Introduction to Community and Community Psychology

Roseto, Pennsylvania

• Named by the first 11 immigrants who arrived in 1882 to begin a new life in the US

• By 2000, it grew to around 640 households and over 1,600 residents

• In early 1960’s, doctor in Roseto told Dr. Steward Wolf that he almost never saw heart disease in patients under age 65

  • At the time, heart attacks were the leading cause of death among men under 65

• Discovered that no one in Roseto under 65 had died from or shown signs of heart disease

  • Even among older men, the death rate was about half of the national average

  • The overall morality rate was 30-35% lower than expected compared the the US as a whole

Community

• The idea that we belong to communities and that these communities provide benefits and responsibilities is one that has gained a growing appreciation in the last decade

Community as Defined by Community Psychology

• Seymour Sarason -- Taught at Yale from 1945 to 1989

  • The readily available, mutually supportive network of relationships on which one could depend

• Geoff Nelson and Isaac Prilleltensky -- Faculty members in community psychology at Laurier

  • At the most basic level, the word community implies a group or groups of citizens who have something in common

• Krause and Montenegro -- 2017

  • Community as a human group that develops upon shared meanings and a common identity, whose members define themselves as such and are linked to each other by a sense of belonging and a relationship sustained through communication, shared goals, and joint actions which occur in a variable material and temporal space

    • Highlights seven interconnected dimensions -- Psychological-emotional, relational, action, time-space, motivational, cultural, and social identity

Community’s Impact on Health and Well-Being

• Physiological immunity, enhanced learning, and the restorative power of mutual trust derive from face-to-face contact with the people in your intimate circle

• Our relationships, the people we know and care about, are just as critical to our survival

Loneliness, Health, and Morality in Old Age

• Study examined effect of loneliness on the mortality rate of adults over 50

• Over six years, researchers evaluated correlation between loneliness and morality

  • Found that the relationship between both variables is dynamic and reciprocal

• Participants’ loneliness affected their health outcomes and their health outcomes affected their feelings of loneliness

Social Capital and Neighbourhood Morality Rates in Chicago

• Study examined relationship between social capital and health outcomes in 342 Chicago neighbourhoods

  • Researchers defined social capital as “measured by reciprocity, trust, and civic participation”

• Through survey data, researchers discovered that high school capital in a neighbourhood was associated with a lower death rate

  • Social capital was correlated with decreased mortality due to heart disease as well as decreased mortality overall

Wilhelm Wundt

• Regarded as one of the founding fathers of psychology

• Defined psychology as -- The total content of experience in its immediate character

Community Psychology

• Psychology -- The scientific study of behaviour and mental processes

  • Four primary goals -- Description, explanation, prediction, and influence

• Community psychology builds on this but adds an important fifth goal -- Context

• Community psychology emphasizes that, to truly understand human behaviour and mental process, we must also understand the broader contexts in which people live -- Social, cultural, political, and historical

Social Issues in the 1960s that Influenced the Development of Community Psychology

• Health care system undergoing significant transformation -- Growing pressure to shift the mental health system away from large psychiatric hospitals and toward community-based interventions

• Psychologist wanted to contribute to pressing societal challenges rather than remaining confined private office-based therapy

  • Some practitioners became disillusioned with the traditional medical model, which limited their role to passive treatment of individual patients

• 1965 Swampscott Conference -- Marked the first use of the term community psychology and signaled a turning point for the field

  • Outlined new roles for psychologists -- Extending services to under-represented groups, prioritizing prevention over treatment, and actively involving community members in creating change

• Over the past five decades, recurring themes have included prevention, social justice, and an ecological perspective that sees individuals in constant interaction with their environments

  • Central goal has been to better understand these complex individual-environment dynamics in order to promote meaningful social change

Development of Community Psychology

• William Line introduced the term community psychology in 1951 to capture the way that Canadian psychology had developed into a science of social policy

• In 1940s and 1950s Line and some colleagues promoted community research and action

• Psychologists who gathers in 1939 to form the Canadian Psychological Association states a commitment to studying people in the context of their communities

• Although some may consider community psychology a young field developed in the US in the 1960s, it actually has a long history internationally

  • Community psychology in Latin America has its roots in liberation and social justice rather than the discipline of psychology

Defining Community Psychology

• The study of individuals in their social contexts

• Community psychology is value based and participatory

Overlapping Themes of Community Psychology

• The relationship between individuals and their broader contexts

• A focus on social change rather than only individual change

• Value-based, participatory research and action

• Integrating research with practice

• Enhancing quality of life and contributing to a better world

Concepts of Community Psychology

• Prevention and Promotion

• Ecology

• Wellness

• Psychological Sense of Community

• Empowerment

Values of Community Psychology

• Contextual/Ecological Perspectives

• Prevention and Promotion

• Community, Sense of Community, and Psychological Sense of Community

• Individual and Family Wellness

• Power, Colonialism, Depowerment, and Decolonization

• Respect for Human Diversity

• Social Justice

• Empowerment and Citizen Participation

• Collaboration and Community Strengths

• Empirical Grounding

• Commitment to Action, Research and Theory