Psychology Goes Public

by Randall Brown

A stereotypical idea of psychological research might bring to mind scenes of professors in white lab coats doling out in-depth questionnaires to test subjects, searching for some hidden aspect of human nature to produce a clinical report that might only interest other psychologists.

Real scenarios now more often reflect the idea of public psychology, an approach in social sciences that not only takes researchers out of the lab and into the community but actively involves community members to implement ideas and address real, immediate needs. 

“The kinds of conversations that we see happening now around public psychology ask the question: What does it mean if we don’t think about communities as implications of our studies, but as the center of our studies,” said Professor Patrick Grzanka, divisional dean of social sciences for the UT College of Arts and Sciences. “I think the work that’s happening in our department really exemplifies this kind of thinking.”

Psychologists and other social scientists have long sought to act responsibly in communicating, interacting with, and designing research for the public and in the public’s interests. Events of recent years—the Covid pandemic, large-scale demonstrations for racial and social justice, international crises—have invigorated interest in staying involved beyond the final summaries of research papers. How can research results reflect the interest of community stakeholders?

“If the community stakeholders are at the table from the start providing input—that doesn’t determine that the science is going to be better, but it does determine that the community needs and interests will always be brought to bear at each stage of the development of the science,” said Grzanka.

The public psychology approach also looks to address scientific concerns that the rigor of the science will be reduced with nonscientist partners involved.

“I think the work that’s happening here really illustrates that this does not need to be the case,” said Grzanka. “It’s our job as psychologists to ensure that the rigor is still there, to ensure that the methods are the most appropriate tools for the job, and that they’re executed as beautifully as possible.”

UT exemplifies successes in public psychology through numerous programs that make life better for Tennesseans, including actual psychological assistance for the community, educational connections for rural Appalachian youth, and a deep-values campaign that seeks to replace conflict over reproductive rights with productive, civil conversations and greater understanding. 

The UT Psychological Clinic is a multidisciplinary training site for doctoral programs in clinical and counseling psychology and the masters’ program in social work. Clinical Professor Leticia Flores directs the clinic in its dual mission of educating students and serving the East Tennessee community’s wide spectrum of behavioral and mental health conditions. 

“The two missions of the clinic are to train graduate students to be professional psychologists, but also to serve the community,” said Flores. “We do focus primarily on underinsured or uninsured people—people who have the greatest needs.”

Many of these Tennesseans must also work through negative experiences as they navigate various cultural, social, political, and financial systems. 

“People who have housing insecurity, people who maybe have transportation issues, people who might have extensive health problems—many of those issues are exacerbated by things like racism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia,” said Flores, who specializes in helping LGBTQ individuals in need.

Increasing numbers of students identify as LGBTQ, and many want to serve the area LGBTQ community. The clinic collaborates with Knox Pride via a grant from the Community University Research Collaboration Initiative (CURCI) to help these Knoxvillians.

“Knox Pride refers their community members to us, and we provide a set number of psychotherapy sessions and free evaluations,” said Flores. “It’s a direct service, and I supervise many of the students who provide those services.”

Other clinic faculty focus on the needs of African American children in East Knoxville, or with the emerging Latino populations in the city and region. These faculty members attract students who are similarly motivated to help. Together, they focus on meeting needs that are not met through other avenues.

“I think the field of psychology attracts individuals who are already attending to social, psychological, and cultural needs of the community,” said Flores. “Then it’s just a matter of listening to the community and finding out what needs exist.”

In this way, data-based research and learning becomes better informed by community voices.

“Where public psychology comes in and where the clinic, in particular, fills a really valuable need is that we don’t necessarily conduct the research, but we apply the research,” said Flores. “We make it concrete and tangible. The rubber hits the road in the clinic.”

