Curricula in Psychology and Societal Needs

John B. Nezlek, PhD

Department of Psychology

College of William & Mary

In what context should the undergraduate psychology curriculum be evaluated?

• As part of a liberal arts or general undergraduate education

• As the terminal degree with the expectation of employment/citizenship

• As preparation for post graduate school

Context, post-graduate

• Career focused MA degree

• Career focused doctoral degree

• Research focused doctoral degree

• Within any of these contexts, meeting societal needs can be considered

Societal needs

• Two broad, general needs

1. Maintain existing structure and institutions

2. Prepare for and cope with change

Maintenance function

• Socialization -- education, instilling norms

• Promoting health and well-being and preventing distress (public health model)

• Treating distress and reducing poor health

Change function

• Measure and evaluate changes

• Anticipate or guide change

• Help to cope with change

Socialization

• Education is part of the socialization process -- how people are taught to members of society

• Define right and wrong, good and bad

• Psychology can play a special role in this process because of its emphasis on interpersonal behavior and well-being

Promote health and well-being

• Public health model

• Empower people and organize societies to minimize the likelihood people will experience problems -- reduce risk

• Emphasis on competencies and strengths rather than deficits and weaknesses

Treat distress

• Inevitably, people will experience distress, sometimes severe and disabling

• Train diagnosticians and service providers

Measure and evaluate change

• Train students in the technology of measurement

• Use of existing instruments

• Develop new instruments

• Train students to interpret and evaluate information

Anticipate or guide change

• Research on emerging trends and their implications

• Determine an agenda for change -- What should happen vs. what will happen?

• Train students to recognize change and to think about what changes should occur

Coping with change

• Change is inevitable

• Stress is inevitable

• Learning to cope effectively with both is important

• Training and education for service providers, researchers, and citizens

Context of culture and values

• Both the maintenance and change functions need to be understood within a cultural context

• Both functions need to be understood within the values and value systems of societies

• Nothing is value free - not even science

Value context

• What should be taught, studied, encouraged, and discouraged?

• Selection of research topics and methods dictated by values

• What is worth studying and how should it be studied?

Tension between change and stability

• How much should we help people to accept the existing structure and their roles in that structure?

• How much should help people to change the structure (and themselves) and adopt new roles?

For example...

• To what extent should an education in psychology prepare women to succeed within the existing structure

• To what extent should an education in psychology empower women to make, accept, and prepare for change, particularly in terms of roles that have traditionally been defined in terms of gender

Tension...

• Between the short and the long term

• Accepting the status quo may be good in the short term (mother and father are happy)

• But, not good in the long term -- limited career and life opportunities

Tension between...

• Socialization/maintenance function, which tends to be conservative

• and

• Change function, which by its nature is concerned with creating differences

Tension among…

• Different, complementary roles

• For example, gender roles are mutually defined. Changing women’s rights obligations, and responsibilities necessarily changes men’s

• Similar relationships for faculty and student roles

Possible special considerations for Greece

• EU membership may create certain pressures and add certain expectations, even if these are not explicit

• When designing curricula, need to anticipate students going to other countries for work or study more so than in the past

Possible special considerations for Greece

• Lack of independent psychology departments in many universities

• Lack of support for using psychology curricula as agents of change

Practical questions

• Should new courses/lessons be created?

• Should existing courses/lessons be revised?

• Should requirements be changed?– Increased to ensure uniformity – or – Decreased to allow for more freedom and

diversity

Potential problems

• Creating change invariably creates resistance

• To the extent possible or practical, involve as many people as possible in the decision

• Distinguish proximal (immediate) and distal (long-term) outcomes

• Be realistic

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