Introduction to Community Psychology

By:
Samia Batool
1577-FSS/BSPSY-F20

Department of Psychology
Faculty of Social Sciences
International Islamic University Islamabad
2022

Date: March 30, 2022.

 QUESTIONS:

 What are the assumptions of Community Psychology?

The assumptions of community psychology are also known as the core values. There are 7
core values and set of assumptions commonly agreed upon within the community psychology
mentioned below:

 Respect for diversity:

This core value in community psychology considers all the perspectives in different cultures,
values, traditions and norms. It is about recognizing the fact of uniqueness of each individual.1
 Individual and family’s wellness:
Community psychologists focuses to strengthens the family relations which impacts the whole
community. It includes physical and psychological well-being of community members at the
individual and family levels.
 Sense of Community:
It refers to the feeling of togetherness, belongingness, and interdependence which a member
of one community perceives. When people lacked this sense of community, their active
participation in the activates of community is significantly reduced.
 Collaboration and community strengths:
It includes relationships between community psychologists and citizens whom they are
working with. In this core value, community researchers aim at achieving participatory or
collaborative partnership with community members.
 Citizen partnership:
Citizen participation refers to peaceful, respectful, collaborative processes of making decisions
that involve all members of a community. It involves the use of processes in decision-making at
the community level such that all members of a community can actively participate in taking
decisions regarding the social problems.2
 Empirical grounding:
This value refers to the need for community to research and to inform community various
action and interventions. To bring change i.e. social change in the community, community
psychologists must conduct researches.
 Social Justice:
It refers to the fair allocation of power, opportunities, obligations, and resources in a
community. It has two types namely distributive and procedural justice.

1
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/009164711103900302#:~:text=This%20article%20introduces%20a%20
set,prevention%20and%20promotion%20as%20priorities

2
Sally Schwer Canning Core (Published September 1, 2011) Assumptions and Values in Community Psychology: A
Christian Reflection, Research Article. Accessed on: 25.03.2022
 How would you define community psychology in your own words?
Community psychology is a branch of psychology which focuses on the whole community
rather than just on one individual or member of that community. It includes relationship between
individual and their community and society. In Community Psychology, different social problems
are assessed and solved along with resolving them, preventions are also proposed to prevent them
from happening again.

 How does a community psychologist intervene in order to prevent problems? Give an

example.
Let’s take an example of one common social problem present in any community that is for
instance the Increasing High Rate of Suicide.

Now, a community psychologist addresses this social problem and starts to conduct researches
within a community and assesses individual’s needs. After the research, upon the basis of results
community psychologist will take actions accordingly at the level of second order change. This
level of intervention includes the preventative measures with it as the actions were taken in the
level of second order change.3

According to the example, the preventions are:

 Conducting counselling sessions of depressed individuals.
 Spreading awareness in various institutions about the consequences of one bad decision.
 Establishing outlets in each organization.

 Do you think that community psychologist plays an important role in society? Comment.
Yes, Community Psychology plays an important role in the society.
Explanation:
Community Psychology helps the whole community to develop, progress and improve the
quality of life. It plays a significant role in protecting and maintaining the physical and
psychological well-being of the community. Community psychologists design models and
programs and implement interventions to resolve and eradicate various social problems.4

3
Leonard A. Jason; Olya Glantsman and Jack F. O'Brien, Introduction to the field of Community Psychology, Chapter
01. Accessed on: 26.03.2022
https://www.socialworkdegreecenter.com/study/community-based-interventions/

4
Kendra Cherry and Sean Blackburn (February 09, 2022), Community Psychology Explores How Individuals Relate to
Society.
https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/psychologycareers/chapter/applications-and-careers-in-community-
psychology/
 Without community psychologists:
 Research programs to assess the community’s needs could not be conducted. Which will
lead to the rise of more social issues in minority groups.
 Similarly, social problem solving techniques wouldn’t be applied to resolve several
problems.

REFERENCE LIST

 Sally Schwer Canning Core (Published September 1, 2011) Assumptions and Values in
Community Psychology: A Christian Reflection, Research Article. Accessed on:
25.03.2022
 Leonard A. Jason; Olya Glantsman and Jack F. O'Brien, Introduction to the field of
Community Psychology, Chapter 01. Accessed on: 26.03.2022
 Kendra Cherry and Sean Blackburn (February 09, 2022), Community Psychology Explores
How Individuals Relate to Society.
 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/009164711103900302#:~:text=This%20article
%20introduces%20a%20set,prevention%20and%20promotion%20as%20priorities
 https://www.socialworkdegreecenter.com/study/community-based-interventions/
 https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/psychologycareers/chapter/applications-and-
careers-in-community-psychology/