The Discourse Community Of Child Psychology

An Analysis Of The Discourse Community Of Child Psychology

Maria Montecinos
Saint Marys College

An Analysis Of The Discourse Community Of Child Psychology

Introduction

The Discourse Community Of Child Psychology

Psychology is the important understanding of the behaviors of living organisms

and consists of the pure branches and applied branches (Sharma, 2014). The pure
branches formulate principles, theories, and different methods of assessment, while the
applied branches approach problems by applying principles and techniques. Child
psychology is especially important because it deals with the most crucial part of life,
ages two through twelve, affecting the future life of individuals. Child psychology, being
a part of the pure branches, consists of psychologistsbeginners and expertswho
work with formulating principles, theories, and new methods to assess behaviors
(Sharma, 2014). This understanding of these consistent formulations helps us know that
child psychology is constantly developing and made me interested as a psychology
student to analyze the discourse community of child psychology. A discourse community
has different but similar definitions constructed by different thinkers and can be
described as a community/group of individuals in a field that try to maintain and extend
their knowledge of the topic they focus on and can usually consist of beginners to
experts in the field (Swales, 1990). This analysis will not only focus on how much
people know about child/developmental psychology, but also on how much people know
about what is happening within child psychology now.
My research has found that there is a huge gap in communications between
Child psychology and anyone outside of the field, based on interviews, surveys, and
even analyzing genres, or ways of communicating information such as books, that were
mostly un-accessible to the community. This knowledge is very important for the
community and people uninvolved with the field of psychology can still be affected by it.
Having the ability to see possible methods to treat psychological disorders,

The Discourse Community Of Child Psychology

understanding these methods, and even just having hope by knowing what is
happening can positively impact the community and be crucial for families with
psychologically affected children. I found it necessary to research how much child
psychology is improving and how much the community actually knows about it. With my
findings, I plan to contribute to people realizing how much the community knows about
what is happening in psychology. This realization can lead to the understanding that if
this discourse community provided more information to the outside community, people
could benefit from getting the opportunity to try these new treatments. Other fields-biology, health science--may even be able to contribute to these findings with their own
ideas, rather than findings only circulating within the field and only involving
psychologists. I will also create a website to help other psychology students, like myself,
get ready for this discourse community and understand the genres used and the
process for it.
Following the introduction, I will go through my literature review to help carefully
analyze how genres are used and how they are communicated. I will also go through
my process in researching to help visualizing where I found all of my information. After I
will go through my limitations because there were ways I would have expanded on my
research with more time. Then I will introduce all of my findings and bring them all
together to help support the thesis. Lastly, I will conclude based on my findings for this
discourse community of child psychology.
Literature Review
The Discourse Community Within Psychology

The Discourse Community Of Child Psychology

Psychology is the understanding of behaviors among all living organisms. Having

its own genres and communicating within and maybe outside of its community on the
topic of psychology, gives psychology its own discourse community. Child psychology,
being one of the 14 branches of the pure branches, focuses on the study of children
from ages two through twelve (Sharma, 2014). Psychology also has the power to
control wellness, oppression, and liberation, but also is affected by political factors and
aspects outside of psychology (Prilleltensky, 2008). However, psychology and politics
have been separated and this separation is resulting in less control over wellness,
oppression, and liberation. The role of psychologists is to put power issues before
research and action and encourage a social change by emphasizing human wellness
(Prilleltensky, 2008). This idea, along with making the community more knowledgeable
and raising the possibility of getting ideas from other fields, shows how important it is for
the child psychology field to communicate with other fields and people outside of child
psychology/general psychology.
Research on the Discourse Community of Psychology
Prilleltensky conducted several research projects to understand the discourse
community of psychology by analyzing different factors. His Value-Based Praxis study of
2001 considers the personal, collective, and relational factors of psychology and
researches how psychologists use them and that effect on the discourse community. He
found that psychologists focus on specifically personal and relational wellness, rather
than on collective wellness. This is important to my study because this imbalance is
affected by psychologists use of reflection, research, and social action (Prilleltensky,
2001). Prilleltensky found that this imbalance is caused specifically by the lack of focus

