PSCH 231 Exam 1

Before the beginning

The conditions, events, and forces that exist prior to the start of a new setting or phenomenon

What was the Before the Beginning for Community Psychology?

Swampscott Conference

What are the four Before the Beginning factors for Community Psychology?

-Illusion of What it means to be American

-Recognition of Inequity and a call for Social Reform

-Research on System Failures

-Community Mental Health Movement

What is an example of “What it means to be an American”?

McCarthyism

What is an example of “Recognition of Inequity and a call for Social Reform”?

Brown v. Board of Education

What is an example of “Research of System Failures”?

Clark & Clark doll studies

What is an example of “Community Mental Health Movement”?

Deinstitutionalization

What separates Community Psychology from other subfields of Psychology?

Less focused on an individual, and more focus on community based research

What are some factors Community Psychology considers with research?

-Social Context

-Cultural Context

-Economic Context

-Political Context

-The researcher themselves

How does traditional science differ from community psychology?

-Traditional science likes being more objective and less biased

-Community Psych likes our biases to influence the work and fuel our values

What is a value?

A conception, explicit or implicit, distinctive of an individual or characteristics of a group, of the desirable which influences the selection from available means, modes or ends of action

7 Core Values of CP

-Individual & Family Wellness

-Respect for human diversity

-Sense of Community

-Social Justice

-Empowerment and citizen participation

-Collaboration and community strengths

-Empirical grounding

Individual & Family Wellness

Physical and Mental health, personal well-being

Respect for Human Diversity

Respect and Value All

Sense of Community

Individuals linked in a collective entity

Social Justice

Equal allocation of resources, opportunities and power

Empowerment and citizen participation

Power for people to control their own lives

Collaboration and community strengths

Strengths vs Deficits

Empirical grounding

Integration of research and action

Qualities of a Community Psychologist

-A clearly identified competence

-Creating an Eco Identity

-Tolerance for Diversity

-Coping effectively with varied resources

-Commitment to risk-taking

-Metabolic of patience and zeal

-Giving away the byline

A clearly identified competence

Be good at something, be able to explain it well, and willing to give it away

Creating an Eco Identity

Identify as part of the community, invested emotionally, engage with people who are unlike them

Tolerance for Diversity

-Appreciate Diversity in all aspects

-Search for meaning in differences

Coping effectively with varied resources

-Work with available resources, be creative

-Learn about talents, limitations and contributions of community members

Commitment to risk-taking

-Be an advocate for a real cause and change

-Perseverant

-Take on controversial positions

Metabolic balance of patience and zeal

-Know when to be patient or zealous

Giving away the byline

-Primary effort is to contribute to change efforts

-Value the work itself

Community

A grouping of individuals who may not know all the other members, but who share a sense of mutual commitment

Locality-Based Community

-Traditional conception of community

-Defined by geographic proximity

-City blocks, neighborhoods, small towns, etc.

Relational-Based Community

-Not defined by geography

-Defined by interpersonal relationships

-Internet discussion groups, religious groups, etc.

Levels of Community

• Microsystems

• Organizations

• Localities

• Macro systems

Examples of Boundaries of Community

Districts, Areas in a neighborhood,

Psychological Sense of Community

A bonding, sense of mattering, and being part of the group

4 Elements of Psychological Sense of Community

• Membership

• Influence

• Integration and Fulfillment of Needs

• Shared Emotional Connection

Membership

Sense among community members of a personal investment in the community and of belonging to it

Influence

Members to the group

Integration and Fulfillment of Needs

• Interactions and Relations between members

• Shared values

• Satisfying needs and exchanging resources

Shared Emotional Connection

A shared bond, through shared rituals, ceremonies, values

How do researchers measure neighborhoods/communities?

• Census tracts

• Census block groups

• American Census Survey

Ecological Systems Theory

The scientific study of the progressive, mutual accommodation between an active, growing human being and the changing properties of the immediate settings in which the developing person lives, as this process is affected by relations between these settings and by the larger contexts in which the settings are embedded

Microsystem

A pattern of activities, roles, and interpersonal relations experienced by the developing person in a given setting with a particular physical and material characteristics

Mesosystems

The interrelations among two or more settings in which the developing person actively participates

Exosystem

One or more settings that do not involve the developing person as a participant, but events affect the settings in which the developing person participates

Macrosystem

Consistencies,in the form and content of lower order systems that exist or could exist at the level of the subculture or the culture as a whole, along with any belief system or ideology

Chronosystem

The role of time, including environmental events and transitions that occur throughout the developing person’s life and sociohistorical events

What are some factors to “thinking ecologically”?