Connecting Appalachian Youth to STEM Education 

Psychology Professor Erin Hardin is the co-lead investigator for IP: Imagining Possibilities (formerly known as PiPES, or Possibilities in Postsecondary Education and Science), sharing lead duties with Professor Melinda Gibbons of the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences. Funded by a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Institutes of Health, the program seeks to encourage underserved rural Appalachian high-school students to pursue and succeed in higher education.

“IP is a program we have been running for nine years now,” said Hardin. “We work with probably about 1,200 students every year at four high schools in rural East Tennessee.”

Teams of UT graduate and undergraduate students gain course credit through visits with classes in all three high schools in Monroe County and Jellico High School in Campbell County.

“The whole program is about helping students explore what they want to do after high school—imagine more possibilities for themselves, and connect school to work and to higher education,” said Hardin. “We try to encourage some sort of post-secondary education, whether that’s training through the military, certificates, two-year or four-year schools. Then we also specifically try to promote interest in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.”

In addition, an IP summer program brings students from all four high schools to UT’s campus for interactive learning experiences. The program has evolved through input from the school communities.

“We went around to the schools and met with the teachers and principals and asked for feedback,” said Hardin. “What are we doing well, and what should we change?”

Listening to their school partners led them to expand offerings over the years. IP originally only worked with 10th grade classes, but after this dialogue the program expanded to include ninth graders, and is planning to add 11th graders. Similarly, students who had enjoyed the IP summer program wanted more of that experience.

“We had students who were wanting to come back year after year, so we developed a second advanced camp experience where students got more hands-on time in the lab,” Hardin said. “We provide free ACT test prep to help them boost scores for getting into college.”

The program also impacts the UT students who participate.

“So often what we hear from the undergraduates is that participating in the program broadened their possibilities,” said Hardin. “We’ve had students who have gone on to doctoral study or graduate study or have discovered that they want to be teachers or school counselors, because of this experience.”

As the program continues, the IP team looks to strengthen the program through empowering teachers at partner schools to deliver IP experiences in their classrooms. They are forming plans for in-person professional development workshops, and in the meantime produced a 10-video series for teachers, published in March on their website (ip-pipes.utk.edu).

Sharing Deep Values

Erin McConocha, a fourth-year PhD student in counseling psychology, collaborated with Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood (TAPP) to evaluate the effectiveness of an advocacy technique called deep values canvassing, in comparison to traditional canvassing approaches, for changing attitudes toward abortion rights.

“Political science researchers have found across multiple studies that deep values canvassing can effectively change attitudes toward a variety of politically polarizing topics over time, including LGBT rights and immigration policy,” said McConocha. “Whereas evidence does not support the effectiveness of traditional canvassing for changing attitudes.”

In a deep values canvassing approach, canvassers share their own stories about why they support access to abortion or other sensitive topics, including the personal values that inform their perspective. Through these conversations, the canvassers encourage the people they interview to share their own story and values about why they hold the attitudes they do toward abortion.

“Through this process, canvassers are able to explore shared values with the person they are canvassing and participate in a dialogue that facilitates perspective-taking,” said McConocha.

Most of the canvassers interviewed after a Tennessee-based deep values canvassing project reported having meaningful and sometimes transformative experiences from their conversations. Finding common ground with a diverse cross-section of Tennesseans helped them to challenge some of their own biases toward who they thought might support abortion—realizing that people in the South, and across age, gender, and race demographics—did support abortion access. 

“Participants also reported increasing their sense of self-efficacy for participating in advocacy work and learned skills that allowed them to engage in more effective conversations about historically stigmatized or polarizing topics, including but not limited to abortion, in their personal and professional lives,” said McConocha.

Many participants emphasized that sharing stories with people of the Tennessee community felt empowering and healing. It helped them find and use their voices in meaningful, civil discourse during a time that felt scary and uncertain in terms of abortion policy. 

“The participants we talked to, overall, shared that this experience was motivating for them to want to continue to participate in advocacy in Tennessee,” said McConocha. “They learned so much and built confidence around their ability and the impact of doing this work.”