Psychology & Buddhism.pdf

200 Leonard A. Jason and John Moritsugu
been to develop and propose theories of how people become effective and adaptive
in varied social environments. The ecological paradigm is a guiding framework
for understanding behavior in interaction with its social and cultural contexts.
In this way, it is a more theoretically rich and useful model than the ones reviewed
above. Kingry-Westergaard and Kelly (1990) have suggested that a principle fundamental
to ecological approaches is the need to use multiple methods to understand
the complex qualities of relationships and systems. One of these methods for
increasing our understanding of that which we claim to know is the collaborative
relationship between the researcher and the participants. This means that concepts
and hypotheses are developed and tested by both the researcher and the participants.
This is a principle that would be welcomed by Buddhists, as it characterizes their
values as well. This feature of the ecological model has also been espoused by many
feminists, among others, who recommend that we listen to and understand people
first and foremost from their points of view. When people are involved in research
projects, they should be included as participants, not as subjects, and the process of
being understood and represented is considered empowering.
Ecological principles could be used by professionals who join in long-term
collaborative relationships with persons and settings. By involving participants
actively in the planning of interventions, the recipients of the programs receive
support, learn to identify resources, and become better problem-solvers who are
more likely to manage future problems and issues. Interventions that have been
generated from collaboratively defined, produced, and implemented change
efforts are more apt to endure. By involving participants in the design of the
research, investigators may gain a greater appreciation of the culture and unique
needs of the community, and this may increase the possibility of the research
findings being used to benefit the community. An ecological approach would analyze
community traditions for responding to community problems, help evaluate
or create settings that provide individuals opportunities to continue receiving support
after termination of formal treatment programs, work closely with community
leaders in all aspects of the health care intervention, and assess positive and
negative second-order ripple effects of an intervention. An ecological perspective
provides a method of conceptualizing our problems with anchor points for deeper
analysis that may ultimately help us develop more appropriate health care service
delivery systems.
Contextualism is a primary feature of this Ecological model, and it has been
defined by Kingry-Westergaard and Kelly (1990) as our embeddedness in the
world we observe. Because of this principle, knowledge is relevant only within
a given frame of reference. This idea was further developed by Bry, Hirsch,
Newbrough, Reischl, and Swindle (1990), who viewed knowledge as limited by
its historical and cultural context. They believe that we do not simply glean
knowledge from our objective observations of an objective world, but that the
nature of the knower contributes to the nature of what is known, implying that