rated themselves, their cultural group and adopted cultural group. The bicultural individuals endorsed even more traits and values of the native culture than the monoculture individuals. Matsumoto, Weissman, Preston, Brown and Kupperbusch (1997) compared Japanese and Japanese Americans on ratings of interpersonal interactions and found that the Japanese Americans rated themselves higher in areas of collectivism than the Japanese nationals. Cultural reaffirmation has been explained by the stresses of immigrating or becoming part of a multicultural society. In other words, the immigrant group hangs tightly to the native culture even as the native culture changes, in this way the immigrant culture begins to conform to stereotypes.
Identity Denial
Identity denial occurs when individuals are not accepted as a member of the group that they identify with. To be clear, individuals are not denying their heritage, culture or experience but others who share their identity are rejecting them. Cheryan and Monin (2005) revealed that Asian Americans experience more identity denial than other ethnic groups in the United States. As a reaction to the denial, individuals will often over identify with American culture (e.g., football, music, television). | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/13%3A_Living_in_a_Multicultural_World/13.07%3A_Code_Switching.txt |
As we learned earlier, stereotypes are generalized thoughts that influence our beliefs about others but also beliefs about ourselves and even our own performance on important tasks. In some cases, these beliefs may be positive, and have the effect of making us feel more confident and better able to perform tasks. On the other hand, sometimes these beliefs are negative, and they have the effect of making us perform more poorly just because of our knowledge about the stereotypes.
One of the long-standing puzzles in the area of academic performance concerns why African American students in the United States perform more poorly on standardized tests, receive lower grades, and are less likely to remain in school in comparison with White students, even when other factors such as family income, parents’ education, and other relevant variables are controlled. Steele and Aronson (1995) tested the hypothesis that these differences might be due to the activation of negative stereotypes. They hypothesized that African American students are aware of the inaccurate stereotype that ‘African American students are intellectually inferior to White students,’ and this stereotype creates a negative expectation. This negative expectation then interferes with students’ performance on intellectual and academic tests through fear of confirming that stereotype.
Results confirmed that African American college students performed worse, in comparison with their prior test scores, on math questions taken from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) when the test was described to them as a diagnostic measure of their mathematical abilities (and thus when the stereotype was relevant) but performance was not influenced when the same questions were framed as a problem-solving activity.
In another study, Steele and Aronson found that when African American students were asked to indicate their race before they took a math test (a way to activating the stereotype), they performed more poorly than they had on prior exams, whereas the scores of White students were not affected by first indicating their race. Steele and Aronson argued that thinking about negative stereotypes that are relevant to the task that you are performing creates stereotype threat, which leads to decreased performance. That is, the negative impact of race on standardized tests may be caused, at least in part, by the performance situation itself. When the threat was present, African American students were negatively influenced by it.
Research has found that the experience of stereotype threat can help explain a wide variety of performance declines among those who are targeted by negative stereotypes. For instance, when a math task is described as diagnostic of intelligence, Latinos and particularly Latinas perform more poorly than do Whites (Gonzales, Blanton, & Williams, 2002). Similarly, when stereotypes are activated, children with low socioeconomic status perform more poorly in math than do those with high socioeconomic status, and psychology students perform more poorly than do natural science students (Brown, Croizet, Bohner, Fournet, & Payne, 2003). Even groups who typically enjoy advantaged social status can be made to experience stereotype threat. White men performed more poorly on a math test when they were told that their performance would be compared with that of Asian men (Aronson, Lustina, Good, Keough, & Steele, 1999), and Whites students performed more poorly than African American students on a sport-related task when it was described to them as measuring their natural athletic ability (Stone, 2002).
Stereotype threat is created in situations that pose a significant threat to self-concern, such that our perceptions of ourselves as important, valuable, and capable individuals are threatened. In these situations, there is a discrepancy between our positive concept of our skills and abilities and the negative stereotypes suggesting poor performance. When our stereotypes lead us to be believe that we are likely to perform poorly on a task, we experience a feeling of unease and status threat. Stereotype threat is not, however, absolute and manipulations that affirm positive characteristics about oneself or one’s group are successful at reducing stereotype threat (Alter, Aronson, Darley, Rodriguez, & Ruble, 2010; Greenberg et al., 2003; McIntyre, Paulson, & Lord, 2003). In fact, just knowing that stereotype threat exists may influence performance and possibly alleviate its negative impact (Johns, Schmader, & Martens, 2005). | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/13%3A_Living_in_a_Multicultural_World/13.09%3A_Stereotype_Threat.txt |
We learned earlier that one of the reasons that people may hold stereotypes and prejudices is that they view the members of outgroups as different from them. Sometime we fear that our interactions with people from different racial groups will be unpleasant, and these anxieties may lead us to avoid interacting with people from those groups (Mallett, Wilson, & Gilbert, 2008). This suggests that a good way to reduce prejudice is to help people create closer connections with members of different groups. People will behave more favorable toward others when they learn to see other people as more similar to them, as closer to the self, and to be more concerned about them. This idea is known as the contact hypothesis.
Pettigrew and Tropp (2006) conducted a meta-analysis in which they reviewed over 500 studies that had investigated the effects of intergroup contact on group attitudes. They found that attitudes toward groups that were in contact became more positive over time. Furthermore, positive effects of contact were found on both stereotypes and prejudice and for many different types of contacted groups. The positive effects of intergroup contact may be due in part to increases in concern for others. Galinsky and Moskowitz (2000) found that leading students to take the perspective of another group member, which increased empathy and closeness to the person, also reduced prejudice.
Student behavior on campuses demonstrates the importance of connecting with others and the dangers of not doing so. Sidanius, Van Laar, Levin, and Sinclair (2004) found that students who joined exclusive campus groups, including fraternities, sororities, and minority ethnic organizations, were more prejudiced to begin with and became even less connected and more intolerant of members of other social groups over the time that they remained in the organizations. One explanation is that memberships in these groups focused the students on themselves and other people who were very similar to them, leading them to become less tolerant of others who were different.
One large scale intergroup contact example came about as a result of the United States (U.S.) Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 which overturned an earlier court ruling and declared state laws establishing separate public schools for African American and White students to be unconstitutional. As a result, schools had to be integrated, which caused severe political unrest in many states, but particularly in the Southern United States. Integrating schools had a profound impact on the racial composition of classrooms, improved educational and occupational achievement of African American students and increased the desire of African American students to interact with Whites by forming cross-race friendships (Stephan, 1999). Overall, desegregating schools in the United States supports the expectation that intergroup contact, at least in the long run, can be successful in changing attitudes. There is substantial support for the effectiveness of intergroup contact in improving group attitudes in a wide variety of situations, including schools, work organizations, military forces, and public housing.
Although intergroup contact does work, it is not always a cure because the conditions necessary for it to be successful are frequently not met. Contact can be expected to work only in situations that create the appropriate opportunities for change. For one, contact will only be effective if it provides information demonstrating that the existing stereotypes held by the individuals are incorrect. When we learn more about groups that we didn’t know much about before, we learn more of the truth about them, leading us to be less biased in our beliefs; however, if our interactions with the group members do not allow us to learn new beliefs, then contact cannot work.
When we first meet someone from another category, we are likely to rely almost exclusively on our stereotypes (Brodt & Ross, 1998) but when we get to know the individual well (e.g., as a student in a classroom gets to know other students over a school year), we may get to the point where we ignore that individual’s group membership almost completely, responding to him or her entirely at the individual level (Madon et al., 1998). In this way contact is effective in part because it leads us to get past our perceptions of others as group members and to see them as people.
13.11: Summary
Culture is one of the most powerful forces in the world. It shapes how we make sense of our world, how we express ourselves and how we understand and relate to others (ingroups and outgroups). Most ethnocentric bias and prejudice come from a difference in heritage, thinking and experiences. We tend to examine a situation from our own point of view and are often unable to apply principles of cultural relativism to individuals with whom we have differences. It is important to remember that we do not need to act on our biases and can override our automatic responses. By identifying our implicit and ethnocentric bias through personal reflection and cultural awareness we are more creative, better communicators, and more likely to engage in critical thinking and evaluating information. Cultural awareness does not mean that you must accept or condone behaviors; awareness is recognition that cultures and individuals within those cultures have been shaped through enculturation, ecology, resources and social norms that are appropriate, moral and just within their culture. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/13%3A_Living_in_a_Multicultural_World/13.10%3A_Contact_hypothesis.txt |
Our identities make up an important part of our self-concept and as we learned earlier can be separated into three main categories: personal, social, and cultural identities (See Chapter 8). Our identities are not constant but are formed through processes that started before we were born and will continue after we are dead. In this way our identities cannot be something that we achieve and are our identities are never complete.
You might remember that personal identities include the components of self that are primarily intrapersonal and connected to our life experiences. For example, you may be outgoing, love puzzles, hip-hop music or have a beautiful singing voice. Our social identities are the components of self that are derived from involvement in social groups with which we are interpersonally committed. For example, we derive aspects of our social identity from our family, from a community of fans for a sports team or membership in a choir. While our personal identity choices express who we are, our social identities align us with particular groups. Through our social identities, we make statements about who we are and who we are not (Spreckels, & Kotthoff, 2009).
Cultural identities and multicultural identities are based on socially constructed categories that teach us a way of being and include expectations for social behavior or ways of acting (Yep, 2002). The ways of being and the social expectations for behavior within cultural identities can change over time, but what separates them from most social identities is their historical roots (Collier, 1996). For example, think of how ways of being and acting have changed for African Americans since the civil rights movement or for persons with disabilities since the independent living movement and the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in the United States.
Although some identities are essentially permanent, the degree to which we are aware of them, known as salience, can change. We learned earlier that identity is fluid and changes based on context. This means that the intensity with which we identify with an identity can be different depending on the situation. For example, an African American female may not have difficulty deciding which box to check on the demographic section of a survey but she may more intensely related to her African American identity if she becomes the president of her college’s Black Student Union. In the second context, being African American has become more salient. If she studies abroad in Africa her junior year, she may be ascribed an identity of American by African students rather than African American. For the Africans, the visitor’s identity as American is probably more salient than her identity as someone of African descent.
Someone who identifies as biracial or multiracial may change their racial identification as they engage in their identity search. One intercultural communication scholar writes of his experiences as an “Asianlatinoamerican” (Yep, 2002). He notes repressing his Chinese identity as an adolescent living in Peru and then later embracing his Chinese identity and learning about his family history while in college in the United States.
Dominant cultural identities historically and currently have more resources and influence, while non-dominant identities historically and currently have fewer resources and influence. It’s important to remember that these distinctions are being made at the societal level, not the individual level. There are obviously exceptions, with people from non-dominant groups obtaining more resources and power than a person in a dominant group; however, the overall trend is that differences based on cultural group membership has been institutionalized, and exceptions do not change this fact.
As a result of this uneven distribution of resources and power, members of dominant groups are granted privileges while non-dominant groups which are at a disadvantage encounter institutionalized discrimination, including racism, sexism, heterosexism, and ableism (Chapter 11), limited access to resources, support, and social capital. As you read, think about how circumstances may be different for an individual with multiple non-dominant and/or dominant identities. Individuals with dominant identities may not validate the experiences of those in non-dominant groups because they do not experience the oppression directed at those with non-dominant identities. Further, they may find it difficult to acknowledge that not being aware of this oppression is due to privilege associated with their dominant identities. For example, a white person in the United States may notice that a person of color was elected to a prominent political office; however, he may not see the underlying reason that it is noticeable. The reason it is noticeable is because the overwhelming majority of political leaders are white in the United States.
Because the experiences of non-dominant groups often goes unexamined by members of the dominant group, there is often a lack of recognition of oppression and privilege which can manifest in culturally biased language. For example, culturally biased language can reference one or more multicultural identities, including race, gender, age, sexual orientation, and ability. Use of offensive or culturally biased language is usually not intended to hurt or to harm others but is often unintentional and the product of ignorance. Showing an awareness of and addressing cultural bias in language is not the same thing as engaging in political correctness, which takes awareness to the extreme but does not do much to address the bias aside from make people feel awkward or resentful. Using inclusive language reflects an understanding of an individual’s unique circumstances, as well as acknowledges and validates the experiences of others.
Members of dominant groups may minimize, dismiss, or question the experiences of non-dominant groups and view them as “complainers” or “whiners.” People with dominant cultural identities who fail to examine privilege may find it difficult to value cultural or social differences. Recognizing the existence of multiple cultural identities within national and regional boundaries, and adopting actions and policies to address them, are necessary to eliminate prejudice, stereotypes and conflicts, in order to ensure a healthy, inclusive community.
13.13: Vocabulary
Acculturation is the process of social, psychological, and cultural change that occurs as a result of blending between cultures
Bilingualism refers to the ability to understand and produce two or more languages on a regular basis
Contact hypothesis is a method used to reduce prejudice and help people create closer connections with members of different groups
Cultural frame switching refers to the process of bicultural or multicultural individuals accessing different culture-specific mental modules
Cultural code switching involves changing from one way of speaking to another between or within interactions and includes changes verbal and non-verbal communication
Culture shock is a common experience describing feelings of confusion, stress and disorientation that occur when entering an unfamiliar culture
Cultural reaffirmation is a phenomenon that occurs when multicultural individuals living in multicultural societies endorse even more traditional values than persons from the native country or monoculture individuals
Identity denial occurs when individuals are NOT accepted as a member of the group that he/she identifies with
Stereotype threat is a “situational threat” in which individuals are aware of others’ negative expectations, which leads to their fear that they will be judged and/or treated as inferior | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Culture_and_Psychology_(Worthy%2C_Lavigne_and_Romero)/13%3A_Living_in_a_Multicultural_World/13.12%3A_Multicultural_Identities.txt |
Module Learning Objectives (MLO)
In this chapter, you will
• MLO 2.1 Identify foundational concepts and theories related to identity and dress. [CLO 1]
• MLO 2.2 Identify pioneering scholars in the identity and dress discipline. [CLO 1]
• MLO 2.3 Identify the sources of the information and research for the course content. [CLO 1]
• MLO 2.4 Summarize the role of dress in identity development. [CLO 1]
• MLO 2.5 Explain the ways individuals learn about how to dress. [CLO 1]
• MLO 2.6 Explain various motivations for dress. [CLO 1]
• MLO 2.7 Analyze the relationships among stigma, stigma management, identity, and dress. [CLO 1]
• MLO 2.8 Deconstruct your own perspectives and approaches to understanding the dress of others. [CLO 4]
The material presented in this book comes from studies or research in various fields of inquiry, or disciplines. Some of the fields that relate to the topics covered in this book include those listed below:
• psychology
• social psychology
• anthropology
• cultural studies
• women’s studies
• fashion studies
Scholars and researchers (e.g., professors, government agencies, and nonprofits) do systematic inquiry through studies, research, and anonymous peer review prior to their work being published.
What Is Peer Review?
Peer review is a really important part of publishing scholarship. Much of the work discussed in this book is from peer-reviewed research. Peer-reviewed research, the lengthy process outlined below, can take anywhere from six months to multiple years.
1. Researcher(s) conducts a study and write(s) up their results in a paper.
2. The researcher(s) submit(s) their paper to an editor.
3. Keeping the author(s) name(s) anonymous, the editor sends the paper out to two or more reviewers who evaluate it for content and rigor.
4. The reviewers decide whether the paper should be published also suggest changes (often, a significant number of changes).
5. The researcher/author(s) edit(s) their paper based on the reviewers’ feedback (sometimes over multiple rounds).
6. Finally, the paper is published.
Types of Inquiry
There are many ways to study dress, appearance, and identity. The following are a few examples:
• observation: ethnography, prolonged engagement with community; today there are both in-person and online ethnographic methods.
• material culture: study of objects such as at a museum or in an archive.
• historical investigation: examination of documents, garments, and other primary sources to tell the story of the past.
• survey: fill in the blank, check a box.
• interviews: both individual and focus groups (multiple people).
Example of a peer-reviewed research paper
Below is an example of a published peer-reviewed paper. Scholars at Cornell University conducted the research and then published it in an academic journal.
Study: Negotiating Identities in the Furry Fandom through Costuming (Satinsky & Green, 2016)
Method: The authors used various methods to investigate how individuals negotiate their varying identities through costume at furry conventions.
• Drawing on ethnography, the scholars attended and observed two furry fandom conventions. They also conducted in-depth interviews and asked questions of attendees. Watch this short video to see a visual of a furry convention.
To view a transcript for this video, download this file: Anthrocon 2017 Brings Furry Fandom to Pittsburgh Video Transcript [DOC]
This video example uses anecdotal evidence, or evidence based on or consisting usually of reports or observations of unscientific observers. That is, this video was not peer-reviewed and published in an academic forum. While anecdotal evidence can be important and cannot be discounted, much of the work in this book is from peer-reviewed literature.
Dress and Dressing
Dress is not just this yellow garment:
Dress is an intentional and unintentional modification of appearance, what people do to their bodies to maintain, manage, and alter appearance. This includes
• objects worn on or around the body
• modifications to the body (e.g., plastic surgery).
Dressing is the behavior related to dress or actions related to how one appears.
Pioneering Scholars in Fashion Studies
• Susan Kaiser
• Elizabeth Way
• Darnell-Jamal Lisby
• Ben Barry
• Phyllis Bell Miller
• Gwendolyn O’Neal
• Min-ha T. Pham
• Jasmine Helm
• Christina Moon
• Amanda Muhammad
• Eulanda Sanders
• Lauren Downing Peters
• Regan de Loggans
• Mary Ellen Roach-Higgins
• Kim Johnson
• Sharron Lennon
• Nancy Rudd
• Joanne Entwistle
• Fred Davis
• Christopher Breward
• Denise Nicole Green
• Tameka Ellington
• Carol Tulloch
• Kim Jenkins
• Dyese Matthews
• Tanisha Ford
Objects
Clothing is an example of an object worn on or around the body and refers to 3-dimensional objects that enclose and envelop the body in some way. They may be
• wrapped around the body
• suspended from the body
• fitted to the body
• preshaped to the body.
These are examples of clothing:
Other examples of dress objects include accessories, shoes, and other objects worn on the body, such as braces attached to the teeth.
Modifications
Modifications are also a part of dress. These might include additions or reductions to the actual body, such as losing weight or hair extensions. Modifications also involve changing hair color, clipping nails, tanning, and straightening of teeth by wearing braces. Wearing perfume, showering, and having hair implants completed are also examples of modifications. Teeth whitening processes also fall under the category of dress, as they modify the color of tooth enamel.
Following are examples of reductions and modifications to the body:
Query \(1\)
Motivations for dress
There are four larger motivations for how and why people dress. These do not capture every single nuance, but they are the four most prominent themes.
• protection: for example, from natural elements
• modesty: avoids indecency
• communication: highlights various identities (e.g. age, gender, race, religion, sexuality, socio-economic status, etc.)
• adornment: emphasizes decorative or aesthetic function
Dress and dressing are complex. Dress is more than just objects. It is laden with meaning. The dressed and undressed body is a project of both conscious and subconscious continual construction.
Identity
Identity has numerous definitions. In general, identity refers to an organized set of characteristics that express various aspects of who you are. Dress is used to communicate our identities, such as
• race
• religion
• sex
• gender
• sexuality
• ability
• body size
The Situated Self
Contexts or situations influence individuals to dress and act differently, depending on which identity is salient. The concept of the situated self (Kaiser, 1997) refers to the idea that given any context, a person may dress or act differently depending upon which identity is most salient at the time. This is part of what are called identity negotiation processes. This means that identities are negotiated, or, in other words, continually in flux, not static. This is especially true for individuals who occupy more than one marginalized identity. For example, Black gay men have explained that their Black identities might be more salient in Black spaces, yet within queer spaces they have to choose to whether their Black identities or gay identities might be more salient, depending on the composition of any given group (Cole, 2019). This isn’t necessarily always true for Black people, as there are varied experiences of being both Black and queer (Johnson, 2019).
The identity negotiation process is the continual process of shifting and changing appearance and dress depending on the development of identity. It is often thought of as a knot: as one knot loosens, another tightens. This similar to how we as humans experience our different identities. One identity becomes more prominent in any given situation.
Socialization
Socialization refers to learning about how to behave and appear. This is often passed on through agents, individuals who teach us norms and values of our society through modeling or direct instruction. Some of these agents include
• parents
• peers
• media
• professionals (teachers, coaches, doctors, et cetera)
• cultural beliefs (written or unwritten norms)
• personal shoppers
• retailers or manufacturers
Identity and Dress
Identities are communicated through how we appear and what we wear (Kaiser, 2012). Identities are also communicated through objects around us, including the places we live and the transportation we use, among many many other examples. Dress and appearance practices, though, announce who we are depending on which identity we are communicating at any one time. For example, while on campus, you might wear a T-shirt from your university, announcing your connection to it and demonstrating that you identify as a part of that community as a student, fan, or perhaps alumnus (Lennon, Johnson, & Rudd, 2017). This university community identity might not be important to communicate if, for example, you are attending a wedding.
There are different types of identities. For instance, a collective or social identity comes from being a part of a group or from having group membership. For example, membership in a particular year in school is a collective identity. Therefore, you could identify as a first-year student in college. Another collective identity could be tied to race. For example, a person of African descent may identify as part of the Black community due to their ties to their race (Lennon, Johnson, & Rudd, 2017). Many people have numerous collective identities surrounding their race, gender, sexuality, sex, religion, body size and shape, ability, and/or ethnicity.
A second example of an identity is personal identity. Personal identities concern individual traits. Individual traits can include, for instance, being funny, open, conscientious, agreeable, adventurous, or closed off (Lennon, Johnson, & Rudd, 2017). Numerous parts of one’s identity reflect personal traits. Therefore, while you might identify as an outdoors person, the adventurous part of your identity is called the personal identity, whereas the outdoors person could reflect your membership in the group, or your collective identity.
Relational identities are a third example. These refer to relationships, such as father–son or wife–wife. Dress can reflect relational identities, just it can the other types of identities. For instance, sometimes when families go together to Disney World they wear matching outfits or T-shirts. And two women who are married may wear wedding rings to signify their relational identity.
Body work
One part of identity negotiations and dress modification is referred to as body work. Body work includes managing the body through physical activity or exercise, dieting or watching what one eats, using make-up, undergoing cosmetic surgery, and many other activities.
A person might also wear a certain style of clothes to change the shape of the body, perhaps hiding or emphasizing parts of the body. One might hide parts of the body by wearing baggy clothes, whereas they might reveal parts of the with tight or low-coverage clothing (e.g., crop tops). People of all genders do body work (Lennon, Johnson, & Rudd, 2017).
Identity Development Online
In the twenty-first century, thanks to advances in and increased usage of technology, many people develop their identities online. You might use a virtual community to try out different identities; for instance, in virtual reality chat, you can “put on” an identity within an anonymous space. Online spaces help users anonymously normalize identities and behaviors anonymously (e.g., people who have anorexia, Trekkies, moms, et cetera).
Stigma and Identity
Stigma refers to a mark of shame or of disapproval, or a stain on one’s reputation (Goffman, 1963). Stigmatized identities are those identities that violate a societal norm for a particular time or space. Numerous identities are stigmatized. For example, fat people often experience stigma related to their body size and shape (Sherman, 2011). Fat stigma, which is very common, can significantly influence people’s experiences (Meadows, 2018). Here are just a few identities that experience severe stigmatization:
• people who are fat
• people of color
• members of the LGBTQIA+ community
• people with disabled bodies
Table 1. Stigma management communication strategies, based on Meisenbach, 2010
Accept that stigma applies to self Challenge that stigma applies to self
Accept the public understanding of stigma (status quo) Accepting stigma Avoiding stigma
Challenge the public understanding of stigma (change) Evading responsibility for stigma
Reducing the offensiveness of stigma
Denying stigma
Ignoring stigma
Meisenbach (2010) further expands on each of these behaviors:
An individual accepting a stigma may passively accept the status quo, apologize for their stigma, use humor as a source of comfort, blame the stigma for negative outcomes in one’s life, isolate themselves, or bond with other stigmatized people.
An individual avoiding a stigma might hide or deny their stigmatized attribute, avoid situations where this attribute is notable, stop the behavior that stigmatizes them, distance themselves from the stigma, or criticize others in an attempt to make themselves seem favorable by comparison.
An individual evading responsibility for a stigma may accept that they display stigmatized attributes but challenge the ways those attributes are perceived by the public. For example, the individual may argue that they were born with the stigmatized attribute, that it was inflicted upon them, or that they cannot change the way the public perceives them.
An individual reducing the offensiveness of a stigma may attempt to reclaim the stigma by reinforcing the positive aspects of their stigmatized attribute, to minimize the damage of the stigma by arguing that their stigmatized attribute is not as severe or harmful as it is depicted by the public, or to transcend the stigma by explaining how their stigmatized attribute can be a positive one.
An individual denying a stigma may attempt to prove that the attributes they are stigmatized for should not be stigmatized, providing evidence for why the public perception of their attribute needs to change or highlighting logical fallacies in the way the attribute is addressed. Alternatively, the individual may deny that their attributes are stigmatized at all.
An individual who wishes to decrease a stigma may ignore or display the stigmatized attribute by normalizing it or accepting it as a part of their identity. An individual using this communication strategy might flaunt their stigmatized attribute through dress or behavior or forgo means of dress that minimize or hide the stigmatized characteristic.
Query \(2\)
Focused Example: Quinceañera
A quinceañera is a celebration in Latinx culture in which girls, on their 15th birthdays, celebrate the transition from a childhood to womanhood. Central to the event is the formal, full-length gown the girl wears. According to Lennon, Johnson, and Rudd (2017), these are consumption events: they are “a commercial opportunity (a) to buy products and experiences, (b) that impact identity, (c) that involve wearing special clothing and accessories which are used as props in identity assumption, and (d) in which product consumption and experience consumption reinforce the identity” (249).
A quinceañera is one of the many ways people in different stages of life, cultures, communities, ages, and thus identities negotiate their identity through dress.
Watch this short film about quinceañera:
To view a transcript for this video, download this file: What is a Quincenera Video Transcript [DOC]
Dress, Appearance, and Identity Case Study
Step One: Become familiar with the case study.
1. The case study attached below is a Word document and can be downloaded. It includes the task, evaluation, and template for the case study:
Step Two: Submit your complete assignment on Canvas.
1. Format your document.
2. Remember to check the submission against the rubric. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Dress%2C_Appearance%2C_and_Diversity_in_U.S._Society_(Reddy-Best%2C_Elder_and_Hassall)/01%3A_Dress_Theories_and_Concepts/1.02%3A_Dress_Appearance_and_Identity.txt |
Module Learning Objectives (MLO)
In this chapter, you will
• MLO 3.1 Identify foundational concepts related to social justice, identity, and dress. [CLO 1]
• MLO 3.2 Identify driving forces of transformative social change. [CLO 5]
• MLO 3.3 Articulate your own positionalities. [CLO 4]
• MLO 3.4 Reflect on your progress toward development of empathy related to social justice issues, identity, and dress. [CLO 4]
• MLO 3.5 Examine social justice issues in the fashion industry.
Social Justice
Social justice is the equal distribution of privilege, opportunities, and wealth. Social injustice, then, occurs when there is unequal distribution of privilege, opportunities, and wealth. In the current US society, there is a significant imbalance in the distribution of privilege, opportunities, and wealth.
Required Reading:
Ornstein, A. C. (2017) Social Justice: History, Purpose and Meaning. Society 54,541–548 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-017-0188-8.
Inequity and the United States
The gender pay gap is one example of inequity in the United States. Studies have demonstrated that when women and men perform the same jobs, women, on average, are paid less. The gender pay gap varies across industries, but women who are financial managers, physicians, accountants, retail sales workers, registered nurses, lawyers, education administrators, and chief executives earn between 65 and 92% of what men earn for performing the same job responsibilities (AAUW, 2021); the only differentiating factor is their gender. The fashion industry also suffers from gender inequality. While numerous women working in the fashion industry, recent research shows that the highest paid employees in the fashion industry were men, and about 80% of the industry’s executives were men (The Fashion Law, 2018). So, while female employees have dominated the fashion industry and women’s clothing has higher sales than men’s clothing, men more often occupy the industry’s higher-paying jobs (Bain, 2018).
Racial inequality, another example of the unequal distribution of privilege (Inequity.org), is still a significant issue in the United States. However, many white people feel that racism or racial inequality is not a significant issue in 2019 (Pew Research Center, 2019).
Despite the progress since the abolition of slavery and Jim Crow laws, Black people are still at significant disadvantage on many fronts (Gunn, 2018). For example, one study found that when researchers sent résumés with either African American– or white-sounding names, candidates with white-sounding names needed to send about 10 résumés to obtain a single callback, whereas candidates with African American–sounding names had to send an average of 15 resumes to obtain a single call-back (NBER, 2018).
Racial inequality can also be found within the fashion industry. While there have been numerous successful Black fashion designers, the industry also has systemic racial inequality issues (Deleon et al., 2020; Segran, 2018). For example, most fashion models are white, not people of color; while this inequality has lessened over time, the industry still most often casts white models to represent the ideal of beauty (Tai, 2018).
Racial inequality is still a significant issue in the United States and an example of the unequal distribution of privilege (Inequity.org). However, in 2019, many white people believed racism or racial inequality is not a significant issue (Pew Research Center, 2019).
Privilege
These inequities are interconnected with the concept of privilege. The resources at the links below discuss privilege and the ways it intersects with varying identities.
This short video explains privilege and how it relates to power and oppression.
To view a transcript for this video, download this file: Power Privilege and Oppression Video Transcript [DOC]
Intersectionality
Kimberly Crenshaw, a pioneering scholar, discussed intersectionality in the 1990s. The resource at the link below, provided by Rider University, discusses the concepts of privilege and intersectionality.
In this short film, Crenshaw discusses intersectionality and why one needs it when examining experiences of different individuals.
One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view them online here: https://iastate.pressbooks.pub/dressappearancediversity/?p=74#oembed-2
To view a transcript for the video above, download this file: The Urgency of Intersectionality Video Transcript [DOC]
In this short film, the individuals engage in a privilege walk. It is a visual of how privilege affects people differently depending on their intersectional identities.
One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view them online here: https://iastate.pressbooks.pub/dressappearancediversity/?p=74#oembed-3
To view a transcript for the video above, download this file: What is Privilege Video Transcript [DOC]
Stereotyping
We all stereotype. Stereotyping is a form of classification to help make sense of the complex world based on limited information. Through stereotyping, we infer a network of characteristics of a person. Stereotyping is learned through direct experience, hearsay, and cultural experience (media).
Dangers of Stereotyping
While stereotyping can help us make sense of the world, it carries significant dangers.
• Blinder effect: one cue blinds the perceiver to a person’s other qualities.
• Prejudice: one can develop a rigid use of typing in which the perceiver ignores information that conflicts with the stereotype the perceiver holds
Implicit Bias
Stereotyping can also be connected to implicit bias. According to a research center at the Ohio State University, implicit bias “refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner.” They are enacted “without an individual’s awareness or intentional control.” These implicit biases have been learned over time, yet they are malleable and can be unlearned. Therefore, even if individuals have unconscious biases toward groups of people, these attitudes are able to be changed.
One fashion-related example of this bias is that the market has rarely made accessible or adaptive clothing available for people with disabilities (Schmidt, 2018). This does not necessarily mean that the fashion industry professionals do not like people with disabilities or do not think they should have clothing. It is more likely that people have an unconscious bias toward people with disabilities and are not thinking about their needs or interests as individuals. Until very recently, the fashion industry has also lacked models with visible disabilities in its fashion advertisements (Falquez, 2018).
Implicit Bias Association Test
Harvard University has an ongoing Implicit Association test (Project Implicit), which measures the strength of association between concepts (Black people, gay people) and evaluations (good, bad) or stereotypes (athletic, clumsy).
One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view them online here: https://iastate.pressbooks.pub/dressappearancediversity/?p=74#oembed-4
To view a transcript for the video above, download this file: Implicit Bias Video Transcript [DOC]
Microaggressions
• Microaggressions are small slights that the “majority” make to members of marginalized groups without noticing, often due to their implicit biases.
• People often commit microagressions out of ignorance or surprise at being in the presence of someone who appears different than they are.
• Both individuals and institutions may perform microaggressions. Many surveys at institutions are full of microaggressions.
Watch this short film demonstrating microaggressions. Please note that between 1:07 and 1:08 in the film, the phrase “fucking annoying” is used and a few seconds before that “goddamn it” is used.
One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view them online here: https://iastate.pressbooks.pub/dressappearancediversity/?p=74#oembed-5
To view a transcript for the video above, download this file: Microaggressions Video Transcript [DOC]
How do we reduce implicit bias?
There are numerous ways to reduce implicit bias. In one Psychology Today article, the authors discuss how while awareness of one’s biases is a first step, it is not enough (Tropp & Godsil, 2015). They explain that practices to significantly reduce bias should include exposing people to counter-stereotypic examples, developing an understanding of the out-group member, and engaging in positive interactions with members of the out-group. In a large-scale study, scholars reported that while interventions aimed at reducing bias had good intentions, they did not always work to reduce people’s biases and that to be able to determine the best methods to reduce bias more data was needed (Gerald et al., 2019).
Empathy
Empathy refers to the ability to understand individuals who are in outgroups, or individuals who are a part of groups that we do not self-identify with or belong to (Molenberghs, 2017). That is, empathy is the ability to understand the experiences or expressions of individuals who are not like us.
Empathy
• is an approach toward greater understanding of diversity.
• involves seeking to understand others by considering their backgrounds and life situations.
• does not require liking or approving of someone.
• assists in avoiding microaggressions.
If you were in charge of selecting models for a fashion photo shoot and you knew people with disabilities feel poorly about themselves when they do not see themselves represented, would you make your hiring decisions with this in mind (Feldman, 2017)? Understanding others’ experiences and listening to their stories can help increase empathy.
Query \(1\)
A Lens of Individual and Systemic Oppression
A lens is a means of looking at a particular idea, event, and/or experience. In this course, we discuss oppression, and one can evaluate oppression using different lenses: individual, interpersonal, and systemic lenses.
• individual oppression in the fashion system that is conscious: A person’s religion informs their beliefs that transgender people are wrong, and thus they believe that transgender people should not embrace their identity through dress. For instance, they do not think that a person assigned female at birth should wear a chest binder to affirm their gender identity as a man.
• individual oppression in the fashion system that is unconscious: A person is outwardly supportive of transgender people and the ways transgender people express their gender through fashion. However, in one instance, the person is creating a fashion line of undergarments and does not actively think about the needs of transgender people, such as producing chest binders.
• Interpersonal oppression in the fashion system: A person is outwardly supportive of transgender people and the ways they express their gender through fashion; however, this person often will stare at a transgender-appearing person because they are confused by their appearance.
• Systemic oppression in the fashion system that is institutional: A fashion brand produces undergarments, and in its practices it has have never produced garments that cater to transgender individuals. It only produces products that are for cisgender people and markets them this way.
• Systemic oppression in the fashion system that is structural: Throughout the entire fashion industry over time, there are no fashion brands that produce undergarments that cater to the needs of transgender individuals. Therefore, transgender individuals who want to affirm their gender identity through dress, such as wearing a chest binder, do not have options to do so.
Review this source on the different lenses: The Lens of Systematic Oppression (National Equity Project).
Transformative Social Change
Review these resources on how to engage in transformative social change:
• Transformative Social Change Wiki (P2PF Wiki).
• Transformative Justice, Explained in Teen Vogue (Tran, 2018).
Focused Example: For Everyone Collective
The For Everyone Collective, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, uses T-shirt activism to advocate for prison abolition. On its website, it describes itself as “worker owned by a multiracial group of people impacted by incarceration. Our only non-impacted employee-owner is our founder, who created Forgive Everyone to raise money for the abolitionist movement” (For Everyone Co., 2021).
This organization centers social justice philosophies in all of its processes, from its production practices, employing formerly incarcerated people, to its shared-ownership business model. Its employees earn at least \$15 an hour and are provided medical benefits, and it employs currently incarcerated artists to design T-shirts while funneling all of its profits into prison abolition education, empowerment, and justice.
In addition to requesting support for its work through product sales, the For Everyone Collective seeks to be “a central hub for advocacy and activism resources for activists in criminal justice reform, prison abolition, and transformative justice work.”
Identity, Social Justice, and Dress Case Study
Step One: Become familiar with the case study.
1. The case study attached below is a Word document and can be downloaded. It includes the task, evaluation, and template for the case study:
Identity Social Justice and Dress Case Study [DOC]
Step Two: Submit your complete assignment on Canvas.
1. Format your document.
2. Remember to check the submission against the rubric. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Dress%2C_Appearance%2C_and_Diversity_in_U.S._Society_(Reddy-Best%2C_Elder_and_Hassall)/01%3A_Dress_Theories_and_Concepts/1.03%3A_Identity_Social_Justice_and_Dress.txt |
Module Learning Objectives (MLO)
In this chapter, you will
• MLO 4.1 Identify foundational concepts and theories related to identity and dress. [CLO 1]
• MLO 4.2 Summarize the role of dress in identity development. [CLO 1]
• MLO 4.3 Analyze identity and dress with social science theories and concepts. [CLO 2]
• MLO 4.4 Analyze the norms that influence your own identities and dress. [CLO 4]
There are thousands of social science theories that relate to and help explain dress, appearance, and identity. This chapter describes a few of these.
Role Theory
A role is a position a person occupies in a social relationship (Biddle & Thomas, 1966). Roles require and shape
• behavior associated with the role, including dress
• knowledge and values needed to perform the role
• status.
For example, police officers have uniforms that must be worn according to regulations, as well as codes of behavior guiding their performance of this role. They need to learn laws and procedures to perform the role. If a police officer does not value and take pride in their role, they are not likely to perform well.
Many of our roles have less specific dress regulations. University students, for example, display some variety in their dress, but the norm on campus tends to be fairly casual and comfortable. Students usually dress recognizably different from faculty and administrators.
Status: position in relation to other positions. These include
• complementary positions within a general role type, such as
• family roles of mom, dad, child, grandma, parent
• gender roles of man, woman, nonbinary person
• positions on a continuum, where someone ranks higher than another in terms of wealth, authority, or prestige. Examples include
• owner, manager, assistant manager, salespersons in a store
• upper, middle, and lower socioeconomic classes.
Role norms are expected sets of behaviors for persons holding roles and status (Biddle & Thomas, 1966). Role norms regulate behaviors including dress, demeanor, and expressions of politeness. For example, we expect medical doctors to dress in specific attire in a hospital or at the office. If a doctor violates these expectations (working in shorts and a T-shirt, for instance), some patients may perceive them as less competent or serious. Other patients may find the violation of expectations to be amusing in this era of lax dress rules.
Purpose of Role Dress
• learning a role
• performing a role
• identify others performing a role
• shape reactions of others
• assist in role change
Role dress helps an individual take on a role and be perceived by others as fitting that role. If a person looks like they have a role, other people are likely to assume that the person has the skills and knowledge to carry out the role. Solomon (1983) proposed that
• people who are early in their careers often dress more in accordance with role dress expectations. Responses from coworkers and clients to the role-appropriate dress help the newcomer to feel more adept in and a part of the role while learning it.
• as people become more experienced and recognized as competent, they are more likely to feel comfortable relaxing the dress rules or exploring more variety in role appearance.
Research supports these propositions for many, but not all, roles and individuals.
Some restrictions of role adoption include (Horn & Gurel, 1981)
Some restrictions of the ways individuals adopt rules are
• Intrinsic: An individual lacks resources to acquire role props and settings. Resources include money and time.
Example: Most of us do not have the wealth or connections to be wealthy jetsetters who attend exclusive parties with the rich and famous.
• Moral: An individual has morals or values that keep them from performing behaviors essential to a role.
Example: Due to misalignment with morals about selling sex for money, an individual does not want to dress like a prostitute and perform that role, even if it might be affordable to dress like a prostitute.
• Organic: One’s body does not fit the appearance requirements of the role.
Example: Many women do not fit beauty pageant “appearance requirements.”
• Cultivation and socialization: The individual lacks the knowledge and training to take on a role.
Example: A person might be able to don a lab coat and stethoscope, but most could not effectively carry off the role of a medical doctor when the time came to demonstrate expertise about medicine. In many US hospitals, physician interns are required to wear shorter, blazer-length white coats while licensed doctors wear knee-length white coats. The shorter coats indicate doctors-in-training who do not yet have full credentials to practice medicine (Coleman, 2000).
Identity is defined to a great extent by the roles we play (Kaiser, 1990). In a sense, we have multiple identities because we all have many roles.
• You may be a male student in your early twenties and have a part-time job; go on dates; and be a brother, a son, an avid bicyclist, and Latino American. Your dress may vary greatly or slightly in these roles, and it may reflect several of these role identities at one time.
• Your total identity is a composite of all your roles as well as your unique personality traits and habits.
Role Conflict
In carrying out some roles, individuals may experience conflicts. An inter-role conflict, or a conflict between two roles, may occur when an individual finds that two sets of role demands are not always compatible. Appearance can help solve role conflicts if the individual changes clothes for each role or wears the attire for the most demanding role.
For example, a parent who is a marketing director prefers to change clothes after arriving home to spend time with their infant, who throws food around and perhaps spits up on the parent’s clothes. But work stress and time limitations may require the individual to be a parent sometimes while wearing their work suit.
In contrast, an intra-role conflict is one that conflicts within a role due to changing expectations for that role across different groups in a society. In these situations, the role player may change clothes with differing audiences or limit the audiences with access to them.
An example of intra-role conflict might be a medical doctor who prefers to wear semicasual street clothes when seeing patients at the office. They do this to seem more approachable and easier to talk to. But ome older patients expect to see the doctor in a lab coat, so the doctor may put on a traditional white doctor’s coat when seeing older patients (Blumhagen, 1979).
Role embracement vs. role distance (Goffman, 1959)
An individual who takes on a role and learns to embrace it as part of identity is more likely to accept role-appropriate clothing than an individual who has a role but feels distanced from it or from societal definitions of the roles.
Conformity
Conformity is a change in an individual’s behavior or attitude to achieve consistency with real or imagined group norms (Kaiser, 1990).
Watch this short video to demonstrate the power of cultural norms
One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view them online here: https://iastate.pressbooks.pub/dressappearancediversity/?p=5#oembed-1
To view a transcript for the video above, download this file: Social Conformity Brain Games Video Transcript [DOC]
Dress is an outward sign of conformity. Conformity
• faciliatates a sense of identification, belonging, definition of self, role embracement
• supports safety or comfort in group acceptance
• fosters group solidarity, peer bonding; conformity through dress defines group boundaries by identifying who is in a group and who is not
• indicates similarity, which is conducive to attraction
• emphasizes social inclusion vs. social uniqueness.
Conformity has its negative outcomes. It can be boring and monotonous. Too much required conformity can stifle creativity. Some people are more prone to conformity through dress, while others are more interested in differentiating themselves from others. Some basic personality characteristics may incline individuals to be (Storm, 1987)
Prone to conformity
• shows feelings of inadequacy or incompetence
• outer, other-directed
• passive
• less tolerant of ambiguity
• dogmatic or wants absolute rules
• demonstrates need for social acceptance
Prone to differentiation
• shows feelings of competency
• inner, self-directed
• less passive
• more tolerance for ambiguity
• less dogmatic
• demonstrates less need for social acceptance
Uniforms (extreme conformity) (Joseph & Alex, 1972)
Check out this object video from ISU’s Textiles and Clothing Museum Collection. The video features a 1930s Girl Scout uniform with patches on the sleeve demonstrating the wearer’s various achievements in the program.
Uniforms
• indicate the prestige level of the wearer
• symbolize skill level attained by the wearer
• facilitate efficiency and organizational control
• suppress the expression of individuality and idiosyncrasy
• encourage group behavior and thinking rather than focus on the self.
Uniformity more likely for role dress when the role requires special expertise and extensive training (i.e., hospital surgeons)
• involves safety or security control (i.e., armed forces, police)
• requires dress that protects the body or facilitates task performance (i.e., fire fighters)
• benefits from group or team solidarity and identification (i.e., players on sports teams)
• establishes brand or organization image (i.e., McDonald’s servers, Target employees)
• enforces identity control (i.e., prisoners).
In coercive total institutions such as prisons, uniforms are used to (Goffman, 1961)
• strip personal identity to force an inmate to become part of the system
• help (i.e., force) the inmates to leave their independent lives outside.
Symbolic Interactionism—Public, Intimate, and Secret Self
According to Eicher (1981), there are three ways to think about the self: the public, intimate, and secret selves.
The public self is the part of a person in front of others in public, including those outside of the friend or family network. Therefore, the public self is usually a part of the self that one is comfortable sharing in a broader sense. For example, some people are comfortable sharing their occupations. That is, if an individual works as a public transportation bus driver, they might wear their uniform to the grocery store after work without feeling uncomfortable sharing this part of who they are. However, if someone has a stigmatized occupation, such as a sex worker, they may conceal this from their public self-presentation (Oselin, 2018).
The intimate self is a part of the self that individuals share only with those close to them, such as friends or family. For example, an individual might be more relaxed after work and wear casual or pajama-style garments around the house in front of their family members.
Finally, secret self refers to aspects of the self that one does not share with others. For example, one transwoman describes how she would sometimes dress in female-gendered garments without letting others know (Coates, 2016). Trans people experience significant discrimination (National Center for Transgender Equality, 2022); therefore, the transition and coming-out process for trans people is complex and may include a variety of experiences, such as experimenting in the secret-self space with different clothing styles.
According to symbolic interaction theory, individuals negotiate their appearances (and public and intimate selves) in social interactions (Goffman, 1959). In this theory, the program is a term that refers to your response to your own appearance. In the process of the program, you evaluate your own appearance based on how you look in the mirror and/or how you think others might perceive you. The concept of the generalized other is what you expect others to think of a particular identity. For example, if you are a librarian, you might wear a cardigan and glasses, as these are sometimes stereotypes associated with librarians or how individuals might assume librarians dress. In symbolic interaction theory, the review is also a part of identity negotiations in symbolic interaction theory. The review is others’ evaluation of one’s appearance. People can give both verbal and nonverbal reviews. Verbal examples include “Wow, I love that shirt” or “That makes you look terrible.” Nonverbal reviews include, for example, a person holding their purse closer to their chest as they walk by you; Black men frequently report this experience (Lowe, 2000).
Focused Example: Prison Uniforms
The Stanford Prison Experiment is a famous study that was conducted at Stanford University in the 1970s. Watch this short film and pay attention to how dress was used to strip inmates of their identities and to enable the guards to enact control.
To view a transcript for the video above, download this file: Stanford Prison Exeriment Video Transcript [DOC]
Query \(1\)
Social Science Theories Case Study
Step One: Become familiar with the case study.
1. The case study attached below is a Word document and can be downloaded. It includes the task, evaluation, and template for the case study:
Social Science Theories Case Study [DOC]
Step Two: Submit your complete assignment on Canvas.
1. Format your document.
2. Remember to check the submission against the rubric. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Dress%2C_Appearance%2C_and_Diversity_in_U.S._Society_(Reddy-Best%2C_Elder_and_Hassall)/01%3A_Dress_Theories_and_Concepts/1.04%3A_Social_Science_Theories.txt |
Module Learning Objectives (MLO)
In this chapter, you will
• MLO 5.1 Identify foundational concepts and theories related to culture, identity, and dress. [CLO 1]
• MLO 5.2 Identify the factors that influence different cultural aspects of dress. [CLO 1]
• MLO 5.3 Identify the different cultural perspectives an individual can take to approach understanding the dress and identity of others. [CLO 1]
• MLO 5.4 Explain the role of dress in identity development. [CLO 1]
• MLO 5.5 Examine how marginalized communities in the United States use dress and appearance to negotiate their identities. [CLO 2]
• MLO 5.6 Deconstruct your own perspectives and approach to understanding the dress of others. [CLO 4]
What Is Culture?
Culture refers to aspects of human-made elements, including tools, dress, and media, in addition to values, attitudes, and norms. Dress is a significant part of almost every culture.
As more cultures have cross-cultural contact, people from begin to change aspects of their cultures by incorporating aspects of different cultures they come into contact with. This includes changes in dress. This process of cultural change is often referred to as cultural authentication. It should be noted though, that there is a long history of forced assimilation, especially for Native or Indigenous communities in North America (Little, 2018). That is, Native communities were forced to assimilate into European culture; Native people were not interested in incorporating European cultural elements.
Culture vs. Cultured
All people have culture. Culture is not something held only by society elites, such as only the wealthiest, most educated, or most sophisticated.
Culture is a system of learned behavior patterns that are characteristic of the members of a society (Hoebel, 1958). Note the emphasis on the learning of behaviors or ways of doing things. Culture is learned, and individuals learn culture through an ongoing process of socialization. Parents, families, schools, peers, and workplaces, for example, all socialize individuals to ways of doing things. We find differences across cultures in dress, language, food preferences, and other behaviors in part because these are learned behaviors—not knowledge that is innate, instinctual, or determined by genetic programming.
Cultural patterns are characteristic behaviors and often include a complex array of choices. A culture may afford more than one way of doing the same thing. Hence, diversity in behaviors may be found in some aspects of any culture
Culture is a complex whole that includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits that members of a society acquire (Linton, 1936). Linton emphasized that culture is a complex whole—a network of behaviors related to all aspects of life. Dress is shaped by and reflects many characteristics in any culture, so dress is a complex map of cultural characteristics.
Culture includes both abstract and concrete components (Scupin, 1998).
Abstract components include the meanings of symbols, events, activities, or actions and how the meanings are created and selected. Concrete components include the forms of action, behavior, event, activity, or artifact. Dress may be a concrete object, such as a shirt, a pair of shoes, or a hairstyle, but those artifacts develop meanings in a culture. The fashion process, situations in which we use dress, and groups associated with wearing of types of dress all bring meaning to those artifacts.
Culture is mentifacts, what people know; sociofacts, what people do; and artifacts, what people make (Spradley, 1972):
Mentifacts: Ideas, Ideals, Values, Knowledge, and How We Know
Culture shapes how people think about things. Mentifacts are the ideas, values, and knowledge that shape how we see a culture and how we know or recognize patterns. This includes stereotypes that are held about groups of people who look certain ways. Note that “how we know” also refers to educational and media systems. Fashion magazines are part of these media systems; so are television and the Internet.
How people in a culture think and what they value are often reflected in dress. For example, in the United States, where we value the freedom to consume and material plenty, consumers tend to prefer large wardrobes (Sproles & Burns, 1994). In some European countries, the average consumer has a comparatively small wardrobe that often includes several high-quality, expensive items. These few items are worn over and over during the season in which they are fashionable.
Sociofacts: Characteristics of Social Organizations and How People Organize Themselves.
Sociofacts reflect how people behave in groups and social interactions. For example, police officers wear uniforms to indicate their occupations and rank within the police force. A store like Target has a dress code—red shirts and khaki pants—to help customers identify employees. Many individuals dress up or “clean up” when going to dinner at someone’s house; this small act shows respect to the hosts and indicates participation in a social event.
Sometimes patterns of dress in the larger society reflect how people organize themselves. In the United States today, socioeconomic status is usually only vaguely communicated in our clothing. One hundred years ago, the social class of everyone passing us on the street would have been made clear by their dress.
Artifacts: Things People Make and Tools and Processes for Making Them
Dress such as clothing, makeup, tattoos, and shoes are artifacts made by people. Artifacts reflect multiple aspects of a culture, such as mentifacts, sociofacts, and the technological knowledge of a culture that shapes manufacturing processes and materials used. For example, Gore-Tex fabric, now used in high-performance sportswear, was invented through the NASA space program.
Technological advancements and economic reality may exclude some clothing options. In ready-to-wear clothing that most people in the United States buy today, only simple seams, darts, and a few gathers comprise construction. Knits and pandex rather than intricate construction details accomplish, a tight fit. During the 1940s and earlier, however, ordinary clothing often had many tucks, darts, godets, and complex seams, for example. The handwork and sewing skill required for those designs is too expensive to produce today in assembly-line factories. Complex fit through construction also requires customized fitting that is too expensive, time-consuming, and difficult for most of us. We save that expense for business suits and special-occasion garments such as wedding dresses.
Society vs. Culture
Anthropologists disagree on how to distinguish the terms culture and society. We will use the terms fairly interchangeably. One definition of society is “a group of people living and working together in a systematic way” (Mead, 1934). An important implication of this definition is that society requires people to coordinate their actions with each other. Each individual cannot haphazardly do their own thing with no concern for others. With no traffic laws, for example, we would run into each other fairly frequently. Indeed, with no coordination of human effort, automobiles and roads would never have been invented. Dress would have no meaning; fashions and traditions in dress would not exist. We would have no idea who anyone might be on first meeting of them. Dress is a product of systematic human interaction, and it helps us to coordinate our interactions with others.
What Factors Influence Types of Dress Worn in a Culture?
Ruth Benedict (1959) drew an “arc of human potential” to indicate that every culture makes choices from among a wide array of possibilities for any form of behavior. Each culture, then, chooses different language sounds, foods, dress materials and designs, and other behaviors.
In any culture, the following factors shape choices for dress and other behaviors:
• climate and natural resources
• religion, ideology, ritual
• technology
• culture contact and diffusion of ideas
• social and political organization
• history
• aesthetic rules.
This short film features the Korowai tribe, whose members had no contact with anyone outside of their community until the 1970s. This isolation affected their dress in numerous ways.
To access a transcript for the video above, download this file: The Tree House People Korowai Video Transcript [DOC]
Principles of Cultural Perspective
Taking a cultural perspective on dress throughout the semester requires that we adopt specific some ways of thinking about people and the world:
Holistic approach
The meaning of dress can be understood only through the study of all aspects of a culture. Dress does not mean one single thing at a time. Many meanings and aspects of a culture are embedded in any example of dress. And sometimes these meanings are difficult to read. For example, why is it that in the United States, where we value individuality so much, so many students on college campuses wear jeans and T-shirts to classes?
Cultural relativism
Seek to understand dress as it has meaning to a society “insider.” What dress worn in nations outside your home country means to you, a visitor or tourist, is not necessarily related to what it means to people in that culture. We need to examine the characteristics of a culture and talk to people within that culture to find out what their dress means. Something as simple as color may have very different meanings in dress in different cultures. For example, red is a common funeral color in Zambia, Africa, and a wedding dress color in traditional China. What would it mean if someone wore a bright red dress to a close relative’s funeral or a bride wore a bright red dress to her wedding in the United States today?
Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism is judgment of people of other cultures by one’s own cultural standards and beliefs. Dress that is different from our own can be challenging to accept or appreciate.
Ethnocentricity is hard to avoid, for example, when members of other cultures or some groups within our own culture do things to the body that are harmful to the individuals. Acting to end these practices may be seen as important for humanity. It is equally important to recognize, however, that these practices may have deep meanings and roots in religious values or beauty standards previously considered good or “healthful.” Simply marching in and making such practices illegal will not necessarily end them. We must take great care when we attempt to change deeply held beliefs about these practices. Change is likely to be slow.
Sometimes it can be quite difficult to avoid ethnocentrism. Here are some examples that individuals may or may not view as harmful:
• corset wearing
• foot binding
• tanning
• web sites promoting anorexia
• female circumcision
• little people lengthening their legs
• embracing one’s transgender identity
• women exposing their breasts in public
• steroid use
• scarification, or the carving of permanent designs in the skin
• practicing bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, sadochism and masochism (BDSM) or kink such as wearing dog collars, chastity belts, or other restrictive garments.
An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://iastate.pressbooks.pub/dressappearancediversity/?p=23#h5p-10
Video Example:
Watch this short video about BDSM dress, identity, and women’s empowerment. The research presentation is titled “Paddles, Strap-Ons, Latex, and Leather: Negotiations of BDSM Women’s Dress, Embodiment, and Bodies in Motion through Spatial-Temporal Dynamics.”
The video highlights how these women embrace their BDSM identity when others sometimes view these practices as harmful.
Query \(1\)
Cultural Appropriation
Another term related to changing cultural aesthetics or norms is cultural appropriation. The concept of cultural appropriation is highly debated. For example, in a video that went viral, Amandla Stenberg discusses her opinions about white people adopting Black hairstyles (2015). Stenberg discusses how the adoption of hairstyles such as braids or cornrows by white people is wrong because when Black people wear these styles, they are viewed as “thugs” or “gangsters,” yet when white people adopt these styles they can be seen as “cool” or “edgy,” which reinforces longstanding racial hierarchies and stereotypes of white people having power. There are also arguments such as appreciation versus appropriation, where individuals will argue that their adoption of a particular style or aesthetic is not wrong; they merely appreciate that part of another culture (Brucculieri, 2018).
In the following film, about 28 minutes long, Denise Green of Cornell University delivers a compelling lecture on cultural appropriation and the Cowichan sweater (CTV News, 2015).
To access a transcript for the video above, download this file: What is the cost of not fitting in Video Transcript [DOC]
In this short film, Bethany Yellowtail, an Indigenous designer, discusses her experiences as a fashion designer and cultural appropriation.
Required reading:
Puri, S. “Ethnic fashion” obscures cultural identity. Yale Herald. (February 2, 2001). Accessed November 1, 2021, via the Internet Archive: http://www.yaleherald.com/archive/xxxi/2001.02.02/opinion/page12aethnic.html
Culture Case Study
Step One: Become familiar with the case study.
1. The case study attached below is a Word document and can be downloaded. It includes the task, evaluation, and template for the case study:
Culture Case Study [DOC]
Step Two: Submit your complete assignment on Canvas.
1. Format your document.
2. Remember to check the submission against the rubric. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Dress%2C_Appearance%2C_and_Diversity_in_U.S._Society_(Reddy-Best%2C_Elder_and_Hassall)/01%3A_Dress_Theories_and_Concepts/1.05%3A_Culture.txt |
Module Learning Objectives (MLO)
In this chapter, you will
• MLO 6.1 Identify foundational concepts and theories related to subcultures, identity, appearance, and dress. [CLO 1]
• MLO 6.2 Identify the factors that influence different aspects of subcultural dress. [CLO 1]
• MLO 6.3 Explain the role of dress and appearance in identity development for different subcultures. [CLO 1]
• MLO 6.4 Examine how marginalized communities in the United States use dress and appearance to negotiate their identities. [CLO 2]
• MLO 6.5 Deconstruct your own perspective and approach to understanding the dress of subcultures. [CLO 4]
What Is a Subculture?
Subcultures are social groups, or groups of individuals who share similar lifestyles, belief systems, or other commonalities. Some subcultural groups have dress codes, whereas others do not. Sub means underneath or below; therefore, subculture refers to individuals who are a part of a group that is different from the dominant culture or dominant people in a particular part of society (Lennon, Johnson, & Rudd, 2017, p. 292).
Why Do Subcultures Exist?
Subcultures exist because the dominant culture does not meet the needs or interests of members of the particular subculture. Therefore, these groups form to engage in lifestyles or activities that meet the needs of their interests or shared experiences related to a particular identity (Lennon, Johnson, & Rudd, 2017, p. 292).
What are Examples of Subcultures?
There are numerous groups of people that could be classified as subcultures, for example: hippies, antigun groups, high school jocks, environmental activists, people in the furry community, people in the cosplay community;,punks, goths, and many more (Lennon, Johnson, & Rudd, 2017, 292). Even religious groups could be considered subcultures; for instance, Holdeman Mennonites are a group of individuals who follow a particular religion and wear a specific style (Church of God in Christ, Mennonite, 2021). All of these groups have shared interests, experiences, or identities, thus classifying them as a subcultures.
Query \(1\)
Social Groups
Individuals might identify with many types of social groups, which are defined by the connections between their members. These groups fall into two types: primary and secondary.
• Primary groups are small, informal collections of individuals who interact with each other in personal, direct, and intimate ways.
• Secondary groups are groups to which individuals feel only limited ties.
A subculture can be seen as a primary or secondary social group, depending on the type of culture and its members. Members of groups can be further categorized by their “closeness” and the extent to which they identify with their social group.
In-group membership
In-group memberships helps people feel
• Like they belong to the group
• A sense of togetherness
Out-group membership
In out-group membership, people
• feel like they do not belong to the group
• may make conscious decisions to avoid appearing out-group
For example, gangs are self-formed associations of peers with members who may engage in illegal activities. People may avoid being out-group members of a particular gang to escape violence and/or death.
Subculture membership
Some subcultural groups have clear, distinct rules and definitions of members (among these are some gangs, biker groups, and the Amish). However, many groups are only loosely defined, and members have liminal membership. For example, members of subcultures might
• relate to some people in the subculture but not fully invest identity in one group
• have moderate to limited connections with other members of the same group
• borrow style ideas from several groups.
Subcultures are Dependent on Context
Distinct Example: The Holdeman Mennonites
The Holdeman Mennonites live in communal groups that stay fairly separate from mainstream society.
Women’s dress is highly symbolic. Rules for acceptable prints (they change over time) are carefully approved by men and women in the community.
Liminal Example: Burning Man
The Burning Man festival began in the 1980s on Baker Beach in San Francisco but has become a large-scale, expensive event held in the Nevada desert for 2 weeks each summer.
The subculture community that forms each year is highly liminal and diverse.
Watch this short film Somewhere in Between on Burning Man, subcultural style, and shifting masculinities by Denise Green from Cornell University.
To access a transcript for the video above, download this file: Somewhere in Between Video Transcript [DOC]
Subcultural Style
Subcultures often develop or have distinct styles reflecting their membership. Mainstream culture might respond to this outward expression of a subculture in many ways, but a common process one sees n public response to subculture fashion is outlined below:
• Initial response is often fear,
• Dominant culture can meet the unmet needs,
• Dominant culture assimilates the subcultural style (commodification),
• Entrepreneurs commodify the style,
• After commodification, the subculture loses its initial power.
Example: Goth Subculture
In the 1970s, British bands set the tone for Goth subculture to emerge. Siouxsie and the Banshees are considered founders of the movement, and the group typified the subculture’s interest in dark, somber music. Over time, the Goth subculture was commodified and sold to a mainstream audience through stores like Hot Topic, which originally focused on selling music brands before expanding into a wider range of merchandise catering to a more vague Goth “aesthetic.”
This Siouxsie and the Banshees music video for the song “Spellbound” demonstrates the group’s dark, somber aesthetic.
To access a transcript for the video above, download this file: Sousie and the Banshees Spellbound Video Transcript [DOC]
Example: Punk subculture
Punk is difficult to define, due to its fluidity and complexity. The punk subculture, though, has roots in the 1970s in urban areas in the United States and the United Kingdom. Individuals who self-identify as punk typically reject aspects of mainstream society, including consumer lifestyles, politics, art, and ideologies. They frequently embody antihegemonic ideologies (Sklar, 2013).
Bricolage, or the creation from multiple and mixed things, is often described as central to punk aesthetics (Hebdige, 1979; Polhemus, 1994; Szatmary, 1996). Symbols often associated with punk aesthetics include , for instance, studded leather belts and cuffs, pins, ripped clothing, unnatural hair colors, combat boots, and many other dress and appearance practices (Bennett, 2006). Individuals mix and match multiple and varied items to create particular looks, a look influenced by the concept of bricolage. Plaids or tartans, and iconography such as band logos and subversive imagery are also patterns used frequently to signify group membership (Sklar, 2013). The popularization of tartan or plaid in the punk aesthetic dates to designers Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren (Punkflyer.com); the designers used the patterns in their early clothing lines in 1976 to signify those fighting battles or at war (Sklar, 2013). Another key concept in punk aesthetic is DIY, or do it yourself. Individuals may repurpose items or create original look through sewing, crafting, or other means (Sklar, 2013). Punk aesthetics also include distressed apparel. The notion of dirty or worn-in clothing rejects mainstream concepts of acceptable appearances, which aligns with some parts of punk ideologies.
It is important to note that there is no consistent look in a punk aesthetic for individuals who might self-identify as punk (Sklar, 2013). The media has perpetuated stereotypical images from early punk bands such as the Dead Kennedys, the Sex Pistols, and many others where band members wore garments such as leather pants, safety pins, and torn clothing. These early media representations helped define what the dominant culture or the public at large viewed and defined as definitively punk, punk aesthetics, and punk identities (Sklar, 2013). However, these media representations do not solely represent what embodying and expressing a punk identity means for everyone.
Motivations to embrace a punk style, aesthetic or identity are varied. In her book on punk style, Sklar interviewed an individual who explained that for him, punk is not expressed through his appearance but through his overall attitude. He said, “I’m older . . . so when I was a punk rocker, a lot of it was attitude. It wasn’t so much the clothing. We didn’t have Hot Topic, you know. There wasn’t anybody that was catering to a punk aesthetic like there is now . . . you know, it was a lot more, reflected personality a lot more I think back then” (2013, pp. 67–98). This example highlights how though sometimes we express our identities through our appearance, this is not always the case.
The evolution of punk from a subcultural community to a product commodified by high fashion is evident in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2013 exhibition Punk: Chaos to Couture, which was mounted in 2013 (MET, 2021). In the exhibition, you can view individuals from the early punk movement, such as Paul Cook and John Lydon, members of the band the Sex Pistols and see how their styles and aesthetics influenced high fashion designers such as Martin Margiela, Gianni Versace, and Comme des Garçons.
The punk subculture and style began in the third quarter of the 20th century and continues into the 21st. Punk styles have transformed over time, yet core aspects of punk style include bricolage, appropriation, distress, DIY, subversive imagery, and/or rejections of mainstream society. These styles reflect the overall antisociety attitude that embodies punk identity.
Watch this one-hour film on afro-punk.
To access a transcript for the video above, download this file: Afropunk Video Transcript [DOC]
Watch this short film on punk, punk identity, and dress.
Watch this short film on how subcultural style and roller derby.
Subculture and Group Membership Case study
Step One: Become familiar with the case study.
1. The case study attached below is a Word document and can be downloaded. It includes the task, evaluation, and template for the case study:
Subculture and Group Membership Case Study [DOC]
Step Two: Submit your complete assignment on Canvas.
1. Format your document.
2. Remember to check the submission against the rubric. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Dress%2C_Appearance%2C_and_Diversity_in_U.S._Society_(Reddy-Best%2C_Elder_and_Hassall)/01%3A_Dress_Theories_and_Concepts/1.06%3A_Subculture_and_Group_Membership.txt |
Module Learning Objectives (MLO)
In this chapter, you will
• MLO 7.1 Identify foundational concepts and theories related to fashion, identity, appearance, and dress. [CLO 1]
• MLO 7.2 Identify the basic tenets of fashion theories and how they help explain dress and appearance. [CLO 1]
• MLO 7.3 Explain how marginalized communities in the United States use dress and appearance to express their identities. [CLO 2]
• MLO 7.4 Examine how dress and appearance of marginalized communities in the United States are represented in the fashion system (e.g., advertisements or retailers). [CLO 3]
• MLO 7.5 Examine social justice issues related to dress and appearance of marginalized communities in the United States. [CLO 2]
• MLO 7.6 Deconstruct your own perspectives and approach to understanding the dress of others. [CLO 4]
Fashion
Fashion refers to the idea of what is popular or on trend. One can also think about fashion as what is in flux in a particular time and place. Fashion undergoes a process of dynamic change: within a fashion system, there is a continuous change in what is on trend, or in fashion, over time. It can be extremely difficult to trace the origins of a particular fashion trend such as a motif, design, or silhouette (Reilly, 2012). Because multiple cultures and communities coexist across the world and even within regions, it can be almost impossible to be certain that a style came from a specific time and place or to define a fashion trend’s true origin.
The miniskirt is an example of a fashion trend that is thought to have developed in one place and time, yet various scholars provide conflicting evidence for some of these claimed origins. Mary Quant, a British fashion designer, is often credited for introduing the miniskirt into fashion in London in the 1960s, during the “youthquake” movement (FIT, 2021; V&A, 2021). However, according to Ford (2015), the miniskirt developed out of Tanzania. Haya Rinoth, a South African fashion designer, argued in Drum magazine that this new style developed in Africa, not the United Kingdom, as history had recorded. This example highlights some of the social justice issues or the Eurocentric power imbalance in history, where European history often is prioritized (Pokhrel, 2021).
Fashion Is a Social Process
Fashion is not just a set of trends but a social process, a way of behaving that a discernable proportion of a social group temporarily adopts and which is perceived to be socially appropriate for a time and situation. This point is particularly important, since something that might be considered fashionable for one situation (e.g., a class lecture) might not be fashionable in another (e.g., a business office).
Taking this broader definition of fashion into perspective, there are other products that have fashion components:
• cars and car interiors
• appliances
• computers and other technological devices.
Style versus Fashion
We have mentioned style throughout this chapter and will continue to do so. However, style and fashion are not synonymous. A style is a combination of lines, shapes, and forms. A type of fabric or pattern (e.g., plaid) may be a component that defines a style. Fashion, in contrast, refers to a specific style that is “popular” at some specific time.
Because its definition hinges on popular use, fashion requires an aspect of consumer acceptance. In other words, for a style to be considered fashion, there has to be an audience and consumer base. Two people wearing similar outfits is not fashion; multiple people must be wearing a look, exhibiting a collective behavior, for a style to be fashion. The reasons someone buys into a fashion can differ widely, though. Both individuality and conformity are necessary in the process, with some consumers using fashion as a way of trying something new and “stepping out of their comfort zone,” while others use fashion to fit in with others.
Fashion Diffusion
As new fashions are introduced to different cultures or communities, they go in and out of style. This diffusion usually results in a bell-shaped curve. Of note is that the curve never represents 100% of consumers. In this bell curve, in the early innovation stage, the fashion innovators create new styles. Fashion leaders, often seen as influencers, then pick up the styles. Today, Instagram hosts a number of fashion influencers who make a tremendous impact on the industry promoting various styles (Barker, 2021). After the leaders wear a style, the style is typically worn by what are referred to as early adopters, then late adopters. Late adopters do not necessarily feel comfortable wearing new or innovative styles until they are viewed as on trend. Finally, fashion followers adopt a style when it is near obsolescence or when it is phasing out or seen as an old trend (Reilly, 2012).
Precious Lee is a highly influential fashion model who has significant following on her Instagram page (Precious Lee, 2021).
To view a transcript for the video above, download this file: Precious Lee Runway Compilation Video Transcript [DOC]
Characteristics of Fashion Opinion Leaders
Fashion opinion leaders, like the fashion influencers on Instagram and TikTok, tend to have a similar set of characteristics. They will
• communicate about dress a lot
• make themselves socially active and visible
• profess an interest in high fashion
• portray themselves as self-confident
• showcase taste and social sensitivity
• influence choices others make in their dress.
Examples of famous fashion opinion leaders include Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Beyoncé.
Fashion Items That Are Not Trends:
Fads and classics describe concepts, styles, or ideas that are different from fashion trends. Classics are items that have prolonged lives and do not necessarily go out of fashion. Examples of classics include the little black dress, Converse sneakers, denim jeans, black suit jackets, shift dresses, white button-down shirts, and trench coats (Reilly, 2012). Some brands, such as The Gap, are famous for selling classics in addition to more fashionable items. Fads, which quickly go in and out of fashion. are defined in contrast to classics. Examples of fads include the 1990s’ glitter eyeshadow. Another example is the Google Glass eyewear (Doyle, 2016). It was quite popular when it came out in the 2000s, but it did not last very long at all.
Query \(1\)
Who Determines What Is Fashionable?
Gatekeepers are individuals who influence what is fashionable at a particular time. Examples include people in marketing, designers, buyers, or others in the fashion industry. In particular, the fashion industry has great control over what is available on the market and thus is considered a major gatekeeper in aesthetics, styles, and fashions that we see in communities and cultures (Reilly, 2012).
Fashion Theories
A theory is used to explain phenomena; fashion theories are used to explain how and why styles and fashions diffuse across time and across cultures.
Trickle-down Theory
Trickle-down, or upper-class theory, is one example of a fashion theory (Simmel, 1904). This theory is based on ideas related to social class. It explains that individuals of higher socioeconomic status set the trends, and then those of lower socioeconomic statuses follow these trends.
The Trickle-down Theory is particularly limited in that it assumes we live in a pyramid-shaped society, one in which fashion information is initially available only to upper classes, which consume fashion in order to show off their wealth. Further, this theory assumes that fashion innovators are only found in the upper classes and that upper-class individuals do not want to look similar to those in the middle and lower classes. In reality, fashion and fashion trends are much more complex. This is especially true after the invention of the Internet.
Trickle-up Theory
A second theory is Trickle-up Theory, or the subcultural leadership model (Sproles, 1985). This theory supposes that style ideas start with “lower classes or non-prestigious groups” and are picked up by middle and upper classes and incorporated into mainstream fashion. For example, Lolita styles that emerged in Japan in the 1990s began on the streets of Japan and then trickled up into haute couture or high-fashions (V&A, 2021). Harajuku street fashion continues to innovate and inspire high-fashion trends today.
Unlike Trickle-down Theory, this does not argue that the individuals are innovating to create a trend. Instead, Trickle-up Theory states that subcultures create fashions to respond to unmet needs, and only after media legitimizes a subculture’s style by featuring it and getting the public used to seeing it will a style spread (Hebdige, 1979). The originators of the style often get no monetary benefit from being featured in this way and might not be recognized as the originators of a style at all. (See chapter 6, “Subcultures” for more information.)
Finally, there is Trickle-across Theory (King, 1963). In this theory, fashion trends or styles can appear and spread across any social class.
Many theories help explain how and why styles or trends move or change, but these three theories are some of the basics. It should be noted, though, that they explain fashion at the broader societal level. Other theories help explain fashion on a more individual and micro level.
Fresh Dressed is a film that chronicles the history of hip-hop fashion and how it evolved. It demonstrates how these styles diffused throughout US society.
To view a transcript for the video above, download this file: Fresh Dressed Trailer Video Transcript [DOC]
Fashion Theories Case Study
Step One: Become familiar with the case study.
1. The case study attached below is a Word document and can be downloaded. It includes the task, evaluation, and template for the case study:
Fashion Theories Case Study [DOC]
Step Two: Submit your complete assignment on Canvas.
1. Format your document.
2. Remember to check the submission against the rubric. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Dress%2C_Appearance%2C_and_Diversity_in_U.S._Society_(Reddy-Best%2C_Elder_and_Hassall)/01%3A_Dress_Theories_and_Concepts/1.07%3A_Fashion_Theories.txt |
Module Learning Objectives (MLO)
In this chapter, you will
• MLO 8.1 Identify foundational concepts and theories related to sex and gender, fashion, identity, appearance, and dress. [CLO 1]
• MLO 8.2 Identify the numerous aspects of transition for individuals in the transgender and nonbinary communities in the United States. [CLO 1]
• MLO 8.3 Identify different types of dress worn by the transgender and nonbinary communities in the United States to affirm their gender identities. [CLO 1]
• MLO 8.4 Identify trans and nonbinary people’s experiences in the United States wearing different dress objects reflecting their trans and nonbinary identities. [CLO 1]
• MLO 8.5 Identify different fashion brands that produce and sell dress objects for the transgender and non binary communities in the United States to affirm their gender identities. [CLO 3]
• MLO 8.6 Identity how gender expressions and norms have shifted and changed over time and across different cultures. [CLO 2]
• MLO 8.7 Explain the role of dress and appearance in the development of one’s sex assigned at birth and their gender. [CLO1]
• MLO 8.8 Examine social justice issues related to dress and appearance of the transgender and nonbinary communities in the United States. [CLO 3]
• MLO 8.9 Deconstruct your own perspectives and approach to understanding the dress and appearance of the transgender and nonbinary communities in the United States. [CLO 4]
• MLO 8.10 Identify the driving forces of transformative social justice change in the fashion system related to transgender and nonbinary identities in the United States. [CLO 5]
Sex
Sex is a way of distinguishing individuals based on a collection of biological traits. These traits include:
• reproductive organs
• chromosomes
• hormones
• secondary sex characteristics, such as breast development.
Sex is often associated with the words male and female, and throughout much of Western culture it is presented as a binary. People who challenge the male/female binary sex system are grouped under the umbrella term intersex. Often, someone is labeled as intersex when they have ambiguous genitalia, though this term can apply to a variety of situations in which a person is born with reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t fit the box of “female” or “male.” Intersex individuals are fairly common, and approximately 2% of the human population is intersex. Sometimes intersex individuals undergo surgical interventions during infancy, decisions made for them by their parents, caregivers, or medical practitioners, so they can more easily identify as one sex, but many intersex people view these interventions as cruel or unnecessary.
Tricky Terminology
The term hermaphrodite has been used to refer to intersex people in the past, but starting around the 2010s has been viewed as derogatory.
Required reading: Terms and Definitions for LGTBQIA+ topics [PDF]
Gender
In contrast to sex, gender is defined as the social construction of femininity and masculinity. While sex is defined by one’s biological and physical traits, gender is a performance of mannerisms, posture, movement, vocal tone, word choice, and dress that serves to present a specific identity to the rest of society. Although they often overlap, a person’s gender identity, their internal understanding of their own gender, might not reflect their gender expression, the behavior, actions, and style in which they express their gender. For example, a closeted trans woman might choose to present herself in more masculine clothing until she feels more comfortable presenting her gender identity to those around her. Alternatively, someone might choose to present themselves with a more intense expression of the gender they identify with (e.g., a woman might wear makeup, high heels, and pencil skirts) due to social pressures to perform one’s gender within a certain environment (e.g., a business office).
Cisgender
When someone’s gender identity and expression align with the social expectations of the sex they were assigned at birth, that individual is considered cisgender. The term cis is a Latin prefix meaning “on or from the same side.” Most cisgender people wouldn’t consider identifying with a gender other than the one they were assigned with their sex at birth. This sense of belonging is not a bad thing, but it is important to recognize it as an unearned and unrecognized privilege. For example, cisgender people are often catered to when it comes to the presentation of “gendered” body wash, deodorant, and shampoo options at the convenience store. While these soaps and detergents are all gender neutral in function, their packaging and presentation give them a gendered presence that could make someone who is not cisgender feel uncomfortable or uncertain about which product to purchase. Cisgender privilege becomes particularly clear when one considers the stigmatization of people who are not cisgender, known as cisgenderism or simply genderism.
Transgender and Gender Nonconforming
Transgender is an umbrella term for someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not align with social expectations based on the sex they were assigned at birth. Sometimes, transgender individuals will call themselves trans, a shorthand version of the term. A related term is transexual, which more specifically identifies those individuals who often, but not always, undergo transition processes.
Required Reading
National Center for Transgender Equality. (2018, October 5). Understanding Non-Binary People: How to Be Respectful and Supportive. Retrieved from https://transequality.org/issues/resources/understanding-non-binary-people-how-to-be-respectful-and-supportive
National Center for Transgender Equality. (2016, July 9). Understanding Transgender People: The Basics. Retrieved from https://transequality.org/issues/resources/understanding-transgender-people-the-basics
Transitioning
Transitioning is the process of changing one’s gender expression to match one’s gender identity. MTF: A person transitioning from male to female, using she/her pronouns (sometimes called a transwoman or, simply, a woman). FTM: A person transitioning from female to male, using he/him pronouns (sometimes called a transman or, simply, a man). Nonbinary, genderqueer, or gender-nonconforming describes a gender identity that is neither female/woman nor male/man, often comfortable blurring gender lines.
For members of the trans and nonbinary communities, process of transition includes many elements:
• awareness
• psychological evaluations
• legal identification
• coming out or sharing
• hormone therapy
• surgeries,
To view a transcript for the video above, download this file: Coming Out as Nonbinary, Genderqueer, or Gender Non-Conforming Video Transcript [DOC]
Nonbinary genders
In cultures outside of the United States, there are numerous examples of gender identities outside of the man/woman binary:
• Five genders of Sulawesi, Indonesia
• Kocek of the Ottoman Empire
• Muxes of Mexico
• Kathoeys of Thailand
• Warias of Indonesia
• Hijra of India
Two-Spirit of North America
To view a transcript for the video above, download this file: Two Spirit Video Transcript [DOC]
Mānūs of Hawaii
One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view them online here: https://iastate.pressbooks.pub/dressappearancediversity/?p=87#oembed-3
Query \(1\)
Trans, Genderqueer, and Nonbinary Identities and Dress
Trans and nonbinary (TNB) individuals can conform to cisgender dress stereotypes in an effort to pass and/or challenge notions of femininity and masculinity to appear visibly TNB. Appearances that challenge binary gender constructions by combining or negating feminine and masculine aesthetics are often interchangeably referred to as genderqueer, genderfuck, genderless, nonbinary, or unisex (Beemyn, 2015). Some people may want to appear more cisgender (or “passing”), and some may want to appear more TNB (Allen, 2010); however, TNB expression is less binary. Furthermore, TNB individuals continually negotiate their gender performance (Butler, 1990) and may engage in “shape shifting,” or altering their appearance depending on the situation (McGuire et al., 2016). Numerous factors influence gender presentation. For example, some individuals may wish to appear cisgender because it can lead to correct gender identification by others or help them avoid dangerous situations (Garfinkel, 1967; Schrock et al., 2009; Snorton, 2009). Being visibly TNB can also allow individuals to promote visibility and challenge cultural assumptions about gender. Additionally, individuals use dress to camouflage body parts they may believe do not align with their gender identity or to highlight and reveal body parts that align with their gender identity (Corwin 2009; McGuire et al., 2016; Reilly et al., 2019).
McGuire and Reilly (2020) have developed an aesthetic identity framework using a combination of aesthetic, gender, and human development theories to study TNB clothing choices. Their model incorporates performativity and safety aspects of presentation; sensory, cognitive, and emotional aspects of clothing; exploration and commitment; scaffolding and feedback; and role-making and role-taking. They argue:
As individuals mature in their sense of transforming gender identity, they will consolidate their aesthetic identity and begin to take on gendered social roles (role taking) that they will adapt (role making). The gendered aesthetic identity will be a way of claiming and shaping an individual’s placement within a gender role, as well as making meaning of that gender role for themselves and others. (n.p.)
Rahilly (2015) suggested that TNB people are often forced to wear clothing that is physically or psychologically uncomfortable. However, the majority of participants in Rahilly’s study were White, so these feelings may not apply to all racial and cultural backgrounds. Still, regardless of one’s background, apparel designed for cisgender bodies may not fit TNB bodies appropriately. Mass-produced (ready-to-wear) clothing often does not meet TNB individuals’ functional and aesthetic needs. Reilly et al. (2019) identified three themes some TNB people associate with searching for clothing: fit, cut, and sizing issues with mainstream ready-to-wear clothing; desire to use clothing to hide body parts that reveal a TNB identity; and desire to reveal body parts “to celebrate or show pride in one’s body and a design to highlight bodily changes post gender confirmation treatment” (p. 12). The study’s participants were diverse in racial and ethnic identities, suggesting these themes reflect experiences of TNB people regardless of race. Some TNB individuals may employ tailoring services to make mass-produced apparel fit their bodies. Additionally, with the growing visibility of TNB individuals, some clothing brands are responding to consumers’ needs by offering apparel designed specifically for the TNB market (e.g., FtM Detroit, Official Rebrand, Saint Harridan, and Transguy Supply).
Catalpa and McGuire (2020) found dress contributes to Serano’s (2007) “mirror epiphany,” or the first encounter with one’s authentic self: “Dress helps transpersons make a conscious connection between how they imagined themselves and the material reality of their physical presence” (Catalpa & McGuire, 2020, p. 57). Moreover, TNB individuals may employ tattoos as a sign of self-acceptance, to connect with their body, to mark their identity, or to celebrate physical changes to the body (McGuire et al., 2016; McGuire & Chrisler, 2016).
Trans Gear
Trans gear, or objects worn by trans people to affirm their gender identity, is a major part trans dress.
Chest Binding
One common piece of gear among transgender men is a chest binder. Chest binding involves the compression of chest tissue for masculine gender expression among people assigned a female sex at birth.
Required Reading
Sarah Peitzmeier, Ivy Gardner, Jamie Weinand, Alexandra Corbet & Kimberlynn Acevedo (2017) Health impact of chest binding among transgender adults: A community-engaged, cross-sectional study, Culture, Health & Sexuality, 19:1, 64–75. Retrieved from https://queerdoc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Binding-Health-Project-Results.pdf
The first study to review chest binding in depth, conducted in 2016, included a sample of 1,800 adults. 97.2% of the participants in the study reported at least one negative outcome they attributed to chest binding, including
• back pain (53.8%)
• overheating (53.5%)
• chest pain (48.8%)
• shortness of breath (46.6%)
• itching (44.9%)•bad posture (40.3%)
• shoulder pain (38.9%).
Despite discomfort, though, the participants also stated that binding made them feel less anxious, reduced dysphoria-related depression and suicidality, improved overall emotional well-being, and enabled them to safely go out in public with confidence. One participant said, “Binding allowed me to present my gender as I felt it to be by flattening my chest and causing it to look more male. It helped to affirm my gender by appearance.”
Watch this video to learn more about how to safely use a chest binder:
To view a transcript for the video above, download this file: How to use a binder safely Video Transcript [DOC]
Packing
Another type of trans gear is a packer, padding or a phallic object placed in the pants to give the appearance of a bulge. Like chest binding, this implement of dress is used by those who prefer to present as masculine. Packing can be done in many ways: for example, people create DIY packers by bundling socks or purchase packers and packing accessories, such as packing shorts and straps made for safely securing packers.
Example Video
Watch this short video on packers and STP devices to learn more: “Show and Tell of Packers and STP Devices for Transmen.”
Tucking
Finally, a trans person might choose to use tucking to feel more comfortable about their gender expression. Tucking is the practice of arranging the external genitals between the legs with clothing. Since only about 12% of transgender women might obtain a vaginoplasty (a surgical procedure that results in the construction of reconstruction of a vagina), tucking, like chest binding, can help prevent dysphoria-related depression. Trans individuals might tuck with tape or with of a gaff, a garment used to tuck the genitals inward.
You can watch the video below to learn more about DIY gaffs:
To view a transcript for the video above, download this file: How to make a Gaff for Tucking Video Transcript [DOC]
Sex and Gender Case Study
Step One: Become familiar with the case study.
1. The case study attached below is a Word document and can be downloaded. It includes the task, evaluation, and template for the case study:
Sex and Gender Case Study [DOC]
Step Two: Submit your complete assignment on Canvas.
1. Format your document.
2. Remember to check the submission against the rubric. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Dress%2C_Appearance%2C_and_Diversity_in_U.S._Society_(Reddy-Best%2C_Elder_and_Hassall)/02%3A_Dress_and_Marginalized_Communities/2.01%3A_Sex_and_Gender.txt |
Module Learning Objectives (MLO)
In this chapter, you will
• MLO 9.1 Identify foundational concepts related to sexuality, fashion, identity, appearance, and dress. [CLO 1]
• MLO 9.2 Identify different types of dress worn by queer communities in the United States to express their sexual identities. [CLO 1]
• MLO 9.3 Identify queer people’s experiences in the United States wearing different dress object reflecting their queer identities. [CLO 2]
• MLO 9.4 Identify different fashion brands that produce and sell dress objects for the queer community in the United States to affirm their sexual identities. [CLO 1]
• MLO 9.5 Explain the role of dress and appearance in the development of one’s queer identity in the United States. [CLO 1]
• MLO 9.6 Examine how dress and appearance of queer communities in the United States are represented in the fashion system (e.g., by advertisements or retailers). [CLO 3]
• MLO 9.7 Examine social justice issues related to dress and appearance of the queer community in the United States. [CLO 3]
• MLO 9.8 Deconstruct your own perspectives and approach to understanding the dress and appearance of the queer community in the United States. [CLO 4]
• MLO 9.9 Identify the driving forces of transformative social justice change in the fashion system related to queer identities in the United States. [CLO 5]
In this chapter, we explore the scholarship examining the intersections of the queer community, identity negotiations, and dress. However, doing so is tricky because significant nuance lies in identity, and the scholarship is not necessarily provided in clear categories, given identity’s fluidity and complexity. Therefore, while the work is presented under the stable headings outlined below, when tensions arise in the literature, they are noted. The plethora of work on these topics dissolves the idea that there is one monolithic aesthetic or style for different queer identities.
The Center for Educational Justice & Community Engagement’s Definition of Terms is a great resource to help you understand some of the concepts that intersect with lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and other sexual minorities.
Gender Identity
Although the two concepts interact in many ways, gender identity is distinct from sexual orientation. Just like not all cisgender people are straight, not all transgender people are gay or lesbian.
I either, I would say queer or bisexual depending on who asks. I like queer better, I like the vagueness and implications but bisexual is a word people know. I’m attracted to people of all genders.
Heterosexuality is the romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between persons of the opposite sex or gender. Even though transgender people identify with the queer community, they can still be heterosexual. For example, a transgender woman and a cisgender male in a relationship are a heterosexual couple.
There are many ways to identify in the queer community, and individuals often use various terms or switch among them.
Queer sexual spectrum
On the queer spectrum, these questions may not align with a singular sexual identity:
• Sexual identity: “Who am I?”
• Sexual orientation: “How am I attracted?”
• Sexual behavior: “How do I engage sexually?”
Query \(1\)
Sexuality and Signifiers
Many overt symbols of sexuality are used in the LGBTQIA+ community. Often, sexuality can overtly influence appearance or dress, though this is not always the case. For all individuals in the queer community, a common theme throughout history has been the “pushing of gender boundaries.” The signs and symbols of sexuality for queer individuals change and shift over time.
Gaining Momentum: Stonewall
The Stonewall Riots, in 1969, marked a period of great movement toward equality for the LGBTQIA+ community. Read what the Stonewall Riots were here: “History of the Stonewall Riots” (History.com editors, 2021).
Following these riots and the formation of numerous groups such as the Gay Liberation Front, slogan badges and T-shirts became an important signifier of support or pride. Today, these items continue to act as signifiers of belonging in the queer community.
Nazi-Occupied Germany
Overt signifiers of LGBTQIA+ identities have sometimes been forced on members of the community. Gay men in Nazi concentration camps were forced to wear uniforms bearing pink triangles as designations of homosexuality. Similarly, women who did not conform to social roles, often believed to be lesbians, had to wear black triangles.
Today, triangles are sometimes incorporated into clothing and accessories as symbols of freedom rather than symbols of oppression. This is an example of reclamation, wherein a member of a community who is harmed by a term, phrase, or symbol might choose to use that signifier in a positive way to challenge the stereotypes surrounding it.
Review the Stigma and Identity section in chapter 2 for more information about how members of a stigmatized community can reclaim or refute negative stereotypes.
Distinctions between Drag and Cross-Dressing
Within discussions about the LGBTQIA+ community, newcomers often conflate the terms drag and cross- dressing. However, there are some important differences between the two terms.
Drag
Drag refers to the conscious performance of femininity or masculinity, sometimes in an exaggerated manner, usually in a show or theater setting. When individuals perform femininity, they are referred to as queens, and when they perform masculinity in the same way, they are referred to as kings.
Watch this short film to learn about drag and terms related to it:
Cross-Dressing
In contrast to drag queens and kings, cross-dressers wear clothes, makeup, and other forms of dress that are considered by their culture to be appropriate for a gender not their own. While people generally wear drag for entertainment purposes, they cross-dress for personal reasons. The term cross-dresser falls under the umbrella term transgender, though not all cross-dressers consider themselves trans.
Not everyone who might engage in drag or cross-dressing considers themselves part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Lesbian Identities and Dress
In a survey of mainstream popular press articles in the United States from 1960s to the 2010s, publications featured mostly White, thin, feminine lesbian aesthetics and styles (Reddy-Best & Jones, 2020). These mainstream representations lacked the nuance, tension (Kaiser, 2012), and variety of styles that lesbian-identifying women have embraced over time. Many of these styles are intricately related to gender negotiations; however, lesbian styles expand beyond the stereotypical notions of butch and femme often perpetuated in media.
Early documented evidence of women’s styles in same-gender relationships dates to the eighteenth century. Elanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby, two Anglo-Irish aristocrats who were thought to have been in a love relationship, often adopted masculine styles of clothing; more specifically, they routinely wore riding habits, considered a subversive act because women did not customarily don the outfits they wore for riding at that time (Wilson, 2013). Anne Lister, a wealthy White woman from Yorkshire who died in the late nineteenth century, wrote in her diaries of her desires and relationships with other “mannish women,” and she also embraced an eccentric, masculine style (Wilson, 2013, p. 171).
In the 1928 novel The Well of Loneliness, author Radclyffe Hall crafted a lesbian identity in a masculine aesthetic (Geczy & Karaminas, 2013). In the same decade, photographs Albert Harlingue took of women at Le Monocle, a lesbian club in Paris, depicted White-appearing women in the popular garçonne look, a fashionable women’s style in larger society (Farrell-Beck & Parsons, 2007), “characterized by an absence of feminine curves and very short hairstyles” (Steele, 2013, pp. 26–27). Harlingue’s images also featured women in highly feminine styles and wearing bias-cut dresses with form-fitting silhouettes, longer hair, and makeup. Georges Brassai also took similar photographs. Faderman (1991) discussed lesbian dress aesthetics in the early part of the 20th century and explored these recognizable masculine and feminine norms, frequently referred to as butch and femme, which she argued emerged in 1940s bar culture, where butch and femme lesbians congregated. Leslie Feinberg’s popular 1993 novel Stone Butch Blues gave vivid descriptors of the mid-20th-century butches and femmes. For example, Jess, the main character, related their experience when first entering a bar in Niagara Falls: “What I saw there released tears I’d held back for years: strong, burly women wearing ties and suit coats. Their hair was slicked back. They were the handsomest women I’d ever seen. Some of them were wrapped in slow motion dances with women in tight dresses and high heels who touched them tenderly. Just watching made me ache with need” (p. 28).
Rothblum (1994) argued that lesbian communities have adopted styles and aesthetics that differ from those of mainstream society. One of the ways this has manifested is through embracing and negotiating a masculine aesthetic, sometimes referred to as butch. The butch, masculine-lesbian style is often recognizable within as well as outside of the lesbian community (Maltry & Tucker, 2002; Taylor, 2007). A butch aesthetic may include comfortable shoes, little or no makeup, tattoos and piercings, alternative-style haircuts or hair colors, and masculine-leaning garments or accessories (Clarke & Spence, 2013; Clarke & Turner, 2007; Esterberg, 1996; Reddy-Best & Pedersen, 2014, 2015; Rothblum, 1994, 2010). While different lesbian styles, including those that are part of the butch aesthetic, are often considered uniform, women adopt masculine styles in complex and varied ways (Levitt & Hiestand, 2004; McLean, 2008). For example, in Reddy-Best and Goodin’s (2020) research, participant Cyndi—a White, lesbian-identifying woman—claimed her overall style was masculine-leaning but said she felt like a “delicate flower on the inside” and preferred the phrase “soft butch” (125).
In her 2019 work, Blake analyzed Black androgynous lesbians from North Carolina. Blake explained, “[I am] hesitant to essentialize Black lesbian styles of dress . . . instead of naming these gender presentations Black lesbian style, I call these articulations of Black lesbian androgyny BlaQueer Style because they represent—rather than essentialize—the racial and class politics illuminated by their dress” (p. 11).
Blake (2019) outlined the ways these women embraced masculinity and the tensions surrounding their multiple subjectivities, with emphasis on their Black identity. Lane-Steele’s (2011) work examined studs, or Black lesbians who embrace masculinity; the studs she interviewed said they dressed similarly to their Black male peers, with “baggy pants and shirts, hats, high top shoes, Timberland boots, and fairly flashy jewelry” (p. 484). Lane-Steele drew connections between these women’s styles and “protest masculinity” (p. 483), which Connell and Messerschmidt (2009) defined as“[the] pattern of masculinity constructed in local working-class settings, sometimes among ethnically marginalized men, which embodies the claim to power typical of regional hegemonic masculinities in Western countries, but which lacks the economic resources and institutional authority that underpins the regional and global patterns” (p. 848). One way protest masculinity surfaces is through a hyper-masculine aesthetic—such as the one these Black lesbian women embraced.
In addition, much research has analyzed feminine-leaning aesthetics, sometimes referred to as femme, high-femme, or lipstick lesbian styles or identities. Feminine-leaning lesbians may wear long hair, makeup, and feminine-coded clothing, such as dresses or high heels (Hemmings, 1999; Levitt et al., 2003; Levitt & Hiestand, 2004; Levitt & Horne, 2002; Maltry & Tucker, 2002). Because of the long-standing association between femininity and heterosexuality, feminine-leaning lesbians are often misread as straight (Huxley et al., 2014; Levitt et al., 2003) and can experience accusations of not being “queer enough” within the LGBTQIA+ community (Reddy-Best & Goodin, 2020). They may hide their lesbian identities until they are physically with their masculine-leaning partners (Rossiter, 2016).
Watch this short film on femme identity and dress.
To view a transcript for the video above, download this file: The Femme Struggle Transcript [DOC]
While many folks adopt and embrace these stereotypical aesthetics that are thought to have developed out of the mid-20th century, there have been significant critiques and rejections of these styles altogether. As social movements gained traction in the latter part of the 20th century, some criticized these feminine- and masculine-leaning aesthetics for producing a heteronormative performance (Walker, 1993). In Freitas et al.’s 1996 study, participants related that they did not want to limit themselves to one particular type of style. Additionally, Hammidi and Kaiser (1999) theorized there was no single way to imagine beauty for lesbian women, and these negotiations are intertwined with ambivalence and tensions in everyday life. This notion is evident in a recent New York Times article titled “Lesbians Invented Hipsters,” in which Burton (2016) asserted, “You’re all lesbians now, America. . . . I’m sorry. But mostly for myself. Because it’s hard to tell who’s queer now.”
Watch this short film on the experiences with clothing and dress of queer women who live in the Midwest.
Watch this short research presentation about queer women’s identity and dress.
Gay Identities and Dress
Because of the stigmatization and criminalization of homosexual behavior in much of European–American modern history, gay men have frequently adopted coded styles to display their gay identity. These symbols have included adorning one’s lapel with green carnations and wearing red neckties or suede shoes.
As legal progress has been made and the social climate for the LGBTQIA+ community has improved, the symbols shifted from knowledge among the few to commonplace, as in dress that now includes rainbow flags, the inverted pink triangle, or an earring worn in the right ear (Cole, 2000; Reilly, 2010).
During the early modern gay liberation movement, gay men were mostly divided into two ideologies regarding how to present themselves through dress: embrace traditional masculine gender presentation or subvert it (Edwards, 1994). Cole (2013) noted that the Gay Liberation Front of the 1970s employed “genderfuck” aesthetics, combining stereotypical masculine and feminine clothes, makeup, and styling into one form to subvert Western binary gender expectations in Great Britain and the United States to combat, question, and highlight gender’s artificial nature. These two philosophies and tensions—to embrace traditional Western gender presentation or to disrupt it—continue in contemporary post-postmodern forms of androgyny (Barry & Reilly, 2020).
The conflict over how to present one’s self resulted in the “butch shift,” in which gay men developed dress styles based on masculine archetypes (Humphries, 1985), such as leather men, bears, and Castro clones. Bears, noted for their hirsute, either muscular or husky/large/fat and blue-collar representations of masculinity, became visible in the 1980s during the early AIDS crisis and were eroticized for their perceived health as compared to the emaciated appearances of those suffering in the latter stages of AIDS. Mosher et al. (2006) argued that leather identity is socially constructed and performative and both “bear and leather aesthetics can be understood as expressions of culturally valued traits and as a reconciliation of masculine and gay identities” (pp. 119–120).
Cole (2000) noted the Castro clones style emerged from American cowboy and blue-collar dress (e.g., jeans, plaid shirts, cowboy boots, construction boots, Levi’s 501 button-fly jeans, T-shirts, short hair, and mustaches) and was symbolic of “toughness, virility, aggression, strength, [and] potency” (p. 128), although Levine (1998) argued the look was parody. Although clone aesthetics were patterned after heterosexual masculine styles, a knowing gay consciousness acknowledged the outfits were coordinated, perfected, and worn to show off the male physique. Cole (2000) further argued the clone image of masculinity influenced other gay men’s styles, including “queer nation” and “act-up” looks (e.g., T-shirts and jeans), gay skinhead, and gay rockabilly. The clone style assisted in redefining gay men as masculine. Other gay subcultures that embrace masculine aesthetics include muscle boys, scallies, and homothugs (Cole, 2008).
In contrast to masculine archetypes, other gay men, such as drag queens and punks, embraced camp, feminine, or androgynous aesthetics, including makeup and jewelry. Contemporarily, a result of the butch shift has been the tendency among some gay men to embrace femininity (Reilly, in press) and to incorporate apparel items marketed to both men and women into their wardrobes (Barry & Reilly, 2020; moore, 2020). Per Barry and Martin (2015), gay men view contemporary aesthetics as more varied than previous generations, and gender identity, sexual orientation, and race intersect not only to express individuality but also to challenge binary gender norms by mixing traditionally feminine and masculine fabrics, textures, products, and other signifiers (Barry & Martin, 2016). Clarke and Turner (2007) similarly argued that clothing is used to negotiate gay identity, but it is also used to express individuality; thus when an individual “comes out,” they may feel expectations to dress a certain way, but enough room exists in the unwritten rules of gay aesthetics to show one’s persona in a multitude of ways.
Gay men adopted other items, among them sailor uniforms and sneakers. In England and France between the world wars, gay and bisexual men wore the sailor uniform because it was associated with masculinity and voracious sexuality and it had a figure-revealing fit and silhouette. Use of the sailor uniform diminished when it was adapted into mainstream fashion (Stephenson, 2016). Scott (2011) proposed that sneakers were important to gay men in three ways. First, they can be viewed as feminine and are thus discouraged if one wants to appear masculine (e.g., biker and leather subcultures eschew sneakers and favor boots). Second, they can be viewed as masculine among middle-class gay men and as part of the butch shift or as gay men assimilated (e.g., jocks and straight-acting mainstream masculinity). Third, sneakers are considered masculine but fetishized, as in, for example working-class subcultures or gay skinheads.
Much of the research on gay men’s dress has been conducted on White men, leaving significant opportunities for future research on other races and ethnicities. However, the research that has been conducted has yielded important findings. Cole’s (2019) work on gay Black men in Britain and the United States reported that gay Black men find attention to detail important, considering age, race, class, and how one wanted to present oneself with consideration of time and place: “What constitutes gay men’s style and what constitutes Black gay men’s style raises questions about whether it is possible to identify gay styles broadly and Black gay styles specifically at this time” (p. 54). Drummond (2005) argued gay Asian men have different clothing styles for home, straight or mainstream, and gay spheres.
Tan (2019) documented the dissemination of the bear style from the United States to Japan, through Northeast Asia, and into Taiwan and found bears in Taiwan cultivate their look to achieve sexual capital by using clothes—such as tank tops or bright colors on sleeves and torsos of shirts—to draw attention to their thick or beefy bodies. Last, Horton’s (2020) research on the regulation of flamboyant dress, or fabulousness, in India, from within its own gay communities, argued dress has become politicized—a matter of respectability politics rather than one of enjoyment of pushing boundaries.
Bisexual Identities and Dress
Some scholars have focused specifically on the ways bisexual-identifying individuals negotiate their identities through dress. Taub (2003) surveyed mostly White, bisexual-identifying women and reported that these women fashioned their bodies in a variety of ways; in their responses, there was significant discussion of negotiating societal gender norms and stereotypical lesbian appearance norms. Some of these women rejected dominant culture’s norms and created “personalized and affirming beauty ideas and practices,” whereas others felt pressure to conform to lesbian norms, such as the “soft butch” aesthetic (p. 21).
Hartman (2013) conducted interviews with mostly White, bisexual-identifying women. Participants frequently relayed a desire to make themselves visible as bisexual in public settings because of their belief that society often deems them invisible, which is sometimes referred to as bi-erasure (for discussions of bisexual invisibility, see Bradford, 2004; Firestein, 1996; Fox, 1995; Tabatabai & Linders, 2011). Participants used the terms attitude and androgyny and a hybrid of heterosexual and homosexual aesthetics to describe a bisexual display, and they placed significant emphasis on gender negotiations through style. The participants described their uses of overt pride aesthetics, such as pins or slogan T-shirts—particularly those with the bi-pride colors (pink, blue, and purple). Although Hartman’s (2013) participants articulated specific aesthetics to highlight their bisexual identity, they also expressed that it was “difficult to pin down such a description” (p. 49). Similarly, other researchers found a lack of distinct dress aesthetics for bisexual individuals (Clarke & Spence, 2013; Clarke & Turner, 2007; Hayfield, 2011; Hayfield et al., 2013; Holliday, 1999; Huxley et al., 2014).
Hartman-Linck (2014) discussed the importance of bisexual signifiers in private or intimate spaces, such as around close friends or family. Her participants also related using aesthetics of the home, such as magnets or artwork with lesbian symbols, to signify their identities. Artwork or magnets are arguably not “hand-held objects” (Roach-Higgins & Eicher, 1992, p. 1), yet they are debatably an extension of the body in the context of these private spheres.
In a recent study, Daly et al. (2018) again examined bisexual women’s appearance and dress. Similar to the aforementioned studies, the bisexual participants’ appearance markers conformed to stereotypical lesbian aesthetics (or masculine-leaning styles), or they adopted mainstream gender norms by using feminine signifiers. The participants’ partners’ genders often motivated adoption of various styles. For example, some women in same-gender relationships adopted feminine aesthetics to avoid having others assume they identified as lesbian.
Duffin (2016) interviewed African American men who were behaviorally bisexual but identified as straight and described themselves as “on the down low” or “DL” (p. 484). The down-low phenomenon is significant in the Black community because of the stigmatization of homosexuality; the phrase, which emerged in rap music lyrics in the 1990s (Cohen, 1999), has been discussed in popular press articles (Denizet-Lewis, 2014). Dress was not the primary focus in Duffin’s (2016) work, but in one part of his results, he reported that men often associated femininity with being gay. That is, these bisexually behaving men asserted their masculinity by wearing baggy or other stereotypically masculine styles. By contrast, one participant defined being gay as wearing “tight clothes, swish[ing] up and down the street, [and] act[ing] like a girl” (p. 499).
Required reading
Huxley, C., Clarke, V. and Halliwell, E. (2014). Resisting and Conforming to the “Lesbian Look”: The Importance of Appearance Norms for Lesbian and Bisexual Women. J. Community Appl. Soc. Psychol., 24: 205-219. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2161
Kelly L. Reddy-Best & Elaine L. Pedersen (2015). The relationship of gender expression, sexual identity, distress, appearance, and clothing choices for queer women. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 8:1, 54-65, DOI: 10.1080/17543266.2014.958576
To access these articles, read them on campus or look them up on the University Library website and log in with your NetID and password.
The Fashion Industry and LGBTQIA+ Identities
In the 2010s, there was a significant emergence of queer-focused brands in the fashion industry selling a variety of different products, such as suits and suit coordinates, sportswear, accessories, swimwear, shoes, and undergarments or other objects worn near or against the skin (Reddy-Best et al., 2020; Reddy-Best, 2017, 2020; Reddy-Best & Goodin, 2018). Many of these brands garnered widespread attention in 2016 when HBO released Suited, a documentary about Bindle & Keep—a Brooklyn, New York–based company that produces suits and suit coordinates for gender-nonconforming people. Many of Bindle & Keep’s clients described feeling—for the first time in their lives—comfortable in their suits and liking the way they looked in the mirror (Benjamin, 2016). Because many LGBTQIA+ individuals push gender boundaries in their dress, they often have difficulty shopping for clothes that fit their bodies and desired gender and/or sexual presentations (Pierre, 2020; Reddy-Best & Pedersen, 2015); many of these queer-focused fashion brands emerged to address these issues.
Many of the entrepreneurs who started these businesses cited entering the industry because they were unable to find clothing that fit them or their partners (Benjamin, 2016; Reddy-Best, 2020; Reddy-Best et al., 2020). For example, Thúy of Thúy Custom Clothier asserted they could empathize with their clients and the inability to find masculine-leaning clothes, and this ability to empathize has created a trusting shopping environment (Reddy-Best et al., 2020). Bindle & Keep designer Rae Tutera recalled their first suit: “I just never felt so good about myself before. It was just such a powerful experience for me. I couldn’t help but want to take it and adapt it to a landscape that welcomed people like me” (Benjamin, 2016, 5:14). Some brand owners may not personally have difficulty finding clothing, but a loved one might. For example, Abby Sugar was inspired to start Play Out because her ex-wife was unable to find masculine-style underwear (Reddy-Best et al., 2020).
The development of the Internet and the increase in LGBTQIA+ rights in the United States were catalysts for the creation of some brands. For example, Saint Harridan, now closed, developed alongside the legalization of same-sex marriage and the need for masculine-leaning wedding attire for gender-nonconforming individuals (Reddy-Best, 2020). Additionally, with the changing retail landscape and the increase in e-commerce, designers are no longer required to pitch to wholesale buyers or generate the overhead to build and sustain storefronts (Worsley, 2011). Therefore, these brands can enter the market with little to no capital investment. Social media has also allowed brands to target and attract customers (Reddy-Best et al., 2020). For example, Rebirth Garments—a company that designs garments and accessories that promote queerness, disability, and fat identities—sells products from its Etsy store and accepts orders via direct messages on social media (Reddy-Best & Goodin, 2018). These virtual spaces have also allowed brands to politicize fashion by circulating imagery that challenges larger hegemonic gender norms. For example, Saint Harridan worked with Miki Vargas, a queer-fashion photographer, to capture gender-boundary-pushing aesthetics. As these images circulated on Saint Harridan’s social media, discussions often focused on “gender and identity politics,” “shifting ideologies surrounding gender,” and “signs of solidarity with other groups experiencing oppression,” such as people of color (Reddy-Best, 2020, p. 99).
Unfortunately, several brands have since closed (e.g., Saint Harridan stopped operations only four years after its founding in 2012 because of a lack of capital investment (Reddy-Best, 2020). Overall, these brands reflect the numerous ways individuals in the LGBTQIA+ community fashion their bodies and will largely have a lasting impact as trailblazers of the queer-fashion brands movement in the early part of the 21st century.
Watch this research presentation on the development of queer and trans fashion brands in the 21st century.
Query \(2\)
Sexuality Case Study
Step One: Become familiar with the case study.
1. The case study attached below is a Word document and can be downloaded. It includes the task, evaluation, and template for the case study:
Sexuality Case Study [DOC]
Step Two: Submit your complete assignment on Canvas.
