Questions: T1W1-T1W3 Flashcards
After Shantay attended her first-ever psychology lecture, she wondered quite often about the role psychology played in South Africa during apartheid and how it shapes the way she thinks about race, at present. Which one of following topics in psychology best describes Shantay’s thought process?
The history of psychology in SA
What would be the main reason for why a black African individual from a rural context is less likely than a white individual from a middle-class suburb to identify with the knowledge psychology produced historically globally and locally about human behaviour?
Western / Eurocentric views
Trisha is a first-year psychology student who identifies as a non-binary, young women, of colour, with South Asian descent. During her psychology lectures, she often asks herself: how does psychology’s Western/Eurocentric bias help me understand my place in the world as someone that is so different to what is considered the norm in society? Trisha’s question reflects a concern about…
The relevance of psychology
Bongani was researching the content of first year psychology curriculums at a tertiary institution in South Africa. He discovered that the content of their curriculum at present is the same as it was twenty-five years ago. Based on Bongani’s discovery, what ‘type’ of psychology is being reproduced at this institution?
Mainstream
Mandisa reflects on her thirty-year career as a lecturer in psychology, remarking that post-1994 witnessed a positive shift in an increase of black students registering at universities for psychology, which had a knock on effect of interrupting her research output because she had more students to teach. Which one of the following terms best captures Mandisa’s experience?
New forms of marginalization
According to Fanon, what is the effect of psychological colonial violence on the native/indigenous people of South Africa?
Inferiority complex
Jabu is a psychology lecturer. She feels that the psychology curriculum is outdated because the current learning material comes from a particular historical period that does not represent the cultural values of the majority of people. The decolonisation of psychology would argue that the specific history Jabu is referring to concerns:
Colonialism
Felicia identifies as a coloured woman, and is frustrated at negative stereotypes about her race and gender that society frequently makes use of. She feels powerless and as if she has no control over the way people experience her. Which one of the following terms in cultural psychology describes how Felicia’s social context shapes the way she feels and thinks about her identity?
The socio-cultural constitution of psychological experience
Imran comes from an underprivileged community with little opportunities to access education and to be financially successful. However, he is ambitious and determined, and is the first person in his community to complete a university degree and to be in a well-paying job. Which one of the following terms in cultural psychology describes how Imran’s personality has helped him navigate a challenging social context in order to achieve success?
The psychological constitution of socio-cultural reality
Mpulai thinks about herself as an individual with thoughts and ideas, which makes her separate from and different to her family and community. What kind of thinking would the decolonisation of psychology argue Mpulai is influenced by?
Colonial thinking
As a psychotherapeutic treatment modality, psychoanalysis has been adapted for modern contexts like South Africa because…
It has evolved in its conceptualisation of the unconscious.
According to Freud, what is the role of the superego?
It facilitates rules, prohibitions, moral values and self-critical attitudes.
Imagine you are in conversation with someone, with whom you disagree, and feel the sudden urge to slap this person across the face. Very quickly, you realise such an action is inappropriate. Although, if you give into this impulse then you would be driven by
The pleasure principle
Many people avoid pain in favour of seeking pleasure. Often society considers such impulses to be inappropriate. According to psychoanalytic theory, what happens to these impulses when they are forbidden?
They become repressed but unconsciously influence our thoughts and behaviours
How can the therapist fulfil the role of a self-object or an auxiliary ego for the patient?
When the therapist is treated as a mirror, idealised or seen as similar.
