Week 2
Community Psychology
Maretha Visser
▪ Case Study page 21
Page | 1
The above shows:
1. The complex interaction within communities + how incidents in community’s
history can impact on the lives of people + communities for decades
2. That people attach meaning to situations that influence their actions + way
they construct their lives + they are influenced by more than just immediate
context + families
Community Psychology: developing field of study that focuses on understanding
the individual in the social context + aims to enhance quality of life, heath + well-
being of people through interventions focusing on various levels of community
o Focus on the interaction between individual + social context in which they live
o Aim: improving well-being of people in that context
o Relevance in understanding + addressing psychosocial problems disrupting
the lives of people
o Stimulates reconciliation through interactive involvement using a collective
action research framework to guide interventions
WHAT IS COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY?
Specialized field that applies + interacts with all basic areas of psychological
knowledge – Social Psychology, Group Dynamics, Personality + Developmental
Psychology + Critical Psychology
Uses intervention principles + skills from Clinical + Counselling Psychology
Definition of Community Psychology
▪ Definitions pages 23 +24
The Community Psychology Approach
, Week 2
Some key characteristics include:
Socially responsive psychological praxis
Social relevance
+ deals with issues people experience
Focuses on people in interaction with Page | 2
Ecological nature their social + physical environments –
holistic approach
Behaviour as part of organizational +
Multilevel perspective communal structures + part of cultural
perspectives
Focus on making psychological
knowledge useful to ordinary people in
order to develop resources + enhance
Promotion of well-being
capacities + promote well-being + social
change to allow for equally distributed
health
Accepts + respects diversity + rights of
Focus on diversity all > differences seen as resources
rather than threats
Democratic style of collaboration +
partnership with community members in
Democratic participation
research + interventions where
psychologist forms part of interaction
Differs from Social Psychology: it focuses on strong focus on interventions aimed at
improving conditions [strongly related to Social Work]
Definition of community
Community: people in specific geographical area + time OR a social system OR
construction of way of life OR sociopolitical organization
In S.A.: concept assumed a specific racial connotation
The Community Psychology Approach
, Week 2
COMMUNITY AS A LOCATION
Boundaries demarcate periphery of neighbourhoods, cities + states + easily ID on a
map
Interpersonal relationships: based on proximity + shared experiences + not Page | 3
necessarily by choice
Community defined in terms of location can be described in terms of:
1. Demographic characteristics – gender, class etc
2. Land use + quality of housing – development in area such as high-density,
informal settlements, large farms
3. Infrastructure or formed organizations – schools, churches, shops
COMMUNITY AS A NETWORK OF SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS
Essential functions of a community [socialization, role fulfilment, goal achievement +
support] are achieved by interacting in groups = community as a network of people
who share some common characteristics or values + interests
Person feels part of community with the following characteristics present:
o Membership – feeling of belonging
o Influence – mutual influence between person + group
o Fulfilment of needs – sharing of values + resources in group to satisfy
individual needs
o Shared emotional connection – feeling connected through shared emotional
experiences
Community as a social system with its interacting members compromising various
subsystems within it [interrelated + interdependent]
COMMUNITY AS A CONSTRUCTION OF A WAY OF LIFE
Communities are socially constructed + exist within history + ideology > communities
as evolving + created through interaction
The Community Psychology Approach
Community Psychology
Maretha Visser
▪ Case Study page 21
Page | 1
The above shows:
1. The complex interaction within communities + how incidents in community’s
history can impact on the lives of people + communities for decades
2. That people attach meaning to situations that influence their actions + way
they construct their lives + they are influenced by more than just immediate
context + families
Community Psychology: developing field of study that focuses on understanding
the individual in the social context + aims to enhance quality of life, heath + well-
being of people through interventions focusing on various levels of community
o Focus on the interaction between individual + social context in which they live
o Aim: improving well-being of people in that context
o Relevance in understanding + addressing psychosocial problems disrupting
the lives of people
o Stimulates reconciliation through interactive involvement using a collective
action research framework to guide interventions
WHAT IS COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY?
Specialized field that applies + interacts with all basic areas of psychological
knowledge – Social Psychology, Group Dynamics, Personality + Developmental
Psychology + Critical Psychology
Uses intervention principles + skills from Clinical + Counselling Psychology
Definition of Community Psychology
▪ Definitions pages 23 +24
The Community Psychology Approach
, Week 2
Some key characteristics include:
Socially responsive psychological praxis
Social relevance
+ deals with issues people experience
Focuses on people in interaction with Page | 2
Ecological nature their social + physical environments –
holistic approach
Behaviour as part of organizational +
Multilevel perspective communal structures + part of cultural
perspectives
Focus on making psychological
knowledge useful to ordinary people in
order to develop resources + enhance
Promotion of well-being
capacities + promote well-being + social
change to allow for equally distributed
health
Accepts + respects diversity + rights of
Focus on diversity all > differences seen as resources
rather than threats
Democratic style of collaboration +
partnership with community members in
Democratic participation
research + interventions where
psychologist forms part of interaction
Differs from Social Psychology: it focuses on strong focus on interventions aimed at
improving conditions [strongly related to Social Work]
Definition of community
Community: people in specific geographical area + time OR a social system OR
construction of way of life OR sociopolitical organization
In S.A.: concept assumed a specific racial connotation
The Community Psychology Approach
, Week 2
COMMUNITY AS A LOCATION
Boundaries demarcate periphery of neighbourhoods, cities + states + easily ID on a
map
Interpersonal relationships: based on proximity + shared experiences + not Page | 3
necessarily by choice
Community defined in terms of location can be described in terms of:
1. Demographic characteristics – gender, class etc
2. Land use + quality of housing – development in area such as high-density,
informal settlements, large farms
3. Infrastructure or formed organizations – schools, churches, shops
COMMUNITY AS A NETWORK OF SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS
Essential functions of a community [socialization, role fulfilment, goal achievement +
support] are achieved by interacting in groups = community as a network of people
who share some common characteristics or values + interests
Person feels part of community with the following characteristics present:
o Membership – feeling of belonging
o Influence – mutual influence between person + group
o Fulfilment of needs – sharing of values + resources in group to satisfy
individual needs
o Shared emotional connection – feeling connected through shared emotional
experiences
Community as a social system with its interacting members compromising various
subsystems within it [interrelated + interdependent]
COMMUNITY AS A CONSTRUCTION OF A WAY OF LIFE
Communities are socially constructed + exist within history + ideology > communities
as evolving + created through interaction
The Community Psychology Approach
