After reading the article by Kelly (1971), respond to the discussion prompt below in at least 300 words.
Prompt: In this classic article, community psychologist James Kelly outlines the seven qualities/competencies community psychologists need in order to work in different settings with diverse persons and issues. In your response, discuss the two competencies you think are most important for a community psychologist to develop. Which of the competencies Kelly describes would be the most challenging for you to develop and practice as a community psychologist?
QUALITIES FOR THE COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGIST1
JAMES G. KELLY 2
University of Michigan
~ the field of community psychology emerges,
there are plentiful opportunities to develop
new hallmarks for the roles of the psychologist as an active participant in developing community resources. Community psychology can have
several reference points. It can be viewed as an
extension of clinical psychology, where the role is
a therapeutic resource to individual clients and
treatment groups in a specific geographical community. Community psychology can also be viewed
as equivalent to community mental health. Here
the term refers to organizing existing community
services and multiple levels of professionals and
nonprofessionals for the prevention of mental disorders. This second definition emphasizes the mission and practices of public health in contrast to
clinical medicine, as in the first example. Community psychology can refer as well to those psychological and social issues that can be studied by
established methods in the behavioral sciences. In
this instance, the term community psychology represents a set of topical issues for research and
evaluation by a wide variety of psychologists, sociologists, and urban specialists. Community psychology also can represent a goal to create a social
environment that offers for its members a sense
of “community.” Community psychologists include proponents for each of these ideas as well
as still many other points of view. The evolution
of the field no doubt will define which of these
various approaches will mature, which will blend,
and which will fade. As this process continues,
A
1
The present article is a revised and edited version of
comments made at the Lila Acheson Wallace School of
Community Service and Public Affairs, University of Oregon, November 19, 1970.
The author has benefited from the comments given by
the following persons who cared enough to help sort out
the good thoughts from the garbled prose: Randolph
Harper, Peter Mattis, David Todd, and Ben Gottleib. To
Dave Share goes thanks for his careful scrutiny of the ideas.
z
Requests for reprints should be sent to James G. Kelly,
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor, Michigan 48104.
still additional criteria for evaluating the profession
should emerge.
Ideas that have stimulated the thinking of the
present writer have evolved when community psychology is defined in relation to natural conditions
of the community. As I have grappled with
assessing a natural community, I have been stimulated by the aptness of analogies from biological
ecology, which can offer new dimensions for viewing community work. What follows are seven
qualities for the community psychologist that derive from personal experiences and that are enriched by the ecological analogy.
One of the touchstones of the ecological perspective is: The focus for work is the local setting.
The premise of the ecological perspective is that
intact community services as interventions in an
ongoing community should contribute to the development of the community. What the ecological
perspective boils down to is assessing a natural
setting and then redesigning the context surrounding a social problem so that a specific community
problem is altered as the host environment is
changed. The ecological perspective offers some
promise of not just dealing with effects but with
systemic causes. The details and implications of
the ecological perspective have been presented elsewhere (Kelly, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970a, 1970b;
Mills & Kelly, in press; Trickett, Kelly, & Todd, in
press). The present comments focus on the fallout from such a perspective, those qualities that
can make a difference in how the community psychologist behaves in carrying out community work.
It is hoped that by making these qualities explicit, the power of the ecological analogy is
affirmed more clearly. For the present author,
adopting the ecological perspective means shifting
the focus in our communities away from our personal aspirations, our sponsoring institutions, and
even the visible persons or institutions in town,
and, instead, making the local conditions and the
local events the forum for our work. To carry out
such an expedition means doing new and different
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things; it means grasping the intricacies of the total
community so as to identify talents and resources
that are hidden yet present. It means locating the
persons who care about their town. During the
past decade of participating in the work of four
varying communities, I am encouraged by the increasing number of persons that I find who do care
about their town and wish to join an expedition.
Viewing a community ecologically means seeing
how persons, roles, and organizations, as well as
events, are interrelated. If we can view the community as a series of interrelated systems, we have
a better chance of designing projects and services
that approximate the needs of the total community.