1. Format your document.
2. Remember to check the submission against the rubric. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Dress%2C_Appearance%2C_and_Diversity_in_U.S._Society_(Reddy-Best%2C_Elder_and_Hassall)/02%3A_Dress_and_Marginalized_Communities/2.02%3A_Sexuality.txt |
Module Learning Objectives (MLO)
In this chapter, you will
• MLO 10.1 Identify foundational concepts related to beauty, attractiveness, identity, appearance, and dress. [CLO 1]
• MLO 10.2 Identify the ways beauty and perceptions of attractiveness influence people’s experiences. [CLO 1]
• MLO 10.3 Identify the aspects of facial appearance that contribute to perceptions of attractiveness. [CLO 1]
• MLO 10.4 Identify how people alter their bodies when they do not think they are attractive or meet cultural beauty ideals. [CLO 1]
• MLO 10.5 Identify factors that influence why people alter their bodies when they do not think they are attractive or meet a specific beauty ideal. [CLO 1]
• MLO 10.6 Identify people’s experiences related to meeting the ideals of beauty or perceptions of attractiveness. [CLO 2]
• MLO 10.7 Examine social justice issues related to dress, appearance, and interpretations of beauty and attractiveness in the United States. [CLO 3]
• MLO 10.8 Analyze how dress, appearance, and concepts of beauty and attractiveness in the United States are represented in the fashion system (e.g., advertisements or retailers). [CLO 3]
• MLO 10.9 Deconstruct your own perspectives and approaches to understanding dress, appearance, beauty, and attractiveness in the United States. [CLO 4]
• MLO 10.10 Identify the driving forces of transformative social justice change in the fashion system related to beauty and attractiveness in the United States. [CLO 5]
•
“Beauty Is Good” Stereotype
In US society, as well as in many other cultures, attractive people are assumed to be
• sociable
• likable
• intelligent
• likely to succeed in a job
• likely to succeed in relationships
(Dion, Berscheid, & Walster, 1972).
Physical attractiveness seems to have a halo effect that influences perceivers to assume that an attractive person holds a network of positive qualities. In this case, a positive stereotype is applied. Research indicates that this positive halo for attractiveness is pervasive, or held throughout US society. Traits that are considered physically unattractive, such as obesity is currently defined, act as a stigma to elicit a stereotype of negative qualities. For example, research indicates that obese individuals are more likely to be perceived as
• lazy
• lacking in self-control
• not intelligent
and a host of other negative things (Jasper & Klassen, 1990). However, these qualities are not actually found to a greater extent in obese individuals.
According to Aronson (1965), the halo effect for attractiveness happens when
Beauty is a reward because it
• is aesthetically pleasing.
• is desirable to “possess.” Attractive women, in particular, are seen as rewards or trophies for successful men.
• reflects positively on associates or friends of an attractive person. Research finds that if an attractive person is willing to hang out with someone, the halo effect rubs off a little on the partner or friend of the attractive person—especially in cases in which a man is romantically connected with a beautiful woman: he is seen as more powerful or effective if he can attract such a woman.
Beauty lends power because it
• attracts.
• holds attention, though not always to what someone is saying.
• opens doors of Attractive people get invited places so that others can have the rewarding or aesthetic experience of being around them.
Beauty is possibly a self-fulfilling prophecy
• Positive reinforcement from others throughout society affects attractive people’s self-concept and esteem positively over time. It is helpful to one’s self-confidence to get so much positive feedback and validation of.
• There is some evidence that attractive people actually tend to be more sociable and outgoing and more self-confident than the average person.
• This does not mean that less attractive people cannot be self-confident and sociable. However, highly attractive people are given such positive responses by others that it may be easier for them to develop these traits.
Symbolic Interaction Process and Body Satisfaction
The people in our lives influence how we feel about our bodies. One study found that among older married couples, each spouses had a substantial impact on how the cother felt about their own attractiveness.
Oh and Damhorst (2009) studied 94 heterosexual married couples 60 years and older who lived in Florida. A good predictor of a man or woman’s body satisfaction was what he or she believed his or her spouse thought about his or her attractiveness. But the best predictor of the older men’s and women’s body satisfaction was what the spouse actually thought about his or her attractiveness.
Clearly, when someone takes on the role of the other to interpret how that other might think about the self, the interpretations can influence how one assesses or appraises the self. In a close relationship such as a long-term marriage, spouses serve as mirrors for each other to define, to some extent, the self. But even when a person is not totally aware of what the other thinks, the way a spouse acts nonverbally and verbally toward his or her mate over time has a profound influence on feelings of attractiveness and body satisfaction.
Cultural Influences on How We Think About the Body
Cheng (2000) studied 209 immigrant Chinese Americans living throughout the United States for body satisfaction and perceptions of attractiveness. In many Asian cultures, the spiritual and abstract qualities of personality and physical functioning are as important as or more important than appearance characteristics in assessing attractiveness. In the United States, emphasis on thinness for women and muscle development for men, as well as facial characteristics, are highly important standards for physical attractiveness. We emphasize surface qualities over internal qualities. As people acculturate to a new culture, they may adopt ways of thinking about attractiveness from the new culture.
Faces and Attraction
Faces convey a significant amount of information about a person, including their various identities, such as sex, gender, ethnicity, race, and mood or emotion. The face is also one avenue through which judgements are made. That is, we have first impression of people based on their faces, and we make these judgements within seconds of meeting a person. Based on our impression of someone, we change our attitude and behavior toward this person (Lennon, Johnson, & Rudd, 2017).
Overall, individuals perceived as attractive receive unearned advantages. And, conversely, unattractive people experience significant discrimination due to the sizes and shapes of their facial features. This result has been found repeatedly in numerous peer-reviewed studies. That is, attractive people are given more awards; make more money; are perceived as smarter, more competent, be more social-able, happier; are given more attention; are more likely to be elected to office; and generally have more positive interactions than those who aren’t seen as markedly attractive (Lennon, Johnson, & Rudd, 2017).
Theories of Attraction
The first theory of attraction is sexual dimorphism, which refers to the physical features that are determined to be associated with men or women or masculinity or femininity. In numerous studies, researchers found that women who have more feminine features are judged to be more attractive and men who have more masculine features (a hard jawline, for instance) are rated as more attractive (Rhode, 2006).
The second theory is the theory of average faces. In this theory, researchers found that those faces that are more average are judged to be more attractive. You can view an example of face that are more average on the Face Research website (Faceresearch.org).
The last theory refers to facial symmetry: those faces that are more symmetrical are rated as more attractive (Lennon, Johnson, & Rudd, 2017).
Attraction and the Beauty Industry
There is a significant amount of bias against people who do not meet the appearance attractiveness standard.
The bias toward appearing attractive, being treated better simply because the size and shape of one’s facial features, has created a multi-billion-dollar beauty industry. The cosmetic and plastic surgery industries have contributed to and upheld ideal beauty standards (American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 2017; Rhode, 2010; Ridder, 2021 ). It is no surprise, then, that the fashion industry is aware of the advantage and has employed attractive models, as these models sell more products.
Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch is a fashion company that began in the 19th century (Abercrombie & Fitch, 2021). It sells products in numerous categories, including menswear, womenswear, and childrenswear. The company has frequently, in the recent 21st century, been in the news for a variety of issues, including its risqué print catalog, which featured models in sexualized positions. Additionally, it has a history of discriminatory hiring practices (Walters, 2016).
In 2006, Mike Jeffries, the company’s CEO, stated publicly, “A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes]. . . .That’s why we hire good-looking people in our stores Good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that” (The Fashion Law, 2018). Jeffries was hired to overhaul the brand after company went bankrupt in 1992. His tactics of hiring “beautiful” people were to help revamp the company ad increase sales. His strategy was a success; it increased sales and profit.
The company also instituted a looks policy; it regulated employees’ appearances, including length and color of hair, women’s makeup, and fingernail length. In other words, the company hired retail employees as it would models; it put employees in its retail stores based on their appearance rather than their ability to perform job functions. Any person of color (Asian, Black, and/or Latinx) was confined to the stockroom and not out on the selling floor, because they did not have a particular look. This issue is a complex one, and while we read the example in the facial attractiveness module, other intersecting identities certainly experiencing discrimination here, such as race and body size.
One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view them online here: https://iastate.pressbooks.pub/dressappearancediversity/?p=26#oembed-1
To view a transcript for the video above, download this file: 60 MIN Abercrombie & Fitch Racism Lookism Controversy Video Transcript [DOC]
Beauty and Attractiveness Case Study
Step One: Become familiar with the case study.
1. The case study attached below is a Word document and can be downloaded. It includes the task, evaluation, and template for the case study:
Beauty and Attractiveness Case Study [DOC]
Step Two: Submit your complete assignment on Canvas.
1. Format your document.
2. Remember to check the submission against the rubric. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Dress%2C_Appearance%2C_and_Diversity_in_U.S._Society_(Reddy-Best%2C_Elder_and_Hassall)/02%3A_Dress_and_Marginalized_Communities/2.03%3A_Beauty_and_Attractiveness.txt |
Module Learning Objectives (MLO)
In this chapter, you will
• MLO 11.1 Identify foundational concepts related to disability, fashion, identity, appearance, and dress. [CLO 1]
• MLO 11.2 Identify different types of dress worn by people with disabilities in the United States. [CLO 1]
• MLO 11.3 Identify the experiences of people with disabilities in the United States wearing different dress objects reflecting their disability identities. [CLO 2]
• MLO 11.4 Identify different fashion brands that produce and sell dress objects for people with disabilities in the United States. [CLO 2]
• MLO 11.5 Explain the role of dress and appearance in the development of one’s disability identity. [CLO 2]
• MLO 11.6 Examine how dress and appearance of people with disabilities in the United States are represented in the fashion system (e.g., advertisements or retailers). [CLO 3]
• MLO 11.7 Examine social justice issues related to dress and appearance for people with disabilities in the United States. [CLO 3]
• MLO 11.8 Deconstruct your own perspectives and approach to understanding the dress and appearance of people with disabilities in the United States. [CLO 4]
• MLO 11.9 Identify the driving forces of transformative social justice change in the fashion system related to disabilities in the United States. [CLO 5]
A disability is any condition of the body or mind that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities and interact with the world around them. Disabilities may affect a person’s vision, movement, thought, memory, learning, communication, hearing, mental health, and social relationships. Disabilities generally have three dimensions:
1. impairment in a person’s body structure of function, or mental functioning, such as loss of a limb, loss of vision, or memory loss.
2. activity limitation, for example, causing difficulty seeing, hearing, walking, or problem-solving.
3. participation restrictions: affecting daily activities such as working, engaging in social and recreational activities, and obtaining health care and preventive services.
Disabilities can be present from birth, develop over time, be caused by injury, be long-standing conditions, or be progressive.
Required reading
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Disability and Health Overview. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/disability.html
History of the Disabilities Rights Movement
Individuals with disabilities have unique needs that historically have not been met. In addition to needing support, funding, and services, individuals with disabilities have also found themselves discriminated against and stigmatized by individuals, businesses, and potential employers. This led to the rise of a movement advocating for change in the latter 20th century.
Watch this video to learn more about the disability rights movement:
In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed to help support individuals with disabilities living in the United States. This act was revised in 2006 to account for the accessibility issues that had become apparent with the popular use and integration of the Internet into individuals’ daily lives. There are five major sections within the act:
• Title I created equal employment rights for people with disabilities to remedy barriers at all stages of employment, including the fairness in the hiring process and reasonable accommodations throughout employment, training, and promotion.
• Title II requires public entities to provide equal access to all government programs and services.
• Title III requires equal access to businesses, including hotels, schools, museums, live theaters, restaurants, stores, and more.
• Title IV requires that telecommunications access be provided.
• Title V includes a variety of other provisions, including protection from retaliation when individuals assert these rights.
According to US Census data, nearly 19% of individuals in the United States are living with a disability (US Census Bureau, 2021). This includes, among others,
• 2 million people who are blind
• 7.6 million people who have difficulty hearing
• 9.4 million people who have difficulty grasping or lifting objects
• 30.6 million people who have mobility difficulties (difficult walking, necessitating the use of a wheelchair, cane, crutches, or walker)
With these disabilities comes the need for accommodations, not just through legal means like the affordances provided through the ADA but also through accessories and clothing that support or at least do not actively harm an individual with a disability.
Hearing Devices
Individuals experience various degrees of hearing loss, from mild cases to more severe ones. A breakdown of degrees of hearing loss is provided below:
• mild: has some difficulty keeping up with conversations.
• moderate: has difficulty keeping up with conversations when not using a hearing aid.
• severe: benefits from powerful hearing aids but often relies on lip-reading; some use sign language.
• profound: is very hard of hearing; relies mostly on lip-reading and/or sign language.
Hearing aids are electroacoustic devices designed to amplify sound, with the goal of making speech audible for people with varying levels of hearing loss. The invention of the telephone inspired the development of the first electronic hearing aid in 1898.
The first hearing devices were speaking tubes, trumpets, and cups, devices with conical or wider openings that funneled sound into a smaller pipe and into the ear of the user. As technology developed, body-worn hearing aids came into popular use, making it easier for individuals to bring their hearing aids “on the go.”
Smaller hearing aids worn behind or in the ear were developed in the first half of the 20th century. These hearing aids, still in use today, continue to be improved. The most recent development in hearing devices is the cochlear implant. First developed in 1972, the cochlear implant consists of an internal device that is surgically implanted, with an external component worn near the ear.
Aesthetics of hearing devices
The design of hearing aids varies widely, from functionally basic designs to stealthier jewelry-based designs meant to blend in with one’s hair or clothing, like the glasses featured below:
Some hearing aid users have an interest in their devices’ aesthetics. In contrast to the designs meant to “blend in,” some behind-the-ear hearing aids are created with bright, fun patterns or in humorous shapes to draw attention to the device as a part of the user’s dress, like these colorful hearing aids from Phonak (Phonak, 2021):
In a study that talked to a small group of adolescents about their perspectives on their hearing aids or cochlear implants, half of the participants reported medium to low self-esteem, with 5 of 8 total participants stating that when they met new people, they were treated as if they were stupid (Ellington & Lim, 2015).
Mobility Impairment and Dress
Mobility impairment is a person’s inability to use one or more of their extremities or a lack of strength to walk, grasp, or lift objects. Because the fashion industry has largely been built for able-bodied people, the needs of individuals with mobility impairment, who cannot easily grasp zippers or manipulate button closures, have been heavily affected by the clothing options available to them. Luckily, this has begun to change in the 2010s as more adaptive clothing has entered the market.
Adaptive design
The fashion industry has largely been built for able-bodied people.
Adaptive design refers to designs created for people with disabilities. The industry does not call its lines “able-body designs,” yet when companies label their clothes “adaptive designs,” the nonadaptive designs labeled, for example, as “womenswear” are assumed to be for able-bodied people.
Numerous companies exist that create adaptive designs (Matchar, 2018). Some, such as Adaptions by Adrian, Buck & Buck, and Silvert’s Adaptive Clothing & Footwear, are smaller and niche companies focusing just on adaptive designs. Other companies include Rebirth Garments, which focuses on designs aimed at gender non-conforming, trans, and disabled individuals.
Watch this short TedEd video to learn more about how adaptive clothing can support those who need it most:
Even larger companies such as Target, Tommy Hilfiger, and Nike have incorporated adaptive lines into their already existing assortments (Pitman, 2017; Tommy Hilfiger, 2021; Nike, 2021).
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Prosthetics
Prosthetics may be integrated into dress for individuals who are missing limbs. Prosthetics are artificial devices that replace missing body parts, which may have been lost through trauma, disease, or congenital conditions. These devices were originally designed in peg shapes for legs and hook shapes for hands. However, these prosthetics have considerably advanced in complexity. For example, arms have been refined first through the development of a harness that could open and close the hook or a facsimile hand in order to grasp objects. Today, hand prosthetics can be controlled by electrical signals from the muscles in the remaining portions of the arm, though these are very expensive.
Similar to hearing aids, prosthetics can “blend in” with the rest of an individual’s body, or they can be augmented through designs to make them stand out.
Required reading
Ellington, T., & Lim, S. (2016). (dis)ABLED BEAUTY: The evolution of beauty, disability, and ability. https://oaks.kent.edu/ksumuseum/3
Disability Case Study
Step One: Become familiar with the case study.
1. The case study attached below is a Word document and can be downloaded. It includes the task, evaluation, and template for the case study:
Disability Case Study [DOC]
Step Two: Submit your complete assignment on Canvas.
1. Format your document.
2. Remember to check the submission against the rubric. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Dress%2C_Appearance%2C_and_Diversity_in_U.S._Society_(Reddy-Best%2C_Elder_and_Hassall)/02%3A_Dress_and_Marginalized_Communities/2.04%3A_Disability.txt |
Module Learning Objectives (MLO)
In this chapter, you will
• MLO 12.1 Identify foundational concepts related to religion, fashion, identity, appearance, and dress. [CLO 1]
• MLO 12.2 Identify different types of dress worn by people following different oppressed religions in the United States. [CLO 1]
• MLO 12.3 Identify people following different oppressed religions experiences in the United States wearing different dress objects reflecting their religious identities. [CLO 1]
• MLO 12.4 Identify different fashion brands that produce and sell dress objects for people following different oppressed religions in the United States. [CLO 2]
• MLO 12.5 Explain the role of dress and appearance in the development of one’s religious identity in the United States. [CLO 2]
• MLO 12.6 Examine how dress and appearance of people following different oppressed religions in the United States are represented in the fashion system (e.g., advertisements or retailers). [CLO 3]
• MLO 12.7 Examine social justice issues related to dress and appearance for people following different oppressed religions in the United States. [CLO 3]
• MLO 12.8 Deconstruct your own perspectives and approach to understanding the dress and appearance of people following different oppressed religions in the United States. [CLO 4]
• MLO 12.9 Identify the driving forces of transformative social justice change in the fashion system related to oppressed religious groups in the United States. [CLO 5]
•
A religion is a set of beliefs, symbols, and practices based on the idea of the sacred (which people define as extraordinary, inspiring a sense of awe and reverence) and unites believers in a socioreligious community. There are over 4,000 religions worldwide, and more than 80% of the world’s people are religiously affiliated. This includes
• 2.2 billion Christians (32%)
• 1.6 billion Muslims (23%)
• 1 billion Hindus (15%)
• 500 million Buddhists (7%)
• 14 million Jews (0.2%)
In addition, more than 400 million people (6%) practice various folk or traditional religions, including African traditional religions, Chinese folk religions, Native American religions, and Australian aboriginal religions. An estimated 58 million people—slightly less than 1% of the global population—belong to other religions, including, for example, the Baha’i faith, Jainism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Tenrikyo, Wicca, and Zoroastrianism.
Among those living in the United States, 77% of adults identify with a religious faith. Even within a single religion, there are varying interpretations of dress. For example, Reform and Orthodox Jews have different customs or rules of dress, as do Mennonites (a Christian denomination) and Baptists (another Christian denomination).
Muslim Dress
There is a common misconception that all Arab people are Muslims, meaning they follow the religion of Islam. However, many Arabs follow Christian, Jewish, or other, less popular religions. After all, Arabs are simply people who speak Arabic as a native language. This encapsulates a wide swath of individuals from 22 different countries, from Morocco to Oman. (Further, Muslims are found around the world, with most Muslims residing in Asia and in Pacific regions, not the Middle East or Africa.)
The concept of modesty is central to Muslim dress for both men and women. That is, Muslim people often dress in clothing that does not reveal parts of the body. This might mean wears looser clothing or clothing that covers most of the skin. For example, a Muslim man might wear a thobe, a long, loose- fitting robe that is usually white in color. A Muslim man also might incorporate head coverings into his dress, such as a ghutra, a square or rectangular headscarf, with an igal, a cord that holds the ghutra in place.
Elements of Muslim women’s dress include
• burka: a veil that covers the entire body and face, with mesh over the eyes that the wearer can see through.
• niqab: a veil that covers the head and face, but not the eyes. The niqab is usually worn paired with a long, loose black garment, called an abaya, that falls to cover the feet.
• chador: a cloak that covers the body from head to toe but leaves the face uncovered. The chador is popular among Iranian women.
• dupatta: a long scarf draped across the head and shoulders and often paired with matching garments. The dupatta is common in South Asian countries.
• hijab: a general term meaning “to veil”; hijab commonly refers to a headscarf that covers the hair and neck of the wearer, but not the face.
The Burkini: Design, History, and Controversies
The burkini is a full-body swimsuit that includes long sleeves, long pants, and a hood, in an all-in-one design. Some, but not all Muslim women wear the burkini; there are different perspectives and interpretations of modesty within the Muslim community. There are a lot of different styles for the burkini, and numerous retailers sell them (Ahiida.com). The burkini is rather similar to a surfer’s wet suit in design and overall look.
The burkini was designed in 2006 by a Lebanese woman who lives in Australia, Ahiida Zanetti. It was originally made for lifeguards in Australia and has since spread and been worn by numerous Muslim women across the world (Akou, 2013). In 2019, Sports Illustrated featured the first model wearing a burkini. However, there was much controversy over whether a Muslim woman practicing modest dress should model in Sports Illustrated, a magazine that historically has featured women in sexualized and objectified poses (Sini, 2019).
The burkini is not the only sports-related dress to consider Muslim women and their religious needs. In 2017, Nike designed and introduced the Nike Pro Hijab for female Muslim athletes. Ibtihaj Muhammad, a champion fencer and Nike athlete, has described some of the issues she faced being a young Muslim girl and being active: “When I was in school, I always had to have a letter from a local imam that said that it was safe for me to wear my religious covering during sport. . . . My coaches had to have that with them at all times” (Nike.com, 2017).” In a University of Minnesota research project, scholars worked with Muslim women and young girls and inquired about their design needs for athletic wear. The young Muslim girls codesigned the clothing with the researchers to meet their athletic and religious needs. There’s a short video in the reference link at the end of the sentence that documented some of this process of this research project: “New Uniforms Score Points for Modesty for Muslim Girls (Satzinger, 2015)”
After the introduction of the burkini, some areas in France began banning the swimsuit for Muslim women (Dearden, 2016). Once the bans were in place, onsite security or police officers required some Muslim women to remove their burkini in public. The ban is related to France’s overall move toward the separation of religion and state. France’s secular principle introduced into law on March 15, 2004, prohibits any clothing or other religious attire being worn in schools (France Diplomacy, n.d.).
Controversy over modest swimwear was not limited to France. In 2016, in the United States, in New Jersey, Muslim women swimming in public spaces said they received stares of confusion, and another group of women was not admitted to a public pool because the pool officials stated the burkini was a safety hazard (Alex & Alvarado, 2016).
Watch this short film about Muslim women’s dress.
Both Muslim men and women, however, engage varying degrees of modest dress. Some Muslim women might cover more of their bodies than others, and some might dress more modestly in public but not in the privacy of their own homes.
Jewish dress
Similar to Muslim dress, the dress of Jewish people can differ widely, from liberal to highly conservative presentations. Even Conservative Jews are less strict in their dress than Orthodox Jews, however.
Watch this short film about Judaism, Reform Jews, identity, and dress.
Orthodox Jewish Dress
Orthodox Jews highly value modesty; some Jewish Orthodox women wear wigs, or sheitel, to ensure their modesty while allowing them to still fit into mainstream US culture. Orthodox Jewish men wear skullcaps, yarmulkes, or kippah to cover their heads. They do so is because the Talmud (the body of Jewish civil and ceremonial law) argues that because there is divine presence over one’s head, you should cover your head to show respect to that divine presence, Hashem (God).
Hasidic Jewish Dress
Hasidic Jewish men might wear even more religion-specific garments, such as a fur hat (shtreimel), a curled lock of hair on each side of the head (payot), and a black prayer belt (gartel).
Watch this short film to learn more about Hasidic style.
To access a transcript for the video above, download this document: Hasidic Style Video Transcript [DOC]
Mennonites (Christian)
Mennonites follow the Anabaptist sect of the Christian faith, a group that rejected baptism of infants and insisted baptism should only occur when one is certain that they are a believer. This group often follows a conservative dress style, with a particular focus on women’s modesty. For example, some women cover their hair with a starched cap, which represents the woman’s humility to God and her resistance to worldly possessions. This cap also represents submissiveness to God, the woman’s community, and her husband.
Watch this short video to see a 1960s Mennonite dress worn by a woman in Iowa. The dress is part of the ISU Textiles and Clothing Museum permanent collection.
Buddhist Dress
Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Shintoism are all polytheistic religions (religions whose followers believe in many gods) represented in the United States. Their representatives follow particular manners of dress. In this section, we’ll be reviewing Buddhist dress.
Buddhism, which originates in India, stresses that material possessions do not bring happiness, but rather, true happiness comes from within oneself. Following this line of belief, fully ordained Buddhist monks wear robes, or kasayas, simple garments colored a bright orange with saffron. Today, 5–6 million Buddhists live in the United States.
Sikh Turbans and Gucci
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion that originated in India. Members of this religion are referred to as Sikhs. According to a 2012 Pew Research Center report, there are about 500,000 Sikhs living the United States (Rosentiel, 2012).
Rupinder Singh, who follows the Sikh religion discusses how his religion is reflected in his dress. Read about his experience in this article: “11 Things You Wanted to Know About My Turban but Were Too Afraid to Ask” (2021). The turban is one way that people who follow the Sikh religion symbolize their religion through their dress.
After you read Rupinder’s article, watch this short video : “How to Tie a Traditional Sikh Turban” (British Museum, 2011). It highlights one way a Sikh person can tie a turban.
In 2019, Gucci, an international high-fashion brand introduced a “fashionable turban” into its collection. The bright blue turban appeared to be styled very similarly to Sikh turbans. There was significant backlash against Gucci for producing and selling the \$800 turban. One Washington Post article discussed how the Gucci turban was an inappropriate form of cultural appropriation (Chiu, 2019).
Required reading
The Sikh Coalition. (n.d.). Identity. Retrieved from https://www.sikhcoalition.org/about-sikhs/identity/
Religion Case Study
Step One: Become familiar with the case study.
1. The case study attached below is a Word document and can be downloaded. It includes the task, evaluation, and template for the case study:
Religion Case Study [DOC]
Step Two: Submit your complete assignment on Canvas.
1. Format your document.
2. Remember to check the submission against the rubric. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Dress%2C_Appearance%2C_and_Diversity_in_U.S._Society_(Reddy-Best%2C_Elder_and_Hassall)/02%3A_Dress_and_Marginalized_Communities/2.05%3A_Religion.txt |
Module Learning Objectives (MLO)
In this chapter, you will
• MLO 13.1 Identify foundational concepts related to race, ethnicity, fashion, identity, appearance, and dress. [CLO 1]
• MLO 13.2 Identify different types of dress worn by people of color in the United States. [CLO 1]
• MLO 13.3 Identify people of color’s experiences wearing different dress object reflecting their race and/or ethnicity in the United States. [CLO 2]
• MLO 13.4 Identify different fashion brands that produce and sell dress objects for people of color in the United States. [CLO 2]
• MLO 13.5 Explain the role of dress and appearance in the development of one’s racial and/or ethnic identity in the United States. [CLO 2]
• MLO 13.6 Examine how dress and appearance of people of color in the United States are represented in the fashion system (e.g., advertisements or retailers). [CLO 3]
• MLO 13.7 Examine social justice issues related to dress and appearance for people of color in the United States. [CLO 3]
• MLO 13.8 Deconstruct your own perspectives and approach to understanding the dress and appearance of people of color in the United States. [CLO 4]
• MLO 13.9 Identify the driving forces of transformative social justice change in the fashion system related to people of color in the United States. [CLO 5]
Ethnicity versus Race
Race refers to physical characteristics that separate individuals into groups. In contrast, ethnicity is culturally determined and may not be reflected physically. Both, however, are social constructions reinforced by society to classify human differences. These classifications are often based on skin color, hair texture, and facial features, as well as other arbitrary physical characteristics. The categories that have evolved to categorize groups are different depending on one’s location and culture, and the meanings of these terms have shifted over time.
“One-Drop Rule”
In the United States, racial formation developed along an opposition between Black and White. Anyone with “one drop” of Blackness was identified as Black. So, if someone has a White mother and Black father, they will typically identify as Black (e.g., Barack Obama). This classification has roots in the system of slavery in the United States.
Racial classification: South Africa during Apartheid
Racial segregation was legal In South Africa from 1948 to 1994. An individual was considered Black if a pencil could stick in their hair and not fall out. If it fell, the individual was “white.” This is clearly a flawed system, but it was not meant to be exact or accurate; it was only meant to reinforce the existing perceptions and classifications of race within that culture.
What’s in a Name?
There are various names for different ethnic groups in the United States; these have differed over time and with a growing understanding of the various cultures represented in US society. It is important to develop a sensitivity to the terms marginalized groups prefer for themselves.
African American vs. Black
African Americans or Black people prefer different terms for various reasons, from generational differences to political or social differences. Not all African Americans identify as Black, and not all Black people identify as African American. This is particularly true of Black people who live in America but were born in, for example, England, Kenya, or Mexico.
Native American vs. Indian
Similarly, different Native American groups use different names to refer to themselves; some use Indigenous peoples or First Nations. Although the term Indian has often received pushback, since the people did not originate in India, some Native Americans do use the term American Indian to refer to themselves.
Hispanic American vs. Latino
Hispanic and Latino/a/x do not necessarily refer to the same thing. Hispanic refers to individuals with heritage in a Spanish-speaking country, whereas Latino/a/x refers to someone from Latin America. While there is some overlap in these definitions, they are not interchangeable! It is often more accurate to refer to someone by their nation of origin rather than a broad category. For example, Mexican, Chilean, Puerto Rican, and other more specific classifications might be used to distinguish an individual rather than the term Latino.
Oriental vs. Asian American
Finally, some terms used to refer to a group of people are still used despite being derogatory. Oriental is one such term that is no longer in accepted use. Instead of calling someone “an Oriental,” you could refer to them as Asian American. However, similar to Latino/a/x individuals, it’s often best to refer to Asian people living in the United States based on their preferred term, which might be their ethnicity of origin (Korean, Taiwanese, Chinese, Hawaiian, for example), or a more specific Americanized term (e.g., Chinese American).
Roots of Ethnicity
Ethnicity is a learned cultural heritage typified by national origin, ideology, style of dress, dietary habits, and, often, language. While a foreign-exchange student from China and a Chinese person whose family has lived in the United States for three generations might share a race, they will have differences in ethnicity based on the different ways Chinese American culture has evolved to have its own style of dress, dietary habits, and ideology.
Watch this short film about Chinese culture, appearance, and fashion.
Inequalities of Power
Historically, people of color (POC), ethnic minorities, have faced racism and exclusion from mainstream US society. Those in power in the United States are White people with European heritage. Achieving economic and social equality with White individuals has been difficult for people of color. This power difference is referred to as hegemony.
Racial equity is when equal regard is offered to all races. It is the elimination of policies, practices, attitudes, and cultural messages that reinforce differential outcomes by race or that fail to eliminate them.
This inequality is reflected in unequal representation within fashion magazines. Research has shown that fashion magazines lack racial diversity, despite improvement over time. Jackson & Ervin (1991) studied racial representation in Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Vogue between 1986 and 1988. 97% of the models represented were White. POC representation consisted of 2.4% Black individuals, 0.5% Asian individuals, and virtually no Hispanic individuals . Building on this work, Mayo et al. (2005). studied racial representation in Vogue between 1993 and 1997. They found a slight increase in Black representation (6.9%), though the vast majority of models were still White. Finally, Fowler & Carlson (2015) studied 2011 issues of Elle, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, and Marie Claire and found that the representation were 83% white, 1.9& Asian, 5.2% Hispanic, and only 3.7% Black.
Fashion media, also highlights unequal representation; see, for example, this article by Gemma Kim, published on Fashionista.com:
What is Colorism?
Colorism is “interracial discrimination based on skin color stratification. Typically, lighter skin is preferred, along with facial and physical featuresmore closely associated with Caucasian standards of beauty” (Hunter, 2005). Since slavery, there has been evidence of discrimination based on skin color. Lighter-skinned Black slaves were more likely to be given indoor work, while darker-skinned Black slaves were more likely to be given field work. This is typified in the “paper-bag test,” which was used to compare a person’s complexion to a paper bag in order to exclude darker-skinned African Americans from clubs, schools, and churches (Russell, Wilson, & Hall, 1992)
Colorism in Hollywood
Lupita Nyong’o, a Hollywood actor and fashion icon, spoke out in 2014 about her experience with colorism in the fashion industry. Watch Nyong’o’s “Black Women in Hollywood” speech, posted by Essence.com (Essence, 2020). This quote from the clip highlights why diversity must be represented:
“And then Alek Wek came on the international scene. A celebrated model, she was dark as night, she was on all of the runways and in every magazine and everyone was talking about how beautiful she was. . . . When I saw Alek I inadvertently saw a reflection of myself that I could not deny.” (Lupita Nyong’o, 2014)
To access a full transcript of Lupita’s speech, download this document: Lupita Nyongo Speech Video Transcript [DOC]
This isn’t just anecdotally common, either: studies have looked into colorism in the fashion industry just as they have racial representation. Even within Ebony magazine, which focuses on and features Black people in the United States, light-skinned models and those with more European facial features dominated the magazine from the 1950s to the 1990s (Leslie, 1995; Keenan, 1996).
Example: Hair Straightening
African Americans have used hair straightening as one strategy to fit into the dominant White society after slavery was abolished (Byrd & Tharps, 2001). Hierarchies that privilege straight hair and finer hair textures still exist today. Robinson (2011) studied what Black women perceived as “good hair” and “bad hair” based on the society in which they live, and the women in the study stated that “good hair does not need straightening” (Robinson, 2011, 368).
Watch this short film about Black women, hair, and style.
The fashion industry reinforces the effects of colorism by offering skin-bleaching creams and hair-straightening techniques (Averhart & Bigler, 1997; Brooks, Brown, & Hampton, 2008; Porter, 1991; Young- Hyman, Schlundt, Herman-Wenderoth, & Bozylinski, 2003).
Colorism in Korean Fashion Media
The use of imagery that reinforces colorism by the fashion industry has become particularly pervasive in South and East Asian culture, particularly among media aimed at young Korean women. At Iowa State University, graduate student Eunji Choi, in their MS thesis, “Korean fashion media, beauty ideals, and colorism: Examining the prominence of Whiteness between 2013 and 2017 in Céci magazine,” analyzed images presented withine Céci (2018). They chose this magazine since it is produced in and for Korea and widely circulated. Choi coded the images within the magazine based on race (Black, Asian, White, Other Person of Color, or Indistinguishable), facial features (White-appearing, Black-appearing, Asian-appearing), and hairstyle (straight, curly, tied, no hair). They found that the most common race represented was Asian, followed by White, and that most of the Asian women presented in the magazine had White-leaning facial features and unnaturally dyed and styled hair to reflect the hairstyles popular among White women (curly, lighter hair).
Watch this short film about Korean culture, women, identity, and dress.
Watch this short film about Indian culture, women, dress, and identity.
Watch this short film about Comanche identity, fashion, and dress.
Race and Ethnicity Case Study
Step One: Become familiar with the case study.
1. The case study attached below is a Word document and can be downloaded. It includes the task, evaluation, and template for the case study:
Race and Ethnicity Case Study [DOC]
Step Two: Submit your complete assignment on Canvas.
1. Format your document.
2. Remember to check the submission against the rubric. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Dress%2C_Appearance%2C_and_Diversity_in_U.S._Society_(Reddy-Best%2C_Elder_and_Hassall)/02%3A_Dress_and_Marginalized_Communities/2.06%3A_Race_and_Ethnicity.txt |
Course Learning Objectives (CLO)
At the end of this course, you should be able to
• CLO 1 Analyze foundational concepts and theories related to dress, identity, fashion, and culture and how they intersect with sex, gender, sexuality, beauty, attractiveness, disability, religion, race, and ethnicity, with heightened attention to marginalized communities in the United States.
• CLO 2: Analyze the experiences and the role of fashion, clothing, dress, and/or accessories for identity development, with heightened attention to marginalized communities within social contexts in the United States.
• CLO 3: Critique social justice issues within the fashion system in the United States for marginalized communities.
• CLO 4: Deconstruct one’s personal values and positionalities in relation to fashion, clothing, dress, and/or accessories with heightened attention to marginalized communities in the United States society to be able to live in and collaborate with others in the United States.
• CLO 5: Identify the driving forces of transformative social justice change in the fashion system.
• CLO 6: Analyze what academic honesty means, your experiences with academic honesty, and your related goals.
Final Student Reflection
Step One: Become familiar with the final student reflection.
1. The final student reflection attached below is a Word document and can be downloaded. It includes the task, evaluation, and template for the final student reflection:
Final Student Reflection [DOC]
Step Two: Submit your complete assignment on Canvas.
1. Format your document.
2. Reminder to check the submission against the rubric.
Fashion Culture, History, and Social Justice Minor
If the content in AMD 165 was of much interest to you, you might want to explore the Fashion, Culture, History, and Social Justice minor in the Apparel, Merchandising, and Design program at Iowa State University (Apparel, Merchandising, and Design, 2021).
The minor consists of three parts:
• the 3-credit course AMD 165 Dress, Appearance, and Diversity in Society
• 6 credits from a list of core classes in area of history, social psychology, and/or cultural studies related to fashion. These courses have an entire focus on social justice perspectives, or at least 25% of the curriculum has a focus on social justice perspectives.
• ◦ AMD 354 History of European and North American Dress
• ◦ AMD 356 History of 20th-Century Fashion
• ◦ AMD 366 History of Menswear
• ◦ AMD 458 Queer Fashions, Styles, and Bodies
• ◦ AESHM 462 Black Lives Matter: Fashion, Liberation, and the Fight for Freedom
• 6 credits from a list of electives that complement the core of the minor. These 6 credits may not specifically look at issues of power, privilege, and social inequity, yet the content does focus on historically marginalized communities (e.g., African Americans, Native Americans, women, queer community) or related topics. Many of courses in this option do focus on power and privilege, which is great for the minor.
Select from African and African American Studies coursework:
• AF AM 201: Introduction to African American Studies
• AF AM/ANTHR 325: Peoples and Cultures of Africa
• AF AM/HIST 311: African under Colonial Rule
• AF AM/SOC 330: Ethnic and Race Relations
• AF AM/RELIG 334: African American Religious Experience
• AF AM/ENGL 347: Studies in African American Literature
• AF AM/WGS 350: Women of Color in the United States
• AF AM/HIST 353: History of African Americans I
• AF AM/HIST 354: History of African Americans II
• AF AM/HIST 473: Civil Rights and Ethnic Power
Select from American Indian Studies coursework:
• AM IN 201: Native People in American Culture
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Chapter One Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Understand the differences between prevention and treatment
• Differentiate interventions that bring about short term versus long term changes
• Appreciate the many layers of community interventions
• Identify critical elements of the Community Psychology approach
“If you are unable to understand the cause of a problem,
it is impossible to solve it.”
– Naoto Kan
Most people think of psychologists in very traditional ways. For example, if you were to close your eyes and imagine a psychologist, there is a good chance you would think of a clinician or therapist. Clinical psychologists in their office settings often treat people with psychological problems one at a time by trying to change thought patterns, perceptions, or behavior. This is often called the “medical model” which involves a therapist delivering one-on-one psychotherapy to patients. There is a similar medical model in the field of medicine, and examples of this model would involve a physician fixing a patient’s broken arm or providing antibiotics for an infection. Although there is a clear need for this traditional model for those with medical or psychological problems, many do not have access to these services, and a very different approach will be required to successfully solve many of the individual and community problems that confront us.
Throughout this textbook you will learn about this different, strength-based approach, called Community Psychology. In the US, it emerged in the 1960s during a time when the nation was faced with protests, demonstrations, urban unrest, and intense struggles over issues such as the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. Many psychologists wanted to find ways to help solve these pressing societal issues, and some therapists were becoming increasingly disillusioned with their passive role in solely delivering the medical model, office-based psychotherapy (Cowen, 1973). At the 1965 Swampscott Conference in the US, the term “Community Psychology” was first used, and it signaled new roles and opportunities for psychologists by extending the reach of services to those who had been under-represented, focusing on prevention rather than just treatment of psychological problems, and by actively involving community members in the change process (Bennett et al., 1966). Over the past five decades, the field of Community Psychology has matured with recurring themes of prevention, social justice, and an ecological understanding of people within their environments. The goals of Community Psychology have been to examine and better understand complex individual–environment interactions in order to bring about social change, particularly for those who have limited resources and opportunities.
THE ROLE OF PREVENTION
One of the primary characteristics of the Community Psychology field is its focus on preventing rather than just treating social and psychological issues, and this can occur by boosting individual skills as well as by engaging in environmental change. The example in the box below provides an example of prevention directed toward saving lives at a beach, as drowning is one of the leading causes of death.
Imagine a beautiful lake with a long sandy beach surrounded by high cliffs. You notice a person who fell from one of the cliffs and who is now flailing about in the water. The lifeguard jumps in the water to save him. But then a bit later, another person wades too far into the water and panics as he does not know how to swim, and the lifeguard again dives into the water to save him. This pattern continues day after day, and the lifeguard recognizes that she cannot successfully rescue every person that falls into the water or wades in too deep. The lifeguard thinks that a solution would be to install railings to prevent people from falling from the cliffs and to teach the others on the beach how to swim. The lifeguard then attempts to persuade local officials of the need for railings and swimming lessons. During months of meetings with town officials, several powerful leaders are hesitant about spending the money to fund the needed changes. But the lifeguard is persistent and finally convinces them that scrambling to save someone only after they start to drown is dangerous, and the town officials budget the money to install railings on the cliffs and initiate swimming classes.
This example highlights a key prevention theme in the field of Community Psychology, and in this case, the preventive perspective involved getting to the root of the problem and then securing buy-in from the community in order to secure resources necessary to implement the changes. As illustrated in the textbox above, there are two radically different ways of bringing about change, which are referred to as first- and second-order change. First-order changeattempts to eliminate deficits and problems by focusing exclusively on the individuals. When the lifeguard on the beach dove into the water to save one person after another, this was an example of a first-order intervention. There was no attention to identifying the real causes that contributed to people falling into the water and being at risk for drowning, and this band-aid approach would not provide the structural changes necessary to protect others on the beach or walking on the cliffs. A more effective approach involves second-order change, the strategy the lifeguard ultimately adopted, and this involved installing railings on the cliff and the teaching of swimming skills. Such changes get at the source of the problem and provide more enduring solutions for the entire community. A real example of this approach involved low-income African American preschool children who participated in a preventive learning preschool program (called the High/Scope Perry Preschool)—40 years later, participants in this program were found to have better high school completion, employment, income, and lower criminal behavior (Belfield et al., 2005).
There is a considerable appeal for a preventive approach, particularly as George Albee (1986) has shown that no condition or disease has ever been eliminated by focusing just on those with the problem. Prevention is also strongly endorsed by those in medicine who have been trained in the Public Health model, where services are provided to groups of people at risk for a disease or disorder in order to prevent them from developing it. Public Health practitioners seek to prevent medical problems in large groups of individuals through, for example, immunizations or finding and eliminating the environmental sources of disease outbreaks. Community Psychology has adopted this preventive Public Health approach in its efforts to analyze social problems, in addition to its unique characteristics, which you will read below and throughout this textbook.
An impressive example of prevention occurred with community efforts to change the landscape of tobacco use over the past 60 years. Today, attitudes have changed toward tobacco use, and community organizations aided by community psychologists made important contributions to this second-order change effort that involved reducing tobacco use. This began with the landmark Surgeon General’s Report in the 1960s, which summarized serious health problems caused by smoking. Advocacy groups such as Action on Smoking and Health helped to create non-smoking sections on planes and public transportation, and other organizations used strategies to promote nonsmokers’ rights in public buildings, restaurants, and work areas. Still, other work involved preventive school and community-based interventions as well as efforts to reduce youth access to tobacco, as shown in Case Study 1.1.
Case Study 1.1
Youth Tobacco Prevention
In the 1980s, school students informed community psychologist Leonard Jason that store merchants were openly selling them cigarettes. The students’ critical input was used to launch a study assessing illegal commercial sales of tobacco, and Jason’s team found that 80% of stores in the Chicago metropolitan area sold cigarettes to minors. When results of this study were publicized on the evening television news, Officer Bruce Talbot from the suburban town of Woodridge, Illinois contacted Jason to express interest in working on this community problem. Talbot and the Woodridge police with technical help from Jason’s team collected data showing that the majority of Woodridge merchants sold tobacco to minors. With these data, Woodridge passed legislation that fined both vendors caught illegally selling tobacco and minors found in possession of tobacco. Two years after implementing this program, rates of stores selling to minors decreased from an average of 70% to less than 5%. Woodridge was the first city in the US to demonstrate that cigarette smoking could be effectively decreased through legislation and enforcement. Jason later testified at the tobacco settlement hearings at the House Commerce Subcommittee on Health and Environment. In addition, because of Officer Talbot’s active participation in this Woodridge study, he had become known as a national authority on illegal sales of cigarettes to minors. Over time, Talbot advised communities throughout the country on how to establish effective laws to reduce youth access to tobacco. He also testified at congressional hearings in Washington D.C. in support of the Synar Amendment, which required states to reduce illegal sales of tobacco to minors using similar methods to those developed in Woodridge. Due to the enactment of the US federal government’s Synar Amendment, there has been a 21% nationwide decrease in the odds of tenth graders becoming daily smokers (Jason, 2013).
This case study illustrates how preventive government policies can be fostered by community-based groups, with the support of community psychologists. Policies that emerge from concerned individuals, community activists, and coalitions are referred to as bottom-up approaches to second-order change. Community psychologists have clear roles to play in dialoguing and collaborating with community groups in these types of broad-based, preventive community change efforts.
A SOCIAL JUSTICE ORIENTATION
Community Psychology’s focus on social justice is due to the recognition that many of our social problems are perpetuated when resources are disproportionately allocated throughout our society (see Figure 1); this causes social and economic inequalities such as poverty, homelessness, underemployment and unemployment, and crime. Albee (1986) has concluded that societal factors such as unemployment, racism, sexism, and exploitation are the major causes of mental illness. In support of this, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett’s (2009) book The Spirit Level documents how many health and social problems are caused by large inequalities throughout our societal structure. Economic inequalities not only cause stress and anxiety but also lead to more serious health problems. Studies of income inequality have shown how adult incomes have varied by race and gender, and this link allows you to make comparisons that provide animations for any combination of race, gender, income type, and household income level. Clearly, we need to look beyond the individual in exploring the basis of many of our social problems. Yet, most mental health professionals, including psychologists, have a tendency to try to solve mental health problems without attending to these environmental factors.
Community Psychology endorses a social justice and critical psychology perspective which looks at how oppressive social systems preserve classism, sexism, racism, homophobia, and other forms of discrimination and domination that perpetuate social injustice (Kagan, 2011). Clearly, there is a need to bring about a better society by dismantling unjust systems such as racism. In addition to identifying and combating systems that are unjust, community psychologists also challenge more subtle negative practices supported by psychological research and practice. For example, a person with a social justice orientation would object to imposing intervention manuals, based on white middle-class norms, on low-income minority students. Such materials would not be applicable or appropriate to the lived experiences of minority students.
The need for this social justice orientation is also evident when working with urban schools that are dealing with a lack of resources, overcrowded classrooms, community gang activity, and violence. Traditional mental health services such as therapy that deals with a student’s mental health issues would not address the income resource inequalities and stressful environmental factors that could be causing children’s mental health difficulties. Second-order change strategies, in contrast, would address the systems and structures causing the problems and might involve collaborative partnerships to bring more resources to the school as well as support community-based efforts to reduce gang activity and violence. As an example, Zimmerman and colleagues investigatedwhat it takes to cultivate a safe environment where youth can grow up in asafe and healthy context(Heinze et al., 2018). These community psychologistsfound that improving physical features of neighborhoods such as fixing abandoned housing, cutting long grass, picking up trash, and planting a garden resulted in nearly 40% fewer assaults and violent crimes than street segments with vacant, abandoned lots.
This social justice perspective can also be used to examine the institutionalization of millions of individuals in the US criminal justice system (see Figure 2). According to an individualistic perspective, people end up in prison because of factors such as mental illness, substance abuse, or a history of domestic violence. On the other hand, the Community Psychology social justice perspective posits that larger, structural forces (e.g., political, cultural, environmental, and institutional factors) need to be considered. A social justice perspective recognizes that millions of people have been locked up in US prisons due to more restrictive and punishing laws (such as mandatory minimum sentences and three-strikes that requires lifetime prison sentences), and there have also been changes in how we have dealt with patients in mental institutions. Through the 1960s and 1970s, many state-run mental hospitals were closed, which meant that discharged patients were supposed to be treated in our communities.However, funding to support thesecommunity-basedtreatment programswas significantly reducedin the 1980s, and as a consequence, many former patients of mental institutions became homeless or involved with the criminal justice system. Unfortunately, our prison system became the new settings wherementally ill peoplewere warehoused. This is an example of firstorderchange, which has involved shifting mental patientsfrom one inadequate institutional setting to another.Adopting a social justice perspective clearly broadensour understanding as to whymillions of people in the US are incarcerated.
The tragedy of being forced to live in overcrowded and unsafe prisons is further compounded by the way 600,000 or more prison inmates are each year released back into communities in the US. Most prisons have at best meager rehabilitation programs, so most inmates have not been adequately prepared for transitioning back into our communities. Clearly, criminally justice-involved people transitioning back into our communities need more than weekly psychotherapy provided by traditional clinical psychologists.
Individuals who are released from jail uniformly state their greatest needs are for safe housing and employment but are rarely provided these critical resources. Given these circumstances, we should not be surprised that so many released inmates soon return to prison. A moving story by Scott about his heroin addiction and prison experiences is in Case Study 1.2.
Case Study 1.2
A Chance for Change through Oxford House
“I was born to an addicted mother who was a heroin addict and meth user as well. She left when I was 2 and I’ve only seen my mother one time when I was 17. I was adopted by my grandparents and was raised in a great family. I grew up having the best things in life and I was a standout sports player in high school until my life took a turn—for the worst. I dabbled with drugs and, after an injury that caused me to never play again, I turned to drugs. I became addicted to cocaine and meth and painkillers. Thinking I had it all under control, I caught my first felony and was sent to prison at 19. I became a prison gang member and later on was a gang leader of one of the most dangerous and second-largest gangs in the United States prison system. Once released after two years, I got out and didn’t know how to readjust to living normal. I started using Heroin and my life and addiction became the worst. Nineteen days later I was charged with an organized crime case and after bonding out, I went to treatment but never took it seriously. I was just addicted to the money and power I possessed and, no matter how much my family begged me to just stop, I went back to shooting dope… I was given a 7-year sentence and I served six and a half years at the deadly Ferguson unit here in Texas. Five years of that I spent in solitary confinement, locked down 23 hours a day due to my gang affiliations and actions in prison where I continued to use drugs and was just as much strung out as if I was still in the world. In 2013, I was paroled back home. I only lasted five months and was indicted on 2 first-degree felonies and offered 80 years. I went to jury trial where I was found not guilty but ended up with another indictment that I signed a five-year sentence for. I did four years, eight months, on that charge and was released back home in 2018. I lasted 2 days until I relapsed once again [on] heroin and on July 24, I did the last shot of heroin I’ll ever do. I overdosed and died in the ambulance only to be brought back and I woke up in Red River Detox, beat down and broken. I was there when I saw Philip and Cristen came to do a presentation. As I listened to Philip tell his story, I saw myself in him and realized that this is what I want. I wanted to finally make it and live a real life so I got into Oxford House where I’m sober today, working to have my family back in my life and holding my head up high each day because I can stand to look at the man in the mirror. I owe this to Oxford Chapter 14; they have saved my life and now I’m Re-Entry coordinator and have a chance to help people like me get a chance of making it. Thank you, Oxford House” (Oxford House Commemorative Program, 2018, p. 57).
This case study shows that the social justice needs of individuals coming out of prison include community-based programs that provide stable housing, new connections in terms of friends, and opportunities to earn money from legal sources. Oxford House, which is mentioned in this case study, is a community-based innovation for re-integrating people back into the community. The Oxford House network was started by people in recovery with just one house in 1975, and today it is the largest residential self-help organization that provides housing to over 20,000 people in cities and states throughout the US. The houses are always rented, and house members completely self-govern these homes without any help from professionals. Residents can live in these Oxford Houses indefinitely, as long as they remain abstinent, follow the house rules, and pay a weekly rent of about \$100 to \$120 per week. Oxford Houses represent the types of promising social and community grassroots efforts that can offer people coming out of prisons and substance abuse treatment programs a chance to live in an environment where everyone is working, not using drugs, and behaving responsibly. Best part of all is that this program is self-supporting, as the residents rather than prison or drug abuse professionals are in charge of running each home. Here, the residents use their income from working to pay for all house expenses including rent and food (this video illustrates the Oxford House approach in a brief segment on the 60 Minutes TV broadcast). There are these types of innovative grassroots organizations throughout our communities, and community psychologists have key roles to play in helping to document the outcomes of these true incubators of social innovation, as illustrated on this link.
The prevention and social justice examples that we have provided above about installing railings at the cliff to prevent people from accidentally falling into the water or providing housing for those exiting from prison are examples of changing the environment or context. In fact, there is now considerable basic laboratory research that indicates that context or environment can have a shaping influence on the lives of humans and animals. For example, laboratory rats who are raised in “enriched” environments show brain weight increases of 7-10% (heavier and thicker cerebral cortexes) in comparison to those in “impoverished” environments (Diamond, 1988). There was a time when scientists did not believe that the brain could be changed by any environmental enrichment, but it is now commonly accepted that context can have a lasting and shaping influence on our behavior and even our brains. We need to attend to the environments of those living in poverty and exposed to high levels of crime, as these factors are associated with multiple negative outcomes including higher rates of chronic health conditions.
A SHIFT IN PERSPECTIVE: THE ECOLOGICAL MODEL
An aspect of Community Psychology that sets it apart from a more traditional Clinical Psychology is a shift beyond an individualistic perspective. Community psychologists consider how individuals, communities, and societies are interconnected, rather than focusing solely on the individual. As a result, the context or environment is considered an integral part when trying to understand and work with communities and individuals embedded in them.
This shift in thinking is referredto as an ecological perspective.Ecological means that there are multiple levels or layers of issues that need to be considered, including the individual, family, neighborhood, community, and policies at the national level. For example, let’scontinue our examination of the criminal justice system with another case example. A person, who we shall call Jane, had been involved in an autoaccident causing severe pain, and subsequentlybecameaddicted to painkillers.Whenit became more difficult to purchase these medications,she began using heroin to reduce the pain, became involved in buying and selling illegal substances, became estranged from her family, and was caughtand sentenced to prison.At the individual level, Jane is certainly distressed and addicted to painkillers, and this has now disrupted relationships with her family and friends. Butan ecological perspective would point to a number of factors beyond the individual and group level contributingto this unfortunate situation. Health care organizations contributed to this problem,as many physicians were all too willing to profit by overprescribingpainmedicationsto their patients. The pharmaceutical industry was part of the problem as they reaped huge profits byoversupplyingthesedrugs to pharmacies.At the community level, the criminal justice system also shares blame for delivering punishment in crowded, unsafe prisons for individuals clearlyin need ofsubstance usetreatment. Finally, at a societal level, federal regulators allowed opiate drugs like OxyContin to be sold for long-term rather than just short-term use, and legislators inappropriatelypassed laws extending sentences for those who are in prison due to offenses caused by substance use disorders. These types of difficult and complex social problems are produced and maintained by multiple ecological influences,and corrective secondorder community solutions will have to deal with these contextual issues.
In addition to thinking about these multiple ecological levels, the community psychologist James Kelly(2006) has proposed several useful principlesthat help us better understand how social environments affect people. For example, theecological principle of “interdependenceindicates that everything is connected, so changing one aspect of a setting or environmentwill havemany ripple effects.For example, if you provide those released from prison a safe place to live with others who are gainfully employed(as occurs in Oxford Houses),this setting can then lead to positive behavior changes. Living among others in recovery provides a gentlebut powerful influence for spending more time in work settings in order to pay for rent and less time in environmentswithhigh levels of illegal activities.Theecological principle of “adaptation” indicatesthat behavior adaptive in one setting may not be adaptive in othersettings.A person who was highly skilled at sellingdrugs and stealing will find that thesebehaviors are not adaptive or successful in a sober living house, so the person will have to learn new interpersonal skills that are adaptive in thisrecovery setting. The ecological perspective broadens the focus beyond individuals to include their context or environment, by requiring us to think about how organizations, neighborhoods, communities, and societies are structured as systems.
This ecological perspective helps us move beyond an individualistic orientation for understanding many of our significant social problems such as homelessness, which in the US affects over a half a million people (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2018). At the individual level, many of these individuals do suffer from substance abuse and mental health problems, and they often cycle in and out of the criminal justice system. However, the ecological perspective would focus attention on the lack of affordable housing for low-income people, and thus call for higher-order interventions that go beyond the individual. As an example, Housing First is an innovative intervention founded by clinical-community psychologist Sam Tsemberis, which provides the homeless a home first and then treatment services. This Community Psychology intervention is based on the belief that by providing housing first, there will be many positive ripple effects that lead to beneficial changes in the formerly homeless person’s behaviors and functioning. In this video link, Sam talks about the founding of Housing First innovation, which is a model now used throughout the US.
Case Study 1.3 below is the story of Russell, who used the Housing First program to find a home and successfully integrate back into the community.
Case Study 1.3
Pathways to Housing: Russell’s Story
“Russell grew up in Southeast DC before becoming homeless more than three decades ago. Struggling with schizophrenia, Russell was in and out of jail and the hospital. He spent the last ten years sleeping on a park bench downtown. This fall, with the help of his Pathways team, Russell moved off the streets and into a permanent apartment. For the first time since 1980, Russell finally has a roof over his head and a place to call home. His favorite thing about the new space? “The television.” A die-hard Washington Redskins fan, Russell is thrilled to be able to cheer his team on—hopefully all the way to the Super Bowl—from the comfort of his living room. For Russell though, it is more than just watching his favorite team play. After just two months, Russell is beginning to thrive in his new home. He has accomplished a number of personal goals including saving to buy a new bike.” (Pathways to Housing: Russell’s Story).
The ecological perspective provides an opportunity to examine the issues associated with homelessness beyond the individual level of analysis. Through this framework, we can understand homelessness within complicated personal, organizational, and community systems. In the case of Russell described in the above case study, at the individual level he was dealing with chronic stress, poor health, and mental illness, and felt hopeless. But his sense of despair was in part due to a group level factor, which was the lack of available support from friends or family members. Providing him temporary shelter at night and access to food kitchens represents first-order, individualistic solutions that had never been successful. The Housing First innovation was at a higher environmental level, and once placed in this permanent supportive setting, it had ripple effects on Russell’s sense of hope, connection with others, and ultimately his improved quality of life. Outcome studies have indicated that Housing First is successful in helping vulnerable individuals gain the resources to overcome homelessness, and this program was included in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs.
This ecological perspective can also be applied to more preventive interventions, such as stopping the recruitment of youth into gangs. This occurred by providing youth anti-gang classroom sessions as well as after-school activities (e.g., organized sports clinics that encouraged intragroup cooperation, opportunities to travel out of their neighborhood to participate in events and activities, etc.) (Thompson & Jason, 1988). There are many examples of how a multi-scale, ecological systems model of people-environment transactions can broaden our understanding of societal problems (Stokols, 2018).
OTHER KEY PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY
There are other key features of the field of Community Psychology, as will be described in the subsequent chapters, and below we briefly review them.
Respect for Diversity
Community Psychology has a respect for diversity and appreciates the views and norms of groups from different ethnic or racial backgrounds, as well as those of different genders, sexual orientations, and levels of abilities or disabilities. Community psychologists work to counter oppression such as racism (white persons have access to resources and opportunities not available to ethnic minorities), sexism (discrimination directed at women), heterosexism (discrimination toward non-heterosexuals), and ableism (discrimination toward those with physical or mental disabilities). The task of creating a more equitable society should not fall on the shoulders of those who have directly experienced its inequalities, including ethnic minorities, the disabled, and other underprivileged populations. Being sensitive to issues of diversity is critical in designing interventions, and if preventive interventions are culturally-tailored to meet the diverse needs of the recipients, they are more likely to be appreciated, valued, and maintained over time.
Active Citizen Participation
The Brazilian educator Freire (1970) wrote that change efforts begin by helping people identify the issues they have strong feelings about, and that community members should be part of the search for solutions through active citizen participation. Involving community groups and community members in an egalitarian partnership and collaboration is one means of enabling people to re-establish power and control over the obstacles or barriers they confront. When our community partners are recognized as experts, they are able to advocate for themselves as well as for others, as indicated in Case Study 1.1 that described how Officer Talbot became an activist for reducing youth access to tobacco. Individuals build valuable skills when they help define issues, provide solutions, and have a voice in decisions that ultimately affect them and their community. This Community Psychology approach shifts the power dynamic so that all parties collaborate by participating in the decision-making. Community members are seen as resources who provide unique points of view about the community and the institutional barriers that might need to be overcome in social justice interventions. All partners are involved equally in the research process in what is called community-based participatory research.
Grounding in Research and Evaluation
In striving to understand the relationship between social systems and individual well-being, community psychologists base advocacy and social change on data that are generated from research and apply a number of evaluation tools to conceptualize and understand these complex ecological issues. Community psychologists believe that it is important to evaluate whether their policy and social change preventive interventions have been successful in meeting their objectives, and the voice of the community should be brought into these evaluation efforts. They conduct community-based action-oriented research and often employ multiple methods including what are called qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research (Jason & Glenwick, 2016). No one method is superior to another, and what is needed is a match between the research methods and the nature of the questions asked by the community members and researchers. Community psychologists, like Durlak and Pachan (2012), have used adventuresome research methods to investigate the effects of hundreds of programs dedicated to preventing mental health problems in children and adolescents, and the findings showed positive outcomes in terms of improved competence, adjustment, and reduced problems.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Social issues are complex and intertwined throughout every fiber of our society, as pointed out by the ecological perspective. When working with individuals who have been marginalized and oppressed, it is important to recognize that issues such as addiction and homelessness require expertise from many perspectives. Community Psychology promotes interdisciplinary collaboration with professionals from a diverse array of fields. For example, a community psychologist helped put together the multidisciplinary team evaluating Oxford House efforts to help re-integrate individuals with substance use problems back into the community. One member of the team was a sociologist who studies social networks, and one of the important findings was that the best predictor of positive long-term outcomes was having at least one friend in the recovery houses. Also, part of this team was an economist who found that the economic benefits were greater, and costs were less for this Oxford House community intervention than an intervention delivered by professionals. Other important contributions were made by a social worker, a Public Health researcher, Oxford House members, and undergraduate and graduate students who each contributed unique skills and valuable perspectives to the research team. You can see how these types of collaborations can emerge by using the idea tree exercise, which different disciplines can work together to create new ideas and advance knowledge across fields.
Sense of Community
One of the core values of Community Psychology is the key role of psychological sense of community, which describes our need for a supportive network of people on which we can depend. Promoting a healthy sense of community is one of the overarching goals of Community Psychology , as a loss of connectedness lies at the root of many of our social problems . S o understanding how to promote a sense of belonging, interdependence, and mutual commitment is integral to achieving second-order change . I f people feel that they exist within a larger interdependent network, they are more willing to commit to and even make personal sacrifices for that group to bring about long-term social changes . From a Community Psychology perspective, an intervention would be considered un successful i f it increased students’ achievement test scores but fostered competition and rivalry that damaged their sense of community.
Empowerment
Another important feature of Community Psychology is empowerment, defined as the process by which people and communities who have historically not had control over their lives become masters of their own fate. People and communities who are empowered have greater autonomy and self-determination, gain more access to resources, participate in community decision-making, and begin to work toward changing oppressive community and societal conditions. As shown in Case Study 1.3, individuals such as Russell who have been homeless often feel a lack of control over their lives. However, once provided stable housing and connections with others, they feel more empowered and able to gain the needed resources to improve the quality of their lives.
Policy
Community psychologists also enter the policy arena by trying to influence laws and regulations, as illustrated by the work on reducing minors’ access to tobacco described in Case Study 1.1. Community psychologists have made valuable contributions at local, state, national, and international levels by collaborating with community-based organizations and serving as senior policy advisors. It is through policy work that over the last century, the length of the human lifespan has doubled, poverty has dropped by over 50%, and child and infant mortality rates have been reduced by 90%.
Over the next decades, there is a need for policy-level interventions to help overcome dilemmas such as escalating population growth (as this will create more demands on our planet’s limited drinking water, energy, and food resources), growing inequalities between the highest and lowest compensated workers (which will increasingly lead to societal strains and discontent as automation and artificial intelligence will eliminate many jobs), increasing temperatures due to the burning of fossil fuels (which will result in higher sea levels and more destructive hurricanes), and the expanding needs of our growing elderly population. The principles of Community Psychology that have been successfully used to change policy at the local and community level might also be employed to deal with these more global issues that are impacting us now, and will increasingly do so in the future. This video link shows what is possible when we reflect upon policy.
Promoting Wellness
Finally, the promotion of wellness is another feature of Community Psychology. Wellness is not simply the stereotypical lack of illness, but rather the combination of physical, psychological, and social health, including attainment of personal goals and well-being. Furthermore, Community Psychology applies this concept to also include groups of people, and communities—in a sense, collective wellness.
SUMMING UP
This chapter has reviewed the key features of the Community Psychology field, including its emphasis on prevention, its social justice orientation, and its shift to a more ecological perspective. The case studies presented in this chapter illustrate ways in which community psychologists have engaged in systemic and structural changes toward social justice. Students who read the chapters of this textbook will learn how we can mount community-based research and practices that emphasize fair and equitable allocation of resources and opportunities. This social justice perspective of Community Psychology recognizes inequalities that often exist in our society. To deal with them, our field works toward providing greater access to resources and decision making, particularly for communities that have been marginalized and oppressed.
Critical Thought Questions
1. Martin Luther King Jr. said a guaranteed income would abolish poverty, and many others have now proposed providing each citizen a minimum income as a way to provide everyone with the cost of living and financial security. What do you think of this idea?
2. As this link indicates, residents of rich neighborhoods live about 15 years longer than residents of poor neighborhoods. Chicago had the largest life expectancy gap of all cities. If you hover the mouse over the map in this link, you can see what the average life expectancy is for each census tract in Chicago. What might be some of the reasons for this life expectancy gap in Chicago as well as other cities?
Take the Chapter 1 Quiz
View the Chapter 1 Lecture Slides
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REFERENCES
Albee, G. (1986). Toward a just society. Lessons from observations on the primary prevention of psychopathology. The American Psychologist, 41(8), 891-898. doi:10.1037//0003-066X.41.8.891
Badger, E., Miller, C. C., Pearce, A., & Quealy, K. (2018). Income mobility charts for girls, Asian-Americans and other groups. Or make your own. The New York Times, TheUpshot. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/27/upshot/make-your-own-mobility-animation.html
Brickler, J., Dettling, L. J., Henriques, A., Hsu, J. W., Jacobs, L., Moore, K. B., … Windle, R. A. (2017, September). Changes in U.S. family finances from 2013 to 2016: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances. Washington, DC: Federal Reserve Bulletin. Retrieved from https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/scf17.pdf
Belfield, C., Barnett, W., & Schweinhart, L. (2005). Lifetime effects: The High/Scope PerryPreschool study through age 40 (Monographs of the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, no. 14). Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope Press.
Bennett, C. C., Anderson, L. S., Cooper, S., Hassol, L., Klein, D. C., & Rosenblum, G. (1966). Community Psychology: A report of the Boston Conference on the Education of Psychologists for Community Mental Health. Boston, MA: Boston University Press.
Cowen, E. (1973). Social and community interventions. Annual Review of Psychology, 24(1), 423–472.
Diamond, M. C. (1988). Enriching heredity: The impact of the environment on the anatomy of the brain. New York, NY: Free Press.
Durlak, J. A., & Pachan, M. (2012). Meta-analysis in community-oriented research. In. L. A. Jason & D. S. Glenwick (Eds.), Methodological approaches to community-based research. (pp. 111-122). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Herder and Herder.
Heinze, J. E., Krusky-Morey, A., Vagi, K. J., Reischl, T. M., Franzen, S., Pruett, N. K., … Zimmerman, M. A. (2018). Busy streets theory: The effects of community-engaged greening on violence. American Journal of Community Psychology, 62(1-2), 101-109. doi:10.1002/ajcp.12270
Jason, L. A. (2013). Principles of social change. (pp. 17-21). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Jason, L. A., & Glenwick, D. S. (Eds.). (2016). Handbook of methodological approaches to community-based research: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Kagan, C., Burton, M., Duckett, P., Lawthom, R., & Siddiquee, A. (Eds.). (2011). Critical Community Psychology (1st ed.). West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Kelly, J. G. (2006). Being ecological: An expedition into Community Psychology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Oxford House, Inc. (2018). Oxford House Recovery Stories.2018 Annual Oxford House World Convention. Kansas City, Missouri.
Pathways to Housing: Russell’s story. Retrieved from https://www.pathwaystohousingdc.org/stories/russell
Stokols, D. (2018). Social ecology in the digital age: Solving complex problems in a globalized world. London, UK: Academic Press. Retrieved from https://www.elsevier.com/books/social-ecology-in-the-digital-age/stokols/978-0-12-803113-1
State of homelessness. National Alliance to End Homelessness. Retrieved from https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness-statistics/state-of-homelessness-report/
Thompson, D. W., & Jason, L. A. (1988). Street gangs and preventive interventions. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 15, 323-333.
Wilkinson, R., & Pickett, K. (2009). The spirit level: Why more equal societiesalmost always do better.Essex, England: Allen Lane.
Interests into Action with SCRA!
SCRA has several interest groups that provide networking opportunities and diverse ways to pursue interests that matter to you. Find out more at here!
Acknowledgments: We wish to thank Bridget Harris and Laura Sklansky for their superb help in editing this chapter, as well as Mark Zinn for his expert assistance with helping us overcome a wide range of internet and computer problems. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Introduction_to_Community_Psychology_(Jason_et_al.)/01%3A_Introduction/1.01%3A_Introduction_to_the_Field_of_Community_Psychology.txt |
Chapter Two Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Know major events in the history of Community Psychology
• Identify key perspectives that have vied for prominence in the field
• Be familiar with “founders” of Community Psychology
• Understand the future directions of theories and methodologies in Community Psychology
Any historical account (whether it involves politics, culture, or a profession) is bound to be subjective, so it makes sense that much of the history of the field of Community Psychology will also be subjective. Most existing Introductory Community Psychology textbooks (Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019; Kloos, Hill, Thomas, Wandersman, Elias, & Dalton, 2012; Moritsugu, Duffy, Vera, & Wong, 2019) begin by discussing the social, political, scientific, and professional contexts that influenced the development of the field. Although we will review some of this history briefly, we will focus mainly on the past 50-plus years, since the term Community Psychology was first used by those attending what we now call the “Swampscott Conference” of 1965 (Bennett et al., 1966).
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
One needs to consider the social and political events of the 1960s in understanding the beginnings of Community Psychology. These were turbulent times, marked with protests and demonstrations involving the Civil Rights movement in the US. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act, an important accomplishment of the Civil Rights Movement, was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The Feminist Movement was also developing momentum during the 1960s and into the 1970s, as would a similar rights movement for gays and lesbians, the environmental movement, and widespread protests against the Vietnam war. This socially-conscious atmosphere was ideal for the development of the field of Community Psychology, whose values emphasized social justice.
During this time, there also was widespread deinstitutionalization of mental patients, as various media accounts portrayed horrendous conditions in mental hospitals. The development of antipsychotic medications such as Thorazine and the growing research evidence on the harmful effects of mental hospitalization (e.g., Asylums by Erving Goffman) were key factors in this movement. In 1961, the report of the Joint Commission on Mental Health and Illness was released, which recommended that we reduce the size of mental hospitals and train more professionals and paraprofessionals to meet the largely unmet need for mental health services in our society (Bloom, 1975). These recommendations, vigorously championed by President John F. Kennedy, led directly to the passage of the 1963 Community Mental Health Centers Act, which established community-based services widely throughout the nation. The Community Mental Health Movement was gaining momentum and many large state mental hospitals across the nation would be closed in the next 20 years. With these developments in the background, it was in 1965 that a group of clinical psychologists gathered in Swampscott, MA, and gave birth to the field of Community Psychology, which they hoped would allow them to become social change agents to address many of these pressing social justice issues of the 1960s. Click on this link for a more comprehensive description of events that led up to the Swampscott Conference.
THE FIRST DECADE: 1965-1975
In the years immediately after the 1965 Swampscott Conference, a number of training programs in community mental health and Community Psychology developed in the US. For example, Ed Zolik established one of the first clinical-community doctoral programs in the US at DePaul University in 1966. A free-standing doctoral program was also established in 1966 at the University of Texas at Austin by Ira Iscoe. By 1969, there were 50 programs offering some training in Community Psychology and community mental health, and by 1975 there were 141 graduate programs offering training in these areas.
Several important “early settings” for community research and action also developed, often in connection with one of the training programs. These settings included the Primary Mental Health Project at the University of Rochester, founded by Emory Cowen (1975) (click here to see a video of Cowen describing this innovative program). The Primary Mental Health Project identified children in the primary grades (K-3) showing some initial trouble adjusting to school and provided help through the school year from paraprofessional child associates. Cowen, his graduate students, and staff built this intervention for a single school in Rochester in 1958 and it is used by 2,000 schools worldwide today. The Primary Mental Health Project was one of the first widely researched and publicized prevention programs developed by community psychologists. Cowen provided training for a large number of people who later would become prominent in Community Psychology (below is Cowen’s “family tree” initially developed by Fowler & Toro, 2008a).
The Community Lodge project, initially developed by George Fairweather at a Veteran’s Administration psychiatric hospital, was another of these important “early settings”. The Lodge provided an alternative to traditional psychiatric care by preparing groups of hospitalized mental patients in a shared housing environment for simultaneous release into the community. The released patients established a common business to support themselves (e.g., a lawn care service) and eventually took full control of the Lodge project from the professionals who helped them establish the Lodge initially. The first rigorous evaluation of the Lodge found that patients randomly assigned to the Lodge spent less time in a hospital than those in the control group who received traditional services (Fairweather et al., 1969). Fairweather later helped to establish the doctoral program in Ecological Psychology at Michigan State University and also provided training for many community psychologists.
In 1966, just a year after the Swampscott Conference, Division 27 (Community Psychology) of the American Psychological Association (APA) was established. Shortly after, James Kelly (1966), one of the Swampscott attendees and another “founder” of Community Psychology, published an article on the ecological perspective in the widely circulated American Psychologist. Like Cowen and Fairweather, Kelly has been important in training a large number of community psychologists.
The Journal of Community Psychology and the American Journal of Community Psychology were both first published in 1973. These journals have become the two most influential professional journals in the field. The first Community Psychology textbooks came out during the field’s first decade (Bloom, 1975; Zax & Spector). Both of these texts viewed Community Psychology as an outgrowth of the broader field of Clinical Psychology. Over time, the field would portray Community Psychology in a much broader context, deriving from many other sources in addition to Clinical Psychology. Other important publications of this first decade included Ryan’s Blaming the Victim (still, today, one of the most cited publications in the field) and Cowen’s Annual Review of Psychology chapter on social and community interventions. At the end of this decade, the Austin Conference was an opportunity to bring together the key figures in this field during the first 10 years, and provide informal opportunities to examine the field’s conceptual independence from Clinical Psychology.
THE SECOND DECADE: 1975-1985
The late 1970s and early 1980s could be considered the “heyday” of Community Psychology. During this time period, the political climate made Community Psychology both relevant and necessary, and membership in the US in APA’s Division 27 (Community Psychology) rose to over 1,800 in 1983 (Toro, 2005, p.10).
The first Midwest Ecological Community Psychology Conference took place in 1978 at Michigan State University. This conference provided an opportunity for like-minded community psychologists and students to get together informally to discuss new developments, new training programs, and new research. This conference has now expanded beyond the Midwest to other regions of the US. These conferences have provided a new generation of community psychologists opportunities to put their theoretical ideas about collaboration, empowerment, and the creation of health-promoting settings into practice in their own environments. For a history of these conferences, see Flores, Jason, Adeoye, Evans, Brown, and Belyaev-Glantsman. Case Study 2.1 provides more information about students assuming a major role in the conference’s organization over time.
Case Study 2.1
Students Assume Leadership Roles at the Midwest Ecological Community Psychology Conference
Professors planned and organized the first few informal Midwest Ecological Community Psychology Conferences, but something very special happened in 1980 at the conference at Bowling Green State University. At the end of that meeting, several community psychologists were in a room discussing who would host next year’s event, when a graduate student in the room spoke up suggesting that because the conference was meant for graduate students, then the students should be planning and organizing it. Following this suggestion, students from the University of Illinois Chicago began the long-standing tradition of these conferences being student-run. The Midwest Ecological Community Psychology Conferences have kept going since then with student leadership. This informal support system has led to many networking opportunities over the years for faculty and students to get to know each other, and it has led to many job and training opportunities. As an example, at one of these meetings, Stephen Fawcett was invited to participate in a session to demonstrate how behavioral approaches could be integrated into the field of Community Psychology. Fawcett brought two of his graduate students, Yolanda Suarez-Balcazar and Fabricio Balcazar, and both had a chance to meet Chris Keys at the meeting. This contact eventually led to both graduate students finding their first jobs in Chicago. This is just one example of the networking that continues to lead to important professional and personal relationships among attendees of this student-run conference.
During this second decade, many community psychologists in the US became dissatisfied with the field of Community Psychology’s association as one of APA’s many divisions. There was a desire to bring more non-psychologists into the field. In addition, there were concerns about APA increasingly emphasizing clinical practice issues over all others. Also, there was a recognition that the term “psychology” no longer fit well with the work of many community psychologists. The group’s organizational name was then changed to the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA), and the first Biennial Conference on Community Research and Action occurred in 1987. Though many community psychologists still remain members of APA and its Division 27, SCRA now has more non-APA members than ones who belong to APA; the Biennial has become the major national professional venue for Community Psychology.
Looking back on this second decade, this was a time of “soul searching” in the field of Community Psychology, the separation from APA and the initiation of the Biennial Conference both being signs of this. Another sign came from a string of “dueling addresses.” Different community psychologists were trying to strongly encourage the field to adopt one particular emphasis. In his Presidential address to the field of Community Psychology, Emory Cowen argued for prevention to become “front and center” in the field. A few years later, Julian Rappaport argued for an emphasis on empowerment rather than prevention. Ed Trickett argued for an emphasis on an ecological perspective in the field, as did James Kelly. Kelly’s ecological analysis sought to understand behavior in the context of individual, family, peer, and community influences. Prevention, empowerment, and the ecological perspective are three of the most important aspects of the world view that Community Psychology has adopted. We can embrace all the various perspectives in Community Psychology without dismissing those who have a perspective different from our own, in what might be called a “big tent” (Toro, 2005). A belief in the value of respect for diversity can apply to how we interact with our own colleagues in Community Psychology.
During this second decade, two new textbooks were published in 1977 by Heller and Monahan and Rappaport. Rappaport’s (1977) text, like his controversial Presidential address, presented a much more radical view of Community Psychology that emphasized the empowerment of the poor and otherwise disadvantaged, and a more active advocacy stance for community psychologists of the future.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, there was significant growth in the field of Community Psychology outside of the US and Canada. This growth included the first courses taught in Latin America (at the University of Puerto Rico; for more information see Montero) and in Australia (see Fisher), where the first professional organization of community psychologists outside of North America occurred in 1983. Since this time, some of the greatest growth in formal membership has occurred in Community Psychology organizations in areas of the world outside of North America (Toro, 2005).
THE THIRD DECADE: 1985-1995
In 1987, James Kelly edited a special issue of the American Journal of Community Psychology to commemorate the field which had just turned 20 years old (Kelly, 1987). Some of the 12 articles in the issue were brief reminiscences, while others were more substantive. Beth Shinn, for example, urged community psychologists to enter an even wider range of domains, including schools, work sites, religious organizations, voluntary associations, and government. Annette Rickel made an analogy to Erikson’s developmental stages in reviewing the status of our field at the time. She suggested that Community Psychology had progressed through adolescence and was entering early adulthood. Extending this analogy, the field is now over 50 years old, well into “middle age.” And, consistent with the sorts of issues that Erikson suggested might crop up during middle age, perhaps our field is concerned about its “long-term legacy.”
The “dueling addresses” mentioned above continued into the third decade. Annette Rickel in her 1986 Presidential address emphasized prevention, much like Cowen did in his address almost 10 years earlier. Beth Shinn in her 1992 Presidential address urged community psychologists to engage in new ways to cope with the social problem of homelessness. Irma Serrano-Garcia, based at the University of Puerto Rico, emphasized the need to empower the disenfranchised in her 1993 Presidential address. During this third decade, another new Community Psychology textbook was published (Levine & Perkins, 1987).
In 1988, there was a major conference in Chicago, IL trying to better define the theories and methods used by community psychologists (Tolan, Keys, Chertok, & Jason, 1990). Those in attendance discussed the role of theory in Community Psychology research. There was also an extended examination of the central and complex methodological issue of taking into account the ecological levels of analysis. Also addressed were issues of implementing their research, which for community psychologists is a matter of actualizing their values in working collaboratively with community partners.
THE FOURTH DECADE: 1995-2005
Starting in 1995, Sam Tsemberis (1999), a community psychologist from New York City, developed a program that has come to be called “Housing First.” The program, described in Chapter 1 (Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019), targets persons who are both homeless and seriously mentally ill. The intervention is a reaction to poorly researched transitional housing models that have rapidly become common in the US. Housing First combines up-front permanent housing with ongoing support services. In a few randomized trials, Housing First clients have become stably housed significantly quicker, and remained housed for significantly longer, than those in the control groups. Positive results have also recently been obtained in an evaluation of Housing First across five Canadian cities (Aubry et al., 2016). Housing first has also become very popular in Europe and in other developed nations. For the past three years, there has been an annual international conference to continue this work (Tsemberis, 2018).
More attention during this decade was provided to one of the key themes of the field: participatory approaches to research, which are characterized by the active participation of community members in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of research. Greater knowledge of this approach was essential for developing ways to collaborate with community members in order to define and intervene with the numerous social problems they faced. Due to this need, the 2nd Chicago Conference on Community Research was hosted at Loyola University in Chicago in June of 2002 (Jason et al., 2004), and it focused on the refinement of the theories and methodologies that can guide participatory research.
In 2004, SCRA, the main professional organization promoting Community Psychology in North America, gained solid financial security, perhaps for the first time in its history, by acquiring the American Journal of Community Psychology from its original owner, the international publisher Kluwer/Plenum.
THE FIFTH DECADE TO THE PRESENT
As another sign of the international growth of Community Psychology, in 2005 the European Community Psychology Association was formed. Prior to this development, Europeans had for many years a more informal “Network for Community Psychology.” The European Community Psychology Association has been operating an annual conference, held in different cities throughout Europe. As yet another sign of international growth, the first “International Conference on Community Psychology” was held in 2006 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Held in even-numbered years, so as not to conflict with SCRA’s Biennial held in odd-numbered years, there have been International Conferences held in Portugal, Chile, Mexico, and South Africa. This international growth is very consistent with Community Psychology’s values emphasizing cultural diversity. Many community psychologists from around the world are actively collaborating with those in various nations around the world and an “internationalization” of the field is occurring in terms of practice, research, training, and theory (Reich, Riemer, Prilleltensky, & Montero, 2007).
In 2005, following the 40th anniversary of the founding of the field, a special issue on the history of Community Psychology was published in the Journal of Community Psychology (Fowler & Toro, 2008b). Articles in the special issue included a genealogical analysis of the influence of 10 key founders of the field (Fowler & Toro, 2008a), an account of “trailblazing” women in Community Psychology (Ayala-Alcantar et al., 2008), and documentation of the development of Community Psychology in different regions of the world.
Many community psychologists have made substantive contributions to the development of the field through their applied work, and have also impacted the development of the field through their teaching, mentorship, and conference presentations. Pokorny et al. (2009) tried to gauge the “influence” of community psychologists based on publications and citations to articles in the American Journal of Community Psychology and Journal of Community Psychology. Although many publications were by males from academic institutions, there were also publications from influential women, including Barbara Dohrenwend who contributed groundbreaking research dealing with a psychosocial stress model. She was also one of the original founders of the field of Community Psychology. Pokorny et al. did find that the number of women publishing articles has increased over time, as is evident in Case Study 2.2.
Case Study 2.2
Publications of Women in the Field
In 1970, around the time of the founding of the field of Community Psychology, women comprised approximately 20% of Ph.D. recipients in psychology. By 2005, nearly 72% of new psychology doctoral students were women. In many ways, articles published in journals are records of changing times as they illustrate how marginalized groups, like women, have transitioned to greater prominence. Patka, Jason, DiGangi, and Pokorny in 2010 found that in the early 1970s, women represented less than 12% of publishing authors in the two major Community Psychology journals, but by 2008, the number of women publishing in the two journals had increased to 61%. The findings from this study highlight the evolving role of women in the field of Community Psychology.
Community Psychology continued to make advances during this period in attempting to better understand social change in a world that is both complicated and often unpredictable. This field has increasingly worked to take into consideration dynamic feedback loops, which need to transcend simplistic linear cause and effect methods. In other words, the theories and methods of the field of Community Psychology are increasingly trying to capture a systems perspective, or the mutual interdependencies that Kelly’s ecological model has pointed to, regarding how people adapt to and become effective in diverse social environments.
New methods during the past 15 years have helped community psychologists conceptualize and empirically describe these dynamics, with quantitative and qualitative research methods that support contextually and theoretically-grounded community interventions (Jason & Glenwick, 2016). More attention is being directed to mixing qualitative and quantitative research methods in order to provide a deeper exploration of contextual factors. More sophisticated statistical methods help community psychologists address questions of importance as they work to describe the dynamics of complex systems that have the potential to transform our communities in fresh and innovative ways.
Finally, this free online textbook that you are reading, like the earlier development of the Ecological Community Psychology Conferences, is an illustration of how community psychologists put the field’s principles and theories into practice. Community psychologists believe that “giving psychology away” is the best course of action for an organization committed to prevention, social change, social justice, and empowerment. In addition, during the effort to assemble this online textbook, the editors worked with SCRA leadership to provide free SCRA Student Associate membership to undergraduates, which is another example of recent efforts to help lower barriers to participation in the field of Community Psychology.
SUMMING UP
This chapter has reviewed the last 50-plus years in which the field of Community Psychology has developed after its start in 1965 at the Swampscott Conference. With a focus on prevention, ecology, and social justice, the field has offered society new ways of thinking about how we might best solve our social and community problems. The chapter has documented key events that have occurred, including organization changes, key publications and conferences, and international developments. The field has had some “growing pains,” but now appears to be well-established and mature.
Critical Thought Questions
1. Do you think that the field of Psychology, in general, could use the ideas of Community Psychology to change the way they approach solving mental health problems?
2. How can prevention be used to solve some of the problems for people who are homeless or addicted to drugs?
3. The early pioneers of the field of Community Psychology were challenging the way that psychologists were delivering services to others. Can you think of a particular mental health problem that this might apply to?
4. If you were to make an argument to some friends about the advantages of a more community-oriented approach, what might you say to help convince them of the benefits of this alternative way of thinking about social issues?
Take the Chapter 2 Quiz
View the Chapter 2 Lecture Slides
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REFERENCES
Aubry, T., Goering, P., Veldhuizen, S., Adair, C. E., Bourque, J., Distasio, J., . . . Tsemberis, S. (2016). A multiple-city RCT of Housing First with Assertive Community Treatment for homeless Canadians with serious mental illness. Psychiatric Services,67(3), 275-281.
Ayala-Alcantar, C., Dello Stritto, E., & Guzman, B. L. (2008). Women in community psychology: The trailblazer story. Journal of Community Psychology, 36, 587-608.
Bennett, C. C., Anderson, L. S., Cooper, S., Hassol, L., Klein, D. C., & Rosenblum, G. (1966). Community psychology: A report of the Boston Conference on the Education of Psychologists for Community Mental Health. Boston: Boston University Press.
Bloom, B. L. (1975). Community mental health: A general introduction. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Cowen, E. L., Trost, M. A., Izzo, L. D., Lorion, R. P., Dorr, D., & Isaacson, R. V. (1975). New ways in school mental health: Early detection and prevention of school maladaptation. New York: Human Sciences Press.
Fairweather, G. W., Sanders, D. H., Maynard, H., & Cressler, D. L. (1969). Community life for the mentally ill. Chicago: Aldine.
Fowler, P. J., & Toro, P. A. (2008a). Personal lineages and the development of community psychology: 1965 to 2005. Journal of Community Psychology, 36, 626-648.
Fowler, P. J., & Toro, P. A. (2008b). The many histories of community psychology: Analyses of current trends and future prospects. Journal of Community Psychology, 36, 569-571.
Jason, L. A., Glantsman, O., O’Brien, J. F., & Ramian, K. N. (2019). Introduction to the field of Community Psychology. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/intro- to- community-psychology/
Jason, L. A., & Glenwick, D. S. (Eds.). (2016). Handbook of methodological approaches to community-based research: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods. New York: Oxford University Press.
Jason, L. A., Keys, C. B., Suarez-Balcazar, Y., Taylor, R. R., Davis, M., Durlak, J., Isenberg, D. (Eds.). (2004). Participatory Community Research: Theories and methods in action. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Kelly, J. G. (1966). Ecological constraints on mental health services. American Psychologist, 21, 535-539.
Kelly, J. G. (1987). Swampscott anniversary symposium: Reflections and recommendations on the 20th anniversary of Swampscott. American Journal of Community Psychology, 15(5).
Kloos, B., Hill, J., Thomas, E., Wandersman, A., Elias, M. J., & Dalton, J. H. (2012). Community psychology: Linking individuals and communities. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Levine, M., & Perkins, D. V. (1987). Principles of Community Psychology: Perspectives and applications. New York: Oxford University Press.
Moritsugu, J., Duffy, K., Vera, E., & Wong, F. (2019). Community Psychology (6th ed). New York: Routledge.
Pokorny, S. B., Adams, M., Jason, L. A., Patka, M., Cowman, S., & Topliff, A. (2009). Frequency and citations of published authors in two community psychology journals. Journal of Community Psychology, 37, 281-291.
Rappaport, J. (1977). Community psychology: Values, research, and action. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.
Reich, S., Riemer, M., Prilleltensky, I., & Montero, M. (Eds.). (2007). International Community Psychology. History and theories. New York, NY: Springer.
Tolan, P., Keys, C., Chertok, F., & Jason, L. A. (Eds.). (1990). Researching Community Psychology: Issues of theories and methods. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Toro, P. A. (2005). Community psychology: Where do we go from here? American Journal of Community Psychology, 35, 9-16.
Tsemberis, S. (1999). From streets to homes: An innovative approach to supported housing for homeless adults with psychiatric disabilities. Journal of Community Psychology, 27, 225-241.
Tsemberis, S. (June, 2018). Housing First: Why person centered care matters? Third International Housing First Conference, Padua, Italy. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Introduction_to_Community_Psychology_(Jason_et_al.)/01%3A_Introduction/1.02%3A_History.txt |
Chapter Three Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Distinguish between various settings where community psychologists often work
• Describe diverse career roles within the field of Community Psychology
• Explore strategies for obtaining employment in the field of Community Psychology
• Understand unique skill sets or competencies used by community psychologists in various settings
Community psychologists seek to improve community well-being through a cycle of collaborative planning, action, and research in partnership with local community members. As indicated in the first chapter (Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019), we emphasize exploring issues with a systems lens approach, and focus on prevention and community contexts of behavior. Community psychologists embrace the core values of the field which include 1) prevention, 2) social justice, 3) ecological perspective, 4) respect for diversity, 5) active citizen participation, 6) grounding in research and evaluation, 7) interdisciplinary collaboration, 8) sense of community, 9) empowerment, 10) policy, and 11) promoting wellness.
The settings of community psychologists range from academia to non-profit organization. Typically, community psychologists complete graduate work in the field, but that is not required to engage in community work. The work of a community psychologist is dependent on an individual’s interest, training, and experience. Community psychologists can work as researchers, policy developers, educators, program evaluators, or program coordinators within academic, government and non-profit settings (SCRA, 2018). These are not the only roles and settings of community psychologists and within this chapter, we will explore a diversity of career paths and employment options. All community psychologists have a passion for specific community needs or topics. What community issues are you most excited about addressing?
Community Psychology Practice
Community Psychology practice typically refers to applied or practical work of community psychologists, which can involve a variety of activities related to a cycle of action and research such as community organizing, coalition building, program development or program evaluation, policy, advocacy, grant writing, data collection, data analysis, or report writing. Community Psychology practice occurs in many community settings outside of the classroom or research center such as schools, community-based non-profit organizations, places of worship, health clinics, parks, community centers, or other neighborhood gathering spaces.
Skill Sets of a Community Psychologist
Due to the diversity of activities and settings for Community Psychology practice and its focus on systems, context, programs, and organizations as opposed to individuals, the field has decided not to have their members receive a license to practice. Rather, members of SCRA have developed competencies for Community Psychology practice to “…provide a common framework for the discussion of skills involved in Community Psychology practice, and how those skills can be learned” (SCRA, 2012, p. 9). The 18 competencies help define and clarify the unique combination of skills and values that differentiate community psychologists from other people working in community settings. They fall into five categories: 1) foundational principles, 2) community program development and management, 3) community organizational capacity building, 4) community and social change, and 5) community research. See the chapter by Wolfe (2019) in this book to view a complete list of the competencies by category. To learn more about the competencies in Community Psychology check out Dalton and Wolfe (2012) and Wolfe and Price (2017).
If you want to dig even further into how a specific competency is used in work settings, see Elias, Neigher, and Johnson-Hakim (2015) which provides case examples of how each competency is enacted in practice. See Scott and Wolfe’s Community Psychology: Foundations for Practice (2015) which provides case examples of how each competency is enacted in practice. In addition, the Community Tool Box has an Ask An Advisor Tool which provides more examples of how to apply the competencies in different settings. Note that some Community Psychology scholars have raised concerns about the potential limiting aspects of focusing on competencies or provided counterpoints for their value (e.g., Dzidic, Breen, & Bishop, 2013). There are also some additional models or ways to categorize the skills of a community psychologist such as the one by Arcidiacono (2017), who describes the TRIP model (which stands for Trustfulness, Reflexivity, Intersectionality, and Positionality) as the core methodological skills acquired by community psychologists in their training as well as their basic values.
Practical Application 3.1 below can help you start the process of examining your current skills, the skills you want to acquire, and how you can find a career in Community Psychology that’s right for you.
Practical Application 3.1
Your Personal Fit with Community Psychology
Think of the competencies as a set of tools in a toolbox. You can pick and choose which competency to apply in various settings. In specific settings, some competencies are used more than others. Are there skills that are you are interested in gaining that you do not currently have? How can you build your skill set? This activity will help you start thinking about which skills you can build upon throughout your career.
1. Make a list of skills that you already have and then identify the skills that you would like to build in Community Psychology. Compare your list to the 18 competencies for practice.
2. Create a list of organizations and professionals that share your interests within Community Psychology. Do some background research on each of them. Read about the organizations’ history, mission, structure, activities, and accomplishments. Read about the professionals’ educational backgrounds, and current and past jobs. Contact them directly to make a connection. Let them know about your shared interest and ask them specific questions about their work. LinkedIn is a great tool for finding out more about others in the field and to connect to start a conversation.
3. Write a job description of your ideal job. Include work setting, salary, job description, and geographic region. Is your description similar to a community psychologist description you are familiar with? Why? Why not?
NON-TRADITIONAL COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGISTS
It is important to keep in mind that there is no one path to becoming a community psychologist. The path is determined based on the needs and preferences of an individual, which makes the journey flexible. Non-traditional community psychologists pursue training in other academic fields or have lived experiences as a community advocate. They do not take the traditional route of pursuing formal graduate training in Community Psychology. For example, some community psychologists pursue training in other fields that share similar values and approaches (e.g., Public Health, public service management, Social Work, Applied Anthropology, Applied Social Psychology, Sociology, and disability studies). In fact, many community psychologists have diverse training, backgrounds, and experiences that allow them to make the field rich in diversity. Check out these unique paths of community psychologists in Case Study 3.1. and Case Study 3.2.
Case Study 3.1
Nicole Freund
“As an undergrad, I found psychology fascinating, but had no idea there was a discipline outside of clinical work. I did not want to be a clinician, so I didn’t consider psychology as a major, instead graduating with a degree in English and theater. I went on to graduate school for English and got an MA in rhetoric and composition and then spent my first year in Wichita (I got married and moved to Wichita, KS after receiving my MA) adjunct teaching 6 intro writing classes at 4 universities. I did so much adjunct work (and couldn’t get a full-time instructor gig), that I burned right out and my newlywed family couldn’t make ends meet, so I jumped ship and started working in public relations for a private consumer goods company. I did PR and brand marketing work at that company for about 5 years, earning an MBA along the way. At the 4-5 year mark, I started doing marketing research for the company and pretty soon, that became my full focus. I was the sole researcher at the company, so I was responsible for understanding consumer behaviors across a bunch of different activities, cultures, and products. It really got me interested in why people think the way they do, and why they behave in certain ways. After 11.5 years at the company, the context had changed so much that it was just not healthy for me to stay, and I started looking at exit strategies. I came across psychology again after last having considered it more than a decade before, and this time I was introduced to community psych, which really resonated with me. I applied for a spot in the Wichita State University Ph.D. program and spent the next 5 years learning about what I should have learned so many years before. It felt like home. For my practicum, I began working at what is now the Center for Applied Research and Evaluation at the Community Engagement Institute. We do primarily program evaluations, and being able to juggle multiple partners, understand that what a partner needs is not always an RCT (randomized control trial) or “bullet-proof” report, and handle a wide variety of methodologies was incredibly useful. The practice of community psych as an evaluator is something of a different animal than practicing in other ways and definitely different than an academic path. After my practicum, I was offered and accepted a full-time position as a research associate, and now that I’ve successfully defended, I plan to stay at CARE as a research scientist. I came to my position through a winding path that ultimately provided me with skills I wouldn’t have had otherwise. The relationships I was able to cultivate in my Ph.D. program certainly impacted where I ended up, and I’m so grateful to know and work with the people I do. The future is obviously unwritten, but I feel like my weird journey to a Ph.D. at 41 (technically 42 by the time I walk), has definitely set me up to find opportunities I wouldn’t otherwise have.”
Case Study 3.2
Monica Adams-Terraso
“As with many community psychologists, I followed a circuitous path to my current role. As an undergraduate psychology major at the University of Iowa, I volunteered at the local AIDS care center and completed a mixed methods internship at the University of Iowa Hospital in the HIV/AIDS clinic. I really enjoyed the qualitative interviews and working with patients to share their needs and voices, and soon presented my first scientific poster. After a summer internship in London, I realized that the individualized nature of clinical work, especially with a psychoanalytical orientation, was not my path, and abandoned the idea of going to graduate school for clinical psychology. I was at a loss for what to do next when a mentor introduced me to the field of public health. I joined the Master of Public Health program at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC). Here I encountered my first community psychologist—a professor doing innovative research on marketing and internet tobacco sales. I conducted research on adolescent alcohol and tobacco use and did a practicum with a rural anti-smoking coalition. After graduation, I moved to Chicago to work at DePaul University’s Center for Community Research. My boss and later advisor mentored me in the application of Community Psychology to real-world problems. I saw how you could blend both public health and psychology to advocate for underrepresented populations and concentrate on systems. This led me to apply for the Community Psychology program at DePaul University. In graduate school, I continued my work on tobacco policy—with an emphasis on the school setting and geo-spatial analysis. I conducted applied research projects, and after receiving my Ph.D. focused heavily on evaluation and practice around substance use prevention and community engagement. The emerging opioid epidemic pushed me to focus more on data to action, and I applied to the Epidemic Intelligence Service—the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s training program for disease investigation and epidemiology. This fellowship transported me to a local public health department in Las Vegas. There I responded to several outbreaks including setting up a measles vaccination clinic at a large casino, evaluating lab results for Zika virus, and importantly, traveling to Sierra Leone to support Ebola prevention efforts. While there, I worked on the health promotion team to conduct rapid community assessments in ongoing transmission areas and worked with disease survivors, a much-stigmatized group. Once the fellowship was over, I went back to my first public health interest area—HIV/AIDS—to find my current home as an epidemiologist within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Here I support bio-behavioral disease surveillance to understand HIV transmission within networks of people who inject drugs. My training as a community psychologist gave me skills to conduct research with marginalized populations, think about policy levers, and apply varied analysis methods and tools. It ultimately led me to a federal agency where I get to use my expertise to support and impact national initiatives around HIV elimination.”
As mentioned, graduate training in Community Psychology is not required to engage in community work. You may fall into this category of having a passion for community work but with no desire to receive formal graduate training. Furthermore, some non-traditional community psychologists have not received formal training (e.g., graduate training in Community Psychology or related field). They can be community members and/or leaders who identify as community psychologists due to their work in the community. The community-grounded work aligns with the principles and values within the field. One common approach of community psychologists is to collaborate with community members. In addition, non-traditional and traditional community psychologists share in common an understanding that the solutions to community challenges lie within communities. The approach is bottom-up and ensures that the voices of the community drive the search for and implementation of solutions. The Asset-Based Community Development Institute is a great resource to support community-engaged work that does not necessarily require traditional training.
COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY WORK SETTINGS
When exploring working in the field of Community Psychology, consider which job setting aligns with your interest and skill set. Be open to trying different settings to figure out what works best for you. One of the great things about the field is that you can create a career path that is uniquely yours. There is no perfect roadmap to working as a community psychologist. Community Psychology-oriented job seekers may desire working in one or both of the following setting tracks: academic or practice.
Academic Settings
Academic community psychologists often have faculty appointments and teach at the collegiate level and/or engage in community-based participatory research or evaluation work. Higher education settings also include research or evaluation centers or institutes and student support services units that focus on the health and academic success of students. Community psychologists who work in academia typically receive formal graduate training. To learn more about graduate training, review the last chapter of this textbook (McMahon & Sánchez, 2019).
Practice Settings
Practice settings include non-profit organizations, consulting, government, health care, or for-profit organizations. What setting will fit you? Check out Practical Application 3.2 below to learn more about different opportunities. Each setting description gives insight into what takes place at each setting. Also, visit the websites of the examples to get a better picture of how people in each environment engage in their work. In some cases, practice environments may fall into multiple categories due to their scope of work. Explore the different options and think about which setting is best for your interests.
Practical Application 3.2
Practice Settings
The practice setting categories listed below are not mutually exclusive. Some organizations may fall in multiple categories.
Non-profit Organizations
Local or national organizations that focus on a specific cause. They invest their income back into the organization to further their cause as opposed to distributing the earnings to shareholders, leaders or members. They are often tax-exempt due to their charitable purpose and the value they add to the public.
Examples of Non-profit Organizations:
Consulting and Research Firms
Community psychologists may work as independent consultants or employees at small, medium, or large consulting firms that provide advice and support to other organizations looking to make decisions or change something within their organization.
Examples of Consulting and Research Firms:
Government Positions
A legislative, executive, or judiciary department, agency, or commission that establishes and enforces laws and regulations and provides basic infrastructure, health, education, public safety, and commerce/trade to support its citizenry. Community psychologists work in local municipalities, county, state, and the federal government.
Examples of Government Positions:
Health Care Organizations
An organization that provides health care or related services (e.g., health-focused research).
Examples of Health Care Organizations:
Educational Sector Opportunities
Community psychologists can be found in just about every setting you can imagine within the educational sector. We work in public and private daycare centers, pre-school, primary and secondary schools (pre-K through 12th grade), school district research and assessment/evaluation offices, tutoring centers, after-school enrichment programs and prevention programs, colleges and universities, and more.
Examples of Educational Sector Opportunities:
• Headstart
• School Districts
• Individual Local Schools
• Private Schools
• Charter School Systems
Practice settings allow community psychologists to use Community Psychology practice in an applied environment. Typically, job responsibilities do not focus on gaining publications in scholarly journals, which is usually emphasized in academia. While these practice-oriented community psychologists might not focus on research and publishing, the methods and approaches used in practice settings are based on previous research. Job titles can range from Program Coordinator to Director of Program Evaluation. While each job title may or may not require a degree in Community Psychology, it is important to understand job responsibilities.
Gain Experience in Areas of Interest
If you are not sure which setting you prefer, volunteer or complete an internship, fellowship, or service year (e.g., AmeriCorps,PeaceCorps, Teach for America), in order to figure out which experience is the best fit for you. In addition, professional organizations offer mentorship programs to connect professionals with students and/or community members who desire more guidance in the field (e.g., SCRA, American Evaluation Association, Society for Research on Adolescence’s Undergraduate Scholars Program, Society for Research in Child Development, Millennium Scholars Program, Early Career Interdisciplinary Scholars Fellowship Program). Individuals who are interested in gaining more experience in the area of research or policy should consider looking into relevant programs (e.g., American Psychological Association Fellowship, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Center for Disease Control and Prevention Fellowship).
COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGISTS WORKING IN THE FIELD
Now that we have gone over some different settings for understanding career paths, let’s connect to some community psychologists working in the field. The Diverse Careers in Community Psychology book includes over 20 detailed examples of community psychologists describing their jobs and careers in the field. Here are examples of titles of working community psychologists who contributed to the book. To learn more about each community psychologist, click on their name to connect to their personal page. As you are exploring each community psychologist, do you notice any trends in career paths? How does their education relate to their job setting? What professional skills are listed? How are the community psychologists describing themselves in their bio description? Of the settings described in Practical Application 3.2, which ones pique your interest? Start exploring the community psychologists in that field first. Other great sources to learn about the career trajectories of individual community psychologists include Gloria Levin’s 60+ longtime interview-based columns, “Living Community Psychology” within The Community Psychologist (TCP).
Government:
Theresa L. Armstead—Behavioral Scientist in the Research and Evaluation Branch, Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Control and Prevention, CDC
Case Study 3.3
Theresa Armstead
Theresa Armstead is a member of the Intimate Partner Violence/Teen Dating Violence team and serves as the scientific lead for the evaluation of the DELTA FOCUS (Domestic Violence Prevention Enhancement and Leadership Through Alliances, Focusing on Outcomes for Communities United with States) program. She has nine years of program evaluation experience in the public health areas of chronic disease prevention, violence prevention, HIV and AIDS prevention, and emergency response.
Richard A. Jenkins—Health Scientist Administrator in the Prevention Research Branch of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Faculty at Universities and Community Colleges:
Fabricio E. Balcazar—Professor in the Department of Disability and Human Development, the University of Illinois at Chicago
Ronald Harvey—Assistant Professor of psychology at American University in Bulgaria
Gregor V. Sarkisian—Associate Professor of psychology at Antioch University, Los Angeles, CA
Cari Stevenson—Professor at Kankakee Community College
University-Based Support Services and Researchers:
Lindsey Back—Senior Analyst in the office of Institutional Research and Assessment at Northeastern Illinois University
Luciano Berardi—Director of the McNair Scholars, Arnold Mitchem Fellows, and Research Lab programs at the Center for Access and Attainment at DePaul University
Crystal Reinhart—Research Program Specialist with the Center for Prevention Research and Development at the University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign
Consultants at Small and Large firms:
Small firms typically have 1-10 employees and larger firms include more than 10 or in the hundreds.
Michelle Bloodworth—Senior Research and Evaluation Specialist at Apex Education
Ashley Boal—Research Associate at WestEd in Los Alamitos, CA
Geraldine (Geri) L. Palmer—Managing Director at the Community Wellness Institute
Manolya Tanyu—Senior Researcher at the American Institutes for Research
Case Study 3.4
Manolya Tanyu
Manolya Tanyu has expertise in interventions in schools and community settings, program evaluation in youth development, mentoring, and social-emotional learning. Tanyu is a skilled methodologist, and she has worked on a number of evaluation projects to investigate processes, practices, and outcomes using qualitative and quantitative methods. She earned her doctoral degree in Community Psychology and prevention research from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a minor in methods and statistics.
Non-Profits and Foundations:
Foundations are considered grantmaking institutions and focus on awarding grants to non-profit organizations.
Teresa Garate—Vice President of Strategic Partnerships & Engagement at the Gateway Foundation
Judith Meyers—President and Chief Executive Officer of the Children’s Fund of Connecticut
Sharon Johnson –Hakim—Manager for Population Health Sciences at Atlantic Health System in Morristown, NJ
Alison J. Martin—Assessment and Evaluation Coordinator for the Oregon Center for Children and Youth with Special Health Needs
Mentorship
Just like with any career path, mentorship is critical for success as a community psychologist. Mentors can help with guidance, support, and advice. When thinking about who to reach out to for mentorship, consider who is doing the work that you would like to do. Mentors can come from applied and academic settings or both. In fact, mentors do not have to be community psychologists but they can engage in community work or use an approach that you want to learn more about. Do not limit yourself to just one mentor. Create a library of mentors that you can reach out to for when you need a sounding board or advice on how to engage with a community population in which you are unfamiliar. If you are not sure where to start in identifying mentors, start with a basic Google search. Then, try the various professional organizations that are listed in the chapter. Next, develop a list of questions to ask a potential mentor to help you determine if the mentorship is a good fit. Your mentor must have the time, dedication and interest in investing in your growth. Do not get discouraged if a mentoring relationship does not work out. Remember to always build a library of mentors with various expertise in different fields. The more diverse your mentors the more likely you are to learn something new and continue to grow in your journey as a community psychologist.
HOW TO GAIN EMPLOYMENT AS A COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGIST
Community Psychology jobs typically do not specifically advertise “seeking a community psychologist,” so one challenge with the field is that its connection to psychology causes employers to make assumptions about the applicant’s skill set that is inaccurate. For example, an employer may assume community psychologists are trained in clinical work or therapy (McMahon & Wolfe, 2017). Therefore, it is important to first have a good sense of your expertise. Next, examine the job description to ensure it fits your skill set, interests, and alignment with Community Psychology competencies. When promoting yourself as a community psychologist, share the values of the field and the specific skills that match the desired role. Write a job description of your ideal job which includes work setting, salary, job description, and geographic region. Is your description similar to a typical description of a community psychologist? Why? Why not?
In Practical Application 3.3 below, there are some excerpts from job descriptions for positions held by community psychologists.
