C.P Core Values

Core Values of Community
Psychology
Julian Jyrwa
Values - what are they?
• Values shape our priorities and agenda for community work
• They are deeply held ideals about what is moral, right, or good
• Concern ends (goals), or means (how to attain goals), or both.
• Values may be rooted in spiritual beliefs, practices, and/or secular

ideals
Values - why are they important
• Values help clarify choices for research and action
• Deciding whether to work with a particular organization or

community requires attention to values
• if a persons values do not match those of a setting, they may choose

not to work in that setting
• Helps to “talk the talk and walk the walk”

• Understanding a culture or community involves understanding its
distinctive values
- These may help to tailor our interventions accordingly
• Values motivate our commitment to achieving the goals and

overcoming obstacles
• Through these values our interventions will be thoughtful,

passionate, pragmatic, and embodied in research and action.
Core Values
• There are seven core values but only six will be discussed:
1. Individual and Family Wellness

2. Respect for Human Diversity
3. Sense of Community
4. Social Justice
5. Empowerment and Citizen Participation
6. Collaboration and Community Strengths
Social Justice
• Social justice can be defined
The fair, equitable allocation of resources, opportunities,

obligations, and power in society as a whole.
• Two aspects - Distributive Justice and Procedural Justice

• Distributive Justice
• Concerns the allocation of resources among members of a

population.
- (e.g., money, access to good quality health services or
education)
• Another example, community mental health programmes
• Question that arises: Who determines how such resources are

distributed?
• Procedural Justice
• Concerns whether processes of collective decision making include a

fair representation of citizens
• Thus, distributive justice concerns the outcomes of a program or

social policy, while procedural justice concerns how it is planned and
implemented
• Psychology has had a complicated relationship with social justice
• Psychological research and practice has had the effect of supporting

sexism, racism, and other injustices
- in the indian context supporting cateist notions eg. BKT
• Fields of critical psychology and feminist psychology exemplify

psychological pursuit of social justice
• Social Justice can also guide clinicians in their practice while

interacting with persons from marginalized communities
• The pursuit of social justice must be balanced with other values and
with inequalities in power that are difficult to change
• For example:
• Psychologists who have worked with survivors of state-sponsored

violence in Guatemala and South Africa have found that pursuing full
accountability of perpetrators of past violence and greater power for
survivors (social justice) must be balanced with other aims: individual
healing (wellness), community and national reconciliation (sense of
community), and the realities of who continues to hold power in
communities and society
Empowerment and Citizen Participation
• Consideration of power dynamics in individual relationships,
organizations, and communities
• Empowerment aims toward enhancing the possibilities for people to

control their own lives
• Gaining access to resources and exercising power in collective

decision making.
• The way to achieve empowerment is through citizen participation

• the ability of a community to participate indecisions by larger bodies
• emphasizes democratic processes of making decisions
• allow all members of a community to have meaningful involvement in

the decision, especially those who are directly affected
• Related to procedural justice

• However, citizen participation does not automatically lead to better
decisions.
• Citizens do not consider the rights and needs of all individuals or

groups
• Empowerment has been used to justify the strengthening of one

group at the expense of another
• Hence this needs to be balanced out with social justice, respect for
diversity and sense of community
Application to community psychology
• Empowerment emphasises
- the importance of promoting people’s strenghts, resources and
abilities
- rather than focusing only on the problems or deficits
• Eg:
- Brining community members together to idenitfy common
concerns
- Taking collective action to promote positive change
- this increases the sense of control over their lives
- This also creates a more just and equitable society
• Citizen Participation
- emphasises the importance of involving members in decision

making process that affect their lives
- Civic engagement in various community organizations
Eg.
- Participatoty budgeting
- Community members are involved in process of public budget
allocation
- Increases transparency and accountability
- Empower members to advocate for their own priorities
• Another eg
- Use of Community-based Participatory Action Research