The new ecological program can be organic to the
community and not restricted, for example, to just
one group of professionals or one social strata.
The ecological perspective affirms that if we place
ourselves in the midst of a social setting, we are
more likely to make an effort to solve a community
problem rather than simply offering a formula
congruent with our professional skills. One of the
biggest impediments in the provision of human
services is the reluctance of professionals to work
on generic problems as defined by citizens. Certainly, the major problems of poverty, racism, and
pollution go beyond most of our current competencies. The ecological development of a community means that the professional must be willing to
develop. He must be able to leave his professional
cocoon and affiliate with many and divergent persons and their resources. Doing ecological good
means helping to develop the natural resources of
a community. Good is not viewed as the absence
of ill health in individuals; good is viewed as the
development and creation of competencies within
the community.
For the ecological perspective, criteria shift to
the interrelationships of persons, how resources are
maintained and strengthened, how subunits of the
community can grow and evolve, how the community adapts to new influences, and how multiple
and smaller communities succeed one another over
time. Viewing the community as a complex set
of resources offers a new dimension for where to
begin looking at a particular locale; for example,
what are the constraints that impede the development of the local community? Are those constraints related to affluence or poverty? How are
attitudes of smugness or ambition limiting development? Is a constraint the instability of top leader-
ship or the longevity of such leadership? The issue
is what processes, what roles, what persons are
limiting development? As an analysis is made, the
various contexts within the community will unfold,
and systemic problems of the community can be
clearly seen. Designs for progress can be tailored
not only to the problem as denned by the professional, and not only by the interests of one subgroup, but community programs can be developed
that affect the life styles of the total community
and its future development.
For example, a community mental health program could be created to provide direct mental
health services to a particular population with the
impetus originating from the members of the mental
health professions. The same service program can
be developed, however, with the specific purpose of
creating new community resources simultaneously
while services are provided for troubled persons.
There are not too many examples of the nonprofessional as a resource for community development when they are an integral part of a community mental health program. Too often they are
replicas of the professional with less status, yet
have equal or more program responsibility. An
ecological intervention then includes ways for the
community to function as a better ecosystem as it
solves a community problem, by focusing on two
processes, solving a problem, and developing the
community. Such a synthesis increases the satisfaction of both citizens and professionals and improves the vitality of the community. Ego trips
by elite professionals are unacceptable, and citizens
are clearly identified and involved as collaborators
in this work.
How is an ecological perspective acquired? What
are the desired behaviors when the community psychologist behaves as an ecologist? The following
seven qualities offer a start for an ecological expedition. Putting these ideas into practice does, however, require some rearrangement of our contexts
for learning. Acquiring these qualities certainly
implies different, if not radical, approaches to training and involves new criteria for selecting persons
for community service. These ideas require new
types of social settings to supplement the classroom.
Here then are some qualities for the community
psychologist. These seven qualities are suggested
not as a universal creed, but rather as guidelines
for assessing the performance of the community
psychologist.
QUALITIES FOR THE COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGIST
A Clearly Identified
Competence
The community psychologist must do at least
one thing clearly and well. Using the reference
points mentioned in the introduction, he must be
able to be therapeutic with individuals, organize a
community service, study a complex social problem,
or create a community for others. He must deliver
and be accountable to himself and others. Without
a recognizable competence there are few opportunities for the community psychologist to be in a
position to solve genuine problems in the community. The expression of competence defines how
the community psychologist relates to the community, whether he is understanding the role conflicts of community organizations, helping with the
selection of staff for an OEO project, or training
community development workers. A visible competence is also an insurance policy; for when the
ambiguities and stresses get tough, the community
psychologist may be able to get another job.
This quality of competence is emphasized first
because it is the quality from which other qualities
build. I have observed a trend in the development
of professionals where there is a reverence for farranging reflexes and a warm glow for acting as a
self-actualized universal resource. I wonder if such
a person can survive in an open market? Training
for community work requires more than an endless
number of self-development sessions. Communities
require problems to be solved: there is a child to
learn, a law to be repealed, a budget to be prepared; there is inevitably some decision to make.