Practical Application 3.3
Community Psychology Job Descriptions
• Establishment of partnerships among local community institutions.
• Development, implementation, and evaluation of programs for the personal and social development of children and young people.
• Conduct evaluations and research related to preventing childhood obesity, local food systems, and food insecurity
• Conduct health research related to how communities and neighborhoods impact behavior and well-being
• Consulting with other non-profits who are education and child-development-oriented on projects related to school community building, education improvement, and lifelong learning.
• Test the efficacy of using the expressive arts and mindfulness to resolve loss, repair the moral injury, and mitigate post-traumatic stress in combat veterans.
Health Care
• Lead population health initiatives including the dissemination of evidence-based prevention science and community capacity building.
• Manage a Public Health Institute—a research, development, and training organization
• Coordination of research and grant writing for multiple federally funded programs; and developing and implementing training programs around evidence-based practices.
• Chairman of a board of an organization that provides behavioral healthcare (mental health and substance abuse treatment) in 4 counties
• Design, manage, and conduct studies in a specific public health area; provide technical assistance on methods in quantitative and qualitative research
Consulting
• Community coalition work using environmental strategies to effect community change.
• Conduct Community-based Participatory Research with under-represented communities on issues of cultural competence, capacity building for evaluation, rehabilitation outcomes for minorities, and evaluation of community-based interventions
• State mental health policy, program evaluation of state-funded programs, consultation and evaluation for private community organizations
• Consult on coalition building and community development
• Lead change management and capacity building for a geographically diverse community of public servants.
Career Support
SCRA offers different ways to connect with others and gain additional career support. As a result of the diversity of topic interests among community psychologists, SCRA interest groups help to bring together others in the field with similar interests. If you are primarily interested in learning more about careers, we recommend checking out Early Career Interest Group. Also, consider participating in initiatives hosted by the Community Psychology Practice Council. For example, the council organizes calls to gain support for career challenges. Have you been working on a community project and hit a brick wall? Participating in peer consultation calls can help you overcome that obstacle and connect with potential mentors with expertise in the field.
Attending conferences and participating in professional development opportunities helps to network and identify mentors for potential job opportunities. At conferences, people with similar interests connect and establish future collaborations. The Midwest Eco Conference is a training opportunity that is completely run by students in the field to share their work and gain supportive feedback. Each year a different academic institution in the Midwest hosts the conference which serves as a leadership opportunity for students. To learn more about the history of the conference check out The Evolution and Growth of the Eco-Community Psychology Conferences. There are now similar conferences in different regions of the US.
Some community psychologists obtained their jobs through building relationships and created their own jobs. Another strategy is to join group email lists or “listservs,” such as those for SCRA, Community Based Participatory Research, and Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment, to receive emails of new job postings in the field. For additional email lists related to public health see Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce.
Professional development opportunities exist beyond conferences and these are typically workshops or webinars. The opportunities are offered through professional membership organizations, experts, consulting firms, government, and/or non-profit organizations (e.g., Tamarack Institute, American Evaluation Association Education Webinars, Evaluator’s Institute, American Educational Research Association,Association for Talent Development). These professional development opportunities listed above are examples but they are not the only options for professional development. An internet search will come up with additional options as well. Reach out to other professionals in the field to learn about which professional development opportunities that they can recommend for your interest. See Practical Application 3.4 for a list of employment-seeking strategies.
Practical Application 3.4
Employment-Seeking Strategies
1. Identify and cultivate relationships with multiple mentors. However, limit the number of mentors to a number you can manage to connect with consistently.
2. Build your network both within your field and across disciplines.
3. Join and engage actively with professional associations within your areas of interest.
4. Be intentional about building skills and competencies relevant to the sector and jobs in which you are most interested. Remember that you will continue to grow in these areas beyond graduate training.
5. Align your CV (resume) to the skills and competencies needed for the specific job(s) you seek, and practice an “elevator speech” that helps future employers see how your experience, training, and competencies fit their contexts.
6. Use multiple search techniques when looking for employment (e.g., job postings and organizational websites, networking, listservs).
7. Keep confident, consistent, get support, and recognize that part of your real- life training and development as a community psychologist involves seeking new positions.
(Cited directly from Viola, Glantsman, Williams, & Stevenson, 2017).
Community Psychologists’ Salaries and Earning Potential
A common question among those considering Community Psychology as a career is, “What do community psychologists make as a salary?” Like most jobs, salaries vary according to job setting, geographic region, and job responsibilities. In Viola, Glantsman, Williams, and Stevenson (2017), 420 community psychologists completed The Diverse Careers in Community Psychology Survey. Respondents shared that the median salary range for a community psychologist was \$75,000- \$90,066 (as of 2015). The salary ranges were specific to the following job settings: consulting, government, non-profit, education, health care, and for-profit across various geographic regions. Check out Viola and Glantsman (2017) to learn more about salaries in the field across work settings and job titles.
SUMMING UP
Community psychologists apply various Community Psychology practice competencies in their job roles. The two main job tracks within Community Psychology are academia and practice, and career paths of community psychologists can be traditional or non-traditional. Community psychologists work in various settings such as non-profit organizations, consulting, government, health care, for-profit, and academic settings. Community psychologists find jobs through networking, responding to postings on email listserv and online job postings, and can also co-create jobs with organizations they respect and work with on community projects.
Critical Thought Questions
1. What organizations can you work with to gain more experience?
2. What conferences can you attend that match your interest?
3. Who is currently doing the work that aligns with your passion? Can the person serve as your mentor?
4. Is there an opportunity to collaborate and work with others who share your interest?
5. What professional development opportunities can you participate in to engage more in community work in your interest? Gain knowledge or skill sets?
Take the Chapter 3 Quiz
View the Chapter 3 Lecture Slides
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REFERENCES
Arcidiacono, C. (2017). The Community Psychologist as a reflective plumber. Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, 8(1), 116. Retrieved from http://www.gjcpp.org/
Dzidic, P., Breen, L. J., & Bishop, B. J. (2013). Are our competencies revealing our weaknesses? A critique of Community Psychology practice competencies. Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, 4(4), 110. Retrieved from http://www.gjcpp.org/
Elias, M. J., Neigher, W. D., & Johnson-Hakim, S. (2015). Guiding principles and competencies for community psychology. In V. C. Scott & S. M. Wolfe (Eds.), Community psychology foundations for practice (pp. 35–62). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Jason, L. A., Glantsman, O., O’Brien, J. F., & Ramian, K. N. (2019). Introduction to the field of Community Psychology. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/intro-to-community-psychology/
McMahon, S. D., & Sánchez, B. (2019). Looking into your future. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/looking-into-the-future/
McMahon, S. D., & Wolfe, S. M. (2017). Career opportunities for Community Psychologist in APA. In C. M. Bond, I. Serrano-Garcia, C. B. Keys, & M. Shinn (Eds.), APA handbook of Community Psychology: Methods for community research and action for diverse groups and issues (Vol. 2, pp. 645-659). Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
Scott, V. C., & Wolfe, S. M. (2015). Community Psychology: Foundations for Practice. Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA.
Society for Community Research and Action (2012). Competencies for community psychology practice: Draft August 15, 2012. The Community Psychologist, 45(4), 7-14.
Viola, J., Glantsman, O., Williams, A., & Stevenson, C. (2017). Answers to all your questions about careers in Community Psychology. In J. J. Viola & O. Glantsman (Eds.), Diverse careers in Community Psychology.(pp. 1-19). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Wolfe, S. M. (2019). Community Psychology practice competencies. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/practice-competencies/
Wolfe, S. M., & Price, A. W. (2017). The application of the Community Psychology practice competencies for community consulting practice in the U.S. Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, 8(1), 1-14. Retrieved from http://www.gjcpp.org/ | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Introduction_to_Community_Psychology_(Jason_et_al.)/01%3A_Introduction/1.03%3A_Who_We_Are.txt |
Chapter Four Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Understand why it is important to adopt an international perspective on Community Psychology
• Recognize how an international context differs from at-home Community Psychology
• Appreciate the challenges and rewards of doing International Community Psychology work
“The farther one travels, the less one knows.”
– George Harrison, “The Inner Light”
In this book, you will learn about the different theories of Community Psychology and how community psychologists work and interact with people in their communities, as well as with local and national governments and policymakers to promote social change. Now, think about doing Community Psychology work in a country you know little about. This is called International Community Psychology, and it occurs when community psychologists from one country work or train in a country other than their own. The opening Harrison quote, inspired by the 2500-year-old text the Tao Te Ching, implies that exposure to diverse environments and context helps us realize how much more we need to learn. Although humbling, this is the value of adopting an international perspective in Community Psychology.
In this chapter, we will describe some of the similarities and differences International Community Psychology has with “domestic” Community Psychology, and give examples of some of the unique challenges and rewards of doing International Community Psychology work.
WHY STUDY INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY?
Why might you be interested in International Community Psychology? First, we believe international work can sharpen your Community Psychology skills because international research and practice can intensify values and goals, in contrast to doing work in more familiar in-country environments. Experienced International Community Psychology practitioners often report that their international work creates opportunities for reflection and self-discovery, and helps them to better understand context (Harvey & Mihaylov, 2017). We will explore this in more detail later in the chapter.
Second, because of globalization, the world is becoming more interconnected via communications technology, travel, immigration, and trade. While trade is occurring in money, goods, and services, trade is also occurring in symbols, morality, cultural values, governmental systems, and most importantly, people. We live in an ever-increasingly global community where we must consider the global context to address the root causes of local social problems. Community Psychology practices must be informed by global perspectives to understand the contexts in which people live.
TYPES OF INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY WORK
International Community Psychology practice occurs when Community Psychology practitioners from one country work in a different country or culture. This may occur because the practitioners are invited to do research by native residents, or because the practitioners themselves have initiated this contact.
Invitations to do International Community Psychology happen for many reasons: the community psychologist may have expertise in an intervention or field which the host country lacks, or is invited to teach Community Psychology methods to students and practitioners. The following case study from Harvey and Mihaylov (2017) illustrates such an invitation given to Douglas D. Perkins, a community psychologist at Vanderbilt University in the US.
Case Study 4.1
Douglas D. Perkins Engaging in International Work In 1998
“[…] I was invited as a visiting professor in Perth, Australia. The trip involved giving Community Psychology and community development research and academic program development talks and consultations all over Australia (and I also spent time in New Zealand). But I did not really consider myself an international researcher until 2003, when as director of the program in Community Research & Action at Vanderbilt, I was invited to deliver a keynote address at the National Congress on “Prevention in Schools and Communities: Development of Social Capital for Health Promotion and Prevention” at the University of Padova, Italy, and to teach a 2004 graduate master class at Otto-von-Guericke University in Magdeburg, Germany. These opportunities produced my first international research collaborations. I subsequently developed other collaborative research and educational projects with other faculty and students in Italy, China, and South Africa, and many of those faculty and students have also been visiting scholars in our program at Vanderbilt.”
In contrast, initiating International Community Psychology may occur because a home practitioner desires to learn something new or useful that can only be obtained by doing the research or intervention in an international setting. For example, Vassileva et. al (2007) explored the changes in impulsivity in former heroin users over time. However, they faced the issue that the vast majority of people with substance use disorders in the US abused more than one substance before seeking treatment. This methodological challenge was overcome by recruiting participants in Bulgaria, who, because of societal and economic factors, tended to only use heroin.
A third model of International Community Psychology, but one that we would not recommend, is research or intervention forced upon the local or indigenous culture. This sometimes occurs when large funders (e.g., the World Health Organization) attach conditions to the funds being spent. For example, Burchett (2012) interviewed Ghanan psychologists who had a negative view of international health policy from foreign funders that delegitimized traditional birth attendants for home births. The funders forced an intervention using only nontraditional birth workers but provided no funding for training additional birth workers to make up the deficit. This is something that we do not advocate because it is a form of colonialism and violates many Community Psychology values. Colonialism is the act of an invading culture establishing political and economic control over an indigenous people. We need to do all that is possible to not support Colonialism when working internationally.
The last example is of Community Psychology training occurring in another country. See the case study below for an example describing Nikolay L. Mihaylov, at the Medical University of Varna, Bulgaria.
Case Study 4.2
Nikolay L. Mihaylov Meets Community Psychology
“In 2009 I was applying to study psychology in the US with the long-term goal of working on social issues in my home country Bulgaria. Community Psychology was not the instrument I sought: it was absent in textbooks or lectures available in Bulgaria (some of them popular US intros to psychology). Based on an Elliot Aronson-inspired view of social psychology, I applied to a dozen such programs only to discover, to my dismay, that none would admit me, despite my eloquent action-focused personal statement and despite the boost of a Fulbright grant. Then fortune and the Fulbright Commission put me in touch with Ron Harvey, at the time a Ph.D. student at DePaul University. And so I met Community Psychology.
Community Psychology captivated me with its inherent direct work with and in communities, with people. I found that to be the essence of psychology, what drew me to it in the first place—human contact and a spontaneous need to share human presence. In this regard, I felt there was too little training and emphasis on interpersonal skills, consultation, leadership, group dynamics and community organizing in the Community Psychology programs I was first introduced to.
The last impression I would like to share is of my initial awe of how rigorous and busy research in Community Psychology was. Compared to European and Eastern European academic styles, the tempo and rigor in the US is mind-blowing. This makes US academia much more productive and relevant. On the downside, businesslike benchmarks for good work seem to prioritize efficiency over reflection in the process of research. In Community Psychology, such a tradeoff might be bad for community.”
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY AS A METHOD TO UNDERSTAND CONTEXT AND CULTURE
International Community Psychology is not different in kind from domestic Community Psychology, but it does differ in scope, logistics, open-mindedness, power dynamics, expressiveness, and sensitivity (SLOPES). The most obvious differences when working in another country is its culture. Broadly, culture is the “way things are done around here” (Shweder, 1990). Culture includes everything from the foods we eat and like (and dislike) to language, customs, symbols, artifacts, history, roles, beliefs, and arts. Culture is a large part of the ecological model in which individuals live.
Culture is everywhere; nations, towns, and even your university has its own unique culture. We are often unaware of the impact of our own culture on our thinking. David Foster Wallace related the story in a 2005 commencement speech to Kenyon College graduates, which we roughly paraphrase: if you asked a fish what it is like to be a fish, the fish would probably tell you lots of things except that they are wet—all the time. We may not comprehend this impact until we travel to another place and experience the disorientation of the “way things are done around here.”
This disorientation is called culture shock. Community psychologists working internationally will most like experience culture, but analyzing this disorientation can be one of the great values of doing International Community Psychology work. Although all Community Psychology practitioners have interdisciplinary training and strive for cross-cultural competence, experiencing culture shock when doing International Community Psychology work exposes hidden contexts and encourages self-examination.
For example, when working on creating recovery homes in Bulgaria, Ronald Harvey, who is from the US, learned of a group of recovering individuals in Bulgaria who self-organized and lived together in a communal apartment in Sofia, the capitol city. Through his Bulgarian collaborators, a meeting was arranged so the guest researcher could learn about how these Bulgarian grassroots efforts are similar to and different from the Oxford House recovery home system that was developed in the US (watch Ron Harvey talk about the Oxford House model). This is also an opportunity for a guest community psychologist to understand the Bulgarian context for recovery. This grassroots model of self-help recovery that is emerging in Bulgaria could have enormous implications for those needing these services in Bulgaria and other countries in Europe. Conversations such as these help the international researchers to learn things that may help others, and to ask questions to determine what, how, and why systems or beliefs exist in that society. Experiences such as these can make one recognize the privileges one takes for granted in their home country.
Community Psychology is concerned with societal and systemic themes of prevention, social justice, and an ecological understanding of people within their environments, as indicated in Chapter 1 (Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019). Indeed, the concepts of prevention, social justice, and even “community” are likely to vary in the culture one is working in. Therefore, the main challenge of research and practice of International Community Psychology is to work through the discomforts and disorientation. This is reflected in the proverb, “A bad day for the ego is a good day for the soul.”
Another valuable experience gained in international settings is to expose ethnocentrism—using one’s own culture as the normative standard to judge another culture. When working in another country, one is a guest and to prejudge a different culture limits our understanding of context. Community Psychology takes a systems perspective, meaning that the international community psychologist is required to more deeply examine context to understand why things are the way they are. This tends to quiet the ethnocentric voice and opens the International Community Psychology practitioner to new possibilities for solving social problems. Because international settings likely have a radically different history and culture from one’s own, it is important to understand some of these historical forces that shape culture. The next section explores some of these forces.
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY AS A METHOD TO UNDERSTAND HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Community psychologists understand that existing power structures and institutionalized injustice can make it difficult to bring about change (Fetterman & Wandersman, 2007; Zippay, 1995). Therefore, transforming communities, changing lives, and promoting equity and social justice through action will often require us to gain an understanding of how power manifests itself within a global context. Imperialism, capitalism, and colonialism are often existing where the power is located, and we need to do all we can to think about how these affect the people we are working with. The development of Community Psychology in the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa was different in origins, histories, and applications based on these regions’ sociopolitical context. In Latin America and South Africa, the history of the field is based on liberation and social justice (Reich, et al., 2007). Understanding the historical context allows us to highlight current issues. For example, Palestinian mental healthcare, existing under an occupation and apartheid system, reveals the complex intersections of mental health, human rights, and social justice, which apply to diverse racialized and indigenous groups locally and globally.
Let’s look at the following case study when considering the effect policy has on society. One of the most debilitating illnesses is called Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, and those who have it have more limitations than in just about any other chronic condition. Yet, in the mid-1980s, the Centers for Disease Control in the US changed the name to “chronic fatigue syndrome” (CFS), and soon after, public officials and scientists throughout the world were using this term. The name is stigmatizing and extremely disliked by patients throughout the world because the term trivializes the illness; everyone feels fatigued at some point so it does not sound like a serious illness. It would be like calling an illness “chronic cough syndrome” when the person really had bronchitis or emphysema. The case study below illustrates what can occur to deal with this problem and the global negative consequences of these unfortunate naming policies enacted in the US.
Case Study 4.3
The Importance of a Name
Patient advocates with the above-mentioned illness have wanted a more medically sounding name, like Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME). Gathering data that proves or disproves a stigma can help provide patients with ammunition to officially change the name of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Along with patient advocates, a DePaul team conducted several studies to support this attempt at change.
In one of these, medical school students were given a description of a patient with common symptoms of CFS. The trainees were randomly assigned to several groups, and each group was given a different diagnostic label for the patient, such as CFS or ME. Results of these studies showed that the students’ beliefs about CFS changed depending on which diagnostic labels were used (Jason, Taylor, Stepanek, & Plioplys, 2001). When the most serious medical-sounding term, ME, was used, the patient’s condition was taken more seriously and participants were more likely to assume the illness had a real medical cause. Name-change advocates quickly cited the study’s findings, that diagnostic labels can influence perceptions, in order to justify establishing a new name for CFS.
Due to these findings and the persistence of patient advocate groups, patient groups around the world have now begun using more medically appropriate terms such as ME and ME/CFS for both their organizations and the illness (the major CFS scientific organization changed its name to the International Association of CFS/ME).
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY: FROM HEROISM TO JUSTICE
In our work, it is important to establish collaborative relationships with stakeholders and communities. Collaboration involves building relationships, particularly using methods that focus on respect for diversity, differences, trust, and leaving space for accountability and responsibility. To be successful, it is first important to understand the culture and context in which members of the community operate, engage in the process of making sense of the problem, and collectively explore solutions. Community psychologists, working nationally or internationally, are committed to raising critical awareness to undermine abusive conditions.
Another danger in our work with communities has been referred to as heroism. Heroism refers to a person working with underprivileged, disadvantaged populations and indicates that he or she has solutions to the community’s problems. Sometimes you see this in journals or presented on television or travel documentaries (e.g., Parts Unknown with Anthony Bourdain). This is something that community psychologists avoid when working with communities.
As an international community psychologist, it is important to be aware of other ways of seeing and being (Schostak & Schostak, 2008). Doing Community Psychology means creating a relatively safe space to speak up and share experiences and feelings. Working in international settings is all about having the ability to listen and acknowledge the capacities of others to solve their problems. However, it is important to not allow those with power, representing the status quo, to impose their values on communities (Prilleltensky, 1994).
In this sense, our work is of an ideology designed to alleviate the suffering of oppressed people, serve the refugee camps and marginalized communities, and respond to the need for psychosocial support and services.
THE CHALLENGES OF DOING INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY
As you are perhaps becoming aware, there are unique barriers to doing International Community Psychology work. Here are just a few.
Finding Collaborators
A barrier to doing Community Psychology work is finding collaborators. As with at-home Community Psychology, the key to finding collaborators is to reach out and build networks. Attending local and international conferences and seeking out foreign attendees are also winning strategies. Both APA and SCRA offer domestic and international travel grants for students to attend such conferences. Other sources of contacts and collaborators are workshops and presentations on campuses by international organizations such as nongovernmental organizations, charitable and nonprofit organizations. These may include religious organizations, businesses, and international professional associations.
Another way is to participate in international special issues of journals. Doug Perkins of Vanderbilt (see Case Study 4.1) notes that researchers in other countries tend to be more open to international collaborations—perhaps even more open than US-based researchers. If you read an interesting journal article—contact the author! Because these researchers are typically in non-English speaking countries, they may wish to collaborate with you to improve their language skills.
If visiting a country on holiday or excursion, we advise searching for research in that country or viewing the local university faculty listing of the psychology department beforehand. Of course, before visiting you should contact people in writing with a brief introduction of yourself and politely initiate contact while in-country.
Language Barriers and Communication
Another obvious barrier to doing Community Psychology work is not speaking the local language. You might be surprised to learn that English is the standard language used in international conferences. According to the interviewees in Harvey and Mihaylov (2017), learning the local language is not necessary, and often collaborators speak English and wish to develop this skill with international collaborators. However, learning some of the local languages is always appreciated and shows respect.
You might also inadvertently use offensive language—or hear it. Remember, international perspectives mean that people view the same things differently, and these discomforts are part of the experience. If used as “teachable moments” they will become enriching and eye-opening. In many parts of Eastern Europe, the English word “community” evokes something negatively associated with life under repressive communist regimes that ended in 1989-1991. This negative association led to the decision to name a Community Psychology class “The Psychology of Social Change,” which is taught to English-speaking undergraduates from the region at the American University in Bulgaria.
Political Barriers
One of the ways that community psychologists work to promote social change is through public policy. In many cases, this means working with local and national governments. In international settings, positive and negative views about politics, and of what governments can and cannot do because of resources, priorities, levels of accountability, and how they are viewed by the community will all have an impact on “how things are done around here.” This awareness is crucial—if political action is viewed as futile or hopelessly corrupt, then perhaps a more grass-roots approach is necessary.
In addition, International Community Psychology “guests” may have widely varying influences on public policy—from being welcomed as an “outside expert” to being viewed as a “foreign intruder.” The individual international community psychologist may or may not have an influence on how they are perceived by the locals or the government. Again, knowing the context and depending on local experts is recommended.
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY AS A METHOD TO GAIN PRACTICAL SKILLS
Experienced International Community Psychology practitioners report that their international work creates opportunities for creativity, reflection, and self-discovery, as well as striving toward new visions of human life that could not be accomplished in one’s native setting. Below is a list of practical skills and examples from doing International Community Psychology work.
Deeply Understanding Context and Change
The former poet laureate Robert Pinsky (2002) wrote: “American culture as I have experienced it seems so much in process, so brilliantly and sometimes brutally in motion, that standard models for it fail to apply.” Pinsky’s observation suggests that cultural change requires two fundamental attributes: knowing what is possible, and that the ability and speed of cultural change is also a part of the culture.
International Community Psychology teaches us that all issues of social change involve cultural changes. What does this mean in practical terms? It means that the timescale of International Community Psychology interventions might be years, or even intergenerational. It means working on small, incremental, bottom-up changes rather than large-scale, top-down changes. It certainly means taking the long view, as advocated by Jason (2013).
Developing Cultural Competency
Cultural competence is not only working with our collaborators and participants; it also applies to the field of Community Psychology itself. And we stated earlier, International Community Psychology lends itself to exposing one’s competence (or need to develop more thereof) as a fundamental benefit of International Community Psychology work.
The value of International Community Psychology is to experience radically new contexts. An international community psychologist cannot “parachute” into an international setting and expect to get things done in the way they might be accustomed to. Our field is an applied field; learning how to bring about social change in a radically different cultural context requires a lot of exploration.
Like the diagram above, what is visible in a culture is small compared to the reality underneath the surface. The experience of working below the surface can inform community psychologists of their own deficiencies and areas for improvement. Working below the surface can remind you of your goals in the work. It teaches pragmaticism. When working in an environment where blatant corruption such as bribing is necessary, confronting the corruption as a foreign guest might leave you feeling judgmental (see ethnocentrism).
The benefit is that these experiences develop competence by relying on collaborators and local expertise to achieve the goals of the work. This helps the international researcher to develop empathy while helping to confront personal biases and limitations. Many international community psychologists learn to welcome this discomfort. If one lives like a local in the community, and embraces the ambiguity of the unexpected and unplanned, things will start to happen on their own. This reminds us to be open for opportunities for interactions with local populations, where the best information may be gathered while on a bus, waiting in line, or even when stranded. “What seems like chaos can turn into something beautiful” (Harvey & Mihaylov, 2017, p. 291).
Humility and Learning
Cultural competence is one of the integral values of Community Psychology established at the Swampscott Conference. But as the interviewees explained in Harvey and Mihaylov (2017), if you do not yet have cultural competence in an international setting, you can certainly foster cultural humility. Humility is a concept that might erroneously be conflated with humiliation. This is most emphatically not what we mean. Humility, at its simplest, is the attribute of being teachable and accepting that one has much more to learn—so much so that one is not really sure what one does not know. One of the benefits of being teachable is that it forces international community psychologists to listen and to ask questions through their collaborators. Although perhaps time-consuming, it allows for much more interaction to build valuable trust and knowledge.
Having an Impact from Small Beginnings
In International Community Psychology practice, you may be entering a community in which conditions are dire. You might witness extreme poverty, sexism, or indifference to the suffering of others. You might see blatant corruption of government officials and the effects of that corruption on the community. Remember, people live their entire lives in conditions very different from your own. You might experience feelings of guilt and become acutely aware of the privilege of being a person living in the “wealthy” US.
As you will learn from this book, Community Psychology is unique in its approach, but it is not as well-known as Clinical or Social Psychology. This is especially true in international settings, where even the word “psychology” may mean “mental illness” and have the stigma associated with that label.
According to Perkins (2019), Community Psychology is represented least in countries where it is needed the most. The good news is that people need not be familiar with Community Psychology to benefit from the sort of actions, interventions, and useful knowledge community psychologists can generate. These include participatory action research, needs assessment, strengths-based approaches, and program evaluation. Given the right collaborators and approaches, the welcome an international community psychologist may experience on entry into a community can be overwhelmingly positive (Harvey & Mihaylov, 2017).
In addition, there is an advantage to starting from small beginnings. A small beginning in International Community Psychology work can have a real impact on a school, village, family, or community. Like a tiny mustard seed growing into a huge tree, a small project can lead to significant developments as people become empowered and begin to take control of their lives and communities. Very often in international work, you have the opportunity to create something brand new and see the effects firsthand. This is what makes international work unique and satisfying.
STARTING YOUR INTERNATIONAL ADVENTURE
A good place to start is the SCRA International Committee to explore the international experiences of others. These are invaluable for connecting Community Psychology students and researchers from all over the world. APA’s Division 52: International Psychology promotes global perspectives on mental health and research.
If you want to see international research in action, we advise visiting the Community Innovators page on the Community Tool Box and clicking on a pin on the map.
SUMMING UP
International work is rewarding and challenging. Regardless of whether working “at home” or internationally, the principles are the same: we cannot ignore injustices just because they occur far away from home; besides violating community psychologists’ core values, all injustices—including asylum seekers fleeing from war and armed violence, enforced poverty, and sexual slavery—will eventually affect us at home too. We must consider the global context to address the root causes of local social problems. For every complex problem, there is no simple, easy, or right solution. According to Steve Herbert (2001), complex problems invariably require complex and difficult solutions. Community psychologists who foster such “brave spaces” can awaken liberation knowledge and practices anywhere they work.
Culture and context is the water in which we International Community Psychology fish swim. This view is that culture is not a “thing”—it is a process that influences how we see others and how others see us (Geertz, 1973). International Community Psychology work can reveal strengths in us and in our international collaborators that may not have been discovered otherwise. Taking a risk by being a fish in different waters can accomplish this.
We wish you happy swimming!
Critical Thought Questions
1. How do you think community psychology practitioners can avoid cultural imperialism when working as guests in international settings?
2. Think about a “top-down” approach for social change with political operatives in a community – an arguably powerful and enviable position in the U.S. Now think about how an International Community Psychology would appear to community members in a low-trust, politically corrupt culture using the same top-down approach?
3. Being “needy” in international settings in terms of language, local guides, cultural navigations, and contacts present significant barriers. Can you think of ways in which these same barriers are also opportunities to establish deep collaborations?
4. Group exercise: In groups of three to five people, and then select one or two of the Community Psychology Foundational Principles. Then, as a mental exercise, “parachute” into someplace in the world you know something about – or nothing about it at all. Discuss what would change, what concepts would need most explanation and/or translation, and/or who could be your collaborators in discovering what local people think of the Principle. List these and present them to your class.
Take the Chapter 4 Quiz
View the Chapter 4 Lecture Slides
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REFERENCES
Burchett, H. E. D., Lavis, J. N., Mayhew, S. H., & Dobrow, M. J. (2012). Perceptions of the usefulness and use of research conducted in other countries. Evidence and Policy, 8(1), 7–16. https://doi.org/10.1332/174426412X620100
Fetterman, D., & Wandersman, A. (2007). Empowerment evaluation: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. American Journal of Evaluation, 28(2), 179–198. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098214007301350
Geertz, C. (1973). Thick description: Toward an interpretive theory of culture. In The interpretation of cultures: Selected essays (pp. 3-30). New York, NY: Basic.
Harvey, R., & N. Mihaylov (2017). Doing Community Psychology internationally: Lessons learned in the field. In J. J. Viola & O. Glantsman (Eds.), Diverse careers in Community Psychology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Herbert, S. (2001). Policing the contemporary city: Fixing broken windows or shoring up NeoLiberalism? Theoretical Criminology, 5(4), 445-466.
Jason, L. A. (2013). Principles of social change. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Jason, L. A., Glantsman, O., O’Brien, J. F., & Ramian, K. N. (2019). Introduction to the field of Community Psychology. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/intro-to-community-psychology/
Jason, L. A., Taylor, R. R., Stepanek, Z., & Plioplys, S. (2001). Attitudes regarding chronic fatigue syndrome: The importance of a name. Journal of Health Psychology, 6, 61-71. doi: 10.1177/135910530100600105
Perkins, D. D. (2019). The global development of applied community studies: Comparison and evaluation of trends in psychology, sociology, social work and other community sciences. Published in Liminales: Escritos sobre Psicología y Sociedad / Writings on Psychology and Society By the Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Central de Chile. Based on invited addresses at UC-Chile: Santiago and La Serena, Chile (October 1-2, 2018) and at the Biennial Conference of the Society for Community Research and Action (2017: Ottawa, Canada) in recognition of the 2016 SCRA Award for Distinguished Contributions to Theory and Research in Community Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/project/Global-Development-of-Applied-Community-Studies
Pinsky, R. (2002). Democracy, culture and the voice of poetry. Princeton University Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt7rxs5
Prilleltensky, I. (1994). The morals and politics of psychology. Albany, N.Y: State University of New York Press.
Reich, S. M., Riemer, M., Prilleltensky, I., & Montero, M. (2007). International community psychology: History and theories. New York, NY: Springer Science + Business Media.
Schostak, J., & Schostak, J. (2008). Radical research: Designing, developing, and writing research to make a difference. London, England and New York, NY: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
Shweder, R. (1990). Cultural Psychology – what is it? In J. Stigler, R. Schweder, & G. Herdt (Eds.), Cultural Psychology: Essays on Comparative Human Development (pp. 1-44). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Vassileva, J., Petkova, P., Georgiev, S., Martin, E. M., Tersiyski, R., Raycheva, M., . . . Marinov, P. (2007). Impaired decision-making in psychopathic heroin addicts. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 86(2-3), 287-289.
Zippay, A. (1995). The politics of empowerment. Social Work, 40(2), 263-267. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Introduction_to_Community_Psychology_(Jason_et_al.)/01%3A_Introduction/1.04%3A_International_Perspectives.txt |
Chapter Five Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Explain the role of theory in Community Psychology
• Describe the main foundational theories of Community Psychology
• Illustrate how community psychologists use theory in their work
Theories are important for anyone who is trying to bring about social change. They help point us to what is really important to change, versus what might be more trivial and lead to ineffective action. But first, let’s look closely at what theories enable us to do. Most simply, theories allow us to describe, predict, and better understand something. Here is an example: Newton observed that an apple fell from a tree. In that famous story, he was able to first describe the apple falling. It is the first part of the scientific journey to describe something that you might see. The second step is to predict something based on what you just saw. For example, when Newton dropped a ball or other object, he predicted it would also fall, and that allowed him to be able to make predictions, which is the second part of a theory. Finally, a theory provides an “explanation” of what you just saw, in this case, the explanation being that gravity was causing the objects to fall to the earth.
Why are theories important?
That brief example reviews all the basic parts of a theory and can help us understand the role of theories in the field of Community Psychology. Theories have provided us with useful ways of thinking about the importance of the individual in relationship to the environment or community. The individual is influenced by the environment, which means that we must look beyond just individual factors when we try to analyze social problems or develop community interventions. Case Study 5.1 illustrates why theory matters, as it can provide us a lens to see the individual closely connected and influenced by the context.
Case Study 5.1
Ecological Theory
Partners in Policy making™ is a national model of leadership training for people with developmental disabilities, and parents or family members of those with those disabilities. Partners in Policy making™ is designed to provide knowledge about issues related to disability and to develop competencies of the participants to become effective advocates in influencing public policy in their local settings and at all levels of government. Partners in Policy making™ uses ecological theory (see ahead in this chapter) in the design of the training for participants so they understand how ecological principles influence their advocacy. Partners in Policy making™ uses an ecological model of disability advocacy that takes into consideration the perspectives of people at multiple levels of community, including 1) the experiences of the individual person with the disability, 2) others in the local area affected by the same challenges, 3) the local policies that need to change to make things better for the whole community, and 4) the policy changes that may also need to change at the national level. For example, a person with a disability who uses a wheelchair may be struggling to find adequate housing that has an elevator for their full inclusion in that building’s community. They will need to find out if this is a shared experience of other people in the community area, and organize to create local policy change to enforce building requirements for people using wheelchairs. This could also become an opportunity for national policy change. Community psychologists are collaborating and supporting the work of community advocates through a state-funded agency that facilitates funds, and evaluate this training and community intervention.
As this case study illustrates, theories in Community Psychology help us think about developing interventions that involve not just the challenges experienced by certain people with disabilities, but also the environmental factors that maintain these challenges. In this case, we may learn that the community of people with disabilities extends to people who might use a wheelchair either temporarily or on a long-term basis. Toward this goal, the theories of Community Psychology assist in understanding how to bring about change by involving both the youth and their schools and other community settings. As indicated in Chapter 1 (Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019), theories in Community Psychology are based on core values and principles that involve a commitment to social justice for marginalized groups, creating more equitable distribution of resources across groups, an appreciation for a diverse array of worldviews, working in collaboration with communities, and adhering to a strengths-based approach to working with others. Community psychologists want to address the needs of people affected by natural disasters, people who have been historically marginalized (e.g., people living as ethnic minorities in the US and aboriginal people living in Australia), and people who identify with a community that is dealing with some type of societal discrimination (e.g., people with disabilities and people identifying with the LGBTQ community). Ultimately, Community Psychology theory helps to broaden our understanding of the social contexts in which we live so we can better work with others to identify important levers for change and assist in creating healthier spaces within our communities. As we will show in this chapter, theories help focus community psychologists on these areas for both their research and activism.
In a survey that recently asked community psychologists to nominate theories that have been used in their work, over 30 were mentioned (Jason, Stevens, Ram, Miller, Beasley, and Gleason, 2016). Behavior setting theory, for example, was developed by Barker (1968) to understand the relationship between individual behaviors and varying characteristics of the physical environment. A behavior setting is considered to be a place, a time, and a standing pattern of behavior. The main finding of this research was that settings generally have rules that cause any person within the same setting to act similarly; that people are interchangeable and you would still get the same behavior patterns. Understanding this information helps us to better understand the features of settings, including the social and cultural dynamics that maintain certain types of settings. This type of work can explain why some settings, such as prisons, often end up producing similar negative outcomes for individuals who are confined to these total institutions.
As several of the theories have been described in other chapters in this book (e.g., Empowerment and Behavioral models), they will not be reviewed below. This chapter will review some of the more prominent and influential theories that have laid the foundations of this field.
ECOLOGICAL THEORY
The ecological theory was developed by James Kelly (1966) who was one of the founders of the field of Community Psychology. The purpose of his theory, as shown in Table 1 below, is to provide a framework for understanding the structure and function of community. This theory assists in learning how the characteristics of the environment of the community can play a central role in the ways people interact and relate to each other. Through this framework, we can consider the dynamics among groups, organizations, and whole communities as they relate within certain settings, and help guide thinking around the development of community interventions (Kelly, 1968).
Kelly’s theory outlines four principles necessary for understanding inherent undercurrents within social systems that can be used to guide the assessment, development, and evaluation of preventive community interventions. The four principles are 1) interdependence, 2) adaptation, 3) cycling of resources, and 4) succession.
The principle of interdependence helps us understand that any change in one component of a system can affect changes in other components of the system as well, creating a domino effect. The concept of interdependence is central to the theory and practice of Community Psychology because it helps individuals to recognize that everything is interconnected. Case Study 5.2 provides an example of this principle.
Case Study 5.2
Mini-Grants Can Have Radiating Effects
One intervention developed by community psychologists that captures how interdependence works is a local community mini-grant program. The program provided “mini-grants” to community residents that were designed to improve the physical structure and appearance of neighborhoods (i.e., refurbishing schools, fixing broken windows on local houses, bettering recreational and park systems). When community residents were provided with mini-grants, they not only improved their neighborhoods and school systems, but more importantly, they were provided with opportunities to build relationships with other neighbors through increased interactions and communication. Community psychologists would recommend that investigators assess and capture these interdependent dynamic processes that often occur with these types of easy-to-implement change strategies (Foster-Fishman, Nowell, & Wang, 2007).
Adaptation refers to the process of change and how what might be adaptive in one environment might not be in another. A child might be very extroverted and sociable, and have many friends due to these characteristics. But the child’s popularity among peers might not be valued by the teachers in the school, who might not appreciate it if this child talks to others and socializes frequently in the classrooms. So, what might be very adaptive in one type of setting might not be in another setting. Kelly (1979) found that schools enrolling many new students each year facilitated more youth exploratory behavior than schools which were stable in terms of enrollment. These types of findings help us understand this process of adaptation, to better understand the factors that account for why certain environments are more effective than others.
The third ecological principle is cycling of resources. Cycling of resources refers to the process of how communities identify, incorporate, and use different types of resources that exist within their communities. Resources can be skills and expertise, information, networks of social support, access to supplies or equipment, and socialization processes that either deter bias (i.e., gender or racial) or provide events (e.g., celebrations) for social and cultural cohesion. Using this principle, psychologists might either uncover existing competencies in a setting or match individuals with the settings that provide the resources they need, as indicated in Case Study 5.3.
Case Study 5.3
Resources Within Community Gardening
Community gardening, forestry, and fruit tree planting programs provide unique opportunities in demonstrating the importance of teaching community residents the psychological and physical benefits of green space sustainable activities (Hoffman, 2019). In a sense, these are resources available to everyone if we just notice them in our environment. Community gardening and horticultural programs can promote valuable educational skills as they provide opportunities for individuals to collaboratively engage in healthful restorative and sustainable practices with other community residents, and understand the multiple benefits of basic gardening knowledge and skills. The basic resources of soil, compost, and seeds are used to grow foods, and the garden area is used to teach younger children (and adults) the principles of horticulture and healthy food production. In community gardening, what may have once existed as a piece of unused land within a community would be converted to a community garden where healthy foods are produced and consumed by the community members, promoting a new local resource for healthy natural foods cultivated by local people at minimal cost. Read more about the project here.
The final component of Kelly’s ecological theory is succession, which refers to the fact that communities are in a constant process of change, and this process causes changing requirements for adaptation. What is true about a person or setting today may not be true tomorrow. The process of change and development within the community over time is inevitable, and communities have an obligation and need to help residents meet the demands of changing environments. For example, as populations within the community tend to age, newer and younger families can work with older residents by sharing information and creating a more holistic environment for all community members. Additionally, as new family groups from different ethnic backgrounds become prevalent within the community, traditional institutions (i.e., school systems and community businesses) will need to evolve and adapt to meet the demands of a changing population. An example of a problem with succession in practice is illustrated in Case Study 5.4.
Case Study 5.4
The Evolution of Coalitions Over Time
Campbell, Greeson, Bybee, and Fehler-Cabral (2012) found that communities can become “over-coalitioned” or have too many coalitions, leading to poorer outcomes. These community psychologists studied a community coalition that was working to facilitate better case outcomes for sexual assault cases in the criminal justice system involving adolescent victims. They found that over time, the addition of a related coalition in the same community—focusing on sexual assault cases involving young children—led to poorer outcomes for the first coalition. They theorized that the new coalition spread thin the existing human capital and system capital, or resources, needed to ensure good outcomes.
SENSE OF COMMUNITY THEORY
The theory of sense of community was first described by the community psychologist Sarason (1974). This theory was meant to capture the feeling people experience when they perceive themselves as having an interdependent connection with a broader community outside themselves. More specifically, psychological sense of community is: “the feeling one is part of a larger dependable and stable structure” (p. 157). McMillan and Chavis (1986) defined sense of community as a feeling that members have of belonging; members feel that they matter to one another and the group. There is a shared faith that members’ needs will be met through their commitment to be together. Community psychologists measure sense of community by assessing: 1) membership, 2) influence, 3) integration and fulfillment of needs, and 4) shared emotional connection. Membership involves clear boundaries regarding who is in and who is out of the specific community. Influence refers to the ability one feels one has to impact the broader community-level and individual-level norms that guide the practices of the community. Integration and fulfillment of needs refer to feeling connected to a network that holds shared values, that exchanges resources, and meets needs. Shared emotional connection refers to participation in the celebrations of others, and participation in specified rituals or ceremonies.
If sense of community is a core value, then it is important to try to find ways to reliably assess and measure it so that we can assess how an intervention might affect the sense of community. If for example, an intervention is effective in a particular outcome, such as increasing academic grades in youth, but has the negative consequence of reducing the sense of community for the students in the classroom, then community psychologists would judge this as an ineffective and potentially harmful intervention. There have been attempts at better conceptualizing and measuring sense of community, in order to understand how people experience their connection with their community. The following case study used a brief and reliable scale developed by Jason, Stevens, and Ram (2015) to measure the psychological sense of community among those involved in the Columbian peace process.
Case Study 5.5
Columbian Peace Process and Sense of Community
As part of the Colombian Peace Process victim assistance programs, Maya-Jariego, De La Peña-Leiva, Arenas-Rivera, and Alieva (2019) used the nine‐item Psychological Sense of Community scale which evaluates the value attributed to the community (e.g., “I am not planning on leaving this neighborhood”), the relationships among the members of the collective (e.g., “neighbors can get help from other neighbors if they need it”), and the emotional connection of the individual with the collective (e.g., “I feel good helping the neighborhood and its neighbors”). The study was part of the effort to reincorporate into civilian life the ex‐combatants and demobilized persons of the armed conflict. They interviewed 143 community leaders, and they found a significant relationship between the density of personal networks and the psychological sense of community. They concluded that socio-geographic segregation derived from housing policies can be an obstacle to the effective functioning of the coexistence and reintegration programs of victims and demobilized persons of the armed conflict.
SOCIAL CLIMATE THEORY
Rudolf Moos (2003), another influential community psychologist, developed the social climate theory in an effort to better understand the natural interplay between individuals and their social contexts. Social climate theory helps to understand how people adapt to their social environment and how contexts adapt to people. Social climate taps three main dimensions of how people perceive: 1) how a setting organizes their perceptions of social relationships, 2) how they are being supported in their personal development, and 3) how the setting handles the maintenance of norms and supports change processes. From a psychological measurement perspective, the social climate is very much related to indicators of individual well-being. This measure has been useful for assessing setting dynamics within schools and juvenile treatment programs.
An example of a situation where you might use this theory is when seeking to understand the experience of people in a particular setting, such as an organization where people are said to be experiencing discrimination. You would use a social climate survey to assess to what extent the people within this organization are experiencing similar challenges in all corners of the organization. Depending on which departments/offices are experiencing the highest levels of discrimination, this may have implications for ways a community psychologist could intervene to change how the setting is experienced moving forward.
Scores to measure social climate are very much related to indicators of individual well-being. This measure has been useful for assessing setting dynamics within schools and juvenile treatment programs (Moos, 2003). Theories and measures need to be rigorously tested so that they can be improved, as witnessed by Leipoldt, Kayed, Harder, Grietens, and Rimehaug (2017). They found that the original subscales developed by Moos needed to have weak items removed, and once this occurred, the revised version showed acceptable measurement qualities.
LIBERATION PSYCHOLOGY
Liberation Psychology (or psicología de la liberación) is based within a more critical perspective which acknowledges the role of power and the ongoing battle for resources. As part of the critique of traditional psychology, Liberation Psychology was developed in Latin America during the 1970s as a theoretical framework to better understand oppressed and impoverished communities (Montero & Sonn, 2009).
Many people around the world live in an oppressive society where one group has power over another (see Chapter 4; Palmer et al., 2019), and this contributes to unequal distribution of resources. Liberation psychology emphasizes helping people to gain more control over the resources that affect their lives. Aspects of Liberation Psychology are embedded within empowerment theory (see Chapter 10; Balcazar, Keys, & Vryhof, 2019).
Core components of Liberation Psychology include praxis and dialectics. Praxis can be thought of as a tool for acquiring knowledge and transforming oppressive realities involving a conscious integration of theory and practice to make theory more grounded in reality (Montero & Sonn, 2009). Dialectics is a philosophy of praxis emphasizing that knowledge is not created unless acquired through a method of mediated social discourse. In other words, we develop knowledge about the world and simultaneously work to bring about change. Dialogue needs to occur between power holders and the oppressed to raise the consciousness of all to understand the meaning of oppressive actions (see Chapter 17; Olson, O’Brien, & Mingo, 2019). This raised awareness of conditions challenges the status quo and may create a desire for those in power to be more humane. Ultimately, the hope is for the encouragement of a rethinking of problems “with and from, the oppressed; with a commitment to unveil and characterize conditions of oppression and exploitation suffered by large sectors of the population” (Montero & Sonn, 2009; p. 31).
SUMMING UP
Theories are used in Community Psychology to ensure we are addressing the community dynamics in all the ways needed to be most effective in promoting a social justice agenda. Community Psychology represents an innovative perspective focused on understanding how environments shape and are shaped by people’s lives. This requires theoretical frameworks that help us better understand community settings and physical contexts rather than more traditional approaches that only try to change the individuals experiencing a problem, such as through individual therapy or medication. In fact, individuals from around the world are drawn to the ideas of Community Psychology because it has suggested ways to respond to the social issues and needs of marginalized populations struggling with colonization, racism, and oppression in North America, Latin America, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand (Reich, et al., 2017).
Community Psychology is embedded in a deep understanding of community context. Our theories help us to more clearly critically analyze the social context and historical context within which we need to consider the allocation and distribution of resources, as well as the assumptions that have shaped the world we live in.
Critical Thought Questions
1. How does the role of the community psychologist differ from other disciplines addressing human behaviors and social interaction?
2. Identify and briefly describe James Kelly’s (1966) four ecological principles. Be sure to provide examples of each and how these principles may be applied to current issues facing communities today;
3. Based on Roger Barker’s (1968) behavior setting theory identifies three different types of settings (i.e., sports and restaurants) and include how different types of prescribed behaviors (i.e., scripts) unfold over time within each of these settings;
4. Why is sense of community especially important for communities that want to address problems involving conflict, oppression, and discrimination among marginalized groups?
Take the Chapter 5 Quiz
View the Chapter 5 Lecture Slides
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REFERENCES
Balcazar, F. E., Keys, C. B., & Vryhof, J. A. (2019). Empowerment. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/empowerment/
Barker, R. G. (1968). Ecological psychology: Concepts and methods for studying the environment of human behavior. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Campbell, R., Greeson, M., Bybee, D., & Fehler-Cabral, G. (2012). Adolescent sexual assault victims and the legal system: Building community relationships to improve prosecution rates. American Journal of Community Psychology, 50(1-2), 141-154. doi:10.1007/s10464-011-9485-3
Foster-Fishman, P. G., Nowell, B., & Wang, H. (2007). Putting the system back into system change: A framework for understanding and changing organizational and community systems. American Journal of Community Psychology, 39, 197-215.
Hoffman, A. J. (2019). Creating a culture of transformation in Guatemala: One fruit tree at a time. Electronic Green Journal, 1(40). Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3p03s4gk
Jason, L. A., Glantsman, O., O’Brien, J. F., & Ramian, K. N. (2019). Introduction to the field of Community Psychology. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/intro-to-community-psychology/
Jason, L. A., Stevens, E., & Ram, D. (2015). Development of a three-factor psychological sense of community scale. Journal of Community Psychology,43, 973-985.
Jason, L. A., Stevens, E., Ram, D., Miller, S. A., Beasley, C. R., & Gleason, K. (2016). Theories in the field of community psychology. Global Journal of Community Psychology, 7(2), 1-27.
Kelly, J. G. (1979). Adolescent boys in high school: A psychological study of coping and adaptation. Hillsdale, N.J: L. Erlbaum Associates.
Kelly, J. G. (1966). Ecological constraints on mental health services. American Psychologist, 21, 535-539.
Kelly, J. G. (1968). Toward an ecological conception of preventive interventions. In J. Carter (Ed.), Research contributions from psychology to community mental health (pp. 75-99). New York, NY: Behavioral Publications.
Leipoldt, J. D., Kayed, N. S., Harder, A. T., Grietens, H., & Rimehaug, T. (2017). Refining the COPES to measure social climate in therapeutic residential youth care. Child & Youth Care Forum, 47(2), 173–197. doi:10.1007/s10566-017-9424-z
, De La Peña-Leiva, , & . (2019). Personal networks, social media, and community cohesion in the strategies of peace‐building agents in Colombia to counteract the segregation of displaced populations. Journal of Community Psychology, 113. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22173
McMillan, D. W., & Chavez, D. M. (1986). Sense of community: A definition and theory. Journal of Community Psychology, 14, 6-23.
Moos, R. H. (2003). Social contexts: Transcending their power and their fragility. American Journal of Community Psychology, 31, 1-13.
Montero, M., & Sonn, C. (2009). Psychology of liberation: Theory and applications. New York, NY: Springer
Olson, B. D., O’Brien, J. F., & Mingo, E. (2019). Social and political change. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/social-and-political-change/
Palmer, G. L., Ferńandez, J. S., Lee, G., Masud, H., Hilson, S., Tang, C., . . . Bernai, I. (2019). Oppression and power. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/oppression-and-power/
Reich, S. M., Bishop, B., Carolissen, R, Dzidic, P., Portillo, N., Sasao, T., & Stark, W. (2017). Catalysts and connections: The (Brief) history of Community Psychology throughout the world. In M. A. Bond, I. Serrano-Garcia, & C. B. Keys (Eds.), APA handbook of Community Psychology: Theoretical foundations, core concepts, and emerging challenges (Vol. 1, pp. 22-66). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Sarason, S. B. (1974). The Psychological Sense of Community; prospects for a community psychology. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Introduction_to_Community_Psychology_(Jason_et_al.)/02%3A_Theory_Research_and_Practice/2.01%3A_Theories.txt |
Chapter Six Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Know how to use an ecological lens in guiding community research
• Identify the role of ethics in Community Psychology research
• Differentiate between qualitative versus quantitative methods
• Understand the utility of mixed methods research
In psychology, we generally call the results of our research “findings” or “outcomes.” In this chapter, we will explore how a Community Psychology lens can help shape our research and ultimately influence our findings and outcomes. We will learn how the way we measure programs cannot exist in a vacuum, and therefore we must consider the context and environment of any situation. Take this for an example: a number of years ago in a low resourced urban community, a mental health professional approached community and school leaders with an innovative program aimed at dealing with the problem of youth substance use. They agreed to use a preventive school-based intervention, and after it was launched, the research outcomes were very successful (i.e., youth substance use was reduced). However, funding for the program dried up after two years, and the mental health professional left the community when he no longer had the financial resources to mount the intervention. The school and community leaders were disappointed as they felt it had helped their youth. The mental health professional later published the outcomes in a scientific journal and described the intervention as successful. However, the community members were bitter about the program shutting down because they did not have the resources or skills to sustain it. When another mental health professional approached the same community leaders a year later with another innovative idea for a preventive program, the community was no longer receptive.
IS A COMMUNITY INTERVENTION SUCCESSFUL?
You might be wondering, was the example above considered a successful intervention? To answer this question, we need to specify the essential characteristics of evidence when measuring factors of success. Not all evidence is created equal, as the example above indicates. The best and most useful evidence is relevant, credible, believable, and trustworthy. Additionally, there are various lenses we might look through to decipher the evidence gathered from the example. From a traditional perspective, the intervention was a credible success, as youth experimented less with drugs after the intervention took place. However, from a Community Psychology perspective, the intervention was not successful as the program was not sustained, and even more important, the community members became less trusting, less open, and less willing to collaborate with others from outside their community. It is only by adopting a more ecological perspective that we can understand that interventions have impacts on individuals, groups, organizations, and communities, and even if there are positive outcomes for the youth recipients of an intervention, we must also assess a community’s receptivity for future efforts. In other words, Community Psychology would argue for broadening our research objectives to gauge the community members’ relationship to those who brought the intervention into their schools, including whether they considered them trustworthy.
To summarize, although it is important that youth might have learned certain positive skills from an intervention, it is also crucial to examine the larger context that involves whether community members feel competent to bring about effective and sustainable changes. The goals of our research need to go beyond measuring skills or abilities within youth in order to assess whether the interventions have influenced higher-level ecological issues. In this chapter, we will learn that research can be used to add to or modify our beliefs and understanding, especially when we consider how Community Psychology focuses on people and their ecological context.
HOW EVIDENCE CHANGES BELIEFS
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/?p=736
The introduction of new or additional evidence can challenge existing beliefs. Consequently, there are a number of examples of research evidence that have led to changes in beliefs and behaviors, as well as the way we educate people on certain concepts. For example, as indicated in Chapter 1 (Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019), up until the 1960s, television, radio, and print ads encouraged adults to smoke. An example of this can be found in “The cigarette preferred by doctors” video advertisement above. Later, in 1964, the US Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health reviewed over 7,000 research articles as a basis for the report, which concluded that smoking was a cause of lung cancer and chronic bronchitis. Important criteria for evidence at the time included that it was replicable and reliable. Smoking was assessed as a health hazard by checking causes of death, looking at the current health of smokers versus non-smokers, monitoring smokers versus non-smokers health over time, etc. The strongest case occurred after many investigations using multiple methods, which found similar or supporting results. After the Surgeon General’s Report in the US, policies slowly began to change regarding cigarettes and smoking. For example, advertising was significantly curtailed, cigarettes were subject to extensive state and federal taxation, and there were new regulations to reduce minors’ ability to purchase tobacco from retail establishments. As a result, rates of tobacco use declined over time.
SCIENTIFIC PROCESS
You may have encountered the scientific process in your early schooling, and maybe you were even asked to use “description” to support conclusions that you came to. But how do we interpret and draw conclusions using the research we collect? Let’s use an example to illustrate what the term “describe” means in the research process. A description could involve the number of people living in poverty, but the exact boundaries must be set for what income falls above and below the poverty line. Another example involves describing what behaviors and characteristics qualifies someone as misusing drugs. In other words, what is the definition of “misuse of drugs”? Clearly, alcohol and tobacco kill more people than all other drugs combined, and yet both of them are legal. If you define something by whether it is legal or not, there might be varying standards in different settings. For example, in the US using heroin is illegal, so it would be thought of as “misuse of drugs,” but in the Netherlands, a government-sponsored heroin distribution program began in 1988; therefore, heroin use in the Netherlands is not illegal. In describing a social or community problem, it is apparent that cultural and societal norms need to be considered. Traditional researchers might ignore these important influences, but Community Psychology researchers would put considerable efforts into understanding the politics and values that surround and give meaning to the behaviors and conditions we intend to change.
In addition to initially describing and determining how to measure a social or community problem, research also investigates how the problem or issue is associated with other behaviors. For adolescent misuse of drugs, a traditional researcher might investigate how it is related to family history, age at first use, mental health status, etc. However, a community psychologist may focus on peer use as well as locations within the community where alcohol, drugs, and tobacco are made available to youth. As indicated in Chapter 1 (Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019), if a school-based tobacco prevention program is launched, but youth in the community have easy access to commercial sources of cigarettes at gas stations and liquor stores, the youth receive mixed messages that compromise the outcomes of the school-based tobacco reduction interventions. Again, community psychologists give considerable weight to these types of ecological variables when trying to understand the various environmental influences on youth behavior.
Being able to explain why certain people develop drug misuse behaviors can be complicated as well and involve many factors that need to be considered when conducting research. Many traditional psychologists would focus on trying to understand biological and psychological reasons for substance use (such as depression or feelings of isolation). Community psychologists, on the other hand, would be more inclined to examine norms and opportunities within the environment. For example, if youth in a neighborhood admire apparently wealthy drug dealers who engage in illegal activities, then this risky environment and these inappropriate role models could be some of the primary reasons for increased illegal drug use. To the extent we can describe, predict, and explain why misuse of drugs occur, we are more likely to develop effective Community Psychology based interventions which deal with factors beyond the traditional individual level of analysis.
RESEARCH AND ETHICS
Performing Research
The Belmont Report (1978) outlined basic ethical principles and applications for research. The three major ethical principles are Respect for Persons, Beneficence, and Justice. When seeking institutional approval for research with human subjects, these three areas are addressed in the application.Once again, most traditional researchers focus on individual factors (e.g., level of self-esteem, mental health issues) when considering these areas, and they would assure that youth in a preventive program have informed consent to be involved in the intervention. Community psychologists would also be concerned with ecological factors. For instance, let’s consider college students being trained to provide psychiatric ward patients with mentoring and social support. If the hospital setting was poorly run and degrading, and provided limited opportunities for skill development to prepare the patients to ultimately return to the community, this mentoring program would be considered ineffective and even unethical. If the setting’s abusive features were not addressed, then the intervention would not be able to successfully help patients reintegrate back into the community.
Professional ethics from the American Psychological Association (2003) also indicate that mental healthcare professionals should have adequate skills and abilities for the roles in which they portray themselves as competent. For traditional psychologists, this might involve being knowledgeable about current testing and therapy techniques. For community psychologists, who often work with community-based samples of individuals who have been marginalized or who have suffered other systemic disadvantages, it might be more complicated, as these populations warrant extra care. For example, criminally justice-involved individuals who are exiting prison need more than aptitude tests and one-on-one therapy, as their greatest needs after leaving jail are housing and decent jobs. Community psychologists might not be trained to provide housing or jobs; however, this is where collaboration comes into play. Community psychologists would partner with community-based organizations which have the skills and competencies to provide ex-offenders opportunities for inexpensive housing and jobs. Thus an ecological perspective, as illustrated throughout this book, would focus our efforts on providing resources and changing the environment in order to provide these vulnerable individuals with concrete opportunities to successfully transition back into society.
Finally, the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) also has specified ethical practice competencies for professionals (Dalton & Wolfe, 2012). Some of these include recognizing the influence of one’s personal background on the collaboration, so if one is from a privileged group, this could have an influence when working with community members who did not have such advantages. One essential practice competency in the field of Community Psychology is dissemination. Dissemination is the deliberate sharing of research findings to groups and communities that would benefit from said findings. Along with dissemination is implementation, which takes dissemination a step further. Implementation is the adoption of evidence-based interventions with the goal of better serving the specific population. It is most helpful to develop a professional network in order to seek consultation and advice regarding these complex issues that are being encountered in analyzing social problems as well as implementing community-based interventions.
Research evidence also informs us as to whether our efforts actually adhere to these ethical standards, and an ineffective prevention program that consumes resources (e.g., time and money) may be considered unethical, as the case study below illustrates.
Case Study 6.1
A Cautionary Tale: Drug Abuse Resistance Education
The drug prevention program Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) began in the mid-1980s in Los Angeles schools, and soon was implemented nationally. During the 1990s and early 2000s, roughly 75% of students in the US were taught using this D.A.R.E. program to prevent drug use. However, research performed as early as 1994 suggested D.A.R.E. was ineffective, and by 2004, it became clear D.A.R.E. did not work (West & O’Neal, 2004). For more than 20 years, tens of millions of students were “trained” in D.A.R.E. and billions of dollars were spent on a useless program. Parents, students, and schools were, in effect, misled by “experts.”
The D.A.R.E. example demonstrates how best intentions are not sufficient in performing ethical practice, as well as shows the importance of evidence in evaluating whether harm has occurred. Without the means, resources, or system to evaluate the impact of a program, ethical concerns go unaddressed. Rather than working separately from community activists and organizations, community psychologists are trained to evaluate and conduct research with members of a community (see Chapter 7; Wolfe, 2019).
Other research issues endorsed by SCRA (2019) include active collaboration among researchers, practitioners, and community members. This work is undertaken to serve those community members directly concerned, and should be guided by their needs and preferences, as well as by their active participation. This standard recognizes the importance of the population’s voice(s) in developing and executing a research plan that has the greatest likelihood of improving the population’s well-being and minimizing harm. This principle is one of the core values of Community Psychology, and it is often referred to as community-based participatory research. Nevertheless, there will be times when funding sources have their own agendas which may not accurately reflect a population’s needs, and this can pose unique challenges for those within the field of Community Psychology. In addition, the SCRA principles embrace multiple methodologies to best generate knowledge. These attributes are more likely to lead to many studies being conducted over an extended period of time, and the development of evidence-based practices to achieve improvements.
Ethics are important in the design and performance of research. Community Psychology reduces risks by valuing the diversity of methods, encouraging collaboration and participation, seeking to serve others, and focusing on the issues needing to be addressed by the community.
ELEMENTS OF RESEARCH DESIGN
The purpose or objectives of the research generally define the major elements of an investigation. Based on their goals and objectives, community psychologists develop a research design to best conduct their investigation. It’s important to understand that the scope of research encompasses flexibility and creativity. The basic process can be thought of as trying to achieve an objective, as well as considering what resources and sequence of activities will result in a likely success. Community psychologists specify why the research is important, determine whether the design to likely to result in credible evidence, and secure the collaboration and/or approval of stakeholders. Some of the major design elements include:
• Unit of Analysis— is the study on the individual, group, setting, community, or societal level?
• Population of Interest— is the study made up of adults, individual meeting criteria, organizations, schools, towns, or some other group?
• Sample Recruitment— how do we get members of the population of interest to participate in the study?
• Data Collection— how does information get collected?
• Time— is the study conducted at a single time point (Cross-Sectional) or at multiple observations over time per unit of analysis (Longitudinal)?
• Design— is the study observational (with no intervention) vs. experimental (with intervention)?
• Control— does the study have a control group or is there no control group?
• Power— does the study have enough participants for the research to result in credible evidence?
• Measurement and Data Structure— does the study use a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods approach? (See below)
SCRA has identified five foundational competencies that underlie all areas of research, including specifying research questions, engaging in participatory community research, managing collaborations, developing community change models, and evaluating programs. Other competencies are in areas of research design (e.g., survey design, sampling) and data analysis (Haber et al., 2017).
RESEARCH METHODS
Qualitative methods are very useful in the early stages of defining the topic of interest and selecting measures. This type of research usually utilizes relatively small sample sizes (less than 30) to allow an in-depth inquiry per individual. Thus, individual cases have significant weight. Qualitative data are usually collected through interviews, observation, or analysis of archival content. The interview may be unstructured (having minimal questions or anchoring by the interviewer) or structured (specific topics and questions that are consistent across the sample). The content of either interviewing or observing then undergoes analysis, and this process is how insights are formed that may be more generalizable than a single narrative.
Many analytic approaches are used in qualitative research. Four common methods are ethnography, phenomenology, grounded theory, and content analysis. Each of these has a different focus but they all place value on the “voice” of the individual being studied. The rich and complex information inherent in qualitative content should be “listened” to very closely before any sort of evaluation or judgment is made.
Ethnography, which has its roots in anthropology and cultural studies, seeks to understand the culture or ties of a group or community from an insider’s perspective. The method used is participant observation, as shown in Figure 1, and this results in an in-depth written account of a group of people in a particular place, such as a rural area that involves migrants and farming. Additionally, this method can also focus on an aspect of contemporary social life. As an example, a community psychologist may want to better understand the operation and benefits of a cancer survivors self-help group. Ethnography may be a good analytic approach to understanding the culture, attitudes, behaviors, and benefits that group membership signifies.
Phenomenology focuses on the individual and is directed to examine a person’s narrative to capture their perceptions and lived experiences. The researcher is often thought of as an “indirect” participant due to the coding and interpretation processes involved because the goal is to expose these perceptions and experiences as unfiltered as possible. In other words, there is an attempt to set aside any preconceived assumptions about a person’s feelings, thoughts, or responses to a particular issue. Across multiple participants, common themes may emerge, but often the real insights occur from the variability and range of lived experiences within a shared context. For example, a researcher may find a theme of “to feel better” when investigating reasons for youth drug use.
Grounded theory focuses on using unstructured interviews to formulate theory that emerges from the data. The general aim is to compare and code data when interviewing participants so that an updating of what “explains” the data emerges and eventually stabilizes. When no new set of ideas or theory emerges, data collection can be halted. Guidelines would suggest 10 to 25 in-depth interviews for coding. The most important perspective of grounded theory is that the data speaks for itself, and the researcher constructs theory from the interviews and without imposing their theories on the participants. This method has been most helpful in uncovering social processes, which are social relationships and behaviors of individuals in groups.
Content analysis includes an array of techniques for investigating material which may be text, photographs, video, audio, etc. The objective is to use a replicable, standardized process that reveals meaningful insights and patterns. Content analysis is can involve text analysis where computer algorithms manipulate text to extract structured information that may be interpreted. An example of content analysis is PhotoVoice. This is a participatory, qualitative research method where individuals tell “their story” through photographs as indicated in Case Study 6.2.
Case Study 6.2
Content Analysis with a Participatory Process
PhotoVoice based research in Hawaii involved participants who were residents of Housing First (see Chapter One). Individuals took photographs and/or aided in interpretation as to their experiences in homelessness and Housing First. Fourteen major themes were developed after a participatory process of coding and summarizing findings. These included opportunity to rest, privacy, opportunity to reconnect socially, and improved mental health outcomes (greater hope, self-efficacy, and self-esteem). These findings were useful to researchers exploring different types of housing models for homelessness (Pruitt et al., 2018).
RESEARCH METHODS
Quantitative methods involve being able to count or quantify something. Of course, you have to be able to define the “something” but quantitative methods can help with that as well. Even the simplest of quantitative studies can have great value—for example, having a population list their top ten problems and rank them may provide greater insight than having an outside researcher come in and survey the population on a researcher-priority problem.
In Case Study 6.3 below is an example of this type of quantitative research, using what is called a randomized design where some individuals are provided the intervention and some are not, and then both groups are followed over time.
Case Study 6.3
A Quantitative Evaluation of a Home Visitation Program
A home visitation program was developed for at-risk low-income first-time pregnant women. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The first group received services such as transportation to prenatal care, routine child development screening, and referrals. In the experimental group, participants received the same services and, in addition, nurses conducted home visits during the prenatal period through early childhood. A 15-year follow-up study showed that the outcomes of the home visit group were fewer unwanted pregnancies, less use of welfare, and reduced child abuse and neglect. Additionally, the children showed fewer instances of running away from home and fewer sexual partners, as well as reduced alcohol consumption and criminal behavior (Olds et al., 1998).
The purpose of the research greatly determines the design and methods used in quantitative studies. Some common design decisions involve whether the research is:
1. Observational or experimental—is there an intervention that the sample will experience?
2. Cross-sectional or longitudinal—is the measurement a “photograph” capturing one moment in time or is it over time, capable of capturing change?
3. Controlled—does the research include a control group? This can be very important for credibility.
4. Random assignment—are participants randomized to either control or experimental conditions? If not randomized, the research is defined as “quasi-experimental” and if randomized, it is a true experiment.
5. Single level or multilevel—since community psychology is interested in ecological context, clustering often occurs naturally in the data structure—think of students in a school clustered within classes.
The quantitative evaluation of interventions can encompass many methods and designs from a cross-sectional comparison post-intervention with a control group to pre-test and post-test studies with and without controls. The choice of these designs and methods is often limited by practical constraints (e.g., no access to a control group). A large effect size in a weaker design may be more convincing than a weak signal in a more sophisticated design.
MIXED METHODS RESEARCH
Research in Community Psychology encompasses a broad range of real-world, ecological contexts, and mixed methods research uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to capture this scope within the same study or project. In essence, there are many important strategies provided by both qualitative and quantitative research in helping us better understand the transactions between persons and community-based structures. Mixed methods provide ways to stay true to Community Psychology’s values by helping to amplify the voices within the lives of unheard and historically silenced communities. This type of research can increase validity because data are collected simultaneously on the same individuals and settings using independent methods of data collection and analysis. This method can help us better understand the complexity of the multiple levels of analysis, including individuals, families, groups, neighborhoods, communities, and cultures, as indicated in the following case study.
Case Study 6.4
A Mixed Methods Approach to Institutional Change
Allen, Walden, Dworkin, and Javdani (2016) combined qualitative approaches with quantitative ones to enrich our understanding of a statewide network of family violence coordinating councils. Throughout the inquiry process, these authors used qualitative and quantitative methods. The methods were used in a sequential way so that one data collection method informed the next in terms of analysis and understanding of the data. For example, these community psychologists started by examining years of archival data, which then allowed them to better understand how the violence coordinating councils were associated with access to orders of protection across sites. This archival qualitative data allowed the investigators to better understand how the councils achieved positive outcomes. They then collected current data from councils, and this quantitative data showed a high degree of leader effectiveness. Qualitative interviews they conducted allowed them to better understand the roles of other council members not in the convener role. This helped them to better understand all the roles involved in building council capacity for institutionalized change efforts.
This innovative way of collecting data allows community psychologists to see research as a dynamic process, which helps uncover the texture and inner workings of how groups try to bring about important changes to their communities.
OTHER METHODS
Several other methods that are becoming increasingly useful as tools have evolved to include meta-analysis, which is a method for statistically summarizing the findings of multiple studies to quantify an average effect and identify possible predictors of variability of outcomes. A meta-analysis of primary prevention, mental health programs for children and adolescents, found that very few programs reported negative results (Durlak & Wells, 1997). This research incorporated 177 studies and the findings provided strong evidence that prevention is beneficial for fostering the mental health of children. Another meta-analysis of youth mentoring programs suggested that evidence and theory-based programs did better (DuBois, Holloway, et. al., 2002). Overall, meta-analysis is a powerful technique to understand what past research offers as evidence. In the mentoring arena, many of these summary studies have been listed in the Chronicle for Evidence-Based Mentoring, which is a website developed by community psychologist Jean Rhodes.
Practical Application 6.1
The Chronicle
The Chronicle of Evidence Based Mentoring translates research into practice recommendations and is an important forum for researchers, practitioners, policy-makers, and volunteers. Since its launch, the Chronicle has attracted over a million views from its tens of thousands of monthly visitors and nearly 8,000 subscribers. The site features an impressive editorial board and an ever-changing array of research summaries, profiles, etc.
Geographical information systems (GIS) is a method that can be useful in identifying and measuring visual influences on a map. For example, the presence of “food deserts” (i.e., areas without access to affordable, quality food) among neighborhoods can be both visually and quantitatively understood by using mapping with analytic capabilities. The presence or absence can then be modeled with other neighborhood and demographic characteristics to better understand possible remedial policy or action. For example, Chilenski (2011) found that closeness to alcohol and tobacco retailers was a significant predictor of adolescent problem behaviors.
Social network studies provide insight on how relationships may influence attitudes and behaviors. Let’s assume Joey ends up primarily socializing with a group where most members use alcohol. We then learn that Joey begins using alcohol. Did the group influence Joey to begin using alcohol or did Joey join the group to be able to drink with others and not be negatively judged? This question of why youth take on risky behaviors is important to know for the development of interventions and policy. Below is a very practical use of social network analysis in school settings.
Case Study 6.5
A Social Network Analysis of a School-Based Intervention
Social network analysis was used with a school-based intervention focusing on improving the academic, behavioral, and social success of elementary school African American and Latino boys. The intervention included mentoring, family involvement activities, and after-school programming. The elementary school classroom teachers were supported by one or two “lead teachers,” who were meant to provide support and help with teaching strategies to improve student achievement. Social network analysis was used to help understand the teachers’ existing advice networks for spreading intervention strategies and helping document the lead teachers’ abilities to influence their colleagues. This method allowed the community psychologists to understand how the structure of teacher advice networks could either facilitate or hinder the spread of successful classroom intervention practices (Kornbluh & Neal, 2016).
SUMMING UP
Community psychologists feel that effective research can utilize a multitude of designs and methods (Jason & Glenwick, 2012). One possible framework for conceptualizing methods maps the relationship between the degree of structure and the purpose of the research. The most tightly controlled experiments are focused on testing an intervention’s effect. While unstructured investigations are unlikely to lead to definite conclusions, they are, instead, an exploration of how things operate in the world. Figure 4 below portrays this arrangement.
Research is a powerful tool that helps us better define phenomena, measure it, make predictions about it, develop theories to explain it and put our knowledge to use for the betterment of our world. Community psychologists are trained to use research to understand what might be accounting for certain community problems like homelessness, as well as to evaluate whether particular interventions are effective. The ecological framework allows community psychologists to broaden the evaluation to include how the intervention affected a community’s commitment, openness, and readiness for change.
Community psychologists might have similar goals as community organizers, but their training in research and their ecological perspective provide them unique contributions to bringing about social justice. Ethics and research are interconnected—as good research should ethically generate evidence and evidence should guide ethical action. Clearly, the commitment of community psychologists is always “first do no harm” and that ineffective and resource wasteful action should be stopped. There are a variety of ecological research methods that can help point the way to bringing about social justice and more equitable distribution of resources.
Critical Thought Questions
1. Which research method (e.g., qualitative, quantitative, or mixed) would you utilize to research
childhood obesity in the African-American community? Why? What are the ethical considerations when working with this population?
2. D.A.R.E. was ineffective for numerous reasons. How would you use research to create an effective youth drug use intervention?
3. Watch the video linked in the dissemination of findings section and here. There is a movement among scientists to disseminate research findings to as many people as possible. What are the possible benefits of making research findings open access? Are there any downsides?
Take the Chapter 6 Quiz
View the Chapter 6 Lecture Slides
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REFERENCES
Allen, N. E., Walden, A. L., Dworkin, E. R., & Javdani, S. (2016). Mixed methodology in multilevel, multisetting inquiry. In L. A. Jason & D. S. Glenwick (Eds.), Handbook of Methodological Approaches to Community-Based Research: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods. (pp. 335-343). New York: Oxford University Press.
American Psychological Association (2003). Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/ethics/code
Chilenski S. M. (2011). From the macro to the micro: A geographic examination of the community context and early adolescent problem behaviors. American Journal of Community Psychology, 48(3-4), 352-64.
Dalton, J. & Wolfe, S. M. (2012). Joint column: Education Connection and The Community Practitioner. Competencies for community psychology practice. The Community Psychologist, 45(4), 8-14.
DuBois, D. L., Holloway, B. E., Valentine, J. C., & Cooper, H. (2002). Effectiveness of mentoring programs for youth: A meta-analytic review. American Journal of Community Psychology, 30, 157–197.
Durlak, J. A., & Wells, A. M. (1997). Primary prevention mental health programs for children and adolescents: A meta‐analytic review. American Journal of Community Psychology, 25, 115-152.
Haber, M. G., Neal, Z., Christens, B., Faust, V., Jackson, L., Wood, L. K., . . . Legler, R. (2017). The 2016 survey of graduate programs in Community Psychology: Findings on competencies in research and practice and challenges of training programs. The Community Psychologist, 50(2), 12-20.
Jason, L. A., & Glenwick, D. S. (Eds.). (2012). Methodological approaches to community-based research. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Jason, L. A., Glantsman, O., O’Brien, J. F., & Ramian, K. N. (2019). Introduction to the field of Community Psychology. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/intro-to-community-psychology/
Kornbluh, M., & Neal, J. W. (2016). Social network analysis. In L. A. Jason & D. S. Glenwick (Eds.), Handbook of methodological approaches to community-based research: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods. (pp. 207-217). New York: Oxford University Press.
Olds, D., Pettitt, L. M., Robinson, J., Henderson Jr., C., Eckenrode, J., Kitzman, H., … Powers, J. (1998). Reducing risks for antisocial behavior with a program of prenatal and early childhood home visitation. Journal of Community Psychology, 26, 65-83.
Pruitt, A. S., Barile, J. P., Ogawa, T. Y., Peralta, N., Bugg, R., Lau, J., . . . Mori, V. (2018). Housing First and Photovoice: Transforming lives, communities, and systems. American Journal of Community Psychology, 61,104-117
Society for Community Research and Action (2019). Principles. Retrieved from http://www.scra27.org/who-we-are/
Smoking and Health (1964). US Surgeon General’s Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service. US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
The Belmont Report (1978). National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.
West, S. L., & O’Neal, K. K. (2004). Project D.A.R.E. outcome effectiveness revisited. American Journal of Public Health, 94(6), 1027-1029.
Wolfe, S. M. (2019). Practice Competencies. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/practice-competencies/ | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Introduction_to_Community_Psychology_(Jason_et_al.)/02%3A_Theory_Research_and_Practice/2.02%3A_Research_Methods.txt |
Chapter Seven Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Understand what Community Psychology practice competencies are
• Find out why Community Psychology practice competencies are important
• Learn how to develop your own Community Psychology competencies
Every job requires a specific set of skills and knowledge, and Community Psychology is no different. In this chapter, you will find a set of knowledge and skills that a Community Psychology practitioner needs. It starts by describing what “practice competency” means and why it is important. After presenting a brief overview of where the competencies came from and the levels of competence, the chapter will provide information about what each competency means, case examples of the competencies being used, how someone can become competent, resources related to each competency, and some self-reflection and critical thinking questions.
Case Study 7.1
A Community Psychology Consultant and Her Competencies
A Community Psychology consultant just received a contract to build collaboratives to promote well-being in five rural communities. In this role, she will provide guidance and technical assistance to help the coalitions recruit historically excluded community residents, conduct a needs assessment, and use the results to develop a plan for systems-level change. When she visits these communities, she discovers that some coalitions have formed without including the historically excluded residents; three of the counties have no idea where to begin, two counties have long histories of racism and segregation, and all the counties are resource-poor in terms of health, mental health, housing, employment, transportation, and many other basic needs. The Community Psychology consultant realizes that she is going to need all the knowledge and skills she developed throughout her training and employment experiences. As you read through this chapter, reflect upon each competency and think about how it could be applied for the Community Psychology consultant’s work with these collaboratives.
THE ROLE OF COMPETENCIES IN COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY
You might be wondering, what does “practice competency” mean? The Community Psychology practice competencies were developed to provide a common framework to describe the skills involved in Community Psychology practice (Dalton & Wolfe, 2012). It means that someone who is a Community Psychology practitioner has mastered some or all these skills and knowledge to some extent. Community Psychology practice competency means that the community psychologist has mastered enough of the skills to implement their work in real life situations dealing with individuals and communities in need.
Why “practice competencies” and why is this important to the work that we do? When students are deciding on their careers and what to study in college or graduate school, they usually focus on the type of work they would like to do first. The next step is to find out what degree will give them the skills needed for the work they want to do. The Community Psychology practice competencies accurately reflect the set of skills students can obtain if they get a degree in this field. Another reason having a list of competencies is important is that graduates of Community Psychology programs can easily describe their skills to potential employers. Alternately, potential employers who have job openings that require these skills will know that they need to look for in someone who is trained in Community Psychology. A common vocabulary amongst practitioners, communities, and employers will help everyone to know what to expect when working with community psychologists (Neigher & Ratcliffe, 2010).
Where did these practice competencies come from? The competencies were created collaboratively by a task group made up of members of the Society for Community Research and Action’s (SCRA) Community Psychology Practice Council and Council of Education programs. They began the work in 2010 and after many iterations and reviews, the list of competencies was approved by the SCRA's Executive Committee in 2012.
What levels of competence are there? As with any field of study, an individual can develop any of the Community Psychology practice competencies to a different level of mastery. The first level is “exposure” which means that they have learned about the competencies and how it can be applied in practice. At the next level, “experience,” the community psychologist has actually used the competencies in supervised practice, or practice on their own, to perform the tasks related to the competency. “Expertise” means the community psychologist has had several experiences with applying the competencies in work and developed a high level of skill.
To whom do these competencies apply? While many of these competencies apply to community psychologists all over the world, this particular set of competencies in their entirety apply primarily to community psychologists practicing in the US. Community psychologists in other countries sometimes need different skills in their work because of cultural, economic, legal, political, or other differences.
THE COMPETENCIES
Foundational Principles
The foundational principles are the five competencies that all Community Psychology practitioners working in the US need, listed in Table 1 below. They represent knowledge, skills, and principles that help to guide practice work from a Community Psychology perspective, as well as the values and perspectives of Community Psychology and the competencies needed to apply the values in practice, as also indicated in the first chapter (Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019). These competencies are combined with the remaining more technical skills-based competencies to ensure they are exercised using a Community Psychology approach. Elias, Neigher, and Johnson-Hakim (2015) suggest that you think of them as “foreground” processes because Community Psychology practitioners need to pay constant attention to these principles and make sure that their actions align with them.
For example, in our case study, the Community Psychology practitioner will need to work with communities to develop their coalitions. There are many coalitions in place across most communities in the US, but when the Community Psychology practitioner works with the communities to develop their coalitions, they will be sure they include community members and develop structures that empower the historically excluded populations to lead the coalitions and determine the actions to be taken on their own behalf. This contrasts with coalitions that typically include professionals who make decisions and take action from outside the community.
Community Program Development and Management
This set of two competencies include a large skill set whereby Community Psychology practitioners can partner with community stakeholders from start to finish to develop and implement programs in their communities to meet identified needs, to prevent problems, and to promote health (See Table 2). The case study at the beginning of this chapter mentions that the communities are resource poor. If the collaborative decides they need to create after-school programs for youth, then the Community Psychology consultant may use the particular skills connected with community program development and management to help them with program design and implementation.
Community and Organizational Capacity-Building
One hallmark of Community Psychology practice is that instead of going into communities and acting on their behalf, Community Psychology practitioners work to strengthen communities so they can act on their own behalf. This requires a strong, trusting relationship between the community psychologist and the various stakeholders, such as community partners, advocates, members of the target population, treatment providers, and governmental entities (Elias, Neigher, & Johnson-Hakim, 2015). If Community Psychology practitioners are successful in their work, communities they work in should eventually not need their help at all. The goal is to create change which is then adopted by the community and managed by the community members to the point where they sustain it over time. This is really important for working in disadvantaged communities that have been traditionally disempowered. By giving away our skills and knowledge, we empower them to make the changes their communities need and reduce their reliance on outside professionals. These four competencies are designed to help us do that (see Table 3). When the Community Psychology consultant in our first case study goes into the communities to work with them to build their collaboratives, she will not do any of the work for them. She will provide training and technical assistance to strengthen the skills and capacity of the community members to build and maintain their collaborative.
Community and Social Change
Typically, when there is a problem in a community, we address it by creating another program to help solve some of the issues that have arisen. For example, in one community the response to childhood obesity was to teach children and parents how to improve their diet and exercise. Nobody would dispute that this is helpful information for all people to have. That said, what happens when parents want to fix healthy meals for their children, but they don’t have access to the food they need to make them? Or, what if they don’t have a car and there is no grocery store in their neighborhood? And what if a family can’t get out to walk or ride bicycles or get exercise of some kind because they live in a neighborhood where there are no sidewalks to walk on, or it isn’t safe because of high crime? Many of our social problems cannot be fixed by working to change people’s behavior, especially if they live or work in environments that won’t support their behavior changes. We need to have the skills to change systems, policies, and the environments in which people live. This set of five competencies provides Community Psychology practitioners with the skills to make these changes to create second-order change processes that focus on ways to rearrange current relationships, roles, and power dynamics within a setting (see Table 4). The goal is to establish a more just, inclusive, and health-promoting environment (Elias, Neigher, & Johnson-Hakim, 2015). The Community Psychology consultant in the Case Study 7.1 will need these skills to help the collaboratives build their own skills to change systems, and not just focus on creating programs.
Case Study 7.2
The Community Driven Development of The Gateway
There is much one can do with Community Psychology practice competencies focusing on community and social change, even outside the field itself. Debi Starnes has served in elected positions in the local government of Atlanta, Georgia and has also held key policy advisory roles over the course of her career (Scott & Wolfe, 2015). Dually trained in both clinical psychology and community/organizing psychology, Debi was actively involved in various leadership roles in her community. She understood the importance of being an active member of her community regardless of her education. In fact, she said, “I didn’t get elected because I was a community psychologist, but being a community psychologist helped enormously in my perspective and how I approached different issues and tasks,” when serving as an elected official. During her 11-year career as a city council member, Debi was able to develop a Homeless Action Group, which brought together a wide variety of community members and groups to talk about and address issues facing people experiencing homelessness. Debi used her skills and was able to practice community and organizational capacity-building while enacting community and social change in a different role than a practitioner. Due to her efforts, the city developed The Gateway, a central intake and assessment facility that provided vital housing and services for people experiencing homelessness. This successful program required collaboration between city officials, business leaders, treatment providers, law enforcement, and community members. Debi was able to use her training and expertise, as well as her dedication to community service, to bring these groups together and enact social change. Find out more about The Gateway program.
Community Research
These last two competencies allow Community Psychology practitioners to learn about the communities they work with, and to determine whether what they have done has made a difference. Unlike more traditional research, community psychologists do research and evaluate programs with community members rather than on or about them. They use their scientific set of skills to collect and analyze data to help communities answer their questions, evaluate what they are doing, and use research to plan, learn, and make decisions. The community consultant will need research and evaluation skills to help communities to conduct needs assessments and gather data to use for planning and to evaluate the outcomes of their initiatives.
There are so many advantages when community psychologists collaborate with community members and organizations. These types of collaborations can provide mutual benefits to the investigators as well as the community members, and help get the word out regarding new innovative ways of delivering services. The following Case Study 7.3 provides some glimpses of interactions that occurred during a 25-year collaborative relationship between a DePaul University group and the Oxford House recovery organization. By having members of the recovery community guide the types of questions that were asked, the research helped capture more crucial aspects of the changes that were occurring among residents.
Case Study 7.3
Community Partners Identifying Areas for Research
During one of the annual Oxford House conventions, an individual living in one of these homes approached Leonard Jason, one of the DePaul University investigators and suggested that measures of tolerance be included in this collaborative research. He explained that prior to living in an Oxford House, he had been very prejudiced against people who were different from him, such as people who were HIV positive. But while in Oxford House, he met a woman who was HIV positive; she was now his girlfriend. He wanted to point out that, for him, living in Oxford House went beyond staying clean and sober—it made him a more accepting and generous person. That participatory input led to a series of mixed methods investigations, which allowed both the community members and university researchers to better understand the rich experiences and outcomes of residents living in these recovery houses. For example, in one randomized study, with individuals being assigned to an Oxford House or usual aftercare condition, over time, those assigned to the Oxford House condition demonstrated significantly greater values of tolerance than usual aftercare participants. These changes occurred due to living in a recovery setting where members could share time with one another, exchange life stories, discuss their prior drug use, talk about personal and group goals, enjoying eating and attending 12-step meetings, and participating in a variety of non-substance use social outings. With this type of involvement, it is likely that a sense of cohesion developed which led to increases in tolerance (Olson, & Jason, 2015).
This type of collaborative research led to the non-profit being endorsed by the federal government as the current “gold standard” for residential aftercare. Receiving this recognition from the federal government helped this community organization expand to now serving over 20,000 individuals in recovery.
An important element of community research and action in practice is the dissemination of successful interventions that have benefited communities (Scott, & Wolfe, 2015). Dissemination is a strategic, systematic sharing of information about an intervention or research to individuals and groups who can use this information to help the people they work with. The goals are to influence policy and change community psychologists’ methods in an area of practice so it is of greater benefit to the populations they are working with. An even more concentrated form of dissemination is implementation, or “the use of strategies to adopt and integrate evidence-based health interventions and change practice patterns in specific settings” (Chamber, 2009; as cited in Scott, & Wolfe, 2015). A focus on implementation leads to innovative interventions that are more effective for the groups they are meant to help. This allows the practice to advance as a whole and creates an open dialogue among practitioners to collaborate on solutions and share their work.
But why should community psychologists in practice share what they find with each other? Well, this is because practitioners have to keep sustainability in mind as they are developing and implementing programs. This is especially true if a program is a success because the goal is to change best practices and policies so that the methods can be used to help more people and be spread to other locations. Focusing on sustainability can ensure that an effective program, intervention, or research finding is preserved and continues to affect practice and public policy, even after the practitioner has started working on something else. If a practitioner does not account for sustainability, it can lead to the old adage of “history repeating itself,” as their intervention and findings are ignored and lost over time.
The case study below will highlight the importance of sharing the methodology with peers in the field with a focus on dissemination and sustainability.
Case Study 7.4
The Fairweather Lodge and a Successful Dissemination
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/?p=738
An instructive example showcasing dissemination and sustainability is the work of Bill Fairweather and his colleagues. Fairweather’s seminal work was a 25-year examination and experimentation of group problem solving with people with mental disorders living in inpatient hospital facilities (Scott & Wolfe, 2015). Fairweather wanted to understand, through experimentation, how to give people in these institutional settings some semblance of freedom in the real world. Fairweather and his colleagues understood the importance of empowerment and community integration, and recognized that this vulnerable, institutionalized group could benefit greatly from community-based living. His team spent an additional 10 years implementing a community living setting for these patients, with both work and social opportunities, called the Community Lodge. The lodge was very successful in giving patients economic, social, and interpersonal opportunities and vastly improved their quality of life. Their findings were successfully disseminated to other practitioners focusing on people with mental illness, and this led to many other works involving the importance of community living in improving people’s lives.
Take a moment to think about how long it took to create this successful program for people with mental illness in hospital settings: it took 35 years total to fully understand the problem, evaluate solutions, and implement it successfully through intervention. That is quite an investment on the part of Fairweather and his colleagues, and yet they knew the importance of creating an intervention grounded in an empirical understanding of the issue and potential solutions. They wanted to make sure that their program would be effective, and they took the time to learn as much as they could before trying their lodge idea out. And they made sure to study the most effective dissemination methods to make sure their results were spread and reached a wide audience.
LEARNING AND STRENGTHENING COMPETENCIES
The first way to learn the competencies discussed is to study Community Psychology, especially at the graduate level. As an undergraduate, there is a good chance that you have never heard of Community Psychology, as Bauer, Glantsman, Hochberg, Turner, and Jason (2017) found that most introductory psychology textbooks contain no reference to this field (but there are now ongoing efforts to change this). Many universities offer Master’s level programs that train students in these competencies, or you can pursue a Ph.D. for more in-depth education. Not all Community Psychology graduate programs teach all of the competencies, so someone considering graduate education in Community Psychology should first decide what kind of work they are interested in doing, and then find a graduate program that focuses on the competencies they will need. All Community Psychology graduate programs focus on the foundational principles, but for other competencies, a prospective community psychologist should explore programs. For example, some graduate programs focus more on community research competencies, and others on community and organizational capacity-building.
However, there are some universities that offer an undergraduate psychology degree with an emphasis on Community Psychology. These undergraduate programs are an excellent means of learning more about the field and getting the relevant experiences for graduate school or work post-graduate work. You can find a list of undergraduate Community Psychology programs here.
Sometimes you can also find these competencies taught in other academic departments. For example, Social Work programs might offer program development, implementation, and management, and public health schools offer public policy analysis, development, and advocacy. You might take organizational psychology classes to learn more about organizational development. You could even explore anthropology departments for more training in qualitative methods, business schools to learn more about managing people and programs, or political science to learn more about policy and government.
Once you have had exposure to the competencies, if you want to use them you will need to acquire experience. Internships and volunteer work offer opportunities to work with more experienced professionals under supervision as you gain experience. Just be really clear when you sign up that you are interested in learning more about the competency and want to get experience, so you can make sure the opportunity will support your need. Many entry-level jobs will also provide you with access to experienced individuals and opportunities to participate in supporting activities that use these competencies.
You can also look for additional outside training to further develop them. Many professional associations have professional conferences, and some of them even include pre-conference workshops and training opportunities. For example, workshops are often offered before the beginning of conferences sponsored by such organizations as SCRA, the American Psychological Association, and the American Evaluation Association. Then you can attend the actual conferences and hear presentations that describe the results of the application of these competencies.
Attending professional conferences is also a good way to learn more about competencies and network with individuals who are using the competencies. There are large, national conferences such as the SCRA’s Biennial Conferences that are held every other year. There are also regional conferences that are smaller and provide better opportunities to meet community psychologists and learn more about their work and how they apply the competencies.
Finally, look for online training opportunities as well. There are free online courses offered through Coursera; online training through professional associations; and opportunities through private organizations, such as The Evaluator’s Institute. There are often online certifications available through various universities. For example, Michigan State University offers an online Program Evaluation Certification. The Community Tool Box, which was developed by a group of community psychologists, offers a large amount of information and resources to develop the Community Psychology practice competencies.
You can also read The Community Psychologist to learn about recent research, practice, and programs developed by community psychologists. There are specific issues of The Community Psychologist that deal with competencies in the Spring and Fall 2010 issues of the Community Psychologist (The Joint Council of Education and Community Practitioner) that are about building competency for collaboration with citizens and communities and group processes. Also, the Spring 2011 column is about building Leadership and Mentoring competence and the Spring 2013 column is about policy analysis, development, and advocacy. There is also The Community Psychology website, where you can learn much more about the field.
SUMMING UP
Developing expertise in any of the Community Psychology practice competencies requires a combination of education, extra training and skill building, mentorship, and experience. Keep in mind that no matter how much anyone learns and develops expertise for any one of the competencies, there is always more to learn. It is an ongoing process that unfolds throughout a Community Psychology practitioner’s career.
Critical Thought Questions
1. Which competencies do you think would be most important to you if you were a Community Psychology practitioner?
2. When you think about programs and change initiatives that have been done in your own community, how does the Community Psychology practice approach, guided by the foundational principles, differ from the approach that was taken where you live?
3. How are these competencies the same, and how are they different from competencies required in other fields of study, such as Social Work, Public Health, and evaluation?
Take the Chapter 7 Quiz
View the Chapter 7 Lecture Slides
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REFERENCES
Bauer, H. M., Glantsman, O., Hochberg, L., Turner, C., & Jason, L. A. (2017). Community psychology coverage in introduction to psychology textbooks. Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, 8(3), 1-11. Retrieved from https://www.gjcpp.org/en/article.php?issue=27&article=172
Chambers, D. A. (2009). Dissemination and implementation research in health: An Overview of PARs 06-520, 06-521, 07-086. Paper presented at the 2nd Annual NIH Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation: Building Research Capacity to Bridge the Gap from Science to Service. Bethesda, MD.
Dalton, J., & Wolfe, S. M. (2012). Joint Column. Education connection and the community practitioner: Competencies for community psychology practice. The Community Psychologist, 45(4), 7-14.
Elias, M. J., Neigher, W. D., & Johnson-Hakim, S. (2015). Guiding principles and competencies for community psychology practice. In V. C. Scott & S. M. Wolfe (Eds.), Community Psychology: Foundations for practice. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.
Jason, L. A., Glantsman, O., O’Brien, J. F., & Ramian, K. N. (2019). Introduction to the field of Community Psychology. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/intro-to-community-psychology/
Neigher, W., & Ratcliffe, A. (2010). What is a community psychologist? Why should I hire one? The Community Psychologist, 43(2), 5.
Olson, B. D., & Jason, L. A. (2015). Participatory mixed methods research. In S. N. Hesse-Biber & R. B. Johnson (Eds.), Oxford handbook of mixed and multimethod research. (pp. 393-405). New York: Oxford University Press.
Scott, V. C., & Wolfe, S. M. (Eds.). (2015). Community Psychology: Foundations for practice. SAGE Publications. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Introduction_to_Community_Psychology_(Jason_et_al.)/02%3A_Theory_Research_and_Practice/2.03%3A_Practice_Competencies.txt |
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Understand cultural humility as an approach to diversity
• Identify and define dimensions of diversity
• Appreciate the complexity of identity
• Identify important cultural considerations for working within diverse communities
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Respect for diversity has been established as a core value for Community Psychology, as indicated in Chapter 1 (Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019). Appreciating diversity in communities includes understanding dimensions of diversity and how to work within diverse community contexts, but also includes a consideration of how to work within systems of inequality. Community psychologists must be mindful of diverse perspectives and experiences when conducting research and designing interventions, as well as working to combat oppression and promote justice and equality. By working within a framework of cultural humility, this chapter attempts to provide a basic understanding of the dimensions of diversity that are most common in Community Psychology research and practice. Further, we explore how these dimensions contribute to complex identities and considerations for community practice.
Cultural Humility
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As our world becomes increasingly diverse and interconnected, understanding different cultures becomes crucial. Without a basic understanding of the beliefs and experiences of individuals, professionals can unintentionally contribute to prejudice and discrimination or negatively impact professional relationships and effectiveness of services. To understand cultural experiences, it is important to consider the context of social identity, history, and individual and community experiences with prejudice and discrimination. It is also important to acknowledge that our understanding of cultural differences evolves through an ongoing learning process (Tervalon & Murray-Garcia, 1998).
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Cultural competence is generally defined as possessing the skills and knowledge of a culture in order to effectively work with individual members of the culture. This definition includes an appreciation of cultural differences and the ability to effectively work with individuals. The assumption that any individual can gain enough knowledge or competence to understand the experiences of members of any culture, however, is problematic. Gaining expertise in cultural competence as traditionally defined seems unattainable, as it involves the need for knowledge and mastery. Instead, true cultural competence requires engaging in an ongoing process of learning about the experiences of other cultures (Tervalon & Murray-Garcia, 1998). Further reading on cultural competence by Stanley Sue can be found here.
Cultural humility is the ability to remain open to learning about other cultures while acknowledging one’s own lack of competence and recognizing power dynamics that impact the relationship. Within cultural humility it is important to engage in continuous self-reflection, recognize the impact of power dynamics on individuals and communities, embrace “not knowing”, and commit to lifelong learning. This approach to diversity encourages a curious spirit and the ability to openly engage with others in the process of learning about a different culture. As a result, it is important to address power imbalances and develop meaningful relationships with community members in order to create positive change. A guide to cultural humility is offered by Culturally Connected.
Dimensions of Diversity
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The recognition and appreciation of diversity is a core principle for the field of Community Psychology. Although it is impossible to discuss all of the dimensions of human diversity in this section, we present some common dimensions examined in Community Psychology research and action and point toward where our field could place more emphasis. We also acknowledge the importance of intersectionality, which will be touched upon throughout this chapter, and the process of cultural humility in understanding diversity.
Culture
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Culture is an important dimension of diversity for community psychologists to examine. In general, culture has been challenging to define, with modern definitions viewing culture as a dynamic concept that changes both individuals and societies together over time. Further, culture in today’s society refers to more than just cultural and ethnic groups but also includes racial groups, religious groups, sexual minority groups, socioeconomic groups, nation-states, and corporations. While numerous definitions for culture are available, there are key defining components, such as shared meanings and shared experiences by individuals in a group that are passed down over time with each generation. That is, cultures have shared beliefs, values, practices, definitions, and other elements that are expressed through family socialization, formal schooling, shared language, social roles, and norms for feeling, thinking, and acting (Cohen, 2009).
Using a Community Psychology approach, culture can be examined at multiple ecological levels to understand its impact. This means that culture can influence the norms and practices of individuals, families, organizations, local communities, and the broader society. For example, cultural influences can have an impact on how members function and interact with one another. Further, culture should be understood within a broader context of power relationships, and how power is used and distributed (Trickett, 2011).
Race
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While physical differences often are used to define race, in general, there is no consensus for this term. Typically, race has been defined using observable physical or biological criteria, such as skin color, hair color or texture, facial features, etc. However, these biological assumptions of race have been determined to be inaccurate and harmful by biologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and other scientists. Research has proven no biological foundations to race and that human racial groups are more alike than different; in fact, most genetic variation exists within racial groups rather than between groups. Therefore, racial differences in areas such as academics or intelligence are not based on biological differences but are instead related to economic, historical, and social factors (Betancourt & Lopez, 1993).
Instead, race has been socially constructed and has different social and psychological meanings in many societies (Betancourt & Lopez, 1993). In the US, people of color experience more racial prejudice and discrimination than white people. The meanings and definitions of race have also changed over time and are often driven by policies and laws (e.g., one drop rule or laws).
Case Study
Is Race a Selected Identity?
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Rachel Dolezal, also known as Nkechi Amare Diallo, was born to white parents with no known African ancestry. As a young adult, she became involved in civil rights, became a college instructor of Africana Studies, and began self-identifying as a black woman. She even became president of the Spokane, Washington chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She resigned from her position with the NAACP and was dismissed from her role as an instructor after information surfaced casting doubt upon her racial heritage. She later acknowledged that she was born to white parents but continued to insist that she strongly identifies as a black woman. Read more here.
Ethnicity
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Ethnicity refers to one’s social identity based on the culture of origin, ancestry, or affiliation with a cultural group (Pinderhughes, 1989). Ethnicity is not the same as nationality, which is a person’s status of belonging to a specific nation by birth or citizenship (e.g., an individual can be of Japanese ethnicity but British nationality because they were born in the United Kingdom). Ethnicity is defined by aspects of subjective culture such as customs, language, and social ties (Resnicow, Braithwaite, Ahluwalia, & Baranowski, 1999).
While ethnic groups are combined into broad categories for research or demographic purposes in the US, there are many ethnicities among the ones you may be familiar with. Latina/o/x or Hispanic may refer to persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Spanish, Dominican, or many other ancestries. Asian Americans have roots from over 20 countries in Asia and India, with the six largest Asian ethnic subgroups in the US being the Chinese, Asian Indians, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Koreans, and Japanese (read more here).
Gender
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Gender refers to the socially constructed perceptions of what it means to be male or female in our society and how those genders may be reflected and interpreted by society. Gender is different from sex, which is a biological descriptor involving chromosomes and internal/external reproductive organs. As a socially constructed concept, gender has magnified the perceived differences between females and males leading to limitations in attitudes, roles, and how social institutions are organized. For example, how do gender norms influence types of jobs viewed as appropriate or not appropriate for women or men? How are household or parenting responsibilities divided between men and women?
Gender is not just a demographic category but also influences gender norms, the distribution of power and resources, access to opportunities, and other important processes (Bond, 1999). For those who live outside of these traditional expectations for gender, the experience can be challenging. In general, the binary categories for sex, gender, gender identity, and so forth have received the most attention from both society and the research community, with only more attention to other gender identities (e.g., gender-neutral, transgender, nonbinary, and GenderQueer) in recent years (Kosciw, Palmer, & Kull, 2015).
But the attention to other gender identities is increasing, both academically and publicly. One example is the case of Nicole Maines challenging her elementary school’s restroom policy, which resulted in a victory when the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled that she had been excluded from the restroom because of her transgender identity. While community psychologists are making efforts to conduct more research on the various gender identities on the gender spectrum, more research needs to continue in this area.
Age
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Community Psychology’s emphasis on context has also included aging, or the developmental changes and transitions that come with being a child, adolescent, or adult. Power dynamics, relationships, physical and psychological health concerns, community participation, life satisfaction, and so forth can all vary for these different age groups (Cheng & Heller, 2009). Although the field has started to include aging issues in research, Cheng and Heller (2009) searched for publications on older adults in major Community Psychology journals and found that this segment of the population has been neglected. Although the skills, values, and training of community psychologists would likely make a difference in the lives of older adults, the attitudes within our profession and society are current barriers.
Social Class
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Like the other components of diversity, social class is socially constructed and can affect our choices and opportunities. This dimension can include a person’s income or material wealth, educational status, and/or occupational status. It can include assumptions about where a person belongs in society and indicate differences in power, privilege, economic opportunities and resources, and social capital. Social class and culture can also shape a person’s worldview or understanding of the world; influencing how they feel, act, and fit in; and impacting the types of schools they attend, access to health care, or jobs they work at throughout life. The differences in norms, values, and practices between lower and upper social classes can also have impacts on well-being and health outcomes (Cohen, 2009). Social class and its intersection with other components of one’s identity are important for community psychologists to understand. Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? is a seven-part documentary that focuses on the connection between social class, racism, and health.
Sexual Orientation
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Sexual orientation refers to a person’s emotional, romantic, erotic, and spiritual attractions toward another in relation to their own sex or gender. The definition focuses on feelings rather than behaviors since individuals who identify with a minority sexual orientation experience significant stigma and oppression in our society (Flanders, Robinson, Legge, & Tarasoff, 2016). Sexual orientation exists on a continuum or multiple continuums and crosses all dimensions of diversity (e.g., race, ethnicity, social class, ability, religion, etc.). Sexual orientation is different from gender identity or gender expression. Over time, gay, lesbian, asexual, and bisexual identities have extended to other sexual orientations such as pansexual, polysexual, and fluid, and increasingly more research is being conducted on these populations within the field of Community Psychology (Kosciw et al., 2015). As a historically marginalized and oppressed group with inadequate representation in the literature, sexual minority groups face a variety of problems and issues that necessitate further research. The empowering and participatory approaches and methods used in Community Psychology can be beneficial for research with sexual minority groups.
Ability/Disability
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Disabilities refer to visible or hidden and temporary or permanent conditions that provide barriers or challenges, and impact individuals of every age and social group. Traditional views of disability follow a medical model, primarily explaining diagnoses and treatment models from a pathological perspective (Goodley & Lawthom, 2010). In this traditional approach, individuals diagnosed with a disability are often discussed as objects of study instead of complex individuals impacted by their environment. Community Psychology, however, follows a social model of ability in which diagnoses are viewed from a social and environmental perspective and consider multiple ecological levels. The experiences of individuals are strongly valued, and community-based participatory research is a valuable way to explore experiences while empowering members of a community with varying levels of ability/disability. Learn more by watching the Employment Choice for People with Severe Physical Disabilities video.
Culture must be considered when viewing ability from a social perspective (Goodley & Lawthom, 2000), and may impact whether or not certain behaviors are considered sufficient for inclusion in a diagnosis. For example, cultural differences in the assessment of “typical” development have impacted the diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorders in different countries. Further, diagnoses or symptoms can be culturally-specific, and culture may influence how symptoms are communicated. The experience of culture can significantly impact lived experience for individuals diagnosed with a disability.
It is important to consider how intersectionality impacts the experience of disability. For example, students of color and other underserved groups have a higher rate of diagnosis of learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral disabilities, and intellectual disabilities (Artiles, Kozleski, Trent, Osher, & Ortiz, 2010), which may be due to economic, historical, and social factors. Diagnosis must be considered as disabled youth are at a disadvantage in a number of indicators of educational performance, leading to more substantial disparities later in life.
How one identifies individuals with a particular label indicating their race, gender or sexuality is rather complicated, and unless investigators are careful in their definitions of these terms, many problems can be encountered, as has been reviewed above. Identifying who has a disability or health condition can also be a challenge and can have real, tangible consequences for an affected group. As an example, if prevalence research suggests that a particular disability or health condition is relatively rare, it is possible that few federal and state resources will be devoted to those individuals. But if the methodology for selecting individuals is flawed, then the prevalence rates will be inaccurate and potentially biased. This is what occurred with the health condition known as chronic fatigue syndrome, now also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, as indicated in Case Study 8.2.
Case Study
How Flawed Research Can Lead to More Stigma
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When the Centers for Disease Control tried to estimate the prevalence of those with this illness, they concluded that only about 20,000 people had this condition in the US, and most with this illness tended to be white, middle-class women, which is what led to the stigmatizing label “Yuppie Flu disease.” However, the way the investigators conducted this research was flawed; they asked healthcare personnel to identify individuals with this illness, but as many healthcare professionals did not believe that this was a real or legitimate, they tended to refer few individuals to the study. In addition, as many individuals with a chronic health condition do not have access to the healthcare system, many individuals with this illness were not able to be brought into the prevalence study. However, when a group of community psychologists used better research methods that involved deriving their sample from randomly contacting people in the community, without depending on referrals from physicians, they estimated that about a million individuals had ME/CFS. In addition, those identified tended to be from lower socioeconomic status groups and communities of color (just the opposite of what led to the characterization of Yuppie Flu) (Jason et al., 1999). The findings from this study were widely disseminated and led to reductions in some of the bias and stigmatization that has been directed to those with this illness.
The impact of disability on identity and intersection with other social identities is important for community psychologists to understand. Community Psychology’s unique perspective has contributed to applied research conducted among communities and individuals with disabilities. The need for understanding, empowerment, and advocacy through participatory action research continues to exist for individuals with disabilities.
Religion & Spirituality
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There are many definitions of religion, most of which typically include shared systems of beliefs and values, symbols, feelings, actions, experiences, and a source of community unity (Cohen, 2009). Religion emphasizes beliefs and practices, relationships with the divine, and faith, all of which differentiate it from common definitions of culture. Further, religion is an important predictor for well-being, satisfaction, and other life outcomes (Tarakeshwar, Stanton, & Pargament, 2003). While religion has been neglected in psychological research, it has been included in Community Psychology’s conceptualization of diversity since the beginning of the field.
