PYC4808
ECOSYSTEMIC PSYCHOLOGY
Assignment 2
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
For every answer, there are elaborations from the textbook to prove or disprove the
relevant answers. These additional notes have references to textbook chapters, as
well as headings from the textbook.
TEXTBOOK USED: Family Therapy: A Systemic Integration BY Dorothy Stroh Becvar
M Raphael J. Becvar (Eighth Edition)2014, CH 1,2,3,4.
, Assignment 2 - unique Assignment Number 803610 (due date 31 May 2022) 15% of mark
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Question 1
Systems thinking (also referred to as systems family therapy) is described as counter- cultural and is a shift
from the modernist perspective. Danie, a psychology student, describes himself as a modernist thinker. Which
of the following premises are consistent with the modernist way of thinking, and which you would expect to be
part of Danie’s descriptions of the world:
a. Causality is linear
b. Causality is recursive
c. We can discover reality which is separate from us
d. As an observer, we remain separate from that which we are observing
The correct answer is:
1. a) and c)
2. b), c) and d)
3. a), c) and d)
4. All of the above
ADDITIONAL NOTES QUESTION 1:
CH1
1. Framework of individual psychology (MODERNISM)
FOR INSTANCE linear cause/effect thinking is appropriate and that any problem is solvable if we can find an answer to
the question, why?
Understand the world as consisting of subjects and objects. From this point of view, reality is considered to be
separate from us, to exist outside our minds. Thus, meaning comes from external experience and we are recipients: we
recognize order rather than create it.
We view object/reality from a distance without imposing my values or beliefs on object/reality.
Subject/object dualism (separation)
CH3
Recursion is a part of First Order Cybernetics/Systems theory therefore not b (Bevcar & Bevcar, 2014).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Question 2
At the heart of individualism, the individual is regarded as the primary agent. In order to best understand the
content we are learning, and ensure logical consistency, epistemologies, theories and assumptions must be
logically linked. Although many of the individualistic theories (e.g. psychoanalytic psychology) do appreciate
one’s relationships with others, which of the following theorists do not fit epistemologically with the systemic
theory?
1. Gregory Bateson and Paul Watzlawick
2. Sigmund Freud and BF Skinner
3. Jay Haley and Carl Whitaker
4. None of the above
ECOSYSTEMIC PSYCHOLOGY
Assignment 2
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
For every answer, there are elaborations from the textbook to prove or disprove the
relevant answers. These additional notes have references to textbook chapters, as
well as headings from the textbook.
TEXTBOOK USED: Family Therapy: A Systemic Integration BY Dorothy Stroh Becvar
M Raphael J. Becvar (Eighth Edition)2014, CH 1,2,3,4.
, Assignment 2 - unique Assignment Number 803610 (due date 31 May 2022) 15% of mark
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Question 1
Systems thinking (also referred to as systems family therapy) is described as counter- cultural and is a shift
from the modernist perspective. Danie, a psychology student, describes himself as a modernist thinker. Which
of the following premises are consistent with the modernist way of thinking, and which you would expect to be
part of Danie’s descriptions of the world:
a. Causality is linear
b. Causality is recursive
c. We can discover reality which is separate from us
d. As an observer, we remain separate from that which we are observing
The correct answer is:
1. a) and c)
2. b), c) and d)
3. a), c) and d)
4. All of the above
ADDITIONAL NOTES QUESTION 1:
CH1
1. Framework of individual psychology (MODERNISM)
FOR INSTANCE linear cause/effect thinking is appropriate and that any problem is solvable if we can find an answer to
the question, why?
Understand the world as consisting of subjects and objects. From this point of view, reality is considered to be
separate from us, to exist outside our minds. Thus, meaning comes from external experience and we are recipients: we
recognize order rather than create it.
We view object/reality from a distance without imposing my values or beliefs on object/reality.
Subject/object dualism (separation)
CH3
Recursion is a part of First Order Cybernetics/Systems theory therefore not b (Bevcar & Bevcar, 2014).
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Question 2
At the heart of individualism, the individual is regarded as the primary agent. In order to best understand the
content we are learning, and ensure logical consistency, epistemologies, theories and assumptions must be
logically linked. Although many of the individualistic theories (e.g. psychoanalytic psychology) do appreciate
one’s relationships with others, which of the following theorists do not fit epistemologically with the systemic
theory?
1. Gregory Bateson and Paul Watzlawick
2. Sigmund Freud and BF Skinner
3. Jay Haley and Carl Whitaker
4. None of the above