I affirm that process skills should be learned but,
simultaneously, while learning a technical competence. The community psychologist seeks out
the setting where his competence can be displayed
and works hard to learn new ones. What the ecological perspective offers are some suggestions for
picking the settings where the competence can be
expressed.
There is still another value in learning a competence, namely, that it can and should be taught
to members of the host community, thereby returning a skill to the locale. The ecological twist requires that the competence be taught, and not just
prized. This also encourages the psychologist to
learn how to translate and vary his competencies
from place to place. Understanding how a context
affects the expression of a skill makes a big difference, particularly if the skill is not being used.
899
One of the very important demands for community
work is to understand why talent is not used in a
particular social setting. A common plight is to
see a ready, willing, and able resource underused.
Often it is because the style or manner of the
resource does not match the social norms of a
particular culture. If the features of the social
environment go beyond the community psychologist’s ability to cope with the demands of the
particular setting, he will need to acquire new skills.
The thesis of the ecological perspective is that the
community psychologist adapts his competencies
to the requirements of varied settings. It is not
enough to be competent; he must express and
communicate so that his competencies are adopted
by local resources. To do ecological good, the
community psychologist must care about the locale
and not just the prized competence.
Creating an Eco Identity
After a competence is learned and some effort
is made for members of the community to adopt it,
the community psychologist can begin to develop
the quality of identifying with the total community.
The ecological perspective advocates that part of
the community psychologist’s own identity should
be related to the natural community he is working
with. His definition of himself is determined by
his direct engagement with the community. Defining himself as having a professional role in the
surrounding environment helps accelerate the type
involvement that is needed to diagnose the various
social settings that are a part of the community.
If the primary source of identity is the community
psychologist’s professional role, he will not be able
to move about easily and see the locale from various
perspectives. The community psychologist, as ecologist, requires emotional involvement to carry him
on his expedition to the diverse social settings
within the community. The open and direct expression of care, plus the equity he has achieved
by his competence, can enable him to become a
helpful resource. Certainly, to decide where to be
helpful in a community requires a lot of love to
carry the helper over the rough spots.
Some further comments should be made about
how care is expressed. Building an eco identity
certainly does not mean spilling positive regard for
every niche and corner of the environment. It
refers more to caring enough about the community
so that all of the various sectors are explored, ob-
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served, and digested. The community psychologist,
so goes the ecological thesis, cannot understand
what problems to work on unless he sees the various
geographical areas and knows something of how
these areas affect the political process and how
each of the subcommunities are interrelated. Love
for the community is expressed by his moving about
and by his trying to grasp the intricacies and
subtleties of the community. To paraphrase a
greeting card commercial, “he has to care enough,
to move the very most.” This quality affirms that
the very complexity in the life of the community
is similar to the intricacies of a pond or stream
adapting to its surrounding environment. The
community psychologist is interested in grasping
this complexity.
Learning how to assess a community adds another feature, namely, how to meet, relate, and
care about people who are unlike the community
psychologist. This moving about the community
is conceived to have an adaptive function, for it
provides still another way for the community psychologist to increase his own competencies. This is
particularly salient when the community psychologist is in a community that is very different from
his or her personal background. It certainly takes
a lot of personal toughness to make it through a
community, to sense the range of behavior, styles
of life, and conflicts, without becoming immune to
the diversity and seeing only chaos. Coping with
the ambiguities of the environment requires that
the worker be sustained and carried by his commitment to understand the locale.
Tolerance (or Diversity
When the community psychologist moves into a
locale with a sense of competence and an emerging
love for the locale and begins to move across and
through the settings of the community, he is
likely to meet many variations in how people express kindness and how they respond to strife.
This can be confusing and most often contradictory.
