No description available.

The relevance of psychology in Africa is increasingly debated by psychologists. The subject stands accused of continuing a colonial tradition of oppression through its Eurocentrism and failure to attend to the needs of African societies. The relevance debate raises questions around the relationship between power, knowledge, psychology, and African history. This study attempts to excavate the conditions of possibility of the debate, by construing an archaeology of psychological knowledge as technology of power in the African context. It assumes a constructivist stance, employs textual and narrative analogies, and follows Foucault's conceptualisation of the relation between power and knowledge. Five strata of knowledge emerging historically in Africa, each embodying distinctive approaches to knowledge, are described: Indigenous African knowledge, African Islamic knowledge, African Christianity, knowledges of Enlightenment, and knowledges of resistance. These knowledges, their psychological dimensions, as well as the circulation of power within and between them, are explored, and historical processes of subjugation and resistance highlighted. Western psychology, as technology of modern power, is situated within modernism and the narratives ofEnlightenment, which also provided the conditions of possibility of colonialism. The dominant narratives of relevance are related to those of African resistance and the limitations of psychology are conceptualised in terms of those pertaining to modernism. Possible postmodern avenues to the liberation of both psychology and its subjects, that are relevant to African contexts, are suggested. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

The relevance of psychology in Africa is increasingly debated by psychologists. The subject stands accused of continuing a colonial tradition of oppression through its Eurocentrism and failure to attend to the needs of African societies. The relevance debate raises questions around the relationship between power, knowledge, psychology, and African history. This study attempts to excavate the conditions of possibility of the debate, by construing an archaeology of psychological knowledge as technology of power in the African context. It assumes a constructivist stance, employs textual and narrative analogies, and follows Foucault's conceptualisation of the relation between power and knowledge. Five strata of knowledge emerging historically in Africa, each embodying distinctive approaches to knowledge, are described: Indigenous African knowledge, African Islamic knowledge, African Christianity, knowledges of Enlightenment, and knowledges of resistance. These knowledges, their psychological dimensions, as well as the circulation of power within and between them, are explored, and historical processes of subjugation and resistance highlighted. Western psychology, as technology of modern power, is situated within modernism and the narratives ofEnlightenment, which also provided the conditions of possibility of colonialism. The dominant narratives of relevance are related to those of African resistance and the limitations of psychology are conceptualised in terms of those pertaining to modernism. Possible postmodern avenues to the liberation of both psychology and its subjects, that are relevant to African contexts, are suggested. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)

The current thesis presents five studies which consider the structure of normal range human personality as measured by psychometric inventories. The primary aim of the thesis was to develop a hierarchical model of the structure of human personality, which not only encapsulated the content of extant personality inventories, but extended the extant models to better represent the accumulated knowledge in the field of personality research. To do so, the thesis reports on the largest item level exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic investigation of the structure of personality to date. In Study 1, the utility of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for the investigation of personality structure was established by conducting dimensionality, structural and invariance analysis of the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire, Version 5, using the US Standardization sample. The results clearly demonstrated that confirmatory models of personality inventories can display model fit, and that structures can be identified which are invariant across samples. In Study 2, 1,772 items from the Eugene-Springfield community sample were used to locate 78 unidimensional narrow personality facets, which were both substantively consistent and displayed strong psychometric properties. These 78 facets were then used to identify a second order 11 factor global structure to human personality, the 11+ Model. The 11+ Model was robust over different rotational criteria, and displayed excellent theoretical coverage of the personality sphere. However, confirmatory factor analyses of the 11 factor solution failed to demonstrate model fit. As a result, three further studies were conducted to explore the possible reasons for model misfit. In Study 3, the model fit of the new exploratory 11 factor solution was considered against model fit for extant structures and inventories. The results showed that across modelling strategy, the fit of newly identified structure was comparable to the extant inventories. In Study 4, the claim the model misfit is caused by the inherent complexity in personality was considered through an application of exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM). ESEM has been argued to more adequately represent such complexity. Results suggested that the ESEM framework fails to offer additional information to help resolve the substantive problems in personality research. Finally, in Study 5, the sample size required to reliably estimate single factor confirmatory models, and second order structural models, was investigated using Monte Carlo simulations. The results suggest that samples of over 2000 are required to reliably estimate second order structural parameters in confirmatory factor analytic models. This finding suggests the samples used in much published research to investigate confirmatory structural models of personality inventories may be deficient.

Within the framework of ethnography, an inquiry was made into the many dimensions of psychological treatment and training in a psychiatric hospital, with particular reference to State Patients. Ethnography is the study of an intact cultural or social group based mainly on observations over a prolonged period of time in which the researcher is a participant. The multicultural aspects of the therapeutic community were also inquired into. Ethnographic data was collected and processed over a period of 16 years in three psychiatric hospitals, the main source of data gathered from Weskoppies Hospital in Pretoria. The ecosystemic psychotherapeutic perspective was used as a meta-model to describe eight therapeutic approaches in which intern-psychologists were trained. The hospital is described as a therapeutic community in which rehabilitation is a multi-professional responsibility. Each profession, or sub-culture, has its own framework and culture in which it works within the broader system of the psychiatric hospital. Ethical considerations and recommendations are levelled at the academic and practical aspects of clinical psychology, hospital management, and different levels of government. / Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil.

Within the framework of ethnography, an inquiry was made into the many dimensions of psychological treatment and training in a psychiatric hospital, with particular reference to State Patients. Ethnography is the study of an intact cultural or social group based mainly on observations over a prolonged period of time in which the researcher is a participant. The multicultural aspects of the therapeutic community were also inquired into. Ethnographic data was collected and processed over a period of 16 years in three psychiatric hospitals, the main source of data gathered from Weskoppies Hospital in Pretoria. The ecosystemic psychotherapeutic perspective was used as a meta-model to describe eight therapeutic approaches in which intern-psychologists were trained. The hospital is described as a therapeutic community in which rehabilitation is a multi-professional responsibility. Each profession, or sub-culture, has its own framework and culture in which it works within the broader system of the psychiatric hospital. Ethical considerations and recommendations are levelled at the academic and practical aspects of clinical psychology, hospital management, and different levels of government. / Psychology / D.Litt. et Phil.