Religion and spirituality were formerly considered a joint concept but have been differentiated in the past century. Definitions of spirituality typically focus on relationships with a higher power and a quest for meaning. The differentiation between religion and spirituality has become more relevant recently as many individuals consider themselves more spiritual than they are religious. Community Psychology has long considered religion as a dimension of diversity, but the importance of spirituality in our understanding of community has been a more recent development.
The importance of religion and spirituality to physical and emotional well-being and a strong sense of community merits the inclusion of both, in research and practice (Tarakeshwar et al., 2003). Community psychologists understand the importance of working in natural settings, which frequently include religious and spiritual settings. Collaboration with religious organizations and embedding interventions into these settings may have positive impacts on individuals in the community and may also help religious organizations reach goals.
Impact of Identities
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While the various dimensions of diversity discussed above are a start to understanding human diversity, they do not fully describe an individual, community, or population. Instead, we must consider that these dimensions do not exist independently of each other and that the interaction of these dimensions is referred to as intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989). Intersectionality focuses on how the dimensions can overlap and give rise to different experiences as well as multiple privileges or inequities; for example, racial/ethnic and sexual minority men will experience more health disparities than white and/or heterosexual men. Community psychologists recognize the significance of intersectionality, but published research in this area is still lacking compared to other disciplines. “The urgency of intersectionality” video can help you learn more about intersectionality.
Privilege, or the unearned advantages that individuals have based on membership in a dominant group (e.g., race, gender, social class, sexual orientation, ability), contribute to the systems of oppression for non-privileged individuals and groups. While privilege can come in multiple forms and individuals can have multiple privileges; white privilege, or the advantages that white people have in society, are important for psychologists to examine more extensively to understand how white people participate in systems of oppression for racial minority groups in the US (Todd, McConnell, & Suffin, 2014). For example, white experiences and perspectives tend to be pervasive in curriculum, policy, pedagogy, and practices (Suyemoto & Fox Tree, 2006) at the exclusion of work and research by people of color.
Janet Helms’ (1995) important work on the white racial identity model describes how white people move from a racist identity to a non-racist identity as they become more aware, move beyond an effective understanding of racial minorities to an experiential one, and understand their role in a racist society. Other community psychologists have explored how to create organizational contexts that are more inclusive and address white privilege (Bond, 1999) or have examined how white privilege influences commitment and interest toward social justice (Todd et al., 2014). While community psychologists are contributing to this research, more studies are needed to understand the relationship between identity, privilege, and social justice and action in community contexts.
Diversity in Practice
Using a framework of cultural humility, community psychologists consider context. This provides the ability to view various dimensions of diversity while considering the impacts of prejudice and discrimination. It is also important to consider how cultural practices differ in all settings in which the individual operates. Considering context expands the perspective of culture to include historical context, intersectionality of identities, and the experience of prejudice and discrimination.
The Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) has identified sociocultural and cross-cultural competence as one of the 18 foundational principles of Community Psychology practice, and defines it as “the ability to value, integrate, and bridge multiple worldviews, cultures, and identities.” SCRA expands upon the importance of recognizing multiple contexts to integrate elements of cultural humility in practice settings. Prior to working in communities, it is important to examine one’s own worldview and consider how it interacts with the community through culture and power dynamics. It is important to recognize and articulate dynamics related to culture and power differentials with the communities in which community psychologists work. Due to the complexity of these dynamics, respecting diversity in practice may require the formation of relationships with various members of a community who may be able to serve as a guide for working with the community in culturally valid ways.
Diversity in Research
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Adopting cultural humility is necessary for considering diversity in research. In research, it is important to consider how questions are asked or which samples are included in a study. In addition, the importance of topics of research to diverse communities must be considered, which may require developing research topics and questions with the populations that are being impacted. Participatory action research is a valuable tool for developing topics in an inclusive way and is a method frequently used by community psychologists to find solutions in the social environment (Kidd & Kral, 2005).
Research must also consider the power dynamics between the researcher and the community as well as the dynamics within the community. The use of culturally-anchored methodologies is important for exploring research questions in the appropriate context. Marginalized groups are often compared to a majority group, but these comparisons may not always acknowledge the implications of power dynamics present in such comparisons. When developing the methodology, it is important for the researcher to acknowledge one’s own cultural assumptions, experiences, and positions of power. Recognition of these aspects of self will lead to a more careful framing of the research question within context. Finally, it is important to consider where to disseminate research findings to reach wide audiences.
Designing Culturally-situated Community Programs
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Designing programs in the community need to start with an understanding of the diverse cultures and communities in which they will be situated. To that end, collaborative and ecological systems approaches used by community psychologists are incorporated throughout the design of community prevention and intervention programs. Altogether, these approaches situate culture at every level of planning a program from the conceptualization to the implementation. In Case Study 8.3, Trickett (2011) provides a cautionary example of what can happen when culture is not more deeply considered in community interventions.
Case Study
Water Boiling in a Peruvian Town
Photo by Pxhere is licensed under CC BY 2.0
In “Water Boiling in a Peruvian Town” by Ed Wellin (1955; see Trickett, 2011), a three-year public health intervention was implemented to decrease the water-related health risks in Los Molinos, a rural Peruvian town. The promotion of the evidence-based practice of boiling water targeted women, with the assumption that increased knowledge about the health benefits of boiling water would persuade them to change. The intervention was delivered by a health worker who took up residence in Los Molinos and her goal was to have the women boil their water before using it. The intervention turned out to be unsuccessful—the majority of women did not start this practice, due to several factors steeped in cultural beliefs and local customs or conditions. For example, the cultural meanings of hot and cold in their culture meant that boiled water was used for certain health issues, but it was not associated with germs or diseases. Over time, boiled water was culturally linked to illness and very much disliked by the local people. The intervention’s impact was also further affected by the women’s inability to boil because of their daily routines, social ostracization for boiling because of the meanings of cold and hot water, and lack of interest in women’s lives by the gendered town’s leadership.
This case study demonstrates the significant impact of culture on well-intentioned and scientifically-based interventions meant to improve community health and well-being. For that reason, Trickett provides recommendations about how Community Psychology can contribute more to the understanding of culture in research and practice. Some of these recommendations include focusing on communities more than programs, understanding that choice is more important than change, working with local experts in the community, and using research designs and methods that are appropriate for diverse cultures and populations.
Another approach proposed by Resnicow and colleagues (1999) considers surface structure and deep structure for designing culturally-anchored community programs. Surface structure includes aspects of the program that are observable such as gender, race, and ethnicity of the staff members; setting; language(s) used; and choices of cultural components, such as music or food. Deep structure includes knowing the historical, social, and psychological aspects of the culture to understand core cultural values, beliefs, and practices. However, attending to both surface and deep structures will not guarantee the success of the program. Matching the race or ethnicity of the staff to program participants is not always enough to establish trust or resolve all cultural differences. Similarly, programs using deep structures may appeal differently to those with different acculturation statuses; therefore, more research is necessary to determine the effectiveness of these culturally anchored programs.
Overall, as our knowledge and work with diverse communities continues to expand, the culturally-situated and anchored approaches used by community psychologists will continue to be very important for designing programs. Central to this will be the evolving development of a cultural Community Psychology which incorporates theories and methods from cross-cultural and cultural psychology in research and practice (O’Donnell & Tharp, 2012).
Summing Up
Respect” by Thomas Haynie is licensed under CC BY 2.0
This chapter presented the framework of cultural humility as an ongoing approach to working with diverse communities. It is important to recognize various dimensions of diversity and how they intersect to produce unique experiences of inequity or privilege. Community psychologists go beyond traditional research and practice by working with members of marginalized groups to challenge oppression through participatory action research and to provide tools for empowerment and self-directed change.
Critical Thought Questions
1. How would you explain the differences between cultural humility and cultural competence? Why is cultural humility more beneficial for understanding diversity?
2. How do race and ethnicity differ? How is race socially constructed?
3. What gender norms are present in today’s society? Would you say these gender norms are beneficial or not? Why?
4. Why is it important to focus more research on the spectrum of sexual identities?
5. Although disability involves a physical/biological reality, it is also a social construction. How is disability a social construction?
6. What is intersectionality and how does it impact a person’s experiences?
7. Why should the culture of a community be considered before designing community programs?
Take the Quiz
View the Lecture Slides
References
Artiles, A. J., Kozleski, E. B., Trent, S. C., Osher, D., & Ortiz, A. (2010). Justifying and explaining disproportionality, 1968-2008: A critique of underlying views of culture. Exceptional Children, 76(3), 279-299. doi: 10.1177/001440291007600303
Betancourt, H., & Lopez, S. R. (1993). The study of culture, ethnicity, and race in American psychology. American Psychologist, 48(6), 629-637.
Bond, M. A. (1999). Gender, race, and class in organizational contexts. American Journal of Community Psychology, 27(3), 327-355.
Cheng, S. T., & Heller, K. (2009). Global aging: Challenges for community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 44, 161-173.
Cohen, A. B. (2009). Many forms of culture. American Psychologist, 64(3), 194-204.
Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. The University of Chicago Legal Forum, 140, 139-168.
Flanders, C. E., Robinson, M., Legge, M. M., & Tarasoff, L. A. (2016). Negative identity experiences of bisexual and other non-monosexual people: A qualitative report. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health, 20(2), 152-172.
Goodley, D., & Lawthom, R. (2010). Epistemological journeys in participatory action research: Alliances between community psychology and disability studies. Disability & Society, 20(2), 135-151. doi: 10.1080/09687590500059077
Helms, J. E. (1995). An update of Helms’ White and people of color racial identity models. In J. G. Ponterotto, J. M. Casas, L. A. Suzuki, & C. M Alexander (Eds.), Handbook of multicultural counseling (pp. 181-198). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Jason, L. A., Glantsman, O., O’Brien, J. F., & Ramian, K. N. (2019). Introduction to the field of Community Psychology. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/intro -to-community-psychology/
Jason, L. A., Richman, J. A., Rademaker, A. W., Jordan, K. M., Plioplys, A. V., Taylor, R. R.,… Plioplys, S. (1999). A community-based study of chronic fatigue syndrome. Archives of internal medicine, 159(18), 2129-2137.
Kidd, S. A., & Kral, M. J. (2005). Practicing participatory action research. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(2), 187-195. doi:10.1037/0022-0167.52.2.187
Kosciw, J. G., Palmer, N. A., & Kull, R. M. (2015). Reflecting resiliency: Openness about sexual orientation and/or gender identity and its relationship to well-being and educational outcomes for LGBT students. American Journal of Community Psychology, 55, 167-178.
O’Donnell, C. R., & Tharp, R. G. (2012). Integrating cultural community psychology: Activity settings and the shared meanings of intersubjectivity. American Journal of Community Psychology, 49, 22-30.
Pinderhughes, E. (1989). Understanding race, ethnicity and power: The key to efficacy in clinical practice. New York: Basic Books.
Resnicow, K., Braithwaite, R., Ahluwalia, J., & Baranowski, T. (1999). Cultural sensitivity in public health: Defined and demystified. Ethnicity & Disease, 9, 10-21.
Suyemoto, K. L., & Fox Tree, C. A. (2006). Building bridges across differences to meet social action goals: Being and creating allies among people of color. American Journal of Community Psychology, 37, 237-246.
Tarakeshwar, N., Stanton, J., & Pargament, K. I. (2003). Relgion: An overlooked dimension in cross-cultural psychology. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 34, 377-394. doi: 10.1177/0022022103034004001
Tervalon, M., & Murray-Garcia, J. (1998). Cultural humility versus cultural competence: A critical distinction in defining physician training outcomes in multicultural education. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 9(2), 117-125.
Todd, N. R., McConnell, E. A., & Suffrin, R. L. (2014). The role of attitudes toward white privilege and religious beliefs in predicting social justice interest and commitment. American Journal of Community Psychology, 53, 109-121.
Trickett, E. J. (2011). From “Water boiling in a Peruvian town” to “Letting them die”: Culture, community intervention, and the metabolic balance between patience and zeal. American Journal of Community Psychology, 47, 58-68.
Photo by Prawny is licensed under the Pixabay License | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Introduction_to_Community_Psychology_(Jason_et_al.)/03%3A_Understanding_Communities/3.01%3A_Respect_for_Diversity.txt |
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Explain the concepts and theories of oppression and power
• Describe the intersection of oppression and power
• Identify strategies used by community psychologists and allies to address oppression and power
“Healing begins where the wound was made.”
-Alice Walker (The Way Forward is With a Broken Heart)
Community Psychology has grown up amidst times in US history and throughout the world where social change has been the interwoven thread throughout urban and suburban spaces. Social change continues to be the thread we must use to construct new realities. Not uncommon, as community psychologists have discovered over the past few years, social change work can often be more effective starting at the community level and then branching outward to macrosystems.
“….the definition and critical analysis of oppression has left out the complexity, voices and lived experiences of individuals who have been severely impacted by injustice and oppression…”
– bell hooks (1994)
Macrosystems include influences of governmental policies, corporations, and belief systems. To this end, having a firm understanding of the dynamics that challenge communities is critical. This understanding must extend to grappling with some of the more unjust practices such as oppression and power that have influenced and shaped many of our communities today, particularly where members are people of color. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the interrelated concepts of oppression and power and explore their relationship to the health and well-being of communities. We conceptualize oppression and power in upcoming sections. First, we give an overview of what oppression is. Second, we discuss the concept of power. Third, we discuss the relationship between oppression and power, because they typically never act alone. Fourth, we look at methodologies to deconstruct oppression and power. Finally, we offer strategies that can, and are, used in Community Psychology practice.
This chapter expands on the discussion of oppression and power in Chapter 1 (Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019) and other current Community Psychology textbooks, primarily through the lens of those who have been and continue to be oppressed. Broadly defined through theoretical and abstract concepts, the definition and critical analysis of oppression have left out the complexity, voices, and lived experiences of individuals who have been severely impacted by injustice and oppression. Our ways of knowing and being are credible and of critical importance to students learning how knowledge and power are created and what evidence is most credible in discussing them. We also include information that portrays the strength and resiliency of community members as a balance to the scholarship. The authors’ perspectives and inclusion of the lived experiences of others will add richness and depth to your studies.
JUST WHAT IS OPPRESSION?
Oppression is defined in Merriam-Webster dictionary as: “Unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power especially by the imposition of burdens; the condition of being weighed down; an act of pressing down; a sense of heaviness or obstruction in the body or mind”. This definition demonstrates the intensity of oppression, which also shows how difficult such a challenge is to address or eradicate. Further, the word oppression comes from the Latin root primere, which actually means “pressed down”. Importantly, we can conclude that oppression is the social act of placing severe restrictions on an individual, group, or institution.
Moreover oppression is often discussed in the same context as the terms “dehumanization” and “exploitation”. These are terms that portray unjustness and cruelty. To adequately prepare you to effectively address the challenges many communities are facing, we include the terms to help familiarize you with what oppression feels like to the receiver. Understanding the perceptions, meanings, and experiences of community members is critical for work in Community Psychology in order to address social issues such as oppression. The excerpt below gives an example of a person, who also happens to be a community psychologist, describing their lived oppressive experiences:
Case Study 9.1
A Personal Communication
“…I felt this fullness, unexplainable presence, inner pain but it was not tangible, almost like a phantom ache or pain, that sensation a person has when they have lost a limb and it feels like it is still there but it hurts. It filled my body. I was grief-stricken. Sad. I felt that I, WE, THEY, have let our children down. Our Village is no longer protecting our children. That sacred piece of our legacy.
If I can take accountability or acknowledge this wrong, why doesn’t our oppressor? What is the value in destroying a child, a people, their dreams? It is mean, evil, greedy, disastrous, ugly, devilish, and immoral. It is every gunshot into the backs of Black men. It is an assassination of the human spirit. It rapes us of our purpose. Our young people should never, never feel uncared for, unwanted or invisible….
I bow my head with my hands over my ears and I sit in silence. I realize that these feelings have been sitting dormant…”
(-J. Samuel, personal communication, 2018)
It is important to note that while we are providing you with a framework of oppression and power, we will also provide you with examples of action strategies for how community psychologists and allies are supporting the resiliency in communities so that you can feel encouraged to discover your own way into combating oppression.
WHY OPPRESSION?
After studying the concept of oppression, you might be asking- what is the reason for oppression? Typically, a government or political organization that is in power places these restrictions formally or covertly on groups so that the distribution of resources are unfairly allocated—and this means power stays in the hands of those who already have it (a discussion on power follows this section). We understand that oppression occurs when individuals are systematically subjected to political, economic, cultural, or social degradation because they belong to a certain social group—this results from structures of domination and subordination and, correspondingly, ideologies of superiority and inferiority.
According to decolonial theory, over the last 500 years, the colonial matrix of power, patron colonial de poder has been and is one of the primary sources of oppression. Decolonial theory uses a framework that attempts to answer questions pertaining to knowledge, coloniality, and globalization. The “western world” is a production of coloniality and modernity. The latter two terms refer to the socio-cultural norms developed after the 18th century and the chapter in European history known as the Enlightenment. It is defined loosely by industrialization, science, division of labor, capitalism, secularism, education, and liberalism (Smith, 1999). Further western modernity created and constructed the idea of ‘race’ as a biological function, as part of a narrative to indicate the superiority of the white race and the inferiority of all other races (peoples). Western modernity and the colonial matrix of power have constructed a particular place: the West. Read more about the nature and origin of oppression here.
PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF OPPRESSION
Oppression is described in psychology as states and processes that include psychological and political components of victimization, agency, and resistance where power relations produce domination, subordination, and resistance (Prilleltensky, 2003). The oppressed group suffers greatly from multiple forms of exclusion, exploitation, control, and violence. The literature on the psychological impact of oppression suggests that the erasure and removal of intrinsic cultural identities influenced by oppressive practices can lead to negative outcomes such as “internalization of negative group identities and lowself-esteem.
In understanding psychology of oppression, the oppressed initially adopt “avoidance reactions” which are responses that prevent adverse outcomes from occurring. This happens before one truly internalizes the ideologies of the oppressor, which ultimately results in engaging in self-destructive behaviors before reaching the point of internalized racism and assimilation. Lastly, oppression is not a static concept nor does it have a fixed relationship to racism and discrimination. It changes and can be extremely non-transparent—both covert and overt. The tools of oppression are often disguised or hidden as privileges. Read more here on the impact of oppression and power on communities of color. Case Study 9.2 below provides a number of factors indicative of the impact of oppression from political, economic, and socio-cultural factors on one community in Chicago, IL.
Case Study 9.2
Englewood: Struggling to Rise
Once known as Junction Grove, the rich history of Englewood began in the mid-1800s as the area quickly developed into a rail and commerce crossroads. Junction Grove changed its name to Englewood in 1868, and in 1889, it became part of the City of Chicago. With its cross streets at 63rd and Halsted, the four railroad stations, and the 63rd Street ‘L’ stop, Englewood has long been a transportation hub of the southwest side. This easy access helped to make Englewood one of the largest outlying business districts in the country for much of the first half of the 20th century (Roberts & Stamz, 2002).
Yet, as racial strife shook the 1950s and ’60s, white flight occurred from US communities while African Americans moved in. Subsequently, banks refused to lend money to people trying to start businesses or buy homes in African American neighborhoods, and major grocery stores and other companies refused to open branches. Englewood was no exception (Lydersen, 2011). Further, political redistricting has resulted in Englewood being divided into five districts, each of which is assigned to a different Illinois district. This has created more division and strife. Can you identify the political, economic and socio-cultural factors resulting from oppression and power?
JUST WHAT IS POWER?
Power is a concept that has come to possess numerous meanings for different individuals. Power is multifaceted and takes various forms: power over, power to, and power from (Kloos et al., 2012). Power over is the ability to compel or dominate others, control resources, and enforce commands. Power to is the ability of people to pursue personal and/or collective goals and to develop their own capacities. Power from is the ability to resist coercion and unwanted commands/demands.
Much of the conversations on power have been through the lens of empowerment (Riger, 1993; Rappaport, 1981; Rappaport, 1987). Rappaport (1981) proposed empowerment as a phenomenon of interest for the field, stating the need for a distinction between actual power (i.e., political empowerment) and perceived power (i.e., psychological empowerment).
Furthermore, we understand empowerment as an individualistic concept which needs to incorporate social power. These theorists have conceptualized empowerment as a manifestation of social power and propose three instruments of its implementation. First, it is having control over resources in such a way that they can be used to reward and punish various people. Second, it is the ability to control barriers to participation through defining what we talk about and how we talk about it. One example is expert power, which is based on the “perceived knowledge, skill, or experience of a person or group” (Kloos et al., 2012). Third, it is a force that shapes shared consciousness through myths, ideology, and control of information. To support these concepts, Serrano-García (1984), a community psychologist, discusses both the successes and failures of a community development intervention in her homeland of Puerto Rico in Case Study 9.3.
Case Study 9.3
Proyecto Esfuerzo (Project Effort)
Irma Serrano-Garcia (1984) wrote, “As a member of a group of people who believe in equality and freedom and in the capacity of human beings to achieve both, I write as a Puerto Rican and community psychologist. My work stems from a social change perspective. As a community psychologist with a commitment to the “disadvantaged” groups of society, I believe that my values should be clearly stated… the island was under Spanish rule from 1843 to 1898 making our traditions mainly hispanic and our language, Spanish. The country was turned over to the US as a war booty of the Spanish American War in 1898” (Serrano-Garcia, 1984, p. 174).
To this end, the country was under the rule of the US for some aspects such as citizenship and foreign trade, and some areas were ruled by Puerto Rico’s internal governmental structure. Economically 60% of the citizens earned an annual income of \$2,500 or less, while 70% received food stamps (SNAP Benefits) or other public benefits. Unemployed rates soared at 22.7% of the population and 99% of the food was imported. Serrano-Garcia further shared, “Our reality is one of colonization and not self-determination, of hispanic not anglo-saxon traditions and of underdevelopment and not economic growth” (p. 174). This and other factors prompted the onset of community development efforts to foster change directed by the quest for empowerment. The intervention framework to address this challenge included both a community development and research model. Six key points acted as guidelines including familiarization with the community, needs and resources, linking reality, concrete activities and resident’s integration, transition, and end of project. Read more here. How do the six guidelines used in the framework intersect with each other?
LANGUAGE AS POWER
Systems of domination often work not only through physical force but through language. Cultural racism deems a group’s culture as inferior, including its language. A group’s social and political power typically coincides with the status of their language within the society (Belgrave & Allison, 2019). A byproduct of colonialism is the fact that millions of people around the world speak languages not indigenous to their own lands, but to former colonial powers (England, France, Spain, Portugal, etc.). Native cultures and languages were overthrown by the culture and language of the colonizers. Translation works both as a language tool and as an instrument of power, and this is used when languages are translated and when people are transformed, or translated, by changing their sense of their place in society.
Control over language and information is referred to as power/knowledge. Focult asserts that power is inherently tied to control over and access to information and vice versa. Knowledge is always related to systems of power. James Baldwin (1979) similarly refers to language as a political instrument. The language a person uses communicates their status within that society. He proposed the language barrier that prevented Africans from communicating with one another limited their collective power. According to Baldwin, the development of Black English is a result of particular relationships of power: “A language comes into existence by means of brutal necessity, and the rules of the language are dictated by what the language must convey.”
COLONIALISM AS POWER
Perhaps one of the most expansive and dominating forms of power has been colonialism. During the 19th century, as much as 90% of the world was controlled and/or colonized by western (European and European-derived) nations. This suppression and domination were justified using the construct of race, false research theories that portrayed non-white populations as infantile, incompetent, primitive, savage, and needing western powers to civilize them and bring them into modernity. The rise of settler societies like the US and Canada are the results of centuries of violent conflict, cultural and spatial displacement, and social, economic, and political oppression. During the 20th century, people across Africa, Asia, and Latin America engaged in anti-colonial struggles for independence. Although formal imperial empires came to an end when these countries gained their independence, informal empires remained, as many nations continued to be dependent on former colonial powers. Consequently, political, economic, and military controls were largely maintained within these nations, as a result of adopting the power and oppression of the colonial powers.
OPPRESSION AND POWER: TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN
Power and oppression can be said to be mirror reflections of one another in a sense or are two sides of the same coin. Where you see power that causes harm, you will likely see oppression. Oppression emerges as a result of power, with its roots in global colonialism and conquests. For example, oppression as an action can deny certain groups jobs that pay living wages, can establish unequal education (e.g., through a lack of adequate capital per student for resources), can deny affordable housing, and the list goes on. You may be wondering why some groups live in poverty, reside in substandard housing, or simply do not measure up to the dominant society in some facet. We have some idea, but today we are still grappling with these questions and still conducting research studies to better understand.
As discussed at a seminar at the Leaven Center (2003), groups that do not have “power over” are those society classifies or labels as disenfranchised; they are exploited and victimized in a variety of ways by agents of oppression and/or systems and institutions. They are subjected to restrictions and seen as expendable and replaceable—particularly by agents of oppression. This philosophy, in turn, minimizes the roles certain populations play in society. Sadly, agents of oppression often deny that this injustice occurs and blames oppressive conditions on the behaviors and actions of the oppressed group. Oppression subsequently becomes a system and patterns are adopted and perpetuated. Thai and Lien (2019) in Chapter 6 discuss diversity and highlight the impact of “white privilege” as a major contributor to systems and patterns of oppression for non-privileged individuals and groups.
Additionally, socialization patterns help maintain systems of oppression. Members of society learn through formal and informal educational environments that advance the ideologies of the dominant group, and how they should act and what their role and place are in society. Power is thus exercised in this instance but now is both psychologically and physically harmful. This process of constructing knowledge is helpful to those who seek to control and oppress, through power, because physical coercion may not last, but psychological ramifications can be perpetual, particularly without intervention.
As shared, knowledge is sustained through social processes, and what we come to know and believe is socially constructed, so it becomes ever more important to discuss dominant narratives of our society and the meaning it lends to our culture. It is our role as community psychologists to be a witness, to advocate, and to raise the voice and consciousness of those who lack power and /or the capacity to do so themselves. It is also our role to raise the consciousness of those who oppress and disempower. In the next section, we shall take a look at roles community psychologists can play in consciousness raising and deconstructing power and oppression.
ACTION STRATEGIES: DISMANTLING OPPRESSION AND POWER
As mentioned in Chapter 1 (Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019), community psychologists endorse a social justice and critical psychology perspective, where the position is to challenge and address oppressive systems through a number of action strategies including approaches that fall under a dismantling framework. To this end, we now discuss two interconnected, yet distinct community approaches that focus on what is termed the deconstruction and reclaiming of power. Deconstruction has its roots in Jacques Derrida’s work in critical analysis of theoretical and literary language. We speak about reclaiming as simply recovering or getting back. A discussion of liberation, followed by decolonization and reclaiming power through Black Feminist theory, concludes this section, as it demonstrates how power is de-centered and reclaimed for the power and liberation of communities.
LIBERATION
Community psychologists engage topics associated with the dismantling of oppression and power. One of these concepts is liberation. Liberation is defined as the social, cultural, economic, and political freedom and emancipation to have agency, control, and power over one’s life. To live life freely and unaffected or harmed by conditions of oppression is to experience liberation (Watkins, 2002). Although there are varied ways of experiencing liberation – from the individual to the community to the systemic – each one is interconnected with the other. An individual, or psychological sense of liberation, lies in the ability for the person to feel unconstrained by stereotypes and prejudiced ideas that manifest as acts of discrimination. When individuals are constantly feeling that their bodies are being perceived and categorized in biased ways because of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, and other visible characteristics, their capacity to act with free will is constrained. For example, students of color at predominantly white institutions of higher education often experience higher levels of stress and anxiety because they experience more micro-aggressions (Hope et al., 2018). Students of color are therefore marked by these experiences in ways that are detrimental to their well-being and academic success. Liberation for these students is limited by the culture of racism and colorblindness inherent in the university. At a collective or community level, liberation is possible when the group is able to gain power and control over the knowledge, systems, and institutions that surround their lives. As Brazilian popular educator, Paulo Freire, suggests, liberation is a social act, a process of becoming free from ideologies that limit our freedom and the institutions or structures that constrain people’s collective determination. Liberation must be understood as having a critical consciousness of the circumstances and conditions of oppression that challenge and limit opportunities for freedom. Liberation is also a practice of working to create change. As Martín-Baró proposes, liberation is the dismantling of oppression and power, and striving to create social change that recognizes the humanity and dignity of all people. As an example of this work, we have included in Case Study 9.4 an excerpt of a letter adopted by the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Case Study 9.4
The Dakota Access Pipeline
In July 2016, the Army Corps of Engineers approved the plans for the Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners to construct the Dakota Access Pipeline, a 1,172 mile underground crude oil transportation system stretching from North Dakota to Illinois. It is estimated that the pipeline will pump just under half a million barrels of fracked crude oil per day across the Missouri River, the Mississippi River, and other sources of drinking water, which will impact surrounding communities. Although many will potentially be affected by the proposed pipeline, the Lakota Sioux and the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation spanning North and South Dakota are among those most directly affected by the pipeline and have voiced strong opposition to its continued construction. As psychologists committed to racial, ethnic, and cultural justice we stand in opposition to the continued construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline so long as that pipeline infringes on the environmental health and sacred spaces of indigenous communities…Read more of the letter here. What are examples of dismantling and liberation?
DECOLONIALITY
Although often associated with freedom, decoloniality is not the same nor should it be equated with liberation. Decoloniality is characterized by a process of undoing, disrupting, and de-linking knowledge rooted in Eurocentric thinking that ignores or devalues the local knowledge, experiences, and expertise of non-western peoples or dominant social groups (Maldonado-Torres, 2011). Furthermore, decoloniality challenges coloniality and colonialism – the former defined as the power and control over people and knowledge, and the latter being a process through which power and control are acquired often through violence (Mignolo, 2009). Decoloniality, therefore, contests the assumptions of systems, or the organization of peoples and worlds, into categories. For example, the “othering” of Indigenous communities by forcing them onto reservation lands and then subsequently occupying and exploiting these lands and natural resources, as in the Dakota Access Pipeline examples, is a form of coloniality. This “othering” perpetuates the oppression and dehumanization of Indigenous communities across generations (Gone, 2016). Re-thinking and deconstructing Eurocentric/western ideologies and practices that uphold coloniality as the power over people, lands, and knowledge is thus the main point of decolonization. A decolonial standpoint in Community Psychology honors and respects the humanity of all communities, especially those that have been institutionally marginalized, and sees values in local knowledge, culture, and place (Moane, 2003). For an example of a decolonial community-based participatory action research project—collaboratively led by Dr. Jesica Siham Ferńandez and Dr. Laura Nichols with Mexican immigrant mothers in a community undergoing gentrification in the Silicon Valley (California, US). It centers on the voices, culture, and lived experiences of Mexican and Latinx communities (check out a newspaper report covering the making of the mural, and a short news media coverage showcasing the madres speaking about their process).
BLACK FEMINIST THOUGHT
This section discusses intersectionality as a form of decolonialism that is crucial to a well-rounded understanding of how our multiple identities play into the world around us. Intersectionality, rooted in Black feminist thought, emerged at the turn of the 21st century. Black feminist theory, informed by the work of Collins (1990/2000), Lorde (1984), hooks (1994), the Combahee River Collective, and other Black feminist scholars such as Sojourner Truth and other writers and activists, surfaced as a radical movement. Intersectionality was developed by Kimberlé W. Crenshaw and this short video link should help with understanding. The concept primarily illustrates the intersectional experiences of Black women, whose concerns were neither fully addressed within the Civil Rights Movement, nor the (white) feminist movement. Intersectionality posits that race and gender categories, along with other dimensions of identity and positionality, such as sexuality, age, class and able-bodiness, are clear and have social, legal, political, and economic implications. Within Community Psychology, intersectionality provides a theoretical lens for re-conceptualizing race, along with other categories of difference and positions of power, beyond identity politics. Rather than focusing on the politics of difference, intersectionality describes the interlocking patterns of oppression and marginality that structure people’s lives, opportunities, and enfranchisement. Intersectionality provides a theoretical framework from which we can examine and deconstruct the structures of race and gender oppression (Collins, 1990/2000). Furthermore, intersectionality also offers implications for working toward a practice of solidarity among those interested in advancing social justice.
SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE
The concepts of oppression and power are not only multi-dimensional but also involve multifaceted, complex means of being executed. In order to effectively conceptualize dismantling and disrupting power and oppression, it is important to delve further into looking at systems by which power and oppression exist and are maintained. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory provided a framework for us to examine how power and oppression are carried out and perpetuated in individual and community environments. Yet, human behavior is not simply nested as Bronfenbrenner theorized, but our behavior is also networked, where each system is defined in terms of the social relationships surrounding a targeted individual, and where systems at different levels relate to one another in an overlapping fashion (Neal & Neal 2013). Thus, dismantling power and oppression is a difficult task that requires a community systems approach. It is also important to note that historical events such as colonialism and change across time necessitate that idea that power/oppression must be continually re-examined and monitored.
The Chicanx Student Movement is an example of the results of oppression and power and a social action strategy, to address the issue. See Case Study 9.5 for a discussion on the East LA “Blowouts”.
Case Study 9.5
The Chicano Student Movement and Educational System in East LA
The 1968 East LA blowouts were a direct response to the educational inequities experienced by Chicanx students attending several of the local high schools in the East LA area (e.g., Wilson, Lincoln, Belmont, Roosevelt, Garfield). For example, students attended schools that lacked resources, were placed in overcrowded classrooms where they often faced derogatory comments by teachers, were prohibited from talking in Spanish and where disobedience was met with corporal punishment or janitorial work. Moreover, non-white male students were pushed into non-academic classes like wood shop or auto-mechanic shop classes while females were sent to cooking classes, sewing, and secretary prep courses. Consequently, dropout rates were as high as sixty percent.
However, as the numbers of students walking out grew, so did the challenges. Students who joined the walkouts were met with violence from police deployed to the schools. While many students were beaten during the walkouts, other students, who helped to lead the movement, faced further legal troubles. As a result, 13 male students were charged with conspiracy, only avoiding charges after protests by the community were held and litigations were filed. Fifty years later the Los Angeles Unified School District and Cal State LA a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) in the heart of the East LA area, organized a “walk-in” to commemorate the 1968 blowouts and to highlight the changes that have occurred. Over 500 high school students from the same walkout schools marched onto the Cal State LA campus chanting “Yes we can.” While this is certainly a change the reality for students is they continue to struggle to gain access to higher education.
Protests and other forms of addressing community issues often result in unintended consequences but continue to be strategies employed to advance social justice. What are some strategies for mitigating unintended consequences?
Other action strategies discussed in earlier chapters that have been met with both challenges and successes are in social movements and consciousness-raising efforts. In recent years there has been an explosion of young people’s participation in social movements across the U.S. Some include involvement in long-term struggles such as the fight for equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community, and some are a continuance of prior social movements such as the #MeToo Movement (evolving from the struggle for women’s rights) as well as the Black Lives Matter movement. Read more here.
Consciousness-raising efforts have their roots in a number of theorists’ frameworks and movements including Pedagogy of the Oppressed and the feminist movements as previously mentioned. Yet, it is important to also understand that structural systems of oppression are found in the categorical labeling we use to exclude and separate. Case Study 9.6 below illustrates a strategy for dismantling labeling that perpetuates inequality through reframing the language of liberation.
Case Study 9.6
Reframing Language for Liberation
In 2012, Geri Palmer, former executive director of a non-profit organization in Chicago and current community psychologist, became aware of the importance of the influence of public perspectives and attitudes regarding people who are homeless, specifically relative to funding and resources. She recognized that public perceptions and attitudes are formed in many ways, one being the words and terms used to discuss, and refer to marginalized populations. This is important, as terms that describe and categorize people experiencing homelessness, such as “the homeless” and “homeless people” are widely used by those in the helping professions. Yet, they reflect the core ideologies and economic interests of the dominant majority and have their roots in historical systems of inequality and oppression.
Through a series of workshops held in medical and health care facilities, in board development workshops, conferences, and classrooms designed to raise awareness, The Language Reframing Project was initiated. The goal was twofold: (1) Raise awareness of language and labeling and its negative implications; and (2) reframe language and labeling in discourse and in reference to people who are homeless, as well as other populations considered marginalized. This can specifically be applied to all marketing materials including websites and social media. One agency has changed its online marketing materials to align with the campaign’s mission, and former employees of this agency report they are pushing forward the language reframing initiative in their new workplaces and overall worldview. The Salvation Army has adopted a similar campaign (Palmer, 2018)…Read more here. Why does categorical labeling of certain groups of people perpetuate oppression?
SUMMING UP
Community psychologists are equipped with the skills and training, practice, and lived experience needed to address the most pressing of social issues and concerns in our communities today. The continuation of structural systems of oppression and power, and its grip on our communities, families, and individuals is an ever-present concern and it is no easy task to engage in dismantling and addressing structural systems. Yet, we are advancing social justice through the strategies we mention here and are making great strides by supporting the resiliency in the same communities where oppressive systems exist. We strived to make this portion of the book as realistic as possible, particularly with the help of looking through the eyes of community psychologists who have lived experiences as well as allies who support the work of community psychologists in practice and community-driven research. We wanted a chapter that spoke to the multi-faceted dynamics of oppression and power, but also to provide actionable strategies that are tools for liberation. Moreover, by providing this free online textbook, we are in a very direct way dealing with the high price of textbooks that often is a real hurdle for our college students, who sometimes can not even afford to purchase them and are disadvantaged by this economic barrier. This effort is a strategy that also empowers and liberates.
We have attempted to include a balanced view, discussing the concepts and impact, but showing how resilience and empowerment have been successful at advancing social justice. It is important for undergraduate students, specifically in Community Psychology, to see the fullness of what the discipline embraces and strives to uphold.
Critical Thought Questions
1. What experiences do you have with power and/or oppression? In thinking about the “two faces” of power and oppression, how have you seen power and oppression operate in your life or in the life of others in your community?
2. Reread Dr. Irma Serrano-Garcia’s article. Identify the role of coloniality and colonialism in shaping the Puerto Rican experience. What do coloniality and colonialism look like today?
3. Explain how you have experienced or seen power operate in your life or in your community. What are some contemporary examples of the coloniality of power today?
4. Think back to the other cases studies presented in this chapter. Identify how oppressed and institutionally disenfranchised communities interrupted and sought to deconstruct power.
5. Reflecting back on the experience of power or oppression that you initially identified, what is one theory or concept that stood out to you, and which helps you think about ways of addressing oppressive systems of power? Why does that theory or concept stand out to you the most?
Take the Chapter 9 Quiz
View the Chapter 9 Lecture Slides
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REFERENCES
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Belgrave, F. Z., & Allison, K. W. (2019). African American psychology: From Africa to America. United States: Sage Publications.
Collins, P. H. (1990/2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness and the politics of empowerment. New York: NY: Routledge.
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Jason, L. A., Glantsman, O., O’Brien, J. F., & Ramian, K. N. (2019). Introduction to the field of Community Psychology. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/intro-to-community-psychology/
Kloos, B., Hill, J., Thomas, E., Wandersman, A., Elias, M., & Dalton, J., (2012). Community psychology: linking individuals and communities. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage.
Leaven Center (2003). Doing Our Own Work: A Seminar for Anti-Racist White Women.
Visions, Inc. and the MSU Extension Multicultural Awareness Workshop.
Lorde, A. (1984). Age, race, class and sex: Women redefining difference. In Sister outsider: Essays and speeches. Freedom, CA: Crossing Press.
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Maldonado-Torres, N. (2011). Thinking through the decolonial turn: Post-continental interventions in theory, philosophy, and critique: An introduction. Transmodernity: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World, 1(2).
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Moane, G. (2003). Bridging the personal and the political: Practices for a liberation psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 31, 91–101.
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Palmer, G. (2018). People who are homeless are “people” first: Opportunity for community psychologists to lead through language reframing. Global Journal for Community Psychology in Practice. Retrieved from https://www.gjcpp.org/en/article.php?issue=30&article=180
Prilleltensky, I. (2003). Understanding, resisting, and overcoming oppression: Toward psychopolitical validity. American Journal of Community Psychology, 31(1-2), 195-201.
Rappaport, J. (1987). Terms of empowerment/exemplars of prevention: Toward a theory for community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 15(2), 121-148.
Rappaport, J. (1981). In praise of paradox: A social policy of empowerment over prevention. American Journal of Community Psychology, 9, 1-25.
Riger, S. (1993). What’s wrong with empowerment? American Journal of Community Psychology, 21, 279-292.
Roberts, M., & Stamz, R. (2002). Chicago’s englewood neighborhood: At the junction (Images of america). Chicago, IL: Arcadia Pub.
Serrano-García, I. (1984). The illusion of empowerment: Community development within a colonial context. Prevention in Human Services, 3(2-3), 173-200.
Smith, L. T. (1999). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. NY, NY: Zed Books, Ltd.
Thai, N. D. & Lien, A. (2019). Respect for diversity. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/respect-for-diversity/
Watkins, M. (2002). Seeding liberation: A dialogue between depth psychology and liberation psychology. In D. Slattery & L. Corbett (Eds.), Depth psychology: Meditations in the field. (pp. 204-225). Einsiedeln, SW: Daimon Verlag.
Acknowledgments: We wish to thank Ann Marie Beals for her diligent work in reviewing our chapter. We wish to thank Lenny Jason, Olya Glantsman, Jack O’Brien and Kaitlyn Ramian for their feedback and support of our chapter. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Introduction_to_Community_Psychology_(Jason_et_al.)/03%3A_Understanding_Communities/3.02%3A_Oppression_and_Power.txt |
Chapter Ten Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Specify different levels of empowerment
• Understand how we can contribute to power redistribution
• Learn ways to take action to make changes in communities
The cries of “Black Power!”, “Student Power!”, and “Power to the People!” rang out in the 1960s and beyond. The idea of power was central to those social movements. The work of those groups led to changes in civil rights, gay rights, and women’s rights. For example, the Women’s Movement raised important issues regarding women’s relative lack of power in personal relationships and their lack of opportunities in the workplace and larger society. Oppressive conditions supported by men-driven laws and policies in the larger society affected women on the individual, organizational, community, and societal levels.
Many participating within these social change movements experienced greater empowerment, which means gaining greater influence and control over important matters in one’s life and environment. Coupled with visions of hope and possibility, empowerment helped spur movements for positive social change for African Americans, students, women, Latinx, LGBT individuals, people with disabilities, Asian-Americans, prisoners, and people with mental illness, among many other groups.
Rappaport (1981) proposed that empowerment should be one of the primary focus of Community Psychology. He believed that empowerment is about helping those with less than their fair share of power to understand their own situation and gain more power. For Rappaport, empowerment includes considering people’s needs, their rights and their choices, and it captures the breadth of concern with the powerlessness that many groups experience.
To fully address the powerlessness of individuals and groups, efforts toward empowerment must be made on multiple levels. At the individual level, awareness of one’s lack of power can make one more likely to work towards increasing personal power. At a higher level, legal and societal sides of oppression may give rise to societal and political change. Thus, empowerment is a multilevel concept that impacts individuals, organizations, communities, and societies. From these beginnings, empowerment has come to be a key idea in Community Psychology and has also been important to fields such as Social Work, Public Health, Education, Political Science, Anthropology, and Community Development (Keys, McConnell, Motley, Liao, & McAuliff, 2017). Now, let’s consider how empowerment is thought of at different levels of analysis.
Individual Empowerment
Individual empowerment allows people to exercise control and increase self-efficacy. Self-efficacy can be described as developing a sense of personal power, strength, or mastery that aids in increasing one’s capacity to act in situations where one feels a lack of power. Individual self-efficacy is sometimes considered a “westernized” or “individualistic” construct built on the idea that simply having a belief in one’s ability to achieve a certain outcome is all a person needs for self-empowerment. This would imply that an internal belief in oneself is both sufficient and desirable for changing a one’s life. But change in self-efficacy without real change in one’s life cannot truly be called empowerment (Cattaneo & Chapman, 2010).
Psychological Empowerment
In contrast, psychological empowerment at the individual and group levels requires increased awareness and understanding of the factors that influence our lives. It is a process by which we become aware of the power dynamics that occur at multiple levels in our lives. This could be something like becoming aware of being treated differently due to the color of one’s skin, or how the lack of resources in the community one lives in affects one’s well-being. People then begin to develop skills for gaining control over relevant aspects of their lives, such as advocating for themselves or working on coping techniques to respond to discrimination. To truly address all the factors that affect a person’s life, people’s actions should also be directed toward changing the conditions of oppression at multiples levels, such as conditions in the home, at work, or in society. These environmental changes can be complemented by an increase in one’s degree of control over aspects of one’s own life.
Psychological empowerment considers the role of the context and the influences from external factors that impact the lives of all people (Keys et al., 2017). For example, women in the 1950s were affected by how they were treated both at home and in the workplace. In both cases, there were clear power differentials, whether it was between husband and wife or employer and worker. These external factors, or contextual factors outside of individual women’s control, impacted women in the environments where they lived and worked. The Women’s Movement and related advocacy efforts were led by women who had developed empowerment skills individually and began supporting the empowerment of others on a societal scale.
Changes individually and on a group level can be accomplished through critically examining the situations people find themselves in. For example, the Black Power Movement in the 1960s and the Black Lives Matter Movement in the present are responses to the personal and societal oppression African Americans felt as citizens of the US. These social movements criticized the cultural norms of the time and challenged people to really think critically about how African Americans were being mistreated and abused on a daily basis. As with all individual and group level change, the context had to be examined through a critical lens.
Critical awareness leads individuals to identify personal and contextual factors that may be part of empowerment for particular individuals or groups. These factors may include additional skills, access to financial capital, access to other resources and opportunities, and access to individuals with greater power. Methods include, but are not limited to, training, developing advocacy skills, studying, becoming self-efficacious, and pursuing resources and opportunities (Cattaneo & Chapman, 2010). By increasing skills and access to resources, one can work towards achieving an increased sense of individual and psychological empowerment. A good example of psychological empowerment is found in Case Study 10.1, about Ed Roberts and his efforts toward helping people with disabilities live independently.
Case Study 10.1
Independent Living Movement
The life of Ed Roberts—a central figure in the development of the independent living movement for people with disabilities in the US—is an example of psychological empowerment. Ed became severely paralyzed at a young age. In his childhood, Roberts’ mother instilled an appreciation for education in her son. She also taught him how to advocate for what he needed. Roberts experienced firsthand the ways in which society distributed power unfairly. A high school administrator threatened to not allow Roberts to earn his high school diploma because Roberts had not completed a driver’s training or physical education course, which he could not physically perform. He had to fight those decisions. After graduating from high school, Roberts was admitted to the University of California-Berkeley but had to fight for accommodations and support from both the university and his rehabilitation counselor. Roberts’ admission to the university drew more individuals with physical disabilities to attend the college. He began to advocate for changes to be made to the physical environment, such as curb cuts to aid people in wheelchairs. He also helped to create the first student-led disability services program in the United States and advocated for attendant services and wheelchair repairs to be provided on campus. At the University of California-Berkeley, he earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree. Because of his work, Ed made this university a more accessible place for himself and other individuals with disabilities.
Organizational Empowerment
At the organizational level, it is useful to think of empowerment in two ways: empowering those within the organization and being effective in fairly addressing organization level issues and working well with those outside the organization such as other organizations and governmental policies and laws. Regarding the first meaning of organizational empowerment, empowering, we can think of ways an organization is empowering of those individual and groups within it. We first need to recognize that organizations can control and influence those who are inside the organization (Peterson & Zimmerman, 2004). For instance, Maton (2008) identified a set of positive core organizational characteristics for empowering community settings. These include a group-based belief system (e.g., the organization inspires change), positive core activities (e.g., active learning), a supportive relational environment (e.g., caring relationships), opportunity role structure (e.g., many roles at multiple levels), leadership (e.g., inspirational vision), and setting maintenance and change (e.g., mechanisms to address diversity or conflict). An organization may foster the empowerment of its members and groups by including these characteristics. an empowered organization also can be effective in working with other organizations and others in the local community and larger society in order to address its needs and meet its goals.
An organization’s ability to empower individuals may be due to interpersonal factors, such as trust. For example, Foster-Fishman and Keys (1997) found that in a large human service organization, employees distrusted system-wide empowerment initiatives set forth by upper management. This lack of trust often reflects perceptions about organizational policies and authority roles. It is important to consider that some organizations are more democratic in the way they operate (e.g., cooperatives) and incorporate more intra-organizational strategies. The way authority and decision making is shared, or not, among employees affects their sense of empowerment. Some organizations try actively to build personal relationships among members and develop greater trust, which provides a better foundation for organizational empowerment initiatives. Regarding the second meaning of organizational empowerment, we can consider ways in which the organization gains and uses enough resources to support its people and activities, For example, a community group advocating for trans rights holds an effective fundraising effort to support its education initiative to include topics of transgender, gender identity and cisgendered prejudice in sex education curriculum in local schools. An empowerment initiative at the organizational level is the focus of Case Study 10.2.
Case Study 10.2
Staff Nurses in
Canada
Laschinger, Finegan and Shamian (2001) analyzed the impact of organizational empowerment theory on staff nurses in Canada. Results from their study suggested the workplaces that increased perceptions of individual empowerment also increased trust in organizational authority, commitment to organizational goals, and effectiveness of the organization as a whole. The results also suggested an increased work ethic and desire to remain in the organization. This empowerment was facilitated through a number of intra-organizational strategies. First, the nurses were trusted to act on their expertise when performing their work. This was accomplished, in part, by providing nurses access to both timely information and support. Additionally, nurses were given access to resources. Trust can be diminished in an organization if nurses do not have access to medical equipment and supplies or are forced to work overtime due to staff shortages. The researchers also found a relationship (albeit, less significant) between trust in management and opportunities for career advancement. This view of organizational empowerment required that management nurses and staff nurses work collaboratively towards shared goals, in order to better their organization and improve patient care. In order to foster individual empowerment, management nurses exercised less direct control and practiced providing more feedback, support, and guidance. They also worked to ensure trust both among staff nurses and between staff nurses and management. In this case, greater individual empowerment led to greater organizational empowerment.
Community Empowerment
The concept of community-level empowerment has also received attention from community psychologists. Community empowerment means a community has the resources and talent to manage its affairs, to control and influence relevant groups and forces within and outside the community, and to develop empowered leaders and community organizations. One example of developing empowered leaders is community members learning to organize so they can take part in improving their communities and take actions toward these improvements. Empowerment may be particularly important for communities rebuilding after trauma, such as survivors of a natural disaster, or for individuals in a war-ravaged country (Anckermann et al., 2005). Indicators of community empowerment include processes such as collective reflection, social participation, and political discussions, as well as outcomes such as having obtained adequate resources for improving community well-being and social justice (Anckermann et al., 2005). Collective reflection means that community members get together and jointly examine the issues that have mattered to them over time. Social participation and political discussions are ways in which these communities can take the actions needed to empower themselves. Case Study 10.3 demonstrates how community members used empowerment tools in changing the mental health care service system in the US.
Case Study 10.3
Mental Health Delivery
Community empowerment has played a role in improving the mental health care system in the US. In the 1970s-1990s, mental health service user activists fought for greater individual autonomy and patients’ rights. They did so by developing their community and giving opportunities for community members to participate in decision making. Additionally, they addressed issues that their community faced. For example, they combated unemployment by supporting legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits workplace discrimination (Masterson & Owen, 2006). For a number of years, many groups representing different facets of the disability community advocated for the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a major piece of civil rights legislation. This case study places emphasis on mental health/illness. However, the ADA helped all disability groups and individuals with mobility issues were most active in effecting this legislation.
Community empowerment works through increasing the community’s influence over the structures and policies that affect the lived experiences of the community and its members. Increases in influence often occur through partnerships between those in power and other community members. These partnerships may take place in advisory boards, coalitions, or broader community inclusion initiatives (Fawcett et al., 1994). At times, community empowerment may mean that members of the community become empowered with the help of the community leaders and vice versa. Such “co-empowerment” may be challenging, yet can be very beneficial to communities (Bond & Keys, 1993).
Societal Empowerment
Finally, it is important to examine empowerment on the societal level. Empowerment is concerned not only with a psychological sense of control but also with the equal distribution of resources, attention to material, and political empowerment on the societal level (Nelson & Prilletensky, 2010). Even if empowerment interventions are carried out at other levels, they typically must take broader, more structural societal forces into account. These forces include the impact of systemic racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, ageism, or classism over time. Societal empowerment concerns processes and structures affecting the empowerment of individuals, organizations, and communities (for more information on inadequate resource distribution from Habitat for Humanity, click here). An important consideration is to what extent a society fosters equity, or the equal distribution of resources and opportunities, while providing support to those who have less than their fair share of resources.
An empowering society is one that works to distribute resources equitably as well as effectively. Policies and practices that support such equity are critical, as are the voices of individuals, organizations, and communities. Society-wide empowerment is concerned with how well key components of society work, so that everyone has adequate resources. Moreover, society must use resources wisely to address its needs in cultural, governmental, political, business, educational, health, and other major areas of community living. Societal empowerment may take the form of communities supporting and influencing one another and of communities working to promote change in public policy at the state and national levels. Societal empowerment also includes a society’s capacity to influence and work with other societies and to manage its own resources effectively. Empowered societies can take care of themselves. They can work with and influence other societies. They can create positive change with their neighbors and others around the world. In short, many societies face the challenge of helping people who are facing serious limitations in their lives. Rarely, if ever, do these individuals have opportunities to deal with the dehumanizing structures in society that cause such limitations. These challenges are related to histories of oppression, discrimination, or segregation, as well as disparities in income and opportunities that are systemic and very hard to address, as indicated in Case Study 10.4.
Case Study 10.4
Societal Empowerment
Individuals who experience poverty are often in positions of powerlessness due to their lack of access to necessary resources. In order to address the empowerment of individuals in poverty, societies must develop their critical understanding of the structures that create and sustain poverty. After critical awareness is developed, societies must amend or remove the disempowering structures that have been identified. Empowering people who are experiencing poverty can happen through many different means. For example, addressing workplace discrimination through a legislative action is a step towards creating a more equitable society. Additionally, addressing the barriers to participation in the political system is important to address poverty. People who are impoverished may not be registered to vote. Creating accessible opportunities for voter registration can help to ensure active political participation. On voting days, ensuring that people know they have a right to leave work to vote and providing transportation options is another way that societies can support the empowerment of people experiencing poverty.
PRIVILEGE, OPPRESSION, AND EMPOWERMENT
As discussed throughout this textbook, some groups often use their power to accumulate privileges over the groups they oppress. This oppression happens with dehumanization and exploitation, as discussed in Chapter 9 (Palmer et al., 2019). Oppression may occur on any level from individual to societal. It also has a psychological piece. Those in power oppress individuals and groups by reducing their opportunities for education, work, housing and health care. Then those on the receiving end of this oppression may take part in negative activity due to feelings of hopelessness and helplessness. In addition to the experience of exclusion and marginalization on a societal level, the problem of oppression is compounded when those oppressed engage in self-destructive patterns due to the internal feelings of hopelessness. For more information on how oppression works on multiple levels, click here.
Unfortunately, conditions of exclusion and disadvantage are often ignored when those individuals with fewer resources try to obtain services. Furthermore, the economic inequality of people of color, people with disabilities, and many other groups in the US and other countries, contributes to their limited access to many services and supports. Economic inequality also limits opportunities for employment, housing, health care, and education. These conditions can only be eliminated by changing unequal power relations and with the redistribution of wealth. Attention to the distribution of power and wealth is consistent with the principles of Community Psychology regarding social justice, respect for diversity, and promoting social change, as discussed in Chapter 1 (Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019).
CRITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS
According to Paulo Freire (1970), most people who experience social oppression do not necessarily act to change their reality. This is because they have been taught to accept the dominant, or oppressors’, narrative. That narrative has placed them in an inferior position and their oppressor’s in a superior one. Over time, the oppressed come to believe in their inferiority and thereby internalize their oppression. The inferiority is now a part of their identity and affects the actions they take and the decisions they make in life. In turn, their acceptance of an inferior position in society enhances the dominance of their oppressors. Freire also argues that marginalized individuals do not have a critical awareness that allows them to see the injustices in their lives. They tend to be passive and unable to recognize their own capacity to transform their social realities, in part, because their condition of marginalization and oppression keeps them in a state of helplessness. Someone forced to the margins of society who lacks critical awareness may accept their low position. They may see it as the result of fate, bad luck or supernatural forces. This is why helping people develop critical awareness and understanding of the factors that contribute to their situation is an important early step in the process of empowerment. Once people understand the reasons for their situation and the importance of taking action(s) in order to address their own problems, the process of empowerment has begun. An example of an oppressed group, in this case children, becoming empowered through participatory means is illustrated in Case Study 10.5
Case Study 10.5
School-Based Participatory Action Research
One of the ways in which critical awareness can be developed is through participatory action research. This is a method of research that allows stakeholders to play an active role in determining, assessing, evaluating and addressing a problem. Dworski-Riggs and Langhout (2010) used a participatory action research project in an elementary school to address disciplinary issues during recess. Based on a school survey, multiple stakeholders identified recess as a time in which students had more negative relationships with other students and recess staff. One of the ways in which the issues at recess were addressed was through a peer mediation program. A group of students was trained to resolve conflicts on the playground. This peer mediation program gave students increased control over recess time, as well as increased skills in conflict resolution. Additionally, it empowered the students to meet with the recess staff in order to determine how they could work together more effectively. The researchers did face significant challenges in engaging parents in active participation in the creation and implementation of the intervention. Based on a school climate survey, most parents felt powerless to make changes within the school. However, the students did engage in the process and were satisfied with the outcomes.
A CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EMPOWERMENT
Balcazar and Suarez-Balcazar (2017) offer a model of empowerment that is a framework of analysis for the struggle in the redistribution of resources in a historical context (see Figure 1 above). The model can explain some of the factors that lead people to seek power redistribution, and a redistribution of power is needed to give people the resources necessary for the empowerment process. From this model, it is possible to propose specific strategies that can be used to promote empowerment on the levels we discussed earlier in the chapter. This process is explained further in Case Study 10.6 below.
Case Study 10.6
A Personal People First Story
The empowerment process starts when the individual identifies an injustice that she or he has experienced. Joe grew up in a rural town in Missouri to a family with few economic resources. He was born with Down syndrome, and from his earliest memories recalled being stared at, whispered about, laughed at, and treated differently. In an effort to help him, his parents would always decide what was best for him and advocate on his behalf at school and in the community. When Joe tried to speak up and express himself he was either ridiculed by his peers or defended by his parents. As a result of these experiences growing up, Joe felt disempowered and defective. But, he resolved later in life to find others like him and see if he could do anything to change things for people like him. Joe became aware of historical inequalities, injustices, and grievances that have not been attended to, such as the mistreatment of people with disabilities in his rural town. Joe began to network and organize with other people with disabilities, and expanded beyond those with Down syndrome to include other people with disabilities. He recalls being shocked at the number of people he met while trying to form a support network. While networking and researching, he discovered the People First movement, which was formed to promote the sharing of ideas, cultivate independence and friendship, and advocate for people with disabilities. Joe was taken with the ideals of the movement, proudly saying, “We can speak for ourselves, thank you!” By organizing a new chapter of People First, Joe and his peers were able to create advocacy goals to change how they were being mistreated and marginalized in their community.
As shown in Balcazar and Suarez-Balcazar’s (2017) Empowerment model, goals are developed regarding what is desired in a particular situation or context. There are different degrees of motivation associated with the individual’s goal, depending on the circumstances and sense of urgency.
According to this empowerment model, there are several factors that determine the degree of effectiveness of the individual or group in seeking power redistribution. In the case of Joe and his People First chapter, they were a dedicated group committed to influencing the community on multiple levels. They began to petition the local government to offer special accommodations for people with physical disabilities, such as wheelchair ramps and accessible seating on public transit. And, near and dear to Joe’s heart, they advocated for “People First Language Days,” at the local grade schools and high schools. Joe wanted to change how people viewed and talked about disability, to ensure that kids growing up with disabilities were not ridiculed and picked on. Joe thought that if students had more of an awareness of what it’s like to live with a disability, and how hurtful words can be, then attitudes and treatment of people with disabilities might start to change. He wanted members of the community to view him and others like him as “people first, disability always second. Like any other card normal folks have been dealt, it’s just a part of who we are. But we’re just people.” Joe and the People First chapter were successful in their efforts to implement People First Language Days at the schools, and even started having language days in places of business and legislation. Their group possessed factors necessary to implement meaningful change and empower not only themselves but many others like them in their community. These factors included knowledge of rights and responsibilities, level of skills and degree of self-efficacy (as well as the result of cumulative experience, challenges, and successes) in attaining personal and group goals.
What can be unexpected when working in Community Psychology are the counteractions taken by the opposing individual, group, or organization. There were some people in Joe’s town who opposed using taxpayer funds to increase accessibility for people with physical disabilities. Some educators questioned the need for having time taken from their classes to educate students on People First language. Sometimes the individual or group runs out of options, exhausts their resources, or gets demoralized and concedes defeat. There is no guarantee that the process will result in greater power to the aspiring individual or group. It takes time to empower oneself and to empower a group of people, and there may be setbacks before achieving meaningful power redistribution. The resulting changes in power redistribution may stop the process if the parties are satisfied, meaning the person or group aiming for empowerment feels they have achieved their goals. At some future point, the parties may resume the process in order to pursue better results.
As mentioned earlier, the Women’s Movement of the 1950s and beyond led to great strides for women in America, and the “Me Too” movement is another call for women to receive fair treatment and justice in society. Balcazar and Suarez-Balcazar’s (2017) Empowerment Process Model is cyclical, meaning individuals or groups may seek more knowledge or advocacy training or critical awareness of the members in order to succeed. The individual’s sense of efficacy is affected by the degree of success in conducting these efforts over time, which in turn can lead the person to try to seek empowerment in other situations.
TACTICS FOR COMMUNITY ACTION
Along with the empowerment model presented here, individuals may use a variety of strategies to address power imbalances (Fawcett et al., 1994). These strategies can help reduce or eliminate barriers, develop networks, and educate others in the community (see Practical Application 10.1). They can also create opportunities for capacity building and allow participants to advocate for changes in policies, programs, or services. To promote empowerment at the environmental and societal level, it is important to examine national, state, and local policies. Many programs and services unexpectedly place barriers and stressors on oppressed groups, such as people with disabilities. Ultimately, empowerment efforts are directed at promoting social justice. The strategies highlighted in this chapter can serve as a guide for individuals interested in promoting empowerment in their communities. It should be noted that there are many tactics that have been used to promote change over time. For example, Sharp (1973) researched and catalogued 198 methods of non-violence actions to promote social change and provided a rich selection of historical examples of the tactics.
Practical Application 10.1
Examples of Advisory Tactics
The tactics below help in thinking about the best approaches to advocacy. Each tactic is supplemented by a real-world example that can help you think of ways to advocate in your community.
Tactics for Understanding Issues
• Gather more information:
A group of concerned family members interviews the staff and clients at a local group home to investigate claims of client neglect.
• Volunteer to help:
Volunteers from the local Alliance for the Mentally Ill (AMI) are making efforts to contact the parents of youth who are hospitalized to introduce the services of the organization and offer their support. These volunteers often help these parents talk about their feelings regarding their family’s situation.
Tactics for Public Education
• Give personal compliments and public support:
A member of a local student organization sends a letter of support to their member of Congress who co-sponsors a bill which would prevent workplace discrimination against individuals who are part of the LGBTQ+ community.
• Offer public education:
A group of college students organizes a performance which depicts institutionalized racism in American society. They perform this show at high schools in their home state.
Tactics for Direct Action
1. Making your presence felt
• Express opposition publicly:
A student at a local university writes a blog about unfair wages for student workers.
• Make acomplaint:
An employee notifies the human resources department after seeing an instance of sexual harassment.
2. Mobilizing public support
• Conduct a fundraising activity:
A local service provider holds an annual theater benefit to help individuals who are living with HIV/AIDS.
• Organize public demonstrations:
A group of service providers is angry with the proposed decrease in funding for home services. They organize a sit-in with their group home residents, their family members, and other interested community members on the steps of the State House Building.
3. Using the system
• File a formal complaint:
A person in a wheelchair files a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission because the place where she works lacks accessible bathrooms. In her written complaint, she cited the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires organizations to adapt their buildings to accommodate people with disabilities.
• Seek a mediator or negotiator:
A parent has a child with disabilities who is just starting school. She comes to the first Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meeting with an experienced parent who has attended many such meetings at the school.
4. Direction action
• Arrange a media exposure:
A local teacher union uses social media sites in order to share their stories of workplace injustices and economic instability.
• Organize a boycott:
A group of college students organizes a boycott of organizations that practice unfair labor practices in order to ensure cheap products.
SUMMING UP
A fundamental principle of Community Psychology is that individuals have the right to live healthy and fulfilling lives, regardless of their ability levels, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, income, or other characteristics. A person’s well-being depends on personal choices and the dynamic interaction between individual and environmental factors. Community psychologists support the most vulnerable groups of society in their quest for justice and equality. We can work with historically oppressed groups as they claim their rights and their own personal and cultural identities. Research and advocacy efforts must continue until full participation in society has been achieved.
Community psychologists are continually working to refine the effectiveness of empowerment and advocacy efforts. In this chapter, we have provided definitions and successful examples of empowerment and identified some of the strategies, predictors, and facilitators in our efforts to achieve power redistribution. Consistent with an ecological approach, community-based participatory research methodologies help us include the voices of historically oppressed groups in our research and advocacy efforts. Partnering with historically oppressed groups allows us to better understand oppression and allows us to work toward developing effective ways in which they can gain power to address their unmet needs. Our goal is to work toward a more fully empowered and empowering society and realize the promise of equity and quality of life for all. This ongoing commitment will continue to propel our social and community change efforts into the future!
Critical Thought Questions
1. Where do you feel disempowered in your life? What makes you feel this way?
2. What are the tangible steps that you can take in order to gain more power? What skills can you gain? How can you increase your critical awareness?
3. Think about an issue that is occurring in your community. What are tactics that you can employ in order to address the issue? What group(s) would be important for you to partner with in order to be more effective?
Take the Chapter 10 Quiz
View the Chapter 10 Lecture Slides
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REFERENCES
Anckermann, S., Dominguez, M., Soto, N., Kjaerulf, F., Berliner, P., & Naima-Mikkelsen, E. (2005). Psycho-social support to large numbers of traumatized people in post-conflict societies: an approach to community development in Guatemala. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 15(2), 136–152.
Balcazar, F. E., & Suarez-Balcazar, Y. (2017). Promoting Empowerment among Individuals with Disabilities. In M. A. Bond, C. B. Keys & I. Serrano-García (Eds.). APA Handbook of Community Psychology (Vol. 2, p. 571-585). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Bond, M. A., & Keys, C. B. (1993). Empowerment, diversity and collaboration: Promoting synergy on community boards. American Journal of Community Psychology, 21, 37-57.
Cattaneo, L. B., & Chapman, A. R. (2010). The process of empowerment: A model for use in research and practice. American Psychologist, 65(7), 646–659.
Dworski-Riggs, D., & Langhout, R. D. (2010). Elucidating the power in empowerment and the participation in participatory action research: A story about research team and elementary school change. American Journal of Community Psychology, 45(3), 215-230.
Fawcett, S. B., White, G. W., Balcazar, F. E., Suarez-Balcazar, Y., Mathews, R. M., Paine-Andrews, A., … Smith, J. F. (1994). A contextual‐behavioral model of empowerment: Case studies involving people with physical disabilities. American Journal of Community Psychology, 22(4), 471–496.
Foster-Fishman, P. G., & Keys, C. B. (1997). The person/environment dynamics of employee empowerment: An organizational culture analysis. American Journal of Community Psychology, 25(3), 345-369
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. NY: Continuum Publishing Company.
Jason, L. A., Glantsman, O., O’Brien, J. F., & Ramian, K. N. (2019). Introduction to the field of Community Psychology. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/intro-to-community-psychology/
Keys, C., McConnell, E., Motley, D., Liao, C., & McAuliff, K. (2017). The what, the how, and the who of empowerment: Reflections on an intellectual history. In M. Bond, I. Serrano-Garcia, & C. Keys (Eds.). APA Handbook of Community Psychology: Theoretical Foundations, Core Concepts, and Emerging Challenges (Vol. 1). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Laschinger, H. K., Finegan, J., & Shamian, J. (2001). The impact of workplace empowerment, organizational trust on staff nurses’ work satisfaction and organizational commitment. Health Care Management Review, 26(3), 7-23.
Masterson, S., & Owen, S. (2006). Mental health service user’s social and individual empowerment: Using theories of power to elucidate far-reaching strategies. Journal of Mental Health, 15(1), 19-34.
Maton, K. (2008). Empowering community settings: Agents of individual development, community betterment and positive social change. American Journal of Community Psychology, 41, 4-21.
Nelson, G. B., & Prilleltensky, I. (2010). Community Psychology: In Pursuit of Liberation and Well-Being (2nd ed.). Basingstoke, UK; Palgrave Macmillan.
Palmer, L., Ferńandez, J. S., Lee, G., Masud, H., Hilson, S., Tang, C… Bernai, I. (2019). Oppression and Power. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/oppression-and-power/
Peterson, N. A., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2004). Beyond the individual: Toward a nomological network of organizational empowerment. American Journal of Community Psychology, 34(1), 129–145.
Rappaport, J. (1981). In praise of paradox: A social policy of empowerment over
prevention. American Journal of Community Psychology, 9(1), 1-25.
Sharp, G. (1973). The Politics of Nonviolent Action (3 Vols.) Boston: Porter Sargent. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Introduction_to_Community_Psychology_(Jason_et_al.)/03%3A_Understanding_Communities/3.03%3A_Empowerment.txt |
Chapter Eleven Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Differentiate professionally-led versus grassroots interventions
• Understand what it means for a community intervention to be effective
• Know why a community needs to be ready for an intervention
• Be aware of the steps to implementing community interventions
Many older people live alone, as is the case with Antonia. Since her husband died, Antonia has been living on her own in a small apartment in the Triana neighborhood in Seville, Spain. Due to problems with her mobility, she barely leaves her home and needs help to clean her house and make food. She misses having company over to chat and hang out with. She is also afraid of falling or having an accident and is worried there is no one who can help her. A neighbor told Antonia that the University of Seville now offers a service where a student from outside the city can live with her during the academic year, in exchange for housing. Antonia decided to join this special Community Psychology oriented program and was very happy that the student could help her with household chores and accompany her on a day-to-day basis.
The Community Service of the University of Seville in Spain has developed this community intervention program that matches university students with those who need services, including the elderly, people with disabilities, and single mothers. With this program, students receive free housing in exchange for providing company to the people with whom they live. They are also expected to help out with small domestic tasks and provide assistance to their hosts. The program is based on models of social support and mutual help. The university helps by matching students with those who need these resources, but also provides training, guidance, and ongoing monitoring to ensure that both parties benefit from the program. By being involved in this exchange, the students develop empathy, caring skills, and communication competencies, all attributes necessary to build strong communities. The evaluation of the program has shown improved perceptions of available social support and improved psychological well-being among participants. This program is an example of a successful community intervention.
In general terms, community interventions refer to actions that address social problems or unmet human needs, and take place in a neighborhood, community, or other setting. A community intervention is, therefore, an intentional action to promote change that can be expressed in different ways depending on the needs of the community. One type of program is a more traditional type know as a professionally-led intervention; it involves a program planned and implemented by professionals. For example, a mental health practitioner could have visited Antonia in the example above and provided her medications to relieve her depression. A second type of intervention aligns more with the spirit of Community Psychology, in that it uses approaches of both participation and collaboration, called a grassroots intervention. This second type of community intervention involves bringing volunteers into the homes of people like Antonia, and working together to develop and provide the social support intervention. These types of programs often have recurring themes of prevention, social justice, and an ecological understanding of people within their environments that were described in Chapter 1 (Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019). Below we will describe in more detail the methods utilized during the development and implementation phases of both traditional and participatory community interventions.
The first of the two types of interventions involves developing and implementing a program in a more traditional style, with a mental health professional designing and implementing the intervention. For example, a psychologist can teach a group of teenagers positive social skills so that they can confidently and voluntarily say “no” to their peers when they are encouraged to consume alcohol or other substances. A second type of intervention involves a participatory approach. For example, imagine security problems are affecting your neighborhood, and you meet with a group of neighbors to address how this issue is impacting your community. Instead of implementing preconceived and predesigned activities (e.g., the educational materials in the traditional example above), everything is decided in collaboration with the neighbors through active citizen participation. The intervention emerges as neighbors establish objectives (i.e., what problems they want to solve in the neighborhood) and decide what actions they can carry out together. The case study below shows how important citizen participation is for solving community problems.
Case Study 11.1
The Rochelambert Lot and Grassroots Organizing
A grassroots movement of residents in Rochelambert, a neighborhood of Seville, formed when the city council and a company announced the construction of a private parking lot in their community. One of the neighborhood leaders explained: “Here we have 300 parking lots on the surface and the neighbors did not see the need to build a parking lot. The town hall and a promoter decided to build an underground car park, together with a building, without consulting the neighbors. We did not see the need, because, in the end, we would pay for a parking space in a place where we already had parking. So we organized ourselves. With the participation of the community presidents in each block we coordinated; each neighbor began to pay one euro per month for the expenses of posters, travel and lawyers; as we thought that the cranes would come at dawn, we made patrols during the night … The press echoed and we were clear that this battle was going to be won, that things are not imposed … I think it was important to have people in the neighborhood who had experienced the transition from dictatorship to democracy and knew the importance of political participation. The fight lasted five months, and in the end we managed to stop the parking lot. Since then we maintain friendship, because that united us a lot.”
These types of bottom-up activities or grassroots movements are going on all the time, and it is our challenge to identify and work with these groups to promote behavioral change in defined community contexts so that social problems can be addressed. Community Psychology emphasizes the importance of community participation as a key process that improves preparation for change, contributes to community organization, and facilitates the implementation of collective actions, as the next case study below also illustrates.
Case Study 11.2
Participatory Research with Fishing Communities
The mouth of the Guadalquivir River is part of a “hotspot of biodiversity” in southern Europe, where fishermen make their livelihood. As there were certain areas of the river that were being overfished, there was a need to address this problem. In a study with fishermen in the area, we analyzed the social networks that connect them, exchanging social support and information about the marine environment (Maya-Jariego, Florido, Holgado, & Hernández, 2016). In a later meeting, the fishing communities decided, in a participatory way, on a series of actions that they would carry out in order to conserve the fishing resources of the area. The information on the networks among the fishing community served to reflect on the preferred fishing areas of different groups of participants in the fishing community. Having an overview of the area allowed them to detect the fishing grounds that were being over-exploited so that they could self-regulate fishing practices.
In this case study, the involvement of fishing communities in the management of fisheries was essential for the effective implementation of quota policies as well as restrictions on permitted types of fishing. More information on these types of participatory approaches is available at Research for Organizing, which shows you how to use very practical toolkits for developing action efforts to solve community problems.
In the next section, we will show the importance of designing effective programs, or programs that actually work. Programs that are designed to work effectively are called “evidence-based,” meaning that prior research has shown that these programs are successful in what they are intended to do. Another essential feature of community interventions is that they are implemented interventions to meet the needs and interests of the community. We will show how the outcomes of the intervention depend, in part, on the degree of readiness for change in the community. This means that the community members are generally excited about the intervention and committed to seeing the program through. Finally, community interventions are implemented successfully when the community psychologists have the necessary skills and abilities to work collaboratively with community members to make effective, long-lasting changes.
EFFECTIVENESS
The logic of effectiveness is strongly rooted in the tradition of Kurt Lewin’s (1946) action research. His work involved improving intergroup relations and preventing discrimination, and it helped us understand the importance of using solid research methods and outcome studies to support our work. The key for improving effectiveness is to base programs on previous research evidence and to apply strategies of further research to support the effectiveness of the program. The sequence of planning—action—fact-finding is a learning cycle based on experience. In the first step, the theory guides our action. In the second step, we then implement the intervention. In the third and last step, evaluative research is used to check the effects of the action. However, the intervention does not end there because the results can change the way we think about how we might develop even more effective interventions to solve problems in the future. Community psychologists constantly repeat these three steps to gain more data to improve the effectiveness of their interventions.
Let’s look at this approach with a specific case. The prevention of drug abuse is important, as thousands of people die each year from addiction. Research has shown that the majority of adults with drug abuse problems start using when they are teenagers, are subject to social peer pressure, and are exposed to negative behavior models in their immediate family and community environment. In addition, a growing number of studies over decades showed that specific programs are effective in overcoming these issues (Griffin & Botvin, 2010), and the results of one program led to even more effective and comprehensive programs. These types of prevention programs have multiple components including providing skills to resist attempts at social influence, improving communication in the family, and reducing adolescents’ access to drugs. Prevention programs at school have provided youths training in social skills to resist peer pressure, raise self-esteem, and reduce favorable perceptions about substance use. In addition, interventions with parents aimed to improve family communication and the establishment of rules against using drugs. Finally, community prevention efforts have confronted larger scale ecological factors, such as the media that often promote alcohol, tobacco, or illegal substance use. In this case, it is important for an intervention to use many of these strategies together, with comprehensive actions being developed through community coalitions. The following case study is an example of community psychologists working on multiple ecological levels when implementing a prevention program.
Case Study 11.3
A Community Intervention to Decrease Adolescent Tobacco Use
Kaufman, Jason, Sawlski, and Halpert (1994) launched a community intervention to decrease the number of new smokers, particularly focusing on African American adolescents. The preventive intervention combined a school-based curriculum with a media campaign. A total of 472 elementary schools provided students with a smoking prevention booklet, while the media campaign reached out to the broader community. A widely distributed local newspaper included parts of the curriculum on their weekly children’s page. A local radio station, with over a million listeners, aired a call-in talk show focusing on better parent-child communication about smoking. The station also aired anti-smoking public service announcements and promoted a smoking prevention rap contest for school children. Winners from five age groups had their raps aired, and the overall winner was a guest DJ. Additionally, owners of approximately two hundred billboards sponsored a contest in which children developed posters conveying anti-smoking messages, and winning posters from each of the five age groups were displayed on billboards. Participants for this preventive trial were randomly assigned to groups that either received the school-based curriculum or did not. However, both groups were exposed to the media messages and over 90% of the students indicated that they listened to the radio program on a regular basis. Smoking significantly decreased over time for students in both groups. But only those students provided with the school curriculum plus media campaign reported reading significantly more of the newspaper content and substantially increased their knowledge about the dangers of smoking, compared to the student group only exposed to the media campaign.
In the case study above, the intervention effects demonstrated the merit of community-wide, comprehensive preventive interventions. As demonstrated, Community Psychology interventions are based on the scientific understanding of the problem (e.g., drug abuse), with an empirical analysis of risk and protective factors. Secondly, the interventions keep in mind the changes that need to be achieved in the community, aiming to consider the ecological levels that were discussed in Chapter 1. As indicated earlier, these interventions also bring in the active participation of community members in planning and implementing the programs.
IMPLEMENTATION
What do we mean by implementation? As mentioned above, having a good community intervention depends on how well the program has been designed and tested out to be effective. It is also important to keep in mind how ready or interested the setting or people are in the intervention because if the community does not really want the program, it is very unlikely to be accepted or used by the community members.
Case Study 11.4
A Classroom Exercise and Lessons in Implementation
One high school teacher performed an interesting exercise with his students in a class. First, he inserted cotton in a transparent bottle. Next, he lit a cigarette and placed it so the smoke entered the bottle. After a while, the students could see that the cotton had blackened and retained a part of the tar and other harmful elements of tobacco. In a simple way, this showed the effect of smoking on the lungs. When adolescents are informed about the negative health consequences of smoking, they may be less likely to use tobacco. However, the achievement of good preventive results with this group of adolescents does not only depend on having clear intervention ideas, such as the demonstration of the cotton in the bottle but also enlists the help of the students and teachers in changing the social pressures to smoke. It also involves the larger community including the media, such as in Case Study 11.3. Furthermore, it is important to have the groups actively invested in the program, and this can occur when they participate in the design and implementation of the intervention. In part, the success of the intervention also depends on when and where this activity will occur during and after school; these type of factors influence how well the program is implemented.
In Case Study 11.4, we are focusing on community dynamics—a critical factor that is often forgotten when interventions are developed. By considering the community dynamics when implementing an intervention, this helps shape whether the intervention should be more traditional, with an expert delivering a packaged prevention program, or more in line with the spirit of Community Psychology, where community partnerships actively bring those voices into the design of the intervention.
Theory is an important aspect when community psychologists develop and implement ecological community interventions, but there is more that is needed to make long-lasting changes. Other critical areas involve the skill levels and knowledge of those who implement the programs, the interest and readiness for the intervention among the community members, and the availability of the needed resources required by the intervention. We can illustrate these points with the example of smoking, which was reviewed in Chapter 1. If you can believe it, there was a time when commercials had physicians endorsing tobacco use (see the video on physicians endorsing tobacco in Chapter 6; Stevens & Dropkin, 2019)! In the 1940s and 1950s, few people thought that tobacco use was harmful. It was not until tobacco use and its effects were studied for years that public perception, and then policy, were changed. Over the past 50 years, there have been significant reductions in smoking in the US (Biglan & Taylor, 2000). This reduction was due to evidence gathered over time on the consequences of tobacco abuse, which helped change people’s opinions about smoking.
Communities may vary in the degree of awareness to a specific social problem, as few were willing to address tobacco use as a problem before the 1960s. With the Surgeon General’s report, the public began to view tobacco as a harmful social problem. This shows that, in practice, some communities may be more or less prepared for changes. That is why the degree of “community readiness” often determines whether our community interventions will be effective. From this perspective, implementation is a key process: since it is not enough to design effective programs, it is also necessary to attend to the factors that make the desired social change possible.
Case Study 11.5
The Importance of Public Awareness in Prevention Efforts
Investigators have tried to prevent intimate partner violence in different Latin American countries. In one of the countries, there was frequent debate on television about gender-based violence, and this led to several organizations advocating for greater protection of women. In another country, there was little publicity or awareness of these types of issues, and there was not the same type of organizational advocacy. In other words, the issue was not publicly discussed nor were there organizations promoting community awareness of this topic.
In the above case study, the level of community readiness was high in the first country but low in the second, which led to more intimate violence prevention programs being launched in one country than the other.
Let’s go back to the above cases 11.3 and 11.4 showing tobacco prevention to again illustrate the importance of community readiness and successful implementation. The “Communities That Care” program well represents this concern for awareness of community contexts and the implementation process (Oesterle et al., 2015). This is a Community Psychology program that aims to reduce drug dependency, criminal behavior, violence, and other harmful behaviors among adolescents. The program is often initiated through a local community coalition, in which different organizations collaborate to develop united action for preventive purposes. This means that adolescents receive a consistent message from different agents of the community and are exposed to social norms that promote healthy habits. In addition, these community agents participate in choosing the evidence-based practices that will be implemented. Accordingly, they are jointly responsible for both the actions that are carried out and the introduction of adjustments to adapt them to the specific characteristics of the community. Finally, it is important that preventive actions have the intensity, continuity, and dose necessary to have the most significant impact in the community context. Dose refers to the number of sessions or the duration of a program and influences the level of results we can achieve. For example, we cannot expect one social skills training session to have the same result as a longer semester-long program. Just like a muscle, the more these programs are exercised, the stronger they are. Thus, beyond the quality of the programs, how the community supports the idea and helps to carry it out affects how the program is applied on multiple levels in the community. The application of the Communities That Care program in neighborhoods has been found to reduce the overall consumption of alcohol, cigarette, and smokeless tobacco, as well as delinquent behavior. This video link provides more information about the Communities That Care model and its effectiveness.
In Figure 3, we have summarized some of the key factors in the implementation process when trying to prevent alcohol abuse.
TRANSFORMING COMMUNITY CONTEXTS
When we seek to address problems through community interventions, we discover the importance of the environment and potential community partners (Shinn & Toohey, 2003). In other words, we need to understand the context, or the neighborhoods and community settings, within which we place the community interventions. We can illustrate this with the following examples involving refugees and the approaches of several countries in dealing with this issue.
In Colombia, displaced persons can access housing when they flee political violence. However, this often places them in a segregated space where they share their day-to-day lives with other people who also suffer from post-traumatic stress. This also occurs in Spain with incoming refugees, who are received in publicly owned “reception centers” that cover their basic housing, food, and health needs. They can also access language courses, workshops to improve employability, and other programs that aim to ease their integration into a new country. However, only a small percentage of the residents in the reception centers are actually able to find work in Spain. Consequently, refugees have not been able to take advantage of the provided psychosocial resources. The case study below illustrates what needs to be taken into consideration when designing effective community interventions.
Case Study 11.6
The Importance of an Ecological Lens: A Family Seeking Asylum
The Patatanian family arrived in Madrid from Armenia, fleeing the harassment they suffered for religious reasons. They were received in the center of asylum seekers and provided accommodation and food. The parents received Spanish classes and made some contacts to learn about the labor market in Madrid while waiting for their case to resolve. Their children joined a school and, despite some difficulties adapting to a new country, made friends and did well enough academically. However, after nine months in Spain, they received a notification that the government did not recognize their refugee status. Consequently, although the Spanish teaching and employment guidance programs were well designed, the legal situation prevented the integration of the Patatanian family in Spain by not providing them the ability to apply for jobs. This resulted in the programs not achieving the objectives they were designed to meet.
The family, however, was fortunate to have another chance for a better life. Shortly after their experience in Spain, they decided to try again in Canada, where they were welcomed with not only the classes and resources but also the opportunities to fully participate in the workforce. The family members learned French and integrated very well with the community of Armenians living in Montreal. They also became friends with some neighbors and, little by little, could normalize their lives and find employment.
The case study of the family above shows why community interventions often need to transcend the individual level and deal with higher ecological levels. That is, it is about introducing deeper, second-order changes such as providing employment opportunities, that can have a more lasting and sustainable effect on individual behavior.
Let’s take child labor as another example. Child labor is a worldwide problem, affecting a large number of developing countries. It has a very negative impact on the cognitive, affective, and social development of the child. Programs can be developed that promote self-esteem, train social skills, or reinforce academic motivation. But, an effective intervention program also needs to focus on the children’s environment. If parents need to have their children work at very young ages to support the family as a whole, community psychologists need to take this into consideration and possibly find better ways for the parents to earn money so that they do not need to depend on their children to earn money, as illustrated in the case study below.
Case Study 11.7
Edúcame Primero
The Edúcame Primero is an initiative that aims to reduce child labor through psychoeducational strategies and community collaboration. Some of the strategies are oriented toward creating safe learning spaces in the school and the involvement of the family in the education of the children, as well as the collaboration with other agents in the community context. A central element of the program is the use of a methodology called Spaces for Growth (SfG): that is, complementary training workshops for formal education that include strategies for facilitating participation and active collaboration for children and young people, as well as their families and the staffs of educational centers. The SfG promote collaboration with different agents in educational and community contexts, namely: teachers, professionals, community leaders, and families. They participate in the design of the workshops, the configuration of the program content, and the adaptation of the program to the characteristics of the educational center. To this end, the involvement of parents, exchange forums with community agents, and regular meetings with staff of the educational centers are organized. Community readiness is evaluated by gathering information on (a) existing resources and key players in the community context, (b) previous experience in the implementation of intervention programs in child labor, (c) the level of awareness about child labor as a problem among community members and (d) the degree of community cohesion around existing needs linked to child labor. Finally, facilitators play a key role in the adjustment to the community context. They are professionals selected on the basis of their capacity for teaching children and young people, their knowledge of the community environments in which the SfG will be implemented, as well as their leadership skills (e. g., abilities for community mobilization). The Edúcame Primero program has proven to be a good practice in the prevention of child labor, with positive results in terms of prevention and reduction of child labor. A video of the Edúcame Primero is available here.
In Latin America, these types of intervention efforts have been developed by international organizations, such as the International Labor Organization (through the International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor), in collaboration with national governments and other third-party entities. In the last two decades, these international organizations have designed and implemented programs that have resulted in the worldwide prevalence of child labor decreasing by about 30 percent. As we can see in the Edúcame Primero example, environmental contexts need to be considered when developing these types of Community Psychology interventions. Figure 4 illustrates the multiple ecological levels of community-based interventions.
SUMMING UP
There are many important lessons we can learn from working to develop community interventions. Some of these lessons include the need for using programs that have some evidence that supports them and working collaboratively with the community to be sure that they support and help design the actual program. Community psychologists use good theory and methods with the community members, and this is something that often does not occur with many interventions that are thrust on communities with little input from community members. Active community participation makes it more likely that the intervention is accepted and carried on into the future by the community members.
In summary, community intervention is a planned action aimed at changing behavior in relation to a social problem. Action research consists of a learning cycle based on experience, through which interventions are based on previous theoretical models and in turn, generate new knowledge through the application of programs. Effectiveness is gauged by aiming at obtaining results with the application of evidence-based practices. Implementation should take into consideration the level of community readiness and focus on promoting active community participation.
Critical Thought Questions
1. You probably know of a community program because you have been a participant, volunteer, or simply an observer of it. Can you explain the difference between planning and implementation of programs, using this example?
2. Explain the following sentence: “to make good planning it is important to know the previous research on the subject, to make a good implementation it is important to have a good knowledge of the community receiving the intervention.”
3. Think of a social problem that is relevant to you and reflect on the degree of “community readiness” that exists in your city to deal with this problem. Justify your arguments with some empirical data referring to the place where you reside.
4. Using the “Edúcame Primero” program as an example, try to explain the following concepts: “effectiveness”, “dose”, and “community coalition”.
Take the Chapter 11 Quiz
View the Chapter 11 Lecture Slides
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REFERENCES
Biglan, A., & Taylor, T. K. (2000). Why have we been more successful in reducing tobacco use than violent crime? American Journal of Community Psychology, 28, 269-302.
Griffin, K. W., & Botvin, G. J. (2010). Evidence-based interventions for preventing substance use disorders in adolescents. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics, 19, 505-526.
Jason, L. A., Glantsman, O., O’Brien, J. F., & Ramian, K. N. (2019). Introduction to the field of Community Psychology. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from: https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/intro-to-community-psychology/
Kaufman, J. S., Jason, L. A., Sawlski, L. M., & Halpert, J. A. (1992). A comprehensive multi media program to prevent smoking among black students. Journal of Drug Education, 24, 95-108.
Lewin, K. (1946). Action research and minority problems. Journal of Social Issues, 2(4), 34-46.
Maya-Jariego, I., Florido, D., Holgado, D., & Hernández, J. (2016). Network analysis and stakeholder analysis in mixed methods research. In L. A. Jason & D.S. Glenwick (Eds.), Handbook of methodological approaches to community-based research: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods, (pp. 325-334). New York: Oxford University Press.
Oesterle, S., Hawkins, J. D., Kuklinski, M. R., Fagan, A. A., Fleming, C., Rhew, I. C., . . . Catalano, R. F. (2015). Effects of Communities That Care on males’ and females’ drug use and delinquency 9 years after baseline in a community-randomized trial. American Journal of Community Psychology, 56, 217-228.
Shinn, M., & Toohey, S. M. (2003). Community contexts of human welfare. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 427-459.
Stevens, E., & Dropkin, M. (2019). Research methods. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/community-research/ | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Introduction_to_Community_Psychology_(Jason_et_al.)/04%3A_Intervention_and_Prevention_Strategies/4.01%3A_Community_Interventions.txt |
Chapter Twelve Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Understand historical perspectives on prevention and promotion
• Define the different types of prevention
• Identify examples of risk and protective factors
• Describe various aspects of prevention programs and evaluation
One notable characteristic in the field of Community Psychology is the focus on prevention of problems and wellness promotion, as discussed in Chapter 1 (Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019). This occurs through addressing individual-level competencies within a community and also through working to change systems and contexts. As highlighted in Chapter 1, prevention serves as an exemplary framework for Community Psychology research and also an innovative way to approach real-world problems. The core belief is that taking action early on can prevent more serious problems from developing in the future. Case Study 12.1 profiles Head Start, an early childhood prevention program for kids aimed to reduce the negative effects of poverty. The case study highlights the way the political and social forces of the time shaped the development of Head Start. This program represents a pivotal tale in the history of prevention, serving as an example of many of the key concepts detailed throughout this chapter.
Case Study 12.1
The Head Start Model
Head Start, an early childhood education program for children experiencing poverty and related stressors, was first established in 1965. Head Start was created in response to President Lyndon B. Johnson’s famous State of the Union address in 1964 where he called for an “unconditional war on poverty” (Watch the speech here). Programs from this era reflected efforts to improve social conditions and prevent the negative outcomes associated with poverty.
The purpose of Head Start programming is to reduce gaps in skills, appearing at kindergarten entry, between children experiencing poverty and their counterparts. These early disparities can continue throughout schooling and into adulthood; therefore, Head Start aims to provide equitable preschool services to improve children’s readiness for entering school. The Head Start model adopts an ecological, whole-child approach and provides comprehensive services to children while promoting the well-being of the whole family that extends beyond academics (watch The Head Start Advantage for a closer look). Head Start involvement has resulted in improved language development, learning/pre-academics, and social-emotional skills of children by the time of kindergarten entry (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, 2010).
Since its inception over 50 years ago, Head Start has expanded and evolved greatly. See the Office of Head Start’s interactive and detailed timeline. Head Start (and Early Head Start) programs currently serve children from birth to 5 years of age. According to the Office of Head Start, there are Head Start programs across all 50 states and several US territories.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
The concept of prevention comes from the field of public health. This is very different from the medical model, which refers to the framework of treating social problems in the same manner that we treat illness. Community psychologists have long been critical of the medical model, given its shortcomings in locating social problems in the individual, which are often rooted in systematic inequalities. This talk describes key distinctions between the medical model and community-based advocacy to address female juvenile delinquency.
Two key aspects of a public health approach to problems include measuring the incidence and prevalence of disease. In Community Psychology, a public health approach requires that the focus is on measuring the incidence or prevalence of a social issue. Incidence refers to the number of new cases during a specified period of time (e.g., the annual rate of new cases of depression among women, the annual rate of new individuals who experience homelessness). Prevalence is the total number of cases in a population (e.g., the total number of women in the population with depression, the total number of people in the population who are homeless in a particular country). Understanding the incidence and prevalence of a social problem is a critical first step to developing a prevention focus.
The 1960s were a critical point in time for the change in focus to prevention, rather than treatment, of individual disease (medical model). As seen in President Johnson’s speech, a focus on prevention was in the spirit of the times. During this point in history, there was a concentrated focus on social inequality and civil rights, the prevention of mental health disorders, and the establishment of innovative prevention programming in the community (e.g., Head Start). This time was not without debates about where to focus resources and how to define social problems. For example, Albee (1983) argued forcefully against the medical model for treating mental illness. That is, no mass disorder that affects large amounts of individuals (e.g., poverty, mental illness, homelessness) has ever been eradicated by providing treatment to each person affected by the problem. Nor is it feasible to train enough professionals (e.g., clinical psychologists) to end a problem (e.g., mental illness) that has roots in deeper social problems such as poverty and oppression. Prevention efforts require an ideology aligned with social change, education, and primary prevention (Albee, 1983).
The field of prevention was somewhat new to many in the field of psychology. The public was also not familiar with this idea as it represented a very different way of thinking about solving problems. As one example, at a psychological convention in 1981, Bob Felner and Leonard Jason, two community psychologists, had a most interesting conversation with Jerry Frank, who was a senior editor at Pergamon, a major book publishing company. What often occurs at these types of meetings is that publishers and authors have discussions about possible book ideas, and Felner and Jason approached Jerry with the idea of an edited book in a new field in psychology. Jerry seemed interested, and then Felner and Jason said they wanted to title the book Preventive Psychology. Jerry looked puzzled and asked them why they would want to prevent psychology. Jerry’s reaction was actually very typical of how many people reacted to this new way of thinking about social problems. Felner and Jason chuckled and said they were not trying to prevent the field of psychology, but rather wanted to provide examples of how prevention could be used to address many problems that psychologists were dealing with such as addictions and school difficulties. Jerry had not thought about this approach before, and after a long discussion, he finally understood the exciting possibilities of this field and agreed to publish the book which was titled: Preventive Psychology: Theory, Research and Practice.
TYPES OF PREVENTION
In the wake of these debates, an abundance of programming and empirical research surfaced. This included research on preventive interventions to reduce mental illness and social problems such as crime and homelessness. The findings from these studies demonstrated that taking a prevention focus is effective (e.g., see Durlak & Wells’ 1997 meta-analysis on this topic).
There are three types of prevention: primary, secondary, and tertiary (Caplan, 1964). The corresponding Figure 1 above provides an overview of these types of prevention. Primary prevention includes efforts to stop the problem from beginning in the first place. For example, Durlak and Wells (1997), in a meta-analysis, analyzed mental health treatment studies and outcomes from prevention interventions with another area of focus: drug use, physical health, academic achievement. They identified that specific high-quality programs can prevent multiple problems across different areas. This research specified how important it is for collaboration to occur among prevention scientists across disciplines. Collaboration and interdisciplinary work are other key focus areas of Community Psychology. Collaboration can maximize prevention efficiency and help researchers and practitioners understand the short-term and long-term effects of preventive interventions. The other important finding from this study was that positive mental health outcomes could be achieved through interventions targeting other aspects of human development and functioning. For example, (1) successful education programming can reduce future drug use and (2) programs promoting positive physical health can boost academic achievement.
Secondary prevention includes interventions that detect a disease early and prevent it from getting worse. In another meta-analysis, Durlak and Wells (1998) evaluated outcomes of 130 secondary prevention mental health programs for children and adolescents. They found that secondary prevention produces positive effects on young people receiving treatment for mental health through significantly reducing problem behavior, increasing youth competencies, and improving social and emotional adjustment. This work was groundbreaking in that it highlighted how preventive interventions can be just as effective as providing individualized psychotherapy for children and adolescents and more effective than reactive approaches to preventing problem behavior such as smoking, alcohol use, and delinquency. One case study example of secondary prevention is sexual assault prevention on college campuses. The Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network states that college-age women have a high likelihood of experiencing sexual assault. Secondary prevention efforts to reduce sexual assault on college campuses may include self-defense, bystander intervention training, sex education regarding consent, resource education, and increasing sexual assault survivor visibility. The Centers for Disease Control and the American Psychological Association have both published recommendations to reduce sexual violence and make college campuses safer. A life transition can be stressful, such as entering school, graduating from school or getting married, and these are excellent times for implementing secondary preventive interventions. The following Case Study 12. 2 illustrates one such program from youth transferring into a new school when some children are at high risk for developing academic and social problems.
Case Study 12.2
At-Risk Youth Transferring Into a New School
A group of community psychologists designed an intervention for transferring elementary students which included an orientation to the new school and a program buddy at the new school. Also, those transferring students who were assessed as having some early academic difficulties were provided tutoring twice a week, over the entire academic year. For some at-risk youth, the tutorial aspect of the intervention focused on working directly with the children; for another group of children, the intervention focused on working with both the children and their parents. One year after the intervention ended, only children in the schools with the parental involvement condition continued to improve in their math and reading grades. The continuing increase in reading grades following the intervention suggests that students receiving both school and home tutoring benefitted the most from the comprehensive intervention. This intervention demonstrates the value of providing comprehensive prevention interventions at critical points in a child’s life course (Jason et al., 1992).
Tertiary prevention treats disease or social problems with the goal to improve quality of life and reduce symptoms of the problem after it has developed. Tertiary prevention differs from primary and secondary prevention in that it does not focus on reducing the incidence or prevalence of a disease or social problems, but rather on treating the problem once it arises. For example, as depicted in the video “An Ounce of Prevention,” parenting programs that increase key parenting characteristics, such as parental warmth, and support parents’ abilities to manage disruptive behaviors during early childhood, can prevent child maltreatment and future behavioral concerns in children. The video specifically describes the impact of such a tertiary prevention effort for a Mexican immigrant family facing several risks that may place children at greater risk for maltreatment and future behavioral distress, including underlying medical factors and poverty. These programs can be delivered to families on an individual or group basis (e.g., Incredible Years®, Triple P – Positive Parenting Program®) in the community.
The Ounce of Prevention video further depicts four prevention and promotion programs for young children, middle school adolescents, unemployed adults, and elderly people. These programs highlight each of the different types of prevention discussed above and why these programs are advantageous for their respective populations. The video includes interviews of the participants and program developers, footage of program activities, and a discussion of program outcomes. Indeed, an ounce of prevention can reduce a host of problematic behaviors and outcomes later in life.
The Institute of Medicine also has developed definitions for prevention efforts. One key distinction in this definition is that tertiary prevention is no longer considered a type of prevention, but rather an intervention strategy.
Indicated prevention refers to programming that targets people who have detectable early signs of maladjustment that foreshadow social, physical, or mental health problems. For example, the field of pediatrics has increased attention to decreasing the prevalence of childhood obesity in order to prevent adult obesity. Goldschmidt et al. (2013) specifically describe an indicated prevention approach that employed an intensive family-based treatment that included a combination of dieting, exercise, and behavioral (e.g., self-monitoring, parent skill training) strategies that targeted 669 obese and overweight youth across three cities in the US. Researchers measured the change in weight that was necessary to alter the status of overweight or obese youth to non-overweight. Results showed that despite some differences by age and initial weight classification, even a small decrease in weight was enough to move children into the non-overweight status after one year. Specifically, this underscores that preventive efforts during childhood may need only a small investment of resources to produce important changes. Another example of indicated prevention programs targeting substance use among youth can be found here.
Selective prevention involves programming that targets individuals who do not show any indication of the problem, but are at high risk for the development of the problem. For example, Head Start can be considered a type of selective prevention because many programs aim to provide comprehensive supports (e.g., schooling, family-based interventions) to children experiencing specific risk factors that place children at risk for later academic and social-emotional difficulties, such as poverty or developmental delays.
Universal prevention, which is similar to primary prevention, targets all of the people in a given population. School-based universal prevention programs that target behavioral and social-emotional functioning at the school or class-wide level are an example of a universal prevention approach to increasing access to services. These programs are a direct response to literature which indicated that the unmet behavioral and mental health needs of school-aged children increase the risk for longer-term declines in mental health, academic, and social functioning (Costello, Egger, & Angold, 2005; Nastasi, 2004). One such prevention approach to population health that has demonstrated immediate and long-term behavioral, academic, and societal benefits, the PAX Good Behavior Game, is described in Case Study 12.3.
Case Study 12.3
The PAX Good Behavior Game®
The PAX Good Behavior Game® is a set of universal prevention strategies, rooted in decades of behavioral science that are implemented by classroom teachers in schools. PAX GBG aims to create a positive, safe, and nurturing classroom environment for learning and pro-social interactions. This nurturing environment enhances children’s behavioral skills, such as self-regulation and co-regulation with other classmates, and can improve learning outcomes in children. PAX is an example of universal prevention because it targets and benefits all students in a classroom or school, including the students who are exhibiting signs of behavioral and/or learning concerns as well as those who are not exhibiting these concerns. Click here to learn more about the good behavior game and watch Dr. Dennis Embry, president and senior scientist at PAXIS Institute talk about PAX.
In addition to immediate changes in the classroom, such as fewer instances of discipline referrals, studies have shown that children who were in PAX GBG classrooms during elementary school were less likely to use tobacco and other substances and more likely to experience better behavior and mental health in high school and young adulthood (e.g., Storr, Ialongo, Kellam, & Anthony, 2002; Wilcox et al., 2008). Learn more about some of the short and long-term benefits of PAX GBG here.
* PAX Good Behavior Game images reproduced with permission from PAXIS Institute
PROMOTION
Related to the key concept of primary prevention is promotion. Promotion involves empowering individuals to increase control of their health and well-being through literacy and programming. Community psychologists identified that the goal of preventing problems can be done through promoting well-being. Generally, there are two approaches to promotion. The first is through reducing the chances that the problem will arise. The second is through increasing skills, strengths, and competencies of individuals and settings to reduce the risk for problems arising. Cost-benefit analyses of promotion have shown that efforts that focus on health promotion are very cost-effective compared to reactive or treatment-oriented approaches (Durlak & Wells, 1997). Community psychologists argue that promotion must also take into consideration ecological approaches to improving the human condition. That is, those who are interested in preventing social problems and promoting human competencies and well-being must call attention to the relationship between broader social forces and rates of disease and social distress seen in communities (Albee, 1983). For example, Case Study 12.4 describes a community-based advocacy program developed by community psychologists to promote well-being among girls in the juvenile justice system.
Case Study 12.4
Resilience, Opportunity, Safety, Education, Strength (ROSES)
Resilience, Opportunity, Safety, Education, Strength is a community-based program in New York City that pairs a trained advocate with girls involved with or at-risk for juvenile justice system involvement. The program works to provide the girls with resources and education, defining personal goals, developing self-efficacy skills, encouraging engagement with various social contexts (i.e., school, family, peers) and promotion to reduce justice system involvement. Resilience, Opportunity, Safety, Education, Strength aims to learn more about justice-system-involved girls’ needs. Research shows that those girls who have participated in this program reported greater resilience and self-efficacy; fewer risk behaviors, including violence, crime, and substance use; and decreased negative emotions such as depression, anxiety, and anger (Javdani & Allen, 2016).
Learn more about ROSES.
Risk and Protective Factors
Another key concept is the role of risk and protective factors. Risk factors are variables that are related to an increased risk for developing a disease or problem. While the term comes from a public health perspective, community psychologists use risk factors to understand factors associated with increased risk for various social problems such as homelessness, juvenile delinquency, or gender-based violence. For example, Figure 3 below depicts some of the most common risk factors, especially among children and adolescents, which prevention programs need to consider in reducing the development of social problems. Case Study 12.5 provides a specific example of risk factors for human trafficking, a pervasive problem around the globe. In contrast to risk factors, protective factors include variables that are related to a decreased risk for developing a disease or a social problem. Protective factors can include variables such as positive relationships, academic achievement, parental support, and strong economic conditions.
Case Study 12.5
The Most Vulnerable, The Risk Factors, and The Most Effective Programming
Human trafficking is a serious social problem in the US and around the world. Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion for commercial sex or involuntary labor (Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000). For sex trafficking cases, there are a number of risk factors for youth. Taking an ecological perspective, these can include factors related to an individual’s sociodemographic characteristics as well as social, behavioral, and broader community risk factors. Figure 4 below includes a list of risk factors for human trafficking.
Thus, the most effective prevention programming, such as The Prevention Project program, should target the most vulnerable population (e.g., female youth) engaged in social or behavioral correlates of sex trafficking (e.g., running away), or involved with community systems and programs such as the juvenile justice system or foster care, or social problems more generally, like poverty. The most effective types of services tend to be integrated and target multiple risk factors.
PREVENTION RESEARCH AND PROGRAMMING
The Institute of Medicine (1994) developed a model for problem assessment, intervention, and dissemination strategies. For example, this research cycle includes assessing the prevalence of risk and protective factors of a problem area, developing prevention innovations, researching the effectiveness of those innovations, and disseminating innovations into the community. Figure 5 below outlines each aspect of the preventive intervention research cycle.
There are a number of challenges to conducting prevention research and using these models since they identify what needs to be done but provide very little detail on how these things will happen. Most models, such as the Institute of Medicine framework, focus on the functions that are part of the innovation, implementation, and dissemination process, but not on the systems that support these functions. To address this gap, Wandersman and colleagues (2008) proposed a framework that describes relevant systems to help bridge the gap. The Interactive Systems Framework works to connect step four (conducting trials of the program) and step five (implementing the program in the community) of the Institute of Medicine model. Figure 6 below details the critical components of the Interactive Systems Framework to bridge this gap. For example, Halgunseth and colleagues (2012) used the Interactive Systems Framework to understand the relationship between program capacity and implementation in after-school settings. They examined eight after-school sites that received the Good Behavior Game (described in Case Study 12.2). Aligned with the Prevention Support System element of the Interactive Systems Framework, the after-school staff was trained and received weekly on-site support in implementing the intervention. It was found that after-school settings that were more organized and maintained strong links to individuals or community-based organizations scored higher in program fidelity and quality. Funders can utilize the Interactive Systems Framework to identify what kinds of support they should provide for the Prevention Synthesis and Translation System element; similarly, practitioners can gather information from that same component for what they need as well as from the Prevention Support System element. Additionally, practitioners can see what they need to do to build capacity from the perspective of the Prevention Delivery System component.
Program evaluation is a cornerstone of Community Psychology research and action. Broadly, program evaluation involves measuring the effectiveness of interventions and policies. This can include both processes (e.g., how were intervention activities implemented) and outcomes (e.g., did the intervention achieve the outcome objectives). Community psychologists engaged in prevention and promotion research and action use logic models to guide these efforts. To read more about program evaluation, check out these resources from the Centers for Disease Control and the Community Tool Box. Conducting program evaluations is a key way that community psychologists can measure whether or not our prevention and promotion efforts are having the intended effect.
CRITIQUES OF THE PREVENTION PARADIGM
Even though prevention and promotion are seminal concepts in Community Psychology, they are not without drawbacks. Community psychologists have outlined two key critiques. First, prevention and promotion is limited in its focus on empowerment (Rappaport, 1981). Rappaport argued that prevention is “one-sided” in part because it is derived from a needs model, rather than a rights model. Further, Rappaport argued prevention programs may not be enough to change social institutions, but rather just add on to what is already in place. Rappaport made the case that empowerment is a better model because it prioritizes rights and offers a more transformative perspective to change social problems. Second, Miller and Shinn (2005) outlined another critique of prevention and promotion: the failure to adopt prevention programming is rooted in difficulties in implementation and dissemination.
Miller and Shinn (2005) described potential problems with the Institute of Medicine model of dissemination and potential ways community psychologists can directly counteract these problems in their dissemination efforts. They identified four distinct problems in disseminating prevention and promotion innovations. First, many communities have limited capacity (as shown in the video link) to implement a program causing dissemination failure. The context in which community-based organizations function shapes that capacity, so folks interested in disseminating programs must take into account ecological factors. Second, often times there is an incongruence of values—a lack of compatibility and/or consistency between the setting and the prevention program. Third, Miller and Shinn argued that there is a presumption that innovations that “prove their worth” in a controlled, experimental setting are better than what they might replace when implemented. They referred to this as “innovation bias” that wrongly characterizes communities as passively waiting to adopt a prevention program rather than problem-solving themselves. Finally, they argued that the Institute of Medicine prevention and promotion model proposes an overly simplistic model of decision-making. It assumes that the evidence of the success of an innovation in a controlled, experimental setting is sufficient to promote decisions about adopting the innovation in practice. We know that many other considerations are also relevant in the decision-making of community agencies. Miller and Shinn (2005) proposed two potential solutions to these pitfalls of the Institute of Medicine framework. Rather than curating innovations in the context of a university and then translating them to a different environment in the community, community psychologists should identify promising prevention and promotion interventions already functioning in communities and study those to understand their effectiveness. Finally, they proposed that researchers should focus less on specific programs and more on powerful ideas that can improve the quality of life. This focus on powerful ideas may actually come from the process of understanding how prevention and promotion programs work in communities by specifying the core elements of a program that could be applied in other community contexts. Thus, we should be “learning from communities” and disseminating their prevention and promotion efforts that work.
