Indigenous Psychology - The Indigenous Psychology Movement

The Indigenous Psychology Movement

Kim, Yang and Hwang (2006) identified 10 characteristics of indigenous psychology.

1. It emphasizes examining psychological phenomena in ecological, historical and cultural context.
2. Indigenous psychology needs to be developed for all cultural, native and ethnic groups.
3. It advocates use of multiple methods.
4. It advocates the integration of "insiders, "outsiders" and multiple perspectives to obtain comprehensive and integrated understanding.
5. It acknowledges that people have a complex and sophisticated understanding of themselves and it is necessary to translate their practical and episodic understanding into analytical knowledge.
6. It is part of a scientific tradition that advocates multiple perspectives, but not multiple psychologies or absolute relativism.
7. Although descriptive analysis is the starting point of research, its final goal is to discover psychological universals that can be theoretically and empirically verified.
8. It is a part of the cultural sciences tradition in which human agency, meaning and context are incorporated into the research design.
9. It advocates a linkage of humanities (which focus on human experience and creativity) with social sciences (which focus empirical analysis and verification).
10. Two starting points of research in indigenous psychology can be identified: indigenization from without and indigenization from within.

Political and Economic instability has greatly hindered the development of psychology as a science in Latin America, South Africa, and Indian-Asian Psychology. This problem is a phenomenon that is present across the majority of non-northwestern indigenous psychologies, creating unstable societies. (Lawson, Graham, & Baker, 2007, p. 436).

Lack of national capital creates a shortage in influential professional fields like psychology and propagates the science of the leading countries. Nations such as the United States, that flourish economically, affect the poorer and less flourishing countries, and in doing so interject their western ideologies the indigenous nations with whom they trade. (Allwood and Berry 2006, p.248) note six sources of influence on the development of global indigenous psychologies:

1. changes in developing countries in the 1970s stimulated endogenous and indigenous rethinking about their social and economic conditions by social and behavioral scientists;
2. their dissatisfaction with what they had learned from Western disciplines for solving problems of their homelands;
3. their growing dissatisfaction with the unquestioned, imitative, and explicative nature of psychological research that is deeply rooted in Western psychology;
4. self-reflection on their own social and cultural characteristics that were beyond Western psychological construction;
5. the awareness by some Western psychologists that the nature of psychology was ‘monocultural,’ ‘Euro-American,’ and ‘indigenous psychology of the West’; and
6. the parochial and insular stands of Western psychology, which disregarded the interests and research done in other countries and languages.

Each individual indigenous culture maintains their own emic explanations for, and solutions to, their own psychological and behavioral issues. Western psychology needs to shift over and learn to understand the indigenous cultures in their own setting, as Allwood and Berry state, "…the science has a dual responsibility: to understand people in their own terms (IP), and to search for general principles of human behavior. The development of an IP is valuable in its own right, but they may also collectively serve as building blocks in creating a more general psychology." (Allwood, 2006, p.265)

In South Africa, specifically, apartheid was a major downfall for their psychology. This period in time intentionally neglected and isolated the field of psychology. "…in 1948 the Afrikaner National Party gained power and created the system of apartheid to maintain control over the country’s social, economic, and political system" (Lawson, Graham, & Baker, 2007, p. 438).

In the India-Asian psychology, there are three strands of psychology which are defined by Rao (1988) "…to be general psychology…that has universal relevance and application…country and region-specific psychology…the study of geographically bound persons…and native based weltanschauung psychology…driven by the understanding of geographically bound persons yet…highly theoretical or philosophical component" (Lawson, Graham, & Baker, 2007, p. 441).

In order for these different countries to better focus their psychological stand points different programs need to instituted and more persons need to become involved in becoming psychologists. "The current and future states of… indigenous psychologies, require the sustained growth of their scientific research base at the same pace as their applied professional interventions" (Lawson, Graham, & Baker, 2007, p. 441).

Indigenous psychologies can be alike when they include two different categories of psychological knowledge, explicitly, scientific and applied knowledge reflected in scientific and professional psychology. Each indigenous psychology prioritizes the two in a distinctive way. Trends do exist between more industrialized nations such as the United States. Challenges arise when trying to achieve a successful applied psychology in a culture. One challenge is finding adequate resources. Another challenge is shaping the practice of psychology to suit the circumstances a new culture. It is important to be able to understand the difference between indigenous psychologies and psychological specialties. Psychological specialties include such topics of study lifespan developmental psychology, health psychology, organizational psychology, and social psychology. Indigenous psychologies are culturally specific, and aim to describe, explain, or predict psychological phenomena from within a given culture's worldview.