The Discourse Community Of Child Psychology

on social action, psychologists communicating and associating with the outside

community, showing the lack of communication with the psychology field and the
outside community.
This study is very similar to the study done by Gergen in 1985. In his study, he
concluded that the goal of any discourse community should be to make knowledge
reachable to the community and encourage the exchange of this knowledge. Because
of this, the psychology community should be able to help the understanding the outside
community has of the process and findings of psychology and encourage developing
alternatives for the psychological ideas, rather than just ideas from people throughout
the field. He also explains that this type of communication and the understanding of it is
necessary for any era and affects every era (Gergen, 1985). This research shows a
similar idea of how psychologists should be more involved with the outside community
and also helps show how a different generations views on this discourse community are
very similar, both generations lacking the communications between the psychology field
and outsiders or other fields.
Genre Analysis
All of these publishings, not including many more that were un-accessible to me,
have one extremely used/primarily used genre. This genre, research journal article,
seems to not only have strict guidelines, but also a unique lexis. From observing child
psychology I found that this genre is most widely used, so I also decided to analyze this
genre. All of the articles I have found in this genre have had very similar sections, a
serious language rather than conversational, and professional lexis, with the exception
of the Gergen study which had everything but the sections. I have analyzed that the

The Discourse Community Of Child Psychology

purpose of this genre is not to inform the public, but rather to exchange information
within the field. I realized this based on the language that the general community would
not understand and many of my attempts to access articles I could not because I was
not a part of the association or organization of psychologists. This analysis helped me
conclude that the purpose of the genre is intended for getting possible input from
others--beginners, experts, researchers--in the field, rather than to give information to
the unknowledgable community. Also comparing the articles to the one from
1985,Gergen analysis, the purpose and lexis is similar, but it was less strictly structured.
This shows that psychologists are developing a stricter way to communicate information
and that instead of including more people,this genre is still intended for the same people
and only includes the field of psychology.
Methodology
Participants (Outside Community)
My analysis involved both individuals not associated directly to child psychology
and individuals who are very knowledgeable about child psychology. I surveyed five
people that arent in the field, with two of them knowing a child in their family with a
psychological disability. I asked them basic questions about child psychology to analyze
how much they know and I also asked them how much they hear about things, what
they hear, where they hear or see the information, and how it could possibly affect them
as individuals if they received more information. This variety of questions helped me
analyze what genre people in the community see, even though the most common genre
between psychologists is research journal articles. This also helped me see what type
of information the community receives, such as basic information, research information,

The Discourse Community Of Child Psychology

or nothing at all. The people surveyed had a variety of differences--backgrounds,

economic statuses, genders, know/do not know affected individuals--to research more
accurately. I also didnt give people a specific time frame in surveying and gave them a
lot of space to write everything they wanted and elaborate on things. I also interviewed
a professor to also analyze the genres mainly used and what their purposes are.
Procedure
This analysis took around three weeks in the spring term of 2016. The first thing I
did was introduce my analysis before interviewing or surveying and let everybody know
about their ability to say no, drop out, and remain anonymous. Also if I felt I got really
good/quotable information I asked if they were okay with me quoting them in my paper. I
had a list of questions for the surveys and a different list for the interview with the
professor to help me answer the main ideas and put all the information together. For the
individuals outside of psychology, I created a paper survey for them to fill out and
elaborate on questions where they wanted. I asked the completely uninvolved people
and the people who know a psychologically affected child the same questions to
analyze how they feel about the information they receive, how much they receive, and
how important they feel getting information is. In the survey I asked the questions:

Do you know a child affected by a psychological condition? Which one?

What do you think of when you hear child psychology?
Do you know about different branches of psychology and what they do?
Child/Developmental Psychology is a part of the (Applied or Pure

Branches):
Child psychologists focus on (Check all that apply):
-Counseling only
-Creating principles

The Discourse Community Of Child Psychology

-Creating theories
-Creating different ways to assess behavior
What branch of psychology have you heard of most often? Why do you
think?
What new information on either treatments or research have you heard
of within child psychology? Where did you get the information you know about
child psychology (Books, Newspapers, Published Research, Etc.)? Which do
you feel is mainly used?
Do you feel there could be a lack in the information you receive about
child psychology? Would it be helpful or useful to get more?
In what way would receiving more information about work being done
within child psychology help you if you know a child affected psychologically? If
not how could it help a family who is affected by this?

