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TOWARD A PSYCHOLOGY OF LIBERATION: FOUNDATIONS, APPLICATIONS AND CHALLENGES Isaac Prilleltensky

TOWARD A PSYCHOLOGY OF LIBERATION: FOUNDATIONS, APPLICATIONS AND CHALLENGES Isaac Prilleltensky University of Miami isaac@miami.edu www.education.miami.edu/isaac. WHAT IS LIBERATION PSYCHOLOGY ?.

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TOWARD A PSYCHOLOGY OF LIBERATION: FOUNDATIONS, APPLICATIONS AND CHALLENGES Isaac Prilleltensky

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  1. TOWARD A PSYCHOLOGY OF LIBERATION: FOUNDATIONS, APPLICATIONS AND CHALLENGES Isaac Prilleltensky University of Miami isaac@miami.edu www.education.miami.edu/isaac

  2. WHAT IS LIBERATION PSYCHOLOGY? Liberation psychology is concerned with the promotion of psychological theories and practices that reflect a cogent set of moral principles that promote the liberation of individuals, groups, and collectives. As a value-based psychology, liberation psychology is concerned not only with what IS but also with what SHOULD BE, and with the contributions psychology can make towards that end.

  3. ORDER OF PRESENTATION RATIONALE PROPOSAL FOUNDATIONS APPLICATIONS CHALLENGES

  4. RATIONALE • Psychology is concerned with describing and predicting behavior • Psychology has shied away from explicitly prescribing behavior However, we are, in effect, involved in creating culture and in prescribing behavior. Even if we don’t want to assume that responsibility, we make value judgments all the time. Hence, it’s better to be explicit about our values. • Psychology is concerned with what IS • Psychology has shied away from SHOULD If no one is concerned with how individuals SHOULD lead their lives, and how governments and societies SHOULD treat their citizens, then we are stuck with the status quo. Hence, psychology can and should contribute to creating a better society. As a value based psychology, liberation psychology is concerned with • A good and free live for individuals • A good and free society

  5. PROPOSAL(What the SHOULD is all about)THREE TYPES OF WELLNESS Personal Wellness Relational Wellness Collective Wellness

  6. A Matter of Balance • Foreground and background Collective well-being Personal well-being Relational well-being

  7. PRINCIPLES FOR THE APPLICATION OF VALUES 1. Advancing the well-being of disadvantaged communities requires actualizing all five values in a balanced way. 2. Within a given social ecology, some values appear at the foreground of our consciousness while others remain in the background. We must move the neglected values to the foreground to attain the necessary balance 3. Within the present social context, the value of social justice remains in the background. By neglecting this value, we reinforce the same unjust state of affairs that disadvantaged many communities in the first place. 4. We must distinguish between ameliorating living conditions within the present social structure and transforming the conditions that create disadvantage 5. We must expand the implementation of values from micro and meso contexts to macro social ecologies

  8. From micro to macro spheres Meso Macro Micro

  9. Proximal caring Caring Compassion Empathy Therapy Distal caring Justice Equality Liberation Social action Two Forms of Caring

  10. Foundations for a Liberation Psychology

  11. Foundations for a Liberation Psychology

  12. Foundations for a Liberation Psychology

  13. Foundations for a Liberation Psychology

  14. Liberation: Freedom from and freedom to……(Erich Fromm)

  15. APPLICATIONS • Therapy and counseling • Community programs • Social policies • Research

  16. Applications in Counseling and Therapy

  17. Applications in Policies

  18. Values and principles of transformative research 1. Self-determination and participation (empowerment) ■ Research should be attuned to issues of power and promote the power of disadvantaged people ■ Research begins with the experiences and concerns of disadvantaged people ■ Research process is democratized so as to maximize the participation of disadvantaged people in all aspects of the research ■ Research uses qualitative methods that give voice to disadvantaged people 2. Community and inclusion ■ Research strives to develop authentic and supportive relationships among researchers, disadvantaged people and other stakeholders ■ Research should be directed towards the goal of building solidarity for social change

  19. Values and principles of transformative research 3. Social justice and accountability to oppressed groups ■ Research money should be distributed in a way that provides job and training opportunities as co-researchers for members of disadvantaged groups ■ Research findings should be used for education and/or advocacy to create social change 4. Reflexivity ■ Research should use emergent (or flexible) research designs ■ Research should provide an educational component ■ Research should be demystified so that knowledge is accessible to all, not just researchers ■ Research should involve all stakeholders in the interpretation of findings and recommendations for change

  20. Roles for Transformative Action Researchers • I VALUE IT • Inclusive Host • Visionary • Asset Seeker • Listener • Unique Solution Finder • Evaluator • Implementer • Trendsetter

  21. CHALLENGES 1. Neglect of balance in values 2. Neglect of context 3. Neglect of power differentials

  22. Values out of balance

  23. Practice out of contextOn Context…..Stokols says…. • The healthfulness of a situation and the well-being of its participants are assumed to be influenced by multiple facets of both the physical environment (e.g., geography, architecture, and technology) and the social environment (e.g., culture, economics, and politics). Moreover, the health status of individuals and groups is influenced not only by environmental factors but also by a variety of personal attributes, including genetic heritage, psychological dispositions, and behavioral patterns.