Indigenous Psychology, as defined by Heelas and Lock (1981), consists of the cultural views, theories, classifications and assumptions coupled with the overarching social institutions that influence psychological topics in each respective culture. (Lawson, Graham, Baker, 2007 p. 435) While indigenous psychologies have existed for a long time, only recently have they been studied in the context of global psychology. While international psychology influences indigenous psychology, it is within each indigenous psychology that the unique histories, social mores, needs and practicalities of a certain culture can be addressed. For example, many Indian psychologists with Western training have incorporated their instruction to include aspects of Indian culture that aren’t necessarily relevant to Western psychology. They have learned to place more emphasis on extended family and community which is more suited to the societal norms of Indian culture than Western culture. (Lawson, Graham, Baker, 2007 p.440) Western European and American psychologies have historically had the resources to advance psychology both in the applied fields and scientifically. This has not been the case for many indigenous psychologies. For example in India, where the population is well over one billion, as of 2005 there were only seventy universities teaching psychology. The lack of trained professionals and the demands of an impoverished population have left psychologists in India struggling to meet the needs of its citizens. This has often taken priority over scientific advancement.

Indigenous psychology is useful for studying the impact of political, economic, religious, and social aspects on a specific society. South Africa for example, has been in political and racial turmoil for decades if not centuries, enduring violence and apartheid. Development of indigenous psychology as a focus can limit influence of western concepts and encourage cultivation of socially appropriate methods for the area. According to Lawson, Graham, and Baker (2007), South African psychology should address specific issues related to apartheid such as violence, poverty, racism, and HIV/AIDS to overcome social unrest. Other issues that should also be addressed include addressing the lingering individual trauma associated with apartheid and using a more inclusionary theory versus the exclusionary policies of past psychologies (p.439). It is important to understand the importance of globalization when exploring indigenous psychologies. In article from the Monitor (May 2006), the APA Senior Director of International Affairs, Merry Bullock discusses globalization of psychology. The article defines globalization as the movement of people and knowledge across borders in the attempt to establish common goals and to develop a homogenized world view of psychology (p.9). According to Lawson, Graham, and Baker (2007); "The challenge facing global psychology is trying to find a way to integrate psychology with culture for a more complete understanding of the Human affective, behavioral and cognitive systems" (p.434).

Globalization is also linked to indigenous psychology. In the globalization of psychology there is the hope that Western psychological ideals can be integrated with indigenous psychologies in order to address specific needs of particular countries and/or cultures. Bullock of the APA addresses the opportunities of incorporating Western psychological ideals with ingenious psychologies when she writes: "Globalization offers a tremendous opportunity for psychology to enrich its content, methods and scope. Like all opportunities, however, this must be nurtured, and it must be addressed by open discussion about how to do it. Although we might all agree that it is important to keep an inquiring mind, to share and learn as well as to inform and teach, we also know that our cognitive and social systems make this difficult to implement. To do so, we need strategic and open discussion about assumptions and biases, and we need collaborative interaction to seek a common set of psychological principles" (p.9). The future of psychology is expanding world-wide contributing to the formation of psychologies tailored to fit each culture around the world yet linked to an evolving global psychology." (Lawson, Graham and, Baker p.435) Understanding indigenous psychologies and finding a way to incorporate them into already established psychological knowledge will positively change the field of psychology.

While it is important and necessary that we find a way for indigenous psychologies and global psychologies to mix, we must be careful that assimilation or its predecessors not follow as a result of our desire to mix differing cultural ideals. "Assimilation refers to those processes whereby groups with distinctive identities become culturally and socially fused." (Hughes, p.222) When assimilation occurs it forces the structural context of a society to change often forcing its cultural traditions to undergo a new development. Assimilation occurs most often when a dominant group and less controlling group interact. While it provides a way for better social interaction and communication to happen it is often the cause of one culture losing its traditions and original beliefs.

Related to indigenous psychology is a field called critical psychology. This branch of psychology investigates how and why psychology focuses on the individual and disregards power differentials, social, and racial impacts on psychopathology. This branch may be applicable specifically in South Africa due to the apartheid. Authors Painter and Terre Blanche (2004) analyze critical psychology and compare it to what they call mainstream psychology. They describe steps being taken to apply social, political, economical, and racial influences to the field in South Africa and a concern for psychology in South Africa mirroring psychology in the UK and US which would be counter-productive. The advocacy of using social influences in South African society by Painter and Terre Blanche supports the effort to apply indigenous psychology in the area. Further application of indigenous psychology or similar methods will contribute to the field of global psychology.