- Community members are actively involved in all stages
- Including:
1. Identifying the research question
2. Designing interventions
3. Collecting the data/evidence
4. Analysing the data/ Evaluating outcomes
5. Disseminating the findings
• - Allows members to become active members of process rather
passive recievers
• This type of research can also produce work that is more relevant and
responsive to community needs
• Academic researchers role will be to facilitate the process and

provide academic support in terms of writing up the
findings/manuscript
Collaboration and Community Strengths
• Working in partnership with a diverse range of community stakeholders to
address and mutually solve community problems
• Opposed to an expert model
• Wolff (2010) key feature of collaboration: involving those most directly

impacted by an issue
• Collaboration is also called participatory decision making, collaborative

problem solving
• Eg: mental health consumers/survivors must play a central role in any efforts
to create transformative change
• Collaboration is a means of realizing empowerment, focusing on
strengths, and advancing social justice
• Buliding on community strengths which helps individuals feel a sense

of belonging
• Ralph, Lambric, & Steele, (1996) :
- consumers identified that professionals have a more positive

role in recovery when they encourage and respect
personal decisions, promote freedom of choice, and recognize
the talents and capabilities of consumers.
• Programs are more successful when consumers and professionals
work together to find the resources and services that consumers
consider most suitable to their recovery process
• Challenge for professionals is to be sensitive to this diversity and

support people in accessing the resources, roles, and activities that
are significant for consumers.
• consumers have the opportunity to make choices that may be

different from those that professionals would make, and that those
decisions are respected.
• Community psychologists believe social change can be better
understood and facilitated through collaboration with other
disciplines
• Kelly (1990) believed that collaboration with others gives new

awareness of how other disciplines experience a phenomenon.
• Community psychologists are interested in the creation of more

functional systems and settings
• Community psychologists have long enjoyed intellectual and research
exchanges with colleagues in other academic disciplines such as
sociology, anthropology
• Kelly, (2010) acknowledged the influence of philosophy,

anthropology, social psychiatry, and poetry on his work.
• Case study : Social Psychology, Community Psychology, and

Homelessness
• Social Psychologists study social phenomena that affects an individual
• Eg: Attrbution Theory: which explains how people infer causes of

others' behaviors
• people are likely to explain shortcomings of other on the

characteristics of the individual or their traits
• Application to Homelessness
- the public often blame the victim, the homeless person, for his
or her problems
• Shinn & Gillespie, 1993
- explanations for homelessness are twofold—that is,
person-centered and environmental
- concluded that person-centered explanations for homelessness were

less appropriate than environmental or situational explanations.
- structural problems offer some of the most plausible

explanations of homelessness
- Poverty and lack of affordable housing seem to be far better

explanations for homelessness
- Shinn offers these data so community psychologists can act on

them

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Core Values of Community

• Concern ends (goals), or means (how to attain goals), or both.

• Values may be rooted in spiritual beliefs, practices, and/or secular

• Deciding whether to work with a particular organization or

• if a persons values do not match those of a setting, they may choose

• Helps to “talk the talk and walk the walk”

• Values motivate our commitment to achieving the goals and

• Through these values our interventions will be thoughtful,

1. Individual and Family Wellness

The fair, equitable allocation of resources, opportunities,

• Two aspects - Distributive Justice and Procedural Justice

• Concerns the allocation of resources among members of a

• Another example, community mental health programmes

• Question that arises: Who determines how such resources are

• Concerns whether processes of collective decision making include a

• Thus, distributive justice concerns the outcomes of a program or

• Psychological research and practice has had the effect of supporting

• Fields of critical psychology and feminist psychology exemplify

• Social Justice can also guide clinicians in their practice while

• Psychologists who have worked with survivors of state-sponsored

• Empowerment aims toward enhancing the possibilities for people to

• Gaining access to resources and exercising power in collective

• The way to achieve empowerment is through citizen participation

• emphasizes democratic processes of making decisions

• allow all members of a community to have meaningful involvement in

• Related to procedural justice

• Citizens do not consider the rights and needs of all individuals or

• Empowerment has been used to justify the strengthening of one

- emphasises the importance of involving members in decision

- Use of Community-based Participatory Action Research

• Academic researchers role will be to facilitate the process and

• Opposed to an expert model

• Wolff (2010) key feature of collaboration: involving those most directly

• Collaboration is also called participatory decision making, collaborative

• Buliding on community strengths which helps individuals feel a sense

• Ralph, Lambric, & Steele, (1996) :

- consumers identified that professionals have a more positive

• Challenge for professionals is to be sensitive to this diversity and

• consumers have the opportunity to make choices that may be

• Kelly (1990) believed that collaboration with others gives new

• Community psychologists are interested in the creation of more

• Kelly, (2010) acknowledged the influence of philosophy,

• Case study : Social Psychology, Community Psychology, and

• Eg: Attrbution Theory: which explains how people infer causes of

• people are likely to explain shortcomings of other on the

- concluded that person-centered explanations for homelessness were

- structural problems offer some of the most plausible

- Poverty and lack of affordable housing seem to be far better

- Shinn offers these data so community psychologists can act on

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