16 Behavioral Community Approaches
Yolanda Suarez-Balcazar; Vincent T. Francisco; and Leonard A. Jason
Chapter Sixteen Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- Explain how large, complicated problems can be broken down into smaller solvable ones
- Identify the importance of studying and bringing about change in observable behaviors
- Understand how behavioral approaches have been used in Community Psychology
You may have heard of B. F. Skinner, who pioneered the use of behavioral approaches to show how rewards and punishments can change the behaviors of animals and people. This behavioral revolution has had a tremendous effect on psychology in terms of how therapy is now practiced in countries throughout the world. The old Freudian perspective has been replaced by a variety of behavioral-type therapies, used to help patients with a wide variety of common problems such as anxiety and depressive disorders. Most behavioral studies have been conducted in hospitals in inpatient settings or other types of institutions, with much less behavioral research occurring in community settings such as homes or neighborhoods (Hanley et al., 2003). When behavioral-type work is conducted in community settings and has the values from the field of Community Psychology (as reviewed in Chapter 1, Jason et al., 2019), it has been referred to as Behavioral Community Psychology.
As we will see in this chapter, the Behavioral Community Psychology approach allows for a more focused and targeted method to define and change a range of community and social problems. In a sense, this approach breaks down large and complex problems into smaller ones that are much more manageable to solve. By specifying and measuring specific behaviors, such as littering or tobacco use, behavioral community psychologists can chart those behaviors over time to determine whether or not a particular intervention is effective. We will show in this chapter how these types of practical and easy-to-implement interventions can lead to what are called small wins, which can be reinforcing and sustain the work of community psychologists over time. We can change the world through being extremely strategic and focused by breaking down large problems into smaller ones that are solvable.
Ok, let’s give an example of a problem that seemed very difficult to solve. If you can believe it, this problem involved uncollected dog droppings in Chicago. There was a time when nobody knew how to even approach this problem, let alone study or solve it. But as you will see, by collecting data and showing that there was a possible solution, change did occur for not only Chicago but also other urban areas in the US. The behavioral community psychology Case Study 16.1 was carried out at a time when there were no formal laws that required dog owners to pick up after their dogs.
Case Study 16.1
Getting the Scoop on Behavioral Interventions
Leonard Jason invited his Alderman in Chicago to his community psycho