Despite these critiques, prevention is still an important framework in Community Psychology and has the potential to create sustainable change in communities. Looking at precipitating factors, an attempt is made to make meaningful changes in environmental or personal factors to eliminate the barriers to success and wellness. Disease and community disorder will always require reactive responses and treatment; however, one goal of Community Psychology is to prevent some of it. Prevention lowers the demand for treatment and allows for increased access to resources that individuals may otherwise not have access to. As noted in this chapter, prevention also has the potential to reduce societal costs in the long run, which means resources can continue being spread for a greater amount of time.
SUMMING UP
This chapter outlined the importance of prevention and promotion as key concepts in Community Psychology. We highlighted the historical and contemporary perspectives on prevention and promotion including different types of prevention (e.g., primary, secondary, tertiary), risk and protective factors, and the various aspects of prevention programs and the techniques needed to evaluate such programming. As seen throughout the chapter based on the wide range of examples—from childhood obesity prevention efforts to examining risk factors for human trafficking—there are a vast number of social issues community psychologists can explore with an eye towards prevention and promotion. These are important frameworks to use to target change across multiple levels (e.g., individuals, groups, settings, social systems) in order to prevent negative outcomes and promote well-being.
Critical Thought Questions
1. What role do risk factors play in promotion? Why is that important?
2. How have historical debates on prevention and promotion shaped the way we view their usefulness currently?
3. How does each type of prevention impact problems experienced in society or by members of society?
4. What aspects must we consider regarding prevention research and programming?
Take the Chapter 12 Quiz
View the Chapter 12 Lecture Slides
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REFERENCES
Albee, G. W. (1983). Preventing psychopathology and promoting human potential. American Psychologist, 37, 1043–1050.
Caplan, G. (1964). Principles of Preventive Psychiatry. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Costello, E. J., Egger, H., & Angold, A. (2005). 10-year research update review: the epidemiology of child and adolescent psychiatric disorders: I. Methods and public health burden. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 44(10), 972-986.
Durlak, J. A., & Wells, A. M. (1997). Primary prevention mental health programs for children and adolescents: a meta-analytic review. American Journal of Community Psychology, 25, 115-152.
Durlak, J. A. & Wells, A. M. (1998). Evaluation of indicated preventative intervention (secondary prevention) mental health programs for children and adolescents. American Journal of Community Psychology, 26, 775-802.
Goldschmidt, A. B., Wilfley, D. E., Paluch, R. A., Roemmich, J. N., & Epstein, L. H. (2013). Indicated prevention of adult obesity: How much weight change is necessary for normalization of weight status in children?. JAMA Pediatrics, 167(1), 21-26.
Halgunseth, L. C., Carmack, C., Childs, S. S., Caldwell, L., Craig, A., & Smith, E. P. (2012). Using the Interactive Systems Framework in understanding the relation between program capacity and implementation in afterschool settings. American Journal of Community Psychology, 50, 311-320.
Jason, L. A., Glantsman, O., O’Brien, J. F., & Ramian, K. N. (2019). Introduction to the field of Community Psychology. In L. A. Jason, O Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/intro-to-community-psychology/
Jason, L. A., Weine, A. W., Johnson, J. H., Warren-Sohlberg, L, Filippelli, L. A., Turner, E. Y., & Lardon, C. (1992). Helping Transfer Students. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Javdani, S., & Allen, N. E. (2016). An ecological model for intervention for juvenile justice-involved girls: Development and preliminary prospective evaluation. Feminist Criminology, 11(2), 135-162.
Miller, R. L. & Shinn, M. (2005). Learning from communities: Overcoming difficulties in dissemination of prevention and promotion efforts. American Journal of Community Psychology, 35(3-4), 169-183.
Mrazek, P. J., Haggerty, R. J., & The Institute of Medicine, Committee on Prevention of Mental Disorders, Division of Biobehavorial Sciences and Mental Disorders. (1994). Reducing risks for mental disorders: Frontiers for preventive intervention research. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Nastasi, B. K. (2004). Meeting the challenges of the future: Integrating public health and public education for mental health promotion. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 15(3-4), 295-312.
Rappaport, J. (1981). In praise of paradox: A social policy of empowerment over prevention. American Journal of Community Psychology, 9(1), 1.
Storr, C. L., Ialongo, N. S., Kellam, S. G., & Anthony, J. C. (2002). A randomized controlled trial of two primary school intervention strategies to prevent early onset tobacco smoking. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 66(1), 51-60.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families. (2010). Directory of program services. Washington, DC. Office of Public Affairs. Retrieved from http://www.ncdsv.org/images/ACF_DirectoryOfProgramServices.pdf
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. 22 U.S.C § 7101.
Wandersman, A., Duffy, J., Flaspholer, P., Noonan, R., Lubell, K., Stillman, L., … Saul, J. (2008). Bridging the gap between prevention research and practice: The interactive systems framework for dissemination and implementation. American Journal of Community Psychology, 41, 171-181.
Wilcox, H. C., Kellam, S. G., Brown, C. H., Poduska, J. M., Ialongo, N. S., Wang, W., & Anthony, J. C. (2008). The impact of two universal randomized first-and second-grade classroom interventions on young adult suicide ideation and attempts. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 95, S60-S73. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Introduction_to_Community_Psychology_(Jason_et_al.)/04%3A_Intervention_and_Prevention_Strategies/4.02%3A_Prevention_and_Promotion.txt |
Chapter Thirteen Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Understand what stress is and the different forms people can experience
• Understand what coping is, what coping strategies are, and coping styles
• Understand how individuals and communities become resilient
It’s 2:00 a.m. and your head is swarming with thoughts, none of them pleasant or relaxing: Did I reply to that important email? Am I ready for the upcoming presentation? Should I have studied more for tomorrow’s test? How long will it take me to fall asleep? Why is this always happening to me? All of these thoughts manifest as stress, an ever-present variable in our lives. You are not alone and as you will find out in this chapter, there are ways of coping and managing these stressors. Furthermore, there are ways that we can help communities better deal with these types of challenges.
WHAT IS STRESS?
So what is stress? This shouldn’t be a trick question, but why is it so hard to answer? Stress can be three things: a stimulus event (i.e., a stressor), a process for understanding the stimulus and its context, and a reaction we have to this event. Essentially, to be stressful the event has to become an overload of incoming information into our system. Stress can cause biological responses such as sweaty palms or a racing heart, as well as psychological responses such as nervousness. It is known to have effects on our behavior causing us to avoid others, and it also affects cognitive performance causing us to have difficulty concentrating.
A number of genetic studies have begun to identify candidate genes that may play a role on diverse forms of stress reactions. It is highly probable that genetics account for some of our responses to stress, but other factors are also of importance. Environmental stressors can also affect our behaviors and emotions. Environmental stressors can be grouped into different types: Major Life Events (e.g., experiencing a breakup, getting married, or having a baby), Life Transitions (e.g., puberty or transition into high school), Daily Hassles (e.g., family arguments or waiting in a long line at a security checkpoint of an airport) and Disasters (e.g., experiencing a car accident or a computer crashing causing loss of important information). These types of environmental stressors can cause you to be fearful and have a racing heartbeat. And our perceptions of these responses can actually make the symptoms worse. It is also important to note that these stressors can be perceived differently by different people. For instance, two people can get stuck in the same elevator and while one would find the experience to be a nuisance, another will tell you it was the worse situation they have ever been in. Here is a poll about the role of stresses and stress responses in the natural world. This supplementary article explores what is the right amount of stress.
PHYSIOLOGICAL VS PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/?p=756
While most of the time we think about stress in a negative way, some stress is adaptive and can even give us an edge. Part of the stress reaction involves the secretion of hormones, which in turn will stimulate the cardiovascular system, which includes your heart. In this way, the right amount of stress may release hormones and increase our ability to focus better on an exam or to quickly maneuver our car when we are trying to avoid an accident. Most stressors in our daily life are psychological in nature—dating, exams, presentations, and deadlines, so the adrenaline and cortisol (i.e., stress hormones) released into the bloodstream do not get burned off. These types of psychological stressors can initiate an over-activation with a tendency to make the stress response worse. So, a response to an environmental stressor may start as fear and turn into a panic attack.
Acute vs Chronic Stress
One of the goals of our body is to maintain stability (i.e., homeostasis). We can, therefore, define stress as an actual or perceived threat capable of throwing our homeostasis off balance. Stress exposure starts the responses. When a person is exposed to prolonged stress, overload may occur. When the stress response is triggered too often and/or remains active too long, it can cause “wear and tear” on the body from lowering your immune system and bone density, to hypertension, to heart attack.
There are two different types of stressors that we typically encounter. Acute stressors are observable stressful events that are time-limited such as an upcoming test or a family gathering. An acute stressor brings activation to our neuroendocrine system and makes us ready to act (i.e., “fight or flight”). Remember that pumped up feeling you got the last time you were getting ready to give a speech in front of the class? Chronic stressors, in contrast, are persistent demands on you; they are typically open-ended, using up your resources in coping but not having any resolution. Here is a short article and podcast on stress effects on health and suggestions for stress preventive activities.
A chronic illness, poverty, and racial discrimination are all examples of chronic stressors. Prolonged stress can lead to an eventual breakdown, such as contributing to aging. A number of recent studies have shown that lower socioeconomic status is associated with higher stress load. In addition, perceptions of racism can serve as a chronic social stressor for ethnic minorities and can, in part, explain some of the health issues of African Americans and other ethnic minority groups in the US and other countries.
Everyday Hassles
Robert Service, a Canadian Poet, cautioned, “Be master of your petty annoyances and conserve your energies for the big, worthwhile things. It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out—it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.”
In addition to many stressors in our lives being psychological and chronic in nature, we should pay attention to everyday hassles, which can be as harmful, if not more harmful than life-changing events. Everyday hassles may include things like worrying about one’s weight, having too much work with too little time, or a stressful commute to school or work. Major life changes usually bring about more hassles, which may lead to more physical stress symptoms.
In summary, stress can be adaptive—in a fearful or stress-causing situation, we can run away to save our lives, or we can concentrate better on a test. Biologists might even say it is necessary. But, stress can also be maladaptive. This is especially true if it is prolonged (i.e., chronic stress) because it increases our risk of illness and health problems. Thus, reducing stress, especially prolonged stress, is essential to healthcare. This video explains the effects of daily hassles on our health.
COPING AND STRESS
To deal with stress in your life, it is important to figure out where that stress originates and notice how you tend to react to it. Later in this chapter, we will show you how community psychologists consider the environment and ecological perspectives as intertwined in stress and coping. Lazarus and Folkman (1984) have been among the most influential psychologists in the stress and coping field, and they defined coping as efforts to manage demands that could exceed our resources. It is important to highlight from this definition that when a person perceives a life circumstance as taxing and exceeding the resources they have, this person will experience stress. Therefore, coping involves your efforts to manage stress, which is illustrated in Figure 1.
Coping Defined
Lazarus and Folkman (1984) felt that when humans perceive a life circumstance as taxing and exceeding their resources, stress will be experienced, which we have already defined in the prior section as an overload of incoming information into a system. Therefore, coping involves persons’ efforts to manage stress, whether the process of dealing with stress is adaptive or not (Lazarus, 1993). When we talk about coping, we will need to consider the intensity of the stressor, the context of coping, and an individual’s appraisal of coping expectations.
Coping Types
Research on coping has usually found five types of coping styles (Clarke, 2006; Skinner, et al., 2003; Folkman & Moskowitz, 2005). These include the following: (1) problem-focused coping style involves addressing the problem situation by taking direct acting, planning or thinking of ways to solve the problem, (2) emotion-focused coping style involves expressing feelings or engaging in emotional release activities such as exercising or practicing meditation, (3) seeking-understanding coping style refers to finding understanding of the problem and looking for a meaning of the experience, and (4) seeking help involves using others as a resource to solve the problem. Finally, people might respond to stressors by (5) avoiding the problem and trying to stay away from the problem or potential solution to the problem.
Coping Strategies
Coping strategies are the choices that a person makes in order to respond to a stressor. A strategy can be adaptive (effective) or maladaptive (ineffective or harmful). The ideal adaptive coping strategy varies depending on the context, as well as the personality traits of the person responding. The coping strategies can be problem-solving or active strategies, emotional expression and regulation strategies, seeking understanding strategies, help or support-seeking strategies, and problem avoidance or distraction strategies.
Here is one example of an intervention strategy that shows how to effectively cope with daily and transitional stressors. The strategy is called Shift-and-Persist (Chen & Miller, 2012), and it requires individuals to first shift views of the problem. To shift, you need to (1) recognize and accept the presence of stress, (2) engage in emotional regulation and control negative emotions, and (3) practice self-distancing from the stressor to gain an outsider’s perspective of the stressful context. To persist, you would need to (1) plan for the future through goal setting, (2) recognize a broader perspective when obstacles arise, (3) determine what brings meaning to your life, and (4) become flexible to determine new pathways to goals. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Heart Association offer other coping strategies. Two more discussions on coping strategies are found in these two Ted Talk Videos here and here.
Table 1 below presents a list of coping strategies and is a summary of strategies reported in Clarke, 2006; Skinner, et al., 2003; Folkman & Moskowitz, 2005. Although completed lists are more extensive, this table presents styles reported across the three studies that presented similar types of responses.
To understand coping as a process, we need to understand people’s reaction to stress in context. This includes assessing whether the coping thoughts or actions are good or bad for that given challenge and given context. In addition, the process of coping includes the particular person, the particular encounters with the stressor, the time of the person’s reactions, and the outcome being examined. Practical Application 13.1 can help you examine your reaction to stress and understand your coping process.
Practical Application 13.1
Understanding Stress in Your Life
Think about an important stressful experience in your life:
• What was stressful about it for you?
• Was it a short-term or a long-term situation?
• What thing did you do to cope with this experience?
• What resources helped you cope with this stressful experience?
• How did your experience affect you as a person?
• What did you learn or how did you grow through this experience?
COPING AND CONTEXT
Community psychologists try to understand coping beyond individual perceptions and reactions to stress. In general, new coping models are looking into what the characteristics of people that will elicit a given coping style are. In addition, it is important to learn more about the effectiveness of different coping styles when used across different contexts (which includes the environment and nature of the stressors). A community psychologist is interested in understanding the contextual element that produces or reduces a given stressor, so they create interventions to help people cope with their stressors. Finding the best fitting coping strategy may improve people’s experiences and outcomes when confronted with challenging/stressful life transitions.
All people are exposed to transitions, with youth being even more likely (e.g., starting elementary/middle school, finishing high school, first job, etc.), and the experience of mastery of these situations might help school-age youth successfully cope with future transitions. The following Case Study 13.1 highlights how community psychologists might use preventive strategies to help youth deal with these types of natural stressors that they will encounter in life.
Case Study 13.1
Preparing Students for High School Graduation
Leonard Jason and Betty Burrows (1983) provided youth about to graduate from high school with practice crisis experiences to work through, so that they could generate successful outcomes for stressful situations. The youth were first informed that during times of transition, heightened levels of emotions are often experienced. These elevated levels of arousal can become maladaptive if experienced over a prolonged period of time. They then had a chance to practice techniques to effectively reduce excessive arousal or anxiety such as progressive muscle relaxation, meditation, or listening to quiet music. The youth were then given anxiety-promoting transitions to imagine. They were asked to try one of these strategies to alleviate the anxiety of this crisis situation.
The seniors also had a chance to discuss how personal beliefs and self-statements can affect one’s mood. When difficult transitions are encountered, irrational beliefs or negative self-statements might arise. An example of an irrational belief is that it is a necessity for us to be loved and approved by everyone we know. The seniors were provided with situations involving transitions to role-play. Within each of these scenes, one actor adopted an irrational belief; the other attempted to show a more rational way of thinking. Following each role-play, the participants had a chance to discuss how the adoption of a rational or irrational belief might affect their ability to successfully handle transitions. Following the role-plays, all the students discussed how effective the various coping strategies might have been in resolving transitional events.
This study found that seniors about to graduate from high school can profit from being provided a preventive intervention that prepares them for dealing with transitions. Here are some of the students’ comments: “You really helped me to really think out all my problems and how to answer them. Thanks!! …. It helped me to help other people who are in difficult situations.” “I think that problem solving is the most helpful to people at my age because we face problems every day.” “I feel that I have benefited from the sessions as I have gone through a lot as my mother has been divorced twice and is married for the third time and I just moved from a small town to a large city.”
But sometimes, crises occur, and then we need to find ways to deal with those situations. Case Study 13.2 will provide an example of helping individuals and communities with dealing with a natural disaster, Hurricane Maria.
Case Study 13.2
Coping with Hurricane Maria
On September 20th, 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico. Watching the compounding difficulties over the course of that fall, Melissa Ponce-Rodas and a team of 20 members, four faculty, one alumna, 13 students, and two other staff members with backgrounds in undergraduate and graduate psychology, community and international development, and social work decided to spend their Spring break helping with the recovery. The ultimate goal of the mission was to “Accept, Talk, Heal,” providing mental health training in churches and communities to give those affected by the disaster the tools they needed to help them through the trauma of the aftereffect of the hurricane and to help them recover beyond the physical reconstruction of their community. This intervention was about more than cleaning up debris or restoring a school, it was about empowering a community to overcome trauma.
Prior to the intervention, the team contacted local church agencies and asked about their experiences and what was truly needed. This process of inquiry resulted in another group of people with expertise in the community to be invited into the collaborative process. The local collaborators included social workers, police officers, certified nursing assistants, staff from the four schools, church groups, and others who were directly affected by the natural disaster. It is not surprising that the team was quickly accepted and trusted by the community. Ponce-Rodas believes one contributor to this is her Puerto Rican heritage that helped bridge the intervention team to the community and facilitate connections between community members and those from the mainland.
Understanding the complexity of the coping process was one of the reasons Dr. Ponce-Rodas drew on her Community Psychology experience to partner with existing agencies on the island. Because so many community members had experienced symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder the intervention aimed at normalizing the emotional reactions affecting the individuals. The team reminded the community members participating in the intervention that the whole community was going through this and no one should feel isolated in their experience, and that it is normal to seek help from others when faced with adversity. The team emphasized this with the “Healing is a Process slogan, highlighting the dynamic nature of this concept.
The team also agreed that a strength-based approach fits this intervention well. To help combat the loss and desperation, the community participants were encouraged to turn to the strengths the community still has. The message across the island was “Puerto Rico Se Levanta” (Puerto Rico Will Rise). Many heroic stories of selflessness and self-sacrifices emphasized resilience in the wake of such massive destruction and highlighted the power and strength in the community. The community members also often commented on their faith, which meant that the team included faith in their intervention. The team firmly believed that the best way the community could get help was by understanding the community’s background, by recognizing the dynamic process of coping, by alleviating the stigma of help-seeking, by drawing on their own strengths, and by helping themselves.
Coping and Support
Coping can be aided by asking others for support to help overcome problems. Support-seeking strategies include seeking advice or information or direct assistance. Individuals who engage in these types of help-seeking strategies are more likely to obtain social support. Seeking help from relatives may prove to be successful, which might contribute to it becoming a frequently employed coping mechanism. Barker (2007) suggests that youth’s help-seeking behaviors set up the conditions to create a rich supportive network for them, and the feeling that there is available support. Case Study 13.3 illustrates how one can go about studying supports using multiple points of view.
Case Study 13.3
Support Seeking Behavior
Having at least one friend in a recovery home was found to be about the best predictor among residents of recovery homes of having a good outcome, which involves not using drugs or engaging in illegal activities. To better understand what seeking support might be about, several community psychologists used focus groups to better understand natural friendship and mentoring relationships. For example, participants were asked about how they determined who they would go to in the house for support, the type of support they received from housemates, and the characteristics that those individuals have. The findings from the focus groups had a theme of promoting social support within their recovery homes, as one female participant explained:
“When I come in this door and I’ve got something to talk about, I don’t care which of these girls is here, I’m just going to talk about it. And that’s because they play a positive mentor or role model in my life. I don’t have to pick out two or three or one to say who I want to talk to.”
Instrumental supports were often related to the ability of other house members to provide tangible support for residents. As one female participant described:
“I have not been employed . . . I’ve always been concerned about if my rent’s going to get paid on time. These sisters came together and told me if you can’t get your rent paid, we know what you’re doing and we know that you want to be here and they were willing to go into their own pockets to help me pay my rent.”
Focus-group themes indicated that men were also able to form supportive relationships within the recovery home settings, but not as quickly as the females (Lawlor et al., 2014).
RESILIENCE
Individuals who experience significant and chronic stressors are often referred to as being “at-risk” of something, whether it be poor school performance, problems with alcohol or drugs, or engaging in illegal activities. However, not all individuals “at risk” of negative outcomes end up struggling with the outcomes. Some people are able to avoid negative outcomes and even thrive despite the adversity they face. Why is it that some people are successful in spite of seemingly insurmountable obstacles?
These questions were at the heart of early studies of resilience. Resilience is a dynamic process characterized by positive outcomes despite adversity or stress (Luthar, Crossman, & Small, 2015). In other words, resilience refers to how people maintain, or in some cases develop, healthy and positive outcomes in spite of stressful situations. The study of resilience stemmed from researchers who began to notice that a subset of their participants, often children facing significant adversity, did well despite their difficult circumstances. For example, Garmezy (1974) studied children of parents with schizophrenia. Among this group of at-risk children, all were expected to struggle in various aspects of life and likely develop schizophrenia. But a subset of children exhibited surprisingly positive and adaptive behavioral patterns despite their level of risk. Another large-scale study recruited all of the children born on the island of Kauai, Hawaii (Werner, 1996). The original goal of the study was to assess the long-term consequences of stressful living environments (e.g., family discord, divorce, parental alcoholism, mental illness). Most of the children living in these stressful environments struggled academically and behaviorally. However, one-third of these “high-risk” children did not develop learning or behavioral problems; in fact, many of them thrived. Studies like these helped to shift our focus from a deficits-only approach to one more able to consider both deficits and strengths.
Resilient children were thought to have been invulnerable and able to weather any storm. Traits found to characterize resilience include high creativity, effectiveness, competence, and ability to relate well to others. Now, resilience is viewed as the interaction between the person and their environment, and given the right combination of individual and environmental supports, it might be possible for anyone to be resilient. From a Community Psychology perspective, research had found that these children are positively affected by their immediate and extended family networks and religious organizations (Wright et al., 2013).
“Resilience does not come from the rare and special qualities, but from the everyday magic or ordinary, normative human resources in … children, in their families and relationships, and in their communities.” (Masten, 2001, pp. 235)
So far, we have considered resilience as an individual construct. Individuals can be resilient to adversity. However, it is also possible to apply this idea of resilience to groups of people. Community resilience is the collective ability of a defined group of people to deal with change or adversity effectively (Aldrich & Meyer, 2015). When adversity, like a disaster, financial struggle, or war strikes a community, will the community as a whole be able to overcome and bounce back?
Resilient communities often have many characteristics in common. Communities that are resilient frequently have access to both resources and relationships that support resilient outcomes. An important element of community resilience includes members’ knowledge of their own community, both its weaknesses and strengths. In addition, resilient communities have strong community social networks in which people work together to achieve goals, with competent governance and leadership. Often there is also an economic investment, both before and after adversity strikes. Another important factor is individual, family, and government preparedness. And finally, resilient communities have positive attitudes and an acceptance of change (Patel, Rogers, Amlôt, & Rubin, 2017). Both research and community work is now being done to help communities build these resources and relationships to protect against adversity.
Case Study 13.4
Promoting Community Resilience
From 2000 to 2010, poverty rates in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood in Chicago doubled. Consisting of 80% Latino residents, Belmont Cragin residents have experienced soaring poverty rates associated with the gentrification of nearby neighborhoods. In addition, many residents in the neighborhood experienced significant trauma when they were younger. These adverse childhood experiences include living in extreme poverty; suffering physical, sexual, or emotional abuse; being exposed to community violence; having a parent struggling with substance abuse, or many other potentially traumatic experiences. Having adverse childhood experiences can be detrimental to emotional and physical health, and individuals who have experienced them are more likely to experience additional negative emotional or behavioral outcomes. In recognition of the increasing poverty in the neighborhood and the trauma experienced by many residents, community leaders formed the Resilient Belmont Cragin Community Collaborative. Community Psychologists Suzette Fromm Reed and Judith Kent worked with Belmont Cragin leaders to help residents cope with adverse childhood experiences by facilitating trauma-informed programming at schools using mentoring, tutoring, and counseling to help at-risk youth stay on track. They also helped train police to de-escalate the conflict. The Resilient Belmont Cragin Community Collaborative utilized existing community resources and established partnerships with resources outside of the community to ensure collective healing and growth. It brought together members of the community, from schools, health care settings, businesses, police departments, families, faith leaders, and others, to help residents address these traumatic experiences and thrive. Programs like these exemplify community resilience and help individuals, and the community as a whole, grow and heal together.
There is a need to apply this type of work to help those from disadvantaged neighborhoods and communities who frequently experience chronic stressors. This might be done by promoting the use of multilevel and interdisciplinary work that meshes with Community Psychology’s values of promoting social justice, as indicated in Chapter 1 (Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019).
SUMMING UP
We all experience stress. However, we respond to this stress in different ways. Sometimes low levels of stress can actually be helpful as it could motivate you to study for an exam. Although the experience of stress is very subjective, stress elicits physiological, emotional, and cognitive reactions in us all. To deal with these stressors, we mobilize resources for coping with the problems confronting us. The success of our coping efforts will depend on ourselves as well as the environmental challenge. For example, most of us have the resources to deal with the stress of a thunderstorm, but we might really be challenged if we are confronted with a tornado that comes through our neighborhood. So there are different levels of stressors that we face. In this chapter, we examined the relationship between stressors and coping, we reviewed the different coping styles and the relationship between individual and context and coping outcomes, including resilience. We hope that this review of stress has provided you with some new insights about how you might use a variety of coping strategies to deal with stress and to work toward the reduction of stress among others.
Critical Thought Questions
1. What are the most difficult stressors for you?
2. With these most difficult stressors, what are the best ways you have found to cope with them?
3. Are there people you go to when you are having problems at college? What are the ways they are helpful and what are the ways they might change to be even more helpful to you?
Take the Chapter 13 Quiz
View the Chapter 13 Lecture Slides
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REFERENCES
Aldrich, D. P., & Meyer, M. A. (2015). Social capital and community resilience. AmericanBehavioral Scientist, 59(2), 254–269. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764214550299
Barker, G. (2007). Adolescents, social support and help-seeking behavior. An international literature review and programme consultation with recommendations for action. Geneva, Switzerland: Instituto Promundo, Brazil.
Chen, E., & Miller, G. E. (2012). “Shift-and-Persist” strategies: Why low socioeconomic status isn’t always bad for health. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(2), 135-158.
Clarke, A. T. (2006). Coping with interpersonal stress and psychosocial health among children and adolescents: A meta-analysis. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35(1), 11-24.
Folkman, S., & Moskowitz, J. T. (2005). Coping: Pitfalls and promise. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 745-774.
Garmezy, N. (1974). Children at risk: The search for the antecedents of schizophrenia. Part I. Conceptual model and research methods. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 1(8), 14- 90.
Jason, L.A., Glantsman, O., O’Brien, J. F., & Ramian, K. N. (2019). Introduction to the field of Community Psychology. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/intro-to-community-psychology/
Jason, L. A., & Burrows, B. (1983). Transition training for high school seniors. CognitiveTherapy and Research, 7(1), 79-92.
Luthar, S. S., Crossman, E. J., & Small, P. J. (2015). Resilience and adversity. In R. M. Lerner, & M. E. Lamb (Eds.), Handbook of Child Psychology and Developmental Science (7th ed., Vol. 3, pp. 247-286). New York, NY: Wiley.
Lawlor, J. A., Hunter, B. A., Jason. L. A., & Rosing, H. B. (2014). Natural mentoring in Oxford House recovery homes: A preliminary analysis. Journal of Groups in Addiction Recovery, 52, 126–142.
Lazarus, R. S. (1993) Coping theory and research: Past, present, and future. Psychometric Medicine, 55, 234-247.
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, Appraisal, and Coping. New York: Springer.
Masten, A. S. (2001). Ordinary magic: Resilience processes in development. American Psychologist, 56, 227-238.
Patel, S. S., Rogers, M. B., Amlôt, R., & Rubin, G. J. (2017). What do we mean by ‘community resilience’? A systematic literature review of how it is defined in the literature. PLoS currents, 9, ecurrents.dis.db775aff25efc5ac4f0660ad9c9f7db2.
Wright M. O., Masten A. S., & Narayan A. J. (2013). Resilience processes in development: Four waves of research on positive adaptation in the context of adversity. In S. Goldstein, & R. Brooks (Eds.), Handbook of Resilience in Children. Springer, Boston, MA
Skinner E. A., Edge, K., Altman, J., & Sherwood, H. (2003). Searching for the structure of coping: A Review and critique of category systems for classifying ways of coping. Psychological Bulletin, 129(2), 216-269.
Werner, E. E. (1996). How children become resilient: Observations and causations. Resiliency inAction, 1(1), 18-28. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Introduction_to_Community_Psychology_(Jason_et_al.)/04%3A_Intervention_and_Prevention_Strategies/4.03%3A_Stress_and_Coping.txt |
Chapter Fourteen Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Understand how public policy interventions can bring about impactful change
• See how social justice issues can be addressed through public policy
• Identify ways you can get involved in public policy
Maria had to take out thousands of dollars in student loans to afford college tuition, and then she had to spend a large percentage of her post-graduation income paying off those loans. This is not an unfamiliar story, and more and more college students face this situation. In fact, millions who attended college seeking an education and a better life now face crippling student loan debt. For example, in the US, student loan debt totals \$1.5 trillion dollars, increasing by nearly 400% in the last 30 years and more than tripling since 2005. This loan crisis is now causing financial strain to many who are trying to repay their student loans, disproportionately impacting low-income students of color (Miller, 2017).
This chapter is about policies that often are not visible but create these types of hardships, and it will often take a historical perspective to see the reasons so many have diminished life opportunities and long-term financial hardship. Let’s examine some of the public policies that have caused this problem. Tuition costs for both public and private institutions have risen, state investments in higher education have been reduced, and many student loans are now privatized. The solution to the student loan problem will require policy changes such as increasing grant aid awarded to low and middle-income students, and passing legislation that would make tuition more affordable. Even more daring and bold policies are being tried such as waiving tuition costs entirely. In 2018 New York University’s School of Medicine began waiving tuition fees for all students in an effort to ease both student debt and the ongoing physician shortage. Kasiser Permanente’s new medical school will also be free to attend. Other academic institutions are trying to reduce or eliminate tuition by asking students to pay the schools a small amount of their earnings following graduation. These are examples of real policy interventions that can help revolutionize the problem of excessive student debt.
But there are other ways that we can make a difference as community psychologists. For example, offering free online college textbooks is another way of lowering economic burdens that students encounter at school, indicated in Case Study 14.1.
Case Study 14.1
Free Online Textbook
When the DePaul University Library surveyed students about the impact of textbook affordability on their education, almost 1,000 students completed the survey within the first week. Many students indicated that the cost of textbooks was negatively affecting their lives. Students reported choosing not to purchase textbooks or purchasing them later in the quarter. Of those who did not purchase a textbook, 41.6% cited cost. 56% of the respondents were in their first two years at DePaul and reported receiving a poor grade because they could not afford the textbook for their course. The authors of this book decided to try to make a small difference by developing this free online textbook (Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019), which we hope will help to reduce this economic burden on our undergraduates taking an introductory course in Community Psychology. We consider this very consistent with the values of our field. The authors also worked for almost two years developing a Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) “Student Associate” free membership status for undergraduates, and this is very much within the tradition of second-order policy change by lowering barriers to active participation in SCRA.
When our new free textbook was introduced in a Community Psychology course at DePaul University, the immediate reaction was very positive (the students uttered a collective sigh of relief) as they mentioned how grateful they were for not having to purchase it. A typical reaction was “This is wonderful, a free textbook!” Our work with this textbook is part of a larger movement to provide textbooks free, online, and available to everyone, and this movement is growing every day. These types of very real structural changes really can make a difference. In this chapter, we will provide an overview of what public policy is and how community psychologists engage in this work to address the underlying roots of the problems we face. This chapter will also provide ways you can become involved with public policy.
WHAT IS PUBLIC POLICY?
Almost every aspect of our lives is impacted by public policy. Public policy is broadly defined as the laws, regulations, course of action, and funding priorities issued by the government to address a social issue at the local, state, and national level. Essentially, social change often requires the development of a new policy or the revision of an existing policy. Public policies can address societal issues in different areas, including education, healthcare, housing, mental health, immigration, and crime. Policies in these areas can have a far-reaching and long-lasting impact on individuals and communities. Policies also vary in scope. For instance, the legalization of same-sex marriage, how much funding is allocated towards public libraries and colleges, and even what is served for lunch at public schools are all examples of public policy.
The impact of policies can also transcend nations by having a global effect. Countries with environmental policies that fail to regulate the use of resources and reduce pollution are making the world less habitable for everyone. The burning of fossil fuels – such as oil, natural gas, and coal—increases greenhouse gas emissions which causes the earth’s climate to rise to warmer than normal temperatures. The solution to this problem will require new policies that will cause countries to switch from using fossil fuels to using greener and more renewable sources of energy (such as solar or wind power). Some may wonder if we can ever be successful with such a daunting goal. Well, others have realized their dreams, such as Mahatma Ghandi who repeatedly confronted the British-controlled government with acts of civil disobedience to bring about freedom for India. The struggle to gain India’s freedom took a long time, and this long-term perspective is often needed to deal with the many policy actions that are causing current problems such as climate change.
Policies created to address specific social issues can either be effective or ineffective. One example of an effective policy is The Housing Choice Voucher Program created to address the lack of affordable housing for low-income households and homelessness by providing rent subsidies. This program has proven to be highly effective in reducing and preventing homelessness and helping low-income families remain housed (Wood, Turnham, & Mills, 2008). On the other hand, mass incarceration as a means to deter drug use is an example of an ineffective policy. As indicated in Chapter 1 (Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019), the war on drugs (which has led to increased use of harsher drug laws) and three-strike laws (which result in life sentences for drug offenses) have proven to be ineffective in preventing drug use. Rather, these policies perpetuate the incarceration cycle among those with substance use disorders.
Through research and advocacy, community psychologists have directly influenced public policy to produce second-order change. The work on subsidized housing programs is one way to end homelessness. Another Community Psychology example involves work with Oxford House, described in Chapter 1, where over 20,000 people today live in these democratic, self-governing homes. Yet there are communities that oppose sharing their neighborhoods with group homes for people with disabilities or substance use disorders. For example, some cities have tried to pass laws that make it illegal for more than five unrelated people to live in an Oxford house—and this deliberately targets recovery homes which usually need six to ten house members to make rent affordable. Case Study 14.2 is an example of working at the judicial level in order to preserve access to affordable housing for those with substance use disorders.
Case Study 14.2
Not in My Backyard
Leonard Jason was called by a lawyer who asked for help with a dispute involving a town trying to close the local Oxford House recovery home by passing legislation whereby no more than five unrelated individuals could live in one home. But small homes of this size are very difficult to sustain as there are too few people to pay for the house expenses. This is an example of Not in My Backyard thinking, where some community members try to exclude those in recovery homes from their neighborhoods. Jason quickly looked into a national Oxford House data set and examined how the number of residents in Oxford House affected residents’ individual outlooks for recovery. He and his research team found that larger house sizes, of eight or more residents, actually had less criminal and aggressive behavior than houses with fewer residents. The findings were influential: they were used in this court case and others to successfully argue against closing larger house size Oxford Houses (Jason et al., 2008). The founder of these Oxford Houses, Paul Molloy, sent this note to Jason regarding one judicial case that was resolved with the help of these data: “The dispute has been ongoing for six years! The town will pay attorney’s fees, which are about \$105,000 and a fine to the Department of Justice. The key to their decision appears to be your research showing that larger houses had better outcomes than the smaller ones. Thanks. Once again reason and logic prevailed.”
When involving yourself with public policy, it is possible to make a difference, as Case Study 14.2 shows. The following sections provide an overview of the many ways in which community psychologists can influence public policy.
COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY AND PUBLIC POLICY
Efforts at the public policy level have always been at the forefront of the efforts of community psychologists to address social issues. Work at this level is considered a core competency for Community Psychology practice and is described as the ability to develop effective working relationships with policymakers, elected officials, and community leaders (Dalton & Wolfe, 2012). To meet this competency, community psychologists are trained in a variety of skills including how to write brief statements used to influence politicians, how to translate research findings into policy recommendations, how to build advocacy coalitions with various community organizations, and how to develop good communication and relationship-building skills.
Public policy interventions often focus on a second-order/systems change approach to address the systemic issues such as the inequitable distribution of resources. Importantly, Community psychologists value involving individuals affected by an issue in the policy formulation and implementation process.
Often work at the public policy level involves prevention. Community psychologists have worked in public policy at the local, state, and national levels, in the areas of substance abuse prevention, school violence prevention, and HIV/AIDS prevention. As an example, Case Study 14.3 describes policy work that has focused on social-emotional learning to enhance positive youth outcomes.
Case Study 14.3
Social-Emotional Learning in Schools
Students within K-12 educational settings can be supported through policies and programs that promote positive youth development and prevent negative outcomes. One example of an effective prevention program developed and implemented involves social-emotional learning, which equips students with tools to set and achieve goals, handle their emotions, interpersonal relationships, and life events, and to engage in responsible decision-making. A leader in this field is the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, which have been working to extend programs involving social and emotional learning to school children for more than two decades. This organization, founded by community psychologist Roger Weissberg, collaborates with leading experts and supports districts, schools, and states nationwide to drive research, guide practice, and inform policy. The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning supports federal efforts to increase funding for research and evidence-based practice related to social and emotional learning. Through their Collaborating States Initiative, they work with 25 states to support social and emotional learning, and all 50 states have incorporated this approach into their preschool standards; a growing number are doing the same for grades K-12. Learn more by viewing their State Scan Scorecard project, Emerging Insights Report, and extensive CSI resources.
Understanding the Policymaking Process
There are four stages of working on public policy. They involve (1) agenda setting, (2) policy formation and adoption, (3) policy implementation, and (4) policy evaluation and revision. The figure above illustrates the cyclical nature of these stages in the policymaking process. Moreover, each phase requires attention to relationships and communication amongst diverse stakeholder groups. Groups involved in public policy include the government advocacy organizations, citizens, and media (as will be indicated below), but first, let’s define these four phases.
(1) Agenda setting. During the first phase of the policymaking process, it is important for those who set policy to take a particular issue seriously. If, for example, the public officials do not think that climate change is of importance, they will devote little of their time and energy to this issue. So, the agenda-setting phase involves determining whether people with power and influence care about a particular issue. As there are many social problems that may exist in a community or society, only a select number of them might get on the agenda and receive attention for possible action. It is important for community psychologists to work toward bringing attention to an issue so that others will care about it in order to devote time and resources toward improving the situation.
Kingdon (1995) described the process by which a pressing social issue makes it on the policy agenda as three influential “streams.” First, the problem stream involves the range of social issues that may affect a given population, ranging from high levels of unemployment and low levels of available housing, to rates of drug addiction and homelessness within neighborhoods. For example, if a problem affects many people, it is more likely to secure some attention. Second, the policy stream embodies potential solutions that can address each of these social issues, and of course the costs of these solutions. If there are some practical and affordable solutions to the problems, it raises the likelihood of people willing to consider these issues. Lastly, the political stream involves the level of public concern to actually devote time and resources to one of these topics and possible solutions. If the public is more concerned, the topic is more likely to receive attention.
(2) Policy formation and adoption. In the second phase, a solution to address the social issue is adopted. As an example, if inadequate funding for public schools is agreed upon as an issue needing attention, the politicians could pass laws that channel more funds to schools. The primary places where these types of actions might occur are in legislative bodies, in which elected officials vote on laws.
But policies can also be adopted at the executive level by someone in a high position, such as a president or mayor of a city. A president can create policy through executive orders, such as the “Travel Ban“(E.O 13769), which tried to limit the ability of individuals wanting to travel to the US. In addition to a president, agencies within the executive branch can adopt policies. For example, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is an executive agency that has been able to move resources into Housing First, which was described in Chapter 1 as an important solution to the homelessness problem in the US.
(3) Policy implementation. Once a policy is adopted, there are many different ways it can be implemented. A well-thought-out policy can be adopted but if limited or inadequate funds are provided for it to be carried out, it is unlikely to have any effects. For example, a prevention program introduced into a school classroom might be compromised and much less effective if the school district has policies which result in inadequate funds being provided for books and other resources needed to implement the prevention program.
(4) Policy evaluation and revision. The last phase of the policy process is the policy evaluation and revision phase. During this phase, an effort is made to determine if the policy had its intended outcomes, and whether it can be improved to more effectively address the social issue. The policy might need to be replaced with an improved policy or terminated in its entirety. For example, the No Child Left Behind Act aimed to address educational inequity by increasing the government’s role in holding schools accountable for the academic progress of their students. This law put an emphasis on standardized testing by implementing frequent assessments measuring students’ educational improvement and rewarding the schools with the highest assessment scores. No Child Left Behind was found to have unintended consequences such as placing too much emphasis on testing, and it even resulted in some school closures. There are now efforts to revise and even replace this set of policies.
Overall, this policymaking process is cyclical and recursive in nature. As demonstrated by the descriptions of the four phases, there are several points in the policy process through which community psychologists can engage in policy efforts. The ways in which community psychologists engage in this cyclical process are discussed in the next section.
HOW COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGISTS INFLUENCE PUBLIC POLICY
Roles and Settings
Community psychologists can influence public policy at any step of the policymaking process by working alongside or within advocacy groups. Advocacy groups, community psychologists, community members, and policymakers are all involved in these policy decisions. Some of the key players on the policy front can be large intermediary organizations such as professional membership organizations, foundations, and research and evaluation firms. For instance, community psychologists can work with Mathematica or the Urban Institute, which are research and evaluation firms that are hired by federal agencies to conduct policy evaluations. Foundations like the William T. Grant Foundation also provide opportunities to engage in policy work, given their focus on funding policy initiatives that address social issues which are important to community psychologists. In fact, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, which was described in case study 14.3 was begun by a grant from the William T. Grant Foundation. Community psychologists also work with other types of advocacy organizations including member-led social action groups (e.g., Black Lives Matter) or even small informal groups (e.g., a group of students and teachers advocating for funding for afterschool programs).
SCRA is one example of an intermediary organization that is the central professional home of many community psychologists. This organization is open to researchers, practitioners, and students (and as stated in Case Study 14.1, you can be an Associate Student member at no cost). Advocating for federal and legislative policies that promote social justice is an important goal of SCRA. This organization issues policy statements to take public positions on social issues offers research and scientific evidence that support their positions and provides recommendations to policymakers and other stakeholders. The first public policy statements SCRA released was on the role of recovery homes in promoting long-term addiction recovery and can be viewed here. SCRA also releases rapid responses, which are public stances and action plans on policy issues that are time-sensitive and require immediate action. In addition, SCRA has a Public Policy Committee, which provides members with resources and training to facilitate their policy involvement.
Many community psychologists are engaged in policy advocacy work as researchers within universities. As faculty members, community psychologists are able to contribute to policy in many different ways. For example, Community Psychology faculty can develop expertise in a given policy area, generate research findings with specific policy implications and recommendations, advocate for policies that are empirically supported, and work as policy consultants for advocacy organizations like the ones described above. Most of all, university faculty educate students on policy-relevant issues and provide ways they can become involved in policy advocacy.
In addition, community psychologists can work as policy insiders within local, state, and federal levels of the government. Policy roles within the government can be obtained through direct election, appointment by an elected official, or by obtaining employment as a civil servant. Some examples of these roles include working as a congressional staffer or working as a member of a local school board. Working as policy insiders within the government allows community psychologists to oversee policy implementation and possibly the creation of new legislation.
Methods for Influencing Public Policy
There are several methods through which community psychologists can work in public policy. The following methods may be used throughout the four stages of the policymaking process:
Research. As mentioned earlier, research is a key tool community psychologists use to influence policy and there are different types used to influence policy (National Academy of Science, 2012). One of these ways is conceptual research, which is used to educate policymakers and stakeholders on social issues and propose possible solutions. Community psychologists often use this type of research to help policymakers view a social issue as a systemic problem caused by ineffective and harmful policies rather than individual deficits. Such research has been used to show how segregation leads to increased stigma for those being excluded from the mainstream. A prime example of how conceptual research influenced policy is the historic US Supreme Court’s decision in Brown vs Board of Education, which led to the desegregation of schools. Conceptual research by psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark (1947) demonstrated the harmful psychological effects of segregation, which was cited by the Supreme Court as having played a crucial role in their decision that racial segregation of schools was inherently unethical and unconstitutional.
Instrumental research can be used to persuade policymakers to adopt a policy. Over the past few decades, the disability community has used policy interventions to bring about major changes to the ways that individuals with disabilities can have greater access to opportunities. These include altering pavements and curbs at intersections so they allow people in wheelchairs to safely navigate through them, and providing individuals with movement disabilities access to buildings, public transportation, and parking spots (Jason & Jung, 1984).
Consultation. Community psychologists often act as consultants in public policy by sharing their research and advocacy expertise with organizations or governmental agencies. This often begins when community psychologists develop personal relationships with policymakers and government officials. Consultation is a way of influencing policy (Block, 2006) by providing policymakers with relevant evidence and data. Community psychologists, during the consultative process, have been instrumental in providing content-level expertise on current efforts to reduce human trafficking and to condemn hate and terrorism by white supremacists.
Program evaluation. Evaluation is important across the policymaking process, but particularly within the policy implementation and evaluation stages. In evaluation, community psychologists might aim to examine whether a social program works well, who it works well for, under what conditions it works well, and whether it can work better (Miller, 2017). For example, the Meals on Wheels program delivers meals to older adults in need to help with their nutrition as well as reduce their isolation. Evaluations of this program have found a number of positive outcomes for meal recipients, and the findings from the evaluations have been used to make the programs even more effective.
Coalition-building. Community psychologists also use their communication and relationship-building skills to form coalitions with community members, organizations, and policymakers. Members of a coalition share a common policy interest and agree to work together to influence or develop a public policy. Forming and maintaining coalitions is an effective way to influence policy. Nelson Mandela, imprisoned for decades in South Africa, inspired coalitions to continue their activist work, and these coalitions were eventually successful in abolishing the system of apartheid.
Media and written communication. Community psychologists use a variety of communication methods to influence public policy. For example, they can share knowledge as guests on multimedia outlets like news radio, television, or podcasts. More commonly, community psychologists can influence policymaking decisions through written communication in “white papers.” These concisely provide scientific evidence and recommendations directly to those in decision-making positions. Communication strategies vary depending upon the audience. For example, appearances on podcasts and public radio may be informal, to target voters in order to garner support for a public policy issue. Providing “white papers” to congressional officials, on the other hand, requires concise written language with straightforward suggestions that are sensitive to the policymakers’ busy schedules. When coal miners have been killed by negligent mining practices, white papers and publicity surrounding their deaths led to better laws and regulations. These types of tragedies have been used to highlight and bring attention to abuses of power, which have been used by policy activists to change the status quo and bring about social justice. Another example is Rachel Carson’s influential book Silent Spring, which powerfully identified abuses in the use of pesticides and helped start the global environmental movement.
Selecting a Policy Issue and Developing a Plan for Action
There are many ways in which students and community psychologists can get involved with public policy. Below are some practical suggestions:
Choosing an issue to advocate for. There are many social issues that require advocacy and many social issues with which we may be interested in getting involved. Before getting involved in public policy work on a particular issue, it is important to examine which issues are most aligned with your interests, skills, and access to resources like time, funds, materials, or energy. One way that you can examine your competencies related to an issue is through the Advocacy Self-Assessment (Jason, Beasley, & Hunter, 2015).
Practical Application 14.1: Advocacy Self-Assessment Tool
To complete the self-assessment in this activity box, first consider several social issues with which you are interested in engaging in advocacy work. Once you have selected the social issues, complete the self-assessment questions for each social issue. Then, total up your scores for each issue to determine which received the high score. This will help you determine what you are most passionate about.
Using the range below, rate your agreement to each question for each of your chosen issues. Once you have determined which social issues might best fit your advocacy competencies and commitment, consider making a plan for your involvement. For the issue you score highest on, develop a plan to advocate directly and indirectly to initiate social change through policy.
1 = Strongly Disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Neither Agree/Disagree, 4 = Agree, 5 = Strongly Agree
COMMITMENT
1. Are you strongly committed to working on this issue?
2. Are you willing to put in a great effort to achieve this goal?
3. Would you be willing to spend many years working on this issue?
4. Do you have a sense of obligation to continue working on this issue above all others?
CENTRALITY
1. Is what you have listed more important than any other issue you could work on?
2. Is this a matter of great personal meaning to you?
3. Do you have a passion and a burning desire to see this issue dealt with?
4. Is this an issue that you devote a lot of time thinking about?
RESOURCES
1. Are you a member of or work with any activist groups or community organizations that are dealing with the topic you have selected?
2. Are you aware of any friends, family members or colleagues who are either working on this issue or interested in doing so?
3. Do you have access to resources (time, energy, funds, materials) that might be applied to working with this topic?
4. Do you feel that you have the capabilities and confidence to engage in work with the issue that you have mentioned?
Stay informed. Listen to the news and stay informed of current events occurring both locally and at a national level. This could even include following current bills and resolutions being presented before your city council or congress, procedures to be implemented by executive offices (e.g., Department of Education), or cases to be heard before the Supreme Court. A useful tool is the GovTrack website, which shows where bills and resolutions are within their legislative process.
Contact policymakers. There are several ways in which you can communicate with policymakers at all levels of government. Federal elected officials have offices in your cities and towns, as well as in Washington DC, to whom you can write letters or make phone calls. Similarly, state elected officials can be reached by phone and by mail at their neighborhood or state offices. Another way to interact with policymakers is through social media (e.g., Twitter) or through email in which you can express your concerns and opinions about ongoing legislation. You can find out who your elected officials are by visiting this website. A helpful resource for contacting elected officials is Resist Bot (which automates faxes and messages from your cell phone).
Policy and advocacy organizations. There are many opportunities for getting involved with existing policy organizations. If you have an interest in a particular social issue, such as rising economic inequalities, you can find local and national organizations that are focused on that work. A good way to get informed is to ask to be listed on an organization’s email list and follow them on social media. Getting connected to organizations may allow for engagement through events, town halls, or event Capitol Hill days in which organizations arrange visits to legislative offices to speak with policymakers. Furthermore, students may also explore working with the organization through volunteer or internship positions.
CHALLENGES TO POLICY WORK
Engaging in policy work is not easy. There are many challenges that community psychologists often will need to overcome when attempting to influence policy. A major challenge in policy advocacy is that it can take many years before a policy is adopted, implemented, and revised. The key lesson learned by community psychologists is to stay committed to a social issue for the long run. Another major challenge community psychologists face is navigating issues of power when working with policymakers and advocacy organizations. For example, powerful stakeholders with different vested interests may actively try to stand in your way. Policy work requires effectively navigating these challenges.
The topic of school shootings illustrates all these complexities. For example, does the community find this topic to be a pressing issue? Concern for school shootings may arise from public feedback or an event related to the issue. For example, school shootings may be perceived as a more pressing social issue directly after a shooting occurs in a community. Many solutions may be proposed and compared with one another. These solutions offered for school shootings have included the restriction of access to weapons, increasing school security personnel or procedures, and some have even advocated increasing access to guns by teachers. Further, the costs, feasibility, and availability of evidence for each of these solutions need to be evaluated as potential policy solutions. Finally, issues of partisanship can emerge. For example, membership to the Republican or Democratic party may influence how receptive a policymaker is to consider a plan to address school shootings. Moreover, broader cultural and societal moods about guns and school violence can influence how a policymaker considers addressing school shootings through policy.
Several principles of social change have been used as a guide to initiate and sustain change, as well as to navigate some of the challenges that arise in policy work (Jason, 2013). For example, it is important to see the big picture and be careful to identify who the power holders are. Often they like to see things stay the same, particularly if they are gaining resources and privileges in these roles. When identifying power holders, it is useful to understand their motives for continuing to maintain control, and the influence and power that they wield. Certainly, the National Rifle Association has a powerful role in shaping the dialogue on the availability of guns, and their position has contributed to the wide availability of guns throughout the US. To bring about structural and long-term second-order change, rather than just short-term fixes to a problem, it is often useful to work with coalitions and other allies in order to form strategies to confront those who are abusing the power. Often youth who have been traumatized by a school shooting, as well as parents of children who have been killed, have become powerful agents of change, trying to reduce the availability of guns. Being willing to stay committed to an issue over time is critical, as it provides opportunities to get to know the central gatekeepers who might need to be dealt with to bring about second-order change. Ultimately, the situation in the US with school shootings will require patience and persistence, and savoring small wins is crucial to sustaining the motivation to work toward long-term goals.
Throughout this policy process, intuition is an essential quality that is relevant, as it often involves a feeling or sense of next steps that need to be taken in strategic coalition-building or political action. Having an intuition that one’s vision will be fulfilled in the long run can be a sustaining and life-affirming force in the face of oppressive conditions. Social policy change leaders will often rely on conjuring up a dream and sustaining it with intuition in order to overcome the obstacles that are faced in community work.
A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
While full participation and involvement are dominant themes within this textbook, the remnants of elitism and non-democratic processes have been present through recorded history, and continue to be widely present today. Anyone can do the following experiment: Think about the setting you spend time in such as your college or school. The Democracy Quiz question is “Who has the power to make decisions?” This deceptively simple question can inform us about whether there is any power-sharing when decisions are made or whether an elite, non-elected group are firmly and totally in charge of decisions. Change at this level will ultimately involve policies that have been reviewed within this chapter and this book.
Today, millions of Americans are locked up or controlled in total institutions whether they are substance abuse treatment settings, nursing homes, mental institutions, prisons or even schools. If one were to administer our Democracy Quiz in such settings, the answers would be telling. In many cases, the participatory spirit of decision-making would be hardly noticeable. For those with fewest resources, for those with greatest needs, for those with the least opportunities, there is often minimal input on decision-making. In other words, few democratic-type settings are available for those who are discharged from substance abuse treatment facilities, prisons, or mental institutions. These individuals need settings where they can participate as full members, with responsibility and dignity. It is at the policy level that we need to institute many change efforts for those most in need. The broadening self-help moment described throughout this textbook show us the possibilities when individuals with assorted afflictions are provided decision-making responsibilities and power.
To address many of the difficult policy level problems that we face, it is often important to take a few steps back and consider a historical perspective that accounts for changes that have put our world at risk for its current problems, and provides a way to explore and eventually address these problems on a deeper policy level (Jason, 1997). There was a time when people helped one another, not out of charity, but because it was the natural way of life. But over time there has been a weakening of long-term bonds with the land, family, and community and a reduction of a sense of coherence, and as well as interest, in community participation. Clearly, the computer and artificial intelligence/robotics revolutions have and will increasingly create challenges to larger segments of our population. At the deepest levels, our policy interventions need to ultimately strengthen our relationships and customs which make life more vital, energizing, and comprehensible.
SUMMING UP
We began this foray into the policy arena by considering mounting student debt, an issue that is complicated and ultimately will need to be solved by addressing the many streams that have influenced this unfortunate situation. Often whether it is dealing with student debt, increasing economic inequalities, or school violence, there are historical factors that will need to be understood so we can both understand what has caused these problems and what policies might be considered.
This type of work at the policy level will often need a long-time commitment, and sticking with these types of issues will more likely occur when you are really invested and committed to a social issue. If the problem is not important to you, it is less likely you will continue to fight for change when the inevitable disappointments and feelings of frustration occur. We can look for guidance from those who battled for civil rights, women’s rights and environmental rights, as these struggles occurred over decades. These movements demonstrated that a policy perspective can help overcome even the most significant problems to reach social justice goals.
Critical Thought Questions
1. What challenges might arise when trying to get a social issue addressed through public policy?
2. A community psychologist has partnered with a local advocacy organization to gain a state-funded mental health center in their community. Using the information on the policymaking process from this chapter, describe how the mental health center may be adopted through policy.
3. Reflect on how policies have negatively impacted your community. What are some ways to change these and implement new ones?
4. Think back to the small wins of the free online textbook project referenced in case study 14.1. What are some small wins you can think of if you were to try to change or create a policy you care about?
Take the Chapter 14 Quiz
View the Chapter 14 Lecture Slides
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REFERENCES
Block, P. (2006). Flawless consulting: A guide to getting your expertise used. Learning Concepts/University Associates. Austin, TX.
Clark, K. B., & Clark, M. P. (1947). Racial Identification and Preference in Negro Children. Readings in Social Psychology, 602-611.
Dalton, J., & Wolfe, S. M. (2012). Competencies for community psychology practice. The Community Psychologist, 45(4), 8-14.
Jason, L. A. (1997).Community building: Values for a sustainable future. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Jason, L. A. (2013). Principles of social change. Oxford University Press.
Jason, L. A., Beasley, C. R., & Hunter, B.A. (2015). Advocacy and social justice. In V. Chien & S. M. Wolfe (Eds.), Foundations of Community Psychology Practice. (pp. 262-289) New York: Sage.
Jason, L. A., Groh, D. R., Durocher, M., Alvarez, J., Aase, D. M., & Ferrari, J. R. (2008). Counteracting “Not in My Backyard”: The positive effects of greater occupancy within mutual-help recovery homes. Journal of Community Psychology, 36, 947-958.
Jason, L. A., Glantsman, O, O’Brien, J. F. & Ramian, K. N (2019). Introduction to the field of Community Psychology. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/intro-to-community-psychology/
Jason, L. A., & Jung, R. (1984). Stimulus control techniques applied to handicapped-designated parking spaces. Deterring unauthorized use by the non-handicapped. Environment andBehavior, 16, 675–686.
Kingdon, J. W. (1995) Agendas, alternatives, and public policies (2nd Ed.). Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Company.
Miller, B. (2017, October 19). New federal data show a student loan crisis for African American borrowers. The Center for American Progress. Retrieved from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-postsecondary/news/2017/10/16/440711/new-federal-data-show-student-loan-crisis-african-american-borrowers/
Miller, R. L. (2017). The practice of program evaluation in community psychology: Intersections and opportunities for stimulating social change. In M. A Bond, I. Serrano-García, & C. B. Keys (Eds.), APA Handbook of Community Psychology: Methods for Community Research and Action for Diverse Groups and Issues (Vol. 2). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
National Academy of Science. (2012). Using science as evidence in public policy. Washington, DC.
Wood, M., Turnham, J., & Mills, G. (2008). Housing affordability and family well‐being: Results from the housing voucher evaluation. Housing Policy Debate, 19(2), 367-412. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Introduction_to_Community_Psychology_(Jason_et_al.)/05%3A_Tools_for_Action/5.01%3A_Public_Policy.txt |
Chapter Fifteen Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Understand why and how communities organize
• Explain bottom-up and top-down approaches to community organizing
• Understand the cycle of organizing
“The basic requirement for the understanding of the politics of change is to recognize the world as it is. We must work with it on its terms if we are to change it to the kind of world we would like it to be. We must first see the world as it is and not as we would like it to be.”
— Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals
At some point, everyone wants something about their community—or how their community is treated—to change. Maybe they feel a law is unfair, or wish their group had more resources. One way to accomplish community goals is to engage in community organizing, or the act of engaging in cooperative efforts to promote a community’s interests. Just as there are many things people may wish to change, community organizing comes in many shapes and forms and can be used to initiate small changes within a community or larger changes throughout society. Engaging in community organizing involves actively cultivating relationships with a number of people, some of whom may have different ideas about solutions. If it sounds complicated, that’s because it is! Thankfully, we have many examples of successful community organizing, some of which come from collaborative partnerships.
COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIPS
To understand collaborative partnerships, let’s first break down these two terms into their simplest form. A partnership is a mutual relationship between two or more people. This relationship can be hierarchical, as is the case between you and your boss, or equal, like the relationship between you and your co-workers. Collaboration, on the other hand, is an action. Specifically, collaboration is the action of working with one or more people to produce or create something.
Taken together, a collaborative partnership is a reciprocal relationship between two or more people with a shared goal in mind. Collaborative partnerships are often dynamic, characterized by constant change, activity, or progress. Thinking about what you have read so far, what are some examples of collaborative partnerships you have encountered in the case study boxes throughout this book? Before reading further, take a moment to list them. Now that you have revisited the case studies and have a list of collaborative partnerships, are there commonalities between them? Do they differ from what you think of as community organizing? Often in Community Psychology, collaborative partnerships have common themes with and key differences from other forms of community organizing. Let’s take a look at some of these commonalities and differences.
Organization of Collaborative Partnerships
As you may recall from the introductory chapter (Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019), a major focus of Community Psychology is that of social justice. It is common for community psychologists to develop collaborative partnerships with organizations that serve oppressed groups. As cutbacks in the public sector have become more and more common the past three decades, collaborative partnerships between community psychologists and community organizations have provided one solution to dwindling resources within organizations (Nelson, Prilleltensky, & MacGillivary, 2001). These partnerships can also assist when the organization lacks expertise in certain areas. For example, community psychologist Amie McKibban partnered with the YMCA Caldwell Center in Evansville, Indiana to assist the organization in gathering feedback from the diverse population the center served to better meet their needs. After completing focus groups with the neighborhood residents, Dr. McKibban and her Community Psychology students developed a needs-based survey that was administered to the same residents. As a result, the center was able to write evidence-based grants and obtain funding for different types of programs that better met the residents’ needs (McKibban & Steltenpohl, 2019; see the following case study).
Case Study 15.1
The Caldwell Center Partnership
The YMCA Caldwell Center is in the Glenwood neighborhood, a racially diverse, economically disadvantaged area with 46.8% of the residents living below poverty and 53.5% having less than a high school education. The goal of working with this YMCA branch was twofold: the project aided community psychologist Amie McKibban in teaching her students real-world, marketable skills relevant to community psychological research, and the community partners received assistance in developing a tangible product that could be utilized to better serve community members’ needs. This partnership was established through the University of Southern Indiana’s Outreach and Engagement office, which is designed to connect community entities in need of services with researchers on campus. The collaborative effort rested on two demonstrable outcomes for the Caldwell Center: to provide qualitative feedback from different age groups utilizing their services (a bottom-up focus on residents’ needs) and to create a quantitative measurement tool that could be used to collect data more easily and quickly once they ended our partnership.
Bottom-Up and Top-Down Approaches
Collaborative partnerships, as illustrated in Case Study 15.1, are often more formal in nature, designed to meet a specific need of the organization, and have a specified timeline with an end goal. Although not always true, collaborative partnerships tend to take a top-down approach to social change. That is, they tend to be designed by experts or community leaders who are often not part of the community the social change will impact. Top-down approaches carry with them the benefit of expertise and legitimacy, but also run the risk of reflecting the experiences and world views of the experts. In other words, the needs and voices of the community may be lost in translation (Fawcett, et al., 1995). This approach also runs the risk of reinforcing existing power structures, and as you learned in Chapter 1, inequality in power structures is often the root cause of other inequalities, such as poverty and income.
Often, when we think of community organizing, a top-down approach isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. Although this is a beneficial approach in certain settings, sometimes the most powerful forms of social change utilize a bottom-up approach, which originate at the grassroots level. That is, they are designed by community members rather than experts or professionals. An easy way to illustrate this difference is with mental health care. Seeking the services of a therapist is a top-down approach to mental health care. You seek the expert advice of a therapist to feel better. On the other hand, self-help groups represent a bottom-up approach, where you seek the support of others with mental health difficulties to feel better.
Let’s consider another example—that of food insecurity. A top-down approach to food insecurity may include a city mandate that public schools send snacks home with children living in food deserts, where the snacks are provided by those in power. In contrast, a bottom-up approach may include a community garden initiative where local residents plant and tend to gardens, with the food being provided by those living in the food desert. This is precisely what one group of concerned citizens in Evansville, Indiana did when they started the first Urban Seeds community garden in 2005. Their efforts have since grown into a non-profit organization that serves the region of Southern Indiana. Of course, with any kind of partnership, it is important to consider the potential for iatrogenic effects, or unintended consequences. You may find it helpful to talk about values and goals early on in the process of working with community organizations and groups, looking specifically for areas of overlap and differences. It is also a good idea to define important terms, talk about how you will deal with conflict (for example, a disagreement between university researchers and the school district), and discuss how long the relationship will last. Partners should revisit these agreements to make sure any changes are addressed. See Case Study 15.2 for an example and some good ideas to consider.
Case Study 15.2
Innovative Channels of Change in California
Regina Day Langhout and her team worked with an after-school program in Maplewood, California to aid students in designing, researching, and implementing action research in their school. Students learned about research design and methodology, developed and completed actions to address their selected issues, and presented their findings. As the partnership developed, Langhout and her team ran into challenges around limited budgets, power differentials between students and their school institutions, limitations on what projects were considered “worth” pursuing, and what the “right” channels of change were. It was important for Langhout’s team to continue to communicate with students and faculty throughout the partnership and address these challenges as they came up (Kohfeldt, Chhun, Grace, & Langhout, 2011).
Now that you know the difference between these two approaches, think about changes you would like to see in your own community. What type of approach do you feel would be best to achieve that change? Sometimes figuring out which approach may be best can be difficult, and community psychologists generally agree that neither approach is best, as they both offer benefits. Whereas bottom-up approaches tend to embrace the values inherent in Community Psychology, top-down approaches are often needed for their resources—such as funding and expertise. In many cases, like the one described in Case Study 15.1, the two approaches are combined in hopes of achieving the best results.
COMMUNITY COALITIONS
Let’s go back to the things you would like to see changed in your local community. Is there something on that seems insurmountable? Perhaps a problem that seems impossible to change? Oftentimes this is the case when we think about social problems and their solutions. Indeed, some social problems are wide-reaching and require long-term, complex solutions that extend beyond the scope of collaborative partnerships. Community coalitions, on the other hand, tend to tackle larger social issues by bringing together a representation of community citizens and organizations—both private and public—situated in a way to address large social problems at multiple levels within a community. Like collaborative partnerships, community coalitions have become more popular in recent years following cutbacks to funding for social services, therefore putting pressure on communities to do more with less (Nelson, Prilleltensky, & MacGillivary 2001).
Given the organizational structure of community coalitions, members often agree upon a mission, vision, and set of shared values, all of which help coalitions write and implement action plans. These action plans help guide the coalition in their work, whether the work is carried out by the coalition itself or by affiliated organizations (Wolff, 2001a). Not only do coalitions help strengthen citizen participation, a staple of Community Psychology, they hold the potential to change policy at local and state levels, and increase community resources (Wolff, 2001b). To illustrate coalitions in action, let’s consider two very different community coalitions—one that came out of a grassroots effort to tackle a host of community issues where the work is done by the coalition itself (Case Study 15.3a), and one that developed over decades of work to decrease economic disparities, where much of the work is carried out by affiliated organizations (Case Study 15.3b).
Case Study 15.3a
Congregations Acting for Justice and Empowerment
Congregations Acting for Justice and Empowerment is an interfaith coalition comprised of 22 religious organizations in Southern Indiana. It started by members of different religious congregations coming together to better understand what community issues were mutually important to them through listening sessions, a practice that continues today and draws hundreds of community members from different congregations. Through these listening sessions, members decide on one or two issues to address throughout the year and develop an evidence-based action plan. One example of how this coalition impacted community practice was their success in reaching an agreement with three county sheriff’s offices and the city fire department to equip officers and firefighters with Narcan, a life-saving medication for drug overdoses.
Watch this this PSA on the success of a similar approach to drug overdoses in Massachusetts.
Case Study 15.3b
The Community Action Program of Evansville
The Community Action Program of Evansville is a multi-organization coalition that developed under the auspices of the City of Evansville in the 1960s with the mission of promoting economic and social self-sufficiency for the area’s racial minority populations. The coalition develops action plans under the guidance of a Board of Directors consisting of representatives from three different counties that represent both the public and private sector. Twenty-four community programs are housed under this coalition— including programs such as Head Start, Financial Literacy for Home Buyers, and Emergency Need Pantry—with multiple organizations carrying out the work. One example of how this coalition impacted community practice was in their development of partnerships to provide affordable, apartment-style housing for multi-person households.
THE CYCLE OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
Successful community organizing tends to follow a cycle: assessment, research, mobilization (action), and reflection (Speer, Hughey, Gensheimer, & Adams-Leavitt, 1995). A student organization wanting to improve access to mental health resources on their university campus may first assess what resources already exist on campus. They may also have one-on-one or small group meetings with students, staff, and faculty to better understand their experiences. If they can, they may also do a survey of a representative sample of students. Their main questions may be things like: What issues do students face when dealing with their own mental health? Are students able to meet with counselors when they need to? Are there differences in what groups readily have access to resources? Do faculty know what the process of referring students to various resources on campus looks like?
After this assessment stage, the student organization will want to enter the research stage. Here, it will be important to meet with campus leaders to understand what funding and other resources are allocated to mental health. They may meet with the dean of students to discuss different programming goals or the counseling center to understand what mental health concerns students come into the center with most often and how those concerns are addressed. The student organization may hold public meetings on the issue for students, staff, and faculty to raise concerns or to build public support. This will help them move into the action phase.
In the action phase, the student organization may host events raising awareness of mental health concerns and how to address them, with a call for more resources on campus dedicated to helping students thrive socioemotionally. They may create and distribute a petition calling for administrators and the board of trustees to allocate more funding to hire more counselors or provide the counseling center more or updated space. They may even participate in sit-ins, march on campus, or publish opinion pieces in the student or local newspapers. With the increased use of social media, they may create a social media campaign, incorporating the use of hashtags and encouraging community members to share their stories.
After these actions have been taken, the student organization will move into the reflection stage. Here, student leaders and their allies will want to reflect on what happened. What went well? What didn’t go well? What’s next? As Saul Alinsky (1971) suggests in Rules for Radicals, ideal organizers are curious (“Is this true?”), irreverent (“Just because it’s always been this way, does that make it right?”), and imaginative (“Let’s try to come up with another way to do this!”). They have a good sense of humor, a bit of a blurred vision of a better world, and an organized personality. Nurturing these qualities would help increase the quality of the student leaders’ reflections about their experiences. As the student leaders engage in reflection, they will also be looking forward to the next assessment stage.
It is important to recognize that time may be needed for communities to see the full effects of their efforts, as systemic change often takes time. As changemakers are considering what actions to take, they should always be mindful of intended impact. What outcomes would these student leaders hope for? Perhaps the goal is shorter wait times for students needing access to services, or a reduction in the number of medical withdrawals for mental health concerns. These are easy to measure and track, assuming the students have access to these metrics. Some outcomes, however, are harder to measure: how do we measure a reduction in stigma against those with mental health-related diagnoses? For something like that, it will be important to consider change over time, both on campus and nationally. Perhaps it would be good for students to work with faculty to develop a yearly survey to estimate attitudes surrounding mental health issues and maybe even prevalence of common mental health diagnoses.
As you might be able to see, measuring impact can get complicated pretty quickly, and often requires change leaders and others to think ahead and envision what factors will positively and negatively affect their ability to judge how things have gotten better or worse as a result of the actions they take. Some of the common obstacles found when trying to measure outcomes of coalitions include:
• Issues surrounding how representative their coalition and outcomes are compared to coalitions and outcomes generally
• Control of the independent variable (the coalition)
• Identification of extraneous variables and interactions between other extraneous variables
• Figuring out what outcomes to measure and how to measure them
• Changes over time in understanding and measurement of issues, and
• Fighting the desire to present results in a favorable way (Berkowitz, 2001).
As we have learned throughout this textbook, communities can vary widely in their membership, the contexts they inhabit, and their access to resources. While the complexity of working on and measuring the impact of community work makes this work challenging, Berkowitz encourages us to rise to that challenge and find new ways to measure what we need to measure in a reasonable and scientifically valid way.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING TECHNIQUES
Typically, when communities organize, their goals fall within two broad categories: resource provision, or ensuring a community is provided with a resource it is lacking (a form of first-order change), and transformation, or fundamentally changing a community and its structures such that resources and power are more equitably distributed (a form of second-order change; Hale, 2014). For example, a community may be interested in improving the educational outcomes of its children. If the community’s focus is on resource provision, they may push for smaller student-to-teacher classroom ratios or better pay for teachers. If the community’s focus is on transformation, they may push for a change in culture whereby community members share ownership of students’ educational outcomes with teachers and create programs that engage all members of the community.
Those who put transformational change above resource provision argue that resources are necessary for communities and community change, but without attention to changing the systems that caused the lack of resources, there is a danger of recreating systems that allow for some groups to be left behind. For instance, if a community pushes for better pay for teachers, this may benefit teachers in some schools or school districts more than others.
A key consideration for someone interested in community organizing is finding ways to keep volunteers engaged; organizations can only be as effective as their volunteers are when working together over an extended period. Some estimates suggest only one-third of first-time meeting attendees show up to later meetings (Christens & Speer, 2011). So, what factors affect whether someone stays involved? Some factors that seem to positively influence attendance include face-to-face meetings designed to build interpersonal relationships and attendance at research related actions (see above, where we talk about the research stage of community organizing).
Capacity Building
For change to happen, a community must engage in a process known as capacity building, or a process in which communities or organizations work to improve their collective skills and resources. In other words, before actions happen, communities need to make sure they can do the things they need to do to make that action happen and sustain the results they want. These things can include tangible resources like money or space, power, leadership, or the networks of people who care about an issue.
But why is capacity building important? Engaging in capacity building can improve community readiness for members to do the things they need to do for change to happen. For example, one study of seven Kansas communities trying to reduce underage drinking found that increasing a community’s readiness through capacity building resulted in new programs, policies, and practice changes being more easily facilitated (Anderson-Carpenter, Watson-Thompson, Jones, & Chaney, 2017).
Community readiness typically moves through nine stages (see The Stages of Community Readiness above) and can increase or decrease depending on the community issue, the intensity of community efforts, and external events. Community readiness to implement interventions to prevent underage drinking, for example, may drastically increase following a terrible car accident where underage drivers had been drinking. Case Study 15.4 provides an example of community psychologists using stages of community readiness to guide their intervention.
Case Study 15.4
Community Readiness to Address Youth Tobacco Use
Jason, Pokorny, Ji, and Kunz (2006) found that police departments and citizen community groups are often in different stages of readiness to change regarding reducing youth access to cigarettes. Some communities initially had minimal awareness that a problem existed locally and had no intention to invest in change, whereas others had an awareness of the problem, but no commitment to action and still others had a clear recognition of the problem and willingness to make some preliminary trials. A few other communities were ready to work hard at programs that should lead to behavior change. When working with a community in the denial stage, the Community Psychology research group often needed first to show them data from the schools to indicate that there was, in fact, a significant problem with youth smoking in their communities. The researchers also showed them data, which had been collected from the assessment of local merchants’ tobacco sales patterns, indicating that these merchants were illegally selling tobacco to minors. When the research group worked with communities in the preparation stage, police chiefs often found it helpful to rate the community’s level of readiness and where the community might like to be in a year so that the community could monitor their anticipated changes. The very process of discussing these issues often facilitated the communities in preparing for change and taking action. Sometimes the assessment called for the development of new tobacco control ordinances for towns, and the community psychologists were able to help the communities bring about important policy changes. It was only by understanding this readiness to take action that they could tailor the interventions to the needs of each community, and slowly work with them to become more motivated to prepare, take and maintain active social policies that could reduce youth access to tobacco and ultimately youth rates of smoking. As an example, for over a year, the research team worked collaboratively with one community to insure that this ordinance was carefully crafted and had broad community support to pass. The research team was invited to testify at a local city counsel meeting to provide evidence supporting the need for the revised ordinance. This policy development and advocacy were not required in every town, but this example shows how the team needed to carefully target their collaborative work to address the unique needs and readiness to change of each community. As a result of the success of this study, these community psychologists next used their Community Readiness Interview Scale in a larger randomized study involving 24 communities.
OTHER KEY CONCEPTS OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
Collective Efficacy and Participatory Efficacy
As we have learned throughout this chapter, the work of community psychologists relies heavily on community members acting collectively and intentionally (Foster-Fishman, et al., 2001). It also relies on a sense of collective efficacy, that is, the belief that the actions of the group can be successful in creating change (Zimmerman, 2000). Collective efficacy depends on many factors, such as the task at hand, access to resources, and leadership. It also depends on personal participatory efficacy—your own belief that you can effectively participate in community organizations. Both vary from situation to situation. For example, you may feel that the student group you belong to can effectively change the campus housing visitor policy (collective efficacy) and that your research skills will contribute to the group’s efforts (participatory efficacy). On the other hand, you may feel that the local homeless coalition you volunteer for will effectively establish partnerships for affordable housing (collective efficacy) but feel that you cannot contribute effectively to that mission (participatory efficacy).
Burnout in Community Organizing
We can all relate to feelings of stress. In community partnerships and coalitions, stress can lead to burnout – that feeling of overall exhaustion when there’s too much pressure (stress) and not enough sources of satisfaction or feelings of support (Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2000). When coalition or team members experience burnout, it comes as no surprise that the quality of their work or willingness to participate deteriorates. Researchers have found six organizational factors that contribute to burnout: high workload, little influence in decision making, inadequate rewards (e.g., compensation, recognition), lack of social support, lack of fairness, and disagreement on values (Maslach & Leiter, 2008). Effective leadership and organizational capacity can aid in preventing many of these factors, and the way in which you define the social problem and decide how to change it can make a difference.
Small Wins Approach
Think about the last time you received a high score on a paper you put a lot of time and effort into writing. It felt good, right? Successes, and the recognition of those successes, can go a long way in community organizing. When the social issue your organization is tackling has opposition, seems insurmountable, or is controversial, it is important to identify and establish small wins early in the planning phase. Organizational theorist Karl Weick (1986) found that when proposed changes are wide-sweeping and extensive, it tends to increase feelings of threat, and hence, increases a community’s resistance to change, and inaction among change agents. However, when proposed changes are small, concrete, and of moderate importance, risks seem more tolerable and manageable. These “small wins” also have the added benefit of attracting allies, preventing inaction, and deterring opponents. Take a moment to read the excerpt from Weick himself on small changes in Case Study 15.5.
Case Study 15.5
The Small Changes and Big Success of the Task Force on Gay Liberation
“The successful effort by the Task Force on Gay Liberation to change the way in which the Library of Congress classified books on the gay liberation movement is another example of a small win. Prior to 1972, books on this topic were assigned numbers reserved for books on abnormal sexual relations, sexual crimes, and sexual perversions (HQ 71-471). After 1972, the classifications were changed so that homosexuality was no longer a subcategory of abnormal relations, and all entries formerly described as ‘abnormal sex relations’ were now described as varieties of sexual life (Spector & Kitsuse, 1977, pp. 13-14). Labels and technical classifications, the mundane work of catalogers, have become the turf on which claims are staked, wins are frequent, and seemingly small changes attract attention, recruit allies, and give opponents second thoughts” (Weick, 1986, p. 42).
SUMMING UP
Community members may engage in community organizing for many reasons and in a variety of ways, though typically these goals fall within two categories: resource provision and transformation. As we learned in this chapter, collaborative partnerships may be organized using a top-down approach, where communities work with experts who are likely not a part of the affected community, or a bottom-up approach, which is driven by the community members themselves. Community coalitions tackle larger societal issues by bringing together people from across the community and its organizations.
Regardless of the exact method, community organizing often follows a cycle in which communities assess critical issues affecting the community, research causes and correlates of the issues, act through strategization and mobilization, and reflect on lessons learned. Successful organizers engage in capacity building and improving community readiness, both of which increase a community’s chances of success. Part of increasing community readiness involves building a sense of participatory and collective efficacy, which involve people’s sense that they—and their community—can change things. When things don’t go well, community members may experience burnout, or feelings of overall exhaustion that negatively impact one’s ability to engage in community organizing, which is why it’s important to focus on small wins.
Critical Thought Questions
1. What skills do you think a good organizer has? Some of these skills are individual-focused (for example, organizational skills), but others might be interpersonal (e.g. collaboration).
2. Imagine that a friend came to you and wanted to improve the amount, quality, and cost of vegetarian and vegan options on campus, among other environmentally-conscious actions they would like to eventually take. Take your friend through the cycle of organizing, highlighting potential opportunities and challenges that may be experienced along the way.
3. Think about a social issue that is important to you. What is a bottom-up approach to address this issue? How about a top-down approach?
4. What are some examples of collaborative partnerships in your local community? How about community coalitions?
5. Think about the drug and alcohol prevention program in your own school. What are some possible positive and negative effects of that program?
Take the Chapter 15 Quiz
View the Chapter 15 Lecture Slides
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REFERENCES
Alinsky, S. D. (1971). Rules for radicals: A practical primer for realistic radicals. New York, NY: Vintage Books.
Anderson‐Carpenter, K. D., Watson‐Thompson, J., Jones, M. D., & Chaney, L. (2017). Improving community readiness for change through coalition capacity building: Evidence from a multisite intervention. Journal of Community Psychology, 45(4), 486-499.
Berkowitz, B. (2001). Studying the outcomes of community-based coalitions. American Journal of Community Psychology, 29(2), 213-227.
Christens, B. D., & Speer, P. W. (2011). Contextual influences on participation in community organizing: A multilevel longitudinal study. American Journal of Community Psychology, 47, 253-263. doi: 10.1007/s10464-010-9393-y
Fawcett, S. B., Paine-Andrews, A., Fransisco, V., Schulz, J. Richter, K., Lewis, R., . . . Lopez, C. (1995). Using empowerment theory in collaborative partnerships for community health and development. American Journal of Community Psychology, 23, 677-698.
Foster-Fisherman, P., Berkowitz, S., Lounsbury, D., Jacobson, S., & Allen, N. (2001). Building collaborative capacity in community coalitions: A review and integrative framework. American Journal of Community Psychology, 29, 241-262.
Hale, M. R. (2014). Community organizing: For resource provision or transformation? A review of the literature. Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, 5, 2-9.
Jason, L. A., Glantsman, O., O’Brien, J. F., & Ramian, K. N. (2019). Introduction to the field of Community Psychology. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/intro-to-community-psychology/
Jason, L. A., Pokorny, S. B., Ji, P., & Kunz, C. (2006). Developing community-school-university partnerships to control youth access to tobacco. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 16, 201-222.
Kohfeldt, D., Chhun, L., Grace, S., & Langhout, R. D. (2011). Youth empowerment in context: Exploring tensions in school-based yPAR. American Journal of Community Psychology, 47(1-2), 28-45.
Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W. B., & Leiter, M. P. (2000). Job burnout. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 397-422.
Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2008). Early predictors of job burnout and engagement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 498-512.
McKibban, A. R., & Steltenpohl, C. N. (2019). Community psychology at a regional university: On engaging undergraduate students in applied research. Forthcoming at Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice.
Nelson, G., Prilleltensky, I., & MacGillivary, H. (2001). Building value-based partnerships toward solidarity with oppressed groups. American Journal of Community Psychology, 29, 649 – 677. doi: 10.1023/A:1010406400101.
Speer, P. W., Hughey, J., Gensheimer, L. K., & Adams-Leavitt, W. (1995). Organizing for power: A comparative case study. Journal of Community Psychology, 23(1), 57-73. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/1520-6629(199501)23:1<57::AID-JCOP2290230106>3.0.CO;2-9
Tri-Ethnic Center for Prevention Research. (2014). Community readiness for community change (2nd ed.). Fort Collins, CO: Colorado State University.
Weick, K. (1984). Small wins: Redefining the scale of social issues. American Psychologist, 39, 40-49.
Wolff, T. (2001a). Community coalition building: Contemporary practice and research. American Journal of Community Psychology, 29, 165-172.
Wolff, T. (2001b). The future of community coalition building. American Journal of Community Psychology, 29, 263-268.
Zimmerman, M. A. (2000). Empowerment theory: psychological, organizational and community levels of analysis. In J. Rappaport & E. Seidman (Eds.), Handbook Of Community Psychology (pp. 43-63). New York: Kluver/Plenum. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Introduction_to_Community_Psychology_(Jason_et_al.)/05%3A_Tools_for_Action/5.02%3A_Community_Organizing_Partnerships_and_Coalitions.txt |
Chapter Sixteen Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Explain how large, complicated problems can be broken down into smaller solvable ones
• Identify the importance of studying and bringing about change in observable behaviors
• Understand how behavioral approaches have been used in Community Psychology
You may have heard of B. F. Skinner, who pioneered the use of behavioral approaches to show how rewards and punishments can change the behaviors of animals and people. This behavioral revolution has had a tremendous effect on psychology in terms of how therapy is now practiced in countries throughout the world. The old Freudian perspective has been replaced by a variety of behavioral-type therapies, used to help patients with a wide variety of common problems such as anxiety and depressive disorders. Most behavioral studies have been conducted in hospitals in inpatient settings or other types of institutions with much less behavioral research occurring in community settings such as homes or neighborhoods (Hanley et al., 2003). When behavioral-type work is conducted in community settings and has the values from the field of Community Psychology (as reviewed in Chapter 1, Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019), it has been referred to as Behavioral Community Psychology.
As we will see in this chapter, the Behavioral Community Psychology approach allows for a more focused and targeted method to define and change a range of community and social problems. In a sense, this approach breaks down large and complex problems into smaller ones that are much more manageable to solve. By specifying and measuring specific behaviors, such as littering or tobacco use, behavioral community psychologists can chart those behaviors over time to determine whether or not a particular intervention is effective. We will show in this chapter how these types of practical and easy-to-implement interventions can lead to what are called small wins, which can be reinforcing and sustain the work of community psychologists over time. We can change the world through being extremely strategic and focused by breaking down large problems into smaller ones that are solvable.
Ok, let’s give an example of a problem that seemed very difficult to solve. If you can believe it involved uncollected dog droppings in Chicago. There as a time when nobody knew how to even approach this problem, let alone study or solve it. But as you will see, by collecting data and showing that there was a possible solution, change did occur for not only Chicago but also other urban areas in the US. The behavioral community psychology Case Study 16.1 was carried out at a time when there were no formal laws that required dog owners to pick up after their dogs.
Case Study 16.1
Getting the Scoop on Behavioral Interventions
Leonard Jason invited his Alderman in Chicago to his community psychology class, and Jason said to himself that he would tackle whatever the Alderman mentioned as the most pressing community issue. When informed that it was uncollected dog feces, Jason’s mouth fell open in disbelief, but he pledged to work on this issue. Jason’s team first counted all fresh dog feces within an eight by five block area surrounding DePaul University. The fact that 1,147 droppings were within this area suggested that dog litter was a serious and prevalent problem within this community. Next, the team for five hours daily recorded the number of dogs, the number who defecated, and the number of dog defecations picked up by their owners. In addition, all defecations were picked up and weighed each morning. During the baseline phase, few dog owners were observed to pick up after their dogs and over 19 pounds of dog defecations were deposited in the target block. When dog owners were given instructions and a demonstration concerning how to use a plastic bag to pick-up dog feces, 82% of the dog owners proceeded to pick up after their dogs.
These findings indicated that the prompting intervention, which applied instructions and modeling, effectively motivated dog owners to dispose of their dogs’ waste properly.
At the study’s end, the Chicago alderman asked Jason to present the above data at City Hall in order to support a proposed ordinance which would require dog owners to have in their possession a pooper scooper when walking dogs. This ordinance was passed by the City Council, making Chicago one of the first cities in the country to pass a pooper scooper ordinance. The alderman to whom Jason had originally provided the data mentioned to him that this study, which received considerable media exposure, had helped change the politicians’ perception of the problem. The Alderman wrote to Jason: “In the past, this problem has often been scoffed at and not taken seriously. Your comments regarding the dog defecation problem altered that perception greatly.” Chicago’s ordinance became a model for other similar ordinances in towns around the country (Jason, 2013).
Although the subject matter of this study is a bit hard to believe, it is a true story. It shows the usefulness of listening to the community for ideas about what is important, even if it sometimes involves getting one’s hands dirty in the process. In other words, the subject matter of the intervention was decided upon by the needs of the community, and this is a critical part of behavioral community interventions. Also, by focusing on one small area and collecting data on dogs and their owners, it was possible to show that change could occur. In fact, it was found through the behavioral intervention that dog owners were willing to pick up after their dogs. Most importantly, the findings were transmitted to the legislative process, and a new ordinance came into law that made a real difference to the community. By getting into the trenches, getting our hands dirty, and being willing to study dog litter, we were able to influence dog owners to pick up. Just think what else is possible to accomplish.
HISTORICAL ROOTS
Some of the first developments of learning theory started in the 1890s when Ivan Pavlov demonstrated the importance of the environment on behavior. Pavlov wanted to measure the amount of salivation in dogs when they were given food, predicting that the dogs would begin to salivate in response to being fed. A researcher would bring food to the dogs whenever he walked into the lab. Pavlov noticed that after a while, the dogs began to salivate in response to hearing the researcher’s footsteps, meaning they began to associate the footsteps with being fed, which caused a behavioral response (e.g., salivation).
Pavlov (1897) examined this discovery further with a series of experiments, in which the dogs underwent numerous trials and were exposed to a sound that was immediately followed by food. Pavlov discovered that when he just made the sound that accompanied food, the dogs began to salivate even if the food was not presented. Through the systematic control of the environment (i.e., onset of a sound and delivery of food), the animals learned to associate the sound with the food that followed. This fundamental learning process is referred to as Classical Conditioning.
Later, B. F. Skinner further examined behavioral responses and developed Operant Conditioning through the use of small boxes that contained a lever that lab rats pressed to release food. In these experiments, a rat was placed in the box and then observed. At first, the rat scurried around and then accidentally pulled the lever that released the pellets of food. In successive trials, Skinner observed that the time in which it took the rat to release the pellets of food decreased each time it was placed in the box. The rat began to learn that pulling the lever resulted in the delivery of food. Skinner taught the rats to pull the lever by rewarding the behavior, which became the basis for Operant Conditioning. This theory builds upon the work of Pavlov in understanding the relationship between one’s environment and behavior. Skinner coined the term Behavioral Analysis (1953) to systematically demonstrate how the behavior of individuals and groups is influenced by the environment. His work led the way to understand how animal and human behavior changed through reinforcement and punishment.
These theories demonstrate the importance of the environment on shaping behavior. Environments have a powerful influence on individuals, and this work has provided insights for community psychologists as they try to understand larger and more complex ecological systems.
APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS
Behavioral community psychologists often use the term Applied Behavior Analysis to understand and explain human behavior as a function of the interaction between behavior and the environment. Applied Behavior Analysis is rooted in Learning Theory, which focuses on objectively observable behaviors and how learning occurs when individuals respond to environmental factors or stimuli. Positive reinforcement and punishment can be used to teach and sustain behavior and shape individual as well as community behavior.
Another term that is often used in the behavioral literature is Behavior Modification, which refers to the systematic application of learning principles and techniques to assess and change an individual’s behavior (Martin & Pear, 2015). Often the terms Behavior Modification and Applied Behavior Analysis are used interchangeably within the field of Behavioral Community Psychology. Below are some terms used frequently in this field:
Positive Reinforcement leads to increases in the chances that a behavior will continue to occur. On the other hand, Punishment often leads to the reduction of the rate or likelihood of a behavior, which can result in the behavior being Extinguished.
Here is an example: Imagine that you see a person driving on the highway at a speed exceeding the local limit and the police give the person a speeding ticket. It is possible that this ticket (i.e., consequence) reduces the likelihood of future speeding behavior. So, the person’s behavior is changed by the consequences as they now drive at the speed limit.
Shaping of behavior involves establishing a complex set of behaviors using a set of steps. Teaching a child to cross a street involves teaching several behaviors connected in a certain order. This might look something like this: walk up to the corner, push the button to activate the crosswalk and traffic light, wait until you get the correct “walk” signal and the cars are stopped, and then quickly get across the street before the light changes.
Stimulus control highlights how characteristics of the environment might influence the occurrence of a behavior. To give an example of this principle, in Case Study 16.2 below, a group of Behavioral Community Psychology investigators examined the effects of altering traffic light pattern sequences on driver compliance at a busy, urban intersection in Chicago. In this case study, you will see that by making a small change to the traffic light pattern, car accidents were reduced.
Case Study 16.2
A Change in Lights: A Reduction in Car Accidents
This study began when a hazardous situation was observed with two sets of traffic lights that were separated by only about 100 feet. Drivers that were stopped at the first traffic light that was red, next saw this light turn green, and they began driving to the second traffic light which was in the process of turning from yellow to red. The drivers already had waited a long time for the first light to turn green, and were probably annoyed at facing another light that was going to delay them. As a consequence, more than half of the drivers sped right by the next light changing from yellow to red and this resulted in many accidents. Working with officials from the city of Chicago, the investigators then slightly altered light pattern sequences so that when the second set of traffic lights were approached, the lights were not changing from yellow to red. This small change resulted in almost all of the drivers not passing through a yellow or red light at the second traffic light. Following the completion of the study, the traffic engineer approved the permanent alteration of the light timing pattern that increased traffic rule compliance. Accident data collected before and after the light timing changes indicated a reduction in automobile accidents (Jason, Neal, & Marinakis, 1985).
ADDITIONAL BEHAVIORAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Several additional important developments in the behavioral approach have occurred. For example, Albert Bandura (1986) discovered that behavior is also learned from the environment through the process of observation (see the video below for a brief history of Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment).
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/?p=766
Bandura showed that it is possible to learn by just observing another person engaging in a particular behavior. So, a child might watch a parent use a fork to eat food, and then the child might engage in that behavior from just watching the parent engaging in the behavior. This work has helped scientists better understand how aggressive behavior can be learned by youth, and this can occur when youth observe violence being reinforced. In addition, Bandura helped us better understand the importance of the thoughts and feelings that intervene between the stimuli and responses. In a sense, we are active information processors, and therefore cognitive factors are also involved in learning.
A final development that has attracted considerable media attention is the emergence of the field of behavioral economics, which is derived from the fields of psychology and economics. In essence, we are susceptible to temptations and often make bad decisions even though there are better options. For example, it is not uncommon to eat high fat and high-calorie snacks rather than healthier foods, which has resulted in an obesity crisis in the US. Reed, Niileksela, and Kaplan (2013) suggest that this apparent irrationality can still be understood based on the principles of operant learning. Some risk-taking behaviors, such as unhealthy food choices, have more reinforcing value than less risk-taking behaviors such as healthy food choices. Often high fat and high-calorie foods are appealing and tasty, which reinforces continuing to eat them. Therefore, it is possible to understand responses such as these types of food choices (even though these foods can lead to obesity and other health complications) by the fact that these behaviors are being reinforced.
CONTRIBUTIONS OF BEHAVIORAL COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY
Most applications of Applied Behavior Analysis and Behavior Modification have been within the medical model, such as working one on one with patients having severe developmental disabilities. However, Behavioral Community Psychology interventions have addressed issues such as littering (Clark, Burgess, & Hendee, 1972); recycling (Zulas, 2009); illegal sales of cigarettes to minors (Jason, Ji, Anes, & Birkhead, 1991); drug addiction (Silverman, Roll, & Higgins, 2008); bullying in schools (Embry, 2002); blood donations (Ferrari & Jason, 1990); and identifying and conducting behavioral analyses on concerns of community members (Arellano et al., 2016; Balcazar, Garcia-Iriarte & Suarez-Balcazar, 2009; Suarez-Balcazar & Balcazar, 2016). Many of these interventions have embraced Community Psychology values summarized by Fawcett (1991), and include:
1) Valuing collaborative relationships
2) Focusing on behavior-environment relationships of importance to communities
3) Conducting research focusing on modifiable and sustainable environmental events
4) Involving setting and research measures relevant to community concerns
5) Using measurement systems that capture the dynamic relationship between behavior and environment
6) Developing interventions owned by the community and sustainable with local resources
7) Providing interventions focused on maximizing impact and benefits to the community
8) Spreading effective interventions
9) Communicating effectively to the community stakeholders
10) Contributing to fundamental change. These values have guided the work of behavioral community psychologists (Glenwick & Jason, 1980).
Below are case studies that provide several examples of Behavioral Community Psychology interventions. Case Study 16.3 shows how behavioral community psychologists collaborated with community-based organizations to influence legislative officials to support laws that contributed to second-order change, in this case protecting the safety of infants and children. Before child car restraints became law, thousands of children in the US were either injured or killed in car accidents. In fact, the leading cause of death for children under one year of age was car accidents due to not being protected in infant seats.
Case Study 16.3
A Behavioral Community Psychology Approach: Changing Laws and Saving Lives
A national coalition of behavioral community psychologists, that included Leonard Jason and Stephen Fawcett, was trying to influence legislators to pass legislation that would require infants and children to wear a seatbelt or to be placed in an appropriate car or infant seat while in cars. In Illinois, Jason and his colleagues worked with a community-based organization that was trying to pass needed child restraint legislation. Their hunch was that data gathered on behavioral and self-report information could be used to influence the debate about passing needed legislation. For months, they looked inside cars to see whether or not infants and children were placed in car restraints. They also used telephone surveys to collect information about the public’s attitude toward the child-restraint bill. The goal was to use both data collection on attitudes and firsthand observations to build a more convincing case when trying to influence policy officials. Although they were also working closely with an Illinois organization that was advocating for the passage of this bill, they were unsure if the data would persuade legislators. They sent the collected information to a randomly selected half of the Illinois state legislators prior to a vote on the child passenger restraint bill. In that letter, the senators were informed that 140 children in Illinois were killed and 25,828 injured in automobile accidents over the last six years in Illinois. The authors also pointed out that, through their observations, 93% of Illinois children were not placed in adequate restraints while riding in cars. They also provided the legislators with the results of the survey, in which 78% of adults supported the child passenger restraint bill. By sending this critical information to half of the legislators, they were able to see whether the targeted letter had made a difference in encouraging support for this important legislation. Significantly more senators (79%) who received the information voted for passage of the bill, whereas only 53% of senators who did not receive the letter voted for the bill. Their intervention was a success, and even the governor requested a copy of the findings before finally signing the legislation. With the passage of the legislation, for children between the ages of one to four, the use of appropriate car restraints increased from 13% to 42%. Rates of appropriate restraints increased from 49% to 74% for infants less than one year of age. Most importantly, children’s deaths caused by traffic accidents decreased by 53%. Comments made by members of the Illinois Child Passenger Safety Association included: “The data were very, very interesting. It was a building block in the passage of the bill.” “Those who had the data and understood them, it made them more forceful and vocal in support of the bill” (Jason & Rose, 1984).
For many social and community problems, working at the policy level can have more substantial and enduring results, as the car restraint case study illustrated. Psychologists often provide therapy to those who are injured in car accidents, but there are clear advantages to using our more preventive behavioral community psychology strategies to change laws that influence parents to appropriately protect their children while being driven in cars.
The next case study illustrates how the community researchers used principles of Applied Behavior Analysis to study a concrete behavior—compliance with traffic signs by drivers–and developed operational definitions of terms to observe the behavior in a community context. The authors worked with community residents to identify an issue of concern to them and their children with disabilities: traffic safety. As you will see, specific roles for the investigators included developing a strong reciprocal partnership with the community, identifying issues the community cared about, helping design a coding system to observe the behavior in context, and developing action steps to address the issue in collaboration with the community. The community in this example refers to Latino parents of youth and young adults with disabilities.
Case Study 16.4
Familias Saludables (Healthy Families)
Yolanda Suarez-Balcazar and her team, in collaboration with residents of a predominantly Latino neighborhood and staff from a local community agency, initially designed a healthy lifestyles program called Healthy Families (Familias Saludables) to address a concern identified by the community about a lack of culturally relevant healthy lifestyles programming for their families with developmental disabilities (Suarez-Balcazar et al., 2016; Suarez-Balcazar et al., 2018). Eight evidence-based sessions were then provided that focused on enhancing healthy routines at home and in the community, and addressed neighborhood issues that families cared about. During these sessions, many mothers reported cars in their neighborhood driving over the speed limit or failing to stop for crosswalks, leading them to worry for their children’s safety and their own. Furthermore, one of her collaborators (The Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children, n.d.) was at the time sponsoring a city-wide effort to collect walkability data across Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods and address walkability safety concerns. The lack of pedestrian traffic safety in program participants’ neighborhoods further made worse the numerous environmental barriers that youth and young adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities already faced to participating in their communities (e.g., over-stimulating sensory features, challenging physical layout). Utilizing Applied Behavior Analysis, the team designed a study in collaboration with their community partners to examine the behavior of traffic patterns in this neighborhood.
To assess the neighborhood’s walkability, data on traffic safety were collected based on direct observations. Independent researchers stood on street corners throughout the target area to observe and record traffic patterns including the number of cars failing to stop for the crosswalk, the smoothness of sidewalks, the speed of cars, and general street conditions. Data were collected at 25 intersections and focused on the behavior of car drivers on selected neighborhood streets, previously identified by community residents and agency staff as places/streets frequented by local families due to proximity to parks, schools, places of worship, and stores. Behaviors of interest that were recorded included drivers complying with street signs, drivers engaging in a complete stop whereby the car is not moving for a minimum of five seconds, and cars yielding to pedestrians.
They found that only one out of every three cars stopped at stop signs, and only half stopped before the crosswalk to allow pedestrians to pass. A pedestrian survey regarding walkability safety and engagement in the community found that participants walked to about six to nine places within the neighborhood weekly. Survey respondents also shared concerns about traffic safety. Consistent with a Behavioral Community Psychology approach, the data were utilized by the research team, the community residents, and staff from the local partner organization. For example, over fifteen families participated in a community health walk to raise awareness of safe driving practices. The health walk was organized by a number of organizations and participating families who decided to use this walk as an opportunity to educate the community about walkability safety. Parents and children created signs in both English and Spanish with self-selected messages such as, “Do not text and drive” and “Maneja con cuidado” [drive carefully] to carry during the walk. Then together, the team and the families joined the health walk alongside other community residents to continue promoting pedestrian safety in their areas.
This case study nicely illustrates the core values of Behavioral Community Psychology. First, the target population was actively involved in all aspects of the intervention, including identifying the concerns and taking action. Second, increased fostering of the target population’s sense of personal control and empowerment was accomplished by families designing the signs to carry during the health walk and identifying the streets to be observed. Third, there was the use of objective and subjective assessments when evaluating outcomes, using an instrument developed by a local traffic safety expert group. Fourth, they saw an increased emphasis on antecedent events, and in this case, an important antecedent was the traffic signs posted at street corners indicating to drivers that the desired behavior is for them to stop. Finally, increased interdisciplinary collaboration occurred, as this project included a team of community psychologists, several graduate students from occupational therapy and nutrition, and one faculty member from public health.
Some might think that focusing on dog litter or traffic safety is just not important, given the other types of serious problems that we face. But behavioral community psychologists have tackled even larger issues, as the next case study demonstrates.
Case Study 16.5
The I-Files: A Community Movement for the Big Island
The project began during the first day of a two-day behavioral training workshop in Honolulu in the spring of 1997. The workshop was on the development of community coalitions for health improvement and was delivered at the request of the Chronic Disease Branch Chief of the State of Hawai’i Department of Public Health. In attendance were many employees of the health departments from Honolulu and several of the neighboring islands. Also present were health educators, public health nurses, epidemiologists, branch chiefs from several divisions, and the Directors of District Health Offices from Kauai and Hilo. By noon on the first day, one table was absolutely buzzing with excitement. At the table were six public health nurses, three health educators, and the district health officer. On the back of a napkin, they sketched an idea for a community health improvement initiative that would later be named I-Files. The idea was simple—for each of the six districts on the Big Island, they would develop teams of three people including someone specializing in community mobilization and action planning, another person specializing in grant writing, and another person who would be trained in behavioral evaluation. They would develop community partnerships to address the most pressing health issues in each district, and mobilize the people and financial resources needed to resolve the issues.
Many of the behavioral programs and efforts that began in 1997 continue to this day. Some of the major behavioral accomplishments include: the development of a drug and alcohol-free surf competition for area teens; a community leadership development program where the fire department trained teens in firefighting, community service, and leadership skills; a community coalition comprised of businesses, professional fishermen, and community members in Kona to minimize destructive fishing practices near the area’s reefs. Further accomplishments were a community coalition to support the continued success of the Ka’u Hospital to promote community health improvement and build the capacity of residents to prevent health outcomes such as diabetes, the development of a neighborhood watch and diabetes self-management program by public health nurses, and a community policing program. To learn more about these outcomes, see the Prezi presentation.
In this case study, community members and employees of the District Health Offices were involved in a project that led to breakthrough approaches in community health improvement. By empowering the community health workers to respond to what they were learning from community members, more responsive programming was developed to meet real-world needs as they emerged in communities. By creating coalitions that represented multiple sectors in communities, programs and policies were developed that affected behavioral changes to reach more people, resulting in improvements in a variety of valued life outcomes. The new and modified programs, policies, and practices developed by and with community members represented a variety of behavior change strategies. By involving both the community members and the public health workforce, programs and policies were more relevant and had a long term positive influence. As this case example indicates, Behavioral Community Psychology investigators can make a difference using their innovative methods with a wide variety of community issues.
OTHER ISSUES TO CONSIDER
Clearly, the behavior of individuals and groups takes place in complex environments across a variety of settings including families, homes, schools, neighborhoods, community agencies, places of worship, and work settings. These behaviors can be complex as they are in constant interaction with and impacted by the environment.
Behavioral community interventions do not operate in a vacuum but rather compete with other competing messages, which can affect and influence the effectiveness of the interventions. As mentioned in Chapter 1, for many years smoking prevention interventions were implemented in schools, and yet children reported that they were almost always sold cigarettes by store vendors. The fact that youth were sold these dangerous substances did have a negative effect on school smoking prevention programs, for there were youth who wondered how dangerous cigarettes could be if they were sold cigarettes by adults. Therefore, additional behavioral interventions were needed to reduce youth access to retail sources of tobacco. As another example, commercials on the media constantly advertise the benefits of food that have high levels of sugar and fat, and these media influences will also need to be addressed by those working on childhood obesity behavioral programs.
Some feel there are no generalizable laws of behavior that can be used to understand something as complex as a community, which has complicated layers of ecological influences operating at the individual, group, organizational, and societal levels. In other words, an intervention that might work in one setting might not be effective in a different place, so they feel that behaviorists who believe in universal laws of behavior are overly simplistic. We have an answer to this concern. We believe that the principles of learning reviewed in this chapter are operating in community settings, but there might be important differences in how they are implemented in different settings (Jason et al., 2016). As an example, a behavioral school-based program that has been shown to work well in environments that have adequate staff and resources might have very different outcomes when located in an environment where there are inadequate resources and other multiple problems due to gangs and violence. What is important to remember is that an excellent intervention in one setting might not work well when it is implemented in another that is less supportive and reinforcing. Also, an intervention for one age group might now work for another age group, as indicated below in Case Study 16.6.
Case Study 16.6
Prevention of Prejudice
Behavioral Community psychologists attempted to impact inter-ethnic relations of elementary school age children by implementing a peer tutoring program. These youth were shown how to tutor their classmates. Direct observations of social interactions on the playground and sociometric indices of interpersonal ratings were used to measure inter-ethnic associations before and after the eight-week program. For first-graders, inter-ethnic interactions and sociometric choices increased and improvements were found in arithmetic and reading grades. However, no significant changes were found among the third-grade program children. The first-grade children carried the benefits of the peer tutoring program from the classroom to the playground. First-grade youngsters quickly developed cohesive, interdependent groups and some continued to use their group name from the study on the playground eight months following the program’s end. The findings suggest the importance of fostering cooperation and addressing prejudice early on, as indicated by the lack of significant changes for third-graders in their ratings of fellow children of different ethnic backgrounds. These findings further suggest that a behavioral cooperative peer tutoring classroom structure may improve the inter-ethnic relationships of first-grade children, who have experienced only a short history of competitive academic exercises and whose overt ethnic prejudice may be less ingrained (Rooney-Rebeck & Jason, 1986).
It is by attending to the unique history, age, and resources available in these school settings that we might be better about to understand these types of different outcomes. Basic behavioral principles are operating throughout these settings, and our task is to better identify and understand these complex environmental factors.
Some have also been concerned about the language and terms used by behavioral psychologists, who often used words such as “controlling behavior” (Mattaini, Jason, & Glenwick, 2016). With dictators using this type of repressive language to control their citizens, it is understandable that some might be concerned with the terms sometimes used by behaviorists. But these phrases do not capture the rich collaborations that occur in behavioral community interventions, when researchers work closely with community members in both defining the goals of interventions and actively participating in bringing about changes (Glenwick & Jason, 1980). As shown by the case studies above, behavioral community psychologists are able to gain control of key aspects of the environment, but it is through a collaborative, mutually agreed upon process with key members of the community (Bogat & Jason, 2000).
SUMMING UP
In this chapter, the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis were utilized in the Behavioral Community Psychology case studies to illustrate how to promote real community change in a variety of settings. Behavioral community psychologists focus on the complex relationship between individual/group behavior and the environment. By attending to the relationship between behavior and the environment, whereby each impacts the other, it is possible to bring about important change.
As we end this chapter on Behavioral Community Psychology, it is useful to point out that many of our social and community problems, such as substance abuse, school failure, and juvenile delinquency, share many developmental roots such as poverty and lack of resources. Coordinating our behavioral community interventions so that they uncover common environmental causes, and take them into consideration as we implement change, will ultimately increase the enduring impact of this work.
Critical Thought Questions
1. Discuss what you think are some of the benefits and limitations of using Applied Behavior Analysis principles to study problems of interest to Community Psychology?
2. Many community psychologists do research in schools. What do you think about the practice of some school teachers across the country using different types of tangible positive reinforcers (e.g., stickers, candy) to promote compliance and “good classroom behavior?” Justify your response.
