What is Community Psychology?
The field of community psychology focuses on the study of how individuals relate to their communities and the reciprocal effect of communities on individuals. Through understanding this, those working in this field are able to research community issues, analyze the data, and recommend interventions that promote community wellness.
However, communities are not just neighborhoods or geographic regions. Other forms of communities include:
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Community psychology recognizes that just like individuals, each of these communities have their own social and psychological dynamics. Together, these dynamics play a role in the complexities of human nature and how people navigate the world based on the community they belong to.
This informational guide to community psychology will identify:
- What a community psychologist does
- How a community psychologist can help communities in need
- The history of community psychology
- Different types of communities that a community psychologist may study
- Possible community psychology careers
- How to pursue a career in community psychology
What Do Community Psychologists Do?
Community psychologists use social, cultural, economic, political, environmental, and international influences to promote positive change and address issues that may negatively impact a community. Through action-oriented research, community psychologists can help build data-driven support for certain policy proposals or the implementation of specific community programs. By recognizing the needs of a community—this can be as concrete as the need for water or as abstract as the need for cohesiveness—community psychologists can use research to positively impact the future of a community and its citizens.
How a Community Psychologist Can
Help Communities in Need
Below are some examples of how a degree in community psychology, which provides a comprehensive understanding of this field, can help prepare people to better address many of the issues our communities face.
The issue:
The state of education in California is nearing its tipping point. When it comes to high school graduation rankings, California is third to last in the nation. On top of that, dropout rates for minority youth exceed 60% in some Los Angeles schools.
Benefits of a community psychology degree:
A degree in community psychology may benefit someone working within the school system at an administrative level or as an outside consultant. This person may conduct surveys or focus groups with students, parents, and staff in school districts with the goal of determining why students are not finishing (i.e., students needing to work to help support their family financially or a lack of after school resources in the area). Community psychologists could then use the research they gathered to present and make appropriate recommendations to local government and school board officials.
The issue:
Homelessness is a widespread issue across the U.S., particularly in large metropolitan areas. According to a ranking from U.S. News & World Report, 6.7% of the nation’s homeless live in Los Angeles—that’s 58,000 people. Additionally, 64.9% of homeless Californians are unsheltered; 14% are veterans, and 20% of the homeless population in L.A. County are families.
Benefits of a community psychology degree:
A degree in community psychology could benefit employees currently working in homeless shelters or street outreach programs to better understand the root causes of homelessness and begin to treat the cause in addition to the symptoms. Through research, they would be able to identify certain barriers that prevent someone from moving into stable housing (i.e., job loss, addiction, mental health issues, or housing prices) and use data to support solutions to the issue such as increasing mental health resources, rent control, and affordable housing.
The issue:
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, nearly 20% of Americans are affected by a mental health condition. However, due to a variety of circumstances, African American and Latino communities may be particularly prone to underreporting a mental health condition.
Benefits of a community psychology degree:
A degree in community psychology could benefit someone currently working as a hotline worker or at a community clinic. Through learning how to survey minority communities, these workers could help determine why below-average levels of participation in mental health services persist. They may discover that a certain community’s services don’t match the community’s needs or find that a distrust in the medical field, including psychiatrists and psychologists, is prevalent among communities of color.
The Issue:
Ed Roberts contracted polio at a young age, paralyzing him from the neck down. Nearing his graduation date, his high school threatened to keep him from receiving his diploma because he hadn’t completed physical education or driver’s education.
Benefits of a community psychology degree:
Often regarded as the founder of the independent living movement, Ed Roberts fought to graduate high school and later to receive accommodations to obtain his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UC Berkeley. A community psychologist may work to empower individuals and help them understand their positioning in the world and advocate for more equitable conditions.
The Issue:
A curriculum without a robust black history education leaves black students to explain their history and give it value in educational settings. Or the curriculum glosses over this history without it being taught in the context of present history, a happening that Education Weekly describes as teaching black history isolation.
