PYC4808 Exam Prep
INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY (Western) vs SYSTEMIC PSYCHOLOGY
Most of us have been socialised into a Western, Lockean scientific tradition. Most
individual psychology approaches rest on the assumptions of this linear worldview.
Systems theory directs our attention away from the individual and moves towards and
emphasis on recursion, reciprocity and mutual influence. Discuss this
fundamental shift in worldviews by referring to the fundamental assumptions of both
traditional individual psychology approaches and systems theory. (10)
‘Individual psychology approaches are based on assumptions that are fundamental to the
western, Lockean tradition, while systemic family therapy rests on a very different set
of assumptions. Discuss this statement by comparing the assumptions of systems
theory. In your answer provide a definition of epistemology. (20-25)
• Whereas individual psychology approaches are based on assumptions
fundamental to the Western, Lockean tradition, systemic family therapy rests on a
very different set of assumptions.
• Western, Lockean, scientific tradition.
• Modernism Linear casualty (A causes B)
• In Individual psychology, the assumptions are consistent with such basic American
values as individual responsibility and autonomy.
• Socialised in this way of thinking – consistent without communities + our culture
• Reality is out there, outside our minds and the truth is to be discovered
• Objective reality – break down into smaller components and uncover laws
according to which the world operates
• Pursue knowledge by means of observation + experimentation
• These results are measurable and objective. The subject (observing) remain
separate from object and be value free
• In Systemic family therapy, however, the underlying assumptions are
contradictory to the traditional ways of thinking in Western society.
• Hence, our use of the term ‘counter-cultural’ to characterise systems theory and
cybernetics.
• Systems theory/cybernetics directs our attention away from the individual and
individual problems viewed in isolation and toward relationships and relationship
issues between individuals.
• In contrast to the Lockean tradition, systems theory is consistent with the tradition
labelled as Kantian.
• Accordingly, the observer replaces the observed as the focus of attention.
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, • Subjectivity is seen as inevitable based on the assumption that the one who is
observing perceives, acts on, and participates in creating his or her own reality.
• In addition, the interdependence of observer and observed is an important aspect
of a holistic perspective that takes into account the context of their interaction.
• Such interaction is seen as a non-causal, dialectical process of mutual exchange
in which both have influence.
• Finally, understanding a family or other system requires assessing patterns of
interaction, with an emphasis on what is happening, rather than why it is
happening.
Individual Psychology (Western, Systemic Psychology
Lockean)
Asks WHY? Asks WHAT?
Linear cause-and-effect A -B Reciprocal Causality A and B exists = give and
take actions
Subject or object dualism Dialectical
Either or dichotomies Holistic
Value-free science Subjective /Perceptual
Deterministic /reactive Freedom of choice / pro-active
Laws and law like external reality Patterns
Historical Focus Here and now focus
Individualistic Relational
Reductionistic contextual
Absolutistic relativistic
Focus on content Focus on process
Judgements about clients Logic behaviour in context
Reality – out there How we each participate in creating our own
realities
The truth A story about stories
What caused the problem How the problem is being maintained and the
solutions desired by the client
Treating patients Interaction, recursion, mutual influence,
perturbation
People in isolation People in context/interdependence
Who is in the room How the therapist THINKS about who is in the
room
Define the following concepts and provide appropriate example in each one:
Epistemology (2-3)
• A set of rules about what reality is, based on how a group of people think, talk and
act.
• Epistemology pertains how rules that govern our thinking are created and shared
– how we know what we know.
• How knowledge is created
• Your epistemology will shape your thinking as well as how you view and
understand the world.
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, • the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and
scope,
• and the distinction between justified belief and opinion.
• Defined narrowly, epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified belief.
• Example : Social Constructionism and Systems Theory
• Example :African Epistemology which includes the African conception of validity of
knowledge, the purpose of the pursuit of knowledge and the role that knowledge
plays in human existence.
• For example, a lie cannot be truth because it is not factual and false
Theory (2-3)
• Set of connected principles serving to explain a group of phenomena of interest to
the researcher
• Serving as a statement of relations believed in a body of observations
• Theories are informed and specified by particular epistemologies
• A theory is a formal idea or set of ideas that is intended to explain something.
• A theory is a based upon a hypothesis and backed by evidence. In science, a the-
ory is not merely a guess. A theory is a fact-based framework for describing a
phenomenon.
• A theory presents a concept or idea that is testable. Scientists can test the theory
through empirical research and gather evidence that supports or refutes it.
• Example: Psychoanalytic theory, Behaviourist theory, General Systems Theory,
etc.
Model (2-3)
• Projection of the substance of a less understood or developed domain onto the
structure of a more developed system
• You take what you see and project it onto something else
• Models are embedded within particular theories, which are also informed by
specific epistemological assumptions.
• Example: Models based on the works of psychosexual developmental stages of
Sigmund Freud.
• Models based on the works on Relational Analysis of C. Jung, etc., Operant
Conditioning of B.F Skinner
Technique (2-3)
• Rehearsed or practised procedure or skill to achieve a particular end/outcome in
accordance with a model used
• Example: Interpretation (as used in Psychoanalytic theoretical framework).
• Conditioning (as used in Behaviourist theoretical framework), etc.
• Interpretation; conditioning; reflection; reframing; restructuring; free association;
dream analysis
Circularity may be viewed as a key principle in cybernetic thinking. With the aid of
examples, distinguish among the concepts: circularity, positive feedback, recursion,
recursion/mutual causality.
Circularity (2-3)
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, • The behaviour of person X affects person Y, and the reaction of Y to person X’s
behaviour will then affect person X’s behaviour, which in turn will affect person Y
and so on.
• Example: Husband drinks a lot, wife shouts about drinking, which causes husband
to drink more and that makes wife shout even more.
• Circular causality - is a recursive element. It refers to mutual interaction of causes
and consequences.
• The effect of an event or variable returns indirectly to influence the original even
itself by way of one or more intermediate events or variables.
Cybernetics (3)
• The characteristics of the systemic or cybernetic world is theoretical relativity.
• We cannot reject one theory and embrace another
• Rather cybernetics we recognize that each theory gives meaning to the other and
that each has utility relative to given context.
• Entry into cybernetics does not mean we reject individual psychology; it is our
passport to move freely between the two worlds.
• Individual psychology and systemic /cybernetics are intricately connected as each
give meaning to the other.
• Cybernetics can be seen as the “skeleton of science” which may be fleshed out by
whatever discipline one chooses.
• Cybernetics is not a pragmatic theory.
• Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of complex systems,
especially communication processes, control mechanisms and feedback
principles.
• Cybernetics is closely related to control theory and systems theory.
CYBERNETICS
Briefly describe the concept cybernetics. Explain how and when it began and review
its most influential developers in the field of psychology. (10)
• Cybernetics is the field of study that concerns itself with organisation, pattern and
process rather that matter, material and content.
• Early family theorists, researchers and therapists focused in the 1950s on the
study of schizophrenia in the context of family relationships.
• The intellectual soil out of which this work grew can be traced to the Josiah Macy
Foundation Conferences in the 1940s, at which leading scientists, engineers,
mathematicians and social scientists of the time explored issues of communica-
tion and control.
• Ludwig von Bertalanffy, a biologist, proposed a general systems theory as an at-
tempt to develop a coherent theoretical model which would have relevance to all
living systems.
• He believed that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and in order to un-
derstand how an organism works we must study the transactional processes oc-
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