3. Imagine that you are living in a tenant building with an active renters’ association and you were elected president of the association for a one-year term. You noticed a problem with residents’ lack of awareness about the need to recycle. Although the recycling bins are provided and street collection is scheduled once per week, hardly anyone is taking the recycling bins out. Most tenants are young college students who are likely to produce recycling items (cans, paper, plastic). You want to start a recycling campaign and assess its effectiveness. Based on the principles learned in this chapter, identify components of the campaign and how you would get residents to recycle. Identify how you would assess if the campaign is effective. What would you measure as the unit of behavior for which you can take baseline measures?
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REFERENCES
Arellano, R., Balcazar, F. E., Alvarado, F., & Suarez, S. (2016). A participatory action research and intervention in a rural community of Mexico concerns report method/Titulo en Español. Universitas Psychologica, 15(2), 15.
Balcazar, F., Garcia-Iriarte, E., & Suarez-Balcazar, Y. (2009). Participatory action research with Colombian immigrants. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 31(1), 112-127.
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Bogat, G. A., & Jason, L. A. (2000). Toward an integration of behaviorism and community psychology. In J. Rappaport & E. Seidman (Eds.), Handbook of Community Psychology, (pp. 101-114). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.
Clark, R. N., Burgess, R. L., & Hendee, J. C. (1972). The development of anti-litter behavior in a forest campground. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 5(1), 1-5.
Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children [CLOCC]. (n.d.). Neighborhood walkability initiative. Retrieved from http://www.clocc.net/our-focus-areas/physical-activity-and-built-environment/neighborhood-walkability-initiative/
Embry, D. D. (2002). The good behavior game: A best practice candidate as a universal behavioral vaccine. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 5(4), 273-297.
Fawcett, S. (1991). Some values guiding community research and action. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 24(4), 621-636.
Ferrari, J., & Jason, L. A. (1990). Incentives in blood-donor recruitment – response. Evaluation & the Health Professions,13(3), 374-377.
Glenwick, D., & Jason, L. A. (1980). Behavioral community psychology: Progress and prospects. New York: Praeger.
Jason, L. A. (2013). Principles of social change. Oxford University Press.
Jason, L. A., Glantsman, O., O’Brien, J. F., & Ramian, K. N. (2019). Introduction to the field of Community Psychology. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/intro-to-community-psychology/
Jason, L. A., Ji, P., Anes, M., & Birkhead, S. H. (1991). Active enforcement of cigarette control laws in the prevention of cigarette sales to minors. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 266(22), 3159-61.
Jason, L. A., Neal, A. M., & Marinakis, G. (1985). Altering contingencies to facilitate compliance with traffic light systems. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 18, 95-100.
Jason, L. A., & Rose, T. (1984). Influencing the passage of child passenger restraint legislation. American Journal of Community Psychology, 12, 485-495.
Jason, L. A., Stevens, E., Ram, D., Miller, S. A., Beasley, C. R., & Gleason, K. (2016). Theories in the field of community psychology. Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, 7(2), 1-27. Retrieved from https://www.gjcpp.org/en/article.php?issue=22&article=125
Hanley, G., Iwata, B., & McCord, B. (2003). Functional analysis of problem behavior: A review. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 36(2), 147–185. Ka’u Rural Health Community Association. (n.d.). Home. Retrieved from https://krhcai.com/
Martin, G., & Pear, J. (2015). Behavior modification: What it is and how to do it (10th ed.). New York: Routledge.
Mattaini, M. A., Jason, L. A., & Glenwick, D. S. (2016). Behavioral and time-series approaches. In L. A. Jason & D. S. Glenwick (Eds.), Handbook of methodological approaches to community-based research: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods. (pp. 177-186). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Pavlov, I. P. (1897). The work of the digestive glands. London: Griffin.
Reed, D. D., Niileksela, C. R., & Kaplan, B. A. (2013). Behavioral economics: a tutorial for behavior analysts in practice. Behavior analysis in practice, 6(1), 34–54.
Rooney-Rebeck, P., & Jason, L. A. (1986). Prevention of prejudice in elementary school students. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 7(2), 63-73.
Silverman, K., Roll, J. M., & Higgins, S. T. (2008). Introduction to the special issue on the behavior analysis and treatment of drug addiction. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 41(4), 471-480.
Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. New York: The Macmillan Company.
Suarez-Balcazar, Y., & Balcazar, F. (2016). Functional analysis of community concerns in participatory action research. In L. A. Jason & D. Glenwick (Eds.), Handbook of methodological approaches to community-based research, (pp. 315-324). New York: Oxford University Press.
Suarez-Balcazar, Y., Hoisington, M., Orozco, A. A., Arias, D., Garcia, C., Smith, K., & Bonner, B. (2016). Benefits of a culturally tailored health promotion program for Latino youth with disabilities and their families. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 70, 7005180080.
Suarez-Balcazar, Y., Early, A., Maldonado, A., Arias, D., Garcia, C., Zeidman, A., & Agudelo-Orozco, A. (2018). Community-based participatory research to promote healthy lifestyles among Latino immigrant families with youth with disabilities. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy.
Zulas, A. L. (2009). Environmental change: The application of three theories of behavior change on recycling behavior and ecological values. Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. (ID: 1954848701). | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Introduction_to_Community_Psychology_(Jason_et_al.)/05%3A_Tools_for_Action/5.03%3A_Behavioral_Community_Approaches.txt |
Chapter Seventeen Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Understand characteristics of dehumanizing and harmful societal structures
• Understand which means are most effective to reduce harm when engaged in social and political change processes
• Understand how to engage in sustainable forms of activism
In the photo above, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is pictured leading 600 demonstrators on a civil-rights march through angry white crowds in the Gage Park section of Chicago’s southwest side. After King was struck by a rock, he was escorted by his bodyguard Frank Mingo. Frank later said: “No need to tell you anything different, I was sure scared. I got hit five or six times that day. But I didn’t mind. That was what I was there for, to protect Dr. King. My wife and I have three boys growing up. I felt that anything I could do to improve society would help them too.”
Part of the community organizing aspect of Community Psychology is understanding the long game, as the quote above nicely demonstrates. Many community psychologists work to reduce the symptoms of oppression through programming and community-based participatory research. Critical and liberation community psychologists, particularly ones engaged in activism, work to use psychology to confront oppressive actors and organizations. Frank Mingo worked diligently for the Poor Peoples Movement and the Back Home Movement, which was a part of a repatriation of the south by African Americans, laying claim to land that was legally theirs. Both Mingo and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. set examples of ways community psychologists can learn about courage and persistent involvement toward social change. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s writings and speeches, in particular, demonstrate ways in which community psychologists can use their skills to be effective and, at the same time, remain ethical and positive in their activism.
Community Psychology programs often focus on changing inequalities for people who are suffering, but the means have to be considered with extreme care. The message of this chapter is that rather than community psychologists being thought as the sole agents to “empower” others, we need to work together with community groups in collaborative efforts to foster their own empowerment. In other words, we can bring people together and work as allies with those who experience injustice (Olson, Viola, Fromm-Reed, 2011).
Part of being an effective ally is turning our attention toward those responsible for structural violence. Structural violence is a way to understand that violence and harm are caused not only by individual actors but by unjust laws, dehumanizing structures, and other features of the environment—all of which, of course, were created by human beings. To summarize, we feel that attention should be placed on the actors, policies, rules, and structures that harm community members. As the well-known psychologist Amos Wilson said, “If you want to understand any problem in America, you need to focus on who profits from that problem, not who suffers from the problem” (1998). Wilson is referring to those who have power to engage in any form of injustice whether it is due to greed, indifference, or racism.
The key question is: how do community psychologists attempt to tip the scale and change oppressive organizational, corporate, or governmental policies? It is often difficult to fight a powerful opposition, and the obstacles can seem insurmountable, as they were during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. When the goals seem impossible, and a sense of hopelessness and helplessness has set in, values and passion can provide the drive to continue working for social justice. We will show in this chapter examples of how this might be accomplished, as well as how you can remain inspired and motivated through it all.
COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY AND OPPRESSION
Amos Wilson (1998) felt that the elite effectively secure and enhance their power, hiding their real actions and motivations, all the while appearing not to do so. This can often leave those who have been oppressed to believe that they themselves were responsible for their struggles. Part of the work of community psychologists is to pay attention to those who have experienced oppression as a result of this structural violence. This work within communities is to help its members unravel these kinds of manipulations. To understand oppression and those who are oppressed, Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed offers important insights. For Freire (2007), the oppressors’ psychology is one of hierarchy, suppression, and dehumanization, and those oppressors will never liberate the oppressed. Freire felt that our ordinary way of thinking, “an eye for an eye,” would just lead to the oppressed replacing the oppressor, only to keep dehumanizing structures the same. Community psychologists work with community members to help them identify aspects of structural violence in order to change those structures. Follow this link for some helpful definitions related to oppression and power.
Examples of oppressive systems are the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, located in the Guantánamo Bay US Naval Base in Cuba, and secret Central Intelligence Agency black sites throughout the world. At Guantánamo, prisoners’ conditions of detention fell under human rights definitions of torture (find more about the abuses at Guantánamo from the perspective of a detainee). The torture program at the Central Intelligence Agency black sites designed by psychologists led to permanent psychological harm of the Muslim detainees. There were some psychologists who sought to expose these human rights violations. This is how it came about: due to media reports of extreme interrogations by the US government, the American Psychological Association (APA) convened a task force in 2005 to examine psychological ethics in national security, and this task force endorsed the continued presence of psychologists to use their psychological tools against detainees.
Following the task force report, members of the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology mobilized to hold APA accountable to its own ethical standards. The hallmark of the Coalition was the unmasking of policies regarding unethical psychologist involvement in torture. The following case study describes this coalition and some of their work.
Case Study 17.1
Coalition for an Ethical Psychology and the Hoffman Report
A community psychologist, a psychoanalyst, a historian of psychology and other clinical psychologists are leaders of the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology. The members of this coalition created a collaborative, non-hierarchical place for their activist work. They shared information and developed key allies with other organizations who could aid them in their efforts to expose the collusion, pertaining to the torture program, between the APA and the national security sector. By working with these allies, stakeholders in and outside of the field of psychology, their efforts eventually led to James Risen’s New York Times articles that detailed this collusion. The articles revealed APA’s collusion in allowing psychologists to be engaged in interrogation procedures that involved torture, and this led to the APA commissioning an independent review by David Hoffman, eventually culminating in what has been called the Hoffman Report. The Hoffman Report presented communications and actions taken by APA officials and members of the Department of Defense, Central Intelligence Agency, and Department of Justice that pointed to coordinated efforts and knowledge of APA Ethics Code subversions. The Hoffman Report and the aftermath led to increased accountability within the organization. Video discussions by Coalition members and their allies can be found below.
A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/?p=770
The creation of the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology is an illustration of what psychologists can do to combat oppressive forms of injustice, and in this case, the violation of human rights.
USE OF PARTICIPATORY MEANS
One job of community psychologists is to engage in dialogue with the oppressed and find what Freire called their generative themes, the core issues that face a group (Freire, 2007). Freire believed that community members are the best ones to identify the nature of the problems they face and participate in the solutions. When they align themselves with those facing oppressive conditions, they can, together, start directing their attention to unjust actors who control structures. For example, when the UN created the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (United Nations, 2006), those in the disability community objected because they had been left out of this process. People with disabilities were successful in demanding that they were the best ones to shape the foundational principles of the Convention, and they indeed became instrumental members. The famous phrase that came out of the disability community was “nothing about us without us.” Follow this link to hear young participants’ perspectives within the process.
Within Community Psychology, Julian Rappaport (1981) coined the term empowerment, which is very compatible with the value of helping the oppressed gain access to resources and increase self-determination. Rappaport often cautioned community psychologists against suggesting they were in charge of “empowering” community members. Rather, the empowering process is one in which all parties work together to bring about a greater sense of collective efficacy and work to equalize power throughout society.
Rappaport made an important distinction between empowerment and other approaches called needs-based and rights-based strategies. Needs-based strategies put those with the lived experiences on the dependent side of the hierarchy. Trying to deal with their needs, and focusing on pathologies or limitations becomes the focus. When focusing on the rights-based strategies, it is too easy to adopt a position of fighting “for” but not “with” community members. The Third Way of Empowerment (Rappaport, 1987), as described in this chapter, is very much aligned with working with community members. However, sometimes it is difficult to work directly with the community that is oppressed. As in the example of the Coalition in Case Study 17.1, it was impossible to work with the detainees because they were in secluded and restricted detention settings. Nevertheless, the Coalition communicates with multiple groups in an effort to help “educate” rather than “train” others. “Training is defined as teaching a group what to think rather than how to think. This makes the people dependent rather than assisting in developing skills which could be used for independent activity. It rewards behavior that operates against their group’s interest, promoting individual rather than group achievement, and instilling negative self-concepts and low self-esteem”
Bobby E. Wright (Anonymous, 1982)
Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed was similarly all about a new form of non-hierarchical education. Like the “empowerment process”, it was about collaboration and dialogue––where the teacher is also the student, and the student also the teacher. When working with communities, empowerment involves everyone working toward common, mutually-decided upon goals.
Community psychologists who engage in activism can also learn much from Rappaport’s notion of paradox, which is something that combines what seem to be contradictory qualities (Rappaport, 1981). In doing community work, we often encounter paradoxes, where two apparently contradictory truths do not necessarily contradict each other. For example, one paradox is that the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology was engaged in an empowerment process, but there was no direct contact with the prisoners, the people they were attempting to empower. Although this might seem to be a paradox, it is possible to do empowerment work and not be in direct contact with those who are oppressed. In engaging, investigating, and highlighting the side not receiving enough attention, empowerment can occur.
MEANS MATTER
Praxis means putting an idea or theory into practice. This is often a repetitive process where a theory, lesson, or skill is turned into an actualized action. Community psychologists learn from community members, co-design research projects, and try to put that learning into real action and activism. They then see how things work, and then return to the drawing board. Ethics, morals, and values are all essential parts of the praxis process. But here there is sometimes a division between those who use any means to get to their goals met and others who feel the means have to be ethical. Several community activists, such as Saul Alinsky and Malcolm X (particularly in his early life) felt that any means could be used as long as the ultimate goal is just. Sometimes using any means results in cutting corners or even harming others.
To use an analogy, the ring of power in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings is often attempted to be used for good, but it can only be used for evil. The characters with the best of ends in mind can become corrupted, due to the influence of the ring. So, what we are suggesting is that the means of reaching one’s goals in social justice is of importance. Poet and activist Audre Lorde famously declared, “the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house” (2007). If the problem is oppression and violence, using oppression and violence to achieve one’s goals might not be effective or just. Malcolm X realized this toward the end of his life when he sojourned to Mecca and saw people of all races, nationalities, and backgrounds praying together in unity. This radically altered his views on working to dismantle the oppressive power structures in this country, and he began preaching more about love and collaboration. To demonstrate the difference in approach to the means of activism, Case Study 17.2 compares different means of two influential social activists.
Case Study 17.2
Alinsky and Gandhi
Alinsky and Gandhi were both tricksters in defying powerful individuals, but they were also different in the means with which they carried out their work. Alinsky in Chicago believed in confidently insulting those in power and even using tactics of deception. In other words, all means could be used to get to the objective. As an example, in Alinsky’s book Rules for Radicals, he recommended: “find their [the opposition’s] rules and use those rules against them–because they find these rules precious and they cannot live up to them.”
A different approach was used by Gandhi in British Colonial India, where he engaged in nonviolence and humility, attempting to make the means ethical, and always striving to work with love for all human beings. In India in the 1930s, a British “rule” or “law” was a salt tax, making it illegal for the people of India to make or sell salt or even to collect it from the sea. Gandhi engaged in civil disobedience by initiating a march to the sea to collect the salt. This act inspired all of India and made the British look foolish, as they were unable to stop the march. In this way, Gandhi successfully took on the British without using their oppressive and violent tactics. His means were just and not corrupted in radical opposition to British rule. But, as is often the case when engaging in defiance of oppressive systems, Gandhi was punished by incarceration for his salt march.
It is in choosing the means of activism that a tempting crossroads presents itself to community psychologists, and we would argue for the adoption and use of ethical means to reach the goals.
The Means of Working in Partnership With
The means by which we partner with community members also matters. Community members are sometimes labeled with oppressive terms: the disenfranchised, vulnerable, the marginalized, the poor, those of “high risk”. The words we use do matter, and even the term “community organizer” suggests a person who is in charge of the collaborative spirit. Therefore words that suggest hierarchy, where one might have more power than others in the change process, are outside the spirit of Community Psychology.
In any praxis-based campaign, there is also a need to address the oppressor’s dehumanizing and colonizing nature. But, as we saw with Gandhi and with Martin Luther King’s work, this can be done in an ethical way that does not replicate the oppressors’ way of being. For an example of how to practically consider and address colonization using Community Psychology tools, learn more from Demystifying Decolonization: A Practical Example from the Classroom.
Ultimately, an important task of the community psychologist engaged in activism is to try to ethically persuade others using the tools of research and community-based action. Some individuals will never change and with others, it will take considerable time. Sometimes in a democracy, what is needed is to convince a majority of people, and encourage them to continue to engage in voting and social action. Community psychologists can also help keep groups of people cohesive, effective, and willing to engage in a long-term struggle despite criticism, insults, threats, and even risks to one’s career.
The Means of Assessing and Working on Oneself through Self-Purification
The activist’s journey is not only outwards toward bringing about change, but is also inward. It involves a thorough examination of one’s own imbalances, flaws, virtues, and motivations. This is often referred to as part of the “self-purification” process. When considering one’s motivations, one might ask if they are for accomplishing one’s own goals and priorities or if they are for the advocacy of others. An important civil rights activist who became the first female African American Episcopal priest was Pauli Murray who expressed a modest realism that comes from a life of self-purification. She stated, referring to the many activist campaigns she engaged in:
“In not a single one of these little campaigns was I victorious. In other words, in each case, I personally failed, but I have lived to see the thesis upon which I was operating vindicated. And what I very often say is that I’ve lived to see my lost causes found.”
This self-purification process is often a necessary element in social and political change, which as described earlier, is by doing it “with” not just “for” others. Gandhi, for example, believed purification processes were the most powerful antidote to external violence in the world, and helped a person sacrifice one’s well-being for the larger cause. Gandhi’s purification was a daily process which was clear to anyone who looked at how he both dressed and ate. The purification process could even be seen in how he responded to being attacked. Gandhi was incarcerated by the British after the salt march, and many other times was abused by powerful officials. But due to these abuses, social change occurred when the public was shocked and angered by the way he was treated by government officials. The act of sacrifice shifts public perceptions of the horrendous situations facing those being oppressed. The sacrifice and pain endured by such individuals as Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela of South Africa existed in a broad, public view, which can galvanize public support for social change.
The Means of Exposing and Changing the Oppressive Power Structures
It might appear that activism has only a loosely structured set of rules. In fact, there are no definitive rules to the liberation process, as much depends on context and on the many paradoxes one encounters when trying to change societal systems. Many community activists, such as Alinsky, focused on finding the immoral weaknesses or vulnerabilities of those in power, and inciting the police or public officials to over-react. The activist takes action, like in Gandhi’s salt march, in order to get the powerful system of oppression to react to the defiance.
Therefore there are patterns that help us, but activism is less a set of procedures that can be learned and memorized and more a process of experimentation. This perspective frees one to take risks, but our goal is to use ethical means so that when we are wrong, we will not bring about harm to others. It also gives us additional motivation, and that is of learning, invention, and searching for truth. Altering the path of an abusive power structure is intimidating, and Gandhi saw this as experimentation toward truth. Gandhi and King’s commitment to nonviolence showed the real possibilities, even death, to those that challenge the status quo. These activists embraced a self-purification process, but as Gandhi said, “non-violence laughs at the might of the tyrant” (Gandhi, 2001, p. 57). Nevertheless, both Gandhi and King used self-purification to avoid hating the enemy. Gandhi described this through a story about a burglar breaking into one’s house and the need to treat the thief as family, a concept referred to as critical kinship (Olson, Viola, & Fromm-Reed, 2011). We need to be critical, but at the same time see the opposition as kin.
One might ask whether students can participate in this process of taking on the power structure. The next case study shows it is possible, and it began with student reactions to the lynching of 128 African Americans living in the south. These killings had been unsolved for decades, and when the Justice Department withheld information about these civil rights injustices, it operated as an oppressive power structure. The hiding of this information can lead to cross-generational trauma, as the victims’ immediate loved ones and descendants have to live with the agony of unanswered questions, such as “What happened? Who did it? And why?” The students in Case Study 17.3 sought to answer these questions by confronting the source of the structural violence.
Case Study 17.3
Students Taking Action For Justice
A teacher of Government and Politics at Highstown High School in New Jersey told the students about this historical civil rights injustice, the unsolved lynching of 128 African Americans. They merely asked, “Should we try to do something?” (Jackman, 2019). In a true community organizing fashion, the class made it their mission to bring some semblance of peace of mind to the loved ones of the victims. The class drafted a bill that would force the compilation and immediate release of all the withheld case files to the public. The students understood the importance of focusing on the historical injustices and rectifying them. With the implementation of their activism, the students demonstrated a successful model of praxis. The students conducted research in order to fully understand the issue, took the time to meet with the families of the victims, and made sure to set the agenda through a strategic media campaign. Their efforts were noticed by two US lawmakers, who advocated for the bill and encouraged citizens to pressure the President to sign the proposed bill into law. The students also engaged the President through social media, and the high school allowed the cancellation of classes to undertake the social media effort. The President did sign the bill to release the withheld cases.
The students demonstrated the power of effective community organizing, community engagement, and speaking truth to power in order to take on an oppressive power structure.
PRAXIS AS AN ALTERNATIVE PROCESS
A social justice campaign is rarely a single event or a single march. Organizations begin and fizzle but activists continue to fight for justice. Having a framework for the intricacies of social change is needed for the long-term process to be successful. As discussed earlier, this process is referred to as praxis, which is the cycles of participatory action and research: community input, research, action, and reflection (Olson et al., 2011). Part of praxis is seeing what works and what does not work. When barriers and obstacles are insurmountable, certain tactics need to be let go of in order to search for new creative ways. Community psychologists plan for readjustments, adaptations, setbacks, small wins, and unexpected barriers. They also need to remind themselves of the higher goals they are trying to achieve. A long-term commitment is often the best ally a change agent has, along with allies from the community, in bringing about real change against those who control the status quo (Jason, 2013).
The analysis moves in spirals toward the best possible fit: the combination, the generation, the cyclical action–this is what a temporal campaign involves, until there is progress–a small win, and then another, and another, until transformational change gets going. To implement these processes, finding or creating alternative social settings helps protect individuals and the community from daunting oppression and barriers to change.
We are all part of many settings, some of which are more or less consistent with our social justice identities. To the extent one finds oneself in settings that support oppressor norms, it is possible to work from the inside to change them. When impossible to change, it is often possible to leave a setting, and seek or create new settings that better support one’s values. The creation of alternative settings has been described by Seymour Sarason, whose book The Creation of Settings and The Future Societies has much information on these alternative settings (Sarason, 2000). The creation of such settings is exactly what is needed for the sustainability of campaigns for social justice. The creation of alternative settings takes time and commitment, but they can provide an essential home base for sustainable activist work.
Sustainability of the Campaign Process
In a praxis-based campaign, it is important to consider what needs to be done first. One of the earliest stages involves generating, with others, hypotheses or ideas for change. A logic model can be developed that provides an outline, and a theoretical structure of how assets and activities are likely to help obtain short, intermediate, and long-term goals. The plan can be simple sketches that represent how one is going to break through the barriers ahead to meet the eventual long-term objectives. This is like a planning notebook and one can connect it with experiences, arguments, and evidence. If the logic model is created as a visual with concepts and arrows, it is possible to see the whole plan in a single glance. The whole group can then discuss and revise, using it as a conversation piece to connect it with all of the group’s experiences and where the group is trying to go together.
Ultimately, community psychologists measure whether or not their actions and efforts were successful in the short and long term. But what should the outcomes be? Certainly, it is useful to know if the program was successful. What actions helped? When it worked, what was the active combination of ingredients that had the effect? How do we study and help amplify where good grassroots connections are happening? Another goal is to understand how we can make a campaign more sustainable. How can capacity be built when campaigns fizzle out? Can we hold onto the small wins and keep going? To answers these questions, and to avoid burnout and keep the campaign sustainable, it is important to pace oneself, and ensure that self-care and mutual education are present at every part of the process (Olson et al., 2011).
Let’s provide another example of a problem that was encountered at a university. One of the highest members of the university’s administration had been actively involved in the APA’s collusion that made it permissible for psychologists to be involved in interrogation settings that included torture. As described earlier in the example with the coalition, this collusion came to the public light following the July 2015 publication of the Hoffman Report. The administrative official was mentioned dozens of times in this Report, and when the school student newspaper emailed Jack O’Brien asking for his reaction, the following case study shows what next occurred.
Case Study 17.4
The Vincentians Against Torture Coalition
Jack O’Brien was interviewed with the reporter for the school newspaper, and he gave his thoughts regarding the university official who was alleged to have been instrumental in the facilitation of changing APA policy and procedures that allowed for human rights violations perpetrated by psychologists in interrogation settings. After being quoted in the school paper, O’Brien started a petition to remove the official from the university and organized the Vincentians Against Torture Coalition. He collaborated with several local human rights organizations such as the World Can’t Wait and Voices for Creative Non-Violence. He also networked with student groups, such as Students for Justice in Palestine and Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan, that were invested in the issue. His petition amassed over 700 signatures, and this ongoing struggle was prominently featured in many articles in the student newspaper. O’Brien next organized a press conference on campus, which was featured on local television news channels and written about in newspaper articles in the Chicago metropolitan area.
However, even though there was a high level of media visibility and protests involving faculty, staff and students, ultimately, the President of the university announced that the school would not be taking any actions against the university official. In the short run, the campaign had not dislodged this official, but a few years later, both the university President and the official that had been the focus of these protests left the university. Although the protests and the media attention might not have been a direct cause of both officials departing, they contributed to concerns that many university employees had regarding their performance.
Following graduating from college, O’Brien continued to invest himself in the torture/human rights issue affecting psychology, such as organizing a symposium addressing the issue at a national psychology convention. As in Case Study 17.1, both activists had to stick with the torture issue for a long time in order to see meaningful change occur in the profession of psychology.
SUMMING UP
The work of Community Psychology does not support hierarchical social and political change. Rather it is non-hierarchical, working from the bottom up with grassroots sources in the community. The voices of the people are the main data that is used. Praxis possesses an improvisational quality, and it is experimentation at its best—as there are many advantages to this approach when working with the community to advocate and engage in social change.
Community psychologists work with community members to mutually educate each other in order to reach more complete understandings of the issues they are facing, and the nuanced impact of these issues. As activists, community psychologists are facilitators, a part of the process, and are intentional and respectful. When community psychologists analyze systems, they use skill and an ecological lens (as pointed out in the first chapter, Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019), combined with respect for the people they work with. As Coalition for an Ethical Psychology member Roy Eidelson advises, aim to call “…attention to daily injustices, whether that’s working hard for less than a living wage or facing discrimination in housing, education, or law enforcement,” as a first step in challenging and changing dehumanizing structures (2018, p. 203).
Community psychologists, whether they are practitioners or scholarly activists, try to untangle the blocking points and hurdles to social change. Often, the job is to find the paradoxes and tension points, and to help show the world the abuses, just as was done by the leading activists of the past. By using honesty, truth, and the strategies outlined in this chapter, you and your community partners can begin to advocate for long-term change, and bring about a more equitable distribution of resources for a better world.
Critical Thought Questions
1. What social or political changes do you want to be achieved in the world? Can you think of a praxis, a process, and put it in a logic model, that could best help you as you engage in activism?
2. Can you think of an “alternative setting,” in your own life? A group of people, your tribe, who share a set of values with you, or want to see the same injustice righted? Can you think of ways that you could collaboratively work with them to bring about change?
3. Think about some of the tools and skills that were mentioned as necessary to successfully bring about social and political change, or second-order change, through activism. Did you identify with any of these tools, have you used any of them in your own life, and how could you use them as an agent of social change?
4. The authors argued that the ends never justify the means. Do you agree with this statement? Reflect on why or why not.
5. Do you see yourself, your identity and reality, as being more or less in the oppressed or the oppressor group? Or some combination of both? How can we think about Freire’s categories as less about the oppressor and oppressed, and more about intersecting identities that still recognize asymmetries of power?
Take the Chapter 17 Quiz
View the Chapter 17 Lectures Slides
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REFERENCES
Anonymous. (1982). Bobby E. Wright. Journal of Black Psychology, 9(1), iii-vi.
Eidelson, R. (2018). Political mind games: How the 1% manipulate our understanding of what’s happening, what’s right, and what’s possible (1st ed.). Bala Cynwyd, PA: Green Hall Books.
Freire, P. (2007). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum.
Gandhi, M. K. (2001). Non-violent resistance (satyagraha). Mineola, N.Y.: Dover.
Jackman, T. (2019, February 23). ‘From students in high school all the way to the president’s desk.’ How a government class fought for the release of unsolved FBI civil rights case files. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/crime-law/2019/02/23/students-high-school-all-way-presidents-desk-how-government-class-fought-release-unsolved-fbi-civil-rights-case-files/?utm_term=.f7d295ead2dc
Jason, L. A. (2013). Principles of social change. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199841851.001.0001
Jason, L. A., Glantsman, O., O’Brien, J. F., & Ramian, K. N. (2019). Introduction to the field of Community Psychology. In Jason, L. A., Glantsman, O., O’Brien, J. F., & Ramian, K. N. (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from: https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/intro-to-community-psychology/
Lorde, A. (2007). The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. In A. Lorde (Ed.), Sister outsider: Essays and speeches (pp. 110- 114). Berkeley, CA. Crossing Press.
Olson, B. D., Viola, J., & Fromm-Reed, S. (2011). A temporal model of community organizing and direct action. Peace Review, 23, 52-60. doi: 10.1080/10402659.2011.548253
Rappaport, J. (1987). Terms of empowerment/exemplars of prevention: Toward a theory for community psychology. Journal of Community Psychology, 15(2), 121-48.
Rappaport, J. (1981). In praise of paradox: A social policy of empowerment over prevention. American Journal of Community Psychology, 9(1), 1-25. doi:10.1007/BF00896357
Sarason, S. B. (2000). Barometers of community change: Personal reflections. In J. Rappaport & E. Seidman (Eds.), Handbook of community psychology (pp. 919-929). New York, NY: Kluwer/Plenum.
United Nations. (2006, December 13). Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/crpd/pages/conventionrightspersonswithdisabilities.aspx
Wilson, A. (1998). Blueprint for black power: A moral, political, and economic imperative for the twenty-first century (1st ed.). New York: Afrikan World InfoSystems. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Introduction_to_Community_Psychology_(Jason_et_al.)/06%3A_Our_Future/6.01%3A_Social_and_Political_Change.txt |
Chapter Eighteen Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Know the reasons why “validated” and “effective” interventions are often never used
• Identify effective ways to put research finding to use in order to improve health
• Understand advantages of participatory methods that provide more equitable engagement in the creation and use of scientific knowledge
What if our research on bringing about change was not used by society to deliver better services to others? In other words, if all the programs and interventions that have been reviewed in this book were never used by others, this would be tragic. Well, two major publications from about 20 years ago highlighted this problem of getting the public to use programs that have been validated by research.
The first influential report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) showed that US healthcare was of low quality (IOM, 2001). So you might ask, why haven’t programs that have been shown to work and are effective been widely implemented throughout our healthcare system? We need to find answers to this question as we all have a stake in getting the most effective and safe healthcare interventions. When this IOM report was released, everyone was shocked to learn how the US healthcare system fell short of national goals for quality programs being used by the public.
There are long delays between scientific discovery and use of research findings in communities.These healthcare quality concerns were followed by a second report that showed it took an average of 17 years of science before an effective health practice program reached patients (Balas & Boren, 2000). Even more depressing, at the end of the 17 years, adoption of these practices only occurred among 15% of providers. Imagine, the healthcare you should be getting at age 20 may not reach you until you are 37 years old! And of course, that’s only if you are the lucky one out of six patients (the 15%) whose healthcare is guided by research. Based on these findings, researchers began to focus on the gap between research evidence and healthcare practices.
Ten years after the original IOM report appeared, Health Affairs, an influential journal, published new research on the “quality chasm.” And now, after 20 years, researchers are still finding that their discoveries are not used (Brownson, Proctor, & Colditz, 2018). These high impact findings led to the development of a new field called implementation science. Read more about implementation science here.
Implementation science began because health practices, programs, and policies were not achieving their expected benefits based on their research evidence. When research shows that a treatment works, or a program addresses a problem, we want to realize those benefits in the broader world. In other words, we need to find ways to get effective practices used (or implemented) outside of research studies. Dissemination is the process by which this valuable information is made available for our use. But before we come up with solutions to this dissemination problem, let’s first review the different types of evidence, by which programs are evaluated.
WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE AND EVIDENCE?
Scientists often differentiate types of evidence. Efficacy trials (Type I evidence) are often a first step in program development. These trials establish the cause and effect of a program on its intended outcomes. Efficacy trials determine whether a program changes a health outcome under scientifically controlled conditions. Individuals connected to a university often implement these studies. The next step in developing research evidence is typically known as effectiveness trials. This Type II evidence evaluates cause and effect in community settings, and in these studies the people, such as a teacher in a school, implementing the studies are often right from the community setting. So, what has been learned by well-trained researchers from the university is now implemented from people in the field to see if positive effects are once again found. Evidence-based practices are identified through a series of efficacy and effectiveness studies published in peer-reviewed literature. The third type of evidence (Type III evidence) evaluates the implementation context, such as an organization’s readiness to implement a new practice. One community might be ready and interested to implement a program on birth control, for example, whereas another community might not want to even try to do something in this area due to a number of issues, including the controversies that surround this topic or even lack of leadership to take on such a topic. The readiness of the community is a factor that community psychologists point to as key in whether or not an intervention is successfully implemented (Scaccia et al., 2015). An important skill is being able to work with communities differently so that we take into consideration their readiness to implement an intervention.
Community psychologists often link imbalances in resource allocation to social problems. But even in the creation and distribution of the research knowledge, there might be inequitable practices. For example, some say that we should only rely on knowledge created during randomized clinical trials, as this is the best way to know whether an intervention is effective. Many members of the community, however, do not have access to the resources or skills to implement these types of expensive interventions. And more to the point, there might be many other ways to understand whether an intervention is effective. There is an important role that community members might play in the creation of knowledge. The creation of collaborative teams involving researchers and community members might be one way that allows information to be actually perceived as valuable, and then widely disseminated. We will come back to this important issue, but first let’s see how the field of Community Psychology has come up with some strategies to overcome these dissemination problems mentioned at the start of this chapter.
SolutionS TO A COMPLEX PROBLEM
Many people still believe that research knowledge moves efficiently from the research setting (e.g., University) to the community. But this is not always the case. Community psychologists Wandersman and Florin (2003) have examined the gap between research and practice, and they identified a number of the issues that need to be addressed if we are going to effectively deal with the ongoing challenge of putting research to use. It is unfortunate, but just showing that an intervention can improve health does not mean others in society will use those exciting ideas. In other words, just because there is evidence that a particular intervention can solve a health problem, there is no guarantee that it will be adopted by community members and groups. For example, many people might never even get a chance to learn about such an innovation, or the intervention could be poorly implemented so its effectiveness is compromised. Clearly, getting effective programs to be used by others is a complex process, and there are often multiple barriers that need to be addressed. Case Study 18.1 shows a real example of community psychologists addressing these types of implementation issues.
Case Study 18.1
The Veterans Health Administration
The Veterans Health Administration is the largest, integrated US healthcare system. For over 15 years, the Veterans Administration trained thousands of providers to deliver evidence-based addiction and mental healthcare. The Veterans Administration mandates evidence-based care and offers financial incentives for meeting quality measures. Yet, like most US healthcare services, only 3-28% of the Veterans Administration patient population receives the highest quality care. Understanding this limited reach of evidence-based practices is critical to the Veterans Administration policymakers, providers, Veterans, and their families.
To address this problem, Lindsey Zimmerman and her research team of community psychologists used a partnership approach to equitably involve the Veterans Administration stakeholders in implementation research. The program, Modeling to Learn, was designed according to Community Psychology values, methods, principles, and theories. They sought to develop a systems understanding of the Veterans Administration addiction and mental health services. This occurred by empowering frontline providers to improve the limited reach of evidence-based care with their existing staff and local resources (Zimmerman et al., 2016). They prioritized participatory learning, so frontline staff could better meet the needs of their local veteran communities and sustain improvements over time. They also developed and implemented effective methods to address complex problems with care coordination, medication management, psychotherapy, and the overall mix that services teams offer to reduce impairment, relapse, overdose, and suicide.
Preliminary research findings indicate that this innovative program called Modeling to Learn significantly increased the number of patients who received evidence-based care in the Veterans Administration. One important way to increase the chances that research findings like in the case study above will be used, is to be involved in Community Psychology participatory methods, as we will illustrate in the next section. These approaches emphasize more equitable engagement by citizens and scientists in the creation and use of scientific knowledge. When this occurs, it is more likely that effective interventions and improvements will be available.
COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY PARTICIPATORY APPROACHES
Community Psychology began when psychologists saw a better way to address some of the most pressing needs and challenges within their communities (see Chapter 1; Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019). As indicated throughout this book, participatory research methods are a core strategy used by community psychologists (Jason et al., 2004), and they can be effectively used to address implementation problems.
More and more researchers have learned from the field of Community Psychology to bring in community representation in early stages of research. Figure 1 of the National Institute for Drug Abuse Prevention Research Cycle above depicts the need for community input to inform all steps of research development (Robertson, et al., 2012). The NIDA research cycle allows for opportunities to include community input and address contextual factors (dashed lines) earlier in research as opposed to the tendency to use input later (solid lines). Researchers should pursue knowledge of how community factors will impact program implementation and success. The community-centered approach to implementation is community-driven. With a community-centered approach, community psychologists can ensure that their efforts in health, education, practice, policy, and/or research are actually used, as is indicated in Case Study 18.2.
Case Study 18.2
The Infectious Disease Elimination Act Exchange
The Test and Treat Rapid Access Model is designed to start someone who is diagnosed with HIV on Antiretroviral medications immediately. Angela Mooss and her team from Behavioral Science Research Institute partnered with the Infectious Disease Elimination Act Needle Exchange in Miami-Dade County, Florida, to implement this model for their clients in collaboration with community partners (e.g., HIV treatment providers). The needle exchange clientele were active injection drug users who received support to reduce the harm associated with drug use. Although Test and Treat was effectively practiced in Miami with multiple community-based organizations, the Infectious Disease Elimination Act Needle Exchange staff had concerns about their ability to use Test and Treat to link their clientele to HIV care.
Although the Test and Treat model was a best practice, effective use required addressing barriers to implementation so that it could benefit the needle exchange’s clientele. So, what did the Infectious Disease Elimination Act Needle Exchange staff do to put Test and Treat into practice? They used community-centered values and participatory methods to develop their implementation plan. A consumer, Jane Doe, helped with planning from the first meeting and identified key barriers that could have gone unnoticed and impacted the program’s success. Jane pointed out that given the timeframe, individuals who are active injection drug users would experience a “come down” during the Test and Treat process. Even with a care navigator, this would make them more likely to leave mid-way rather than complete enrollment. This would minimize the program’s effectiveness linking vulnerable individuals to life-saving treatment. Read more about the Infectious Disease Elimination Act Needle Exchange program here.
By engaging consumer voices and valuing the expertise of their community, the needle exchange staff prevented a failed implementation and they continue fine-tuning the process with ongoing feedback. As a result, the Infectious Disease Elimination Act Needle Exchange staff have found ways to make services more accessible. This includes Medication Assisted Treatment for individuals willing to begin treatment for opioid use, and the provision of Telehealth services so consumers can enroll directly in Test and Treat from the Infectious Disease Elimination Act Needle Exchange hub. Jane Doe’s voice and expertise were highly valued, and this again shows how community psychologists can partner with community members from the very beginning of their work to have programs more effectively implemented.
Program Adaptation
Successful implementation means that programs often need to be adapted to meet the special needs of the local community, whether they are care managers, foster parents, nurses, teachers, therapists, or physicians. One key question is how much a program needs to be adapted to fit with the local context (adaptation) versus how much it needs to be implemented as intended by developers (fidelity). Fidelity often declines when a program or practice developed under tightly controlled research conditions is then translated to a new community setting. There is some evidence that the closer the community members can implement the programs in ways similar to those of the researchers, the more positive are the health benefits.
However, fidelity and adaptation need not be at odds. For example, Anyon and colleagues (2019) argue that when adaptations follow some key guiding principles, successful fidelity and adaptation can be achieved (Spoth et al., 2013). If there is a core effective method in an innovation, and it is culturally tailored to a particular community, there is no reason it might not be as effective or even more effective than the original intervention. The key issue is whether the intervention continues to have those basic components that are effective and whether it is implemented in a way to which the community members are receptive. Participatory methodologies bridge the research and practice gap through a mutual flow of knowledge among researchers and communities. This bidirectional knowledge sharing goes on throughout the implementation and evaluation phases of the project.
CAPACITY BUILDING
However, there is another problem that often arises: even when a new program is adopted and used in a setting, it is not sustained. This sometimes occurs because the community has not been provided the means and training to take over the intervention. Here we can rely on another Community Psychology principle which involves building capacities for local communities to sustain their efforts over time.
In Chapter 7, Wolfe (2019) reviewed practice competencies that are used by community psychologists. Community capacity building is one of the key practice competencies to sustain the benefits of research and practice efforts. Capacity building describes activities that build tangible resources, such as a prevention program, and enable the community to sustain it. Capacity building helps to maintain staff, facilities, and other resources to deliver effective programs over time, especially when research funding ends (Brownson et al., 2018). Capacity building activities include developing a communications strategy, establishing a fund-raising plan, improving data collection and measurement systems, training, and strategic planning. Community psychologists are trained for community leadership and mentoring, facilitating small and large group processes, consultation, and resource and organizational development (Dalton & Wolfe, 2012). All of these competencies support community and organizational capacity building. By using community-centered processes to build community capacities, community psychologists help community members gain access to important resources. Learn more about an example of community-centered processes by visiting the “Power Through Partnerships” Community Based Participatory Research toolkit for domestic violence researchers. These types of empowering processes lay the groundwork for achieving desired outcomes and sustainability, as is indicated in Case Study 18.3.
Case Study 18.3
Children’s Trust of South Carolina
Children’s Trust of South Carolina (Children’s Trust) is a statewide nonprofit organization focused on the prevention of abuse and neglect. The vision of Children’s Trust is a South Carolina free from child abuse and neglect. The mission of Children’s Trust is to build strong families and empower communities to prevent child abuse by supporting and delivering programs, building coalitions, providing resources, and leading prevention training.
Children’s Trust is considered an intermediary organization, which means that it does not provide direct services, but partners with community-based organizations across the state, who do provide community services. As an intermediary, Children’s Trust performs five core functions: partnership engagement and communications, implementation support, research and evaluation, workforce development, and policy and finance. These functions form the foundation of the Children’s Trust Partnership Assessment, a tool by which Children’s Trust measures their success at building capacities of partner organizations to provide services within the community. The Partnership Assessment examines whether specific capacities have been built and if not, what supports are needed to achieve those specific capacities. In this way, Children’s Trust demonstrates its impact as a partner with community-based organizations to build their capacities for successful and sustained service implementation. Learn more about Children’s Trust here.
ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
In Chapter 1, the ecological model was described, and it involved multiple layers involving individuals, groups, organizations, communities, and the larger society. As is evident from the many case studies in this textbook, individuals can influence communities and communities can influence societies. In return, societies can influence communities and communities can influence individuals. This ecological model provides a useful framework to better understand the complex relationships among factors that contribute to social and community problems. Program developers and implementers need to be aware of this ecological model, as it provides a strong rationale to target our work toward multiple levels of influence. By considering ecological issues, we are better able to avoid and reduce biases (e.g., attribution effect, victim-blaming, racial prejudice) that can contribute to and perpetuate injustice. This can be particularly important for program implementers who support practitioners working in difficult and under-resourced settings. Case Study 18.4 applies the ecological model to the risk and protective factors involving child abuse and neglect.
Case Study 18.4
The Empower Action Model ®
Children’s Trust, led by Melissa Strompolis, a Community Psychologist, and an interdisciplinary team of researchers, practitioners, and community members developed “The Empower Action Model™” as a blueprint for communities to prevent child abuse and neglect and build well-being and resilience.
The Empower Action Model™ uses an expanded version of the ecological model to ensure that levels of influence are identified and protective factors are promoted among children, families, organizations, communities, and public policies (Srivastav, Strompolis, Moseley, & Daniels, 2019a). For example, parents and caregivers can protect their children by focusing on child resilience. Organizations can emphasize policies and practices that promote employee health and well-being. Communities can build protective environments for children, including parks, schools, faith-based settings, social services, and health facilities. Policymakers can also prioritize programs and initiatives that support child health and well-being (Srivastav, Strompolis, Moseley, & Daniels, 2019b). Adapting the ecological model to the mission of Children’s Trust is helping communities all over South Carolina address the very challenging problem of abuse and neglect.
Figure 3 below is useful in addressing some of the specific implementation problems discussed in this chapter.
GIVING IT AWAY
We conclude this chapter with another barrier that confronts so many people: critical knowledge about the effectiveness of programs remains in privileged settings, such as among academic and scientific audiences, behind paywalls and professional dues. Just as researchers who use participatory methods value community-held knowledge, participatory methods increase the utility and ownership of research findings in communities. Participatory methods aim to support community partners who need to have ongoing access to information and resources.
Community psychologists work to share information to reduce the access imbalance between scientists and communities. As one example, this textbook is an open-access book designed to provide an accessible, free introduction to Community Psychology. Undergraduates can now freely join the Society for Community Research and Action as an Associate member, something that the editors of this textbook successfully advocated for with the leadership of this organization. The Community Psychologist and Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice are also online and open access. Throughout this book, consistent with community-centered values and capacity-building principles, you can learn about free and open blogs, podcasts, and webinars based on collaborations between community psychologists and communities, putting new research knowledge to greater use.
SUMMING UP
In this chapter, we have shown that the research conducted by psychologists does not often have an impact on the social and community problems that need our attention. One reason this information is not widely spread is that many programs, practices, and policies continue to be developed with minimal input from community members. More and more, we are recognizing the problems with this one-sided unidirectional transfer of knowledge.
But the field of Community Psychology does offer a solution to this problem, and by following its values, there is a higher likelihood that the research will be used by community members and those in a position of policy. This chapter has shown the advantages of using participatory research methods, which emphasize more equitable engagement in the creation and use of scientific knowledge. When using such methods, there is a higher chance that the research will actually translate into programs and be used by members of the community even when the researchers have finished their work. A key to this approach is building capacities for local communities to sustain and grow their efforts. Often problems that we face are complicated, and the field of Community Psychology offers an ecological approach to target multi-layered contributors to problems so that useful and effective approaches are widely implemented.
Critical Thought Questions
1. Where have you seen a new policy or practice implemented that was not effective?
2. What Community Psychology approaches would have helped in this situation?
3. What are the advantages of partnering with those closest to community problems to improve implementation?
4. In the case studies, what types of organizations are the community psychologists working in or partnering with to address implementation problems?
5. After reading this chapter, which implementation problems do you believe are hardest to address?
Take the Chapter 18 Quiz
View the Chapter 18 Lecture Slides
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REFERENCES
Anyon, Y., Roscoe, J., Bender, K., Kennedy, H., Dechants, J., Begun, S., & Gallager, C. (2019). Reconciling adaptation and fidelity: Implications for scaling up high quality youth programs. The Journal of Primary Prevention, 40, 35–49
Balas, E. A., & Boren, S. A. (2000). Managing clinical knowledge for health care improvement. Yearbook of Medical Informatics, 9, 65-70.
Brownson, R. C., Coldtiz, G. A., & Proctor, E. K. (2018). Dissemination and implementation research in health: Translating science to practice (2nd edition). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Dalton, J., & Wolfe, S. M. (2012). Joint column: Education connection and the community practitioner. The Community Psychologist, 45, 7-13.
Institute of Medicine (2001). Crossing the quality chasm: A new health system for the 21st century. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Retrieved from http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/Reports/2001/Crossing-the-Quality-Chasm-A-New-Health-System-for-the-21st-Century.aspx
Jason, L. A., Glantsman, O., O’Brien, J. F., & Ramian, K. N. (2019). Introduction to the field of Community Psychology. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/intro-to-community-psychology/
Jason, L. A., Keys, C. B., Suarez-Balcazar, Y., Taylor, R. R., Davis, M., Durlak, J., & Isenberg, D. (Eds.). (2004). Participatory community research: Theories and methods in action. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Robertson E. B., Sims B. E., & Reider E. E. (2012). Partnerships in drug abuse prevention services research: Perspectives from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 39, 327–330.
Scaccia, J. P., Cook, B. S., Lamont, A., Wandersman, A., Castellow, J., Katz, J., & Beidas, R. S. (2015). A practical implementation science heuristic for organizational readiness: R = Mc2. Journal of Community Psychology, 43(4), 484–501. doi.org/10.1002/jcop.21698
Spoth, R., Rohrbach, L. A., Greenberg, M., Leaf, P., Brown, C. H., Fagan, A., … & Hawkins, J. D. (2013). Addressing core challenges for the next generation of type 2 translation research and systems: The translation science to population impact (TSci Impact) framework. Prevention Science, 14, 319–351.
Srivastav, A., Strompolis, M., Moseley, A., & Daniels, K. (2019a). The Empower Action Model©: Mobilizing prevention to promote well-being and resilience. Retrieved from https://scchildren.org/wp-content/up...arch-brief.pdf
Srivastav, A., Strompolis, M., Moseley, A., & Daniels, K. (2019b). The Empower Action Model©: A framework for promoting equity, health, and well-being. Health Promotion Practice.
Wandersman, A., & Florin, P. (2003). Community interventions and effective prevention. American Psychologist, 58, 441-448.
Wolfe, S. M. (2019). Practice competencies. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/practice-competencies/
Zimmerman, L., Lounsbury, D. W., Rosen, C. S., Kimerling, R., Trafton, J. A., & Lindley, S. E. (2016). Participatory system dynamics modeling: Increasing stakeholder engagement and precision to improve implementation planning in systems. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 1–16. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Introduction_to_Community_Psychology_(Jason_et_al.)/06%3A_Our_Future/6.02%3A_Dissemination_and_Implementation.txt |
Chapter Nineteen Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Understand educational degrees at undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral levels in Community Psychology
• Understand and prepare for career options in the field of Community Psychology
• Consider core research and practice competencies in assessing educational opportunities
• Assess future directions in the field of Community Psychology
• Engage in and contribute to the growth of the field
Now that you have learned about the basics in the field of Community Psychology, how do you want to build upon your understanding of Community Psychology? To what extent would you like to engage in a career that incorporates Community Psychology? What types of educational degrees are available in Community Psychology? What competencies are central in the field of Community Psychology? How do you engage in and contribute to growing the field? What opportunities are there for becoming a social activist? This chapter will address these questions about education, competencies, and engaging in the field in order to provide you with an overview of some next steps.
WHAT EDUCATIONAL PREPARATION DOES A CAREER IN COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY REQUIRE?
There are different types of educational programs available in Community Psychology. We will describe some of the core components of Community Psychology degree programs at the undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral levels, and you can find a list of Community Psychology programs across levels available on the Society for Community Research and Action’s website. Most programs in Community Psychology focus on master’s and doctoral level training. In addition, there are several resources that may be helpful as you explore and consider educational options in Community Psychology (see Glantsman, McMahon, & Njoku, 2015; Jimenez, Sánchez, McMahon, & Viola, 2016; McMahon, Jimenez, Bond, Wolfe, & Ratcliffe, 2015; Serrano-García, Pérez-Jiméne, Rodrigues Medina, 2016).
Undergraduate Programs
If you are interested in attending a university that has a Community Psychology focus, check out its curricular options in advance because there are few institutions that have a significant focus on Community Psychology at the undergraduate level. For those that have coverage, there is typically a single course. Some universities, though, have developed concentrationsor degrees in Community Psychology (Glantsman et al., 2015; McMahon, Jason, & Ferrari, 2010; McMahon et al., 2015). When there is a concentration or a degree in Community Psychology, students will likely gain exposure to multiple content courses, as well as a community-based practicum/fieldwork/internship experience. These experiences may involve working with a non-profit organization that addresses important social issues such as mental health/illness, homelessness, domestic violence, or LGBTQ issues.
Students can receive course credit and group supervision for their hands-on experiences. Even if there is not a Community Psychology concentration at your university, look for Community Psychology relevant internships; students can visit their career center or advisors to find out more. Fieldwork experiences can be tailored to student interests, and students can put the knowledge and skills they have learned into practice. It is often the case that students who engage in these applied experiences with organizations get jobs following the completion of their undergraduate degrees. They are equipped with a range of knowledge and experience related to research, evaluation, systems theory, and intervention.
In addition to internships, another strategy is to reach out to faculty who are engaged in Community Psychology research and interventions. Seek volunteer positions to assist faculty members who are doing community work that you are interested in and passionate about. This will give you invaluable experiences and skills to further your education and training in the field. Develop connections within and outside of your university to be better prepared to take a job in a community-based organization or pursue graduate studies.
Even if you decide not to pursue Community Psychology for graduate school or work with a community-based organization, an undergraduate course, concentration, or degree in Community Psychology is helpful for a range of career options, including clinical psychology, counseling psychology, social work, law, public health, education, and many other career paths. Basic knowledge and skills in Community Psychology (see Table 1 below) are transferable and helpful in addressing social issues, such as poverty, immigration, violence, substance use, mental health, and criminal justice. In addition to courses in Community Psychology, consider taking relevant business courses to enhance your financial and organizational knowledge, and become technologically, methodologically, and statistically savvy (McMahon & Wolfe, 2016; McMahon et al., 2015; Viola & McMahon, 2010). These skills will be useful, whether you decide to enter graduate school or a career with non-profits, and especially helpful if you are interested in consulting, owning your own business, or the financial aspects of non-profits.
Master’s Programs
Master’s programs in community research and action may have different names, such as Community Psychology, community social psychology, clinical-community psychology, counseling, and interdisciplinary programs in community research and action. Serrano-García, Pérez-Jiméne, and Rodrigues Medina (2016) identified 75 graduate programs in Community Psychology around the world. Master’s programs include more intensive theory-practice integration than undergraduate programs and many include intensive practicum experiences. A major difference between master’s and doctoral programs is that master’s programs place less emphasis on research and advanced statistical approaches (Dziadkowiec & Jimenez, 2009) and more emphasis on practice than doctoral programs (McMahon et al., 2015).
In many countries, master’s programs are the most typical type of post-graduate program. Most students who enroll in master’s programs are preparing for practice careers in Community Psychology. The timeline to complete a master’s degree is about 2-3 years versus 4-6 years in a doctoral program. Master’s students, in general, are less likely than doctoral students to enroll full time, and many part-time students are employed full-time in local community organizations (McMahon et al., 2015). Thus, there are rich opportunities for students to apply the new knowledge and skills they gain in Community Psychology master’s programs to their organizational and community work.
Doctoral Programs
Doctoral programs in Community Psychology tend to include advanced theory, practice, and comprehensive research competencies, and they prepare students for many career options. There are about 45 self-identified community research and action doctoral programs that are community, clinical-community, or interdisciplinary programs. Many of these doctoral programs are in the US and have a primary focus on research, but programs worldwide vary in the extent to which various competencies are emphasized. In the US, some programs train students in clinical-community psychology while others are focused solely on Community Psychology. The difference between clinical-community and Community Psychology is that students in clinical-community programs receive training in both clinical (e.g., courses in psychopathology, therapeutic approaches, and clinical areas) and Community Psychology, while students in Community Psychology do not receive clinical training but may receive an interdisciplinary education with Community Psychology as the central focus.
The tradition of doctoral education has historically emphasized the discovery and production of new knowledge through field-specific, and often mentor-based, research opportunities (Austin & McDaniels, 2006). Although traditional doctoral programs may primarily prepare students to become researchers and academicians, doctoral programs are also providing training in the Community Psychology practice competencies (Sánchez, Jimenez, Viola, Kent, & Legler, 2017) such as evaluation, consulting, and grant-writing. This skill set enables students to go onto a variety of career paths, including community-based organizations, healthcare, education, public policy, government, foundations, and business [see Kelly and Viola’s (2019) Chapter 3 in this book for careers in Community Psychology].
International Programs
There are over 35 master’s programs throughout the world, including those in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, El Salvador, Egypt, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, United Kingdom, and the US. Doctoral programs also span a variety of countries, including Australia, Canada, Italy, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, and the US (Serrano-García et al., 2016). Outside of the US, educational programs cater to niches based on the country’s culture, history, and career opportunities. For example, a master’s program in Community Psychology at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) prepares students for careers in the government, and graduates enter positions in which they develop and evaluate programs for Peruvian people within various governmental branches (T. Velázquez Castro, personal communication, June 12, 2013). The master’s program in Community Psychology at the American University in Cairo, Egypt focuses on preparing students to work as consultants or in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) where they primarily engage in capacity building activities and community development (M. Amer, personal communication, October 25, 2013). In Latin America, some programs have an emphasis on community social psychology; many graduates work with community organizations, healthcare, education, and to a lesser extent, clinical practice (N. Portillo, personal communication, October 25, 2013). Educational programs are nested within their cultural context, so if you are interested in working with a particular population, you may choose to seek training in that region of the world.
Practical Application 19.1
Who Should Write my Letters of Recommendation for Ph.D. Program Applications?
We recommend that you ask at least one faculty member with who you have engaged in research. If you have two-three significant research experiences, all of your letters could be from research mentors. If you only have one notable research experience, then your other letters should be from a mentor or supervisor from an internship or volunteer experience, and from an advisor, instructor, or mentor with whom you have a strong relationship. The strongest letters will come from people who know you well, have worked with you for at least six months, and can speak to a range of your abilities, your fit with the program, your career goals, your research and academic skills, your motivation, work ethic, character, etc. Letters from instructors who simply taught courses that you took tend not to provide the edge that you need to get into competitive doctoral programs. Finally, when you ask individuals for a letter of recommendation, ask them, “Can you write a strong letter of recommendation for me?” If they hesitate and can’t give you a definitive “Yes,” then you don’t want them to write you a letter of recommendation.
Applying to Graduate Programs
If you believe that graduate study in Community Psychology is an excellent fit with your career goals, there are several strategies that may be helpful including 1) ensuring you have significant research experience, and if you don’t, volunteering to join a research team doing work you find interesting; 2) preparing to take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), and considering a formal course, tutoring, or re-taking the test if your scores are weak; 3) building relationships with faculty and people working in the field, as you generally need three strong letters of recommendation (see Practical Application 19.1 above); 4) exploring and applying to a range of programs including both master’s and doctoral programs, and making sure the program is a good fit with your interests and career goals; 5) if you are invited for a visit, try and attend one – it will be beneficial for faculty to learn more about you, and you will get a good sense of which programs will be the best fit for you; 6) talking with current students to get a sense of the program from a student perspective; 7) assessing the balance of theory, research, and practice, as well as the core competencies that are taught in the program; and 8) learning about the various career paths of graduates of the program. People who are engaged in the field of Community Psychology tend to be passionate about the values of the field and the mission toward social justice and action, so getting advanced training is an excellent way to become better equipped to make a difference in the world and follow your passion.
COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY PRACTICE COMPETENCIES
As you consider what educational level you want to achieve and the programs that are a good fit with your interests and career goals, it is important to consider the competencies that you hope to achieve through your undergraduate and/or graduate education. Although there is overlap across programs, different programs emphasize certain competencies more than others. Some are focused more on theory and others are more focused on practice. Thus, you will want to examine exactly what certain programs are training students to do. Below we summarize an array of competencies that have been identified in the field, specifically related to practice and research.
Practice Competencies
The Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA), the official organization of Community Psychology, has identified 18 core practice competencies (described in Chapter 7 by Wolfe, 2019) related to five themes that are commonly used in Community Psychology careers: 1) foundational principles (ecological perspectives; empowerment; sociocultural and cross-cultural competence; community inclusion and partnership; ethical and reflective practice), 2) community program development and management (program development, implementation, and management; prevention and health promotion), 3) community organization and capacity building (community leadership and mentoring; small and large group processes; resource development; consultation and organizational development, 4) community social change (collaboration and coalition development; community development; community organizing and community advocacy; public policy analysis, development and advocacy; community education, information dissemination, and building public awareness) and 5) community research (participatory community research; program evaluation; Dalton & Wolfe, 2012). Most careers will tap into multiple competencies, while some will emphasize and require advanced skills in particular areas.
Research Competencies
SCRA has also identified research competencies that are important for community psychologists. Similar to the practice competencies, it is not expected that community psychologists gain mastery in all of these research competencies but will gain at least exposure to them and experience with some. There are five foundational competencies that underlie all areas of research, including a) research questions and leverage points, b) participatory community research, c) managing collaborations, d) developing community change models, and e) program evaluation (Haber et al., 2017). Further, there are specific research competencies in the areas of research design (e.g., survey design, sampling, mixed methods), data analysis (e.g., descriptive quantitative analyses, basic qualitative methods, missing data and data reduction techniques), and theories and perspectives (e.g., ecological theories, empowerment, policy change; Haber et al., 2017).
In their review of graduate program competencies, as well as the SCRA practice competencies listed above, Serrano-García and colleagues (2016) suggest that these competencies fall into four general categories: knowledge (e.g., application, articulation, integration), research (e.g., methodology, data analysis, writing proposals and reports), cognition, (e.g., identify, analyze, understand, and communicate injustice, values, social context) and practice/profession (e.g., develop, implement, and evaluate interventions, promote social change, demonstrate multicultural competence). Here are some questions to reflect on as you consider educational programs, review the curricula, consider your interests and desired skills, and focus on developing the competencies that will be most relevant for your desired career path. Which competencies are you most interested in learning about? Which competencies do you envision using in your desired career? Which graduate programs will help you develop your desired competencies?
SOCIAL ACTIVISM AND SOCIAL CHANGE
Many individuals pursue the field of Community Psychology because of their interests in social change, and perhaps you are one of these individuals. There are a variety of ways in which you may become an activist to influence the assessment, interventions, or policies that relate to a particular population or social issue. While the field of psychology has traditionally focused on understanding individual behavior and problems as well as treating them at the individual level, Community Psychology is focused on the interaction between the individual and the environment and understanding individual problems from an ecological perspective (see Chapter 1 by Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, & Ramian, 2019). Because of the values of our field (e.g., diversity, social justice), community psychologists are also interested in changing community and societal issues to ultimately better the lives of individuals. Some community psychologists have dedicated their lives to being scholars and activists in order to create social change. For example, Balcazar and Suarez-Balcazar (2016) have developed and tested community-based interventions that target individual behaviors (e.g., skills, awareness, knowledge) as well as factors in the environment (e.g., accessibility, resources, policies) that affect the lives of people with disabilities. They have also used the Concerns Report Method to help identify community members’ concerns, which are then used to take action on their concerns (see Case Study 19.1 for a description of the Concerns Report Method and how it has been used in various communities around the world).
Case Study 19.1
The Concerns Report Method
While a graduate student at the University of Kansas, community psychologist Yolanda Suarez-Balcazar participated in the development of a community-based participatory methodology, informed by Community Psychology Ecological Systems Theory as well as Applied Behavior Analysis, to identify community concerns and take action. The methodology, called the Concerns Report Method, includes mixed methods, such as focus groups in which community concerns are identified by groups of individuals, development of a concerns survey, survey administration and data analysis, followed by town hall meetings to discuss results and plan actions to address identified issues of concern. Early applications of the Concerns Report Method included addressing the concerns of people with disabilities, such as handicap parking violations. Both Yolanda and Fabricio Balcazar have applied this participatory intervention methodology in collaboration with diverse community contexts. These Include collaboration with residents of Golfito, Costa Rica, who were experiencing displacement by a large multinational corporation; immigrant Latino families living in a suburb of Chicago to identify and address health concerns; Colombian immigrants in the city of Chicago. Most recently Fabricio and a group of community partners applied the Concerns Report Method in Juanaclatan, Mexico. As a result of the implementation of the Concerns Report Method in Mexico, the community addressed several issues such as getting the Governor to allocate funds to treat the contamination of a local river, providing new services for families affected by domestic violence with funds from immigrants living in Chicago, establishing a new community center built by community volunteers on land donated by the local church, and developing new recreational programming for youth. For applications of the Concerns Report Method, check the following resources in the references (Balcazar, Garcia-Iriarte, & Suarez-Balcazar, 2009; Suarez-Balcazar, Martinez & Casas-Byots, 2005; Suarez-Balcazar & Balcazar, 2016).
Another approach to creating social change is by influencing social policy, and there are several ways that you may go about affecting it. Policy work is important because it is an avenue for psychologists to apply psychological principles to benefit public interest. Community psychologists are well positioned to conduct policy-relevant research and influence social policy to improve the quality of life for many people. Maton (2017) interviewed 79 psychologists (mostly developmental, social and/or community psychologists) about their careers as influencers of social policy. These interviews revealed that there are four key skills that participants used to change social policy, including a) building relationships with policymakers, staff members at intermediary organizations, media, practitioner groups, and/or researchers, b) research skills to conduct original research, evaluate research evidence, and to synthesize research literature, c) oral and written communication skills, and d) strategic analysis skills. Further, there were a variety of ways that these psychologists influenced social policy, such as serving as a member or chair of a policy advisory group, advocacy and lobbying, educating the public through the media, and sharing relevant psychological research and theory with key court cases. A key lesson that community psychologists share is the importance of being patient and persistent, as creating social change takes a long time and one may face many barriers and failures along the way. Jason (2013) advises community psychologists to take small steps to influence social change; small steps may include creating and signing petitions, attending a protest, contacting local legislators, and writing a policy brief.
There is much work to be done by community psychologists in both research and practice that is relevant to social action and social change. Systems can support or even promote violence and oppression. Langhout (2016) mentions several examples of state-sanctioned violence in the US, as well as movements that emerged in response to this violence in Fuerguson, Charleston, and other locations in the US. The violent act occurs in society on the ecological level, and the society responds by organizing and creating a movement in defense of those unjustly harmed.
Langhout (2016) argued that community psychologists need to use liberatory approaches and practices in order to transform society and truly free oppressed peoples. She calls on community psychologists to build on the work of feminist scientists, critical feminist social psychologists, and critical feminist social-community psychologists who focus on “the study of subjectivity, process, change, connectivity, desire, and difference” in order to build solidarity with the people most affected by state-sanctioned violence and disrupt the structures (e.g., whiteness, patriarchy, class privilege) that support the violence (p. 325).
AREAS FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
Several textbooks including the current one by Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, and Ramian (2019) have identified areas of future work for community psychologists, which are summarized below. These are topics that any student in Community Psychology can pursue in their career and/or educational path.
Appreciation for Differences and the Search for Compassion
Given increasing globalization and migration in various societies around the world, an appreciation for different types of diversity based on background, experiences, or cultures is important in helping individuals and communities with problem-solving, innovation, creativity and informed decision making. In addition to an appreciation for diversity, compassionate attitudes are essential in order to effectively help others who are suffering. Our field could benefit from research investigating appreciation of diversity and compassion as outcomes rather than only as predictors. For example, researchers can examine the structural qualities that predict appreciation of differences and develop interventions that create compassionate communities (Moritsugu et al., 2014).
Sustainability and Environmental Concerns
Climate change and waste of natural resources have been pressing issues around the world. Many view climate change as a human rights and social justice issue, as it disproportionately impacts poor communities around the globe (Levy & Patz, 2015). For example, the environmental consequences of climate change influences access to safe food and water, which negatively affects health. Foodborne and waterborne diseases, respiratory disorders, and malnutrition are a few of the consequences (Levy & Patz, 2015). Given our field’s values towards helping oppressed communities, addressing climate change along with environmental classism and racism would prevent further health and economic problems in communities.
Disparities in Opportunity for Health, Education, and Economic Success
In the United States, the gap between the rich and poor is at an all-time high. Specifically, the median wealth of upper-income families was seven times greater than middle-income families and 75 times greater than lower-income families in 2016; for comparison purposes, the median wealth of upper-income families was 28 times the wealth of lower-income families in 1983 (Pew Research Center) (Kochhar & Cilluffo, 2017). There are also racial differences in wealth with Latinx and African-American families having disproportionately less wealth than White families (Kocchar & Cilluffo, 2017). These economic and racial inequalities influence access to quality schooling, health care, and job opportunities. As indicated in Chapter 1, Jason, Glantsman, O’Brien, and Ramian (2019) indicated that policy changes and increased political involvement are necessary to reduce these disparities. Further, they suggest that community psychologists examine ways to remove structural obstacles in order to reduce disparities.
Aging and End of Life
Issues of aging are generally understudied in psychology, and Moritsugu et al. (2014) encourage community psychologists to research and create interventions to help with enhancing the quality of life for our growing elderly population around the globe. Further, our society values life and vitality, and hence, discussions of death and dying are taboo. Community psychologists could do much to help individuals and their families and communities better deal with and face death and dying head on and support loved ones as they grieve. There are countless important global issues to address and populations to work with to make a difference – the choice is yours and will depend on where your passion lies.
NEXT STEPS TO CONSIDER IN YOUR COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY CAREER
Engaging in the Field
Engaging in the field is an important next step and can give you energy, social connections, and resources that will facilitate pursuing your passion. There are many opportunities to connect with people who have similar values and are interested in applying these values to their work. Join SCRA and the SCRA listserve, and get involved in leadership opportunities. SCRA27.org provides helpful information for members, including opportunities to get involved in interest groups, committees, councils, and the Executive Committee. In addition, the website includes lists of undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programs in Community Psychology, teaching materials, policy statements, webinars and blogs, and other helpful resources. Build your networks within and across your discipline and collaborate with others (McMahon et al., 2015; McMahon et al., 2016). Engage in professional development to stay current and grow your knowledge and skills through conferences, webinars, and workshops. Continuing education opportunities provide an avenue to grow stronger networks of community psychologists sharing their work and promoting community change across generations and settings (Jimenez et al., 2016). For example, the regional student-run Eco-Community Psychology Conferences (Flores et al., 2013) are a great place to network with other students, and these conferences have been occurring for the past 40 years. Another way to learn more about specific skills of interest is to explore and become familiar with the Community Tool Box. This online resource has a plethora of helpful guides to facilitate social action, including assessing community needs and resources, developing a model of change, developing strategic and action plans, developing an intervention, evaluating the initiative, and applying for grants.
Use the field to guide your work. Research is an important component of Community Psychology, so check out the literature on topics of interest, read the current research, and explore what others have done before you start something new. There are many empirically-based programs, so don’t re-invent the wheel without first learning what others have spent years creating and testing. Assess the extent to which existing theories, strategies, and programs have been applied to work in your area. Using resources such as university libraries (if you have access), Google Scholar, Research Gate, and other online tools can help you access literature that can guide your work. If you can’t access articles you need that are relevant to your work, try requesting them from the authors via email.
Follow your passion to make a difference. Appreciate “small wins” and engage in self-care. Working systemically to promote health and well-being among underserved populations is important work that can have far-reaching effects at the local, regional, state, national, and international levels. Be patient, and don’t try to do it all at once; figure out where your talents lie and where you can make a difference and work with others to have a larger impact.
Growing the Field
Our field is small but of utmost importance – can you think of anything better than to work toward solving the world’s problems through strategic, systemic, evidence-based practices in collaboration with organizations, communities, and government? You can help grow the field through a variety of strategies, such as 1) connecting with your local and national organizations to increase awareness of Community Psychology competencies and the fit with their work; 2) using technology and social media to increase visibility of good work in the field, such as through Twitter, blogs, Linked In, Instagram, Facebook, and videos that illustrate exemplary projects and public discourse on social issues; 3) looking for opportunities to introduce yourself as a community psychologist or someone who has training in Community Psychology. You should have an “elevator speech,” in which you provide brief bullet points about the field and what we do. Community psychologists add distinctive value through the ways in which we combine science, understanding of systems, and an ecological approach to contribute to an adaptive, collaborative team approach to sustainable change (Community Psychology Practice Council, 2010). You need to be able to describe to others what you bring to the table quickly and in user-friendly ways.
Disseminate your work through various outlets to yield greater visibility and impact for our field (Jimenez et al., 2016). Be politically and socially active in your community and share your work with communities across levels (e.g., locally, regionally, nationally). In addition to traditional academic outlets, submit articles and Op-Eds about your work to local newspapers, newsletters, websites, blogs, and other sources to let the public know about your Community Psychology-related work and impact (McMahon & Wolfe, 2016). Disseminating your work through social media helps keep the work current, relevant, and linked with those who find it most helpful (Jimenez et al., 2016). Communitypsychology.com is a website that SCRA created to interact with the public and share the important work we are doing; consider submitting your research or practice work – there is an array of topics, including education, healthcare, children, environmental issues, prevention, criminal justice, public policy, substance use, violence, and housing. The field of Community Psychology offers a wealth of knowledge, skills, strategies, research methodologies, and interventions to create a more socially just society – now it is up to us to grow the field using a multi-pronged approach to action and dissemination.
Here are some questions to consider as you reflect on the next steps in your potential future career in Community Psychology. What are the issues that you care about most? How can you as an individual get involved in addressing these issues? What would you do differently based on the material you learned about in this book? How can you join with others, such as through local, regional, national, or international organizations, to make a difference? We have created an “Action Checklist” below to help you answer these questions.
Practical Application 19.2
Action Checklist
Below is a list of ways you can get more involved in Community Psychology.
• Take political action
• Organize or participate in a rally
• Contact your local, state, and/or national legislators on important issues
• Start or sign a petition to share voices of concerned citizens
• Volunteer in your community
• Offer skills you have to promote a cause that you care about.
• Use social media effectively to raise awareness
• Transition from personal to professional usage
• Write blogs and/or Op-Eds to share your perspective to a wide audience
• Find a job that provides a forum for social action on issues you are passionate about
• Use and share the Community Toolbox as a resource to guide social action
SUMMING UP
After learning about the field of Community Psychology, consider which path will facilitate your journey and what your next steps might be. There are undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral level courses and programs around the world that can be beneficial depending on your experience and career goals. Consider social issues that matter to you and the Community Psychology competencies that will help you address these issues as you plan for your career. Gaining research skills and applied experiences through Community Psychology education will provide you with tools to effect social change. Join and become meaningfully involved in SCRA to connect with the field and a community of scholars and practitioners with similar values. Learn about others’ work, share resources and knowledge, and collaborate with colleagues to become the next generation of transformative community psychologists.
Critical Thought Questions
Consider the following questions to assess whether you may be best equipped for an undergraduate, master’s, doctoral, and/or international education.
1. What would you like to do when you finish your education? How might Community Psychology be part of your career plans?
2. What skills would you like to use in your work?
3. With what populations and in what settings would you enjoy working?
4. Have you been involved with research? If so, do you like it? Many people think they don’t like research, but once they try it, they find it to be very interesting.
5. How much do you see research or evaluation as part of your job description? How might you apply research or evaluation in a setting to assess and modify work being done?
6. How much do you see program development and management as part of your role?
Take the Chapter 19 Quiz
View the Chapter 19 Lecture Slides
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REFERENCES
Austin, A., & McDaniels, M. (2006). Using doctoral education to prepare faculty to work within Boyer’s four domains of scholarship. New Directions for Institutional Research,2006(129), 51-65.
Balcazar, F., Garcia-Iriarte, E., Suarez-Balcazar, Y. (2009). Participatory action research with Colombian immigrants. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 31(1), 112-127.
Balcazar, F. E., & Suarez-Balcazar, Y. (2016). On becoming scholars and activists for disability rights. American Journal of Community Psychology, 58, 251-258.
Community Psychology Practice Council (2010). An evidence-informed Community Psychology value proposition. Retrieved from http://www.scra27.org/files/4513/9007/7333/Evidence_based_CP_Value_Proposition__Final_20110829.pdf
Dalton, J., & Wolfe, S. M. (Eds.). (2012). Education connection and the community practitioner. The Community Psychologist, 45(4), 7-13.
Dziadkowiec, O., & Jimenez, T. (2009). Educating community psychologists for community practice: A survey of graduate training programs. The Community Psychologist, 42(4), 10-17.
Flores, S., Jason, L. A., Adeoye, S. B., Evans, M., Brown, A., & Belyaev-Glantsman, O. (2013). The evolution and growth of the Eco-Community Psychology conferences. Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, 4(2), 1-8. Retrieved from http://www.gjcpp.org/pdfs/2012-006-final-20130502.pdf
Glantsman, O., McMahon, S. D., & Njoku, M. G. C. (2015). Developing an undergraduate Community Psychology curriculum: A case example. In M. G. C. Njoku, C. C. Anieke, & P. J. McDevitt (Eds.), Frontiers in education: Advances, issues, and new perspectives. Enugu, Nigeria: ABIC Books.
Haber, M. G., Neal, Z., Christens, B., Faust, V., Jackson, L., Wood, L. K., Scott, T. B., & Legler, R. (2017). The 2016 survey of graduate programs in Community Psychology: Findings on competencies in research and practice and challenges of training programs. The Community Psychologist, 50(2), 12-20.
Jason, L. A. (2013). Principles of social change. New York: Oxford University Press.
Jason, L. A., Glantsman, O., O’Brien, J. F., & Ramian, K. N. (2019). Introduction to the field of Community Psychology. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an Agent of Change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/intro-to-community-psychology/
Jimenez, T. R., Sánchez, B., McMahon, S.D., & Viola, J. (2016). A vision for the future of Community Psychology education & training. American Journal of Community Psychology, 58, 339-347.
Kelly, A., & Viola, J. (2019). Who we are. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/who-we-are/
Kochhar, R., & Cilluffo, A. (2017, November 01). How U.S. wealth inequality has changed since the Great Recession. Pew Research Lab. Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/11/01/how-wealth-inequality-has-changed-in-the-u-s-since-the-great-recession-by-race-ethnicity-and-income/
Langhout, R. D. (2016). This is not a history lesson; this is agitation: A call for methodology of diffraction in US-based Community Psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 58, 322-328.
Levy, B. S., & Patz, J. A. (2015). Climate change, human rights and social justice. Annals of Global Health, 81(3), 310-322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aogh.2015.08.008
Maton, K. I. (2017). Influencing social policy: Applied psychology serving the public interest. New York: Oxford University Press.
McMahon, S. D., & Wolfe, S. M. (2016). Career opportunities for community psychologists. In M. Bond, I. Serrano-García, & C. B. Keys (Eds.), Handbook of Community Psychology: Volume II. (pp. 645-659), Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
McMahon, S. D., Jason, L. A., & Ferrari, J. R., (2010). Community psychology at DePaul University: Emphasizing urban education in America. In C. Vázquez, D. Pérez Jiménez, M. F. Rodríguez, & W. P. Bou (Eds.), International Community Psychology: Shared Agendas in Diversity. (pp. 419-449). Puerto Rico: Actividades d Formación Comunitaria, Inc.
McMahon, S. D., Jimenez, T. R., Bond, M. A., Wolfe, S. M., & Ratcliffe, A. W. (2015). Community Psychology education and practice careers in the 21st century. In V. C. Scott & S. M. Wolfe (Eds.). Community Psychology: Foundations for Practice, (pp. 379-409). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing, Inc.
Moritsugu, J., Duffy, K., Vera, E., & Wong, F. (2014). Community Psychology (5th ed). New York: Routledge.
Sánchez, B., Jimenez, T., Viola, J., Kent, J., & Legler, R. (2017). The use of Community Psychology competencies in a fieldwork practicum sequence: A tale of two graduate programs. Global Journal of Community Psychology Practice, 8(1), 1-24.
Serrano-García, I., Pérez-Jiméne, D., & Rodrigues Medina, S. (2016). Education & training in Community Psychology. In M. Bond, I. Serrano-García, & C. B. Keys (Eds.), APA handbook of Community Psychology: Methods for community research and action for diverse groups and issues (Vol. 2, pp. 625-644). Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
Suarez-Balcazar, Y., Matinez, L., & Casas-Byots, C. (2005). A participatory action research approach for identifying the health service needs of Hispanic immigrants: Occupational Therapy in Health Care, 19, 145-163.
Suarez-Balcazar, Y., & Balcazar, F. (2016). Functional analysis of community concerns: A participatory action approach. In L. A. Jason & D. Glenwick (Eds.), Handbook of Methodological Approaches to Community-based Research. (pp. 315-323). New York: Oxford University Press.
Viola, J. J. & McMahon, S. D. (2010). Consulting and evaluation with nonprofit and community-based organizations. Sudbury, Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Wolfe, S. M. (2019). Community Psychology practice competencies. In L. A. Jason, O. Glantsman, J. F. O’Brien, & K. N. Ramian (Eds.), Introduction to Community Psychology: Becoming an agent of change. Retrieved from https://press.rebus.community/introductiontocommunitypsychology/chapter/practice-competencies/
Acknowledgments: We are very grateful to the following graduate students who contributed to the photographs, glossary, and quiz: Kayleigh Zinter, Wendy de los Reyes Moore, and Kailyn Bare. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Introduction_to_Community_Psychology_(Jason_et_al.)/06%3A_Our_Future/6.03%3A_Looking_into_Your_Future.txt |
When you first think of personality, what comes to mind? When we refer to certain people as being “personalities,” we usually mean they are famous, people like movie stars or your favorite band. When we describe a person as having “lots of personality,” we usually mean they are outgoing and fun-loving, the kind of person we like to spend time with. But does this tell us anything about personality itself? Although we may think we have an understanding of what personality is, professional psychologists always seek to move beyond what people think they know in order to determine what is actually real or at least as close to real as we can come. In the pursuit of truly understanding personality, however, many personality theorists seem to have been focused on a particularly Western cultural approach that owes much of its history to the pioneering work of Sigmund Freud.
Freud trained as a physician with a strong background in biomedical research. He naturally brought his keen sense of observation, a characteristic of any good scientist, into his psychiatric practice. As he worked with his patients, he developed a distinctly medical model: identify a problem, identify the cause of the problem, and treat the patient accordingly. This approach can work quite well, and it has worked wonderfully for medical science, but it has two main weaknesses when applied to the study of personality. First, it fails to address the complexity and uniqueness of individuals, and second, it does not readily lend itself to describing how one chooses to develop a healthy personality.
Figure \(1\)
The diversity that is the human experience can be seen in the faces of the people around us.
Quite soon in the history of personality theory, however, there were influential theorists who began to challenge Freud’s perspective. Alfred Adler, although a colleague of Freud’s for a time, began to focus on social interest and an individual’s style of life. Karen Horney challenged Freud’s perspective on the psychology of women, only to later suggest that the issue was more directly related to the oppression of women as a minority, rather than a fundamental difference based on gender. And there were Carl Jung and Carl Rogers, two men profoundly influenced by Eastern philosophy. Consequently, anyone influenced by Jung or Rogers has also been influenced, in part, by Eastern philosophy. What about the rest of the world? Have we taken into account the possibility that there are other, equally valuable and interesting perspectives on the nature of people? Many fields in psychology have made a concerted effort to address cross-cultural issues. The primary purpose of this textbook is to address some of these different cultural perspectives, and to compare them to, and contrast them with, the traditional Western perspectives. In addition, we will examine the relationships between the traditional approaches as well. In particular, the final section of this book introduces a number of paths developed throughout history to help people choose how to live their lives. Although each path is intimately identified with a religious perspective, the paths themselves represent more of a style of life. As we examine these perspectives, you will see that they are all quite similar in their essential elements, making it clear that the principles involved transcend religious culture. My hope is that when you have read this book, you will have a broad understanding of the field of personality, and an appreciation for both what we have in common and what makes us unique, as members of our global community. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/01%3A_Introduction_to_Personality/1.01%3A_Chapter_Introduction.txt |
It would seem to make sense that we should begin our study of personality by defining the term. Unfortunately, there is no single definition that fits the variety of theories that have been developed in the field of personality research. Most psychologists agree that the term personality comes from the Latin word persona, a term referring to the masks worn by actors performing ancient Greek plays. Often there were not enough actors available to play all of the roles in a play, so they would wear these masks to let the audience know that they were playing different roles. But are our personalities just masks? Freud certainly considered the unconscious mind to be very important, Cattell considered source traits to be more important than surface traits, and Buddhists consider the natural world (including the self) to be an illusion. Adler believed the best way to examine personality is to look at the person’s style of life, and Rogers felt that the only person who could truly understand you is yourself. What definition could possibly encompass all that?
Still, we need a working definition as a starting point for discussion. Borrowing loosely from Allport’s definition of personality, personality can be viewed as the dynamic organization within an individual of various psychological factors that determines the person’s characteristic thoughts and behaviors. In simpler terms, a variety of factors blend together to create each person, and as a result of those factors the individual is most likely to think and act in somewhat predictable ways. However, given the complexity of human life, those predictions may prove to be elusive. Theodore Millon (1996, 2004; Millon & Grossman, 2005), a renowned clinician and theorist in the field of personality disorders, has sought a definition of personality broad enough to encompass both normal and abnormal personality. Millon describes the modern view of personality as a complex pattern of psychological characteristics that are deeply embedded, largely unconscious, and resistant to change. These intrinsic and pervasive traits arise from a complex matrix of biological dispositions and experiential learning, and express themselves automatically in nearly every aspect of the individual’s unique pattern of perceiving, feeling, thinking, coping, and behaving (e.g., Millon, 1996).
Another challenge we face in defining personality is how we approach the question in the first place. Traditionally, there have been two basic approaches to the study of personality: the nomothetic perspective and the idiographic perspective. The nomothetic perspective seeks to identify general rules that pertain to personality as a construct (a working hypothesis or concept used to identify something we can describe but not see, such as IQ or the self). Thus, it can be rather abstract, and often fails to appreciate the uniqueness of individuals. In contrast, the idiographic perspective focuses specifically on the individuality and uniqueness of each person. Although the idiographic approach often seems more appealing to students, especially since it enhances their self-esteem by considering them as individually important, it is difficult for any theory of personality to encompass research that treats only one person at a time. Such a theory would naturally suffer from problems of generalizability, and may be useful for therapists working with one patient or client at a time, but it will not be particularly useful for enhancing our overall understanding of personality in general. It is important to note, however, that many early personality theories were based on individual case studies, and this critique is one that we will see several times in this book.
As is often the case in psychology, the best approach may be to attempt blending the nomothetic and idiographic perspectives, seeking the generalizability of the nomothetic perspective’s general principles on personality and personality development - while maintaining an appreciation for the idiographic perspective’s recognition of the value of an individual’s unique character. Millon (1996) suggests an integrative approach to defining personality. Not only would an integrative approach combine the nomothetic and idiographic perspectives, it would also help to bring together the two broad traditions of clinical and applied psychology. Clinical psychologists are compelled by the nature of their work with patients, or clients, to try to understand the individual. Thus, they need to follow a more idiographic approach. In contrast, applied psychologists (e.g., experimental psychologists) are more construct-focused, and find the nomothetic approach more appealing and useful for developing generalizable theories on the nature of various aspects of personality. If personality can be defined in a satisfactory way by an integrative approach, then clinicians may benefit more from applied research, and experimental psychologists may see their work more directly applied in clinical settings where it may help people in our society.
In order to better understand how some of the different disciplines within the field of psychology contribute to our definition of personality, let’s take a brief look at some of the widely recognized factors that come into play:
Discussion Question: The nomothetic and idiographic perspectives approach personality in very different ways. Do you believe that your personality can be described in a way that might also be used to describe the personalities of other people (maybe your friends), or do you feel it is necessary to describe each person as an individual?
Psychodynamic Factors
The very word “psychodynamic” suggests that there are ongoing interactions between different elements of the mind. Sigmund Freud not only offered names for these elements (id, ego, and superego), he proposed different levels of consciousness. Since the unconscious mind was very powerful according to Freud, one of the first and most enduring elements of psychodynamic theory is that we are often unaware of why we think and act the way we do. Add to that the belief that our personality is determined in early childhood, and you can quickly see that psychological problems would be very difficult to treat. Perhaps more importantly, since we are not aware of many of our own thoughts and desires, it would difficult or even impossible for us to choose to change our personality no matter how much we might want to.
Most psychodynamic theorists since Freud have expanded the influences that affect us to include more of the outside world. Those theorists who remained loyal to Freud, typically known as neo-Freudians, emphasized the ego. Since the ego functions primarily in the real world, the individual must take into account the influence of other people involved in their lives. Some theorists who differed significantly from the traditional Freudian perspective, most notably Alfred Adler and Karen Horney, focused much of their theories on cultural influences. Adler believed that social cooperation was essential to the success of each individual (and humanity as a whole), whereas Horney provided an intriguing alternative to Freud’s sexist theories regarding women. Although Horney based her theories regarding women on the cultural standing between men and women in the Victorian era, to a large extent her theory remains relevant today.
Learning and Cognitive Factors
As a species, human beings are distinguished by their highly developed brains. Animals with less-developed nervous systems rely primarily on instinctive behavior, but very little on learning. While the study of animals’ instinctive behavior is fascinating, and led to a shared Nobel Prize for the ethologists Nikolaas Tinbergen, Konrad Lorenz, and Karl von Frisch, animal behavior remains distinctly limited compared to the complex learning and cognitive tasks that humans can readily perform (Beck, 1978; Gould, 1982). Indeed, the profound value of our abilities to think and learn may be best reflected in the fact that, according to Tinbergen’s strict definition of instinct (see Beck, 1978), humans appear not to have any instinctive behavior anymore. Yet we have more than made up for it through our ability to learn, and learning theory and behaviorism became dominant forces in the early years of American psychology.
John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner are among the most famous and influential of American psychologists. Learning about their groundbreaking research on classical and operant conditioning is standard fare in psychology courses. More recently, Albert Bandura has enjoyed similar popularity and respect in the field of social learning theory. Anyone who has children knows full well how eagerly they observe us and mimic our actions and speech. An important aspect of the learning perspective is that our personalities may develop as a result of the rewards and/or punishments we receive from others. Consequently, we should be able to shape an individual’s personality in any way we want. Early behaviorists, like Watson, suggested that they could indeed take any child and raise them to be successful in any career they chose for them. Although most parents and teachers try to be a good influence on children, and to set good examples for them, children are often influenced more by their peers. What children find rewarding may not be what parents and teachers think is rewarding. This is why a social-cognitive approach to learning becomes very important in understanding personality development. Social-cognitive theorists, like Bandura, recognize that children interact with their environment, partly determining for themselves what is rewarding or punishing, and then react to the environment in their own unique way.
As suggested by the blend of behaviorism and cognition that Bandura and others proposed, there is a close association between behaviorism and the field of cognitive psychology. Although strict behaviorists rejected the study of unobservable cognitive processes, the cognitive field has actually followed the guidelines of behaviorism with regard to a dispassionate and logical observation of the expression of cognitive processes through an individual’s behavior and what they say. Thus, the ability of human beings to think, reason, analyze, anticipate, etc., leads them to act in accordance with their ideas, rather than simply on the basis of traditional behavioral controls: reward, punishment, or associations with unconditional stimuli. The success of the cognitive approach when applied to therapy, such as the techniques developed by Aaron Beck, has helped to establish cognitive theory as one the most respected areas in the study of personality and abnormal psychology.
Biological Factors
Although humans may not exhibit instinctive behavior, we are still ultimately a product of our biological makeup, our specific DNA pattern. Our individual DNA pattern is unique, unless we happen to be an identical twin, and it not only provides the basis for our learning and cognitive abilities, it also sets the conditions for certain aspects of our character. Perhaps the most salient of these characteristics is temperament, which can loosely be described as the emotional component of our personality. In addition to temperament, twin studies have shown that all aspects of personality appear to be significantly influenced by our genetic inheritance (Bouchard, 1994; Bouchard & McGue, 1990; Bouchard et al., 1990). Even such complex personality variables as well-being, traditionalism, and religiosity have been found to be highly influenced by our genetic make-up (Tellegen et al., 1988; Waller et al., 1990).
Sociobiologists and evolutionary psychologists also emphasize the role of genetics and adaptation over time. Sociobiologists consider how biological factors influence social behavior. For example, they would suggest that men are inclined to prefer multiple sexual partners because men are biologically capable of fathering many children, whereas women would be inclined to favor one successful and established partner, because a woman must physically invest a year or more in each child (a 9-month pregnancy followed by a period of nursing). Similarly, evolutionary psychologists consider how human behavior has been adaptive for our survival. Humans evolved from plant-eating primates, we are not well suited to defend ourselves against large, meat-eating predators. As a group, however, and using our intellect to fashion weapons from sticks and rocks, we were able to survive and flourish over time. Unfortunately, the same adaptive influences that guide the development of each healthy person can, under adverse conditions, lead to dysfunctional behaviors, and consequently, psychological disorders (Millon, 2004).
Discussion Question: Some research suggests that personality is largely determined by genetics. Do you see similarities in your personality as compared to your parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, etc.? Do you think that your environment, things like your community, your friends, television, movies, the Internet, etc., are more influential than your biological inheritance from your parents?
Inherent Drives
Freud believed that we are motivated primarily by psychosexual impulses, and secondarily by our tendency toward aggression. Certainly it is necessary to procreate for the species to survive, and elements of aggression are necessary for us to get what we need and to protect ourselves. But this is a particularly dark and somewhat animalistic view of humanity. The humanistic psychologists Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow believed in a positive view of people, they proposed that each of us contains an inherent drive to be the best that we can be, and to accomplish all that we are capable of accomplishing. Rogers and Maslow called this drive self-actualization. Interestingly, this concept is actually thousands of years old, and having spent time in China, Rogers was well aware of Buddhist and Yogic perspectives on the self.
Somewhat related to the humanistic concept of self-actualization, is the existential perspective. Existential theorists, like Rollo May, believe that individuals can be truly happy only when they find some meaning in life. In Eastern philosophical perspectives, coming from Yoga and Buddhism, meaning in life is found by realizing that life is an illusion, that within each of us is the essence of one universal spirit. Indeed, Yoga means “union,” referring to union with God. Thus, we have meaning within us, but the illusion of our life is what distracts us from realizing it.
Discussion Question: Do you feel that you are driven to accomplish something great, or to find some particular meaning in life? Do you believe that there might be pathways to guide you, particularly spiritual or religious pathways?
Sociocultural Influences
Culture can broadly be defined as “everything that people have, think, and do as members of a society” (Ferraro, 2006a), and appears to be as old as the Homo genus itself (the genus of which we, as Homo sapiens, are the current representatives; Haviland et al., 2005). Culture has also been described as the memory of a society (see Triandis & Suh, 2002). Culture is both learned and shared by members of a society, and it is what the makes the behavior of an individual understandable to other members of that culture. Everything we do is influenced by culture, from the food we eat to the nature of our personal relationships, and it varies dramatically from group to group. What makes life understandable and predictable within one group may be incomprehensible to another. Despite differences in detail, however, there are a number of cultural universals, those aspects of culture that have been identified in every cultural group that has been examined historically or ethnographically (Murdock, 1945; see also Ferraro, 2006a). Therefore, if we truly want to understand personality theory, we need to know something about the sociocultural factors that may be the same, or that may differ, between groups.
In 1999, Stanley Sue proposed that psychology has systematically avoided the study of cross-cultural factors in psychological research. This was not because psychologists themselves are biased, but rather, it was due to an inherent bias in the nature of psychological research (for commentaries see also Tebes, 2000; Guyll & Madon, 2000; and Sue, 2000). Although some may disagree with the arguments set forth in Sue’s initial study, it is clear that the vast majority of research has been conducted here in America, primarily by American college professors studying American psychology students. And the history of our country clearly identifies most of those individuals, both the professors and the students, as White, middle- to upper-class men. The same year, Lee et al. (1999) brought together a collection of multicultural perspectives on personality, with the individual chapters written by a very diverse group of authors. In both the preface and their introductory chapter, the editors emphasize that neither human nature nor personality can be separated from culture. And yet, as suggested by Sue (1999), they acknowledge the general lack of cross-cultural or multicultural research in the field of personality. Times have begun to change, however. In 2002, the American Psychological Association (APA) adopted a policy entitled “Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists (which is available online at www.apa.org/pi/multiculturalguidelines/homepage.html). The year 2002 also saw a chapter in the prestigious Annual Review of Psychology on how culture influences the development of personality (Triandis & Suh, 2002). In a fascinating article on whether psychology actually matters in our lives, former APA president and renowned social psychologist Philip Zimbardo (2004) identified the work of Kenneth and Mamie Clark on prejudice and discrimination, which was presented to the United States Supreme Court during the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, KS case (which led to the end of school segregation in America) as one of the most significant impacts on American life that psychology has contributed to directly (see also Benjamin & Crouse, 2002; Keppel, 2002; Pickren & Tomes, 2002). Finally, an examination of American Psychologist (the principle journal of APA) and Psychological Science (the principle journal of the American Psychological Society) since the year 2000 reveals studies demonstrating the importance of cross-cultural research in many areas of psychology (see Table \(1\)). So, although personality theorists, and the field of psychology in general, have been somewhat slow to address cross-cultural and diversity issues, in more recent years psychologists appear to be rapidly gaining a greater appreciation of the importance of studying human diversity in all its forms.
As mentioned in the opening paragraphs of this chapter, one of the primary goals of this book is to incorporate different cultural perspectives into our study of personality theory, to take more of a global perspective than has traditionally been done. Why is this important? It is actually very easy to point out the answer to that question. The United States of America has less than 300 million people. India has nearly 1 billion people, and China has over 1 billion people. So, two Asian countries alone have nearly 7 times as many people as the United States. How can we claim to be studying personality if we haven’t taken into account the vast majority of people in the world? Of course, we haven’t entirely ignored these two particular countries, because two of the most famous personality theorists spent time in these countries when they were young. Carl Jung spent time in India, and his theories were clearly influenced by ancient Vedic philosophy, and Carl Rogers spent time in China while studying to be a minister. So it is possible to draw connections between Yoga, Buddhism, psychodynamic theory, and humanistic psychology. Sometimes this will involve looking at differences between cultures, and other times we will focus on similarities. At the end of the book I hope you will appreciate not only the diversity of personality and personality theory, but also the connections that tie all of us together.
Discussion Question: Do you notice cultural differences around you every day, or do you live in a small community where everyone is very much the same? What sort of challenges do you face as a result of cultural differences, either because you deal with them daily or because you have little opportunity to experience them?
Some Basic Questions Common to All Areas of Personality Theory
In addition to the broad perspectives described above, there are a number of philosophical questions that help to bring the nature of personality into perspective. Thinking about how these questions are answered by each theory can help us to compare and contrast the different theories.
Is our personality inherited, or are we products of our environment? This is the classic debate on nature vs. nurture. Are we born with a given temperament, with a genetically determined style of interacting with others, certain abilities, with various behavioral patterns that we cannot even control? Or are we shaped by our experiences, by learning, thinking, and relating to others? Many psychologists today find this debate amusing, because no matter what area of psychology you study, the answer is typically both! We are born with a certain range of possibilities determined by our DNA. We can be a certain height, have a certain IQ, be shy or outgoing, we might be Black, Asian, White or Hispanic, etc. because of who we are genetically. However, the environment can have a profound effect on how our genetic make-up is realized. For example, an abused child may become shy and withdrawn, even though genetically they were inclined to be more outgoing. A child whose mother abused alcohol during the pregnancy may suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome, the leading cause of preventable mental retardation, even though the child was genetically endowed with the possibility of being a genius. So the best perspective may be that our genetic make-up provides a range of possibilities for our life, and the environment in which we grow determines where exactly we fall within that range.
Are we unique, or are there common types of personality? Many students want to believe that they are special and truly unique, and they tend to reject theories that try to categorize individuals. However, if personality theories were unique to each person, we could never possibly cover all of the theories! Also, as unique as you may be, aren’t many people, like your friends, similar to you? In order to understand and compare people, personality theorists need to consider that there are common aspects of personality. It is up to each of us to decide whether we are still willing to find what is unique and special about each separate person.
Which is more important, the past, present, or future? Many theorists, particularly psychodynamic theorists, consider personality to be largely determined at an early age. Similarly, those who believe strongly in the genetic determination of personality would consider many factors set even before birth. But what prospects for growth does this allow, can people change or choose a new direction in their life? Cognitive and behavioral theorists focus on specific thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that are influencing our daily lives, whereas existential theorists search for meaning in our lives. Other theorists, such as the humanists and those who favor the spiritually-oriented perspectives we will examine, consider the future to be primary in our goals and aspirations. Self-actualization is something we can work toward. Indeed, it may be an inherent drive.
Do we have free will, or is our behavior determined? Although this question seems similar to the previous one, it refers more to whether we consciously choose the path we take in life as compared to whether our behavior is specifically determined by factors beyond our control. We already mentioned the possibility of genetic factors above, but there might also be unconscious factors and stimuli in our environment. Certainly humans rely on learning for much of what we do in life, so why not for developing our personalities? Though some students don’t want to think of themselves as simply products of reinforcement and punishment (i.e., operant conditioning) or the associations formed during classical conditioning (anyone have a phobia?), what about the richness of observational learning? Still, exercising our will and making sound choices seems far more dignified to many people. Is it possible to develop our will, to help us make better choices and follow through on them? Yes, according to William James, America’s foremost psychologist. James considered our will to be of great importance, and he included chapters on the will in two classic books: Psychology: Briefer Course,published in 1892 and Talks to Teachers on Psychology and to Students on Some of Life’s Ideals, which was published in 1899. James not only thought about the importance of the will, he recommended exercising it. In Talks to Teachers…, he sets forth the following responsibility for teachers of psychology:
But let us now close in a little more closely on this matter of the education of the will. Your task is to build up a character in your pupils; and a character, as I have so often said, consists in an organized set of habits of reaction. Now of what do such habits of reaction themselves consist? They consist of tendencies to act characteristically when certain ideas possess us, and to refrain characteristically when possessed by other ideas.
Table \(1\): Sampling of Cross-Cultural Research in Select
Psychology Journals Since the Year 2000
Attachment Chao, 2001; Gjerde, 2001; Kondo-Ikemura, 2001; Posada & Jacobs, 2001; Rothbaum et al., 2000; Rothbaum et al., 2001; van Ijzendoorn & Sagi, 2001
Child Development Callaghan et al., 2005; Goldin-Meadow & Saltzman, 2000; Lal, 2002
Cognitive Dissonance Kitayama et al., 2004
Cognition and Creativity Antonio et al., 2004; German & Barrett, 2005; Hong et al., 2000; Leung et al., 2008; Norenzayan & Nisbett, 2000; Tomasello, 2000
Conflict and Perceptions of Safety Eidelson & Eidelson, 2003; Graham, 2006; Juvonen et al., 2006; Van Vugt et al., 2007
Cooperation Wong & Hong, 2005
Cultural Research and Cultural Competency in Psychotherapy Goldston et al., 2008; Heine & Norenzayan, 2006; Leong, 2007; Matsumoto & Yoo, 2006; Smith et al., 2006; Sue, 2003; Vasquez, 2007; Whaley & Davis, 2007
Education Tucker & Herman, 2002
Emotion Elfenbein & Ambady, 2003; Frijda & Sundararajan, 2007; Hejmadi et al., 2000; Tsai, 2007
Globalization, Nationality, Race Relations Arnett, 2002; Heine et al., 2008; Henry & Hardin, 2006; Inglehart et al., 2008; McCrae & Terracciano, 2006; Sue, 2004; Tropp & Pettigrew, 2005
Family Dynamics Dudley-Grant, 2001; Halpern, 2001; Kameguchi & Murphy-Shigematsu, 2001; Kaslow, 2001
Goal-Seeking Behavior Elliot et al., 2001; Markus et al., 2006
Intelligence Daley et al., 2003; Sternberg, 2004
Learning Gurung, 2003; Li, 2003; Li, 2005; McBride-Chang & Treiman, 2003; Tweed & Lehman, 2002; Tweed & Lehman, 2003
Memory Cohen & Gunz, 2002; Fivush & Nelson, 2004
Neural Substrates of Attention Hedden et al., 2008
Perception and Spatial Representation Bar-Haim et al., 2006; Cohen & Gunz, 2002; Dobel et al., 2007; Feng et al., 2007; Ji et al., 2001; Kitayama et al., 2003; Leung & Cogen, 2007; Maass & Russo, 2003; Miyamoto et al., 2006
Self, Self-esteem, Social Perspective Perunovic & Heller, 2007; Wang, 2006a,b; Wu & Keysar, 2007; Yamagishi et al., 2008; Yamaguchi et al., 2007
Stress Responses Taylor et al., 2007
Table \(2\): Brief Comparison of Factors Influencing Personality
Psychodynamic Factors Emphasis is on the unconscious mind, interactions between elements of the mind, early childhood experiences, stages of development, defense mechanisms, etc.
Learning and Cognitive Factors Emphasis is on environmental stimuli and/or thought patterns that predictably influence behavior; focus is on observable behavior or identifiable thoughts.
Biological Factors Emphasis is on genetic factors, which set ranges within which the individual may develop. This approach does not ignore the environment, but genetic factors (e.g., inborn traits and temperament) may cause different environmental influences to be experienced in similar ways, or conversely, may cause similar environmental influences to be experienced in different ways.
Inherent Drives Humanistic psychologists focus on self-actualization; existentialists and spiritually-oriented psychologists focus on the search for meaning in one’s life.
Sociocultural Influences Cross-cultural and multicultural psychologists remind us that all of the above categories must be considered in terms of the rich diversity that is the human experience. Addresses both the differences between and the similarities among groups of people around the world. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/01%3A_Introduction_to_Personality/1.02%3A_Definitions_and_Descriptions_of_Personality.txt |
As difficult as it may be to define personality, it is important to know something about it. Personality is probably the most important field in psychology. Understanding who we are as individuals, and why we think certain thoughts and do certain things is the starting point for addressing clinical issues, abnormal psychology, and health psychology, it is the ultimate goal of studying human development, and it is the point from which we begin to address social psychology. Without an appreciation of the individual, without concern for each person, these other areas of psychology become little more than academic subjects.
Personality as a Common Thread in the History of Psychology
Most historians identify the starting point of the modern field of psychology with the experimental psychologists, particularly the establishment of Wilhelm Wundt’s laboratory in Leipzig, Germany in 1879. Personality theorists, however, were not far behind. Freud, Adler, and Jung were all beginning to work in the field of psychiatry (they were medical doctors) in the late 1800s as well. If one wants to put an official date on the start of modern personality theory, it would most likely be 1900, the year in which Freud published “The Interpretation of Dreams (Freud, 1900/1995).” Since Freud’s theories were based on his work with patients, this date is also the beginning of a relationship between personality theory, abnormal psychology, and psychotherapy, a relationship that continues today. Early psychodynamic theorists were also influential in developmental psychology and school psychology. Freud began his theory of personality with a proposed series of developmental stages: the five psychosexual stages. Erik Erikson, another well known psychodynamic theorist, is probably better known as a developmental psychologist for his eight-stage theory of psychosocial crises. Adler considered the early years of childhood so important that he felt parents and teachers should have access to training and counseling in the schools. With the endorsement of the minister of education, Adler and his colleagues established child guidance centers in many public schools.
As psychodynamic theory dominated the European scene in the early 1900s, America was largely influenced by behaviorism. Behavioral theorists also considered personality within their domain, suggesting that personality is learned. John B. Watson boasted that he could use behavioral principles to direct any child into any given career path. B.F. Skinner constructed an advanced version of his famous “Skinner Box,” which was typically used to train rats or pigeons, to raise and care for children during the early years of life. As behaviorism continued to develop, social learning theorists focused on a rich mixture of imitation, observation of the rewards and punishment experienced by others, expectations, and personal assessment of the value of potential rewards and punishers.
Against this backdrop of psychodynamic theory and behaviorism, Rogers and Maslow became the leading advocates of a new and openly positive view of human development, referred to most commonly as humanistic psychology. This new field emphasized self-actualization, though self-actualization itself does not appear to have been a new concept. It closely resembles the enlightenment described by Yoga and Buddhism (each of which is thousands of years old), though Yoga and Buddhism ultimately reject the existence of the self. Is there a relationship between Eastern philosophical perspectives and humanistic psychology? Rogers had traveled throughout Asia, particularly in China, and Maslow had studied with renowned psychodynamic theorists who were fascinated by Buddhism (such as Horney), so both were well acquainted with the basics of Eastern philosophical thought.
Closely related to the behavioral perspectives, cognitive theories of personality are also prominent in psychology. Today, the use of non-invasive brain imaging techniques (e.g., functional magnetic resonance imaging), which function in real time, have made the study of cognitive processes one of the most exciting areas of psychological research. Studying cognition is hardly new, however, since the earliest studies of consciousness can be traced to William James in the late 1800s. Still, what James was able to study over 100 years ago is completely different than what modern cognitive neuroscientists are able to study today. Nonetheless, if we can find something in common between the studies of over a century ago and the research of today, perhaps we will really begin to understand the complexity and diversity of personality.
Positive Psychology and Spirituality: New Directions in the Field of Personality
Figure \(1\)
Young children enjoy helping even younger children. Positive psychology encourages us all to study and promote such behavior.
In 1998, Martin Seligman, then president of APA and author of What You Can Change & What You Can’t (1994), urged psychologists to rediscover the forgotten mission of psychology: to build human strength and nurture genius. Seligman called this new area Positive Psychology (for thorough overviews see Compton, 2005 or Peterson, 2006). In 2000, American Psychologist published a special edition on happiness, excellence, and optimal human functioning (American Psychologist, Vol. 55, Number 1, 2000; with an introduction by Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). The general goal of positive psychology is to find ways in which psychological research can help people to be happier, and to lead more fulfilling lives. Positive psychology can also serve as a focus for psychologists to become more appreciative of not only human nature, but also of the potential for the field of psychology itself to benefit all people (Sheldon & King, 2001). Table \(1\) offers a sampling of the wide range of interest in positive psychology that exists today.
