CHAPTER 1 History, Development and Current Status ...

CHAPTER 1 History, Development and Current Status of Psychology in Ghana Seth Oppong 12, Kwaku Oppong Asante 3 and Stephen K. Kumako1

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Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, Legon Sam E. Jonah School of Business, African University College of Communication Discipline of Psychology, School of Applied Human Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.

Abstract The principal objective of this chapter is to trace the history of psychology as both an academic discipline and a profession, describe the current state of psychology in Ghana and the associated challenges and also identify prospects for future growth and development. Psychology as a taught course is presented, highlighting the fact that the classroom has been used mainly to train psychologists in Ghana. This is followed by a discussion on the practice of psychology as a profession in Ghana and the challenges that are encountered in this regard. We then identify opportunities available to Ghanaian psychologists to make psychology an indispensable discipline that can be leveraged for national development. Finally, the prospects for indigenizing psychology are identified and discussed.

Key words: Ghana, Psychology, Indigenizing Psychology

Please cite as: Oppong, S., Oppong Asante, K., & Kumaku, S. K. (2013). History, Development and Current Status of Psychology in Ghana. In C. S. Akotia and C.C. Mate-Kole (Eds). Contemporary Psychology: Readings from Ghana (pp. 1 – 17). Accra: Digibooks Ghana Ltd.

Introduction Psychology is one of the most popular university courses in Ghana. This is due to the fact that many private universities in Ghana provide at least a semester course in introductory psychology as part of their university required courses for graduation while four public universities also provide a four-year degree programme in psychology or a branch of psychology. As psychology is not taught in second-cycle institutions, most of the students who pursue it do not necessarily choose it as a course of study at the university. Rather, psychology is “imposed” on them as an alternative for not securing their preferred programmes. Psychology’s popularity is increasing among such students as a result of the very broad nature of the discipline and its associated careers. Careers in psychology range from those that have to do with working with children to those that focus on the applications of psychology to business management, the treatment of mental disorders as well as those that deal strictly with counseling individuals with personal problems. Few research papers have been written to assess the relative importance of psychology in Ghana since the introduction of psychology as an academic discipline. However, five of such research papers dealt with specific areas of specialization within psychology and psychological research in Ghana - School psychology in Ghana (Danquah, 1984),Community psychology in Ghana (Akotia & Barimah, 2007), Psychology in Ghana Revisited (Mate-Kole, 2013), Psychology in Ghana: and a review of research and practice (de-Graft Aikins, Ofori-Atta, Anum,& Dzokoto, (forthcoming).The fifth paper provided a brief overview of the emergence, education and practice of psychology as a profession and academic discipline in Ghana (Oppong Asante & Oppong, 2012).

In this chapter, we highlight some issues about the origin, academic training and professional practice of psychology in Ghana and challenges associated with its practice. We also discuss the possibility of indigenizing psychology into the Ghanaian context, with emphasis on understanding African perspectives.

Origin Two main approaches are available to researchers and historians who wish to trace and explore the history of a given event or discipline (Boring, 1950; Brennan, 1998). According to Boring (1950), a prominent historian of psychology, one can apply either the great man or Zeitgeist model to the history of psychology. The great man theory states that “historical progress occurs through the actions of great persons” whiles Zeitgeist (spirit of the times) holds that historical progress occurs through “events themselves that permit the right person at the right time to express an innovation” or social and cultural forces developing paradigms that shape science or prevailing cultural forces of a given age (Brennan, 1998, p. 2-3). We adopt the Zeitgeist approach and as a result, we examine the events and prevailing social and cultural forces of a given time where possible. In Ghana, scientific psychology emerged during colonization within the context of providing education to serve colonial interests as it was in other West African colonies (Peltzer & Bless, 1989). In most African countries, psychology has been “fragmented and further undermined through incorporation into training service staff in education, health, and social and missionary work instead of developing as a separate professional or academic discipline” (Nsamenang, 2007, p. 5 & 6). In British West Africa, psychology was first taught as a course in 1949 (Nsamenang, 2007), the first department of psychology was established in the region in