To grapple with these inconsistencies will demand
a great deal of perspective in knowing how to
contrast and compare various cultures and how
to obtain more information about their histories
and expected future outcomes. The quality of
appreciating differences between persons and
groups refers to an active searching out of what
these differences mean. Seizing and understanding
this variety is important because it offers ways to
estimate the direction for the future development of
the community. Being able to see variety in the
way persons cope with tragedy, how they confront
social inequities, initiate legal action, and celebrate
good times is the measure of the community psychologist. The axiom that defines the psychologist’s movement through the community is: There
is something valid in each example, yet something
incomplete in all of them. Another important element relating to the movement through the community is the basis for which diverse resources or
groupings relate to each other and how such resources can be related directly back to the community. Diverse resources that are contained have
some chance of contributing to the development of
the community, but as in all organic systems, resources must be managed. This quality of the
community psychologist represents his effort to
understand how these resources are managed and
how they are related. If the couplings or potential
relationships of these diverse resources can be
understood, then there is some merit in figuring out
how to involve these untried resources and help
them to create a new authentic role in the community. If current and diverse resources can be
worked with, it is likely that new resources can
contribute to the locale.
This quality asks the community psychologist
to seek out as many different opportunities as possible in order to see what diversities are contributing to the community. This quality represents
a commitment to understand, for example, in which
social settings adults can relate to youth, what
community services can work together to solve a
problem, and which distinct parts of the community
can be expected to work on specific issues. Tolerance of diversity is not expressed passively as a
spongy attitude; tolerance for diversity is the quality of putting the resources to work to help secure
options for the long-term cultivation of a locale.
Diversity represents an active effort to mobilize the
community to plan for its future.
Coping Effectively
with Varied Resources
It is not enough to be tolerant of variety. The
community psychologist actively deals with these
various resources so that they will contribute to
the total community. The community psychologist
works to develop a repertoire so he can respond to
an array of divergent persons and to minimize his
negative contributions to the community. This
QUALITIES FOR THE COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGIST
quality is closest to what might be termed empathy,
for it means that the community psychologist can
take the role of others and move beyond the expressive roles and postures persons often display.
The community psychologist also must be able to
rise above a stereotyped role and not be stopped
by the defensiveness of persons, but go beyond
and search out skills and talent. This quality,
more than the others, speaks directly to the interpersonal effectiveness required of the community
psychologist. He must be able to quickly assess
persons in their natural setting and relate to them
with ease and respect. This quality certainly means
that the community psychologist is a part of the
world of events and not only the world of ideas.
It means that the community psychologist is aggressive and involved and has access to his own
psyche. It means that he can recover from social
slights, brush-offs, stalls, confrontations, flatteries,
and payoffs, and keep going on to the location of
talent. This quality represents living day in and
day out with the events of the community, and
includes being able to be a resource with unknown
persons about unexpected events. The ecological
perspective directs the community psychologist to
focus on the relationship of informal and formal
roles that characterize social settings in order to
figure out how these contexts affect the expression
of needed resources. Identifying the talents and
skills that are needed for a community is the gutsy
work of community development. For many community psychologists, this quality represents an exciting attribute of trying to go beyond the uptight
veneers, the defensiveness of fellow professionals,
and helping to create a social setting where professionals and citizens can learn how to work together and, by example, can learn how to cope
effectively with each other. Coping effectively with
varied resources is not superhuman work; it also
involves, for the community psychologist, knowing
when to call for help, when to request rest and
rehabilitation, and when to disengage from combat.
Effective coping with varied resources defines the
operational role of the community psychologist by
focusing on the local situation and then bringing
together available resources. Performing this role
involves an important and rare activity, namely,
linking available resources to the solution of a community problem. Creating such linkages is the first
step in determining what new resources are required for the future development of the com-
901
munity. Expressing this skill provides a role model
for problem solving in the community and sets the
tone and direction for the adaptation, if not the
survival, of the community psychologist.
Commitment to Risk Taking
The previous four qualities have derived from
participating in community work blended with the
insights from the ecological perspective. These
four qualities, representing a clearly denned competence, an identity that is related directly to the
local environment, a tolerance for diversity, and
effectiveness in dealing with varied resources, provide the context for the role of the community
psychologist. The next three qualities represent
values more than concepts and suggest examples of
internal guidelines that the community psychologist
can set for himself.
