Week 1 Video 1 - Fork in the Road PDF

Social and Community Psychology The Fork in the Road and Psychology’s Focus Why Contextual Analysis? Say it quickly: What do you see? Image: Guerin, 2020, p. 2 You Saw a Triangle… Gestalt Psychology: We do not see black lines on a white background. Option 1: Psycho-physical parallelism • Your m...

Social and Community Psychology The Fork in the Road and Psychology’s Focus Why Contextual Analysis? Say it quickly: What do you see? Image: Guerin, 2020, p. 2 You Saw a Triangle… Gestalt Psychology: We do not see black lines on a white background. Option 1: Psycho-physical parallelism • Your mind, experience, or consciousness is that of a triangle • We must construct a triangle in our brains/minds • The environment doesn’t have enough information to make a full triangle Option 1: In the head/mind Not enough information to explain the filling of lines (closure) How to find out what is going on… 1. Study Neurophysiology: the answers are there (promised so far) 2. Build Abstract models and simulations of what may happen (Stimulus-Response, Cognitive models) 3. Use everyday talk to explain it (Feelings, Beliefs, Bias, Drives, Motives, Choice, Thinking etc.) Psychology today took Option 1 • We cannot see what shapes “A triangle!” • Therefore, it is the mind, the brain, the cognitive system • We “construct the world in our heads” • How we do that, its mechanisms and the pitfalls are the content of most other psycho courses Option 2: Forces in the Environment Shape Us There is plenty in the environment we don’t look hard enough at And there are two different behaviours here 1. Seeing a triangle (we assume this one) 2. Saying what you see (we really get this one) “I see a triangle” is how you are trained to respond quickly to another human being, not what you really see with your eyes What if you were in a technical drawing class? People that knew this: J.J. Gibson: The Ecological Approach Visual Perception (1979) B.F. Skinner: Contingency Learning (1969) Test it out for yourself Change the behaviour you ask for… 1. Make your own unclosed shape. 2. Ask one person to tell you what they see quickly 3. Ask another person to draw what they see quickly Did the second person draw a totally enclosed shape? This Course – Contextual Analysis • We will use Option 2 • We will avoid explaining with Option 1 • Option 1 is not completely wrong • The brain is always involved in human social behaviour • Minds are a concept in society that can be helpful in explaining behaviour • Other researchers using Option 1 are smart people that do useful things • Stay Critical and Stay Curious for other explanations Why Not Teach Experimental Social Psychology • Social psychology is not replicable (Reproducibility Project: Psychology) • There is a long history of issues with the experiments • Often games, e.g., Stanford Prison Experiment (Haney et al. 1973; see Le Texier, 2019) • Often controlled environments, e.g., Milgram Obedience Experiment (1974) • Often ignoring other social factors (e.g., Talking in the Milgram experiment Gibson, 2019) • Separation between Social Psych and Critical Social Psych • Natural Science Emulation versus Social Science Exploration What is Community Psychology? • A critical form of non-experimental psychology • Often researching with the community rather than on it • “Community as the unit of analysis”, not the individual A branch of psychology that encourages the development of theory, research, and practice relevant to the reciprocal relationships between individuals and the social systems that constitute the community context. It intersects with other branches of psychology (e.g., social psychology) and with other disciplines, such as sociology and public health. A particular emphasis is on social welfare, community mental health, and prevention. Its research findings and methods are applied with regard to poverty, substance abuse, violence, school failure, and other social issues. See ecological perspective. (APA, 2023) We will draw on… We will examine… • Anthropology • Sociology • Demography • Social & Physical Geography • History • Discourse studies • Political Science • Cultural Studies • Relationships and groups • Cultures • Movement and interaction with the world • Patterns of behaviour through time • How people talk • What people achieve together How Resources and Relationships link together Our “Unit of Analysis”: The Link between Resources and Relationships Things, Needs, Environment Resources People, Groups, Cultures, Community Relationships Apply this knowledge to all Social Behaviour • What in this person’s world/contexts/environment/social life gets them to: Social Behaviours Compete Cooperate Bond Bully Image Manage Distance Reciprocate Protect Control Conflict Play with Punish Show-off Humble Start a social relationship End a social relationship Love Hate Fear Distrust All the above online What is expected of you? • You can describe the difference and the importance of the difference in approaches • You can discuss the unit of analysis for social analysis (compared to individual analysis) • You know where to find information on topics related to this course (social sciences) • You can provide some of the differences between experimental social psychology and the critical community form you will learn in this course • You can discuss the need to understand this separation for psychology as a whole References American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Community Psychology. In APA dictionary of psychology. Retrieved June, 2023, from https://dictionary.apa.org/community-psychology Gibson, J. J. (1979). The ecological approach to visual perception. Houghton, Mifflin and Company. Gibson, S. (2019). Arguing, obeying and defying: a rhetorical perspective on Stanley Milgram's obedience experiments. Cambridge University Press. Guerin, B. (2020). Turning psychology into social contextual analysis. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003021261 Haney, C., Banks, W. C., & Zimbardo, P. G. (1973). Study of prisoners and guards in a simulated prison. Naval Research Reviews, 9 (1-17). Le Texier, T. (2019). Debunking the Stanford Prison Experiment. American Psychologist, 74(7), 823–839. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000401 Milgram, S. (1974). Obedience to authority: An experimental view. Harper & Row. Open Science Collaboration. (2015). Reproducibility Project: Psychology. OSF. doi:10.17605/OSF.IO/EZCUJ Skinner, B. F. (1969). Contingencies of reinforcement. Appleton-Century-Crofts. Social and Community Psychology The Fork in the Road and Psychology’s Focus Why Contextual Analysis?