Week 1

1. Week 1 • Alternatives to Individualism--- • Citizen participation • Liberation-civil rights movement • Psychology and Individualism • Us psych. Defined itself as study of individuals • Interventions primarily individualistic • Client focuses inward • Historical influences on definitions of problems • progressive--environment/conservative--individual, biological, narrowly psych. • Services influenced by dominant view • Progressive Period 1890-1914 • Many modern organizations (YMCA, Scouts, BB) originated • Response to immigration, industrialization, urbanization • 4 initiatives • Psych. Clinics (education, outreach), Lightner Witmer • Settlement Houses (Ida B Wells, Jane Addams) • Birth Control (Sanger) • Early civil rights (W.E. B. DuBois NAACP) • Conservative Period 1919-1932 • WW1 and aftermath • Prohibition, KKK, anti-Semitism, fear of communism, • Social Darwinism--Eugenics, intelligence testing, • 1940’s-1960’s Emergence of Community Psychology • Public health, Eric Lindeman (env. Factors, early intervention, community-based services, strengths, life crises/transitions • Strengthening and supporting existing resources,Gerald Caplan (Preventive psychiatry, Emory Cowen, Seymour Sarason) • VA and NIMH • Kurt Lewin--group dynamics • Civil rights, feminism, peace, gay/lesbian, environment challenging hierarchies, link social action at the local and national levels

2. Lecture 2 • Swampscott, 5/65 • Community Psychology as Distinctive--4 trends • Changes in M.H.--deinstitutionalization • Limitations of Fed support--vietnam • Search for identity--Cowen, call for Primary Prevention • Latin America---liberation struggles • Current themes • Prevention and competence promotion--evidence (drugs, pregnancy, HIV) prevention science • (wellness, sense of community, social justice, citizen participation, collaboraiton/community strengths, human diversity, empirical grounding) • Community Research, 5 questions • What will we study • From what perspective of theory and values • positivist- • objectivity/value free neutrality, • understanding cause and effect, • hypothesis testing, • control of extraneous factors, • measurement as source of data, • generalizeable laws, laboratory • but no observer is value free, generalization is limited by culture, history, situations • Alternatives? • Quasi-experimental designs and statitistical controls are used, Standardized questionnaires, Mulitvariate analyses (extraneous variables) • Contextualist--gaining a deeper understanding of the local and particular context rather than broad, general laws, knowing, collaborative partnerships, meanings, qualitative

3. Lecture 3 • PAR-involving members from the affected communities in al stages of research including • Research design • Implementation • Analysis • Dissemination • Why use PAR • Learn from each other • Address power imbalances • Empower participants • Democratize knowledge • Enhance relevance of research • Connect research to larger social change efforts • Using PAR with domestic violence • Rationale--women were tired of research projects simply documenting problems in communities, wanted benefits • GOALS: understand cultural context of DV, examine access to services, identify women’s ideas for addressing • Conducted 38 focus groups and 16 interviews • Involvement from victim-serving organizations, govt. agencies, advocates, survivors • Research Design--present study as focus group with option for interview • Inclusion criteria-mother-in law • Screening-women decide groups • Facilitators-advocates conduct interviews with clients • Question Development- • Recruitment • Analysis and Dissemination-advocate participation in coding, more nuanced understanding of violence and culture • Conclusion] • Promoted relationships with community members • Fostered diverse participation, shared decision making • Development of culturally competent research methods and analysis • Community-based researchers need • Longer timelines • Trusting relationships • Shared power among members • Funding is difficult

