SLK 320 Sem test 1 Flashcards
define critical psychology
a psychological orientation that is made up of diverse theoretical perspectives and forms of practice
How do you grasp critical psychology
getting a sense of it’s agenda’s and functioning across a spread of theories and practices
what are the 3 points of focus in critical psychology
TCP
theoretical resources
questions of south african context
forms of practice
the 3 points of focus correlate to 3 vital domains of critical activity/ critique. What are they?
EED
- an emphasis on the value of different modes of conceptualisation
- an eye for specificity
- the drive to convert critical sensibilities into a kind of critical response/reaction
Theoretical resources demonstrates 3 things about psychology, what are they?
Ideology
Oppression
Eurocentric
what does the focus section on ‘questions of South African context’ look at?
concerns relevant to the Southern African/third world situation
the focus section of ‘forms of practice’ aims to make psychology… (3)
more politically responsive
more active in challenging authority structures
more active in responding to grassroots needs in South Africa
what 4 things does the focus section of ‘forms of practice’ include explanations of
TAPD
The emotional components of community psychology
Activity theory
Participatory action research
Discourse analysis
what are the 6 key themes/concerns in critical psychology
PoPsPoPsDW
1- Power and psychology
2- Psychology as ideological
3- Politics of knowledge and subjectivity
4- Psychology as a powerful form of knowledge
5- Depoliticizing experience
6- Ways of knowing ourselves
Define Ideology
the ways in which meaning serves to create and sustain relations of power and domination
what are the 2 ways, according to Hence Hayes, of addressing the issue of ideology in psychology
On a critical basis
On a substantive basis
define Critical Dimension
The knowledge claims and the ontological status of psychology as a science.
define substantive dimension
The operations of ideology at the level of the individual
what are the 2 inclusions of the critical dimension of psychology regarding ideology
The knowledge of claims and the ontological status of psychology as a science
Interrogating psychology as a particular politics of knowledge
what are the 2 inclusions of the substantive dimension of psychology regarding ideology
The operations of ideology at the level of the individual
Engaging psychology as a particular politics of subjectivity
what are the 4 aspects of knowledge that critical psychology is concerned with
BNTS
Based on an objective
Neutral “knowing” of the world
That thus sells itself as truth
Seemingly scientific
Define imperialism
knowledge that is produced in the 1st world and is generalised to all contexts, including 3rd world countries
define psychological imperialism
the knowledges of psychology are exclusionary (they exclude a lot of people in their attentions and priorities)
Define psychopolitics
the explicit politicisation of the psychological
define liberation psychology
questions of the psychological processes, dynamics, etc through which people may escape from particular power structures of oppression and exploitation
what are the 2 important broad conceptualisations of critical psychology that are 2 of its most important responsibilities
the engagement and critique of the power of psychology
the psychological engagement and critique of power
Define psychological reductionism
Theory that oversimplifying human behaviour or cognitive processes neglects to explain the complexities of the mind
Define self-contained individualism
traditional psychological view in which the self is regarded as a bounded, autonomous entity and defined in terms of its internal attributes
Define collectivist self
a view of the self in which the self is context-based, defined in terms of one’s relationships with others (non-western culture)
Define cultural psychology
the study of the way cultural traditions and social practices regulate, express, and transform the human psyche resulting in less psychic unity
Define psychic unity
assumption that human beings are all the same
Define objective knowledge
notion that knowledge is not supposed to be affected by the knower’s values and meanings
What 3 things are involved in the construction of meanings
the meaning
the processes
the transactions
Define lived experience
refers to real life, as opposed to laboratory or hypothetical experiences
Define indigenous psychologies
the cultural views, theories, classifications, assumptions, and metaphors which bear on psychological topics
what are the 3 levels that indigenisation can occur at
Structural level
Substantive level
Theoretical level
what is the structural level of indigenisation
the nation’s organisational and institutional capabilities to produce and spread relevant knowledge
What is the substantive level of indigenisation
applying psychology to address national policy issues
what is the theoretical level of indigenisation
seeks to develop conceptual frameworks and metatheories that are consistent with the sociocultural experiences, worldviews, and goals of the people in question
Define acculturation
Modification of the culture group of a group or individual as a result of contact with different culture
Define Panacea
kind of remedy/cure for diseases, ailments, problems, etc (a kind of ‘cure all’)
Define worldview
a set of basic assumptions that a group of people develops in order to explain reality and their place and purpose in the world
what 4 things does our worldview shape
WAVO
Way we think and behave
Attitudes
Values
Opinions
What are the 4 components of our worldview
PATT
People-natured orientation
Activity orientation
Time orientation
The relational operation
Define the people-natured orientation
this dimension answers the question of ‘how is the relationship of people to nature to be understood?’
Define the activity orientation
this dimensions answers the question of ‘what is the preferred mode of human activity?’