  24. Stokols continues….. • Thus, efforts to promote human well-being should be based on an understanding of the dynamic interplay among diverse environmental and personal factors rather than on analyses that focus exclusively on environmental, biological, or behavioral factors. (Stokols, 2000, p. 27)

  25. Seligman says…… • Seligman laments that “changing these (external) circumstances is usually impractical and expensive” (2002, p. 50) • Seligman tells readers that, “even if you could alter all of the external circumstances above, it would not do much for you, since together they probably account for no more than between 8 and 15 percent of the variance in happiness” (Authentic Happiness, 2002, p. 61). • Really?

  26. Positive Psychology Foundations • Genetics – 50% • Volitional factors – 40% • Circumstances – 10%

  27. Quadrants of Well-being Collective Quadrant I Quadrant IV Deficits Strength Quadrant III Quadrant II Individual

  28. Quadrants of Well-being Collective Community empowerment, Recreational opportunities Reduction of crime and inequality Deficits Strength Reduction of aggression, Medications Self Actualization Happiness Individual

  29. Risk of Over-Reach Type I Collective Deficits Strength Self Actualization Happiness Individual

  30. Risk of Over-Reach Type II Collective Deficits Strength Reduce symptoms, Take pills Individual

  31. Psychologists’ power to promote the status quo. “Before you reply with enthusiasm to our plea for help, you should consider whether you are not merely engaged as magicians to avoid the crisis in the center of the ring. In considering our motives for offering you a role, I think you would do well to consider how much less expensive it is to hire a thousand psychologists than to make even a miniscule change in the social and economic structure” (judge Bazelon, in the 60s, addressing a group of forensic psychologists).

  32. Stokols Says…. • In those instances where an individual’s cumulative exposure to environmental risks and deficits is so overwhelming that resilience is impossible to achieve and dispositional helplessness ensues, it may be possible to develop new psychological and community interventions aimed at transforming these negative circumstances into more positive ones…At the same time, it is crucial that disadvantaged persons not be stigmatized or derogated for their inability to cultivate resilience and optimism in the face of overwhelming odds… (Stokols, 2003).

  33. In Contrast, Seligman Says…… • “Changing these (external) circumstances is usually impractical and expensive” (2002, p. 50) • Besides, “even if you could alter all of the external circumstances above, it would not do much for you, since together they probably account for no more than between 8 and 15 percent of the variance in happiness” (2002, p. 61).

  34. Seligman continues….. • The very good news is that there are quite a number of internal circumstances that will likely work for you…which are more under your voluntary control. If you decide to change them…your level of happiness is likely to increase lastingly. (Seligman, 2002, Authentic Happiness: The New Science of Positive Psychology, p. 61)

  35. Seligman Engages in Context Minimization Error • “Tendency to ignore the impact of enduring neighborhood and community contexts on human behavior. The error has adverse consequences for understanding psychological processes and efforts at social change” (Shinn and Toohey, 2003, p. 428).

  36. Context Minimization Error • “Practitioners “should pay more attention to the community contexts of human behavior. Conditions in neighborhoods and community settings are associated with residents' mental and physical health, opportunities, satisfactions, and commitments.” (Shinn and Toohey, 2003, annual review of psychology).

  37. It’s Like Venice…..

  38. Venice’s Lesson • “The psychotherapist, social worker or social reformer, concerned only with his own clients and their grievance against society, perhaps takes a view comparable to the private citizen of Venice who concerns himself only with the safety of his own dwelling and his own ability to get about the city. But if the entire republic is slowly being submerged, individual citizens cannot afford to ignore their collective fate, because, in the end, they all drown together if nothing is done” (Badcock, 1982)

  39. How Do We Address Power Imbalance in the Helping Professions? • Values do not exist outside power • Realization of well-being depends on power • Realization of values depends on power • Psychopolitical validity • Epistemic • Transformational

  40. Psychopolitical Validity • Psychopolitical validity derives from the consideration of power dynamics in psychological and political domains of health. • The main objective of psychopolitical validity is to infuse in helping professions an awareness of the role of power in justice and well-being.

  41. Psychopolitical Validity • In order to attain psychopolitical validity, investigations and interventions would have to meet certain criteria. These criteria have to do with the extent to which research and action incorporate lessons about psychological and political power.

  42. Psychopolitical Validity I: Epistemic • This type of validity is achieved by the systematic account of the role of power in political and psychological dynamics affecting phenomena of interest. • Such account needs to consider the role of power in the psychology and politics of well-being, oppression and liberation, at the personal, relational, and collective domains.

  43. Psychopolitical Validity II: Transformational • Transformational validity derives from the potential of our actions to promote personal, relational, and collective wellness by reducing power inequalities and increasing political action

  44. Table 1 Guidelines for Epistemic Psychopolitical Validity in Critical Community Psychology

  45. Table 2 Guidelines for Transformational Psychopolitical Validity

  46. Example 1: Miami SPEC projectOrganizational conditions leading to transformative practice: Findings from a multi-case study, action research investigation • University of Miami SPEC Team • Isaac Prilleltensky • Ora Prilleltensky • Scot Evans • Adrine McKenzie • Debbie Nogueras • Randy Penfield • Corinne Huggins • Nick Mescia

  47. What is transformative practice? • In the context of community, educational, health, and human service organizations, we define transformative practice as consisting of four principles • Strengths • Prevention • Empowerment • Community change

  48. Prilleltensky Drain Approach Deficits-based Reactive Alienating Individualistic Problems Too little Too late Too costly Too unrealistic SPEC Approach Strengths-based Primary Prevention Empowerment Community change Opportunity Built to last Starts early and saves $$$ Creates civic engagement Builds social movement DRAIN VS. SPEC APPROACHES

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