The quality of commitment to risk taking is
particularly troublesome for most professionals, but
it is critical if the community psychologist is, in
fact, to be a resource for the community. Risk
taking does not refer to impulsive acts or expressing
whims. Risk taking in this context refers to being
an advocate for a real cause and helping the community move beyond its present steady state. It
means participating with citizens in social programs
that may fail. It means working with persons who
would be strangers were it not for present circumstances. Risk taking means going to bat for a
marginal person; it means taking a personal position on a controversial issue and working hard to
behave in such a way that persons with low status,
who are now economically and politically weak,
have as much influence on how the community psychologist spends his clay as the more fortunate and
self-contained.
Affirming this quality derives from the premise
that the maladaptive strains in a local community
provide important choice points for the future development of the community. Citizens stating demands and requesting help can mean that certain
resources are no longer available to them. By
being able to respond to these signs of maladaptive
functioning, real support can be given to the total
community. This interdependence of resources is
seen as critical for the development of a community. If real support can be given to a marginal
group, a greater chance of linking known but invisible resources to both the host and the marginal
community is expected. The value of a commit-
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AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGIST
merit to risk taking means putting aside the need
achievement of the professional and the aspiration
to bet only on winners. A commitment to risk
taking affects not only personal issues but also includes a commitment to participate with the community in an “iffy” enterprise. The community
psychologist’s resolution of the commitment issue,
if communicated to citizens, can generate new options even if the project fails. There is often a
sizable benefit that emerges during a temporary
collapse of a project, and a momentary failure
can define the cause for energizing new communities
into thrusts of activity; if the community psychologist is clear in his position, he is ready for a new
risk.
Commitment to risk taking then requires that the
psychologist participate in community work when
the rewards are indefinite and when there may be
a loss of group affiliation when projects fail. If
the community psychologist thinks that there is
even some chance for the community to get itself
together, then he must define a helpful role, however offbeat. The history of effective and successful community development is related to the viability of indigenous movements launching risky
activities.
Metabolic Balance of Patience and Zeal
This quality, perhaps, is more related to mood
and health status. The importance of the idea
comes from observations of the process under which
communities make a difference in the way persons
are helped. Being really helpful involves a cycling
of patience for achieving long-term goals with a
zeal for pursuing short-term objectives. The present author has seen that too often the style of
community worker is either overly patient or overly
zealous. In this situation, the worker misses the
opportunity to be zealous or patient when the situation warrants one metabolism but not the other.
Learning how to balance these energies means that
the worker must create a perspective to help himself see how to get from one part of his objective
to the other. It is not simply a matter of being
able to be fast or slow, or to know when to balance
the expression of both skills; the community psychologist must be able to communicate this metabolism to others and to have influence when other
community resources express their point of view.
One way to help clarify how to balance the expression of very active or passive responses to com-
munity work is to have a clear conception of the
various constraints affecting a particular activity.
The community psychologist needs to have a realistic idea of the obstacles that lessen change. It is
important to know how much energy is required
to alter the problem. Knowing when to mobilize
and when to lay back is an “art” in community
work. This type of judgment is also very important
to express to citizens. This judgment involves, in
part, learning how to get from one goal to another; it involves knowing the types of resources
that are needed at any one particular time to solve
a problem; and it involves an ability to define
the issue upon which energies should be focused.
By assessing the complexity of factors that impede
the development of the community, there is an
opportunity to define priorities more clearly and
to organize energies.
Because community work is uncertain and lacks
the definiteness that usually accompanies many
work roles, it is often helpful to celebrate examples
of successful achievement for the persons doing
community work. Community work can be sustained much better if the participants are involved
in a regular sharing of successes and triumphs and
for supporting one another during the blues and
blahs. The community psychologist in this way
supports those who have performed, and also has a
better understanding of the constraints and joys he
experiences in his work. One of the most distressful situations is to see a well-trained professional
caught with his cycling of metabolism down, when
he is either too defensive, too proud, or too alienated
to initiate a supportive environment for others and
himself. Without a supportive environment, the
community psychologist’s own metabolism will get
low. If the community psychologist is unable to
create a nutrient environment for himself or hasn’t
access to such a setting, he probably should postpone his community work until he can build it.
