Chapter 1

Learning Objectives 

After reading this chapter, one should be able to answer the following questions:  

1. What is community psychology?  
2. What historical and social situations have contributed to the development of American community psychology?  
3. How do ecological perspectives provide a framework for understanding human behavior?  
4. What roles do prevention and promotion play in conceiving community psychology?  

Test your knowledge of this chapter with this quiz!  

Question 1

Community psychology emphasizes the role of the:

person in determining behavior

environmental context in determining behavior

soul in determing behavior

psyche in determing behavior

None

Question 2

Community psychology traces some of its theoretical roots to

Community psychiatry

Social psychiatry

Grief work following the Coconut Grove fire in Boston

All of the above

None

Question 3

Lyndon Johnson is recognized for his passage of legislation called

The Great Society

The Texas Package

The Southern Reconstruction Act

Peace and Prosperity

None

Question 4

A Mesosystem is:

where the microsystems interact

the level of culture

the system where the individual does not reside

All of the above

None

Question 5

Bronfrenbrenner believed we needed to understand the development of the individual

from an intrapsychic point of view

through environmental-systemic layers

behaviorally

using a model of individual differences

None

Question 6

In a network, its boundaries describe:

The physical contours which contain it

The limitations of its skills

Who is in the network

How the network originated

None

Question 7

What type of prevention attempts to treat a problem at the earliest demonstration, before it becomes severe or persistent?

Primary prevention

Secondary prevention

Tertiary prevention

All prevention programs

None

Question 8

Community psychology would emphasize _______________ to make changes for the better.

A return to tradition

Incorporation of intrapsychic materials

Innovative alternatives

All of the above

None

Question 9

Spirit of a place is called _____.

Placido

Locavore

Zeitgeist

Ortgeist

None

Question 10

If you are interested in finding a job quickly and being welcomed to the organization, it might be best to find a situation that is ______.

overmanned

intermanned

undermanned

countermanned

None

Time’s up

Study Questions 

1. How might one think of a problem differently when taking an ecological perspective to an issue or problem?  
2. What does thinking preventively do to the consideration of mental health or mental illness?  
3. What are some of the developmental tasks that typically face people living in community?  
4. How does an awareness of historical, political and/or social context help to understand the evolution of community psychology as a field?  

Additional Resources 

• Voting Rights Act of 1965: http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=100&page=transcript 
• The Beloved Community, Eran Thompson (TEDxBillings): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIFdPjKC6_s  
• Society for Community Research and Action “Exemplars of Community Psychology”: https://vimeo.com/69635912    
• America in a Different Mirror: A Comparative Approach to History (60 minutes):https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/america-in-a-different-mirror-a-comparative-approach-to-history 
• Good Life Project podcast: https://www.goodlifeproject.com/podcast/