INTRODUCTION TO

COMMUNITY
PSYCHOLOGY
Dra. Andrea Martinez
About me
• Studied Psychology in Brock
University, Canada Ontario
• Masters in Social Psychology, in
UAB, Barcelona
• PhD in Philosophy in UCC, Ireland
• Taught in Anahuac Norte in
Department of Modern Languages
and Cultural Management 2013-
2016
• ESL instructor and manager in
Dublin, Ireland 2016 – 2023
• Moved back to Mexico in January
2024
Online classes
Miércoles 9:30 – 11
Jueves 10:30 - 12
• Take notes
• Take responsibilty
• Attendance at the beginning and at the end of class
• Brightspace
• andrea.martinez0107@anahuac.mx
 Assessment Criteria
• Weekly reports: 200 – 250 words 30 %
• First weekly report: JANUARY 24TH
• Presentation : 20 % MARCH 19TH, 20TH
• Participation: 10%
• Essay : 20 %- APRIL 13TH
• Final Exam : 20 %- MAY 16
Reportes semanales

Send every Friday Late reports don't count

Reflection, NOT A
250 words
SUMMARY
Weekly reports
• Typed and sent to my email, spanish or english
• If I catch you using chatgpt , you get zero
• Choose concepts from the week or use the assigned reading and
write a reflection
• It's not a summary, it's your opinion.
• Answer questions such as: is this useful? How does this apply to
my life? How does this apply to the Mexican context?
ENGLISH LEVEL
• A2- Basico
• B1- Intermedio
• B2- Intermedio alto
• C1- Avanzado
CONTACT
• andrea.martinez0107@anahuac.mx
 Syllabus
• Origin and background of community Psychology
• Community and Social Well-being
• Social networks and Social support
• The ecological perspective
• Participatory action research
• Community development and empowerment
• Epistemological perspectives and methodology for social intervention
• Methodology to community intervention
What is community?
Characteristics of Community Psychology

Ecological approach in its analysis of reality, social processes, and individuals

Focused on developing resources and potential to alleviate deficits

Applied orientation

Preventative

Strongly based on the sociopolitical reality of the country where it is applied

 Community psychology is concerned
with the community as the unit of
study.
This contrasts with most psychology
which focuses on the individual.
Definition Community psychology also studies
the community as a context for the
individuals within it, and the
relationships of the individual to
communities and society.
 • Community Psychology originates
from the lacks and the demands of a
particular and concrete social,
Definition political, and cultural reality that
affects all its theoretical,
methodological, and ideological
facets.
 • Community Psychology tries to
analyze and intervene in the
contexts where the person
develops.
• It tries to understand how the
person perceives these contexts.
• It tries to identify individual and
Definition social resources aiming to
empower their development.
• Social forces and systems play an
important role in determining
human behavior.
 • Community Psychology maintains that
social and cultural environment is the
source of both conflict and solution.
• The social enviroment has both limitations
and resources
• Even in impoverished contexts of
Definition mariginalization, it is possible to find
resources, such as solidarity, in order to
begin an intervention process.
• Both characteristics and processes of
social systems are factors that contribute to
mental health issues. This view
prevents linking health isuess to the
individual's nature alone.
Questions – 10 min
• What are the most important issues in your community?
• Why do you think those issues exist?
• Have any measures been taken to alleviate those problems?
R- 1. dependencia económica en los textiles—cooperativas/ aspecto ambiental
2 . Falta de información / corrupción/ adicciones
3. falta de insumos médicos en hospitales.
Empowerment and
development of • Developing and
empowering social contexts facilitates
social individual competences, and promotes
environments structural transformations in these
environments
Restoring equilibrium