Define the time orientation
A culture may emphasise history and tradition, the here and now, or the distant future
define the relational orientation
concerned with how the self is defined in relation to the other and the environment
Define metaphysics
a branch of philosophy that is concerned with our conceptions of reality, position in the universe, and our relation to others and the environment
what are the 4 interdependent philosophical assumptions bearing directly on psychological topics
HPCN
Hierarchy of beings
Principle of cosmic unity
Communal view of personhood
Notion of vitality
define the intermediate world
the level in the hierarchy of being in African metaphysics that consists of human beings
According to Ngubane, what are the 2 divisions of the world of the ancestors
The world of the recently deceased
The world of integrated ancestors
Define integrated ancestors
Ancestors who are capable of communicating with God on behalf of their relatives, and for whom rituals are performed
Define holistic/holism
account of the world in which everything is interconnected in such a way that elements of the whole are contained in each part
Define life force
refers to the energy or power that is the essence of all phenomena, material and immaterial
what 4 things is God’s power manifested in?
CCHB
Changing seasons
Cycles of Nature
Human achievements
Birth
Define Teleology
seeks to explain the universe in terms of final causes
(Greek Telos= end and Logos=discourse)
Define cosmic unity
The idea that there is a connection between God, Izinyanya, animals, plants and inanimate objects. Withing this system, everything is perpetually in motion, influencing and being influenced by something else
Define the holistic worldview of life
one cannot look at individual units in isolation from their context
Define separate knowing
A sceptical, distanced and impartial stance. Adverse and argumentative stance to new ideas
Define connected knowing
tries to accommodate new ideas, searching for what is right even in what might initially appear to be wrong
Define Atomistic
Consisting of many separate, diverse, or disparate elements
Define totem
animal, plant, or natural object that serves among traditional peoples as the emblem of a clan or family
Define psychopolitics
critical awareness of the role that political factors play within the domain of the psychological
what are the 2 things that psychopolitics is an understanding of?
How politics impacts upon the psychological
How a personal psychology may be the level at which politics is internalised
what are the 3 purposes of Fanon’s psychological descriptions
SUE
to Subject such forms of power to critique
to Understand them better
to Effectively challenge them
Define the psycho-existential complex
Psychic conflict about the existence of the individual person (free determining agent determining their own development through acts of will) leading to abnormal mental states
Define trans-historical
Across all historical settings
Fanon tracks the implications of wanting to be white over which 4 domains
BLSD
Behaviour
Language
Sexuality
Dreams
Define Neurosis
emotional disorder that manifests at the level of personality, which stems from the conflict between a fundamental impulse or wish and the need to repress this instinct
Define psychoneurosis
Relatively mild mental illness NOT caused by organic disease that involves symptoms of stress
but not a radical loss of touch with reality
Define neurosis of blackness
‘dream of turning white’ as it comes into conflict with one’s being in a black body, and in a racist society, which makes this wish impossible
Define Register
Particular vocabulary/conceptual framework stemming from a particular school of thought
Define reify
Speaking about concepts as if they are really existing concrete objects
Define Catharsis
psychological process where distressing or damaging emotional material is rid of via the means of an activity that externalises it.
Define collective catharsis
Catharsis as it happens on a mass social level
Define scapegoating
projection of blame onto another person or object, who then becomes blameworthy or punishable
Define projection
process by which specific aspects of self, or certain wishes or impulses, are imagined to be located in something or someone else.
which 2 figurative terms did Fanon develop to dramatize the strength of the 2-way relationship between psyche and society
Internalisation
Epidermalization
Define internalisation
the process by which external, sociohistorical reality is assimilated into ‘internal’ and subjective reality
Define Epidermalization
used to underscore the profound transformation of economic inferiority to subjective inferiority
What are the 2 basic psychoanalytic notions
Phobic object
Ambivalence
Define phobic object
thing or person causing irrational feelings of dread, fear and hate
Define phobogenic
fear-causing person or object
Define paranoid anxiety
irrational, yet consistent belief that one is being systematically undermined, persecuted or attacked by a ‘bad’ object, that is a person, group or thing which intends to do me damage
Define collective unconscious
idea that all human beings share a supply of innate ideas or archetypes that are genetically supplied, universal, and can be spontaneously produced in the symbolism of different cultures and times
Define archetypes
universal motifs or patterns that form the collective unconsciousness. They make up the shared basic contents of religions, mythologies, legends, etc and they can also feature in individual dreams and fantasies
Define Negro myth
Racist system of representations and values in which the figure of the black man/woman comes to stand as a repository, a figure in whom whites come to symbolise all their lower emotions and baser inclinations.
Define European collective unconscious
Fanons adaptation of the Jungian notion of the collective unconscious such that it is not
dependent on cerebral hereditary but is rather the result of the imposition of a culture, is purely
and simply the sum of prejudices, myths and collective attitudes of a given group
Define Manichean thinking
approach to culture in which all values and concepts are split into binary opposites, one that is positive (white) and one that is negative (black)
