PYC1513 EXAM
PREP NOTES
2024
QUALITY NOTES
[School]
[Course title]
0
,PYC1513
EXAM
PREP
NOTES
Learning Unit 1
Introduction and overview
Introduction
This module offers an introduction to psychological intervention
based on historical and multicultural perspectives of the nature of
human beings and practices of human interaction. This first
learning unit outlines the content of the module, which is called
‘Introduction to Psychological Intervention’. It also explores how
the various contexts of learning are brought together in the module.
It asserts that learning is embedded in multiple contexts, and it
presents the information age, the fourth industrial revolution and
decoloniality as pronounced contexts of learning.
A psychological intervention is an interaction informed and
governed by some understanding of the nature of human beings.
As such, the module intends to equip students with knowledge of
psychological intervention within historical, cultural and subject
disciplinary contexts. Students are introduced to African, Eastern
and Western modalities of psychological intervention to
foreground different manifestations of agents of intervention, the
roles of agents of intervention and the official structures and
processes that formulise and licence particular actions as legitimate
forms of intervention. Also of interest, are the principles and
frameworks that render interventions ethical.
The module lays the
foundation for The module is about psychological intervention. Psychological
psychological intervention is a broad field, covering advanced theories and
intervention focussing on specialist skills. It takes several years of study to
master the theoretical and practical know how that enables one to
conduct interventions. This introductory module lays the
theoretical and practical foundation from which you can build your
future competence in psychological intervention.
The module follows a
particular route into The module’s point of departure is togetherness as the fundamental
psychological condition for psychological intervention. One cannot have an
intervention intervention without togetherness. Therefore, it is important that
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,you understand what The first stop along the route into psychological intervention is
togetherness means and consultation. Intervention is imbedded in consultation. A client has
how to establish a concern and approaches a consultant for help. The consultant
togetherness. decides on the intervention needed to address the client’s concern.
However, the consultant first needs proper consultation with the
client to ensure that the intervention they embark on is relevant
and likely to be successful. This module introduces you to
consultation and provides theory to assist you in your
consultation. It is about the nature of psychological intervention
in different cultural contexts, such as a traditional African context,
an Eastern context, and a Western context.
The second stop on your journey into psychological intervention
is how interventions can be defined as psychological interventions
in different cultural contexts. Your discussions of the
psychological nature of these interventions require a lot of theory.
You need to study theoretical perspectives of intervention,
psychological intervention, and the spaces of psychological
intervention.
The third stop on your journey is consultant competence.
Consultants decide on appropriate interventions and implement
them. This means consultants need to be skilful in executing
interventions and they need knowledge that support their
interventions. In other words, consultants must be competent in
the field of psychological intervention. This raises another
concern. How would you know that a consultant is competent?
The fourth stop is the final stop on your journey, which is referred
to as intervention ethics. Ethics is a difficult topic because it is
about the right and wrong ways of behaving and of doing things.
The problem is that there are no absolute truths to help us
distinguish between right and wrong. We rely on cultural and
personal values to separate ethical from unethical conduct.
Related to this is when and why would an intervention be
considered unethical? We also delve into the official ethical code
that governs psychological conduct in South Africa and
interrogate whether it is sufficient, or in need of revision?
The module This module offers foundational theory and, as such, it serves as a
contributes content precursor to more advanced modules on psychological
intervention. As an introduction it focuses on the characteristics and ethics of
psychological intervention in general. It is not an exercise in practical training. One needs
extensive knowledge of psychology and intensive training to qualify as a psychological
practitioner, and this module is the first step in this direction.
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, Module Outcomes
This module comprises three broad learning outcomes. After
completing this module, you should be able to:
• identify and assess the appropriateness of a psychological
intervention, an agent of intervention and the role of the agent
of intervention in different historical, cultural and subject
disciplinary contexts
• identify cultural, societal and subject disciplinary structures
and processes that formalise and legitimise psychological
intervention
• apply ethical principles and frameworks to assess the ethics of
a psychological intervention.
Importance of understanding key concepts
In subsequent learning units, you will be introduced to key
concepts, the understanding of which is very important. Key
concepts help you understand and form a mental picture and
enhance your understanding of knowledge. It will also help you
make sense of the world around you and to make informed
decisions.
Learning in context
A learning This module will provide you with an opportunity to learn
opportunity is something new. It is very important for you to know and
embedded in multiple understand the context before executing the tasks included in the
contexts learning opportunity. Learning does not happen in isolation. It
requires engagement with subject material and interaction with
other people. These engagements and interactions occur in the
module and, as such, the module is a context for creating and
maintaining togetherness in learning. However, the module itself
is not an isolated learning opportunity. It is part of an academic
programme, and it is presented at a particular period in our own
history (local context) and the history of the world (international
context). Thus, any opportunity to learn is embedded in multiple
contexts as is our lives. When we select a particular learning
opportunity, we do so because of our interests and needs, and these
interests and needs are grounded in the contexts in which we exist.
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