Psychology, Human Growth and Development for Social Work

A Comprehensive Guide

Emma Zara O'Brien

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781352009651
• eBook ISBN: 9781350312951
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Developmental Psychology
• Index: Psychology

This exciting new edition is an engaging and accessible introduction to understanding human behaviour and development from a psychological perspective. Written by a psychologist with extensive teaching experience, it offers a clear and systematic exploration of psychological concepts and research, and discussion of their relevance for social work practice. The psychological framework provides thematic coherence for a uniquely wide range of material, from brain development to communication skills, psychiatric diagnoses to forms of discrimination. With a logical and intuitive structure, it's perfect for Human Growth and Development modules and a range of other Social Work modules with psychological content, enabling students to see how different elements of theory and research connect together for practical application.

1 INTRODUCTION

Contents

Life happens

What is social work?

Psychology

Factors

Specialities in psychology

Finally – the structure of the book

Psychology for social work is a daunting endeavour given the range of issues and topics that social workers need to have knowledge of and deal with. Psychology has breadth and depth too; similar to social work, it is concerned with the human experience. Psychology endeavours to understand human thinking, emotions and behaviour, historically looking to ‘intrapsychic’ processes (within the individual). The roots of social work lie in recognition of social injustice and its impact on peoples’ life experiences. Recently, psychology has given greater acknowledgment to external forces and their influence. Social work continues to embrace psychological theories and research to augment their knowledge. This book attempts to introduce theories, concepts and research from psychology relevant to social work. The reader is encouraged to engage critically and to consider how psychology and its tenets might be applied to social work and its practice.

This chapter will be relatively short compared with other chapters. Its purpose is to introduce some basic ideas and concepts in psychology and to outline the structure of the book. Psychology as a discipline is explored, including its history, its different perspectives and its goals. Social work and its definition are considered, as is the role of psychology in social work. A brief explanation of the different specialities within psychology is given at the end of the chapter. This book is meant to introduce students to some of the fundamental tenets and concepts in psychology that are relevant to social work and its practice. This chapter is an introductory one, outlining some basic premises and ideas from psychology; its goal is to familiarise you with the field of psychology.

Life happens

Even the monkeys fall out of the trees.

Old Japanese proverb

I’m very fond of this proverb as it reminds me that ‘life’ happens! The proverb tells us that sometimes we go off the tracks or get side-lined. Monkeys sometimes fall out of trees even though it is not their ‘natural’ behaviour; people and life can be similarly unfortunate or unpredictable. This is what appeals to me every time I think of this proverb; that ‘stuff happens, events can sidetrack us, and we can end up in situations we never imagined. It’s a good lesson in humility, I think. I was working as a teacher 20 years ago; I had studied some psychology as part of my teaching qualification, but I didn’t really connect with its importance, my focus being solely on education. The first teaching job I secured was working with adolescents who had been expelled repeatedly from schools. The unit was located in an area of extreme disadvantage; as I came to know these young people, I became increasingly distressed by their life experiences and despondent about my ability to support them. I started to see that, before we even attempted to support their educational needs and learning, these teens desperately needed to be supported on a fundamental level. There were limited resources and over-stretched personnel, including social workers assigned to some of the students. It was this experience that led me to study to become a psychologist several years later. This experience shaped me; it was transformative. I continued to work in communities that experience disadvantage and with those who are marginalised. I mention this for several reasons, one being that ‘life happens’; it was through working with those young people that I discovered how lacking I was, not in my desire to support but in my knowledge and skills. I became determined to understand, as best I could, the human experience and why some teens seemed to be more resilient than others. However, the lesson I most powerfully took away was how society had failed these kids, how we all had. That early experience remains with me; it taught me the importance of critical reflection. I recognised the absolute importance of being reflective, catching my biases and interrogating my values and beliefs and how these affect my interactions.

Social workers encounter people who are vulnerable, people who need support. Yet, how do we support them to ensure the best outcomes possible? I originally stumbled into psychology because I was curious as to how some people were able to overcome extreme adversity and have successful lives, while others were not. Why the different outcomes? There are no easy answers – I doubt there will ever be answers that are conclusive – but the quest to understand human behaviour is a fascinating one. The question of how we become who we are is not recent; it has exercised the minds of humans since they could reason. Before we look at that and other issues pertinent to the study of psychology, we should address what is meant by social work and the relationship between psychology and social work.

What is social work?

The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Utilising theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work.

In this book, we will be looking at knowledge from a psychological perspective, through choosing theories and concepts relevant to social work and considering some of the skills required. In terms of values, the following piece outlines what is considered the value base of social work.