Those community psychologists who are actively
involved in the training of the next generation of
community psychologists have an opportunity and
a responsibility to create workable and active social
settings that help the helpers.
Giving Away the By-Line
The last quality refers to how satisfaction is
enjoyed when community work is done. The hallmark of a community psychologist is that he works
to achieve the first of these six qualities and enjoys
QUALITIES FOR THE COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGIST
the development of people and communities without
seeking visibility and public applause for his service.
Too often professionals have a frail vanity about
making sure that they get the credit for what they
do. This need for explicit recognition for work too
often means that professionals seek out the easy
and short-range problem that satisfies a neat and
finite result. When the community psychologist is
able to work on the tougher and troublesome issues,
it is too often done in silence, with some ambivalence, and as a citizen. I am proposing that a new
flag be carried, namely, the flag for community
service. Community service for the present writer
means that the criteria for success are not personal,
but the criteria refer to how work is received, what
it contributes to a locale, and how it leads to the
evolution of the community. A vita and a newspaper feature article reporting good works too often
are signs of a value for consumption, a consumption
for the proclamation of deeds. By themselves
these items do not reflect deeds performed. What
needs to be affirmed is that a new set of criteria
for scientific work is needed, criteria for the
assessment of natural environments that lead to
useful and real help for community resources. Here
again the community psychologist is showing his
commitment if he focuses on the consequences of
his work rather than the work itself. The task is
to develop resources for the community and not to
seek hierarchical relationships in which the community psychologist expects that by being one up,
he is therefore up on the problem. The community
psychologist, so this quality states, acts by working
as an equal and as if the by-line for his work is
a community story.
By encouraging equivalent interactions and
worrying about what happens with these interactions, the community psychologist is validating
for himself what many citizens already know,
namely, that the community must have a final say
in what is judged to be “good.” The rewards for
the effective community worker will come when
he is invited to work on still tougher problems.
Doing good work also means being available during
times of trouble. The presence of the community
psychologist on such occasions allows him to have
903
the humble and enriching experience of seeing the
raw constraints on development, and if he is present, and does something, he can have the satisfaction of making a difference during a crisis. If
we take the heat of such events, we can also enjoy
the reflection, and our colleagues will enjoy and
value us as well.
Conclusion
The thesis for these comments has been ecological
and affirms that the community psychologist survives as he does good works in different settings
and copes with diverse persons and real issues. The
seven qualities presented are suggestions for redefining the behavior for the community psychologist and for revising our methods of training. It
is proposed that the hallmarks for community psychology are met when the locale is the primary
source both for the energies and the work of the
community psychologist.
REFERENCES
KELLY, J. G. Ecological constraints on mental health
services. American Psychologist, 1966, 21, 535-539.
KELLY, J. G. Towards an ecological conception of preventive interventions. In J. W. Carter, Jr. (Ed.), Research contributions from psychology to community mental health. New York: Behavioral Publications, 1968.
KELLY, J. G. Naturalistic observations in contrasting social
environments. In E. P. Williams & H. L. Raush (Eds.),
Naturalistic viewpoints in psychological research. New
York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1969.
KELLY, J. G. Antidotes for arrogance: Training for community psychology. American Psychologist, 1970, 25,
S24-S31. (a)
KELLY, J. G. The quest for valid preventive interventions.
In C. D. Spielberger (Ed.), Current topics in clinical and
community psychology. Vol. 2. New York: Academic
Press, 1970. (b)
MILLS, R. D., & KELLY, J. G. Cultural and social adaptations to change: A case example and critique. In S.
Golann & C. Eisdorfer (Eds.), Handbook of community
psychology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1972,
in press.
TRICKETT, E. J., KELLY, J. G., & TODD, D. M. The social
environment of the high school; Guidelines for individual
change and organizational redevelopment. In S. Golann
& C. Eisdorfer (Eds.), Handbook of community psychology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1972, in
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