EL LÍDER ESTÁ LLAMADO A FOMENTAR LA CREATIVIDAD DE SUS SEGUIDORES

Psychology is commonly considered as a biological, cognitive, behavioural, and social science. Psychology as a biological science examines the relationship between the brain, physiological systems and behaviour. Psychology as a cognitive science investigates perception, attention, memory, thinking, language and understanding. As a behavioural science, psychology considers ways in which behaviour is learned and can be changed, focusing on perception, cognition, learning, and the biological bases of behaviour. As a social science, psychology investigates lifespan development, personality, social processes, learning, motivation and abnormal behaviour, with individuals considered within the context of families, organisations, communities, cultures and societies. Psychology is an evidence-based discipline, emphasising the importance of research as a core value of psychology, with research driving psychological services and the practice of psychologists (Canadian Psychological Association, 2001).

This thesis focuses on the development of psychologies relevant and of benefit to Māori communities. Broadly speaking, perceptions, thoughts, memory, learning, feelings, social processes, motivation, families, communities, cultures, and communities are

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relevant to Māori. However, in all these areas our aspirations as Māori will influence how we choose to explore and examine them. Our aspirations will also determine our priorities for what we want and need to know, and what is unimportant. Our aspirations will also impact on how we choose to undertake research, what we consider to be evidence and the outcomes we are seeking.

Māori psychologists continue to believe in the potential of psychology to contribute positively to the lives of Māori. However, the majority of studies undertaken and hui held have consistently identified that psychology rests on dominant Western based psychological theories, with little evidence to suggest that Māori knowledge bases are genuinely being considered within psychology (Brady, 1992; Glover & Robertson, 1997; Hunt, Morgan, & Teddy, 2002; Lawson-Te Aho, 1994; Levy, 2002; Masters & Levy, 1995; National Standing Committee on Bicultural Issues, 1995b; Nikora, 1989, 1998; Older, 1978; Paewai, 1997; Parsonson, 1993; Skipper, 1998; Stewart, 1993; Thomas, 1993). Consequences of the Western paradigm include a lack of acceptance of the validity of Māori knowledge bases, promotion of the view that Māori psychologies have no place within the discipline of psychology, and psychological theories which are inappropriately generalized across differing contexts (Glover & Robertson, 1997; Stanley, 1993).

In 1989 a hui called Psychology – A Time for Change was held at the University of Waikato (Nikora, 1989). Attended by both Māori and non-Māori psychologists, psychology students and those in allied disciplines, the purpose of this hui was to determine how psychology training should develop in order to benefit Māori. The hui concluded that the reliance on textbooks written in the United Kingdom or the United States resulted in the inappropriate generalisation of theories across differing contexts, the alienation of students, and the creation of barriers to the development of psychologies relevant to Aotearoa (Nikora, 1989). Participants considered that in 1989 there was sufficient information and research to begin developing psychologies that were relevant to Māori (Nikora, 1989).

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In 2000, Tariana Turia (then Associate Minister of Māori Affairs, Health, Corrections and Welfare), was a keynote speaker at the New Zealand Psychological Society annual conference held at the University of Waikato. Ms Turia posed the following question for psychologists to consider:

As psychologists you frequently have as your clients, Māori people. The challenge I put to you is: Do you seriously believe that you with the training you get, are able to nurture the Māori psyche? (Turia, 2001, p. 27)

Two years later, Dr Catherine Love argued that concerns regarding the discord between the fundamental value base of psychology and the value base of te ao Māori remained unaddressed (Love, 2003). In 2005, Dr Marewa Glover and Dr Paul Hirini edited a special issue of the New Zealand Journal of Psychology focused on Māori and psychology. They commented that while there was a growing body of ‘grey’ literature relating to Māori psychology, such as symposium proceedings, research theses, evaluation and contract reports, there was a dearth of articles relevant to Māori psychology published in refereed journals (Glover & Hirini, 2005). They also commented that their final selection of papers in the special edition reflected the dominance of Western paradigms in psychology training, suggesting that Māori students of psychology were still focused on learning the tools of Pākehā (Glover & Hirini, 2005).

We are still undergoing the metamorphosis that has seen matauranga Māori obscured, contemporary Māori educated in Western psychology and the emergence of blended knowledge and practice (Glover & Hirini, 2005, p. 3).

Despite it being identified almost 20 years ago (at the 1989 hui in Hamilton referred to above) that there was sufficient information and research to begin developing a psychology relevant and of benefit to Māori, this has not yet been realized.

As articulated at the start of this chapter, psychologies of relevance and benefit to Māori will contribute to Māori development aspirations. However, Māori development does more than simply describe the aspirations of Māori. Over the decades the term ‘Māori development’ has become an accepted way of describing the processes by which Māori aspirations are transformed into outcomes (Durie, 2003a). However, outcomes should not be confused with inputs and processes (Durie, Fitzgerald, Kingi, McKinley, &

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Stevenson, 2002). Increasing the number of Māori psychologists has been a focus in psychology, first highlighted as important almost 30 years ago by Jules Older (1978). From a Māori development perspective, the process of increasing the numbers of Māori psychologists must result in contributions to Māori aspirations and better outcomes for Māori, whānau, hapū and iwi.

There is wide agreement that Māori development models, whether they are focused on economic, social or cultural outcomes, all have at their core the development of Māori people as Māori. Durie (2003c) warned that unless practice is consistent with the broad aspirations of indigenous people, irrespective of how professional practice or interventions may be, they may hinder rather than facilitate wellbeing. Failure to align with Māori aspirations can potentially result in the development of initiatives which lack relevance and may ultimately disadvantage Māori (Durie et al., 2002).

Illustrating this, Palmer (2003) concluded that it was highly unlikely that the tools which psychologists used to measure wellbeing would contribute to the desired outcome of whānau ora for Māori. These tools are not responsive to the needs of Māori, are not based on Māori concepts or constructs, do not facilitate Māori participation in te ao Māori, and do not provide pathways through which Māori can develop a positive Māori identity (Palmer, 2003). In short, they fail to align to Māori aspirations. If psychology is to contribute to the realisation of Māori aspirations, experience from decades of Māori development show that the nature of the outcomes sought must be based on Māori aspirations, as defined by Māori.