Value base of social workers

The value base of social work is clearly defined within the International Federation for Social Workers (IFSW) International Policy on Human Rights (1996):

Social workers serve human development through adherence to the following basic principles:

i) Every human being has a unique value, which justifies moral consideration for that person.

ii) Each individual has the right to self-fulfilment, to the extent that it does not encroach upon the same right of others, and has an obligation to contribute to the well-being of society.

iii) Each society, regardless of its form, should function to provide the maximum benefits for all its members.

iv) Social workers have a commitment to principles of social justice.

v) Social workers have the responsibility to devote objective and disciplined knowledge and skill to work with individuals, groups, communities and societies in their development and resolution of personal–societal conflicts and their consequences.

vi) Social workers are expected to provide the best possible assistance without discrimination on the basis of gender, age, disability, colour, social class, race, religion, language, political beliefs or sexual orientation.

Lalor and Share (2009) list the following as important areas to social work and care: working in partnership, marginalisation or disadvantage, children and their families, people with disabilities, those who are homeless, those with addiction, older people and recent immigrants.

Psychology is, at its most simplistic, the study of the human mind and behaviour. The link is clear between (applied) psychology, which strives to understand, explain and improve peoples lives, and social work, which involves working with people, particularly those who are vulnerable and have ‘needs’ that require support. So, what exactly is the potential role of psychology in social work?

The role of psychology in social work

Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000, p. 1) articulate their vision for the role of psychology in shaping people’s lives and improving them:

At this juncture, the social and behavioural sciences can play an enormously important role. They can articulate a vision of the good life that is empirically sound, while being understandable and attractive. They can show what actions lead to well-being, to positive individuals and to thriving communities. Psychology should be able to help document what kinds of families result in children who flourish, what work settings support the greatest satisfaction among workers, what policies result in the strongest civic engagement and how people’s lives can be most worth living.

Until recently, psychologists concerned themselves only with how people survive and endure adversity. Seligman identifies the emphasis in psychology on the study of psychopathology, when people develop maladaptive behaviours and become ‘mentally unwell’. Seligman states that most psychologists have ‘scant knowledge of what makes life worth living’. He eloquently identifies the potential that psychology has to benefit the field of social work through improving the lives of others. Throughout this book, the role of psychology within social work will become clear, from psychological theory to informed evidence-based interventions. So, what is psychology?

Psychology

The historical perspective

Throughout history, there have been attempts to understand what makes us human, what shapes our thoughts and behaviour. Religion played an early part in attempting to unravel human behaviour; for example, there was the Christian assertion of ‘original sin’, the idea that people are born flawed and susceptible to undesirable behaviour. Philosophers added to the debate as the centuries unfolded. John Locke for instance suggested that a person was born a ‘blank slate’ or ‘tabula rasa’, and that life experiences shaped the person we became. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in contrast to the Christian view, believed in the innate goodness of humans striving to reach their full potential. Of course, these arguments are best left to theologians and philosophers, but the study of psychology is really not much different in that, put simply, it attempts to gain understanding of humans, their development and behaviours.

What is psychology?

Psychology is the study of people: how they think, act, react and interact. Psychology is concerned with all aspects of behaviour and the thoughts, feelings and motivations underlying behaviour. In their search for the causes of diverse forms of behaviour, psychologists take into account biological, psychological and environmental factors. Psychology is different from psychiatry, which requires a medical degree and historically concerns itself with mental illness from a biological perspective.

The history of psychology

Within the history of psychology, several approaches have been used to gain a greater understanding of human behaviours, beginning in the early 1800s with the following:

Introspection: As the name indicates, this approach relied on ‘inspection’, where an individual would be asked to report on their feelings and thoughts. William James, considered one of the forefathers of psychology, was an exponent of this method, as was William Wundt.

Psychodynamics: Originating in the late 1800s, this movement is best known through the work of Freud. It placed emphasis upon the ‘unconscious’ mind, believing that a person had awareness of only a fraction of his thoughts and mental processes. Freud believed that unconscious urges were responsible for behaviour. Techniques such as hypnosis and dream analysis were used to access these unknown recesses of the mind. While many are critical of Freud, as we will see in Chapter 4, arguably his belief that early experiences affect later development still ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• 1 INTRODUCTION
• 2 THE BRAIN AND BEHAVIOUR
• 3 COMMUNICATION AND RELATIONSHIPS IN SOCIAL WORK
• 4 APPROACHES TO PSYCHOLOGY
• 5 HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
• 6 DISABILITIES
• 7 MENTAL HEALTH
• 8 WELL-BEING AND ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSORS
• 9 ABUSE AND TRAUMA
• 10 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
• References
• Index