• Even though individual, group, and social

interests can be in conflict with one another,
there are always paths of negotiation that can
restore balance.
• Participation, consensus, critical thinking,
respect for diversity, tolerance, etc, are some
mechanisms that can restore imbalance in
social environments.
HORIZONTALITY
Ver a los demás, los miembros de la comunidad, como iguales. Ambos
profesional y miembro de la comunidad puede aprender y enseñarse el uno a
otro y tienen el mismo valor.
 • Individual maladjustments are
linked to those of the environment.
• Improving an individual's
situation has to happen also
through the modification of their
Individual/ environment.
environment • Only focusing on the individual
without looking at their environment
is not conducive to long term
solutions, since the source of the
tensions and problems might be
ignored.
Sense of community
• A sense of community defines
a person's adjustment to their
environment.
• This involves a psychological state
linked to participatory democratic
processes, the sense that one can
express opinions, the ability to be
open towards others, paths of
communication, etc.
• This sentiment can also come
from other social systems such as
family, self- help groups, trusting
relationships, etc.
Community Psychology in the Anglo-Saxon context
• Beginnings in the epidemiological studies at the end of the XIX century
and beginning of XX by sociologists of the Chicago school.
• They linked mental disorders with social factors such as poor social
integration
• Swampscott conference in Boston in 1965: organized with the aim of
analyzing the training of psychologists that worked in a community
• The conference is the result of the creation of mental health community
centres.
1960s

• Shift in the understanding of health

• Not as absence of disease, but as a state of physical, social and
psychological well-being.
• The traditional model: passive role of the patient, and a waiting role to
the professional
• Individual approach that overlooks the influence of environmental and
social factors on the source and development of mental health issues.
1970s – 1980s
• Social research on social support : analyzed its structure,
measurements, function, and relation with the social adaptation of the
subject.
• Intervention strategies that focus on developing skills that facilitate
access to resources, promote the sense of control over one's own future
(empowerment), contribute to the creation of self-help groups , and
modify unhealthy lifestyles.
Individualist bias

• Individualism vs Collectivism
• Preventative interventions focus on developing individual skills (cognitive,
communication, problem solving) rather than interpersonal or
organizational aspects.
• Individual responsibility / freedom
 1990s- 200s
• Intervention programs to prevent: violence against women, youth
violence, child abuse, etc.
• These interventions try to incorporate the community and count with
local support
• Now important: ethnic and cultural diversity (respect cultural values of
the community)
 Characteristics of community psyc in the US
• Origin linked to mental health
• Its evolution as partially conditioned by American cultural
characteristics (ethnocentrism and individualism)
• Scarce community approaches to interventions
• Theoretical references: psychosocial stress model, social support and
self-help groups research, theory of empowerment.
 Community Psychology in Latin America
• Beginning of 1960s
• First interventions took as main theoretical references: Paulo Freire's
pedagogy the oppressed and Orlando Fals Borda's action research
 Latin American context

• Shared characteristics across countries (social inequality, poverty, lack

of access to resources or welfare)
• 1979 Peru conference: psychologists realized they were already using
similar community models
• Coexistence of community social psychology and processes of self-
management, community development, and social participation.
• Argentina and Chile: more focus on mental health
• Venezuela: political, ideological stances
Methodology in LATAM

• Participatory action research ( emphasizes participation and action by

members of communities affected by that research. It seeks to
understand the world by trying to change it, collaboratively and
following reflection. PAR emphasizes collective inquiry and
experimentation grounded in experience and social history. Within a
PAR process, "communities of inquiry and action evolve and address
questions and issues that are significant for those who participate as
co-researchers")
• Etnnographic and qualitative : participatory observation, interviews
Participation
• Participation as the most studied
process
• Participation actively includes
people in planning and development
of solutions to problems that affect
then
• Consciousness building and
development of a sense of
community
• Social and communitary approach (
cultural differences with US)
• Influence of Liberation Theology
(60s)
Future developments

• Community Psyc did not emerge

with a strong theoretical base but
out of necessity from the social
reality.
• Social needs and demands
have developed community
interventions
• Its objective is to improve the quality
of life and promote social and
personal development integrated
with a historical, social, and
political reality
Discussion – 10 mins
• Reflect on your experiences with the health care system in Mexico,
do you feel empowered? Is your role active or passive? Why?
• Think of advantages and disadvantages of individualism (give
examples)
• Think of advantages and disadvantages of
collectivism (give examples)
• How do you participate in your community?