I was motivated to write this article when the comment “So you don’t work as a psychologist” was made to me by a colleague during a routine post-deployment psychological debriefing after I had just completed a six-month placement with the United Nations. Why was the comment made? Because the word psychologist was not in my job title and I did not work in a counselling or clinical role. What do I actually do then?
I did not begin my career in psychology until I was in my early forties when nearing the end of my psychology undergraduate degree in the early 2000s, I started to consider what section of psychology most interested me. I wanted to continue to work in different countries as I had done in past careers, so I started researching the surprising number of alternatives to choose from; I chose anthropological psychology. To gain the required qualifications in addition to my postgraduate studies in psychology, I undertook a Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development. After completing my course and gaining registration as a psychologist, I joined the very small group of anthropological psychologists in the world.
Since then, I have worked with groups ranging from the Queensland Royal Flying Doctor Service in remote Indigenous communities, to the World Health Organization in the Solomon Islands, the Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health in Papua New Guinea, the United Nations in Myanmar, and the International Red Cross worldwide. I have been a short-term consultant for more than 30 international organisations, assisting with the design, implementation and review of behavioural change programs. These programs have been as diverse as designing child protection programs for Monastic schools in the northern Myanmar state of Shan, researching the relationship between poverty, climate change and disasters in Myanmar, and designing and implementing tuberculosis treatment education programs for the residents of isolated villages in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea.
While the titles and range of activities may vary, the core tasks remain the same. These are to use the psychological skills and training related to behavioural change to influence the design of large-scale programs with an aim to improve the quality of life for thousands of disadvantaged, isolated and marginalised people.
All of the roles and programs in which I have been involved sought to change the behaviour of people with the objective of improving their lives in a manner that, at a minimum, ‘does no harm’ to anyone, and preferably empowers the disempowered, bridges diversity and creates tolerance between people of different ethnicities, religions and genders.
Anthropological psychology has a role because people generally underestimate the power and influence that their history and the culture in which they live exerts over them (Schwartz, White & Lutz, 1992). Terpstran (1987) defined culture as the integrated sum total of learned behavioural traits that are manifested and shared by members of a society. Culture is not transmitted genealogically, nor is it innate. It is learned, with the facets of culture interrelated and shared by members of a group who define the boundaries.
For many in the countries in which I have worked as an anthropological psychologist, providing rational reasons and technical training to change something that will improve a person’s quality of life is not enough to promote changes in people’s behaviour. The person has to be both motivated and comfortable to change, have confidence in the organisation and individual asking them to change, be secure in the knowledge that it will not disadvantage them, and most importantly, believe that the changes will have a positive effect on their lives. Psychologists will quickly spot the words that have little to do with logical reasoning and more to do with emotions and feelings, and which are overwhelmingly the drivers of behavioural change; motivation, belief, trust, comfort, confidence and perception (Conerly & Edgerton, 2005).
Ever since the groundbreaking book Descartes’ Error by Antonio Damasio was published in the mid-1990s, there has been a growing recognition in the wider scientific community regarding something that psychology has always known. Decision-making is not only rationalisation of facts, it is inherently interwoven with and influenced by a person’s emotions, feelings and personal perceptions of reality, with many of these perceptions based on cultural factors (Kral, 2014).
So, what does an anthropological psychologist do? They construct methods of implementing change, as well as transferring the information that will cause individual and group behavioural change in a way that will (a) be supported and (b) provide the motivation to implement this change within the cultural context of a society in a manner that supports the most vulnerable without disadvantaging any other person or group.
What I have learned in my short career in psychology is that psychology is an incredibly diverse and exciting profession. There are many ways psychologists act to produce change to improve the lives of others. Yes, my line of work can be complex, demanding, stressful and sometimes dangerous, but it is still psychology. Perhaps my musings may prompt others to look at expanding their horizons and consider the diverse psychology career options available to them.
The author can be contacted at: [email protected]