4. Lecture 4 • Research Methods in Community Psych. Cont. • Community research methods can be divided into qualitative and quantitative methods, largely on the basis of whether the data studied are in verbal or numeric form • Each method has strengths and limitations • Qualitative methods provide knowledge of what a psychological or community phenomenon means to those who experience it • Quantitative methods provide knowledge useful in making statistical comparisons and testing the effectiveness of social innovations • Quantitative methods • Quantitative Description (Ben, this is where your description/finding of MA thesis could come in: Measurement and statistical analysis of standardized data from large samples without experimental intervention • Strengths: generalizability, standardized methods, study of variables that cannot be experimentally manipulated • Limitations: Reliance on prior knowledge/data sets, often decontextualized, limited understanding of cause/effect • Randomized field experiments/Experimental design: Evaluation of social innovation, random assignment (I’ve covered this a bit with the students, ask them if they can define it • Strengths: standardized methods, control of confounding factors, understanding of cause and effect • Limitations: Difficulty finding suitable control groups in community settings, generalizability issues • Nonequivalent comparison group/quasi-experimental designs: Similar to above, but without random assignment • Strengths: Standardized methods, some control of confounds, practical • Limitations: Less control of confounds • Interrupted Time Series designs: Longitudinal measurement of one or more settings before and after an intervention • Strengths: measurement in context, practical, longitudinal • Limitations: less control of confounds, • Qualitative methods have a long history in psychology and have distinctive features • Usually involve intensive study of a small sample • The goal is to understand contextual meaning for the research participants, in their own terms through a participant-researcher relationships • Th researcher uses open-ended questions and listens carefully • Data analysis often involves interpretation of themes or categories in participant responses • Different qualitative methods include: • Participant observation: Researcher joins community or setting as a member, records personal experiences and observations • Strengths: good relationship with community, and context • Limitations: Generalizabiltiy limited, sampling and data collection are not standardized, researcher affects setting • Qualitative interviewing of individuals: Collaborative approach, open-ended questioning, intensive study of small groups • Strengths: contextual understanding, flexible exploration of topics, more standardized than part/obs. • Limitations: generalizability limited, less standardized, interpretation can be difficult • Focus group interviewing: similar to interviewing, but conducted with group to elicit shared views • Strengths: allows group discussion, esp.. useful for cultural understanding • Limitations: similar to those cited above, less depth of understanding individual • Case studies: Study of single individual, organization, or community over time • Strengths: Understanding setting in depth, understanding changes in time, benefits cited above • Generalizability limited • Conclusions • Strengths and limitations to all choices • Qual.. And quant. Methods can be integrated in a single study or in multiple related studies to offer advantages of both approaches

5. Lecture 5 • Ecology--the reciprocal relationships between individuals and social systems with which they interact. • Behavior of individuals cannot be understood without consideration of ecological context • Ecology Context • The settings or surroundings that impinge on an individual including the ;physical environment, the social occasions that occur (e.g., classes, shopping, having lunch). • Kurt Lewin aruged that B = f(P,E) • Theories of personality--bandura, murray etc. emphasized * person and context • Environmental psychology, even temperament researchers

6. Barker • Setting theory focuses on how behaivor settings perpetuate themslelves and mold the behavior of individuals • Behavior Is not simply a physical place but a place, time and a standing behavior pattern. • Business, ducation, government, religion, voluntary association • Some embedded in larger • Settings have a set of rules, implicit and explicit, that maintin the standing behavior pattern • Manning theory--diffusion, responsibility • An optimally populated setting--more players than roles • Underpopulated-more roles than members • Moderate understaffing may lead to greater skill or personal development and greater commitment among members.

7. Kelly • Adapted concepts for the biological field of ecology • Interdependence--a system has multiple related parts; change in one affects the others • Cycling of resources-any system can be understood byexamining how resources are dfined, used, created, conserved, and transformed. • The interdependence can be understood by charting the cycling • Adaptation • Individuals cope with the constraints or demands of an environment using resources available there • Successsion • Ecologies change over time, and understanding the other 3 priciples must be understood in terms of that pattern of change.

8. Murray • Individuals seek to satisfy needs in environments, but those environments also provide opportunities or constraints on satisying those needs • He termed the latter process the “press” of the environment • One measure of the press is whether the persons share a common perception of that environment

9. Moos • Developed Social Climate Scales to assess the shared perceptions of a setting among its members • Based on three pim,ariy dimensions to characterize any setting • Relationship dimenions • Personal development • System maintainance and change • Widely used and related to range of outcomes

10. Others • Sarason--Describe how settings function by creating predictable relationships among members • Seidman proposed that settings could be understood in terms of social regularities--routine patterns of social relationships among elemntes within a setting over time. • SR perpsective--searches for patterns of behavior that reveal relationships among setting members • Role relationships might include teacher-student, therapist-client, etc. • Reveal informaton about power, resources, and inequalities in the setting • Attempts to change a setting are undermined by s.r.

