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
Καλή Επτυχία