Closely related to positive psychology is the concept of resilience. Many individuals face difficult or traumatic challenges in life, and yet some manage to maintain stability in their lives in spite of these unfortunate circumstances. How exactly these individuals maintain stability and a positive direction in their lives is not always clear, and there may be a variety of different ways that individuals respond to such extreme stress (Bonanno, 2004, 2005a; Masten, 2001; for commentary on the first article see also Bonanno, 2005b; Kelley, 2005; Linley & Joseph, 2005; Litz, 2005; Maddi, 2005; Roisman, 2005). Among the important factors, particularly for our perspective here, is the ability to maintain positive emotions and to pursue self-enhancement (Bonanno, 2004, 2005; Masten, 2001). Throughout history, a variety of cultures have given rise to spiritual pursuits that help to guide the development of individuals in positive directions. We will cover some of these spiritual paths in the last section of this book, taking just a brief look here at the relationship between spirituality, positive psychology, and personality.
Table \(PageIndex{1}\): Selection of Books and Articles Related to Positive
Psychology Published Since the Year 2000
Books on Positive Psychology Compton, 2005; Snyder & Lopez, 2005
Human Strengths and Virtues Aspinwall & Staudinger, 2003; Fowers, 2005
Happiness and Well-Being Cloninger, 2004; Hampson, 2008; Hsee et al., 2008; Huppert, 2009; Inglehart et al., 2008; Molden et al., 2009; Seligman, 2002; Siegel, 2007
Articles on Academic Excellence and Creativity Lubinski & Benbow, 2000; Simonton, 2000; Winner, 2000
Cognition and Motivation Baltes & Staudinger, 2000; Lyubomirsky, 2001; Peterson, 2000
Coping Folkman & Moskowitz; 2000; Vaillant, 2000
Economics Diener, 2000; Diener & Seligman, 2004; Myers, 2000; Smith et al., 2005
Emotions, Happiness, Well-Being Dolan & White, 2007; Ekman et al., 2005; Fredrickson, 2001; Fredrickson & Joiner, 2002; Fredrickson & Losada, 2005; Kesebir & Diener, 2008; Kim & Moen, 2001; Napier & Jost, 2008; Oishi et al., 2007; Robinson et al., 2004; Weiss et al., 2008
Enjoying a Good Life Bauer & McAdams, 2004a,b; Bauer et al., 2005a,b; Schneider, 2001
Evolution Buss, 2000a; Massimini & Fave, 2000
Physical Health Cohen & Pressman, 2006; Ray, 2004; Salovey et al., 2000; Taylor et al., 2000
Relationships Myers, 2000
Self-Determination Ryan & Deci, 2000; Schwartz, 2000
Therapeutic Intervention Ahmed & Boisvert, 2006; Joseph & Linley, 2006; Seligman et al., 2005
Youth Development Larson, 2000
It appears that spirituality is an essential attribute of human nature. It has been recognized for some time that religious ritual is a cultural universal (Murdock, 1945; see also Ferraro, 2006a). More than simply a cultural universal, however, spirituality appears to be a natural consequence of child development. Deborah Kelemen (2004) brought together a number of different theories, and was able to demonstrate that young children, around
the age of 5 years old, have both the ability and the inclination to explain the world around them in terms of an intentional act by a supernatural being. Thus, Kelemen suggests that young children are what she calls “intuitive theists.” Surprisingly, this tendency appears to continue into adulthood, since even college students studying evolution exhibit a tendency to think of evolution as a purposeful agent itself, an agent that guides further evolution according to a thoughtful plan (Kelemen, 2004).
The relationship between psychology and religious/spiritual pursuits has a long and interesting history. One of William James’ most famous books is The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature (James, 1902/1987), and around the turn of the century in 1900 psychologists of the day actually used religion in the popular press to help engender respect for the new field of psychology (Pickren, 2000). Since the more recent turn of the century there have been a number of books and articles published connecting psychology, spirituality, religion, and psychotherapy (see Table \(2\)). Thus, a topic that was viewed as important at the beginning of the field of psychology, but was then pushed aside as unscientific, is once again become an area of interest and importance. Although spirituality is certainly not synonymous with positive psychology, it does appear to be an important factor in positive psychology.
Table \(2\): Selection of Recent Books and Articles
Relating Spirituality to Psychology
Books on psychology seen through the eyes of faith Myers & Jeeves, 2003
Relationships between meditation, mindfulness, Buddhism and psychology Brantley, 2003; Dockett et al., 2003; Helminiak, 2005; McQuaid & Carmona, 2004
Spiritual counseling from a variety of perspectives Brach, 2003; Brazier, 1995; Mruk & Hartzell, 2003; Richards & Bergin, 2000, 2004, 2005; Sperry & Shafranske, 2005; Weiner et al., 2005; Williams et al., 2007
Multicultural clinical assessment Dana, 2000; Suzuki et al., 2001
Articles on the religious roots of individualism vs. collectivism Burston, 2001; Lynch, 2001; Lynch Jr., 2001; Margolis, 2001; Sampson, 2000
Childhood Development of Faith Kelemen, 2004
Shamanism Krippner, 2002
The relationships between spirituality, religion, and health Ginges et al., 2009; Hill & Pargament, 2003; Kier & Davenport, 2004; McCormick, 2004; Miller & Thoresen, 2003; Miller & Thoresen, 2004; Powell et al., 2003; Rayburn, 2004; Richmond, 2004; Seeman et al., 2003; Seybold & Hill, 2001; Wallace & Shapiro, 2006
Numerous studies have shown that individuals who are actively spiritual have higher levels of well-being and fewer serious problems in their lives (see Compton, 2005; Myers, 2000; Seligman, 2002; Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). The recently published Handbook of Positive Psychology has two chapters devoted specifically to spiritual pursuits and their benefits (Pargament & Mahoney, 2005; Shapiro et al., 2005). Peterson and Seligman (2004) have identified spirituality as one of the twenty-four specific character strengths that have consistently emerged across history and culture. Indeed, they believe that spirituality “is the most human of the character strengths as well as the most sublime…People with this strength have a theory about the ultimate meaning of life that shapes their conduct and provides comfort to them” (pg. 533; Peterson & Seligman, 2004). In the last section of this book we will examine a number of spiritual approaches to life, each of which suggests a path for positive development. Despite being associated with very different religions, which range from 1,400 years old to perhaps more than 5,000 years old, these spiritual paths have much in common. Perhaps this should not be surprising, as it may help to explain the inherent nature of children to be “intuitive theists” and the universality of religious ritual in human culture.
Discussion Question: Do you believe that psychology should work to develop itself as a field that focuses on helping people to develop in positive ways? Can spirituality or religion be helpful, or might they present more problems? | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/01%3A_Introduction_to_Personality/1.03%3A_Personality_as_a_Discipline_within_the_Field_of_Psychology.txt |
In all types of research, we need to consider two closely related concepts: hypothesis vs. theory. An hypothesis can loosely be defined as an educated guess about some relationship or circumstance that we have observed, and the purpose of the hypothesis is to explain what we have experienced and to provide a starting point for further research. When a set of observations seems to come together, especially as the result of testing our hypotheses, we might then propose a theory to bring those observations together. However, a theory is not necessarily our end point, since the theory itself may generate new hypotheses and more research. In this way, all scientific endeavors continue to develop, expand, clarify, change, whatever the case may be, over time. As a result, we have many different personality theories, since different theorists have viewed the human condition differently, and they have also used different techniques to study personality.
A variety of methods have been used to study personality. Much of the early research was based on clinical observations, which were not done according to strict experimental methods. Today, ethical restrictions on the types of research we can conduct with people limit our ability to re-evaluate many of those classic studies. So we are left with a field that is rich in theory, but somewhat poor in the validation of those theories. Of course some personality theorists have approached personality in a more scientific manner, or at least they have tried, but that has limited the questions they have been able to ask. Since a detailed analysis of experimental psychology and research design is beyond the scope of this textbook, we will only cover this topic briefly (though it may come up again within individual chapters).
Case Studies
Many of the best-known personality theorists relied on case studies to develop their theories. Indeed, it was after seeing a number of patients with seemingly impossible neurological complaints that Freud began to seek an explanation of psychological disorders. Basically, the case study approach relies on a detailed analysis of interesting and unique individuals. Because these individuals are unique, the primary criticism of the case study approach is that its results may not generalize to other people. Of greater concern, is the possibility that early theorists chose to report only those cases that seemed to support their theories, or perhaps they only recognized those elements of a patient’s personality that fit their theory? Another problem, as mentioned above, is that two different theorists might view the same cases in very different ways. For example, since Carl Rogers worked initially with children, he found it difficult to accept Freud’s suggestions that even children were motivated primarily by sexual and aggressive urges. Consequently, Rogers sought a more positive view of personality development, which led to the establishment of the humanistic perspective. Thus, the case study approach can lead to very different conclusions depending on one’s own perspective while conducting research. In other words, it can easily be more subjective than objective, and psychologists who focus on our field as a scientific discipline always strive for more objective research.
Correlational Designs
When conducting correlational research psychologists examine the relationships that exist between variables, but they do not control those variables. The measure that is typically used is the correlation coefficient, which can range from –1.0 to 0.0 to +1.0. A value close to zero suggests that there is no relationship between the variables, whereas a value closer to –1.0 or +1.0 suggests a strong relationship, with the direction of the relationship determining whether the value is positive or negative. It is important to remember that the strength of the correlation is determined by how far the correlation coefficient is from zero, not whether it is positive or negative. For example, we would most likely find a positive correlation between the number of hours you study for a test and the number of correct answers you get (i.e., the more you study, the more questions you get right on the test). On the other hand, the exact same data will give us a negative correlation if we compare the number of hours you study to the number of questions you get wrong (i.e., the more you study, they fewer questions you get wrong). So the way in which you ask the question can determine whether you have a positive or negative correlation, but it should not affect the strength of the relationship.
Since the investigator does not control the variables in correlational research, it is not possible to determine whether or not one variable causes the relationship. In the example used above, it certainly seems that studying more would lead to getting a better grade on a test. But consider another example: can money buy happiness? There is some evidence that wealthy people are happier than the average person, and that people in wealthy countries are happier than those in poorer countries. But does the money affect happiness? Certainly a million dollars in cash wouldn’t help much if you were stranded on a desert island, so what can it do for you at home? People with money can live in nicer, safer communities, they have access to better health care (so they may feel better physically), they may have more time to spend with their family and friends, and so in many ways their lives might be different. We can also look at the correlation the other way around; maybe happy people get more money. If you ran a company, and were going to hire or promote someone, wouldn’t you want to find someone who is friendly and outgoing? Wouldn’t you look for someone who other people will enjoy working with? So, maybe happy people do find it easier to be successful financially. Either way, we simply can’t be sure about which variable influences the other, or even if they influence each other at all. In order to do that, we must pursue experimental research.
Figure \(1\)
In these figures, adapted from research conducted by the author (Kelland et al., 1989), we see two correlations reported in an actual study. In the figure on the left, we can see a significant positive correlation between the firing rate of dopamine neurons in the rat brain and the dose of the drug quinpirole needed to inhibit those cells. In the figure on the right, we can see that the correlation is eliminated (the dose of quinpirole needed is not related to the firing rate of the cell) following administration of the drug MDMA (more commonly known as Ecstasy!).
Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs
The experimental design is usually preferred within psychology, as with any other science. The goal is to control every aspect of the experiment and then manipulate a single variable, thus allowing us to attribute the results to that single manipulation. As a result, experiments allow us to make cause-and-effect statements about the relationships between the variables.
A simple experiment begins with defining the independent variable, the factor that will be manipulated, and the dependent variable, the factor that will be measured. Ideally, we then select our subjects in a random fashion, and assign them randomly to a control group and an experimental group. The experimental group is then exposed to the independent variable, whereas the control group is not. If we have successfully controlled all other variables through random selection of subjects (i.e., all subjects in a specified population have an equal chance of being selected for the study) and random assignment to the control and experimental groups (so that hopefully each group has an equal representation of gender, races, age, intelligence, personal habits, etc.), we should see a difference in the dependent variable that was caused by the independent variable.
Unlike the natural sciences, however, we can seldom control human behavior in the precise ways that true experimental designs require. For example, if we want to study the effects of prenatal exposure to cocaine on personality development, we certainly cannot ask pregnant women to use cocaine. Unfortunately, there are pregnant women who abuse cocaine and other illegal drugs. Therefore, we can try to identify those women, and subsequently study the development of their children. Since a variety of other factors led these women to abuse illegal drugs, we lose the control that is desired in an experiment. Such studies are called quasi-experimental, because they are set up as if we did an experiment, and can be analyzed in similar ways. The quasi-experimental approach has many applications, and can provide valuable information not available otherwise, so long as the investigators keep in mind the limitations of the technique (for the classic discussion of this design see Campbell & Stanley, 1963).
Table \(1\): Research Designs in the Study of Personality
Case Studies Focus is on a detailed examination of unique and interesting cases. May provide a great deal of information, but due to the individual nature of the case that information may not generalize to others.
Correlational Designs Focus is on how variables change in relation to each other. However, since there is no control over that change, we cannot determine whether one variable affects the other, or vice versa, or even if the change is due to some unidentified outside factor.
Experiments Experiments are usually the preferred type of research, since the control exerted over the variables involved allows the investigator to make cause-and-effect statements about the results obtained. However, ethical considerations often make experimental research with humans unacceptable.
Quasi-Experiments When individuals choose to put themselves in situations that psychologists could not ethically create, a situation arises in which the consequences can be studied as if an experiment was done. These are not true experiments, however, since the investigator cannot be sure of all the variables that led the individuals to put themselves in such situations to begin with.
Cross-Cultural and Multicultural Research In an effort to control the conditions of their research, psychologists try to work with clearly defined groups. Unfortunately, that means their results may not generalize to other groups of people. Cross-cultural and multicultural psychologists remind us that, in a truly global world, we must strive to address both the differences and the similarities that characterize human nature.
Cross-Cultural Approaches to the Study of Personality
Cross-cultural approaches to studying personality do not really represent a different type of research, but rather an approach to research that does not assume all people are influenced equally by the same factors. More importantly, cross-cultural psychologists recognize that seemingly common factors may, in reality, be quite different when viewed by people of very different cultures. The most obvious problem that arises when considering these issues is the potential difference between cross-cultural and multicultural research. Cross-cultural research is based on a comparison of cultures; two well-known categorizations are Eastern vs. Western perspectives and the somewhat related topic of individualistic vs. collectivistic cultures. However, a multicultural approach tells us that we must consider the true complexity of the human race. What is “Eastern,” is it Asia, China, Japan, does it include India, and what about Muslim groups of people? Should Buddhism be viewed as an Eastern perspective or a religious perspective? This book will address a variety of spiritual paths toward positive psychological development, but none of the associated religions are indigenous to Africa, so will our discussions be complete? The list goes on and on, because there are so many different cultures in the world. And finally, is it practical to really try coming up with a theory of personality that can encompass all the different groups of people throughout the world? Only by pursuing an understanding of different cultures can psychology truly be considered a global science, and that pursuit has only just begun. Since we have a long way to go, the future is ripe for new students to pursue careers in psychology and the study of personality.
Discussion Question: Do you consider psychology to be a science? Has psychology successfully applied the scientific method to the study of mind and behavior, particularly the study of personality and personality development? | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/01%3A_Introduction_to_Personality/1.04%3A_Methods_of_Studying_Personality.txt |
As in the section above on research methods, an extensive discussion of personality assessment is beyond the scope of this textbook. However, this is such an important issue that we will look at it briefly here, and then will take a closer look in some of the chapters throughout the rest of the book. There are a number of excellent handbooks available on psychological assessment (e.g., Goldstein & Hersen, 1990; Groth-Marnat, 2003), including two that focus on cross-cultural and multicultural assessment (Dana, 2000; Suzuki et al., 2001).
Personality assessment most commonly occurs in a clinical setting, when an individual is seeking help for some problem, whether it is an adjustment disorder or a potential mental illness. Assessing personality goes beyond this singular role, however. Certainly a clinical psychologist would be using personality assessment in order to understand a patient’s symptoms, provide a diagnosis (if appropriate), and recommend a preferred course of therapy. Similarly, school psychologists use assessment to identify any possible learning disorders and/or adjustment issues as they pertain to the educational environment. But other psychologists use personality assessment for a variety of reasons as well. Industrial/organizational psychologists use personality assessment to identify preferred candidates for particular jobs, career counselors use these assessments in order to provide valid recommendations regarding the choice of a career path, and research psychologists use assessment in their ongoing efforts to correlate certain personality types to observable behavior or other measures. Thus, the assessment tools used to describe and/or understand personality have a wide range of potential applications.
Reliability, Validity, and Standardization
A particular personality assessment is of little value if it has no reliability or validity and if it is not presented in a standardized format.Reliability refers to the likelihood that a test will give essentially the same result on different occasions, or that two versions of the same test will give similar results. Validity refers to whether a test actually measures what it purports to measure. Standardization refers to the manner in which a test is given, which must be the same for every person receiving the test if there is to be any value in comparing the results among different people.
Determining the reliability and validity of a test can be a long and complicated process, involving a variety of statistical methods to confirm the results. During this process the psychologist(s) developing the test will also typically establish norms. Norms are consistent ways in which particular groups score on a test. For example, on measures of aggressiveness the "normal" level for men may be quite different than the "normal" level for women. Standardization is quite a bit simpler to establish, since the test can include precise instructions dictating the manner in which it is to be given.
Assessing Personality with Objective Tests
The most famous self-report inventory is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (or MMPI). The MMPI is also probably the most widely used psychological test in the world, and it has stood the test of time (it is currently in its second version, a 1989 revision of the 1943 original). The current version consists of 567 true-false questions, which address not only normal personality traits, but psychopathology and the accuracy of the test-taker as well. The test has several built in "lie" scales, in case a person were trying to fake a mental illness (e.g., if they were trying to fake an insanity defense to avoid responsibility for a crime) or minimize any symptoms they may actually be experiencing. The questions themselves range from rather simple (e.g., I enjoy drama.) to rather strange (e.g., I am a prophet of God.), but when put all together they provide a highly valid assessment that can easily be scored by computer (hence the popularity of the test, for both reasons). NOTE: Those are not actual questions from the MMPI, but they are based on real questions. The MMPI is an empirically based instrument. That is, interpretations are based on the pattern of responding obtained by various psychiatric samples. Since the standard MMPI was developed for adults and is rather lengthy, an abbreviated version was developed for use with adolescents: the MMPI-A.
A number of alternatives to the MMPI have been developed. The California Psychological Inventory has been available almost as long as the MMPI and, more recently, the Personality Assessment Inventory has become popular. Another important test is Millon’s Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (the MCMI), which was developed in accordance with Millon’s own theories on personality development and personality disorders (see Appendix A). The MCMI was designed with certain advantages in mind, including being relatively short compared to the MMPI and being connected with a specific clinical theory. However, since the test was designed specifically to distinguish amongst psychiatric populations, it is not as useful when assessing “normal” individuals (Keller et al., 1990; Groth-Marnat, 2003).
Behavioral assessment and thought sampling are techniques designed to gain an appreciation of what an individual actually does and/or thinks on a day-to-day or moment-to-moment basis. In each case, observers are trained to make precise observations of an individual at precise times. This provides a statistical sample of the individual's actual behavior and/or thoughts over time. Naturally the only person who can record an individual's thoughts is that person himself or herself, but as long as they are carefully informed of the procedure and are fully cooperating, the technique works fine. When applied correctly, the great value of these techniques is that they are truly objective, in other words, they record actual behaviors and actual thoughts.
Assessing Personality with Projective Tests
The two most famous projective tests are the Rorschach Inkblot Technique and the Thematic Apperception Test (or TAT). Both tests involve the presentation of ambiguous stimuli in an attempt to draw out responses from a patient, responses reflecting impulses and/or thoughts that the patient may not even be aware of (i.e., the patient projects their own thoughts and feelings onto the ambiguous stimuli, even if those thoughts and feelings are subconscious).
The Rorschach Inkblots are just that, inkblots on a piece of paper that can look like most anything. An individual being tested is first asked to say what each inkblot looks like, and then they are asked to explain how they saw what they identified. The answer to a single inkblot is not particularly informative, since any one inkblot may remind the person of some particular thing. However, as the patient goes through all 10 inkblots, trends should become apparent to the psychologist that reflect the dominant issues affecting the personality of the patient (again, even if those issues are subconscious and not available to the conscious awareness of the patient). Initially, the Rorschach was reviewed unfavorably and then ignored. Rorschach became depressed, and died only 9 months after the test was published. Eventually, however, the test became more and more popular, and today is certainly one of the most widely recognized psychological tests. However, studies comparing the Rorschach and the MMPI have shown the latter to be far more valid. In an effort to improve both the reliability and validity of the Rorschach technique, there is now a standardized scoring system.
The TAT is similar to the Rorschach, except that it involves actual pictures of people (although they are still very ambiguous drawings) and the patient is asked to tell a story about the people in the picture. There is no objective scoring system for the TAT, so reliability and validity remain arguable, and the test is more famous than popular as an assessment tool. However, it has been shown to have high validity for certain specific research studies, such as studies on the need for achievement, and continues to serve a function in clinical formulations.
Clinical Interviews
As valuable and informative as the well-established psychological tests are, there is certain vital information that simply cannot be addressed with most tests, such as: a person's appearance, their attitude, facial expressions, ability to communicate with another person, etc. In addition, tests often lead to further questions, or the need for clarification or explanation. In order to address such issues, both in general and in greater detail, clinical interviews are an essential part of the overall personality assessment. Although the results of an interview are somewhat subjective, when viewed in the context of the psychologist’s clinical experience, along with results of an assessment tool, they provide psychologists with a much more complete understanding of the person whom they are evaluating.
Discussion Question: Have you or anyone you know ever had psychological testing (don’t forget standardized tests of knowledge and intelligence in school!)? If you are at all familiar with psychological testing, for any reason, what effect did it have on you (or someone you know)?
Critical Thinking in Psychology
Critical thinking is always important in psychology, but given the complexity of individual personalities, the many different theories, and the variety of approaches for studying and assessing personality, it is particularly important for our consideration here. Although we often think of the word critical as something negative, when we talk about critical thinking in psychology we are actually talking about being open-minded to many possible answers, but arriving at a most likely answer in a reasoned and logical fashion. Critical thinking is a skill, but unfortunately one that all too often isn’t taught (Halpern, 1996, 2007; Sternberg, 2007).
A typical approach to teaching critical thinking is to use examples of false claims and systematically deconstruct the manner in which they are made to appear true, while at the same time discussing the psychological processes involved in decision making (see, e.g., Halpern, 1996; Ruscio, 2006). John Ruscio has done a nice job of organizing his discussion around four areas pertaining to the tactics of pseudoscientists who would intentionally mislead us: 1) deception, the methods they use to deceive us; 2) self-deception, the types of evidence that lead us toward unwittingly deceiving ourselves; 3) psychological tricks, a variety of tricks that create and sustain unwarranted beliefs; and 4) the decision-making process and the ethical concerns of pseudoscientific practices. Ruscio (2006) has also provided a handy list of the characteristics of pseudoscience:
1. Outward Appearance of Science
2. Absence of Skeptical Peer Review
3. Reliance on Personal Experience
4. Evasion of Risky Tests
5. Retreats to the Supernatural
6. The Mantra of Holism
7. Tolerance of Inconsistencies
8. Appeals to Authority
9. Promising the Impossible
10. Stagnation
While it may seem tempting for you to take for granted that you do not need to apply critical thinking to the theories presented in this book, that could present something of a problem for you. Many of these theories disagree with one another. Although the major theories have all been proposed by famous and respected theorists, some critics claim they were not developed scientifically, and the spiritual paths that will be discussed in the last section of the book have many skeptics. As you consider each theory, there are some critical thinking skills you can keep in mind. What is your goal as you evaluate a theory? What do you know and how are you drawing conclusions? If your class is having a debate or a discussion what is being said, how is it being said, and how are the arguments being analyzed? Are certain conclusions probable; are you, or others, overconfident in your conclusions? Have you considered alternatives? Practicing these, and other, skills can help to develop your critical thinking abilities (Halpern, 2007). Finally, consider this “simple” definition of critical thinking offered by Diane Halpern:
Critical thinking is the use of those cognitive skills or strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome. It is used to describe thinking that is purposeful, reasoned, and goal directed - the kind of thinking involved in solving problems, formulating inferences, calculating likelihoods, and making decisions, when the thinker is using skills that are thoughtful and effective for the particular context and type of thinking task. (pg. 6; Halpern, 2007)
Discussion Question: When you hear someone make a claim, whether it is something scientific or a commercial advertisement, do you tend to believe it, or do you apply critical thinking to evaluate whether the claim is likely to be true?
Personality Theory in Real Life: Making the Connection Between Your Life and Personality Theory
In this chapter we do not have a particular theory or perspective within which to consider your own life. So, let’s try considering your life in any way you want. I do want you to consider one basic question, though. Who are you? You might also ask yourself what makes you the person you think you are. Try writing down some of your thoughts. Writing the ideas down helps to force you to really pay attention to your thoughts, rather than just casually thinking about the questions without going into any detail. When you are done, take a look at what you have written. Ask yourself again, “Is that really me?” You may want to write down your new thoughts after evaluating what you have written.
Then try something that may be very interesting, but possibly a little unnerving. Ask a friend or relative, someone you think really knows you well, and have them write down some ideas on who you are. Don’t bother them, or distract them, while they are doing this. Let them have the time they need to do it. Then look at what they have written, and once again ask, “Is that really me?” Finally, compare what you wrote and what they wrote. Is there a difference, and if so, is it a big difference?
Whether the different descriptions of who you are or, in other words, the descriptions of your personality are the same or different, how do you feel about that? Some may find comfort in learning that others see them as they see themselves. Some may be confused if others see them quite differently than they see themselves. There are no right or wrong answers here, it is just an exercise to help you begin thinking about how psychologists study personality. As we move through the various theories and perspectives presented in this textbook, it will provide a starting point from which you can hopefully learn something interesting about yourself and about the people you interact with every day.
1.S: Chapter Summary
Review of Key Points:
• A wide variety of theoretical perspectives influence how psychologists view personality, including psychodynamic factors, learning/cognitive factors, biological factors, inherent drives, and sociocultural influences.
• An important trend in psychology today is the emphasis on positive psychology, and the potential for the field of psychology to contribute in positive ways to society.
• A wide variety of personality tests have been developed, both objective and projective tests. Since it often proves difficult to establish the reliability and validity of some personality tests, a clinical interview is an essential step in forming an opinion regarding someone’s personality (especially if there is a question of mental illness).
• Critical thinking is purposeful, reasoned, goal-directed thinking aimed at evaluating claims that are made as being true. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/01%3A_Introduction_to_Personality/1.05%3A_Application_of_Personality_Theory_-_Assessing_Personality.txt |
In the first chapter we briefly examined the concern of many psychologists that the field of psychology has been slow to embrace the value of cross-cultural research (see Lee et al., 1999; Sue, 1999; Triandis & Suh, 2002). This concern is by no means new. In 1936, Ralph Linton wrote that “different societies seem to show differences in the relative frequency of occurrence of the various psychological types” (pg. 484), and in 1973, Robert LeVine suggested that “this is a moment at which even those who are skeptical about the value of culture and personality study might consider stretching their curiosity in this direction” (pg. ix). Throughout this textbook we will examine a number of theorists who emphasized studying cultural differences as a significant part of their careers and, often, their personality theories as well.
However, it remains true that cross-cultural studies in psychology have only recently moved closer to the mainstream of psychological research and clinical practice. As of 2002, the American Psychological Association has “Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists” (www.apa.org/pi/multiculturalguidelines/homepage.html). To cite just a few examples of the range of current interest in cross-cultural psychology, we now have a Dictionary of Multicultural Psychology (Hall, 2005) and books on the relationships between culture, mental illness, and counseling (Axelson, 1999; Castillo, 1997), as well as on the relationships between race, class, and the social and personal development of women (Jordan, 1997b; Pack-Brown, Whittington-Clark, & Parker, 1998). There are also major new texts on African American psychology (Belgrave & Allison, 2006) and racism, prejudice, and discrimination in America (Miller & Garran, 2008; Whitley & Kite, 2006).
The fact that studying cross-cultural factors in personality has always been present in the careers and theories of certain individuals, while not becoming a mainstream focus of attention, is more than just an historical curiosity. By emphasizing biological factors (i.e., genetics), Freud’s theory did not allow for cultural differences. Behavioral theorists emphasized environmental factors, a seemingly cultural approach, but they did not allow themselves to address factors beyond immediate scientific control. Thus, they defined with great precision the role of reinforcement, punishment, discriminative stimuli, etc., while not allowing for the richness of cognition and cultural experiences. Likewise, cognitive theorists clung to the scientific approach of the behaviorists, rather than embracing the potential of sociocultural perspectives. In other words, because strict Freudian theorists, as well as behavioral and cognitive theorists, believed that their theories applied to all people equally, they typically chose not to address differences between people. Thus, those who wished to bring sociocultural perspectives on the development of personality into the field of personality theory faced a degree of direct opposition. And yet, their perseverance is now being fulfilled.
In this chapter, we will briefly examine some of the issues facing personality psychologists who wish to examine personality development in a sociocultural context. The United States, Canada, and Western Europe represent only about one tenth of the world’s population. Ralph Linton, a renowned anthropologist with an interest in cultural influences on personality (see Linton, 1945), also edited a book entitled Most of the World: The Peoples of Africa, Latin America, and the East Today (Linton, 1949). Thus, it is essential that we consider the influence of different cultures around the world if we are going to claim that we have really examined human personality in all its variations. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/02%3A_Culture_and_Personality/2.01%3A_Chapter_Introduction.txt |
Since the 1990s, a number of general books on psychology and culture have been available (e.g., Brislin, 2000; Lonner & Malpass, 1994; Matsumoto, 1994, 1997; Matsumoto & Juang, 2004; Okun, Fried, & Okun, 1999; Price & Crapo, 2002; Segall et al., 1990). Although all of these books address topics such as the “self” and person-perception, and other various aspects of personality, only a few of them devote an actual chapter or section to the topic of personality itself (Matsumoto & Juang, 2004; Price & Crapo, 2002; Segall et al., 1990), and in each case the topics are fairly specific. There is, however, some older literature on the relationships between culture, society, and personality. We will examine that research in the second part of this section. First, let us examine some of the general principles of incorporating cross-cultural perspectives into the study of personality.
The Challenges of Cultural Research
The first problem faced by those who are interested in the study of culture and personality is the question: what exactly is to be studied? At the most basic level, there are two types of research. Cross-cultural research typically refers to either parallel studies being conducted in different cultures, or similar concepts being studied in different cultures. In contrast, intercultural research is the study of individuals of different cultures interacting with one another (Brislin, 2000; Matsumoto & Juang, 2004; Segall et al., 1990). As you will see in later chapters, some personality theorists consider interpersonal relationships to be the only true domain for studying individual personality. While most of the research done in psychology has been cross-cultural, as the world becomes more and more of a global community the opportunity for, and importance of, intercultural research is rapidly expanding.
Another fundamental problem with the study of culture is our attention to it, or rather, the lack of attention we pay to something that is so deeply ingrained in our daily lives. Richard Brislin suggests the following exercise: write down three answers for someone from a different culture who asks “What should I know about your culture so that we can understand each other better?” (pg. 10; Brislin, 2000). Because we simply take our cultural influences for granted, it proves quite difficult for us to think that they need to be identified or explained. For example, freedom of speech is a cherished right in America. Consequently, we often speak our minds. If I am upset about some new college policy, I might say very negative things about the administration of our college, even about particular administrators. It does not mean I intend to be disrespectful, or that I dislike those individuals, or that I won’t say positive things about them when I agree with the next new policy. It is simply an expression of one of the great freedoms in our society: the right to speak out. However, someone from a different culture, particularly a collectivist culture, might be shocked at my apparent disrespect toward my “superiors.”
The next important issue is the difference between emic and etic tasks or behaviors. Simply put, emic tasks are those that are familiar to the members of a given culture, whereas etic tasks are common to all cultures. In an elegantly simple, yet revealing study, Irwin, Schafer, & Feiden (1974) demonstrated these phenomena in two cultures: American undergraduates and Mano rice farmers (from Liberia). The American college students were consistently better at performing the Wisconsin Card Sort, a well-known psychological test measuring cognitive reasoning skills, which relies on geometric shapes and color. The Mano farmers, however, were consistently better at sorting different categories of rice. Thus, the ability to sort items into categories appears to be an etic task (most likely common to all humans, regardless of culture), whereas the more specific abilities to sort by geometry and color (common to American college students) or type of rice grain (common to Mano farmers in Liberia) is an emic task that requires familiarity. Thus, if we made a judgment about the Mano farmers’ cognitive abilities based on the Wisconsin Card Sort, we would clearly be making a mistake in comparing them to Americans, due to the unfamiliarity of the particular task.
Another important aspect of cross-cultural research, which may involve applying our understanding of etics and emics, is the issue of equivalence. Is a concept being studied actually equivalent in different cultures? In other words, does a concept mean the same thing in different cultures, is the comparison valid? For example, an etic related to intelligence is the ability to solve problems. So how might we compare different cultural groups? Would the speed with which they solve a problem make sense as a measure of intelligence? Such an answer would be emic, and therefore valid, in America (where we typically value independence and competition). However, among the Baganda of Uganda, slow and careful thought is the emic. Among the Chi-Chewa of Zambia, the emic is responsibility to the community, i.e., solving the problem in order to best get along with other people. Thus, the speed at which people solve problems is conceptually equivalent, since it is the way in which people in each culture identify those individuals who are considered intelligent (Brislin, 2000). However, we cannot compare the actual speed of reporting a solution to others, as this is viewed quite differently in each culture.
One particular type of equivalence that raises a very interesting problem is that of translation equivalence. Psychologists often want to use tests developed in their own language with people of a different culture who speak a different language. Translating a test from one language to another can be a difficult task. The best way to assess translation equivalence is through back translation. In this procedure, one person translates the test, or survey, into the foreign language, and then a different person translates the foreign language test back into the original language. The original test can then be compared to the back translated test to see how closely they are worded. Ideally they would be identical, but this is seldom the case. To give you a simple example, when I was in graduate school, we had a student from Taiwan join our research group. One day I asked her to translate my last name, Kelland, into a Chinese character. When she had done that, I asked her how she would translate that particular Chinese character into English for someone who was not Chinese. She translated the character as Kwang. Despite the first letter, I hardly consider Kwang to be a reasonable translation of Kelland, but she didn’t seem to think of this as much of a problem (perhaps revealing another cultural difference!). When the process of back translation is used successfully, which may involve working back and forth with the translations, it has the effect of decentering the test from the original language. Specifically, that means that the test should be free of any culturally emic references or aspects that interfere with the translation equivalence of the different versions of the test (Brislin, 2000; Matsumoto & Juang, 2004).
While the list of issues pertaining to cross-cultural research goes on, let’s consider just two more specific issues: cultural flexibility and cultural response sets. Cultural flexibility refers to how individuals are willing to change, or adapt, in situations in which they know there are cultural differences. For example, American businesspeople can stand about 15 minutes of small talk before getting down to business. Their Japanese counterparts, in contrast, consider it important to get to know their business partners, and they are comfortable with hours of conversation about a variety of topics. This would, of course, be an important consideration for anyone studying the relationship between individual personality and success in business situations in this intercultural setting. Cultural response sets refer to how a given culture typically responds. If a given culture is more reserved, and they are asked to rate the importance of some value in comparison to how a more open culture rates that value, a difference in the rating may reflect the cultural difference in responding, rather than the degree to which people in each culture value the variable being measured (Brislin, 2000; Matsumoto & Juang, 2004).
Finally, in light of these challenges, it may be particularly important to conduct cross-cultural validation studies. Rather than testing hypotheses about specific cultural differences, cross-cultural validation studies are used to examine whether a psychological construct that was identified in one culture is meaningful and equivalent in another culture (Brislin, 2000; Matsumoto & Juang, 2004). For example, as we will see in Chapter 7, Erik Erikson did not feel confident in proposing his eight stages of development (the psychosocial crises) until he had confirmed his observations in two separate Native American tribes. He was able to gain the trust of these groups, and thus able to closely observe their child-rearing practices, thanks to the anthropologists who introduced him to the tribes they had been studying for a long time.
Anthropologists have done much more for psychology than merely introducing some psychologists to cultural issues and unique cultural groups. Some of them have had their own interests in personality. Many anthropologists, as well as some psychologists, have relied on ethnographies to report detailed information on the customs, rituals, traditions, beliefs, and the general way of daily life of a given group. They typically immerse themselves in the culture, living for an extended period of time with the group being studied (this helps get past the anxiety of being observed or any lack of cultural flexibility). Comparing the ethnographies of different groups can help guide cross-cultural psychologists in determining the likelihood that their cross-cultural studies are valid (Matsumoto & Juang, 2004; Segall et al., 1990).
Discussion Question: Translating psychological tests into different languages is often a problem for cross-cultural psychologists. Americans have a reputation for only knowing English, whereas people in other countries often speak more than one language. Do you know a foreign language well enough to actually communicate with someone in another country? How important do you think it is to learn another language as part of understanding their culture? | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/02%3A_Culture_and_Personality/2.02%3A_Cultural_Studies_in_the_Field_of_Psychology.txt |
Psychology with Anthropology
As the field of psychology entered the twenty-first century, there was a groundswell of interest in cultural factors as they pertain to all areas of psychology. In the field of personality, as well as in other areas, there have always been individuals with an interest in culture and society, but they tended to remain as individuals. Although they were often admired for their unique interests and ideas, the major emphasis in psychology was on the scientific method and data that had been obtained in carefully controlled situations, and then analyzed with similar, exacting precision. Culture, as difficult as it is to define, was left largely to anthropologists and sociologists.
Anthropologists, in particular, were not as shy about addressing the domain of psychology, and a number of anthropologists crossed over into the study of psychology to such an extent that they are often mentioned even in the introductory psychology textbooks. But given that their primary interest was in anthropology, they did not form detailed personality development theories of the type presented in this (or other) personality textbooks. In this chapter, however, we will take a look at some of the ideas presented by the renowned anthropologist Ralph Linton, and his occasional colleague Abram Kardiner, a psychoanalyst with an associate appointment in the same anthropology department as Linton. In addition to their books, students of personality with a strong interest in cultural influences on personality will also find the works of Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead of great interest.
The Influence of Culture and Society on Personality
Many psychology textbooks mention a few famous anthropologists, such as Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead, whose research included work on child development and personality. However, less well-known in the field of psychology is the renowned anthropologist Ralph Linton, who paid particular attention to personality development in relation to culture and society. Linton also collaborated with Abram Kardiner, a founding member of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute (and who was analyzed by Sigmund Freud himself in 1921-1922). Linton and Kardiner freely acknowledged the connections between anthropology and psychology, noting the influence of Benedict and Mead, Franz Boas (recognized as the father of American anthropology and mentor to both Benedict and Mead), and the psychoanalysts Anna Freud, Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, and Wilhelm Reich (Kardiner, 1939; Kardiner, Linton, DuBois, & West, 1945; Kardiner & Preble, 1961).
Linton described personality as existing on three levels. First, personality can be described based on either its content or its organization. The organization, furthermore, can be examined in terms of its superficial organization or its central organization. The central organization of personality gives the whole personality its distinctive character, and includes the most invariant aspects of personality, such as the degree of introversion/extraversion, or other aspects of temperament (Linton, 1936, 1945). Although these temperamental attributes are present at birth, they do not comprise personality per se. The superficial organization of personality, however, is based on the goals and interests of the individual, and incorporates the individual’s experiences in life within the context of the central organization. In this regard, the superficial organization should not be confused with something transient or insignificant. It is “superficial” only in the sense that it is on the surface of the personality, and the goals and interests of the person are based on the content of personality that represents their life experiences as they are organized within the personality. The goals and interests themselves, which incorporate the content of personality, are determined almost entirely by the culture in which the individual is raised. According to Linton (1936), the process of integrating the individual’s experience within the context of one’s temperament (or “constitutional qualities”) forms a “mutually adjusted, functional whole.”
A critical question, of course, is whether cultural experiences can affect the central organization. Linton (1936, 1945, 1955) believed that no matter how an individual receives the cultural characteristics of their society, they are likely to internalize them, a process known as enculturation. One of the main reasons that enculturation is so influential in every aspect of the person’s being, is that it pervades every aspect of the society in which the person lives. Thus, even someone who is considered a rebel, most likely exists within a range of rebellion that is possible within that particular culture. This is directly related to the apparent reality that cultures do give rise to certain types of personality. Making the matter even more complicated, or simpler depending on one’s perspective, is the role of status within a culture. Thus, although a given culture or society, or one’s own temperament, may influence personality in one direction, a particular social class might influence personality in a different direction. An individual born into a given class, whose personal constitution does not fit that class, may develop what Linton called a status personality, i.e., a persona that fits with societies expectations for the individual in certain settings. For example, someone born into an upper middle class family involved in business, who is personally rather introverted and withdrawn, may present a confident and outgoing personality when working, and only upon returning home do they revert to their natural inclination to be shy and quiet.
One of the most interesting points made by Linton is that individuals with complimentary personalities are also mutually adjusted. The most obvious example is that of the gender roles of men and women. Men are expected, in many cultures and societies, to be the dominant member of the family, as well as the “bread-winner.” Conversely, women are expected to be submissive, and to remain home and care for the household and the children. In this way, the men and women together complete the necessary tasks for family life without entering into conflict (at least in theory!). In some cultures, these gender roles are quite relaxed with regard to the sex of the individual. Amongst the Comanche (a Native American tribe), men whose personalities were not at all suited to being warriors assumed a special role, that of berdache (Linton, 1936). The berdache wore women’s clothes, and typically fulfilled a woman’s role, but they were treated with somewhat more respect than women (in keeping with the patriarchal nature of the society). Some were homosexuals (though not all), and even married. This was generally accepted, and any disapproval these relationships received was directed toward the warrior husband, not the berdache!
Abram Kardiner, a psychoanalyst who collaborated with Linton, shared the same general perspective on the relationship between personality and culture, and attempted to put the relationship into psychological terms. He distinguished between the basic personality, or ego structure, which he considered to be a cultural phenomenon, and the individual’s character, which is their unique adaptation to the environment within their cultural setting. Thus, each individual develops a unique character, but only within the constraints of the culturally-determined range of potential ego structure (Kardiner, 1939). The process of personality development, within a cultural setting, results in what Kardiner called a security system. The security system of the individual is the series of adaptations that serve to ensure the individual’s acceptance, approval, support, esteem, and status within the group. Thus, for each person within a given cultural group, their basic personality is formed through an ongoing interaction with the very culture in which that person needs to be (and, hopefully, will be) accepted as a member. Both of Kardiner’s major books, The Individual and His Society (Kardiner, 1939) and The Psychological Frontiers of Society (Kardiner, et al., 1945), offer extraordinary examples of detailed anthropological studies of a wide variety of cultures followed by psychoanalytic evaluations of the functions served by various aspects of the cultural practices of those people.
Robert LeVine, like Kardiner, was an anthropologist and psychoanalyst with a strong interest in personality (LeVine, 1973, 1974). He begins by asking the question of whether there are differences in personality between different cultural groups. If there are not, then any analysis of the nature or causes of those alleged differences is meaningless. If there are differences, can we then point to specific evidence that the environment can elicit changes in those differences? The answer is yes to both, and as one example LeVine points to the dramatic acculturation of rural immigrants from underdeveloped areas of Europe and Asia who emigrated to industrialized countries, such as the United States, and within two or three generations had radically altered not only their basic ways of life, but also their social class (moving from traditional peasantry to the middle-class; LeVine, 1973). LeVine also continued Kardiner’s approach of using a psychoanalytic perspective to evaluate and compare the nature of different cultures, and he proposed the term psychoanalytic ethnography. In an effort to justify the use of psychoanalytic ethnography, LeVine argues that there are enough common elements in the nature of all people and cultures to provide for valid comparisons of the differences between those same people and cultures (LeVine, 1973).
One of the most striking discussions of the relationship between culture and the potential for personality development was offered by Pitirim Sorokin, the founder of Harvard University’s sociology department and a colleague of the trait theorist Gordon Allport (see Chapter 13). Sorokin points out that culture can have a dramatic influence on the biological substrates of personality. For example, through the use of contraception, abortion, etc., many potential individuals are never born. Conversely, if such measures are prohibited, many unwanted children are born. In addition, cultural rules and norms against sexual intercourse and/or marriage between certain age groups, races, social classes, families, religions, etc., directly influence the potential for genetic variation within and across different groups of humans (Sorokin, 1947). Indeed, Sorokin took such a broad view of the role of society and culture in the environmental universe of each individual, that he described trying to understand sociocultural phenomena by locating them in terms of sociocultural space and sociocultural distance. The concept of sociocultural distance has taken on new meaning since Sorokin proposed it over 50 years ago. Today, anyone can travel around the world in a matter of hours or days, and many people do so regularly. Technology and globalization have dramatically reduced the distance between people, and consequently brought their cultural differences into contact with one another. Efforts to study cultures and societies alter the location of sociocultural phenomena within our own universe of personal development. In other words, by studying the relationships between society, culture, and personality, we are altering the meaning and influence of those relationships, hopefully for the better.
As a final note, although this section has highlighted the influence of anthropologists and sociologists on cross-cultural research in the study of personality, there has also been an influence from psychology on these investigators. As noted above, both Abram Kardiner and Robert LeVine were psychoanalysts. In addition, Kardiner acknowledges having learned a great deal from a professor named John Dollard. Dollard was a sociologist who had studied psychoanalysis and who collaborated with Neal Miller (a psychologist trained in learning theory) in an effort to apply classical learning theory to psychodynamic theory (see Chapter 10). Dollard contributed a chapter to one of Linton’s books, and was cited by both LeVine and Sorokin (who was, again, also a colleague of Allport). Given such an interesting interaction between the fields of psychology, anthropology, and sociology over half a century ago, it seems surprising that psychology is only now emphasizing the value of focusing on cultural influences on personality development.
Discussion Question: Have you ever had an interest in ethnography? When you begin to learn something about another culture, how much does it interest you? How influential do you think your culture has been in your own personal development? | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/02%3A_Culture_and_Personality/2.03%3A_Placing_Cross-Cultural_Studies_in_Context-_Blending.txt |
Since culture pervades every aspect of our lives, the number of cultural factors that we might examine in the study of personality is quite large. However, there are a few major factors that stand out, and that have been the subject of significant research in the field of psychology. Thus, we will take a brief look at four major factors that will come up repeatedly throughout this book: religion, race, gender, and age.
Religion as a Cultural Influence
…religion in its turn exerts the most decisive influence upon all groups and systems of culture, from science and the fine arts to politics and economics. Without knowing the religion of a given culture or group - their systems of ultimate values - one cannot understand their basic traits and social movements. (pg. 228; Sorokin, 1947)
The essential importance of religion was also recognized by Abram Kardiner and Robert LeVine, both of whom, as noted above, studied anthropology and psychoanalysis (see Kardiner, et al., 1945; LeVine, 1973). As we will see in the next chapter, the recognized founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, also placed great emphasis on the influence of religion and religious symbolism (though he did not believe in God).
Despite the importance of religion, as perhaps the most significant cultural factor, there is variation in the extent to which formal religious beliefs and practices are a part of the routine life of people in different cultures (see Matsumoto & Juang, 2004). Since most psychologists were not emphasizing cultural factors as an essential aspect of the early development of the field (leaving that to anthropologists and sociologists), and given Freud’s powerful and convincing arguments against religion (see Chapter 3), it is not surprising that psychology has not focused on the influence of religion on personality. But that is changing, and despite the role that religion has played in many political battles and outright war (as has been the case in the Middle East for thousands of years!), religion and spirituality are also recognized as potentially favorable aspects of psychological development in general, and personality development in particular, in the field of positive psychology (Compton, 2005; Peterson, 2006; Peterson & Seligman, 2004; Snyder & Lopez, 2005). Given the importance of religion as a cultural determinant, and the emphasis on culture in this book, we will examine the influence of religion on personality development throughout this textbook.
Figure \(1\)
Religion/spirituality appear to be the most significant cultural factors affecting people’s lives and personal development. Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Yoga, Christianity, and Judaism, taken together, represent the religious or spiritual traditions of some 5 to 6 billion people, most of the world’s population. Shown are some of the author’s copies of the Holy Bible, Holy Quran, Discourses of the Buddha, Yoga-Sūtra, Bhagavad Gita, and the Tao Te Ching.
The Question of Race and Ethnicity as Cultural Influences
At the very outset we must face three possible alternatives as we consider the concept of race: 1) there is such a thing as race in mankind; 2) there is not such a thing as race in mankind; 3) even if race in mankind exists, it can have no significance save as people think of it and react to their conception of it. (pg. 38; Krogman, 1945)
Although religion may be the most significant cultural factor, the concept of race has probably existed even longer, and it is certainly the most visually obvious factor. But is it really? The fact is that there is no clear answer to the question of what actually constitutes race (Krogman, 1945; Linton, 1936, 1955; Sorokin, 1947). Although most people quickly think of three major races (White, Black, and Asian), and many of us would add a fourth category (Latino), studies have suggested that there may actually be as many as thirty-seven distinct races (see Matsumoto & Juang, 2004). In addition, genetic studies have suggested that there is more inter-group variation than there is between-group variation, further suggesting that race is nothing more than a social construction. As an alternative to race, some people use the term ethnicity, which identifies groups according to commonalities such as nationality, culture, or language. This fails to solve our problem, however, since the concept of ethnicity suffers from the same problems as the concept of race (Brislin, 2000; Matsumoto & Juang, 2004; Miller & Garran, 2008; Whitley & Kite, 2006).
Although the terms race and ethnicity are often used interchangeably with culture, they are quite different. The United States, for example, has large populations of people from different races, ethnic groups, religions, and nationalities, but they all contribute to the greater cultural identity of “American.” Indeed, the very concept of America as a “melting pot” defies the use of racial or ethnic characterizations of the American people. This argument goes both ways, of course. We cannot simply refer to people who live within the boundaries of the United States as American, and expect that they are similar in every other cultural respect. Although this may seem rather confusing, that is exactly the point. Critical thinking must always be applied to personality theories and their application in broad ways. This does not mean they are not useful, just that we must be careful in our interpretations of people’s behavior and personality if they are from another culture.
Although ethnicity and race may be of questionable value as cultural factors, there are two critically important issues that arise from them. A common problem in cross-cultural research is that of ethnocentrism, the belief that one’s own culture has the right beliefs and practices, whereas other cultures have wrong beliefs and practices (Matsumoto & Juang, 2004; Whitley & Kite, 2006). Such value judgments interfere with the objectivity of cross-cultural research, and can have negative effects on intercultural communication. The other, very serious problem is that of racism. As noted in the quote above, race is very real if people believe in it and act according to their perception of it. We will examine racism later in the textbook. For now, consider the following quote from a recently published book entitled Racism in the United States: Implications for the Helping Professions:
Racism has evolved as a persistent part of the human condition. Its obstinacy and intractability are frustrating and at times baffling. We live in a world in which most nations have signed United Nations declarations of human rights and claim to be democracies, yet racial and ethnic conflict abound. (pg. xvii; Miller & Garran, 2008)
Gender and Culture
Gender has been the subject of a wide range of studies, from pop-psychology books like Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus (Gray, 1992) and Self-Made Man: One Woman’s Journey into Manhood and Back Again (Vincent, 2006) to such ominous sounding titles in academic psychology as The Longest War: Gender and Culture (Wade and Tavris, 1994). In 2005, the president of Harvard University suggested that one of the reasons there were so few women in math and science fields was that they lacked the intrinsic aptitude. The subsequent uproar led to the end of his presidency at Harvard, and a renewed effort to examine the reasons why few women succeed in math and science careers. An extensive study, led by former APA President Diane Halpern came to no specific conclusions, due to the complex interactions of a variety of factors, but in so doing made it clear that no blame can be placed directly on inherent/genetic ability (Halpern, et al., 2007; see also Barnett, 2007).
Gender is a distinctly cultural term, representing the behaviors or patterns of activity that a given culture or society expects from men and women. It is perhaps most commonly used to address differences between males and females, with an underlying assumption that sex differences lead to gender differences. However, apparent sex differences may actually be cultural gender differences, and cultures and societies exert significant influence on gender roles from a very early age (Brislin, 2000; Matsumoto & Juang, 2004; Stewart & McDermott, 2004). Still, some cultural factors may also have a basis in biological reality. For example, males are typically larger and stronger than females, so it makes sense for males to do the hunting and fight the wars. Women become pregnant and then nurse the infants, so it makes sense for them to provide early childcare. How this led to man have greater control and prestige in society, however, remains unclear, especially since that is not universally the case (Wade & Tavris, 1994). In addition, older men often become involved in childcare after their hunting/warrior days are behind them, further complicating the issue.
Among the differences between men and women that seem to be fairly common across cultures, and which may stem from sex differences, are aggression and emphasizing relationships. Men are typically more aggressive, and women seem to focus more on relationships with other people. In accordance with these tendencies, women typically defer to men, particularly in situations that may be confrontational. It also leads to conflict between men and women due to their difficulties communicating, hence the popularity of John Gray’s book suggesting that men and women are from completely different planets. Given the status of men, the challenges that these gender differences create for women were not typically given a great deal of attention. However, Karen Horney (see Chapter 8) and more recently the women of the Stone Center Group (see Chapter 9) have made great strides in changing that situation. Not only have the members of the Stone Center Group provided a number of collected works on the psychology of women (Jordan, 1997b; Jordan, Kaplan, Miller, Stiver, & Surrey, 1991; Jordan, Walker, & Hartling, 2004), there are also textbooks devoted exclusively to the subject (e.g., Matlin, 2004).
Aging within a Cultural Context
Age is used as routinely as sex to divide the people in a society. All societies recognize at least three age groups: child, adult, and old. Childhood is typically further divided into young childhood and adolescence. Each group has different rights, responsibilities, roles, and status (Linton, 1936; Sorokin, 1947). Sometimes, these can come into conflict. For example, among the Comanche, as with most Plains tribes in North America, the adult male was expected to be a warrior, whereas the old man was respected for his wisdom and gentleness. Transitioning from being a warrior to being an old man was very difficult, and Comanche men often hoped to die in battle in order to avoid the transition. Those who were forced to make the transition became very dangerous adversaries for the young men transitioning from childhood to adulthood, and often the old men would kill the young men when they could (out of sheer envy). Moving even beyond old age, into death, there are many societies in which the dead remain in the minds of the community members, and deceased relatives and heroes are even worshipped. In some cultures, the relationship with those who are dead is a very important part of daily life (Linton, 1936).
Throughout history, as societies have changed, so have the ways in which they treated and cared for (or did not care for) aged individuals. Although modern industrialization is correlated with a significantly longer lifespan, such dramatic cultural changes favor the young people who can more readily adapt to the changes. In addition, industrialized societies typically shift some of the responsibility of caring for the aged from the family to the state. Curiously, this removes the responsibility of caring for aged persons from the very family whom those aged individuals had cared for and raised themselves! The one area in which aged members of the community are likely to retain their leadership status is religion, and the rituals associated with it (Holmes, 1983; Johnson & Thane, 1998; Schweitzer, 1983).
David Gutmann, an early gerontologist with an interest in the effects of aging on personality, has focused his career on studying men in four cultures: a typical American population (to the extent that there is such a thing), the Navajo in the United States, both Lowland and Highland Maya in Mexico, and the Druze in Israel (see Gutmann, 1987, 1997). One of the most interesting realities that he begins with is the recognition that the human species is the only one in which aged individuals remain active long past their reproductive prime. What possible evolutionary advantage does this offer our species? Gutmann believes that our elders fill unique roles in society, thus providing essential benefits to the extended family and the community, particularly for the young. Indeed, Gutmann points out that it is uniquely human to favor the ends of the lifespan, both childhood and old age, over the middle of the lifespan, when reproductive fitness is at its biological peak. As we noted above, however, the transition into old age is not always easy, and this leads to some unique changes in personality associated with aging.
The beginning of old age is marked by the maturity of one’s children, such that the adult individual no longer needs to provide care for their children. Thus, both men and women can begin to express those aspects of their personality that were set aside in order to mutually facilitate raising children. Consequently, there is often a relaxing, or even reversal to some extent, of gender roles. A particularly significant change for men who no longer have the physical strength to be warriors (or to engage in the physical labor of their community) is the manner in which they seek mastery over their lives. Young men have the ability to seek active mastery, they strive toward autonomy, competence, and control. Older men must seek passive mastery, through adaptation and accommodation. The oldest men must rely on magical mastery. The world becomes one of potential providers and potential predators. They rely on primitive defense mechanisms, and wish fulfillment becomes synonymous with reality. Their relationship to the world is marked by feelings of vulnerability (Gutmann, 1987, 1997). It is easy to see how they would rely heavily on religion, and the promise of a supernatural being for protection and eternal reward, thus inclining them toward an involvement in religious practice that would naturally lead to a degree of respect, or at least acknowledgement, as religious leaders. Of course, the degree to which a society provides for its oldest members, such as through retirement benefits, would have a significant effect on this aging process. Nonetheless, Gutmann found evidence for these changes in mastery style amongst men in mainstream America as well as in the Navajo, Maya, and Druze cultures.
Discussion Question: To what extent have religion, race, gender, and age been important factors in your personal development (either currently, or in the past)? Which do you expect will be the most important in your future development?
Addressing the Degree of Cultural Integration
Adding to the complexity of culture’s role in shaping our personalities are two important factors. First is the degree to which an individual is integrated into their culture, and vice versa. As Sorokin points out, it is exceedingly rare that an individual is either totally integrated into their culture or not integrated into it at all (Sorokin, 1947; see also Kardiner, et al., 1945; Linton, 1936). Thus, culture provides a framework within which individual variation is possible, but at the same time there will always be some consistent basis for understanding the people within a given culture. This becomes particularly important when considering cross-cultural research, since it may be reasonable to make some general assumptions about an individual from another culture, but we must also be prepared for their own unique variation as a person in that cultural group.
A second important factor is that cultural phenomena do not exist in isolation. Both gender and race/ethnicity, for example, influence how one adapts to the aging process (see, e.g., Arber, Davidson, & Ginn, 2003; Barrow, 1986; Calasanti & Slevin, 2001; Cool & McCabe, 1983; Holmes, 1983). Gender also interacts with race/ethnicity in determining one’s reactions to group psychotherapy (Pack-Brown, Whittington-Clark, & Parker, 1998) and/or adapting to life as a minority student on a majority campus (Levey, Blanco, & Jones, 1998). Religion is considered to be such an important factor in the African American community that its role has been the subject of special interest (see, e.g., Belgrave & Allison, 2006; Taylor, Chatters, & Levin, 2004). Obviously many more examples can be found, the point being that as an individual develops, with multiple cultural factors influencing them, and each factor being integrated to a great or lesser degree, the potential for individual personality differences is extraordinary, even when the overall effect of the specific culture, or society, is to guide its members toward certain underlying tendencies that become characteristic of that culture’s members.
Discussion Question: Are you, or is anyone you know, distant or unintegrated with your family’s culture or that your community? If so, what sort of problems does that create for your identities? If none, does your cultural integration provide a sense of integrity? | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/02%3A_Culture_and_Personality/2.04%3A_Different_Cultural_Factors_Affecting_Personality.txt |
The importance of studying culture can be found in the diversity of people both around the world and within our own communities. For example, although many communities may be quite limited in terms of religion and race/ethnicity, nearly all communities have a mixture of gender and age. Although religion, race/ethnicity, gender, and age may be the major factors that have traditionally been studied in the field of psychology, in the instances where culture was studied, it is important to remember two additional points. First, there are other cultural factors that may be very important for certain individuals and/or select groups of people, and second, people can be excitingly (or frustratingly, depending on your point of view) unique in their individuality.
One area of diversity that has been receiving more attention as a cultural factor affecting the lives of many people is that of physical disability. In the past, although it was recognized that individuals with physical disabilities experience basically the same personality development processes as other people, disabilities were considered to be specific conditions that isolated the disabled person from their surroundings (Barker et al., 1953; Pintner et al., 1941). Over time, as more research became available on the psychology of people with disabilities (e.g., Goodley & Lawthorn, 2006; Henderson & Bryan, 1984; Marks, 1999; McDaniel, 1976; Roessler & Bolton, 1978; Stubbins, 1977; Vash, 1981; Wright, 1983), perspectives on how to study these individuals changed as well. In 2004, the Society for Disability Studies adopted preliminary guidelines for developing programs in disability studies. They emphasize challenging the previously held view that disabilities are individual deficits or defects that can or should be fixed by “experts.” Rather, they recommend exploring models that examine cultural, social, political, and economic factors which integrate personal and collective responses to difference (the society’s website is www.disstudies.org).
There are several chapters in this book where we will address the biological aspects of personality development, including the mind-body connection. Whereas a few academic authors have made passing mention of the value of exercise, self-defense training, and spirituality in coping with physical disabilities (Nardo, 1994; Robinson, 1995; Sobsey, 1994), one particularly interesting area in which culture, physical disability, the mind-body connection, positive psychology, and spirituality all come together is martial arts training (see Kelland, 2009, 2010). A number of notable martial arts experts actively encourage people with disabilities to practice the physical, psychological, and spiritual aspects of these ancient exercises (such as Grandmaster Mark Shuey Sr. of the Cane Masters International Association, Master Jurgen Schmidt of the International Disabled Self-Defense Association, and Grandmaster John Pellegrini of the International Combat Hapkido Federation), and several books are available on this subject (McNab, 2003; Robertson, 1991; Withers, 2007). We will revisit this topic later in the book, but for now consider the diversity of cultures and personal interests that come together when, for example, a disabled American living in the modern world pursues the spiritual and physical development associated with an ancient, Asian practice of self-development.
When considering the life of an individual like Shawn Withers, the son of a Maine fisherman, who suffered a massive stroke at the age of 20, but then went on to earn a black belt in Kenpo Karate and then developed his own style known as Broken Wing Kenpo (Withers, 2007), broad descriptions of personality theory and cultural perspectives fall short of giving us an understanding of the person. Thus, some researchers, like Dan McAdams (McAdams, 1985, 2006; McAdams et al., 2001), have emphasized the need for studying a narrative framework within which we not only live our lives, but actually create them:
…like stories in literature, the stories we tell ourselves in order to live bring together diverse elements into an integrated whole, organizing the multiple and conflicting facets of our lives within a narrative framework which connects past, present, and an anticipated future and confers upon our lives a sense of sameness and continuity - indeed, an identity. As the story evolves and our identity takes form, we come to live the story as we write it, assimilating our daily experience to a schema of self that is a product of that experience. (pg. v; McAdams, 1985)
Although this textbook will cover broad personality theories and cultural perspectives, there are also reflective elements and discussion questions included to help you try to address your own narrative stories. In addition, there are biographies at the beginning of each chapter on the major theorists, which although they are not personal narratives, will nonetheless give some insight into the sort of person that theorist was, and hopefully, how their life and their personal experiences helped to shaped the personality theory they developed. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/02%3A_Culture_and_Personality/2.05%3A_Culture_and_Diversity.txt |
Although this book focuses on normal personality development, one cannot escape the fact that most of the famous personality theorists were clinicians who were trying to understand how their patients/clients had developed psychological disorders. So, our understanding of personality development grew hand-in-hand with our understanding of psychological disorders. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders began addressing the importance of culture in the 4th edition, and more recently it has taken a dramatic step forward with the publication of the DSM's 5th edition (American Psychiatric Association, 2000, 2013).
The DSM-V includes a section on Emerging Measures and Models, one chapter of which is called Cultural Formulation. Although the DSM-IV began to present an outline for cultural formulation, the DSM-V includes two valuable sets of questions that have been field-tested to help clinicians assess the cultural identity of a patient/client and how that cultural identity may affect the diagnosis and treatment of any potential psychological disorder. The first set of questions is the basis for the Cultural Formulation Interview, and the second set comprise the Cultural Formulation Interview - Informant Version (which is given to someone who is knowledgeable about the life circumstances and potential clinical problems of the patient/client).
In our increasingly global and multicultural world it is more and more likely that therapists will encounter individuals from different cultural backgrounds than their own. Thus, in order for the therapist to fully understand the individual and the context of their psychological distress, the therapist must be aware of and attentive to possibly significant cultural differences. Failure to do so might result in what Iijima Hall (1997) has described as cultural malpractice!
2.07: A Final Challenge
As important as it is to keep cultural factors in mind when studying personality, the unfortunate reality is that the major personality theories in psychology, as we recognize psychology today, have arisen within Western intellectual settings. Thus, we do not have corresponding systems of personality theory that arose in other cultures that we might compare to the theories we do have. This somewhat limits our perspective on cross-cultural personality theory to attempts to apply our Western theories to people of other cultures. This limitation should not, however, keep us from considering these issues. It is merely an inconvenience that you should keep in mind as you consider the theories present in this textbook. Should your career lead you into the field of psychology, perhaps you will be one of the people to help develop and advance some theory that moves beyond this limitation.
Another concern has to do with the nature of this textbook, and personality courses in general. Although we have emphasized anthropology and sociology in this chapter, this is a psychology textbook. Nonetheless, culture is an all-encompassing factor in the development and psychology of both individuals and the groups in which they live. Indeed, in Personality and Person Perception Across Cultures, Lee, McCauley, & Draguns (1999) boldly state that “human nature cannot be independent of culture” (pg. vii). Thus, it is essential that we learn as much as possible about culture. As an encouragement for studying other cultures, Ralph Linton had this to say:
The ability to see the culture of one’s own society as a whole, to evaluate its patterns and appreciate their implications, calls for a degree of objectivity which is rarely if ever achieved…Those who know no culture other than their own cannot know their own…Even such a master as Freud frequently posited instincts to account for reactions which we now see as directly referable to cultural conditioning. (pp. 125-126; Linton, 1945).
2.08: Personality Theory in Real Life- Examining Your Own Cultural Background
I consider myself to be an American. But what does that actually mean? I know a few tidbits about my ancestors that are quite interesting. One of my ancestors, a great aunt, was on the Titanic when it sank (like most women and children, she was one of the survivors). I am directly descended from John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley, who came to America on the Mayflower, in the year 1620. Actually, John Howland fell overboard in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean during rough seas, but was saved when he grabbed a rope trailing in the water and was then pulled back aboard! Among John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley’s other direct descendants (and, therefore, my distant relatives) are the U. S. Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush, the renowned poets Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and the founder of the Mormon church, Joseph Smith. This lineage does not, however, come down through the Kelland name, as the Kellands came to America later. If you add one more generation, John Howland’s brothers include among their descendants U. S. Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, as well as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The other side of my family was primarily German, and when they first came to America they settled in Kansas and became well-respected wheat farmers.
What do you know about your cultural background? Are you proud of your background in a way that has shaped your life? For example, knowing one of my ancestors was on the Mayflower helped to kindle in me an ongoing interest in history. If you don’t know much about your family’s history, who might you turn to for information? Try it; you may learn something fascinating about yourself. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/02%3A_Culture_and_Personality/2.06%3A_Culture_and_Mental_Illness.txt |
Review of Key Points
• It is important for the field of psychology to consider both cross-cultural and intercultural research.
• Emic tasks are familiar to the members of a given culture, whereas etic tasks are common to all cultures.
• In cross-cultural research, it is important to determine whether a concept is equivalent in each culture being studied.
• One of the most important considerations for the equivalence of psychological tests is the issue of translation equivalence. This can be addressed, in part, through examining back translations of the test(s) being used.
• Back translation helps to decenter a psychological test from the cultural influence of the original language/culture.
• Cultural flexibility and cultural response sets determine the range within which members of different cultures respond. Thus, one must have some understanding of these factors for a given culture when attempting to interpret cross-cultural or intercultural research.
• Cross-cultural validation studies specifically examine whether a given cross-cultural study makes sense within the context of a research project.
• Ethnographies provide detailed information on the daily lives and habits of the members of a given culture. They are often conducted by anthropologists, and can be of great value to cross-cultural psychologists.
• Anthropologists, such as Ralph Linton, believe that personality develops on multiple levels. Central organization involves the biological aspects of personality (such as temperament), whereas the superficial organization is profoundly influenced by culture.
• The process of enculturation involves internalizing cultural norms, and may be able to influence the central organization of individuals, as well as the superficial organization.
• When an individual’s basic personality contradicts that which their social class expects of them, they may develop a status personality.
• Complimentary personalities, such as those seen in typical gender roles, tend to be mutually adjusted.
• The psychoanalyst Abram Kardiner, who worked with Linton, distinguished between the culturally-determined basic personality, or ego structure, and the individual’s character, which is their unique adaptation to the environment given their inherent tendencies and personal experiences.
• According to Kardiner, personality development within a cultural setting provides a security system.
• Acculturation can lead to changes both in individuals and in entire cultures.
• The anthropologist/psychoanalyst Robert Levine proposed the term psychoanalytic ethnography to describe the work done by researchers like himself and Kardiner.
• The sociologist Pitirim Sorokin described personality development within one’s entire cultural universe, referring to sociocultural phenomena in terms of their sociocultural space and sociocultural distance.
• Religion appears to be the single most significant cultural factor.
• Race and ethnicity are complex, and are hard to consider as cultural factors because they cannot easily be defined. Nonetheless, as individuals think about them in their own ways, they often give rise to ethnocentrism and, potentially, racism and discrimination.
• Although sex is a biological distinction, gender roles are an influential cultural factor that is applied from very early in life. Certain aspects of gender roles likely reflect some of the underlying biological differences between males and females.
• All societies recognize distinct age groups, and treat those age groups differently. However, there is great variation in the status of each age group, which often leads to conflict.
• Old age is of particular interest, since the human species is the only in which individuals remain active long past their reproductive prime.
• One of the common cross-cultural factors facing old men is the transition in how they seek master in their lives. Only young men can expect to be successful seeking active mastery, whereas older men seek passive master and then magical mastery.
• In addition to sometimes dramatic differences between cultures, individuals within a culture also differ in the extent to which they integrate different aspects of their culture into their own lives.
• Sometimes cultural phenomena interact, making for interesting, yet complex, situations. For example, religion has played an important role in the cultural identity of African Americans throughout their history in America. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/02%3A_Culture_and_Personality/2.S%3A_Chapter_Summary.txt |
Sigmund Freud is unquestionably the most famous person in the fields of psychiatry and psychology, and one of the most famous individuals in modern history. He is of particular importance for this subject because he was probably the first person to address psychological problems by examining the individual’s personal development in detail. As he developed his psychodynamic theory, and the treatment known as psychoanalysis, he attempted to carefully observe and listen to his patients in order to determine not only how and why they had become the person they were, but also whether those developmental processes might be common to all people. This careful approach to studying psychological conditions was likely the result of Freud’s substantial scientific research in anatomy and physiology earlier in his career.
But why is Freud so famous? Much of his theory may not seem relevant today, and it’s hard to imagine how anyone could ever have come up with the theory of penis envy. And yet Freud remains extraordinarily influential. There are at least three good reasons for Freud’s enduring influence and popularity. First, Freud was first! No one before him had established a cohesive theory of the development of personality, especially a theory that attempted to explain both normal and abnormal development. Thus, most theories developed since then have been viewed as extending, modifying, or opposing Freud’s psychodynamic theory. Second, key elements of Freud’s theory are generally accepted in psychology and psychiatry, such as the existence of unconscious elements of our mind that can affect our thoughts and behaviors and both the normal and abnormal roles of psychological defense mechanisms. The final factor contributing to Freud’s lasting influence is somewhat more complicated. Psychodynamic theory was not well received at first. In fact, the emphasis on childhood sexuality was ridiculed and scorned by many in the medical profession. However, Freud was determined, and he did not let the rejection of others deter him from continuing his studies. In addition, there were several very famous and influential individuals who supported his efforts. Thus, Freud found the motivation to persevere, and the rest, as they say, is history.
3.02: A Brief Biography of Sigmund Freud M.D.
Sigismund Schlomo Freud was born on May 6th, 1856, in the small, industrial town of Freiberg in Moravia (today it is known as Pribor in the Czech Republic). Freud never used the name Schlomo, his paternal grandfather’s name, and he shortened his first name while at the University of Vienna. His family life was unusual, and somewhat complicated. His father, Jakob Freud, was 40 years old when he married Freud’s mother, Amalia Nathanson. She was 20 years younger than Jakob Freud, and several years younger than Jakob’s son, Emanuel, from an earlier marriage. One of Freud’s first friends was a nephew who was a year older than Freud!
Jakob Freud was never particularly successful in business. The industrial importance of Freiberg was declining, so the young family left and eventually settled in Vienna, Austria (Jakob’s sons from his first marriage, Emanuel and Philipp, emigrated to England). At this point Jakob and Amalia Freud had two children, Sigmund and his sister Anna (a brother born between them, Julius, died at 7 or 8 months of age). Shortly after arriving in Vienna, however, they had five more children during the years 1860-1866: Rosa, Marie, Adolfine, Pauline, and Alexander. This resulted in continued financial difficulties, which appears to have been painful for the young Freud (Gay, 1998). There were also personal difficulties that made it difficult for Freud to enjoy a close relationship with his father. Jakob Freud once told his son a story about being abused by an Austrian Christian, a man who knocked Jakob Freud’s hat into the muddy street and then ordered the “Jew” to get off the sidewalk. When Freud asked his father how he had responded, his father said he simply stepped off the sidewalk and picked up his hat. Freud was very disappointed by what he apparently perceived as weakness in his father (Gay, 1998). There was also an embarrassing episode involving his father’s brother, Josef. Josef Freud was convicted and sent to jail for trading in counterfeit money. This caused a great deal of concern for Jakob Freud, who might have been involved in the illegal scheme along with his sons, Emanuel and Philipp (Gay, 1998; Jones, 1953).
Still, Jakob Freud did try to be a good father. His children were generally successful, and he remained active and supportive in the lives of his children and grandchildren. The story mentioned above, when Jakob Freud tried to impart some “fatherly” wisdom to his son, may not have had the intended effect, but it demonstrates that he cared about teaching his son some of life’s lessons. On Freud’s thirty-fifth birthday his father sent his “dear son” a copy of the family’s Philippson Bible (this Bible contains the Old Testament, which is the only testament in the Jewish faith), which Freud had often studied as a young child (Gay, 1998; Jones, 1953; Nicholi, 2002). The inscription written by Jakob Freud in the Bible ended with a description of the gift “as a token of love from your old father” (see Jones, 1953; Nicholi, 2002). When Jakob Freud died, Freud wrote to a friend that his father’s death had profoundly affected him, leaving him feeling uprooted. He described the death of one’s father as “the most important event, the most poignant loss, in a man’s life” (see Nicholi, 2002). The death of his father appears to have stimulated Freud’s self-analysis, the writing of The Interpretation of Dreams (Freud, 1900/1995) and the formulation of his theory of the Oedipus complex (Nicholi, 2002). Jakob Freud was also remembered quite fondly by his grandson Martin, the eldest son of Freud (M. Freud, 1983).
Freud’s relationship with his mother was also complex. Amalia Freud is described as young (which she was, compared to Jakob), attractive, and energetic. She always took great pride in her son, and was a strong and positive influence throughout his life. Later in life he wrote that “A man who has been the indisputable favorite of his mother keeps for life the feeling of a conqueror, that confidence of success that often induces real success” (see Jones, 1953). During Freud’s self-analysis, around the year 1897, he uncovered profound memories from his earliest years. Sometime between the ages of 2 ½ and 4 years old, Freud accidentally saw his mother naked. This event awakened a powerful desire in Freud. Shortly after recovering this memory, he remembered the deep jealousy he had felt when his brother Julius was born, shortly before Freud was 2 years old. So jealous was Freud, that he remembered welcoming the death of his infant brother (see Gay, 1998; Jones, 1953). Each of these incidents certainly had an impact of Freud’s theory of the Oedipus complex. Surprisingly, however, during the first 2 ½ years of Freud’s life he actually spent very little time with his mother, since he was being raised by a nursemaid. Keep in mind that his mother became pregnant again, then his brother Julius became ill and died, and then his mother became pregnant again, finally giving birth to his sister Anna, all by the time Freud was 2 ½ years old.
Freud’s nursemaid has been described as an old and ugly woman, but Freud loved her and dreamed about her later in life (see Gay, 1998; Jones, 1953; Nicholi, 2002). The nursemaid was a devout Roman Catholic, and she regularly took Freud to church with her. Despite his young age (less than 2 ½ years old), Freud would come home from church and preach to his family about God. Even though his family was Jewish, they did not practice their faith with much devotion, and it must have been quite interesting to listen to the sermons of their little boy. Why then, as we will see, did Freud come to reject religion and spirituality? It turns out that this relationship ended abruptly. Freud’s half brother Philipp accused the nursemaid of petty theft, and she was sent to prison. At this time Freud’s mother was confined with his recently born sister, so Freud was suddenly denied access to both his mother and his nursemaid. It has been suggested that because he was abandoned so suddenly, and at such a critical time (Freud was 2 ½ years old at this time), by his Roman Catholic nursemaid, that his anger and disappointment led to his ultimate rejection of the spiritual worldview and his antagonism toward the Catholic church (Gay, 1998; Jones, 1953; Nicholi, 2002).
Freud’s Early Career in Basic Research (Pre-Psychiatry)
Freud was very successful in school from an early age. At the Gymnasium, which is the term for a preparatory school in countries such as Germany and Austria, he was first in his class for 7 years. This led to a variety of special privileges, including seldom being required to take any examinations (Freud, 1952). It also led to privileges at home. According to his sister Anna, Freud always had his own room to study in, no matter how difficult the family’s financial situation (Gay, 1998). As he prepared for college, Freud initially wanted to study law. However, after learning about Darwin’s theory of evolution and hearing Goethe’s essay on nature, he decided to become a medical student (Freud, 1952).
In 1873, Freud entered the University of Vienna. Initially he suffered greatly from prejudice and discrimination against him because he was Jewish. Believing that he was expected to feel inferior and alien because he was Jewish, he nonetheless persevered. As a result of these experiences, later in life he was prepared for dealing with the considerable resistance that occurred in response to his theories (Freud, 1952). His first research project in medical school came at the suggestion of Professor Carl Claus. Prof. Claus was interested in a report that the Polish scientist Simone de Syrski had identified structures that might represent the testes of the male eel. This was a question that had been studied for centuries without success. After dissecting some 400 eels, Freud appeared to have confirmed Syrski’s findings. The research was not definitive, however, and Freud found little satisfaction in the publication of his work (Gay, 1998; Jones, 1953). He was, however, about to find satisfaction, in the physiological laboratory of Ernst Brucke.
Brucke was a renowned physiologist, anatomist, histologist, and more. Freud had great respect for his newfound mentor, referring to him as Master Brucke and describing him as “the greatest authority I ever met.” In Brucke’s laboratory Freud “found rest and full satisfaction at last” (Gay, 1998; Jones, 1953). The research he conducted under Brucke’s guidance was impressive. Brucke put Freud to work studying the anatomy of the spinal cord and its neurons. At that time, the structure of neurons was not understood. Freud modified the histological staining methods being used in Brucke’s laboratory, and eventually developed a gold chloride method of staining nervous system tissue around the year 1880 (Jones, 1953). This was one of the first uses of a heavy metal stain on nervous system tissue. The silver nitrate method of staining neurons had been developed by Camillo Golgi a few years earlier, in 1873, but it was not until 1888 that Santiago Ramon y Cajal first reported on the structure of the brain using Golgi’s technique. For this research, Golgi and Ramon y Cajal shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1906 (Finger, 1994). If Freud had not left basic research for a career in medicine, he might have ended up famous just the same.
Freud did eventually leave the university, however, and began a career in medicine at the General Hospital in Vienna. Part of the reason for leaving and beginning his medical career was that he had met Martha Bernays, the woman who would become his wife, and he needed to begin earning enough money to support a wife and family. First, however, he needed to establish himself in his career. At the General Hospital he met and worked with the eminent Theodor Meynert, who, among other accomplishments, was the first to correctly suggest that Parkinson’s disease resulted from abnormal functioning of the basal ganglia (Finger, 1994). This stimulated Freud’s continued interest in anatomy and brain function, and in 1891 Freud published a book entitled On Aphasia. You may remember from introductory psychology that the two primary speech centers in the human brain are Broca’s area (speech production) and Wernicke’s area (speech reception), and that damage to these areas results in Broca’s aphasia or Wernicke’s aphasia. Carl Wernicke had also been a student of Meynert, but Freud’s book on aphasia was especially critical of Wernicke (Finger, 1994). This put both men firmly in the middle of the debate on structuralism vs. functionalism as it pertains to the activities of the human brain (see Finger, 1994). Although Meynert suggested that Freud should devote himself to studying the anatomy of the brain, Freud had had enough of this sort of work in Brucke’s laboratory. Instead, Freud’s interest turned toward the diseases of the brain (Freud, 1952). With the help of a recommendation by Brucke, Freud was awarded a Traveling Fellowship, which allowed him to afford a trip to Paris to study at the prestigious Salpetriere. He intended to study under Jean-Martin Charcot, one of the world’s foremost neurologists of his day, and the man who named Parkinson’s disease after the physician James Parkinson (Finger, 1994).
Freud was largely ignored when he arrived at the Salpetriere, since he was just one of a crowd of foreign visitors. As luck would have it, one day he heard Charcot expressing regret that Charcot had not heard from his German translator in some time, and he wished someone could be found to translate his latest lectures into German. Freud wrote to Charcot, offered to do the job, and was accepted. From that point on he became a member of Charcot’s inner circle, and was active in all aspects of the work at the clinic (Freud, 1952). One of the main topics Freud studied with Charcot was the use of hypnosis in the study of hysteria. Freud discussed the earliest conceptions of his psychodynamic theory with Charcot. Charcot was supportive and agreed with Freud’s fledgling ideas, but Charcot’s interests remained firmly in the field of neurology, not in psychology or psychiatry (Freud, 1952).
Upon returning to Vienna and settling down as a practicing physician, Freud was finally able to marry Martha in 1886 (he was 30 years old, and she was 25). They had six children: Matilde, Martin, Oliver, Ernst, Sophie, and Anna. According to his son Martin, Freud was a loving and generous father (M. Freud, 1983). He was also very supportive of his children. As Martin became disillusioned with the study of law, he turned to his father for advice:
…It had always been his hope that one of his sons would become a lawyer. Thus he watched, and I think guided, my first faltering steps in my law studies with the greatest concern.
He agreed that my first studies were dull and boring, but he assured me that one day I would find a teacher with an impressive personality, perhaps a man of genius, and that I would become deeply interested and carried away by his lectures…
Father always expressed himself with great clarity and, when advising me at so critical a time in my life, he added to his normal clarity of expression a natural tenderness and concern… (M. Freud, 1983; pg. 161)
Martin did become a lawyer and, after Martin served as an officer in the Austrian army during World War I, his father helped him to establish his practice.
Finally, any discussion of Freud’s early research career would not be complete without mentioning what Ernest Jones, Freud’s official biographer, called “the cocaine episode” (Jones, 1953). In his last autobiographical book (Freud, 1952; originally published in 1925 in a collection of medical autobiographies) he makes only passing reference to studying cocaine, reporting another near miss in his research career. He had begun studying cocaine while he was away from Vienna, and an opportunity arose to return home for vacation and an opportunity to see his fiancé Martha. As he prepared to leave, he suggested to a couple of colleagues that they examine the effectiveness of cocaine as an anesthetic for use in eye diseases. While Freud was visiting Martha, one of his colleagues, Carl Koller, confirmed the local anesthetic properties of cocaine and became famous for it. Afterward, Freud noted that “it was the fault of my fiancé that I was not already famous at that early age,” but he insists that “I bore my fiancé no grudge for her interruption of my work” (Freud, 1952). Something quite fascinating is that Freud’s interest in cocaine was initially based on the possibility that its euphoric properties might be used to alleviate the problems associated with withdrawal from morphine. A close and long-time friend, Ernst von Fleischl-Marxow had become addicted to morphine because of the extreme pain of an infection, and Freud hoped that cocaine would help. Freud himself began using cocaine to boost his own mood. He sent some to Martha with the recommendation that she try it (there is no evidence that she ever did), and he even began sending cocaine to friends, colleagues, and his sisters. Eventually, however, Freud realized that cocaine was not helping his friend; indeed von Fleischl-Marxow became addicted to cocaine instead of morphine. Freud eventually deeply regretted his research on cocaine, especially since the one positive result of that research had garnered fame for a colleague while Freud was on vacation (Gay, 1998; Jones, 1953).
Freud’s Psychiatric Career
Many people believe that psychoanalysis was developed by Freud during the early years of his medical practice in Vienna. Freud, however, would disagree. He insisted that psychoanalysis was begun by the Viennese physician Josef Breuer (Freud, 1914/1995), a close friend and mentor of Freud. The basis of psychoanalysis lay in a patient that Breuer had seen as early as 1880, and had treated with hypnosis. This case, and the use of hypnosis as part of the “cathartic procedure” developed by Breuer, was the original inspiration for Freud’s interest in hypnosis and his trip to Paris to study the technique with Charcot. When Freud returned to Vienna, he asked Breuer to tell him all of the details of this case, which involved a young woman. This famous patient, known as Anna O., was described by Breuer in the book coauthored by the two men (Freud & Breuer, 1895/2004). As Freud used Breuer’s techniques with his own patients, however, he began to realize that something was lacking. Hypnosis did little to reveal the underlying causes of the hysteria that their patients were experiencing. Since Freud was every bit the scientist, he needed to know more about why he was able to help some patients. He eventually replaced hypnosis with his own techniques of free association (early 1890s) and, eventually, dream analysis (essentially done in 1896, but not published until 1900). This was the point at which psychoanalysis, in the sense that we think of it today, was born (Freud, 1914/1995, 1952).
As Freud’s ideas diverged from those of Breuer, the two parted ways. Freud then developed the aspect of psychodynamic theory that led to his near total rejection by the German and Austrian medical communities: the primacy of childhood sexuality. This theory was so difficult for others to accept that Freud spent nearly 10 years working on psychoanalysis in isolation. However, Freud claims that the concept of a sexual etiology for the neuroses was not really his idea, it had been superficially suggested by Breuer, Charcot, and a highly respected Viennese gynecologist named Chrobak (Freud, 1914/1995). During those years of isolation Freud began to define other major aspects of psychodynamic theory, such as: resistance, repression, conflict, and unconscious impulses.
Around 1902, Freud began to find support for his theories among a select group of physicians. Shortly thereafter a group of psychiatrists in Zurich, Switzerland, which included Eugen Bleuler (the man credited with identifying both schizophrenia and autism as we define them today) and his assistant Carl Jung, began “taking a lively interest in psychoanalysis” (Freud, 1952). In 1909 Freud and Jung were invited to America, where they were warmly received, and psychoanalysis became well-established in America and Canada. By the 1910s it was reported that psychoanalysis was being championed in Austria, Switzerland, the United States, Canada, England, India, Chile, Australasia (the region), France, Italy, Sweden, Russia, Hungary, Holland, and Norway (where the first textbook on psychiatry that included psychoanalysis was written) (Freud, 1914/1995). Germany proved quite resistant, although the renowned Karl Abraham practiced psychoanalysis in Berlin.
Perhaps it was inevitable that all of this success should eventually lead to conflict. Two major groups, whose members differed significantly in their views on psychodynamic theory and psychoanalysis, broke away from the main psychoanalytic groups. They were led by Alfred Adler (see Chapter 4) and Carl Jung (Chapter 3). In his first autobiography, Freud is not exactly kind to these two men. He goes to great length to dismiss Adler’s theories as mistaken, and he flatly rejects Jung’s perspective:
Of the two movements under consideration here, Adler’s is undoubtedly the more important. Though radically false, it is, nevertheless, characterized by consistency and coherence, and it is still founded on the theory of the instincts. On the other hand, Jung’s modification has slackened the connection between the phenomena and the instinctive-life; besides as its critics (Abraham, Firenze, and Jones) have already pointed out, it is so unintelligible, muddled and confused, that … it is impossible to know how one can arrive at a correct understanding of it... (Freud, 1914/1995; pg. 940).
It is curious to speculate whether Freud’s isolation for so many years may have led to the profound possessiveness he later expressed regarding psychoanalysis as his technique, and his alone, in The History of the Psychoanalytic Movement:
...For psychoanalysis is my creation; for ten years I was the only one occupied with it, and all the annoyance which this new subject caused among my contemporaries has been hurled upon my head in the form of criticism. Even today, when I am no longer the only psychoanalyst, I feel myself justified in assuming that nobody knows better than I what psychoanalysis is… (Freud, 1914/1995; pg. 901)
Freud’s Final Years
Freud’s final years were somewhat tumultuous. The Nazis had taken over Germany and Austria, and they were rapidly preparing for World War II. Being Jewish, Freud’s life was in danger; indeed, at least three of his sisters were murdered in the concentration camps, most likely in Auschwitz (M. Freud, 1983). Freud, however, had influential friends, including European royalty and wealthy individuals with ties to the British and American governments. The American secretary of state, Cordell Hull, took word of the situation to President Franklin Roosevelt, and following Roosevelt’s instructions, Hull had the American ambassador to Germany intervene on Freud’s behalf (Gay, 1998; Jones, 1957). Freud also received substantial help and comfort from Marie Bonaparte, H.R.H. the Princess George of Greece, including the payment of a ransom in order to secure permission for Freud to leave Austria (M. Freud, 1983). Finally, in May 1938, Freud, his wife Martha, and their daughter Anna left together for England, along with Freud’s dog. They were all received quite warmly in London, except for the dog. She was quarantined for six months (M. Freud, 1983).
Freud, however, had already been ill for many years, and was suffering a great deal of pain due to cancer. He was also in his eighties. Nonetheless, Freud continued to work, and he completed An Outline of Psychoanalysis (1938/1949) and Moses and Monotheism (1939/1967) while living in London. But the end was near, and the cancer was progressing rapidly. In September 1939, Freud asked his doctor, Max Schur, to remember an agreement the two had made not to prolong Freud’s life unnecessarily. Freud asked Schur to discuss his condition with Anna Freud. Anna Freud at first resisted, but eventually submitted to the inevitable, and Schur administered a series of morphine injections that proved fatal. Sigmund Freud died on September 23, 1939 (Gay, 1998; Jones, 1957).
In the funeral oration delivered by Ernest Jones, Jones remembered that three qualities had particularly impressed him upon first meeting Freud: first, “his nobility of character;” second, “his direct and instinctive love of truth;” and third, “his courage and inflexible determination.” Jones also said that a “great spirit has passed from the world…for Freud so inspired us with his personality, his character and his ideas that we can never truly part from him…” (Jones, 1957). Prior to the escape from Austria, Freud had expressed a sincere desire to “die in freedom.” He loved England, where he was able to accomplish that goal. In reference to England and the funeral ceremony, Jones said:
He died surrounded by every loving care, in a land that had shown him more courtesy, more esteem and more honor than his own or any other land, a land which I think he himself esteemed beyond all others. (pg. 247; Jones, 1957).
Placing Freud in Context: Connecting Personality Theories
Sigmund Freud was one of the greatest minds of modern times. He was the first person to provide a comprehensive theory of personality and personality development, and he did so in what he considered to be a logical and scientific manner. Since he was first, however, how can we place him amongst the other great psychologists? As I contemplated the importance of Freud to the history of psychology, I looked back at my own graduate school training. The textbook assigned for my graduate history of psychology course was Theories and Systems of Psychology by Robert Lundin (1979). In the chapter titles, Lundin mentions only three psychologists by name: Wilhelm Wundt, the founder of experimental psychology; William James, America’s preeminent psychologist; and Sigmund Freud. Since Freud’s name is also mentioned in the title of the chapter devoted to his followers, Freud actually has two chapters devoted to his influence. I also looked at A History of Psychological Theories by Ross Stagner (1988), who was an esteemed faculty member in the psychology department at Wayne State University in Detroit and author of one of the first personality textbooks (Stagner, 1937). Stagner mentions six individuals in the titles of his twenty-two chapters, and once again Freud is among them. In addition, the well-known psychological historian Ludy Benjamin includes a chapter on the correspondence between Freud and Jung in A History of Psychology in Letters (1993). There are actually numerous books published on the correspondence between Freud and a variety of other people, and thousands of those letters have been published. These are just a few examples of how deeply Freud is recognized as a major figure in the history of psychology.
Another testament to the legacy of Freud is how enduring some of the issues he addressed have proven to be. In the early years of the twenty-first century there has been a growing conflict between religion and society. In the United States the concept of separation of church and state has been challenged perhaps most aggressively in our schools, with issues such as praying at school sporting events and the teaching of creationism in science classes. In other countries, religious fundamentalists often stand in opposition to the establishment of democratic governments. Increasing globalization does not seem to be bringing people together, but rather bringing people into competition and conflict. Freud used the knowledge he had learned in his studies on psychoanalysis to address such major societal issues. He presented his ideas in books such as The Future of an Illusion(1927/1961) and Civilization and its Discontents (1930/1961), and he hoped that by advancing our knowledge of the human psyche we could help to continue the development of the human species and civilization. The recognition that problems like these still plague humanity suggests that we have a long way to go. But brilliant men like Sigmund Freud have helped to provide us with a basis for moving forward. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/03%3A_Sigmund_Freud/3.01%3A_3.0_Chapter_Introduction.txt |
It is not easy to read the earliest writings of Freud on psychoanalysis. Following his years of working in isolation, Freud published four books in a span of 5 years: The Interpretation of Dreams (1900/1995), Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1904/1995), Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex (1905/1995), and Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious (1905/1995). Each of these books clearly reflects their author: a genius, educated in Europe, and writing in a style well suited to the late 1800s/early 1900s. Not only are these books intellectually challenging, but even the English translations are sprinkled with lines in German, French, and Latin. In 1917, however, Freud published a series of lectures he had given at the University of Vienna during the years 1915-1917. His Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (1917/1966) describes the essential aspects of his theory in neatly organized lectures that are much easier to grasp than his earlier work. Shortly before he died, Freud presented a very brief outline of his theories in the aptly named An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (1938/1949). In what seems to be a logical approach to the study of Freud’s work, we will begin with the general theory and then address the psychoanalytic method. Keep in mind, however, that Freud actually worked the other way around: first he developed his modifications of Breuer’s cathartic method and began treating patients (actually, treating patients contributed to his development of the methods), and then he developed his theoretical perspectives in order to explain what had already proved successful.
Hysteria and Psychic Determinism
The term hysteria generally refers to a condition in which psychological trauma or stress is converted into physical symptoms and/or excessive emotional behavior. Today, this condition is typically referred to as a conversion disorder (DSM-IV-TR; American Psychiatric Society, 2000). However, Freud meant to use the term in a rather broad sense, and he applied it to a collection of disorders that are not officially recognized today: the neuroses (relatively mild mental illnesses, often associated with stress, but which do not result in a loss of contact with reality).
Freud and Breuer (1895/2004) believed that their clinical observations revealed a number of key elements that provided the early framework for psychodynamic theory and psychoanalysis. In each case, the symptoms exhibited by their patients were connected to some earlier psychological trauma. This connection was not always obvious, however, and often could not be remembered by the patient. When the patient was helped to remember the traumatic event, the symptoms were typically relieved, a process known as catharsis. In order to help patients remember, Breuer and Freud (as well as Charcot and a few others) relied primarily on hypnosis. What intrigued Freud and Breuer was the observation that these traumatic memories seemed to last for a very long time without getting weaker, even though they were not conscious memories. What seemed to matter most was whether there had been an energetic reaction to the emotional event when the memory was formed. In order for the trauma to be released, there needed to be a cathartic event strong enough to adequately dissipate the energy associated with the formation of the traumatic memory.
Both Freud and Breuer recognized that this was only the beginning of this new field of clinical research. Although they were somewhat satisfied that they had described the nature of hysterical symptoms, and that they had moved further than Charcot, they recognized that they were no closer to understanding the internal causes of hysteria and the neuroses. This would become the work of Freud alone, at least for a number of years.
The concept of psychic determinism arises naturally from these early observations. Freud believed that all behavior and thought is the result of psychological connections created during previous experiences, nothing happens by accident or chance. The fact that we might find it difficult to recognize the connections between some emotion or behavior and a previous incident does nothing to minimize the reality of those connections, it just presents a challenge for the psychoanalyst. In Psychopathology of Everyday Life, Freud (1904/1995) described how psychic determinism results in many common problems, certainly the most famous of which is the “Freudian slip.” A Freudian slip is an instance where someone says something wrong, but it actually reflects the persons true feelings. Freud attributed the following example to Dr. Brill:
While writing a prescription for a woman who was especially weighed down by the financial burden of the treatment, I was interested to hear her say suddenly: “Please do not give me big bills, because I cannot swallow them.” Of course, she meant to say pills. (italics in the original, pg. 50; Freud, 1904/1995)
Discussion Question: Consider psychic determinism and what it means for your own life. Do you believe that everything you think and do is predetermined by earlier experiences? And what would that mean for your ability to change and grow?
Freud’s Theory of Instincts
Freud used the term instinct in a way that does not fit with the technical term instinct as defined by Tinbergen (see Beck, 1978). It has been suggested that the German word trieb should not have been translated as instinct, and actually referred to something more like a drive or impulse. Freud was not concerned with specific behaviors, but rather with general categories of behavior. As a former scientist, Freud never left his interests in biology behind. When Freud referred to the psyche, or mind, he considered both its physical elements, the brain and the rest of the nervous system, and its mental elements, primarily our consciousness (which is made possible by the structure and function of the brain). Given our basic biological nature, and our genetic make-up, we inherit basic instincts essential to our survival: both our individual survival and the survival of our species. In recognition of the general rule in nature that all systems are comprised of opposing forces (attraction and repulsion) Freud hypothesized a life instinct and a death instinct.
Freud gave the life instinct the name Eros. Each organism has available to it energy to act within its environment. The energy associated with Eros is called libido. Libido has been mistakenly associated with the concept of a sexual impulse. What Freud was really referring to was a general survival impulse, both individual and species survival. While it is true that the survival of our species depends on sexual reproduction, there are many aspects of our behavior that are not directly related to sex. For example, we might have many friends, but our sexual interests are typically limited to only a few (it is our culture that encourages us to limit our interests to only one person). From an evolutionary perspective, of course, friends and others within our social group helped to protect us from predators and enemies. Similarly, the love and care we provide for our children are essential to the survival of our species, but are not usually associated with sexual acts. Incest appears to be one of the most common cultural taboos, and Freud found this to be a fascinating observation amongst primitive societies, which could not be expected to know anything of Western ideas of morality (Freud, 1913/1995). So it becomes apparent that the impulse to survive, Eros and its associated libido, involves many types of behavior, of which sexual intimacy is just one.
Libido is limited. We have only so much energy to devote to the many aspects and responsibilities of our lives. Cathexis refers to the attachment of libidinal energy to some psychical phenomenon. This is what Freud and Breuer meant by an energetic reaction to some experience. When we are attracted to someone, we connect some of our libidinal energy to that relationship. That energy is no longer available to us for other relationships, or to deal with the daily stress of our lives. If we have previously connected libidinal energy to some traumatic event, which might require a great deal of libidinal energy, it may prove difficult to maintain the level of energy we desire for our new relationship. As a result, that relationship, indeed all of our relationships, may suffer.
Although the libido is limited, it has the important characteristic of mobility (Freud, 1938/1949). In other words, it can switch from one task to another as necessary. At least, that is how it is supposed to work under normal conditions. Sometimes, however, problems arise, such as the failure to satisfy the needs that occur during a particular psychosexual stage of development (see below). When this occurs, the libido can become fixated on particular psychological objects. These fixations can last a lifetime, interfering with continued normal development and the individual’s ability to live a healthy adult life.
Freud also proposed a destructive instinct, which is sometimes referred to as the death instinct. The energy associated with the death instinct is aggressive, but Freud never gave names to either the death instinct or its associated aggressive energy. This was never an important aspect of Freud’s theories, but he did address it in some detail in the book Beyond the Pleasure Principle(Freud, 1920/1961). In this book, Freud makes one thing very clear: the life instinct is far more influential than the death instinct. The primary role of the death instinct is protective. This may sound strange, but he considered the developing organism, even well before birth, as a fragile being assailed on all sides by threatening stimuli (both external stimuli and internal psychical stimuli). The death instinct creates a shell of inert tissue (figuratively, if not also literally), which protects the developing organism from harm.
Although Freud did not include the death instinct among his major concepts, other psychologists have. The neo-Freudian theorist Melanie Klein found evidence of the death instinct in the aggressive fantasies of children, and Wilhelm Reich’s concept of armoring is reminiscent of Freud’s description of the theoretical shell protecting the developing organism. Regarding aggression itself, there are many different forms, including predatory aggression, self-defense, defense of one’s young, learned aggression, etc. The noted animal behaviorist and Nobel Laureate Konrad Lorenz wrote extensively on aggression, and he proposed a very Freudian perspective in which instinctive aggressive energy builds up and lashes out, unless an opportunity for catharsis arises first (see Beck, 1978).
At first it might seem strange that Freud suggested the role of the death instinct is to create a protective shell around the core of the developing nervous system, but the important question is whether we can find any evidence of it. Daniel Goleman, in Emotional Intelligence (1995), suggests a similar theory. The primitive role of emotion is evident in the brain regions devoted to emotion, which are common to many species other than humans. As the mammalian brain evolved, structures were added to the reptilian brain, culminating in the neocortex of the cerebral hemispheres. The cerebral hemispheres are necessary for the cognitive functions that are characteristic of humans. Still, we retain the emotional structures that developed first, and our rational thoughts can easily be hijacked by emotional reactions (Goleman, 1995, 1998). Perhaps the most important brain region involved in the processing of emotional information is the amygdala. Jerome Kagan has suggested that if the amygdala is overly sensitive a child will avoid external stimuli, leading to a life of shyness, and vice versa (cited in Goleman, 1995). The development of brain structures that process emotion and allow for cognitive processing well beyond the primitive and most basic emotions sounds very much like what Freud had proposed regarding the role of the death instinct. This is not to suggest that either the amygdala or some portion of the neocortex is the anatomical location of the death instinct, but the evidence that such functions exist within the brain lends support to Freud’s concept. According to Goleman, the ability to work with emotional intelligence is essential to one’s well-being in life, and fortunately emotional intelligence can be trained and strengthened (Goleman, 1995, 1998).
Discussion Question: Compare Freud’s concept of a life instinct and a death instinct, and consider the choices you make in life. Do you make choices that provide an opportunity to grow and change, or do you get caught up in pointless, even self-defeating, activities? If you make bad choices, where do you think those choices come from?
The Development of Libido and Psychosexual Function
Freud’s most controversial theories related to sexual function and its role in personality development. Even more controversial than that initial statement was his suggestion that the sexual life of every person begins at birth. It is important, of course, to remember that Freud did not mean intimate sexual behavior when he talked about sexual impulses, but rather a general life impulse. He made an important distinction between “sexual” and “genital.” By sexual he was referring to a wider concept of obtaining pleasure from different regions of the body, whereas genital refers to the act of reproduction, which comes into play following puberty.
Freud was well aware of this controversy during the early days of psychoanalysis, and many of his books make a special point of defending the theory of infantile sexuality. As mentioned in the biography, he actually attributed the initial observations of the role of sexuality in the development of neuroses to Breuer, Charcot, and Chrobak (Freud, 1914/1995). As he reflected on the history of psychoanalysis, Freud described how he and others before him had not intended to address infantile sexuality, but it proved unavoidable after extensive experience with psychoanalysis. In other words, Freud kept encountering infantile sexuality, and eventually he concluded that it was both universal and far too important to ignore. Therefore, he felt he could not allow old prejudices against recognizing or discussing the relevance of sexuality to interfere with the development of psychoanalysis (see Freud, 1938/1949).
Freud also defended his theory of sexuality in logical ways. In his initial work on this topic, Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex(1905/1995), Freud specifically argued against the prevailing views that sexuality develops at puberty for the purpose of attracting a man and a woman to each other for the ultimate purpose of reproduction. He noted that there are individuals who are attracted to members of their own sex, that there are those who engage in sexual acts that disregard the genitalia (e.g., fetishes), and there are undeniable examples of children who become interested in their genitalia and obtain some excitation from them. Finally, in his Introductory Lectures… (Freud, 1917/1966) he declared his position quite clearly:
To suppose that children have no sexual life – sexual excitations and needs and a kind of satisfaction – but suddenly acquire it between the ages of twelve and fourteen, would (quite apart from any observations) be as improbable, and indeed senseless, biologically as to suppose that they brought no genitals with them into the world and only grew them at the time of puberty. (pg. 385).
Levels of Consciousness
From the very beginning of psychoanalysis, Freud and Breuer (1895/2004) recognized that their patients were often unaware of the connections between their symptoms and earlier traumatic events, and they might not even recall the events themselves. And yet, as described above, the memory of those events remained strong. How can a memory be strong but not remembered? The answer lies in the theory that there are different levels of consciousness. Freud described three levels of consciousness: the conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious.
The conscious mind is our awareness, the knowledge that we exist and are alive. As you read this book you are conscious of it, when you talk to a friend you are aware of what they are saying and how you will respond (unless, of course, you respond with a Freudian slip!). Although the conscious mind is usually identified with our personality, and Freud recognized that people viewed consciousness as nothing more or less than the defining characteristic of the mind, his clinical experience with psychoanalysis made it impossible for him to accept the identification of the conscious mind with the mental mind (Freud, 1917/1966).
The unconscious mind, according to Freud, is the true psychic reality, and all conscious thought has a preliminary unconscious stage. And yet, the unconscious mind is truly inaccessible. In The Interpretation of Dreams (1900/1995), Freud wrote about the unconscious mind that:
…in its inner nature it is just as much unknown to us as the reality of the external world, and it is just as imperfectly communicated to us by the data of consciousness as is the external world by the reports of our sense-organs. (pg. 510)
How then does the unconscious mind affect our personality? Between the unconscious and conscious minds there is an intermediary: the preconscious. Technically, the preconscious mind is part of the unconscious, but only through the preconscious mind can the impulses arising in the unconscious enter into our conscious awareness. Freud distinguished between the two by theorizing that the unconscious cannot enter into consciousness, but if certain rules are followed, the preconscious can enter into consciousness (but perhaps only after being censored; Freud, 1900/1995).
Freud also made two important points regarding these levels of the mind. First, the unconscious, preconscious, and conscious minds are not located in different regions of the brain. Instead, the level of consciousness of any particular psychical phenomenon depends on the cathexis of libidinal energy (or perhaps energy related to the death instinct) and repression (see Anxiety and Defense Mechanisms below). If the memory of a traumatic event is significantly repressed, it will remain in the unconscious, if not, it may enter into consciousness through the preconscious. Yet it has remained the same memory within the same memory structure of the brain. Freud also distinguished between the mind and reality, particularly between the unconscious mind and reality. He did, however, remind his readers that they would do well to remember that psychic reality is a special form of existence, though not to be confused with material reality (Freud, 1900/1995).
Figure \(1\)
The levels of consciousness and the structures of the mind, as proposed by Freud. The iceberg analogy should actually be attributed to Theodor Lipps, whose work on the unconscious mind and humor was cited extensively in Freud’s early books. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/03%3A_Sigmund_Freud/3.03%3A_Basic_Concepts.txt |
It is no accident that our discussion of the id, ego, and superego follow immediately after our discussion of the levels of consciousness. In The Ego and the Id (which also discuss the superego, despite not including it in the title; Freud, 1923/1960), Freud begins with a chapter on consciousness and what is unconscious, then follows with a chapter on the ego and the id, and then a chapter on the ego and the superego. It is difficult to discuss the two concepts, levels of consciousness and the psychical apparatus (a term Freud used for the id, ego, and superego), without intertwining them. In addition, these three structures begin as one, the ego develops from the id, and later the superego develops from the ego. As with levels of consciousness, it is inappropriate to think of the id, ego, and superego as actual structures within the brain, rather they are constructs to help us understand the psychodynamic functioning of the mind. Freud acknowledged this lack of understanding, and went so far as to say that even if we could localize them within the brain we wouldn’t necessarily be any closer to understanding how they function (Freud, 1938/1949).
Id, Ego, Superego
The oldest aspect of the psyche is the id, which includes all that we inherit at birth, including our temperament and our instincts. The only goal of the id is to satisfy instinctual needs and desires; therefore, it acts according to the pleasure principle. It knows nothing of value judgments, no good, no evil, and no morality at all. It does not change or mature over time. According to Freud, there is nothing in the id except instinctual cathexes seeking discharge (Freud, 1933/1965). The energy associated with these impulses, however, is different from other regions of the mind. It is highly mobile and capable of discharge, and the quality of the discharge seems to be disregarded. This is a very important point, because it means that the id does not need to satisfy its desires in reality. Instead, they can be satisfied through dreams and fantasy.
Because the id demands satisfaction, and knows nothing of restraint, it is said to operate as a primary process. Since it can be satisfied in unreal ways, if we examine phenomena such as fantasies and dreams we can uncover the nature of the id. It was during his studies on dream-work that Freud developed his understanding of the primary process of the id (Freud, 1923/1960). Actually, we can only know the id through psychoanalysis, since it exists entirely within the unconscious mind. Therefore, we need a secondary process structure in order for the mind to interact with the external world. This structure is found in the ego.
The ego arises from the id as an intermediary between the id and the external world. The ego functions according to the reality principle, and tries to bring the external world to bear on the impulses of the id. In other words, as the id demands satisfaction it is hindered by the reality of our environment, our societal and cultural norms. The ego postpones satisfaction until the time or the circumstances are appropriate, or it may suppress the id impulses altogether (Freud, 1938/1949). Freud believed that the ego is associated with perception (of reality), in the same way that the id is associated with instinct. The id is passionate, whereas the ego represents reason and common sense. But the id has the energy, the libido, to demand its satisfaction in some way, and the ego can only derive its energy from the id. Freud likened the ego to a horseback rider on a horse named id. The rider cannot always control the far more powerful horse, so the rider attempts to transform the will of the horse as if it were the rider’s own will (Freud, 1923/1960).
The ego develops in part because it is that portion of the mind impacted by sensory input from the external world. Therefore, it resides partially in the conscious mind, and must serve three tyrannical masters: the id, the external world, and the superego (which we will discuss below). The goals of these three masters are typically at odds with one another, and so the ego’s task is not an easy one (Freud, 1933/1965). The ego approaches this task by monitoring the tension that exists within the mind. This tension arises from internal and external stimuli making demands upon the mind, lowering this tension is felt as pleasurable, and increasing the tension is unpleasant. The id demands immediate reduction of tension, in accordance with its pleasure principle, whereas the ego seeks an appropriate reduction of tension, in accordance with its reality principle. A key point, of course, is that the ego also seeks pleasure. It does not try to deny the impulses of the id, only to transform or delay them. But why does the ego even bother to do that? There are times when pursuing pleasure can get us in serious trouble, but there are also times when we make choices because they seem right to us. These decisions, based on justice, morality, humanism, whatever term you choose, are mediated by the superego.