11. Key Dimensions of Human Diversity • Culture: • Shared language, social roles, and norms, values, and attitudes • expressed in what the society or group seeks to transmit (e.g., by educaiton or example) to young generations • Race • Not necessarily a biological variable--variation within > between YET • Defined on the basis of physical criteria • More than simply ethnicity

12. Key Dimensions of Human Diversity • Sexual Orientation • Refers to attraction, emotions, and self-concept • Not necessarily expressed • Best understood as continuum • Ability/Disability • Physical or mental disabilities • Many will experience a disability at some time in their lives • Community psych. Most focused on mental dis/illness • Age • Brings changes in work, health care, etc. • Socioeconomic Status/Social Class • Often involve race, ethnicity, and gender in the US • Religion and Spirituality

13. Oppression Theory • Oppression Occurs when an asymmetry or unequal relationship is used to unjustly grant power and resources to one group and withhold them from another • How are they sustained • Cultural myths become so ingrained that they are not noticed and seem natural • Recognizing asymmetry would create dissonance, tokens or best at assimilating • Social myths • Neighborhood racial tipping point--8% • Institutional oppression • Reliance on exams • Corporations and women • Interpersonal relationships • People who hold power are motivated to continue to do so • Intergroup relations • A distinction between in-group and out-group provides a basis for stereotypes and prejudices • Prejudices of those in the dominant group have more effect because of the status of that group

14. Oppression Theory • First order vs.. second order change • Three requirements for dimantling oppression • Critical awareness • Leadership of the subordinated group • Collective action

15. asymmetric or unequal relationships Dom/Sub membership determined by factors beyond control of individual. Resources of dom. Group include $, status, influence, power, framing Multiple forms of opp. Exist Social myths rationalize system Oppressive systems create prejudice Dehumanizes both oppressor and oppressed Assumptions of Oppression perspective

16. Separation Assimilation Pursue identification with the dominant culture May be strong yet not total May feel necessary under powerful systems of oppression Marginalization Not identifying with culture of origin OR dominant culture Integration, biculturalism Seeking to identify in meaningful ways with both cultures Acculturation

17. Knowledge of both cultures Respect for these cultural elements without assumptions Interpersonal behavioral skills for working within culture Supportive relationship Bicultural competence

18. Psychological sense of community: “the perception of similarity to others, an acknowledged interdependence with others, a willingness to maintain this interdependence by giving to or doing for others what one expects from them, the feeling that one is part of a larger dependable and stable structure. “ Seymour Sarason

19. Psychological sense of Community • A sense of sharing an emotional bond, trust, and caring in a community. • Yet there is a diminishing sense of community • Declining volunteerism, charitable contributions, voting • participation in self-help groups has increased and other forms (email, IM, etc. • Types of Communities • Locality-city blocks, neighborhoods, etc. • Relational not limited by geography (internet discussion groups, mutual help, religious congregations, labor unions, etc.) • Levels of Communities • Groupings of individual. Who may not know all the other members, yet who share some sense of mutual commitment • Mediating structures--religious congregation---mediate between indiv. And wider communities

20. McMillan-Chavis Model • Four major elements define the sense of community • Membership-The sense of having invested part of oneself in the community, and of belonging to it. • (boundaries, common symbol, emotional safety, sense of belonging/identification, personal investment) • Influence-The power than members exercise over the group and the exert on members • Integration and fulfillment of needs-shared values among members, as well as the exchange of resources and satisfaction of individual needs among members • Shared emotional connection-A “spiritual bond” based on shared history among members

21. Self-Help Groups • A focal concern--problem, life crisis, or issue affecting all members • Peer relationships-rather than unequal • Reciprocity • Experiential knowledge

22. Religion, spirituality, and communities • Important force in community life • Volunteerism, charity, resource for personal coping • Religion vs. spirituality • A wider set of beliefs and practices associated this personal awareness of a transcendent power • 90% of poll respondents believe in God • Involved in Community life. Meet primary human needs for: • meaning and understanding • Community and belonging • Act as counterbalance to values of individualism and wider society • Provide meaning to oppressed • Social Advocacy • Public positions taken by religious institutions • US civil rights---faith-based change initiative

23. Neighborhood • Integral • High sense of neighborhood identity, internal interaction, external linkages • Parochial • High sense of neighborhood identity, high internal interaction, low external linkages

24. Neighborhood • Diffuse • High sense of neighborhood identity, low internal interaction, low external linkages

25. Neighborhood • Stepping Stone • Low sense of neighborhood identity, high internal interaction, high external linkages. • Transitory • Low sense of neighborhood identity, low internal interaction, high external linkages • Anomic • Low sense of neighborhood identity, low internal interaction, low external linkages

26. Research • Measuring sense of community • Strengthened by • Physical features • Community organizations • Diversity within communities • Sub communities • sense of “we” ---hurricane example Strengthening, can increase conflict among