Can psychology change the world?

Tommy MacKay

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The whole idea almost seems content-free. No teaching methods, no glossy materials, no sophisticated literacy programme. Yet it draws its entire rationale from the evidence base of multiple fields of mainstream psychology – attitudes, self-concept and self-esteem; expectations or ‘expectancy’; cognitive dissonance; social and interactive learning; motivation; attributions; goal setting, self-efficacy; visual imagery. Declaration led to behavioural change. As one bright four-year-old girl in nursery said, ‘Yes – I’m getting better. We’re doing more than we normally would.’

The individual support study

This was the final part in our armoury for wiping out illiteracy by school leaving age. Our programme was so successful in reducing the numbers failing that we could invest in intensive individual tuition for the small percentage who were still not fully literate. We selected the one remedial programme that not only met our research specification but was also economically feasible – Toe by Toe (Cowling & Cowling, 1993), a highly structured scheme for mastering all the basic skills of reading. A quasi-experimental study in one secondary school increased reading ages by an average of two years following a three-month intervention. A further gains score study of over 100 primary school children in 32 schools showed average gains of over one year in five months, using as tutors volunteers with a maximum of one day of training.
At the start of the project in 1997 over 21 per cent of our children left secondary school functionally illiterate. By June 2007 the total was three pupils. All of this has been made possible by applied psychology – using the evidence base of educational psychology and other applied fields. Crucial to the project was understanding the psychology of long-term organisational change, and how we sought throughout 10 years to maximise our five ‘context variables’ of vision, profile, ownership, commitment and declaration. When we seek to change the world we are ultimately changing the lives of individuals. As one secondary school pupil said in addressing one of our conferences,
When all this started I couldn’t read. I was a failure. Now I have a cupboardful of books at home. Now I am a success.

A vision for psychology

Psychology is able to do very much more to change the world than eradicating illiteracy from our schools and communities. Yet ‘too often we settle for too little’ (Prilleltensky & Fox, 1997, p.4). What is our vision as psychologists both academic, in providing the scientific evidence base, and applied, in turning that evidence base into programmes to promote human welfare? I believe that psychology can play a central role in tackling the issue of crime in our cities, litter on our streets, pollution in our atmosphere, breakdown in our international relations, obesity in our children and perhaps ultimately, oppression and injustice in our world.

en key strands
The main study in the West Dunbartonshire Literacy Initiative was based on the following key strands:
 
I    phonological awareness and the alphabet
I    a strong and structured phonics emphasis
I    extra classroom help in the early years
I    raising teacher awareness through focused assessment
I    increased time spent on key aspects of reading
I    identification of and support for children who are failing
I    home support for encouraging literacy
I    fostering a ‘literacy environment’ in school and community
I    lessons from research in interactive learning
I    changing attitudes, values and expectations

Profesor Tommy MacKay pracuje w Psychologicznych Służbach Konsultingowych w Ardoch House, Cardross, Dumbartonshire G82 5EW; tommy@ardoch.fsnet.co.uk.

This article originally appeared in “The Psychologist”, published by the British Psychological Society. For more, and to subscribe, see www.thepsychologist.org.uk

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