These questions were really helpful and I chose to interview five people and ask them
more questions they could elaborate on, rather than asking many different people just a
few short questions. While asking short questions can be really helpful for some
research, I felt that giving people the chance to elaborate on how they feel about the
information theyre getting and maybe even realize how many basic things they dont
know would be really useful in this analysis on child psychology.
I had less questions to ask the professor because I wanted more elaboration and
to be able to compare the answers thoroughly. I wanted to analyze from an experts
point of view and what she feels the purpose of this discourse community is. The
questions I made and interviewed with are:

The Discourse Community Of Child Psychology

Is there a process to communicate information from psychology?

What is the mostly used genre?
Is there intended to be different audiences for different genres and do
any of them go to other fields?
What usually gets communicated with people outside of psychology?
Do you see any new research or developments within child psychology?

These questions are very useful because they help me analyze the purposes of
different genres based on what audiences they are intended for. It also helped me
analyze what information gets shared with the public to compare it to how much the
public sees and how much they want to see. Also, understanding what genre is mainly
used and what audience it is intended for helps show who the child psychology
community communicates and why. I can also compare from this what new information
people who are experts in the field of psychology get about child psychology and if the
outside community gets any of it. This information is very helpful for me to be able to
analyze how anything gets communicated from child psychology.
Limitations
While this analysis proved my hypothesis, there are a few things I did not get to
analyze thoroughly do to my lack of time. I would have preferably interviewed a few
more professors to receive information from different viewpoints and from experts with
different experiences. I also only surveyed people in the area and maybe could have
surveyed people in other states to analyze better. It would have also been very useful to
interview practicing child psychologists, who I did not have access to, rather than just
general psychology professors. I also would have analyzed different genres--theoretical
papers, books, review papers, newspapers--more observingly rather than just research

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articles which are the primary genre. Aside from wanting to analyze more factors, which
I would be really interested in doing for future research, I feel that I have all of the
necessary information to fully understand my analysis of child psychology.
Findings
Based on my genre analysis, I was able to find the most widely used genre within
child psychology and the purpose of it. I found that out of all of the genres the one used
the most is the journal research article, which involves a lot of structure and a strict
lexis. From searching online for anything that could provide the community with
information, only research journal articles were found aside from basic information from
websites designed for psychology. Most articles were also un-accessible to the public
and are only intended for an organization or association of psychologists. This genre
was found to be very structured, consisting of separate sections, introducing the
importance of the research, and including lexis that seemed intended for others in the
field. With analysis, the realization was made that with such a well-explained process of
the research and well educated lexis, this information was not intended to teach people
something new but instead to add to information the audience--other psychologists--are
expected to know. This also helped conclude that, based on many un-accessible
research and very complicated lexis, this genre was intended to possibly encourage
input on the research from others involved with psychology. While it is good to
encourage new ideas from people in the field, information should also be accessible to
the community or other fields which could also possibly contribute to it.
My findings for the community outside of child psychology are based around
information retrieved from surveying random people who I know arent in the field. From

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my surveys two people out of five know a psychologically affected child. Combining all
of the surveys, most people were not only unaware of new information, but are even
unaware of basic information. For the people who dont know a psychologically affected
child, further from being involved with psychology, there was an extreme lack of
knowledge on the subject. These individuals didnt know anything about different
branches or their purposes, only think of counseling when they hear of psychology,
have not heard anything new about child psychology, and seem unaware of what child
psychology does by only getting the multiple choice question right. These individuals
also are indifferent about getting more information because they dont know a
psychologically affected child and are not a part of the field, but they feel that it could be
possibly important to people associated with it.
On the other hand, the two people that do know a psychologically affected child-ADD, Bipolar-- seem more educated on the topic. They were not informed thoroughly on
basic information like different branches and only one knew that child psychology was a
part of the applied branches. They were both able to very accurately define child
psychology and also knew what the focuses of child psychologists were. They have also
mainly heard of child psychology and feel it is because of their association with an
affected child. While they seemed more involved in having heard new research in child
psychology, they have only heard/remember hearing of one new thing and do not find it
important to the community or too relatable to them because they do not use it. The
main genre they got any information on was published research and one of them also
found a little bit of information in books and newspapers. They also both expressed how
they feel there is a lack of information and how receiving more could definitely be useful