Benefits of a Community Psychology Degree:
An article by the Society for Community Research and Action details how the Association of Black Psychologists voiced their concerns about the lack of black and multicultural psychology as well as the race exclusive and complicit racist practices within the American Psychological Association. Community psychology makes efforts to bring recognition to movements that were integral to bringing society to where it is today. In highlighting these efforts in the classroom, the value of black history is baked into the curriculum rather than leaving the onus on black and brown students to teach their already marginalized history. In doing this, community psychologists help empower students through a history lesson that not only recounts tribulations but successes and contemporary applications as well.
The Issue:
According the U.S. Census Bureau, on averge women earn lower wages—only 80.7% as a much as their male counterparts. A 2017 Pew Research Center survey found 42% of women reported having experienced gender discrimination at work, leaving them to feel undervalued.
Benefits of a community psychology degree:
A community psychology can help women more fully understand the institutions that keep them from reaching their full potential in their personal and professional lives. Women then may be able to make more decisions about their lives as well as advocate for themselves and the injustices they experience at work. With this understanding, they can gain more power and effect change in their immediate surroundings.
The issue:
Southern California is notorious for its air pollution. The American Lung Association’s annual “State of the Air” report named California as the state with the worst air quality in 2017 and identified California as having eight of the 10 most polluted cities across the U.S. in 2018.
Benefits of a community psychology degree:
A degree in community psychology may benefit those working as environmental lobbyists, preparing them to gather data on how the state’s pollution is affecting specific communities. They could use this research to potentially identify how certain zoning laws and regulations disproportionately place lower-income neighborhoods next to pollutant-producing factories. Or they may be able to use research that shows a contrast in the availability of city resources such as street sweepers for lower-income neighborhoods to support the reallocation of city funds.
The History of Community Psychology
Community psychology, as its own discipline, first came to formation in the 1950s after World War II. Similarly to other movements, change in community psychology took place as an evolution over the course of a few decades. Many of these changes reflected the collective socio-political consciousness of that given decade or realizations that became clear as the field strived to be more inclusive.
Starting in the 1950s, American attitudes around mental health emphasized the importance of community-sponsored mental health care. The community psychology field continued to progress as issues such as civil rights, second-wave feminism, and other movements gained traction in the 1960s and 1970s, and people began to discuss the role that community and environment played on an individual’s development.
The Swampscott Conference in 1965 is often thought of as the official origin of community psychology. This conference for the Education of Psychologists in Community Mental Health was a precursor to the creation of the American Psychological Association’s Division of Community Psychology. During this decade, mental health patients were becoming deinstitutionalized as professionals and media platforms exposed the detrimental conditions of institutions, medical treatments, and asylum hospitalization.
Following these advances in community psychology, the 1970s brought about more change regarding environmental concerns, preventative practices, and ways to empower people in their communities to recognize and implement this knowledge into their daily practices.
The following decades saw a finetune of existing theories, a change in how community psychologists conducted their research, and more ways in which this field is further complicated as communities continued to grow and change.
Careers with a Degree in Community Psychology
If you are interested in pursuing a career in community psychology, you may discover a wide range of potential career paths to choose from, including:
- Higher education
- Public education
- Governmental health and human service agencies
- Law enforcement or probation departments
- Nonprofit organizations
- Public policy organizations
- Research and evaluation firms
- Independent or consulting groups
- Social work
- Teaching
- Digital marketing
- Counseling
"This field allows us to take social action to reduce inequalities within our communities and work toward empowerment."
— Elizabeth Robinson, M.Ed., Adjunct Faculty, Pacific Oaks
"Community psychology is the opportunity to advocate, empower, and reduce oppression within our communities that we serve."
— Dr. Bree E, Cook, Psy.D., Vice President of Academic Affairs, Pacific Oaks
How to Pursue a Career in Community Psychology
Like any psychology professional, community psychologists must begin with their bachelor’s degree. However, not all psychology programs offer a specific focus in this field.
At Pacific Oaks College, we offer a B.A. in Community Psychology program that provides an avenue for students to combine their interests in social activism with their concern for how individuals and groups develop, grow, and evolve.
Additionally, those seeking to further their career in community psychology are encouraged to pursue a graduate-level degree from APA-approved programs.