• Physical Environment

• Political Environment

• Social Environment

• Economic Environment

• Historical Environment

Behavior Setting Theory

Understanding the relationship between the individual behaviors and varying characteristics of the physical environment

Program Circuits

Cues that guide standing behavior pattern

Goal Circuits

Every individual has something that they hope to get out of a behavior; these goals drive behavior

Deviation-countering circuits

Things that people or settings do to achieve the goals of the setting

Vetoing Circuits

Rules, behaviors, responses put in place to exclude individuals who violate goals

Social Climate Theory

Understand how people adapt to their social environment and how contexts adapt to people

3 Dimensions of Social Climate Theory

• Perceptions of how a setting organizes social relationships

• Perceptions of how individuals believe they are being supported

• Perceptions of how the setting maintains norms or supports change

What is the issue with measuring Social Climate?

Quantitative data is used to show a subjective experience

Liberation Psychology

Partner with marginalized communities to challenge systems of power and allow them to have control over their resources

Ecological Theory

Provide a framework for understanding the structure and function of a community

4 Principles to Ecological Theory

• Adaptation

• Interdependence

• Cycling of resources

• Succession

Adaptation

Interactions between persons and their environment to better understand why behavior is effective in one setting may not be useful in others

Cycling of resources

Systematic processes of using and developing materials and resources that impact community growth and development

Interdependence

Changes in one aspect of the community impacts everything else

Succession

Communities are in a constant process of change

Diversity Approach

Focus on differences and commonalities among social identity groups’ experiences

What is the goal of Diversity Approach?

• Be aware of differences

• Have accurate information on differences

• Appreciate differences

Social Justice Approach

Focus on understanding how differences interact with systems of unequal social power that result in some groups having more, and others less.

What is the goal of Social Justice Approach?

• Be aware of and understand systems and structures

• Be aware and understand our role in them

• Commit to change

Oppression

Multidimensional, multileveled system that consolidates social powers to privileged groups and to disadvantage subordinate groups

What 2 factors make up Oppression?

Discrimination and Institutional Support

What object is used to showcase the dimensions of Oppression?

3-Dimmensional Matrix of Oppression

Defined norm

Standard of rightness against which others are judged

Institutional Power

Societal institutions provide advantaged group with ability to exert power over targeted group

Economic Power

Advantaged group has access to resources, mobility, and employment options

Myth Scarcity

Resources are limited and members of the target group are taking them

Violence & Threat of Violence

Institutional Violence and the toleration of violence against target group members

Lack of prior claim

If you weren’t there in the beginning, you have no right to inclusion

Invisibility

Existence, everyday lives, history, achievements, and contributions of target groups are kept unknown

Distortion

Revising history to reflect incomplete, inaccurate details

Stereotyping

Denying individual characteristics among target group members and believing members think and behave in the same way

Blaming the victim

Portraying oppression as deserved by members of the target group due to individual behaviors and failures, diverting attention from the cause of oppression

Isolation

Target group members are separated from one another, as a way of limiting access to control and power

Assimilation

Target group members drop their culture and seek to assume culture of privileged group

Tokenism

Allow select members of the target groups access to advantaged culture in an attempt to discredit claims of oppression

Internalized Oppression

Target group members believe the oppressive falsehoods and myths about themselves

Horizontal Hostility

Target group members believe oppressive falsehoods, myths and target each other

Unearned Privileged

Refers to benefits, special things, privileges someone receives based on the groups they belong to, not based on individual merit or if they have done anything to earn it

3 Characteristics of Systems of Privilege

• Dominated by

• Identified with

• Centered on

Dominated by

Positions of power tend to be occupied by members of privileged groups

Identified with

Privileged groups are taken as the standard of comparison that represents the best society has to offer

Centered on

We focus our attention on privileged groups

4 steps to Blaming the Victim

• Identify the social problem

• Study those affected by the social problem and discover how they are different as a consequence of deprivation and justice

• Define the difference as a cause

• Create a program that focuses on correcting the difference

Exceptional Approach

• Success is for the taking

• Everyone should succeed

• Those who don’t succeed are flawed

Universal Approach

Social arrangements are imperfect, to be expected, predictable, and preventable

Exceptional Solutions

• Special

• Exclusive

• Remedial/Corrective

• Just this group needs assistance

Universal Solutions

• Public

• Inclusive

• Preventative/Promotional

• For everyone