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depending on different individuals. Suellen Cox, one of my surveyors, said more

information would make me more informed to possibly make better decisions. I also
realized that while these people are more informed on child psychology, they dont get
informed about anything that could be relatable to them or impact the child affected in
their family. These people knew a lot of basic information but want more information on
what is happening today in child psychology to be able to use it.
The psychology professor helped contribute to my findings and confirmed that
research journal articles are the primary genre. Professor Caitlin Powell, a part of the
American Psychological Association and works with teaching the psychological ethical
process, explained the communication of psychology overall and does not research
herself; so has not gone through the process of communicating herself. She explained
that everything is reviewed thoroughly before publishing from what she observed. She
also explained that the genres used in psychology are journal research articles, books,
conferences, and news media (magazines, online sources, newspapers). Books and
news media are intended for the outside community and research journal articles and
conferences are intended for psychologists. She emphasized that research journal
articles are mainly for psychologists but can depend and specific test information is
never shared, not sharing the test information raises its accuracy for when other people
take it (C. Powell, personal communication, April 18, 2016). I asked what new
information she has found about child psychology and she said it was an article about
suicide rates increasing among young girls, which is good but not very individualized
or too helpful (C. Powell, personal communication, April 18, 2016). I also asked her if
she would have liked to get more information in undergrad and she said that yes

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because she learned only general theories and only got new information in graduate
school, showing that mainly really involved people receive new information. Aside from
know the audience for research journal articles, which are mainly other beginners and
experts in psychology, I wanted to find out what the goal of this genre was based on this
audience. She explained that this genre instead of summarizing unknown knowledge or
previous research, it focuses on new rather than old information, is bias, and that the
main purpose is to expand on research. This helps show that the primary genre for
psychological communications is really intended for people in psychology who can
contribute to it.
Analysis
Considering all of the findings, a gap was found based on where the new child
psychological information is going. Young and more unknowledgable people could also
be a reason for the gap, especially because the students do not go out of their way to
learn new information and people do not seem to care about information that they do
not feel applies to them. Aside from this factor, the gap seems mainly caused by the
audience focus, others in the field and including other branches in psychology, of
psychologists. The main genre is journal research articles and the audience is intended
to be other people in the field with the goal to expand on research. While expanding this
research is definitely necessary, this information should also be available to people
outside the field. Also, even though it is important to keep assessment information only
within the field, other information can only be helpful to the community. The people who
know a psychologically affected child are especially interested in getting more
information about what is currently happening. The unaffected and uninvolved people

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also feel that even though it does not fully apply to them, more knowledge can make all
of the difference for some people. The psychology professor, the people who do not
know an affected child, and the people who do know someone psychologically affected
have helped prove this gap and emphasizes the importance of at least shrinking it.
Especially considering that most people do not even know at least basic information, it
is very clear that something needs to be done from changing education requirements to
simply providing easier ways to access information. Closing this gap would increase the
knowledge of our community and could seriously impact several people. It is very
important to analyze the factors affecting this and what can be done for it.
Conclusion
The gap between the field of child psychology and the outside community is
prominent, but even shrinking it can make a very large difference for everyone in the
community. Analyzing the factors in detail and how they can be changed to improve this
communication would be very helpful. Also changing class requirements by adding
psychology will help the community know the necessary basic information and finding a
way to make new information more accessible to the community definitely has the
possibility of shrinking this gap. The most important thing is to carefully analyze the
genres and their audiences to change what is necessary and make the outside
community feel involved in these very important findings. There is a gap in the
communication of child psychology and changing this can help everyone.

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References
Gergen, K. J. (1985, March). The Social Constructionist Movement in Modern
Psychology. Retrieved from psycnet.apa.org/journals/amp/40/3/266.pdf
Prilleltensky, I. (2008). The Role of Power in Wellness, Oppression, and Liberation: The
Promise Of Psychological Validity. Retrieved from
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcop.20225/epdf
Prilleltensky, I. (2001, October). Value-Based Praxis in Community Psychology: Moving
Toward Social Justice and Social Action. Retrieved from
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1023/A:1010417201918/epdf
Sharma, A. (2016, March 4). Branches of Psychology: (Different Branches of
Psychology). Retrieved from
www.psychologydiscussion.net/branch/branches-of-psychology-different-branche
s-of-psychology/544
Swales, J. (1990). The Concept Of Discourse Community. Print