According to Freud, the superego is heir to the Oedipus complex (which we will discuss below), and arises as the child abandons their intense attachment to their parents. As a replacement for that attachment, the child begins to identify with their parents, and so incorporates the ideals and moral values of their parents and, later, teachers and other societal role models (Freud, 1933/1965). According to this view, the superego cannot fully develop if the child does not resolve the Oedipus complex, which, as we will discuss below, cannot happen for girls (Note: In addition to further discussion below, the issue of a more balanced female psychology will be discussed again in later chapters). The superego functions across all levels of the conscious and unconscious mind.
The superego takes two forms: an ego-ideal and a conscience. Freud considered the term ego-ideal as an alternative to the term superego, and it is not until we incorporate the development of conscience that we can recognize ego-ideal and conscience as different aspects of the superego. Indeed, it might be more appropriate, if one reads The Ego and the Id carefully (Freud, 1923/1960), to consider the ego-ideal and conscience as consecutive transformations of that portion of the ego that becomes known in general as the superego. The development of the superego is a complicated process, and seems to derive from the development of the ego itself. For an infant, the attachment to the parents and identification with them is not recognized as something different. The ego is weak, and can do little to restrain the id. As the child grows, the erotic nature of the love for the mother is slowly transformed into identification; the ego grows stronger, and begins to become associated with being a love-object itself. When the ego is capable of presenting itself to the id as an object worthy of love, narcissistic libido is generated and the ego becomes fully formed (Freud, 1923/1960). In other words, the child becomes an individual, aware that they are separate from their parents. There is still an intense attachment to the mother, however, which stems from the early days of breast feeding. The child must eventually lose this intense attachment to the mother, and begin to more fully identify with either the father (for boys) or the mother (for girls). As noted above, this final transformation from attachment to identification should occur during the Oedipus complex, and the ego-ideal arises within the context of the child knowing “I should act like my father” (for boys) or “I should act like my mother” (for girls).
Although the ego-ideal could represent the culmination of development, Freud believed that one more step came into play. Because of the difficulty the child encounters during the loss of the intense, erotic desires of the Oedipus complex, Freud felt there was more than simply a residue of those love-objects in the mind. He proposed an energetic reaction-formation against the earlier choices. Now, the child incorporates concepts of “I must not act like my father or mother.” Under the influences of authority, schooling, religion, etc., the superego develops an ever stronger conscience against inappropriate behavior. This conscience has a compulsive character and takes the form of a categorical imperative (Freud, 1923/1960). This conscience is our knowledge of right and wrong, and early on it is quite simplistic. There is right and there is wrong (as with Kohlberg’s earliest stages of moral development; Kohlberg, 1963).
Discussion Question: Do you feel that your behavior is being driven by the unconscious impulses of the id? Do you believe that your moral development (your superego) is the result of internalizing your parent’s views of what is right or wrong? How close are your values to those of your parents?
Anxiety
We have already taken a look at the challenge faced by the ego in trying to balance the demands of the id, the superego, and the external world. What happens when the demands of these conflicting elements become too much for the ego to deal with? Simply put, we get scared, we experience fear and anxiety as a signal that there is some impending danger. Only the ego can experience anxiety, even if the underlying cause begins with the id or superego. Anxiety arises primarily from libido that has not been utilized. For example, if we are frustrated from fulfilling some id impulse, such as needing to go to the bathroom in the middle of a great movie, the libido cathexed to that impulse grows. This creates tension and the corresponding unpleasant feelings. As the id demands satisfaction, but the ego cannot figure out how to satisfy the id (and you really don’t want to miss the good part of the movie), the fear arises that the id will satisfy itself. Most of us would consider the possibility of going to the bathroom in our pants while at a movie a real danger to our self-esteem, and we could be arrested if we simply went to the bathroom right there in the movie theater. As the ego is reduced to helplessness in its inability to find a reasonable outlet for the impulse of needing to go to the bathroom, anxiety serves the useful and important purpose of warning the ego that the impulse must be satisfied in order to avoid the danger (Freud, 1926/1959). And in support of Freud’s view regarding our sexual nature, who would deny the great pleasure felt upon finally getting to the bathroom?
Freud described three general types of anxiety. Realistic anxiety involves actual threats to our physical safety. It is similar to fear, in that there is a real and external object that could harm us, but it differs from fear in that we may not be aware of a specific danger. For example, after the famous book Jaws (Benchley, 1974) was made into a movie (the kind of movie that you don’t want to miss the good scenes) many people became anxious about swimming in the ocean, even though there were no specific sharks for them to fear. Still, there are sharks in the ocean, so it might be reasonable to experience some anxiety. Sometimes we are anxious about a real danger, but the anxiety we experience is completely out of proportion in relation to the threat. This suggests that there is an element of neurotic anxiety accompanying the realistic anxiety (Freud, 1926/1959).
Neurotic anxiety generally arises from an internal danger, the threat that unacceptable id impulses will break through and be acted on by the individual. The ultimate danger that exists is that we really will be harmed as a result of our actions. Therefore, Freud considered there to be a close association between neurotic and realistic anxiety (Freud, 1926/1959). For example, if we are being harassed by a bully, our aggressive id impulse might be to respond by killing this bully. Of course, that could result in going to prison or having the bully’s friends kill us. So the anxiety that our violent id impulse might break out and influence our behavior is associated with the real danger posed by the consequences of that behavior, if it should happen to occur. Therefore, our neurotic anxiety is composed, in part, of our internalized realistic anxiety.
In a similar way, moral anxiety arises from conflict between our ego and the constraints imposed on it by the superego. Since the superego arises from the internalization of our parent’s teaching us what is or is not appropriate behavior, we again have an association between the internal threat of the superego and the real, external threat of being punished by our parents. Therefore, as with neurotic anxiety, the precursor to our moral anxiety is realistic anxiety, even if our fears are based on our psychological impressions of a situation as opposed to an actual danger (e.g., the fear of castration; Freud, 1926/1959, 1933/1965). Freud (1933/1965) described the relationships this way:
Thus the ego, driven by the id, confined by the super-ego, repulsed by reality, struggles to master its economic task of bringing about harmony among the forces and influences working in and upon it; and we can understand how it is that so often we cannot suppress a cry: ‘Life is not easy!’ If the ego is obliged to admit its weakness, it breaks out in anxiety – realistic anxiety regarding the external world, moral anxiety regarding the super-ego and neurotic anxiety regarding the strength of the passions in the id. (pgs. 97-98)
Freud also described an overall pattern to the development and expression of anxiety and its useful role in life. In early childhood we experience traumatic situations in which we are helpless. Remember that Freud believed that psychic reality is every bit as significant as actual reality (Freud, 1900/1995), so the nature of these traumatic events is subject to individual perception. As the child’s capacity for self-preservation develops, the child learns to recognize dangerous situations. Rather than waiting passively to be threatened or harmed, an older child or an adult will respond actively. The initial response is anxiety, but anxiety is a warning of danger in anticipation of experiencing helplessness once again. In a sense, the ego is recreating to the helplessness of infancy, but it does so in the hope that now the ego will have at its command some means of dealing with the situation. Therefore, anxiety has hopefully transformed from a passive response in infancy to an active and protective response in later childhood and/or adulthood (Freud, 1926/1959).
Discussion Question: What makes you anxious, and how do you respond to those feelings?
Defense Mechanisms
We will cover defense mechanisms only briefly in this chapter. Although Freud talked about a wide variety of defense mechanisms during his career, he left it to his daughter Anna to literally write the book on The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense (Anna Freud, 1936/1966). Freud himself discussed primarily two defense mechanisms: repression and regression. The recognition of these defense mechanisms was essential to the development of psychoanalysis, and they are the only two defenses mentioned by Freud in The History of the Psychoanalytic Movement (1914/1995). The purpose of these defense mechanisms is to protect the ego during the early years of life, when the ego has not adequately developed in its ability to control the libidinal impulses of the id. Thus, defense mechanisms serve a useful function at first, but later prove inadequate when the re-animation of the sexual life is reinforced following puberty (Freud, 1938/1949). Similarly, in adult life, defense mechanisms are useful in the short-term, but since they do not deal with problems directly they must eventually prove inadequate.
Freud identified repression as one of the key elements establishing psychoanalysis as unique from the cathartic method he had been working on thanks to the contributions of Josef Breuer (Freud, 1914/1995). Indeed, according to Freud, his own contributions that transformed Breuer’s cathartic method into psychoanalysis were repression, resistance, infantile sexuality, and dream analysis for the understanding of the unconscious mind. The value of repression cannot be underestimated:
The theory of repression is the pillar upon which the edifice of psychoanalysis rests. It is really the most essential part of it, and yet, it is nothing but the theoretical expression of an experience which can be repeatedly observed whenever one analyses a neurotic without the aid of hypnosis. One is then confronted with a resistance which opposes and blocks the analytic work by causing failures of memory. This resistance was always covered by the use of hypnosis; the history of psychoanalysis proper, therefore, starts with the technical innovation of the rejections of hypnosis. (pg. 907; Freud, 1914/1995)
The resistance Freud is referring to here is the defense mechanism of repression, which is the means by which the ego refuses to associate itself with an unacceptable instinctual impulse generated by the id. The ego is able to keep the “reprehensible” impulse from entering into the conscious mind (Freud, 1926/1959). But an important question arises: What then happens to this impulse seeking satisfaction? There are several possibilities, and Freud himself considered the answer to be rather complex. One thing that might happen is that the ego attempts to shift the libido cathexed to the impulse toward release as anxiety (Freud, 1926/1959). However, anxiety is unpleasant, and the id demands satisfaction in accordance with its pleasure principle. Therefore, this procedure is doomed to failure (and, therefore, the development of neurosis). There are, of course, alternatives that can occur prior to the failure of this initial defense. The ego may find some acceptable alternative to the impulse through the other defense mechanisms, such as sublimation or reaction-formation.
Regression can be seen when an individual engages in behavior typical of an earlier stage of development. As Freud and Breuer tried to work out the causes of their patient’s neuroses by using the cathartic method, they repeatedly found that they could not help their patients by focusing on the actual event that had led to a crisis. Instead, their patients inevitably made associations between the traumatic event and earlier experiences. Initially, these earlier experiences went back to puberty, and ultimately they went back to early childhood. Although Breuer favored some physiological explanation of this phenomenon, Freud insisted that it was psychological, and he termed the process regression (Freud, 1914/1995). According to Freud:
This regressive direction became an important characteristic of the analysis. It was proved that psychoanalysis could not clear up anything actual, except by going back to something in the past. (pg. 903) | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/03%3A_Sigmund_Freud/3.04%3A_Structure_of_Personality.txt |
Above, we examined the basic development of libido and psychosexual function. Freud also believed that psychosexual function developed in a series of stages that occur in two waves. The first three stages occur during early childhood, from infancy to about the age of 5. Freud referred to this early period as the pregenital phase (Freud, 1905/1995). There is then a latency period, which lasts until puberty, after which the final stage, the genital stage, is realized and the individual is capable of physically mature reproductive functioning. These stages are typically presented as if they are exclusive and sequential. Although it is true that they are sequential, they are not entirely exclusive. Therefore, it is possible for the stages to overlap (Freud, 1938/1949). However, it remains true that during a particular stage one region of the body will be dominant, and most of the libido will be focused on that region (see Jarvis, 2004). For the sake of simplicity, we will treat the stages as if they occur one after another.
The Psychosexual Stages
The first phase of psychosexual development begins at infancy with the oral stage. According to Freud, the mouth is the first region of the body to become an erotogenic zone, and this lasts for approximately the first year of life. During this time the mouth makes libidinal demands on the mind. In other words, the region of the mouth demands that the mind direct adequate libidinal energy to satisfy the desires of the oral region. Although this serves the purpose of sustaining the infant by satisfying its nutritional needs, Freud believed that the infant’s persistent sucking belied a need for satisfaction that was far greater than simply taking care of physiological needs. He believed that the infant needed to satisfy its desire for psychological pleasure independent of nourishment, and this was the basis for arguing that the behavior was sexual (in the larger, life-oriented perspective on sexuality).
Evidence for this stage is easy to see, and such commonplace observances contributed to Freud’s thinking. Infants suck almost continuously, even when not being fed. They suck their thumbs, they can be comforted with pacifiers, as they become older they put everything they can get their hands on into their mouths. If they cannot satisfy this need, they may become fixated in the oral stage. As a result of this oral fixation, when an older child or adult becomes frustrated or overwhelmed, they may regress and engage in oral behavior. This occurs because the fixation of libido on the oral region during infancy results in a deficiency of the libidinal energy needed to cope with some stressful period of adulthood. This oral behavior can take many forms, such as: overeating, smoking, drinking too much (of course, this usually refers to drinking alcoholic beverages), or just talking excessively.
During the second stage of psychosexual development, the anal stage, the anus becomes the focus of the libido, and the child derives pleasure from the ability to both retain and expel feces. Initially, the pleasure associated with evacuating the bowels is felt within the child, something Freud referred to as the autoerotic nature of sexual development (Freud, 1917/1966). Soon, however, the child learns that the world can be an inhibiting place, that greater pleasure can be derived only if the child defecates when and where others consider it to be appropriate. This realization occurs as a result of the most significant parent-child interaction during this stage of development: toilet training. If the parents are either too strict or begin too early the child may develop the traits of an anal character (Jarvis, 2004). These traits include excessive orderliness, stubbornness, and parsimony, each of which results from denial of the child’s anal pleasure during toilet training. Orderliness, or tidiness, serves as a denial of taking pleasure in defecating, and stubbornness carries over from the child’s assertion of their right to defecate at will (Jarvis, 2004). Parsimony, or being stingy, stems from the child’s association of the feces with money. According to Freud (1917/1966):
He feels no disgust at his feces, values them as a portion of his own body with which he will not readily part, and makes use of them as his first ‘gift,’ to distinguish people whom he values especially highly. (pg. 390)
Freud was by no means unaware of how strange this part of his theory seemed. Immediately following the above quote, he went on to say the following, and remember that his Introductory Lectures on Psycho-analysis were actual lectures delivered to students at the University of Vienna:
I know you have been wanting for a long time to interrupt me and exclaim: ‘Enough of these atrocities! You tell us that defecating is a source of sexual satisfaction, and already exploited in infancy! That feces are a valuable substance and that the anus is a kind of genital! We don’t believe all that…’ No, Gentlemen. You have merely forgotten that I have been trying to introduce the facts of infantile sexual life to you in connection with the facts … that for a large number of adults, homosexual and heterosexual alike, the anus does really take over the role of the vagina in sexual intercourse? (pg. 391)
So Freud was simply trying to address very real issues that he, and others, had observed in their clinical practices. His years of working in isolation had prepared him for dealing with disapproval, and he was not going to be shy about studying things that might make others uncomfortable.
The phallic stage, in which the libido focuses on the genitalia, represents the culmination of infantile sexuality. Although it typically occurs between the ages of 3 to 5 years old, it sets the stage for adult sexuality. Therefore, it is a very important period. According to Freud (1905/1995), this stage will “leave behind the profoundest (unconscious) impressions in the person’s memory; if the individual remains healthy they determine his character and if he becomes sick after puberty, they determine the symptomatology of his neurosis.” There are two critical aspects of this stage: the first involves the castration complex and penis envy, and the second is the Oedipus complex. Technically, the Oedipus complex subsumes castration anxiety, but it is important to consider these aspects separately. In Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex (Freud, 1905/1995), the book that obviously focuses on the sexual aspects of psychoanalysis, Freud discussed the castration complex and penis envy, but not the Oedipus complex. Although he discussed the Oedipus legend in his earlier books, he did not use the term Oedipus complex until 1910 (see Jarvis, 2004). The other reason for considering the major aspects of this stage separately is the difference between boys and girls. Penis envy is obviously something that only girls can experience and, according to Freud, the Oedipus complex is something that only boys can experience. Girls experience something similar to the Oedipus complex, but their efforts are in vain, and this has a permanent, negative effect on their character (Freud, 1938/1949). For more discussion on the latter point, see the section below on Freud’s perspective on the female psyche.
As we begin to address the castration complex and penis envy, it is important to realize that Freud’s phallic stage is entirely focused on the penis, for both boys and girls. As the libido becomes focused on the genitals, a boy begins to manipulate his penis. He experiences no shame, and even enjoys displaying his body (Freud, 1905/1995). As a counterpart to this joy in his own sexuality, children are often curious about seeing other children’s bodies. This creates a very different experience for boys and girls. When boys see a girl’s body, they believe the absence of a penis means that the girl has been castrated. This leads to a fear of the same thing happening to them, and creates castration anxiety, which in adulthood can lead to a castration complex. When girls see a boy’s body they are fully prepared to recognize the penis, and they become envious of it. Indeed, this envy can become strong enough that the girl wishes she was a boy (Freud, 1905/1995). Since she cannot be a boy, she begins to seek an alternative, either her father or a child of her own.
As Freud continued to develop his theory of the phallic stage, he included a broader perspective beyond the castration complex: the Oedipus complex. A boy’s first love object is his mother, the one who feeds him and attends to all of his needs. This is only natural. As his libido becomes focused on his genitalia, however, this takes on the sexual desire that became so controversial. Keeping in mind that Freud did not believe that children understand the adult reality of their desires (much of it is unconscious), he described their behaviors as obvious evidence of their desire: boys talk about loving and marrying their mother, they persistently pursue being in her presence when she is dressing, they want to be in bed with her at night, etc. (Freud, 1917/1966). This eventually leads to conflict with the father, and with it the castration anxiety described above. Since there is no satisfactory resolution, given that the father is much more powerful than the child, the boy is compelled to give up the Oedipus complex, to repress it. In the healthiest condition, the Oedipus complex is completely destroyed in the id, and gives rise to a severe superego (Freud, 1933/1965). This repression, or destruction, of the Oedipus complex allows the boy to transition into the latency period.
For girls, the Oedipus complex takes a very different course. A girl’s first love object is also her mother, since again it is the mother who provides most of the childcare. Once the girl realizes that she does not have a penis she develops penis envy, and she must undertake a change in her love object to her father, the one who can provide her with the desired penis. The mother is then seen as a rival for the father’s penis, and indeed as someone who has already received all that the girl wants from her father. This can intensify feelings of hostility toward the mother. Consequently, she may enter into the Oedipus complex feeling that it is a refuge or safe haven. However, the girl does not fear castration, since she has no penis to begin with, and without the fear of castration leading to repression of the Oedipus complex there is no motivation for the girl to move into the latency period (Freud, 1933/1965). Freud believed that girls remain in the Oedipus complex, and thus the phallic stage, for an indeterminate period of time, and that they cannot ever completely resolve it. Adding one more point of controversy, the only way in which girls can shift from an initially masculine situation (the mother as love object) to a feminine situation (the father as love object) is if they replace their penis envy with the desire for a child, given the ancient symbolic equivalence between the penis and giving birth (Freud, 1933/1965).
Following the oral, anal, and phallic stages there is a period of latency, during which progress is at a standstill. There are, however, some interesting things that happen during this period. The child knows that they are still incapable of procreation (even though this knowledge may be unconscious), so they begin to turn away from their sexual desires. They begin to view sexual impulses with disgust and shame, and to consider them immoral (Freud, 1905/1995). Although their education has much to do with this, Freud believed that it is also a natural occurrence. To compensate, the child (or the child’s mind, as this again may be entirely unconscious) engages the defense mechanism of sublimation: the conversion of the unacceptable sexual impulses into activities that are socially acceptable (such as school work or sports). Another important consequence of this mental activity is that we forget our infantile sexual impulses, something Freud called infantile amnesia. Infantile amnesia is critical to the whole theory of the development of neuroses and the technique of psychoanalysis (Freud, 1938/1949), and it is one of the main reasons that many adults insist upon denying the possibility of infantile sexuality in the first place.
With the onset of puberty, the individual enters the final stage of psychosexual development: the genital stage. If the challenges of the earlier stages have been resolved in a satisfactory way, the individual is finally capable of appropriate and mature intimacy and sexual behavior. All of the psychodynamic processing that has taken place is not gone, however. According to Freud (1938/1949), even normal people have some of the following factors included in their final psychosexual organization: some libidinal cathexes are retained, others are taken into sexual activity as preliminary acts (such as foreplay), and still others are excluded from the organization either by repression or sublimation.
Freud’s Perspective on the Female Psyche
I would like to begin this section by being fair to Freud. First and foremost, there were no other theories on the development of personality for Freud to consider as he developed his own theory. Second, most of the patients Freud saw were women, and apparently he needed to explain how it was that so many of his patients were women and not men. There were certainly other possible explanations than those offered by Freud, but it has been easy for others to look back and criticize him with the benefit of new and different ideas. One must also keep in mind that Freud was a basic scientist for many years, and he put a lot of emphasis on details. It is an undeniable, biological fact that men are male and women are female! Freud believed that psychology could never truly understand sex and gender differences unless we could understand why so many species exists as two different sexes in the first place (Freud, 1933/1965). Nonetheless, having acknowledged this, Freud’s theory does, unfortunately, describe women as the products of an incomplete and frustrated male development.
Freud believed that the development of the feminine psyche was more difficult and complicated than that of the masculine psyche for two main reasons, neither of which is faced by boys during their development. Initially, there are basic biological differences, both anatomically and in terms of temperament. Girls are typically less aggressive, defiant, and self-sufficient; they also seem to have a greater need for affection, and as a result become more dependent and pliant. However, Freud disregarded these differences, feeling that they were insignificant compared to individual differences between boys and girls (Freud, 1933/1965). Through much of the first wave of infantile sexuality, particularly the oral and anal stages, there is no difference between boys and girls. Even during the early portion of the phallic stage there is no difference between the sensations boys experience via the penis and the sensations girls experience via the clitoris. The first difference, however, arises from the need for girls to shift the focus of their libido from the clitoris to the vagina, particularly with regard to the importance of the latter for sexual activity leading to procreation. The second difference is the need for the girl to shift the focus of her libido from the mother to the father as she enters the Oedipus complex. This shift in the love object is not easy, and the outcome is not pleasant.
Freud proposed that the young girl’s attraction to her father at the beginning of the Oedipus complex is not simply a shift in the libido, but involves a rejection of the mother who had been the previous love object. The girl’s rejection of her mother is accompanied by hostility, and can end in hate. The hate can be profound and last the girl’s entire life, even if it is carefully compensated for later in life (Freud, 1933/1965). The reason for this hostility toward the mother arises from the castration complex and penis envy. Whereas a boy fears being castrated, the girl believes that she already has been, and the mother is responsible. The girl then develops an overwhelming desire to have a penis, the so-called penis envy, but it simply cannot be. Even when a girl is old enough to understand the basic biology of sex differences, she still retains an unconscious feeling of having been wronged and a considerable cathexis of libido remains (Freud, 1933/1965). It is interesting to note that Freud acknowledges that it is difficult to see these processes in action if one simply observes young girls. However, in his clinical practice he saw patients whose neuroses amplified these processes, and following psychoanalysis the underlying basis of this developmental stage seemed evident to Freud.
Table \(1\): A Summary of the Psychosexual Stages
Stage
Approximate Age Range
Essential Elements
Oral Stage Birth through the first year The mouth is the source of erotic pleasure; this helps to obtain nourishment, but babies also put everything else they get their hand on into their mouths
Anal Stage From age 1 to 3 years old The anus is the source of erotic pleasure; toilet training is the major task of this stage (and as any parent can tell you, a most interesting experience!)
Phallic Stage From age 3 to 5 years old The genitals are the source of erotic pleasure; boys may fear castration, girls develop penis envy; boys resolve the Oedipus complex due to the motivation provided by their castration anxiety; since girls are not motivated by castration anxiety, they lack the motivation to completely resolve the Oedipus complex
Latency Period From age 6 to puberty At the beginning of this period infantile amnesia hides our earlier experiences from us; recovering them is the major task of psychoanalysis
Genital Stage From puberty throughout adulthood If the earlier stages were resolved successfully, then normal adult life proceeds; if not, a neurosis may develop; according to Freud, women cannot resolve the Oedipus complex, so they must have some psychological deficiencies relative to men
How then is a girl to resolve the Oedipus complex and achieve a healthy, adult personality? As described above, she can’t! In Freud’s own words:
The girl, after vainly attempting to do the same as the boy, comes to recognize her lack of a penis or rather the inferiority of her clitoris, with permanent effects on the development of her character; as a result of this first disappointment in rivalry, she often begins by turning away altogether from sexual life. (pg. 26; Freud, 1938/1949)
In these circumstances the formation of the superego must suffer; it cannot attain the strength and independence which give it its cultural significance, and feminists are not pleased when we point out to them the effects of this factor upon the average feminine character. (pgs. 160-161; Freud, 1933/1965).
Another important observation that came to Freud in his early psychoanalytic practice was the recognition that almost all of his female patients reported having been seduced by their fathers (which, if true, is an inaccurate way of saying they were sexually assaulted by a child molester). This led Freud to propose a seduction theory, which was the basis for first proposing the role of sexual trauma in the development of neuroses. This sexual trauma did not have to be as severe as rape, but it was considered significant nonetheless (see Jarvis, 2004). Later, however, Freud came to the conclusion that these seductions occurred only in the fantasies of the young girls. Indeed, Freud described the fantasy of a young girl being seduced by her father as the typical expression of the Oedipus complex in women (Freud, 1933/1965). Freud was criticized for theorizing that young girls fantasized about being seduced by their fathers, and Breuer ended his pursuit of understanding sexual trauma when faced with the same conclusion (Freud, 1914/1995). Today, however, Freud is criticized more for having turned away from what may have been his most startling discovery, the prevalence of sexual abuse (see Jarvis, 2004). | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/03%3A_Sigmund_Freud/3.05%3A_Psychosexual_Stages_of_Development.txt |
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3.06: Connections Across Cultures- Male
We don’t normally think of men and women as being different cultures, but this has become a more popular approach to understanding their differences (e.g., see Brislin, 2000; Ferraro, 2006a; Haviland, 2005; Matlin, 2004). As we consider gender differences it is, of course, important to avoid stereotyping individuals. Nonetheless, the reality of cultural expectations related to sex and gender, some of which have a basis in the development of the human species, has led to some interesting research in both professional and popular psychology. As mentioned in Chapter 1, psychology has often been portrayed as a discipline focusing on White, European males. However, research on the psychology of women continues to expand, it has begun to address the specific differences of women of color, and it has led to the establishment of specific men’s studies as well (Matlin, 2004). The latter point is an important one, since the earlier emphasis on White males was more circumstantial than intentional. For our purposes, I would like us to consider some of the interesting popular work on male/female differences.
In 1992, John Gray first published a very popular book entitled Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus. This book openly addresses the different ways in which men and women typically communicate and express their emotions. He offers practical advice on how men and women should react, or perhaps not react, to one another in everyday interactions. In his introduction to the paperback edition, Gray (2004) emphasizes how important it is not to try changing your partner. To expect members of the opposite sex to become more like yourself sends a message that they are not good enough as they are. He also notes that not all men or women will fall into the typical gender roles, so it is important not to stereotype. What is important, according to Gray, is that we recognize the general differences that exist between men and women and keep them in mind when we communicate with each other. If we can, then hopefully we can avoid conflicts that need not be inevitable. It might sound simple, but Gray clearly struck a chord in couples and individuals across America. He wrote numerous follow-up books, including Mars and Venus on a Date (1997) and the parenting guide Children are From Heaven (1999), each of which became #1 New York Times Bestsellers like the original. There is an interesting website (www.marsvenus.com), there are workshops and counseling centers based on Gray’s work, and workplace seminars based on Mars and Venus in the Workplace (2002). Clearly, relationship problems based on the differences between men and women are of great interest to people in our society today. As harshly as Freud has been criticized for his views on the differences between men and women, he was certainly on to something. Perhaps that’s part of the reason why even those who criticize Freud continue to talk about him.
More recently, Norah Vincent (2006) spent 18 months masquerading as a man, and then wrote about her experiences in Self-Made Man. Ms. Vincent spent a substantial amount of time working to look and act like a man. She consulted a professional make-up artist (especially to help with her “beard”), a voice coach, and a personal trainer to help her build muscle mass in her arms and shoulders. She even went to a sex shop and purchased a prosthetic penis, just to help make sure that her appearance was as convincing as possible. Using the name Ned, she then traveled around the country, to five different states, and attempted to pass for a man in a variety of settings. She played on a men’s bowling team, went to strip clubs with “other” men, spent time in a monastery, got a job as a salesman, and joined a men’s group. One of the most interesting aspects of her masquerade involved dating. Curiously, it was not really difficult for her to consider dating women, because she happens to be a lesbian. But she was not prepared for how often she would be rejected when trying to meet women! Maybe that’s why she wrote: “It was hard being a guy. Really hard.” In fact, she found the entire experience quite disturbing. As a woman, she had always been viewed as very masculine. But when pretending to be a man, she was seen as very effeminate. She felt that her masculinity was constantly being judged, both by men and women. And the constant pressure to be a “real man” was overwhelmingly stressful. As she concluded her book, talking about the camaraderie of the men on the bowling team, she observed that:
Making this removed comforting contact with men and feeling the relief it gave me as my life as a man went on was not a sign of having joined the overclass, for whom superiority is assumed and bucking up unnecessary. It was more like joining a union. It was the counterpart to and the refuge from my excruciating dates, which were often alienating and grating enough to make me wonder whether getting men and women together amicably on a permanent basis wasn’t at times like brokering Middle East peace.
I believe we are that different in agenda, in expression, in outlook, in nature, so much so that I can’t help almost believing, after having been Ned, that we live in parallel worlds, that there is at bottom really no such thing as that mystical unifying creature we call a human being, but only male human beings and female human beings, as separate as sects. (pgs. 281-282; Vincent, 2006)
As an indication of how popular this topic continues to be, shortly after Ms. Vincent published her book she was interviewed on the popular news/comedy show The Colbert Report on Comedy Central. I guess it’s important to keep smiling as we struggle through the many challenges of male/female relationships.
Freud’s perspectives on women have created a great deal of negativity toward him and his theory, particularly among women. But should we judge Freud so harshly? It was common in the society in which he lived to consider women as the “weaker sex.” In his practice, most of the patients he saw were female, so he needed his theory to explain why most of the people with psychological disorders were women (at least, that’s what he thought). Granted he had made fundamental errors by not realizing that men might be avoiding help for psychological problems because of the culture and by not recognizing that women might be suffering from oppression caused by men, but since there were no other theories to compare his own ideas to, it is easy to condemn him. However, those theorists who began to address the cultural issues, like Adler and Horney, had Freud’s theory for comparison. Horney in particular also had a growing body of research on anthropology and sociology to draw on. So as much as Adler and Horney may have disagreed with Freud, he still laid the foundation for their work and the work of many others. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/03%3A_Sigmund_Freud/3.06%3A_Connections_Across_Cultures-_Male/Female_Differences.txt |
Most psychologists today make a distinction that Freud seldom, if ever, made. We refer to all theoretical perspectives related to the views of Sigmund Freud as psychodynamic theories, reserving the term psychoanalysis for the therapeutic method developed by Freud. Freud simply referred to both his theories and his therapy as psychoanalysis. This may well have resulted from the fact that Freud began as a therapist, and only developed his theories in order to explain why certain approaches worked and others did not. It may also have something to do with the fact that Freud’s personality theories came first, and so there was no need in his mind to distinguish his views from the work of others. Whatever the reason, for our purposes we will use the term psychoanalysis to refer to the therapeutic method developed by Freud, which was uniquely different from the techniques already in use by people such as Breuer and Charcot. I would also like to note that many of the references in this section cite the book co-authored by Freud and Breuer (1895/2004). However, the citations come from a portion of the book written by Freud alone, and in which he takes personal credit for the work. Therefore, we need to acknowledge that although the book is published as the work of both men, it contains mostly each man’s individual work, and only the “Preliminary Statement” is co-authored by Freud and Breuer. This point is by no means a small one, because it was at this point in their careers that the two men went their separate ways.
As mentioned above, Freud came to believe that the use of hypnosis, which had been championed by Breuer and Charcot, was unable to get at the root causes of patient’s neuroses. He also learned through experience that psychoanalysis could only be effective if he was able to go back into the early childhood of his patients and uncover the unconscious conflicts and repressions that led to their neurotic behaviors. In order to accomplish this goal, Freud relied primarily on free association and dream analysis. In the history of psychoanalysis, there have been those who believed that psychoanalysis officially began when Freud rejected hypnosis and introduced free association (Freud, 1914/1995). Free association is often used, of course, during the interpretation of dreams, so the two techniques are not mutually exclusive. With regard to the value of interpreting dreams, Freud wrote perhaps his most famous line: “…the interpretation of dreams is the via regia [royal road] to a knowledge of the unconscious element in our psychic life.” (pg. 508; Freud, 1900/1995).
Free Association – Freud’s Therapeutic Breakthrough
Free association grew out of a need that resulted from problems implementing Breuer’s cathartic method. The first problem was that many patients could not be hypnotized. With the patients that Freud could not hypnotize, especially those who would not even allow him to try hypnotizing them, Freud tried a technique of pressing them to remember. This technique also came up short, and Freud recognized a need to work around the patient’s resistance (which we will examine in more detail below). The first technique that Freud developed involved pressing his hand against his patient’s forehead and asking them to say whatever thought, no matter how seemingly irrelevant, came first into their consciousness (Freud & Breuer, 1895/2004). Freud himself described this technique as a trick, one that disconnects the patient’s attention from his conscious searching and reflecting. However, trick or not, Freud found the technique to be indispensable. The thoughts that came to the forefront of consciousness, those believed to be easily accessible via the preconscious, were likely to be connected to the underlying associations responsible for the neurotic patient’s symptoms. Freud used this technique of free association quite successfully. As early as 1892, he treated a patient known as Fräulein Elisabeth von R. by relying entirely on free association (Freud & Breuer, 1895/2004).
Still, Freud did make some modifications in the technique. Two other methods used to begin the free association were to have the patient think of a number or a name at random. Of course, Freud did not believe that it was possible for anything in the mind to occur at random, and by continuing the association brought up by that first name or number, Freud could help his patient to arrive at the true unconscious associations that were the root of their problems (Freud, 1917/1966). He also used free association during the interpretation of dreams, and often found it helpful to examine which part of the dream the patient chose to begin making free associations (Freud, 1933/1965). Freud also considered psychoanalysis to be effective with children, but cautioned that a child’s lack of psychological development limited their ability for free association. Other psychodynamic theorists worked more extensively with children, however, including Adler, Anna Freud, and Klein.
The Elements of Dream Analysis
For someone who considered dreams to be the royal road to the unconscious mind, it is no surprise that Freud’s first book of his own was The Interpretation of Dreams (Freud, 1900/1995). The value of this work never diminished, and Freud devoted a chapter to dream interpretation in one of his last books: An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Freud, 1938/1949). In the latter book, published only a year before Freud died, he wrote:
The only thing that can help us are states of conflict and uproar, when the contents of the unconscious id have a prospect of forcing their way into the ego and into consciousness and the ego puts itself once more on the defensive against this invasion. …Now, our nightly sleep is precisely a state of this sort, and for that reason psychical activity during sleep, which we perceive as dreams, is our most favourable object of study. In that way, too, we avoid the familiar reproach that we base our constructions of normal mental life on pathological findings; for dreams are regular events in the life of a normal person… (pg. 38)
Freud described our recollection of a dream as a façade, a covering that hides the underlying process of the dream. Thus, a dream has both manifest content and latent content. The manifest content (or the dream-content) of a dream is what we actually remember when we wake up. The latent content (or the dream-thoughts), however, is the true underlying meaning of the dream, the unconscious material from the id desiring satisfaction. Freud described the process by which the latent content is transformed into the manifest content as the dream-work (Freud, 1900/1995). Studying the nature of the dream-work, the way in which the unconscious material from the id forces its way into the ego but is transformed by the ego’s opposition to the impulse, allows us to understand what is known as dream-distortion (Freud, 1938/1949). The importance of dream-distortion becomes clear when we consider the purpose of dreams. Freud believed that all dreams represent our true desires. Therefore, all dreams can be viewed as wish fulfillment. Although some dreams can be very anxiety-provoking, and certainly do not seem to represent our wishes and desires, this is the result of the distortion. If we successfully analyze the dream and identify its latent content, then Freud believed we would recognize the true wish-fulfillment nature of even anxiety-provoking or frightening dreams (Freud, 1900/1995).
When we sleep, the ability of the ego to repress or otherwise redirect the unacceptable impulses of the id is paralyzed. The id, then, is afforded “a harmless amount of liberty” (Freud, 1938/1949). But the ego is still the seat of consciousness, and still exerts some influence over the expression of the id impulses. And so the dream is distorted, transformed into something less threatening to the ego, particularly into something not threatening enough to wake the person up. To summarize this situation, when we are asleep the ego is less able to restrain the id. Consequently, the impulses of the id intrude in the preconscious and then into the conscious mind. This provokes anxiety and threatens to wake us up. However, the dream transforms the id impulse into the fulfillment of a wish, and we are able to continue sleeping. As Freud described it:
We shall be taking every experience into account if we say that a dream is invariably an attempt to get rid of a disturbance of sleep by means of a wish-fulfillment, so that the dream is a guardian of sleep. (pg. 46; Freud, 1938/1949)
Does it seem reasonable to say that all dreams are wish fulfillment? Certainly some dreams clearly fulfill our wishes and desires, at least through fantasy. Such dreams do not require any analysis. Other dreams, however, seem to make no sense at all. The id and the unconscious mind are not logical at all, contradictory ideas easily coexist side by side, and Freud even referred to the unconscious mind as the “Realm of the Illogical” (pg. 43; Freud 1938/1949). As these latent impulses are transformed into manifest content, it can be very difficult to separate them and make sense of a given dream. The dream-work itself, the very process of distorting or transforming the latent content into the manifest content in order to disguise the meaning of our dreams, involves a variety of factors, including: condensation, displacement, the use of symbolic representation, and secondary elaboration (Freud, 1900/1995).
According to Freud, condensation refers to the tendency to create unity out of a variety of dream elements that we would keep separate if we were awake. So, a single element of the manifest content of a dream might represent a number of latent thoughts. Thus, the analysis of a dream could be much longer than the dream itself. Displacement is not unrelated to condensation according to Freud, and refers to the switching of libidinal energy from one object to another, such that the important object of a dream might seem inconsequential, and vice versa. In other words, the apparent focus of the dream is probably not the actual focus of the dream. This does not simply suggest that we might substitute one person for another in a dream, it also happens that we might represent various elements through symbols. Once again, these symbols are employed by dreams to disguise the representation of latent content. As important as Freud considered symbols to be in a dream, he did not support the idea that dream dictionaries can identify universal meanings of dream symbols. It is only through the associations relevant to a specific dreamer that we can make sense of a dream’s symbolism (Freud, 1938/1949). Finally, as the dream is actually presented to the conscious mind, the ego ensures that the material is acceptable by performing what Freud termed the secondary elaboration. As with any perception, the ego fills in gaps and connections, but also misunderstands the true nature of the dream. As a result the secondary elaboration can offer little more than a smooth façade for the dream. Also, the secondary elaboration may only be partial, or even absent (Freud, 1933/1965). All of these processes together form the manifest content of the dream, resulting in something that might be difficult to understand, but which is within the reach of a determined psychoanalyst.
Discussion Question: Have you ever analyzed your own dreams? Were you able to discover any revelations after considering a dream in greater depth, even though it made no sense at first?
The Therapeutic Process
Initially, Freud began with a fundamental belief in the effectiveness of catharsis, the discharge of pent-up emotion that follows the recall and re-experiencing of traumatic memories (see Jarvis, 2004). If only a patient can recognize the unconscious association between an early traumatic event and their current symptoms, then the symptoms should be relieved. As Breuer and Freud noted in the introduction to their book:
For we found, at first to our great surprise, that the individual hysterical symptoms disappeared immediately and did not recur if we succeeded in wakening the memory of the precipitating event with complete clarity, arousing with it the accompanying affect, and if the patient then depicted the event in the greatest possible detail and put words to the affect. Remembering without affect almost always fails to be effective… (pg. 10; Freud and Breuer, 1895/2004).
One can see from this description, however, that the process of psychoanalysis is not easy. There must be a clear recognition of the initial traumatic event, in detail, with all of its original emotional impact, and the patient must then be willing to talk about the event in relation to their current problems.
As we have already seen, the first obstacle is resistance, the patient’s reluctance to experience the anxiety associated with recovering repressed material. The more severe the symptoms, the more severe the resistance is likely to be. Even when a little trick is successful, such as pressing on the forehead to break the patient’s concentration and allow free association, in serious cases the self remembers its intentions (which are often unconscious motives) and resumes its resistance (Freud & Breuer, 1895/2004). Because of this challenge, Freud believed that the therapist must be patient. Resistance that has been constituted over a long period of time can only be resolved slowly, step by step. In addition to the intellectual role of the therapist, there is an important emotional role as well. In some cases, Freud found that only the personal influence of the doctor could successfully break down the patient’s defense mechanisms.
A large part of the reason that psychoanalysis can be so difficult has to do with how the unconscious mind exists. Freud believed that memory of a traumatic event exists as a pathogenic nucleus within multiple layers of pathogenic psychical material of varying resistance. The outer layers may be easy to uncover, but as one progresses into the deeper layers, resistance grows steadily. Adding to the challenge, the associations between layers do not simply go deeper, they can travel at odd angles, in something of a zigzag fashion, or branch out in multiple ways (Freud & Breuer, 1895/2004). Because multiple associations may exist between a patient’s neurosis and the underlying traumatic event, it is critical to address all of the psychical material that comes to bear on the current condition of the patient. Even if the therapist rightly knows the basis for the patient’s problems:
…there is no point at all in advancing directly to the nucleus of the pathogenic organization. Even if it were possible for us to guess this, the patient would not know what to do with the elucidation given to him and would not be altered by it psychically. (pg. 293; Freud & Breuer, 1895/2004)
As suggested above, a different kind of obstacle arises when the relationship between the doctor and the patient has been damaged somehow. Freud considered this to be a likely occurrence in serious cases of analysis. Freud described three ways in which the doctor/patient relationship can suffer. The first case involves the patient feeling estranged, neglected, undervalued, insulted, or if they have heard negative things about the doctor. Freud considered this problem to be fairly easily handled through good communication, although he noted that good communication can be difficult with hysterical patients. The second situation involves patients who fear that they will become too dependent on the therapist and that they will lose their independence. This can lead to new resistances. As an example, Freud described patients who complained of headaches when he pressed on their forehead, but really they were just creating a new hysterical symptom to mask their aversion to the belief that they were being manipulated or controlled. The final problem that commonly disturbs the relationship between the therapist and the patient is known as transference (Freud & Breuer, 1895/2004). Transference occurs when the patient reacts as if the therapist were an important figure from the patient’s childhood or past, and transfers onto the therapist feelings and reactions appropriate to that person from the past. Although transference can interfere with the therapeutic process, it also offers advantages. The power conferred on the therapist by transference affords him an opportunity to re-educate the patient, correcting the mistakes of the parents, and it leads patients to reveal more about themselves than they might have if they had not developed such a connection to the therapist (Freud, 1938/1949).
Following transference, it is also possible for countertransference to occur. Countertransference refers first to an unconscious influence of the patient on the therapist, after which the therapist directs their own emotional states back onto the patient. In Freud’s circle of analysts their own psychoanalysis was conducted in large part to eliminate the influence of this distorting effect. Today, there are some therapists who view countertransference as a useful means to gain a deeper perception about what is going on in their patient’s mind (see Jarvis, 2004).
Is Psychoanalysis Effective?
The effectiveness of psychoanalysis as a treatment for psychological disorders has been a source of ongoing debate. In 2006, a select task force, established by the presidents of five major psychoanalytic organizations, published the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM Task Force, 2006). Included within the PDM is a section on research, including meta-analytic studies on the effectiveness of psychoanalysis on patient populations in the United States (Westen et al., 2006), the United Kingdom (Fonagy, 2006), and Germany (Leichsenring, 2006). Each of these chapters emphasize the difficulty in empirically evaluating the effectiveness of psychotherapy, and even more so comparing the effectiveness of different psychotherapeutic approaches. Nonetheless, for a variety of psychological disorders, there is evidence supporting the efficacy of psychoanalytic treatments. Both Fonagy (2006) and Leichsenring (2006) identify another area of research that needs to be continued: there is not just one type of psychoanalysis. Thus, continued research on the efficacy of psychoanalytic treatments should address the relative efficacy of different styles of psychoanalytically based therapies. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/03%3A_Sigmund_Freud/3.07%3A_Psychoanalysis.txt |
In the last section of this book, we will look at spiritual philosophies that provide positive guidelines for personal development and living one’s life. Freud had rather strong feelings about religion, and simply put, he did not approve! Freud actually considered religion to be an obstacle to the further development of civilization, and of the “three powers” that oppose a scientific worldview (art, philosophy, and religion), “religion alone is to be taken seriously as an enemy” (Freud, 1933/1965). In his first and last books reviewing psychoanalysis Freud makes almost no mention of religion (Freud, 1917/1966, 1938/1949), a rather conspicuous absence. In between, however, he wrote two books thoroughly condemning religion and societies depending on it.
In The Future of an Illusion (Freud, 1927/1961), Freud describes the role that religion has played in establishing and maintaining inequitable civilizations. According to Freud, the primary purpose of civilization is the gathering of wealth and, then, its distribution. This distribution is almost always unfair, and leads to the establishment of a small group of wealthy elite and a much larger mass of lower classes. The challenge for the wealthy elite is to maintain this unfair distribution, without the unreasonable use of force. The use of force will ultimately fail, since the instinctual demands for pleasure by the masses (driven by their id impulses) will drive them to take whatever they want from each other and from the wealthy. And the masses have power in numbers! Religion has served civilization by providing a controlling force over these instinctual demands, incorporated directly into the psyche of each individual by means of the development of the superego. The problem, however, lies in the fact (according to Freud) that there is no God, it is all an illusion. Thus, in Civilization and Its Discontent (Freud, 1930/1961), Freud states that the “religions of mankind must be classed among the mass-delusions…” that are used to provide people with a certain degree of happiness and protection against suffering, in spite of the reality of an unfair and uncertain world.
In his last completed book, Moses and Monotheism (Freud, 1939/1967), Freud flatly rejects the entire basis for Judaism and Christianity. Based on archaeological evidence, Freud claims that Moses was not Jewish, but rather an Egyptian. Furthermore, he argues that the monotheistic religion that provides the basis for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (the Abrahamic religions) was a discredited Egyptian religion established by the pharaoh Amenhotep IV. When Amenhotep IV died, and Egyptians who still followed the traditional religion of Egypt came back into power, Moses led the Jewish people out of Egypt so that he would have followers to whom he could teach the religion he hoped to maintain. Since Moses was a hero to the Jewish people, Freud claims that they rewrote the story to say that Moses was Jewish and that their one true God had been revealed to them long before they entered Egypt (Freud, 1939/1967).
If religion is nothing more than an illusion, where does it come from, and what is the danger of it? According to Freud, the development of religion is analogous to the development of each individual. Basically, God is symbolic of our relationship with our own father. In his New Introductory Lectures… (Freud, 1933/1965), Freud neatly lays out this relationship. Religion serves to provide us with an understanding of the origins of the universe and life, it offers us hope for protection and ultimate happiness, and it lays down moral guidelines for living our lives. Similarly, our fathers give each of us life, they protect us when we are young, and they teach the rules and morality of our culture. Although the establishment of religions by our primitive ancestors may be quite understandable, Freud used rather harsh language when referring to religion. He wrote that “…our wretched, ignorant and downtrodden ancestors…” “…were far more ignorant than we are…” (Freud, 1927/1961). In his opinion, ancient religious books are the product of “fraud” from a time when “man’s ignorance was very great…,” and he includes the Bible and the Koran in that category (Freud, 1933/1965). He considered religion to be the antithesis of science and art, the two highest achievements of man (Freud, 1930/1961). Even when addressing more modern times, he compares the political oppression by the Russian Bolsheviks, with its prohibition of thought (punishable by death), as “just as ruthless as was that of religion in the past…doubts of its correctness are punished in the same way as heresy was once punished by the Catholic Church” (Freud, 1933/1965). And in anticipation of his views being challenged, Freud wrote that his considerations “will impress only that minority of readers familiar with analytical reasoning and able to appreciate its conclusions” (Freud, 1939/1967). The danger in all of this, according to Freud, is what might happen if people become aware of this illusion and fraud. If people become aware that there is no God, if they discover that no one else believes, then there may be a violent reaction as a result of the inherent hostility toward civilization by the masses (Freud, 1927/1961). Accordingly:
…either these dangerous masses must be held down most severely and kept most carefully away from any chance of intellectual awakening, or else the relationship between civilization and religion must undergo a fundamental revision. (pg. 39; Freud, 1927/1961)
And yet, in spite of such harsh condemnation of religion, Freud was at times fascinated by individuals who expressed deep spiritual experiences. While in college, Freud was profoundly impressed by the religious philosopher Franz Brentano, a former Catholic priest. Freud wrote to a friend that he could not refute any of Brentano’s theistic arguments, and he referred to Brentano as a “remarkable man” (cited in Nicholi, 2002). Much later in life, Freud discussed an alternative to his earlier analysis of the basis for religion. He had sent a copy of The Future of an Illusion to a friend who was well versed in traditional Yoga. This friend, named Romain Rolland, described for Freud an “oceanic” feeling, a sense of eternity and limitlessness. Freud was unable to discover such feelings within himself, and expressed a general dissatisfaction with scientific investigations of such phenomena. Today, however, neuroscientists are using real-time brain imaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), to study the alterations in brain activity unique to meditative states and, in particular, positive emotions (e.g., see Barinaga, 2003; Goleman, 1988, 2003; Mathew, 2001). Although Freud obviously had no knowledge that such studies would someday be possible, he did acknowledge that experiences like the “oceanic” feeling might form the basis for religious sentiments in the human species (Freud, 1930/1961). Yet another friend encouraged Freud to practice Yoga, particularly meditation, to experience these altered states of mind for himself. It is unclear whether Freud ever attempted to meditate, but he does make mention of his friend’s belief that meditation may reveal a primordial state of mind, perhaps even deeper than that of the id and the unconscious with which Freud had occupied his career (Freud, 1930/1961). Freud even went so far as to suggest that if we could somehow achieve a complete reduction, an extinction, of the tension between our instinctual needs and the constraints imposed by reality and the superego that we might achieve “nirvana” (Freud, 1938/1949).
How might we reconcile the seeming contradiction between Freud’s harsh attitude toward religion with his apparent fascination with mystical spirituality and deeply spiritual individuals? Freud believed that religion had failed society. Religion has ruled human civilization for thousands of years, and yet, “We see that an appallingly large number of people are dissatisfied with civilization and unhappy in it…In every age immorality has found no less support in religion than morality has…” (Freud, 1927/1961). Also, it is undeniable that death awaits each of us, and Freud was definitely concerned with death. In 1909 Freud met William James (Freud, 1952). James asked Freud to carry the bag James had with him and to walk on; James said he would catch up after dealing with an attack of angina pectoris. James died of heart disease a year later. Freud wrote that “I have always wished that I might be as fearless as he was in the face of approaching death.” Freud was also concerned about how his own death might affect his mother, who lived to a ripe old age. Martin Freud noted that “Grandmother Amalia…looked for some time as if she would live forever, and my father was terrified by the thought that she might survive him and, in consequence, have to be told of his death.” (M. Freud, 1983). Perhaps we should not be surprised that someone who was so thoughtful regarding death, someone who proposed a death instinct, might be inclined to have some concern regarding what happens after one’s life comes to an end.
As gloomy as Freud’s perspective may seem at first, he remained hopeful regarding the future of humanity. He considered religion to have been just one step in the development of our species, and that science had reached a point where it could move us ahead another step. When addressing the belief of many people that we were created in the image and likeness of God, a god who must also have created evil and the Devil (other theologians have come to a different conclusion on this point; see, for example, Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis [1952]), Freud suggested that we bow to the deeply moral nature of mankind, which has overcome this difficulty (Freud, 1930/1961). He acknowledged the positive role that religion has played in redirecting and transforming some of our sexual impulses into impulses experienced as love. Indeed, the purpose of civilization itself is to serve Eros, the life instinct, by combining individuals into “families, then races, peoples and nations, into one great unity, the unity of mankind” (Freud, 1930/1961). But the natural aggressive instinct, the death instinct manifested as the hostility of the individual for civilization, opposes the establishment of civilizations. Thus, the meaning of the evolution of civilizations becomes clear:
It must present the struggle between Eros and Death, between the instinct of life and the instinct of destruction, as it works itself out in the human species. This struggle is what all life essentially consists of, and the evolution of civilization may therefore be simply described as the struggle for life of the human species. And it is this battle of the giants that our nurse-maids try to appease with their lullaby about Heaven. (Freud, 1930/1961)
Discussion Question: Freud believed that religion has failed to resolve the difficulties that many people face, that it has outlived its usefulness, and that God is only an illusion anyway. Does this fit with your view of the world in which we live? | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/03%3A_Sigmund_Freud/3.08%3A_Religion_and_Spirituality.txt |
The Things We Do Are Not Really Surprising!
It isn’t difficult to apply Freud’s theories to everyday life. Only a few years after publishing his landmark book on dream analysis, Freud published Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1904/1995). One year later, he published Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious (1905/1995). So Freud clearly intended his theory to address all aspects of life, and he was well aware that jokes and laughter are as much a part of life as any of the darker aspects of psychoanalysis (with concepts such as demanding id impulses and the death instinct).
As mentioned earlier in the chapter, the most famous example of a simple, everyday psychopathology is the famous Freudian slip. A very humorous example of a Freudian slip can be found on the Wikipedia website (http://en.Wikipedia.org): “Excuse me, but I’m having doubts about your theories, Dr. Fraud.” There are, of course, a variety of other mistakes we commonly make when we talk. We often forget names, words, the order of phrases and sayings, and these errors can carry over into reading and writing as well as speaking. Of course, Freud believed that these mistakes are neither random nor just the result of forgetfulness. Rather, they represent psychological processes leading to the expression of one’s real feelings and beliefs. An interesting example that often comes to mind is a quote by former Vice-President of the United States Dan Quayle. The Honorable Mr. Quayle intended to quote the slogan of the United Negro College Fund: A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Instead, he said “What a waste it is to lose one’s mind.” Since “losing one’s mind” is slang for becoming mentally ill, it might be argued by some that the vice-president had revealed a negative attitude toward minority groups. We should always be very careful, of course, to avoid analyzing situations with only the bare minimum of information. Without the implication of the slang meaning of “losing one’s mind” and some alleged unconscious intentions, Vice-President Quayle’s statement seems like nothing more than a simple mistake. Haven’t we all made mistakes like this that were very embarrassing at the time? I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but Vice-President Quayle made a variety of other infamous comments that can easily be found on the Internet, suggesting that his only issue was a penchant for making mistakes in ordinary speech. However, people seem to find such mistakes quite interesting. An Internet search for embarrassing quotes will locate a wide variety of examples like the one above, but they are not always attributed to the same person. Some of the same embarrassing quotes have been attributed to whoever happens to be the current political target of the person posting the webpage. So obviously a lot of people enjoy the embarrassment of others, but be careful about attributing any quote you locate on a random webpage.
Of course, any time a famous person like Vice-President Quayle makes that big a mistake, the late-night comedians are all over it! And that brings us to Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious (Freud, 1905/1995). In this early book, Freud discussed jokes and witticisms in great detail. He actually considered wit-work, the process of forming a joke or witty remark, as being essentially the same thing as dream-work. Thus, the examination of how an individual uses humor on a daily basis might reveal a great deal about their personality. The following is one of the jokes Freud included in his book for analysis. It takes a little thought, since it is in a category that Freud referred to as sophistic faulty thinking (Freud described over 20 types of joke):
A gentleman entered a shop and ordered a fancy cake, which, however, he soon returned, asking for some liqueur in its stead. He drank the liqueur, and was about to leave without paying for it. The shopkeeper held him back. “What do you want of me?” he asked. “Please pay for the liqueur,” said the shopkeeper. “But I have given you the fancy cake for it.” “Yes, but you have not paid for that either.” “Well, neither have I eaten it.” (pg. 634)
The next time you think of a really good joke or something really funny to say, or the next time you hear a joke that really makes you laugh, take a minute or two to consider what that laughter might be saying about who you really are. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/03%3A_Sigmund_Freud/3.09%3A_Personality_Theory_in_Real_Life.txt |
A Final Note
An important aspect of Freud’s theory is his belief that development occurs in a series of predictable stages. This belief is not common to all of the theories we will cover in this textbook. Furthermore, stage theories are likely to be influenced by cultural relativism, the perspective that the significance of an idea or concept is determined by how it is valued within a given culture. Noted psychologists who have offered such a developmental perspective include Vygotsky and Bronfenbrenner, and it has been suggested that an approach incorporating cultural relativism may be of particular importance when studying the development of African Americans and other minority groups (Belgrave & Allison, 2006; Howard-Hamilton & Frazier, 2005). For example, it has been noted that religion is a very important aspect of African American, Hispanic American, and Asian American culture (Axelson, 1999; Belgrave & Allison, 2006; Taylor, Chatters, & Levin, 2004), and we have just examined how little Freud cared for religious or spiritual matters. Other psychologists, however, gave significantly more consideration to cultural influences (e.g., Adler, Horney, and the Stone Center Group). We will examine their contributions in later chapters.
Review of Key Points
• The terms hysteria and neurosis are no longer recognized as technical terms. Hysteria would commonly be called a conversion disorder today, and the neuroses refer to a variety of disorders.
• Psychic determinism is the concept that all thoughts and behaviors have some basis in prior experience, nothing happens by accident or chance.
• Cathexis refers to the attachment of libido to some psychical phenomenon. Since libido is limited, experiencing numerous traumatic events can leave a person with limited resources to cope with normal life.
• Freud described three levels of consciousness: the unconscious, the preconscious, and the conscious minds.
• The ego arises from the id, and acts according to the reality principle. It tries to balance the desires of the id with the constraints of the superego and the real world.
• When we are conscious of the ego being unable to restrain the impulses of the id we experience anxiety. The threat can be real, or primarily psychological. Freud emphasized that psychological reality can be every bit as important actual reality.
• There are four psychosexual stages, separated by a latency period. The oral, anal, and phallic stages occur during early childhood. Following the latency period and puberty, the genital stage represents physically mature reproductive functioning.
• The most dramatic development occurs during the phallic stage. It is in this stage that the Oedipus complex occurs, with its potential for the castration complex or penis envy.
• Freud’s perspective on the development of girls has been problematic since its inception. He considered the female psyche to be the result of an incomplete and frustrated male development.
• In analyzing dreams, Freud distinguished between the manifest and latent content. The difference results from distortion that occurs during the dream-work.
• The challenge faced by a psychoanalyst is the nature of the unconscious mind. It exists as layer upon layer with different degrees of resistance. Only through patience can the psychoanalyst overcome this resistance and help the patient.
• Freud acknowledged that religion had served a useful role in the history of humanity, but he firmly believed that there is no God. He felt we have grown beyond the ignorance of our ancestors, and the observations of psychoanalysis could explain how religion had arisen. He believed that the future of humanity was being hindered by clinging to these ancient and meaningless beliefs. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/03%3A_Sigmund_Freud/3.S%3A_A_Final_Note_and_Chapter_Summary.txt |
Alfred Adler was an early member and president of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, but he never considered himself a follower of Sigmund Freud. He strongly disagreed with Freud’s emphasis on sexual desire in the development of personality, focusing instead on children’s striving for superiority and the importance of social relationships. He began to address the psychology of women as a cultural phenomenon, as opposed to Freud’s view that women are fundamentally incapable of developing a complete and healthy personality. Adler also addressed issues of education, an individual’s unique perspective on the world, and family therapy. Adler provided a perspective in which the striving of individuals to improve themselves is an essential characteristic of personality development. Most importantly, he believed that personal improvement and success are best achieved in cooperation with others, and that culture is an important factor in determining how that can be accomplished.
It has been suggested that Adler may have had an even greater influence on the overall development of psychiatry and psychology than Freud himself, and that theorists such as Sullivan, as well as Karen Horney and Erich Fromm, should be recognized as neo-Adlerians, not neo-Freudians (Ellis, 1973; Kaufmann, 1992; Mosak, 1995; Watts, 1999). Indeed, a reviewer of one of Karen Horney’s books once wrote that Horney had just written a new book by Adler (see Mosak, 1995). Albert Ellis suggested that Adler set the stage for the cognitive/behavioral psychotherapies that are so popular today (Ellis, 1973). Late in life, Adler encouraged the wife of a good friend to write his biography, and he gave Phyllis Bottome, who was herself a friend of Adler, a great deal of assistance (Bottome, 1957). He wanted to be understood. Perhaps, however, she came to understand him too well:
Adler was at once the easiest of men to know, and the most difficult; the frankest and the most subtle; the most conciliatory - and the most ruthless. As a colleague he was a model of generosity, accuracy and wholehearted integrity, but woe betide that colleague who dared to presume upon his generosity; or who was himself guilty of inaccuracy; or who failed in common honesty!
Adler never again worked with a person whom he distrusted; except when that person was a patient. (pg. 13; Bottome, 1957)
Adler also had the ability to make an impression on people who did not know him. When Raymond Corsini, a well-known psychologist in his own right, was 21 years old, he was invited by a friend to hear Adler speak at the City College of New York. During the question period that followed the lecture, an angry woman called Adler stupid, and berated one of the observations he had discussed. The young Corsini shared Adler’s perspective, and Corsini looked forward to hearing Adler’s “crushing reply.” However, something quite different occurred:
He seemed interested in the question, waited a moment, then in the most natural and careful manner, completely unruffled by her evident antagonism, spoke to her very simply…
He seemed so calm, so reasonable, so precise, and so kind, I knew we were in the presence of a great man, a humble and kind person, one who repaid hostility with friendship. (pg. 86; Corsini cited in Manaster, et al., 1977)
Harry Stack Sullivan extended Adler’s focus on the individual and social interest, believing that each of us can be understood only within the context of our interpersonal relationships. Like Freud, Sullivan focused intently on developmental stages, though he recognized seven of them, and believed that the primary purpose of development was to form better interpersonal relationships. In regard to his interest in relationships he can be closely associated with Adler, who believed that social interest, and its resulting social interaction, was the best way for an individual to overcome either real inferiority (such as in the case of a helpless newborn) or feelings of inferiority that might develop as part of one’s personality. Unlike Freud and Adler, however, Sullivan was born in America. Thus, he should be considered one of the most important figures in American psychology, particularly within the field of psychodynamic theory. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/04%3A_Alfred_Adler_and_Harry_Stack_Sullivan/4.01%3A_Chapter_Introduction.txt |
Alfred Adler was born on February 7, 1870, on the outskirts of Vienna. The second of six children, the family was fairly typical of the middle-class. His father was a corn-merchant, and did well in his business. While Adler while still quite young the family moved out into the country, where they kept cows, horses, chickens, goats, rabbits, and they had a very large garden. Adler was particularly fond of flowers when he was a toddler, and the move out of Vienna had the consequence of protecting him from his bad habit of stealing flowers from the garden of the Palace of Schonbrunn, which belonged to the Kaiser! Despite the seemingly idyllic setting, and the family’s financial comfort, Adler did not have a happy childhood. The two main reasons for this were his sibling rivalry with his older brother and the unfortunate fact that he seemed to be surrounded by illness and death (Bottome, 1957; Manaster, et al., 1977; Sperber, 1974).
His older brother seemed to be an ideal child, and Adler felt he could never match his brother’s accomplishments. Even late in life, Adler told Phyllis Bottome with a sigh “My eldest brother…he was always ahead of me…he is still ahead of me!” (pg. 27; Bottome, 1957). As for his younger brothers, however, one felt the same sort of jealousy of Adler himself, whereas the youngest brother adored Adler. As for the illness and death, he suffered from rickets (a vitamin D deficiency) and spasms of his vocal cords, both of which made physical activity very difficult during his early childhood years. He was often forced to sit on a bench while watching his older brother run and jump. As he recovered, he joined his brother and the other local children in playing in a large field. Despite the fact that there were very few vehicles at the time, and those that were there moved very slowly, Adler was run over twice! Fortunately, he was not injured seriously. One of his younger brothers, however, had died suddenly when Adler was 4, an event that deeply affected him. And when Adler was 5, he came down with a serious case of pneumonia. After he had been examined by the doctor, Adler heard the doctor tell his father that there was no point in caring for Adler any more, as there was no hope for his survival. Adler was stricken with terror, and when he recovered he resolved to become a doctor so that he might have a better defense against death (Bottome, 1957; Manaster, et al., 1977; Sperber, 1974).
On the lighter side, most of the family was musically gifted. One of his brothers played and taught the violin, and one of his sisters was an excellent pianist. Despite the throat problems Adler had in early childhood, he developed a beautiful tenor voice. He was often encouraged to set aside his interest in science and pursue a career as an opera singer. Adler’s parents encouraged the musical interests of their children, and took advantage of the marvelous musical culture available in Vienna at the time. Adler attended every opera and play that was running, and even by the age of 4 years old could sing entire operettas (Bottome, 1957; Manaster, et al., 1977; Sperber, 1974).
Although Adler spent a great deal of time reading, he was not a particularly good student. His worst subject was math, until he finally had a breakthrough one day. When the instructor and the best student in class failed to solve a problem, Adler raised his hand. Everyone in the room, including the instructor, laughed out loud at him. However, he was able to solve the problem. After that, he did quite well in math, and overall he did well enough to enter the University of Vienna. He studied medicine, as he had planned since being a young child, and graduated in 1895. Almost nothing is known of his time spent at the University of Vienna. Afterward, he briefly practiced ophthalmology, but then switched to general practice, a field in which he was very popular amongst his patients. He also became active in socialist politics, where he met his future wife: Raissa Timofeyewna Epstein (Bottome, 1957; Manaster, et al., 1977; Sperber, 1974).
Raissa and Alfred Adler had three daughters and one son between the years 1898 and 1909. The family lived rather simply, but they always had enough to meet their needs. Their daughter Alexandra and son Kurt both became psychiatrists. Alexandra Adler described her relationship with her father as close and positive, and she considered it a privilege to follow in his footsteps, whereas Kurt Adler said that everyone in the family felt respected as an individual and that no one had to search for their identity (see Manaster, et al., 1977).
In his general practice, Adler began to see psychiatric patients. The first was a distant cousin who complained of headaches. Adler suggested that no one ever has only a headache, and asked if her marriage was happy. She was deeply offended, and left in a huff, but 2 months later she filed for divorce. As he saw more psychiatric patients, Adler treated each case as unique, and followed whatever therapy seemed most appropriate for the particular patient. This was the beginning, of course, of Individual Psychology. Adler was so popular in this regard that his biographer had the following experience herself when leaving a message for Adler:
‘Are you sure’, she asked the clerk at the desk, ‘that Professor Adler will get this message directly he comes in?’ [sic] ‘Adler?’ the clerk replied. ‘If it’s for him you needn’t worry. He always gets all his messages. You can hardly keep the bell-boys or the porter out of his room. They’ll take any excuse to talk to him, and as far as that goes, I’m not much better myself!’ (pg. 54; Bottome, 1957)
In 1900, Sigmund Freud gave a lecture to the Vienna Medical Association on his recently published book The Interpretation of Dreams (Freud, 1900/1995). The audience was openly hostile, and Freud was ridiculed. Adler was appalled, and he said so publicly, writing to a medical journal that Freud’s theories should be given the consideration they deserved. Freud was deeply flattered, he sent his thanks to Adler, and the two men met. In 1902, Adler was one of four doctors asked to meet weekly at Freud’s home to discuss work, philosophies, and the problem of neurosis. These meeting evolved into the Psychoanalytic Society. Adler and Freud maintained their cooperative relationship for eight years, and in 1910 Adler became the president of the International Psychoanalytic Association and co-editor of the newly established Zentrallblatt fur Psychoanalyse (with Freud as Editor-in-chief). During the preceding 8 years, however, the differences between Freud and Adler had become increasingly apparent. By 1911 he had resigned from the both the association and the journal’s editorial board. Although Freud had threatened to resign from the journal if Adler’s name was not removed, leading to Adler’s own decision to resign from the journal, Freud urged Adler to reconsider leaving the discussion group. He invited Adler to dinner to discuss a resolution, but none was to be found. Adler is said to have asked Freud: “Why should I always do my work under your shadow?” (pg. 76; Bottome, 1957). The Psychoanalytic Society debated whether or not Adler’s views were acceptable amongst the members of the society. The no votes counted fourteen, and the yes votes counted nine. Freud’s supporters had won a small majority, and the nine other members left to join Adler in forming a new society, which in 1912 became the Society for Individual Psychology (Bottome, 1957; Manaster, et al., 1977; Sperber, 1974).
During the years in which Adler was still active in the Psychoanalytic Society he had begun his studies on organ inferiority and the inferiority complex, and after the split with Freud he focused his career on psychiatry (giving up his general medical practice). During World War I he served in the Army as a physician, and he continued his observations on psychiatric conditions as he helped injured servicemen. Following the war the Austrian Republic began to emphasize education and school reform. Adler established his first child guidance center in 1922, and by the late 1920s there were thirty-two clinics in Vienna alone (as well as some in Germany). The clinics were intended to help train teachers to work with special needs children, but Adler felt it was important to help the children themselves as well. In 1930, Adler brought together a number of his colleagues, including his daughter Alexandra, and published Guiding the Child: On the Principles of Individual Psychology. This volume contains twenty-one chapters on the work being conducted in the Vienna child guidance clinics (including one chapter by Adler, and two by his daughter; Adler, 1930a). In addition, Adler taught at an adult education center and at a teacher training college. Adler continued to be so popular that after a long day of work he would settle in at the Cafe Siller and carry on friendly conversations until late at night.
In 1926, Adler made his first visit to America. Becoming a regular visitor, he lectured at Harvard and Brown Universities, in Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and several schools in California. In 1929, he was appointed a visiting professor at Columbia University, and in 1932 he was appointed as the first chair of Medical Psychology in the United States, at Long Island Medical College. All of his child guidance clinics were closed when the fascists overthrew the Austrian Republic in 1934, and Alfred and Raissa Adler made New York their official home. In the spring of 1937 he began a tour of Europe, giving lectures and holding meetings. As he traveled to Aberdeen, Scotland on May 28th, he collapsed from a heart attack and died before he reached the hospital.
One of the enduring questions about Adler’s career was the nature of his relationship with Freud. As mentioned above, it was the very popular Adler who defended Freud’s early theories, and helped Freud to gain recognition in psychiatry (remember that Freud was well known as an anatomist and neurophysiologist). And yet, it is often suggested that Adler was a student or disciple of Freud. According to Abraham Maslow, Adler was deeply offended by these suggestions:
I asked some question that implied his disciplineship under Freud. He became very angry and flushed, and talked so loudly that other people’s attention was attracted. He said that this was a lie and a swindle for which he blamed Freud entirely. He said that he had never been a student of Freud, or a disciple, or a follower…Freud, according to Adler, spread the version of the break which has since been accepted by all - namely, that Adler had been a disciple of Freud and then had broken away from him. It was this that made Adler bitter…I never heard him express personal opinions of Freud at any other time. This outburst must, therefore, be considered unusual. (pg. 93; Maslow cited in Manaster, et al., 1977; see also Kaufmann, 1992)
Placing Adler in Context: Perhaps the Most Influential Person in the History of Psychology and Psychotherapy
To suggest that anyone may have been more influential than Freud, let alone a contemporary of Freud, is difficult to say. And yet, if we look honestly at the accomplishments of Alfred Adler, and the breadth of his areas of interest, we will see that the case can be made. When Freud first proposed his psychodynamic theory, with its emphasis on infantile sexuality, Freud was often mocked, or simply ignored. It was the popular Dr. Adler’s defense of Freud, and Adler’s favorable review of the interesting nature of Freud’s theories, that helped Freud find an interested audience. As supportive as Adler was, he had his own theories from the very beginning of their association, and Adler’s Individual Psychology has a certain logical appeal, without the corresponding controversy generated by Freud.
Infants are inferior, and we all try to gain control over our environments. Thus, the basic inferiority/striving for superiority concept seems self-evident. Likewise, the inferiority complex is one of the most widely recognized and intuitively understood concepts in the history of psychology. Suggesting that each person adopts a style of life that helps them to pursue their goals also again makes perfect sense, and the suggestion that we have within us a creative power to form our style of life is a decidedly hopeful perspective on the human condition.
Adler’s influence within the psychodynamic field has been widely recognized, if not adequately advertised. When he split with Freud, nearly half of the psychoanalytic society left with him. His emphasis on social interactions and culture provided a framework within which theorists such as Karen Horney and Erich Fromm flourished. Adler’s emphasis on child guidance, and including school teachers as being just as important as parents, must have had an important influence on Anna Freud (though she would never have admitted it). Within the child guidance centers, Adler was one of the first (if not the first) to utilize family therapy and group psychotherapy, as well as school psychology. It was within such an environment, influenced also by Maria Montessori, that Erik Erikson evolved into the analyst and theorist he became.
Adler’s influence also extended well beyond the psychodynamic realm. His scheme of apperception set the stage for the cognitive psychology and therapies that are so popular (and effective) today. He is recognized by many as the founder of humanistic psychology, though it was Rogers, Maslow, and the existentialists Viktor Frankl (Frankl worked closely with Adler for a time) and Rollo May who clearly split from psychodynamic theory into new schools of psychology.
Given this extraordinary influence, it is surprising that Adler is not widely recognized as belonging amongst the greatest theorists and clinical innovators in the history of psychology and psychiatry. The honor is certainly well deserved. | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/04%3A_Alfred_Adler_and_Harry_Stack_Sullivan/4.02%3A_Brief_Biography_of_Alfred_Adler.txt |
Adler developed the concept of Individual Psychology out of his observation that psychologists were beginning to ignore what he called the unity of the individual:
A survey of the views and theories of most psychologists indicates a peculiar limitation both in the nature of their field of investigation and in their methods of inquiry. They act as if experience and knowledge of mankind were, with conscious intent, to be excluded from our investigations and all value and importance denied to artistic and creative vision as well as to intuition itself. (pg. 1; Adler, 1914/1963)
To summarize Individual Psychology briefly, children begin life with feelings of inferiority toward their parents, as well as toward the whole world. The child’s life becomes an ongoing effort to overcome this inferiority, and the child is continuously restless. As the child seeks superiority it creatively forms goals, even if the ultimate goal is a fictional representation of achieving superiority. Indeed, Adler believed that it is impossible to think, feel, will, or act without the perception of some goal, and that every psychological phenomenon can only be understood if it is regarded as preparation for some goal. Thus, the person’s entire life becomes centered on a given plan for attaining the final goal (whatever that may be). Such a perspective must be uniquely individual, since each person’s particular childhood feelings of inferiority, creative style of life, and ultimate goals would be unique to their own experiences (Adler, 1914/1963).
The suggestion that seeking to overcome one’s inferiorities is the driving force underlying personality development is, of course, a significant departure from Freud’s suggestion that development revolves around seeking psychosexual gratification. Another important difference is that Adler did not distinguish between the conscious and unconscious minds as Freud had:
The use of the terms “consciousness” and “unconsciousness” to designate distinctive factors is incorrect in the practice of Individual Psychology. Consciousness and unconsciousness move together in the same direction and are not contradictions, as is so often believed. What is more, there is no definite line of demarcation between them. It is merely a question of discovering the purpose of their joint movement. (pg. 56; Adler, 1929a)
Inferiority and Compensation
In 1907, Adler published his classic Study of Organ Inferiority and Its Psychical Compensation, which was translated into English 10 years later (Adler, 1917). This was primarily a medical article on the consequences of organ inferiority, in which Adler looked at how the nervous system helped the body to adapt to physical infirmities that resulted from, literally, inferior organ development. For example, it is often suggested that people who are blind develop better hearing. However, social psychologists have demonstrated that the social environment can profoundly affect our sensitivity to external stimuli. The reason for this is probably just what Adler described as the primary means through which the brain can compensate for any deficiency: by bringing attention to the processes necessary for compensation. Thus, if a person has difficulty seeing, they pay more careful attention to hearing, as well as to the other senses. However, this is not a perfect system, and it can also lead to over-compensation. As a result, a wide variety of physical symptoms can result from the psyche’s efforts (including unconscious efforts) to compensate for some problem. As noted by Freud, hysterical symptoms are typically manifested as physical problems. According to Adler, underlying these physical symptoms, even when they are caused solely by the psyche, there must be some organ inferiority within the body (Adler, 1917).
Adler did not limit his theory of organ inferiority to medical problems or neurotic symptoms, but rather, he expanded the theory to incorporate all aspects of life. Compensation refers to the typical manner in which a person seeks to overcome challenges. For example, if one breaks their arm, they learn to function with a cast, or if one loses their eyesight, they learn to use a cane or work with a seeing-eye dog (Dreikurs, 1950; Mosak & Maniacci, 1999). If we examine compensation in a more psychosocial realm, examples might include a college student who cannot find a suitable boyfriend or girlfriend so they focus on becoming a straight A student, a student who does not do well academically focuses their efforts on becoming a star athlete, or an only child who wished to have brothers and sisters has many children of their own (Lundin, 1989). In such instances, compensation leads to balance in one’s life. A weakness, or at least a perceived weakness, is compensated for in other ways (Manaster & Corsini, 1982).Overcompensation involves taking compensation to extremes. For example, a person born with a bad foot strives to become a professional dancer, or a person born in poverty strives to become a millionaire and then continues to work 80 hours a week or more striving to become a billionaire. Generally speaking, the mechanisms of personality inferiority are more complex than those of organ inferiority. Likewise, compensation and overcompensation are more complex when they pertain to one’s personality than when they involve physical challenges (Manaster & Corsini, 1982).
When a person finds it difficult to overcome their challenges in life, they can develop what Adler called an inferiority complex(Adler, 1928, 1929a, 1931a). Although feelings of inferiority are universal, as is the striving for superiority, people are not created equal. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. However, when an individual cannot compensate for their weaknesses, and their feelings of inferiority overwhelm them, the inferiority complex arises. According to Adler, the term complex is not really accurate, because the so-called inferiority complex is complicated, and it permeates the entire personality. And yet, it may not always be obvious. An individual with an inferiority complex may feel comfortable in situations in which they have enough experience to feel self-assured, although they may create those situations by avoiding competition that might expose their weaknesses (Adler, 1929a). The inferiority complex will show itself, however, in tense or difficult situations, and often takes the form of excuses as to why the individual can’t pursue a certain course of action. For psychologists, according to Adler, the presence of an inferiority complex can typically be recognized by contradictions, by certain emotions such as doubt, and by generally hesitant behavior. The proper treatment, therefore, is to encourage people, never to discourage them, and to help them understand that they are capable of solving problems and facing the difficulties of life (Adler, 1929a).
When the intense feelings of inferiority associated with the inferiority complex become too much to bear, they can be transformed into a unique delusion that Adler described as the superiority complex (Adler, 1928, 1929a, 1931a). The superiority complex should not be viewed as an extension of the normal process of striving for superiority. The superiority complex arises out of the inferiority complex, and is actually an extension of the intense feelings of inferiority. Interestingly, such people typically do not present themselves as superior individuals, instead they may be arrogant, snooty, domineering, or they may cling to prominent and important people. In contrast, people who truly are superior often have a sense of modesty (Lundin, 1989; Mosak & Maniacci, 1999). The complexity of the superiority complex, and its origin in feelings of inferiority and the continued striving for superiority that is universal can be seen not only in neurotic symptoms and other forms of mental illness, but also in criminal behavior:
We see children who start stealing suffering from the feeling of superiority. They believe they are deceiving others; that others do not know they are stealing. Thus they are richer with little effort. This same feeling is very pronounced among criminals who have the idea that they are superior heroes…he wants to arrange matters so that he escapes the solution of the problems of life. Criminality is thus, the result of a superiority complex and not the expression of fundamental and original viciousness. (pp. 80-81; Adler, 1929a)
Discussion Question: Adler believed that we all begin life with feelings of inferiority and then strive for superiority. What sort of things have you tried to be really good at in life? Can you remember times when you felt inferior trying to accomplish those same goals?
The Style of Life and the Life Plan
According to Adler, everyone faces difficulties in life, and they strive to overcome those difficulties. As each individual faces their unique difficulties, and strives to compensate in their own characteristic ways, given the environment (or culture) in which they live, the individual develops a sense of meaning for their life and they set a goal for their strivings. Initially Adler referred to the consistent movement toward this overriding goal as a life plan, but that term proved to be somewhat confusing. So, Adler chose instead to refer to the pursuit of one’s goal as the style of life. The style of life unifies the personality, as it is based on one’s early life experiences. However, Individual Psychology looks not to the past, but rather to the future. If we know a person’s style of life, we can predict their future actions (Adler, 1929a, 1931a).
It is not always easy to recognize the style of life, however, particularly in a psychologically healthy person or during times of relative calm. It is when a person faces a new situation, or a new difficulty, that the style of life becomes clear to others. For the normal person, the style of life is a framework within which the person is adapted to their society in such a way that the society benefits from the work of the person and the person themselves has the energy and courage to face any problems and difficulties that arise (Adler, 1929a). The style of life encompasses our individual creativity, the ways in which we solve problems and compensate for inferiorities, our attitudes, opinions, and goals. It unifies and expresses our personality, provides consistency for how we live our life, and helps us to find our place in the world (Adler, 1931a; Dreikurs, 1950; Lundin, 1989; Mosak & Maniacci, 1999).
The style of life is established fairly early in childhood, which can be a serious problem when it proves to be a dysfunctional style of life. The inferiority complex is, of course, one faulty style of life. When an inferiority complex arises out of an actual organ inferiority it can be particularly troublesome. Robert Lundin (1989) described the case of a senior student he knew in college who was only 5’ 3” tall (very short for a man, though this would really only be a perceived inferiority). He was extremely arrogant and hostile toward younger students, claiming to be intellectually superior in every regard. He even offered to be Lundin’s roommate, since Lundin obviously needed his help to improve Lundin’s deficient personality! Lundin declined the offer. Adler noted that organ inferiority is not always a negative situation, and given the advances in prosthetic devices that exist today, it is even truer now that organ inferiority does not necessarily diminish one’s quality of life. However, Adler emphasized that what matters most is how the individual experiences the weakness of their organ inferiority. Some try to avoid or deny the problem, others constantly “wrestle and struggle” with their difficulties. In the end, it comes down to the creative power of the individual to adapt (see below; Adler, 1932a/1964).
In addition to the style of life of that can result from organ inferiority (or perceived organ inferiority), Adler discussed two other factors that commonly lead to dysfunctional styles of life, and which can be attributed primarily to parental influence: pampering and neglect. The pampered style of life was of particular concern to Adler. He was not referring to children who are loved and cared for intimately, but to children whose parents constantly hover over them, solve every problem, and relieve the child of any duties or responsibilities. As a result, the child never learns to take care of itself or to interact with others in a cooperative manner.
The more deeply I have delved into the problem of neurosis and searched the cases presented, the more clearly have I come to see that in every individual with a neurosis some degree of pampering can be traced...Under such circumstances the child develops like a parasite… (pp. 88-89; Adler, 1932a/1964)
Extending this idea, Adler wrote that whether one is dealing with “difficult children, nervous or insane persons, suicides, delinquents, drug-addicts, or perverts, etc.” there is a lack of social feeling (Adler, 1964). In other words, they simply do not function well in relationship to others because they have never had to. As for the neglected child, one who is unwanted, they have had no opportunity for social interaction whatsoever, since their own family fails to interact with them. In cases of suicide, Adler believed that even death can be desired as a means of revenge against those who have hurt or neglected a child by showing others what they have lost in the one they failed to love (Adler, 1967). Since feelings of neglect are relative, pampered children often find themselves in situations, later in life, where they feel neglected, since they may no longer receive the pampering to which they have become accustomed (Adler, 1932a/1964).
Discussion Question: How would you describe your style of life? Adler believed that dysfunctional styles of life often result from either pampering or neglect. Do you know anyone whose style of life clearly reflects how they were raised? Are they someone you like to spend time with, or someone you would rather avoid?
Social Interest and Cooperation
Adler believed that the right way to achieve superiority was through social interest and the cooperation that naturally follows. This is not some high-minded philosophy, however, but simple reality. According to Adler, “we are in the midst of the stream of evolution.” As such, the human species as a whole has sought superiority, just as each individual seeks their own personal superiority (Adler, 1964). The individual’s weakness causes them to seek support from others, by living within a society:
All persons feel inadequate in certain situations. They feel overwhelmed by the difficulties of life and are incapable of meeting them single-handed. Hence one of the strongest tendencies in man has been to form groups in order that he may live as a member of a society and not as an isolated individual. This social life has without doubt been a great help to him in overcoming his feeling of inadequacy and inferiority. We know that this is the case with animals, where the weaker species always live in groups…On the other hand, gorillas, lions, and tigers can live isolated because nature has given them the means of self-protection. A human being has not their great strength, their claws, nor their teeth, and so cannot live apart. Thus we find that the beginning of social life lies in the weakness of the individual. (pp. 60-61; Adler, 1929a)
This evolutionary perspective provides an explanation for the paradox that Individual Psychology is focused largely on social relationships! Once again, we know (though perhaps unconsciously) that alone we are weak and inferior, but together we can accomplish great things. Adler’s hopeful vision for the future is that someday humanity’s social feeling will overcome everything that opposes it, and people will live in harmony. In the meantime, however, he acknowledges that many things still oppose it, and work to destroy the social feelings and social interest of children: sexism, racism, poverty, crime, the death penalty, suicide, greed, mistreatment of the poor, the handicapped, and the elderly, and all forms prejudice, discrimination, and intolerance (Adler, 1964). It is not an easy challenge facing humanity, but Adler suggested that the path toward harmony lies, in part, in recognizing the three main ties that every person must take into account. First, we are tied to this one world, the earth. We must learn how to survive here, given whatever advantages and disadvantages that means. Second, we are not the only member of the human race. Through cooperation and association we can find strength for all, and we can ensure the future of humanity. Finally, we must accept that there are two sexes. For Adler, this last tie is resolved primarily through love and marriage. While this may sound like a product of Adler’s cultural upbringing, it also implies caring for and respecting members of the other sex. Otherwise, love is a word used without meaning. Adler proposed that if we give meaning to life through the recognition of these three ties to our environment, then others can share in our meaning of life, and the benefit will then return to us (Adler, 1931a).
In more practical terms, social interest is evident in cooperation. In order for an individual to overcome their own feelings of inferiority they must know that they are valuable, which comes only from contributing to the common welfare. Adler felt that those who seek personal power are pursuing a false goal, and they will eventually disappear from life altogether. However, by contributing to family and society, either through raising children or contributing to the success of one’s culture or society, one can claim a sense of immortality. Individual psychology is based on the premise that when a person realizes that the common good is essential to the development of humanity, then they will pursue personal development that is in accord with the greater good. They will recognize both the good and challenges that come their way as belonging to all, and they will cooperate in seeking to solve the challenges. They will not ask for anything in return, since they recognize that whatever they do to benefit others is ultimately to their own benefit as well (Adler, 1933/1964). This perspective is surprisingly close to Eastern philosophies and the concepts of interbeing and karma, though Adler’s religious references are primarily Christian (though born Jewish, Adler later became a Christian).
In American society, work is often done by teams. The short definition of a team is two or more individuals, with different roles, who socially interact in order to pursue some common goal. Teams can lead to successful outcomes in a wide variety of settings, such as in software development, Olympic hockey, disease outbreak responses, or the unexpected damage to a spacecraft like Apollo 13 (for two excellent and entertaining movies on teamwork, see Miracle [O’Connor & Guggenheim, 2004] and Apollo 13 [Howard, Broyles, Jr., & Reinert, 1995]). However, teams can also lead to group failures, such as the international intelligence failures leading up to the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, the Space Shuttle Columbia accident, or the widely reported, storm-related deaths on Mt. Everest in 1997 (Kozlowski & Ilgen, 2006; Marks, 2006; for more on Mt. Everest see Boukreev & DeWalt, 1997; Krakauer, 1997). Given the importance of teamwork, both in personal settings and within organizations, there has been a great deal of research on teams, addressing cognitive, motivational, and behavioral factors, as well as information on effective team design, team training, and team leadership. Despite the wealth of information on both the positive and negative factors involved in teamwork, there is an interesting contradiction in the Western world:
…We school our children as individuals. We hire, train, and reward employees as individuals. And, yet, we have great faith that individuals thrown together into a team with little thought devoted to team composition, training and development, and leadership will be effective and successful. (pg. 115; Kozlowski & Ilgen, 2006)
Discussion Question: Working in teams can turn out good or bad, depending on dynamics of the team and the individuals involved. Are you actively involved in any teamwork? Does your team work well together, or do the dynamics of the team cause problems and interfere with accomplishing your goals?
The Life Tasks - Work, Communal Life, and Love
Based on the three ties described above, our ties to earth, humanity, and the opposite sex, Adler described three life tasks: work, communal life, and love. Work relates to the earth in an evolutionary sense, dating back to when our ancient ancestors were hunter/gatherers dependent on the environment for food and shelter. According to Adler, all of the questions of life can be found within these three tasks, which challenge us continuously throughout our lives. They tasks are not unrelated, since each one depends upon the successful pursuit of the other two. Given this interrelationship, Adler believed that how a person approaches each of these tasks, through their style of life, reveals a great deal about what they view as the meaning of life. It is necessary, of course, for there to be balance. For example, a person in an unhappy marriage might spend a great deal of time at work. This represents a mistaken style of life (Adler, 1931a, 1964). Worse still, is someone who fails to pursue any of the life tasks:
Suppose, for example, we consider a man whose love-life is incomplete, who makes no efforts in his profession, who has few friends and who finds contact with his fellows painful. From the limits and restrictions of his life we may conclude that he feels being alive as a difficult and dangerous thing, offering few opportunities and many defeats. (pg. 7; Adler, 1931a)
The importance of the work task is to be found in the fact that we must do something with our time. As people began to cooperate, they were able to divide their labors. Some would hunt, some would farm, some became craftsmen, some raised the young, and eventually others served in the armies that protected all the rest. In this manner, each person served a valuable role within society (even if the role was not prestigious), and everyone benefited from the ability of each person to become more of an expert in their role. Of course, this sort of social cooperation is the second task of life, the communal life or, as it is sometimes referred to, having friends. Working with others for the common good can be quite difficult if people are doing so only for their own benefit, and it they distrust or fear those they seem to be cooperating with. As societies became more advanced, and education became an important part of society, most societies encourage social interest as an aspect of education. In America, for example, we talk about children learning to be good citizens, and schools include many civics lessons. In addition, societies establish not only formal and informal guidelines and norms for acceptable behavior, but actual laws are written to punish those who act in defiance of the common good. Not that this is easy! The first amendment to the American constitution guarantees free speech, which includes the right to challenge the very existence of our form of government. However, it is generally recognized that the greater good is served by protecting the people from possible abuses of power by the government. Without getting into a discussion of politics, this balance, which seeks to serve the best interests of the community of citizens, has resulted in one of the longest lasting governments in the world today.
When Adler referred to the third task of life, love, he was primarily talking about choosing a partner to bear and raise children. When a child is first born, the love of its mother is the basis for the child’s development of social feelings. If a child is neglected, they do not learn how to relate to others, or if they are spoiled, they do not need to relate to others. An early challenge for the child is found in the nature of the father, and then any siblings who may be a part of the family. They typically do not approach the child with the same tender love as the mother. If the mother protects the child from this, spoiling and coddling the infant, a disordered style of life develops, but if the mother leaves the child to face this new challenge on its own, they must rely on their creative powers to adapt to these different social relationships. Children readily have this capacity, if they are allowed to utilize it. Later in life, each person must choose a mate in order to have their own children, and their ability to adapt to relationships with love interests will, obviously, depend on their own development earlier in life. Active, friendly members of a community will have more opportunities to meet someone they are truly attracted to. Individuals who are successful and productive in their work will be better able to provide for a family. And of course, the ultimate existence of each member of the community depends on continued procreation of the species. Thus, work, communal life, and love come together within a healthy society for everyone’s benefit (Adler, 1931a, 1964; Lundin, 1989; Mosak & Maniacci, 1999).
connections across cultures: Randy Kearse and using prison as an opportunity for change
One of the challenges to social cooperation is the ability to communicate. Communication takes place in at least two important ways: language and shared experiences/goals. If we cannot understand what a person is saying, then communication is obviously difficult. But even if we speak the same language, if our entire perspective on life is different, particularly the direction in which we are headed (our style of life), it can be even more difficult to really communicate. Randy Kearse is a man who has lived outside of what many of us consider mainstream America. He grew up in a Brooklyn, NY ghetto, where he became well versed in street talk, or what he refers to as hip-hop and urban slanguage (Kearse, 2006a). Despite coming from a relatively stable family (his mother was a teacher and all of his brothers and his sister graduated from high school), he descended into a life of drugs and crime, eventually spending over 13 years in a federal prison for dealing illegal drugs. This introduced Kearse to a large, and growing, subculture in America: the prison population. Kearse learned one lesson very clearly in prison: he hated it! He hated people having such power over him, he hated the disrespect his mother had to endure when she visited him, he hated the food, he hated having the guards read his mail, etc., ad infinitum.
With so many reasons to hate prison, there was no way I was gonna put myself back in the same situation again. Brothers complain about being locked up everyday all day while they’re there, but when they get a chance to run the streets again their hatred for prison life fades away. That’s crazy! (pg. 132; Kearse, 2006b)
But how does one stay out of prison? In Changin’ Your Game Plan! (Kearse, 2006b), Kearse offers some very practical steps. But more importantly, he discusses why it matters, and how one needs to change their mindset in order to be successful. His advice fits well with Adler’s emphasis on social interest and cooperation, as well as with Adler’s three life tasks. As Kearse says, what good is street pride when you don’t have the respect of your mother, your children, and other people who know what you’re capable of accomplishing?
Kearse believes that everyone has a purpose in life. Even prisoners serving life sentences can preach to others about straightening out their lives so the ones who do get out of prison can stay out. For his own part, Kearse is trying to set a good example now that he is out. He talks about the misguided sense of pride that keeps people from working minimum wage jobs when they come home. Most people in prison do not want their children to live such a life, but can they really set the right example when they themselves get out of prison? One of the most important things to realize is that their style of life has helped to create the problems that exist in their community:
We have a real obligation to make these changes while incarcerated because a lot of us are to blame for the condition our neighborhoods are in today. We were major contributors to the chaos, mayhem and destruction that have plagued our communities…The saddest thing you can see while incarcerated, is a youngster young enough to be your son walk through the doors. (pg. 133; Kearse, 2006b)
In order to help their communities and their families, Kearse emphasizes that individuals returning home from prison need to get a job and work for an honest living. Kearse tells New Yorkers exactly where to go and how to go about getting ID and a social security card. He recommends getting a job as a messenger, especially if you have a driver’s license and can afford to buy a van (or if you save up the money to buy a van). For most of us, having these things is simply taken for granted, but not so for many poor people growing up in the city where such things may not be necessary (especially if one works illegally). One of the advantages of having a messenger/delivery job is that one gets to travel around, meet different people, and become aware of different opportunities. This proved very helpful to Kearse as he pursued his dream of publishing Street Talk: Da Official Guide to Hip-Hop & Urban Slanguage(Kearse, 2006a). Curiously, the book is not complete. In acceptance of his publisher’s concerns (representing the community), the commercially available version left out the most derogatory slang pertaining to women, race, sexual preference, ethnicity, and religion. Kearse later published a supplemental version (“Da Grimy Version”) through a private site. As Kearse became more experienced, he established his own publishing company for his second book, Changin’ Your Game Plan!, and he is now working on an autobiography. Randy Kearse is working hard to make a better life for himself, set an example for his community, and to honor the mother who raised him to have ambition and dreams. His mother still loved Kearse when he was sent to prison, but her patience was limited:
Once I received my sentence my mother told me straight up, “I’ll ride this time out with you, but if you get back out here and get caught up in them streets again don’t call me,” and I can’t blame her for that. How much can a mother take seeing her child going back and forth to prison? (pg. 33; Kearse, 2006b)
It would be very difficult for most of us to imagine what prison life and culture is like, or even what it would be like to get caught up in the judicial system. But for people who live in difficult circumstances, it can be just as difficult to avoid getting caught up in a style of life that promises instant gratification, but which costs a lot of money. People who try to take shortcuts, such as stealing what they want, or selling drugs to make a lot of money, end up with little to show for their life except “a gang of years in prison.” Escaping this style of life requires a plan, and even more so the motivation for making that plan work:
Coming out of prison you have to have a plan. If you don’t, the chance of you returning to prison is great and you and I both know these people aren’t playing. They’ll lock your ass up for a hun’ned years and not care…Shit is real. (pg. xxiii; Kearse, 2006b)
The Creative Power of the Individual and Fictional Finalism
The science of Individual Psychology developed out of the effort to understand that mysterious creative power of life - that power which expresses itself in the desire to develop, to strive and to achieve - and even to compensate for defeats in one direction by striving for success in another. (pg. 32; Adler, 1929a)
Adler believed that we are all born with a creative force: the creative power of the individual. He did not reject the concepts of heredity, temperament, or disposition, but he emphasized that it not so important what we are born with, but rather what we do with it (Adler, 1932a/1964). As noted above, infants are inferior, so everyone begins life with feelings of inferiority. This leads to the striving for superiority, and the development of a style of life, which is aimed toward some goal. The nature of that style of life is unique because it is created by the child, and it is done very early in life. This is not a deterministic perspective, this creation of the style of life is just that, creative, and therefore it must be unique (hence, Individual Psychology). Since Adler believed that all thought and behavior was oriented toward some goal, there must be some goal that underlies the manner in which the style of life is created. Since a child cannot see into the future and create a specific goal in life, Adler proposed that we are guided by a fictional goal, the so-called fictional finalism (Adler, 1914/1963, 1928, 1929a, 1932a/1964; Lundin, 1989; Manaster & Corsini, 1982).
The fictional final goal involves the sentiment of superiority, or at least the elevation of the personality to an extent that makes life seem worth living (Adler, 1928). Thus, it does not need to be precisely defined, which is important for our consideration that it is created by a young child. And yet it exists within the child’s mind, it provides the framework within which the style of life is creatively formed, and it serves as the child’s goal in life (though it remains primarily unconscious). It is also important to recognize that although this goal is fictional, it is entirely positive, it is a healthy and natural motivational force (Lundin, 1989). The fictional finalism should definitely not be mistaken for fictive superiority. Fictive superiority is the imagination, or false belief, that one is actually superior. It is a typical neurotic symptom that stems, primarily, from having been pampered. A pampered child is superior, at least in the sense that everything is done for them. However, adult life no longer sustains that delusion, yet the child has never learned how to adapt to life’s challenges, their style of life is set in the expectation of challenges being solved for them. A healthy child, on the other hand, has learned to face challenges, and to strive toward overcoming them. Thus, the healthy child develops a style of life that incorporates the process of facing and overcoming life’s obstacles, and this carries over into a healthy adulthood (Adler, 1932b/1964).
Within his discussion of the creative power of the individual and the fictional finalism, Adler began to address what can be viewed as the foundation for cognitive psychology and cognitive therapy (see Chapter 12):
In a word, I am convinced that a person’s behaviour springs from his idea. We should not be surprised at this, because our senses do not receive actual facts, but merely a subjective image of them - a reflection of the external world. (pg. 19; Adler, 1964)
According to Adler, the prototype of the style of life, as it points toward the fictional finalism, is set in a particular orientation. Throughout the individual’s life, their perceptions of the world are then constrained to “fall into a groove established by the line of direction” (Adler, 1929a). He referred to this phenomenon as the scheme of apperception. As a result of this scheme, the individual interprets experiences before they are accepted, and the interpretation always agrees with the original meaning that the individual has given to their life. When the individual has developed a mistaken meaning to life, or when experience cannot be reconciled with the meaning they hold, they may be forced to change their scheme of apperception. This is not easy, however, and only occurs when there is sufficient social pressure to do so (Adler, 1931a).
Discussion Question: Adler described fictive superiority as the mistaken belief that one is superior to others. What do you think about people who think they are great, who think they know everything about everything, and can do anything at all, but who really are no different than anyone else?
Child Development and Education
Adler agreed with Freud that personality is basically set in the early childhood years. Thus, Adler was particularly interested in child development, and also in the training of those responsible for raising children (typically, the parents, the rest of the family, and school teachers). The emphasis in much of his work was on ensuring that children are brought up in the best way possible from the very beginning of life. We have already examined the importance of the mother’s role, and that she needs to be supportive but must not spoil her child. A child who is unable to resolve life’s problem without the assistance of others will grow up into a neurotic person demonstrating a dysfunctional style of life (Adler, 1913a/1963). Since this is something that happens within the family, the parents obviously cannot serve as part of the solution for this problem. Thus, Adler turned his attention to school teachers.
Adler believed that a person is educated when it becomes clear that they have become more relevant to more people (Adler, 1958). In other words, they become a more active and involved member of their community, society, and perhaps even the whole world. School represents a new situation for a child. If they have been raised well, they pass this test rather easily. If not, the defects in their style of life become evident. School work requires cooperation with both the teacher and the other students, and the ability to cooperate is probably more important than the child’s innate intellectual abilities. Adler did not dismiss the importance of I.Q. (though he did suggest that the child and the parents should never be told what it is), but he pointed out that a child’s ability to concentrate on school subjects is primarily dependent on the child’s interest in the teacher (Adler, 1930b). So once again, we see the three life tasks coming into play. School work is the child’s work, and it must take place within a communal setting (the classroom). But what about love? Whether you want to call it support, encouragement, caring, motivation, or love, Adler was clear in terms of what he thought about the “peculiar position” held by teachers:
The teacher, professional or amateur, must teach the simple thing: love, and call it by its simple name: love. Almost since the beginnings of recorded history, however, the teacher has been in a peculiar position: he is facing pupils, children or adults, who do not expect that the thing they ought to learn is so simple. (pg. 115; Adler, 1958)
According to Adler, it is the role of teachers to recognize the difficulties that children cannot overcome, and to “correct the mistakes of the parents.” An essential aspect of this “correction,” however, is that it must never be punitive. Adler believed that if teachers scold or criticize students who cannot connect with their teacher or their classmates, then the child will realize they were right to dislike school. Rather, teachers must help children to connect with themselves, and then reach out to connect with others (Adler, 1931a). But what about children who cannot redirect their style of life or face up to the challenges they encounter?
Discussion Question: Teachers play an important role in each person’s development, according to Adler. Who were the teachers who really influenced you, and were they good teachers who helped you, or bad teachers who inspired you to be a better person than you saw in them?
Adler wrote a great deal about guiding children, and about helping them to avoid and recover from delinquency (Adler, 1918/1963, 1930a, 1931a, 1935/1964, 1963), and his daughter Alexandra joined him in this endeavor (Alexandra Adler, 1930a,b). Often the discussion addresses the primary problem in Adler’s view: a lack of social interest due to having been pampered. In addition, both Adler and his daughter bring into consideration an interesting family dynamic that appears to play some role: the child’s birth order. An only child is in an unfavorable situation. Although they certainly receive attention and support from their parents, since they receive all of it they tend to be pampered and they lack practice in being sociable. As they leave the pampered surroundings of the home, such as when they go to school, the child grows up fighting against their environment and trying to dominate it. Their solutions can be passive, such as being timid, anxious, or routinely getting “sick,” or their solutions can be active, such as being excessively talkative, defiant, or combative (Alexandra Adler, 1930a; Adler, 1929/1964). They face the potential of becoming like parasites, people who do nothing but enjoy life while expecting others to take care of them (Adler, 1928). The situation can be much worse, however, for the oldest child. The oldest child was, for a time, an only child, and received all of the privilege and pampering associated with that position. With the arrival of the next child, however, they lose their privileged position, and the mother must be particularly attentive to the new infant. The oldest child is dethroned, and this can feel quite tragic, leading to consuming jealousy and a bitter struggle to regain the parent’s attention (Adler, 1929/1964, 1931a, 1963). Dethroning is an experience that always leaves a great impression, and can lead to a critical attitude toward the mother and a turning away toward the father (Adler, 1929/1964). According to Adler, one often finds the experience of being dethroned in the past of problem children, neurotics, criminals, drunkards, and perverts (Adler, 1931a). Nonetheless, being the oldest child also has distinct advantages. Amongst the siblings, the first born is typically the biggest and more experienced child. They have a certain power over the other children, in that they are often given greater responsibility, including, perhaps, the responsibility of caring for their younger brothers and sisters. They tend to be guardians of law and order, and they have an especially high valuation of power (Adler, 1928). Adler was careful to point out, however, that too much is often made of his theories on birth order. It is not the birth order, per se, which determines the nature of development. For example, if the oldest child is not competitive, the second child may develop as if they were the first child. Similarly, if two children are born much later than their older siblings, the elder of those two may develop the characteristics of a first born.
In those cases where the challenges of adolescence become too much for a child, they begin to creatively protect themselves by doing things such as forging report cards, skipping school, etc. As they meet others doing the same things, they join with them, form gangs, and may well start out on a road that leads to a life of crime. Demonstrating his great concern for the individual, however, Adler wrote:
All this can be avoided if we accept the point of view of Individual Psychology that no child should be thought hopeless. We must feel that a method can always be found to help a child. Even in the worst of circumstances there is always a particular way of approach - but this of course needs to be found. (pg. 179; Adler, 1930b)
In a recent special issue of the American Psychologist, a series of articles were presented focusing on effective, evidence-based prevention programs designed to increase the number of children and youth who will succeed and contribute both in school and in life (Weissberg, Kumpfer, & Seligman, 2003). In accordance with Adler’s theories, effective parenting seems to be the best way to reduce adolescent problem behaviors, and the family can be strengthened through approaches such as behavioral parent training, family skills training, and family therapy (Kumpfer & Alvarado, 2003). School-based prevention programs can also be beneficial, but it is important that educational approaches coordinate social and emotional learning with more traditional academic learning (Greenberg, et al., 2003). Since the problems of adolescence are so variable, including such things as alcohol, tobacco, and other drug abuse, violence, delinquency, mental illness, etc., and since they affect so many children, approaches that attempt to intervene with one child at a time may not be adequate. Accordingly, community interventions become important, and may go so far as to require coordinated national efforts, such as Head Start or the combined efforts of the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce lead poisoning (Ripple & Zigler, 2003; Wandersman & Florin, 2003). And last but not least, health care providers can play an important role in ensuring the psychological well-being of their patients, as well as their physical health (Johnson & Millstein, 2003). Indeed, Adler quoted the renowned Rudolf Virchow (one of the founders of cellular pathology; who coined the terms thrombosis, embolism, and leukemia, among many other accomplishments) in saying: “Physicians will eventually become the educators of humanity” (pg. 317; Adler, 1918/1963; see also Knopf & Wexberg, 1930). Perhaps the most important aspect of these studies is the concerted effort to combine scientific research with clinical practice and experience, as well as doing so in socioculturally relevant ways (Biglan, et al., 2003; Nation, et al., 2003). Echoing Adler’s call from 1930, and moving toward its answer:
If researchers can foster increased use of scientific practices in these ways, it is possible to achieve a society in which the largest possible proportion of children experience healthy, happy, and successful development and arrive at adulthood with the social, emotional, and cognitive skills they need to lead healthy and successful lives. (pg. 438; Biglan et al., 2003)
The Psychology of Women
Adler’s views on the psychology of women could not have been more different than those of Freud. As someone who questioned cultural discrimination long before most, Adler considered women to be equal to men, and he described the belief that they were inferior as a myth. A division of labor has always been an important part of the communal life of the human species. When neighboring groups came into conflict, it was the larger, stronger men who did most of the fighting to protect the group. According to Adler, men extended this conflict and feeling of power to the subjugation of women. Ever since, men have enjoyed privileges that were denied to women, and this has been maintained primarily through force, or the threat of force, but also through indoctrination and education (Adler, 1910/ 1978, 1927/1978, 1928). Adler himself avoided the use of the term “opposite sex,” a term that implies an adversarial relationship, preferring instead to use the term “other sex” when referring to women (Manaster & Corsini, 1982).
Adler recognized that what women really desire is the privilege that men enjoy, but this is not unique to women. There are also men, or boys, who are not dominant, and they also strive for superiority and privilege. At birth, of course, both male and female infants are helpless and inferior, and must begin to strive for superiority. The form that this striving takes is something Adler called the masculine protest. It was not his intention to suggest that masculine traits of dominance and aggression make men better than women, but this was the nature of the times in which he lived. It is purely cultural that the male gender role includes strength, knowledge, physical activity, etc., whereas the female gender role includes submissiveness, weakness, the desire for physical and emotional closeness, etc. All children display some degree of these traits, but society directs boys toward the male role, and girls toward the female role (Adler, 1910/1978, 1912a/1963, 1928, 1929/1964). We can now recognize what many consider Freud’s great mistake regarding the psychology of women. Women who display masculine traits were seen as neurotic by Freud, but Adler viewed them as protesting the cultural denigration of women. Still, it is not easy to challenge the nature of society, so Adler still acknowledged that women were more likely to be neurotic than men. However, Adler attributes the neurosis of most women to masculine protest, not to the inability to resolve a woman’s penis envy! In 1910, just as Adler was about to break away from Freud’s Psychoanalytic Society, Adler proposed that the great Oedipus complex is only a small part, just a stage, of the masculine protest, for both men and women (Adler, 1910/1978).
Discussion Question: Adler described masculine protest as a cultural phenomenon in which women, and even some men, strive to act masculine in order to ensure the privilege reserved only for men. Can you think of any strong women whose career or style of life fits into this theory? What about any men you know (or know of)? | textbooks/socialsci/Psychology/Culture_and_Community/Personality_Theory_in_a_Cultural_Context_(Kelland)/04%3A_Alfred_Adler_and_Harry_Stack_Sullivan/4.03%3A_Adler%27s_Individual_Psychology.txt |
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