A Q&A with Community Psychologist Traci Weinstein

Except for nursing, more students graduate with psychology degrees than any other degree at Rhode Island College. Associate Professor Traci Weinstein explains why and talks about her own area of expertise – community psychology.

Why is the psychology major so popular?

The curriculum is incredibly diverse as well as the job opportunities. We have graduates who work anywhere from hospitals to community centers. Their specialties range from clinical psychology to social and community psychology. A lot of students come in thinking they want to become clinical psychologists and then as they start taking classes they begin to gain interest in other areas, which we encourage.

Why did you go into psychology?

I had my first psychology class in high school and memorized the textbook. I fell in love instantly. And I always studied languages – Hebrew, Spanish and Russian. When you study languages, it’s not just the language you’re studying but a people’s culture, history and experiences. And that is what intrigues me the most about psychology. It allows me to explore the history and culture of other people.

As a community psychologist, could you explain what community psychologists do?

Traditionally, a psychologist spends their career studying a particular subject, such as depression or bipolar disorder. Community psychologists may also study a particular subject, but our expertise and focus is on the method of data collection. We’re concerned with how researchers enter a community, how we collect data, how sensitive and respectful we are and how we disseminate what we find back to that community.

Why is the method so important?

Because, historically, researchers have gone into underrepresented communities with their own agenda and done a lot of harm. In the early 1900s they experimented on Black men with latent syphilis by withholding treatment from them in order to track the full progression of the disease. Called the Tuskegee experiment, they allowed the men to die, go blind or insane and to infect others.

During WWII in Nazi Germany, researchers performed experiments on Jewish prisoners. For instance, injecting them with gasoline to see what would happen.

And there have been many experiments on Native American communities. For instance, the government kidnapped indigenous children from reservations and put them into boarding schools as an education experiment. Severe mental health repercussions for the children and their communities followed.

Many of these communities now have a deep mistrust of researchers. The American Psychological Association’s new branding and mandate for all who work in the field of psychology is to Do No Harm. It’s important to be as thoughtful as possible when entering a community, to take into account the history and culture of that community and to put our findings back into the hands of that community. I’ve made presentations of my research results at community centers, public events and via fact sheets distributed to community members.

What are some of the career opportunities for community psychologists?

Many are grant writers, program directors or community researchers at community organizations. One of my students is now working at the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion office of a university. I have a student who went into law. The career opportunities are incredibly diverse.

Visit the Department of Psychology to learn more about the psychology major.