1964; the first undergraduate psychology degree was awarded in 1967; a Master’s degree in 1975; and a Doctorate in 1982 (Eze, 1991). The first laboratory of experimental psychology in the sub-continent was established in Zambia in 1965 (Nsamenang, 2007). Historical records indicate that training of teacher-missionaries in Ghana began with the establishment of the Basel Seminary (now Presbyterian College of Education) in 1898 and the Accra Teacher Training College (now Accra College of Education) in 1909 by the Basel Mission and the government of the Gold Coast respectively (Graham, 1971). The teaching and practice of psychology can therefore be traced to the training and nonprofessional practice of psychology (teachers and African missionaries) in the late 1890s. Given such humble beginning, the majority of professionals who were involved in the application of psychological knowledge were not always trained as professional psychologists per se. Their training might be in such fields as education, medicine, and human services, to name but a few. In this sense, a fair degree of training and practice of psychology as a scientific discipline existed in Ghana but not as an academic discipline as known today. Psychology as an academic discipline started at the University of Ghana, Legon and it was first taught in 1963 as a combined psychology-sociology course in the Department of Sociology (Agbodeka, 1998), but became an independent academic discipline, when the Department of Psychology was established at the University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, in May 1967. Psychology has gradually been established as a professional discipline, a fledgling science at best in Ghana due to the hard work of prominent professionals such as the late Prof. C. E. Fiscian, Emeritus Prof. Gustav Jahoda, Mr. H. C. A. Bulley, Prof. J. Y. Opoku, and Prof. S. A. Danquah. Prof. Fiscian was the first Head of Department while Emeritus Prof. Jahoda was instrumental in the establishment of the psychology programme; Mr. Bulley, Prof. Opoku, and

Prof. Danquah were among the first lecturers of the department whose contributions to the training of next generation Ghanaian psychologists and research are well known. Psychology in Ghana has since then been growing (at least in the number of psychology graduates) to the current state of having four public universities and two private university colleges offering general psychology education or a branch and many private universities offering psychology as part of their business education curricula. Notwithstanding this increase in numbers, psychology has had little impact on social and public policies with a number of people not knowing services offered by psychologists relative to status and policy impact that Ghanaian economists, agriculturists, and political scientists have had. Despite this, Ghanaian psychologists have actively participated in drafting and the subsequent passage of Mental Health Act, 2012 (Act 846), developments on chronic diseases research, and the recent policy to integrate psychology into Ghana Health Service. However, these efforts at policy participation only represent attempts by Ghanaian psychologists to take care of themselves rather than reaching out to policy-makers on relevant policy issues.

Academic Training of Ghanaian Psychologists Psychological science is a relatively new phenomenon in Ghana despite the application of psychological principles for almost half a century. Indeed, to say that application of psychological principles began with the arrival of Europeans may itself be a falsehood. This is because Yang (2012) has categorized three different kinds of psychology in human history: folk psychology (including common-sense psychology), philosophical psychology, and scientific psychology. He argued that at the base of every scientific psychology are folk and philosophical psychologies and also showed that ‘cultural misorientation’ of western psychology in

nonwestern societies is due to the disconnect between their foundations of psychology and that of western scientific psychology: folk and philosophical psychologies. To this extent psychology has always been part of the Ghanaian society from time immemorial. This situation becomes more interesting and complicated if one thinks of the fact in April 1734, Antonius Guilielmus Amo (Guinea-Afer), the first black African or Ghanaian to obtain a PhD, earned his PhD in Philosophy and Psychology at the University of Wittenberg. Amo’s dissertation was titled “On the Apathy of the Human Mind Or the Absence of Sense and of the Faculty of Sensing in the Human Mind And the Presence of these in our Organic and Living Body” (see Amo, 1734/2012). However, psychology is gradually becoming one of the popular courses to most university students. It is therefore not surprising that most of the undergraduate proprammes in Business Studies have introduction to psychology as one of its courses. However, the popularity of psychology in Ghana has not translated into the number of universities that offer the four-year undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes in psychology. There are currently two public and two private universities that offer psychology undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Ghana. These are the University of Ghana, Legon, , University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Methodist University College Ghana, Dansoman and the Regent University College of Science and Technology, Dansoman. In addition, the University of Education, Winneba, another public university, provides specialist training in educational psychology and allied programmes. It is important to state that academic training of Ghanaian psychologists was marked by the establishment of the Department of Psychology at the University of Ghana in 1967. In fact, the teaching of scientific psychology at the University of Ghana began in 1967 with four (4)

students and two lecturers. The Department was one of the first Psychology Departments to be established in an Anglophone West African University (Agbodeka, 1998; Eze, 1991). Since its establishment, the Department of Psychology at the University of Ghana has trained numerous psychologists occupying various positions in Ghana and around the world (Oppong Asante & Oppong, 2012). It is arguably one of the largest Departments at the University of Ghana in terms of student numbers (University of Ghana, 2010). The Department of Psychology offers BA/BSc (Hons), Master of Philosophy in I/O Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Social Psychology, and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). However, since its inception as an independent academic department at the University of Ghana in 1967, it has produced several bachelor-level psychology graduates, relatively few master-level psychologists and only two doctoral-level psychologists, a situation that leaves much to be desired. The department currently has about 16 doctoral students with about half at the final stage of dissertation writing. The Department of Psychology at University of Ghana, however, provides leadership in the development of new psychology departments around the country. The faculty is mostly responsible for external quality assurance services that the new psychology departments receive from the National Accreditation Board (NAB) - a regulatory agency of the Ministry of Education that facilitates the establishment of both public and private tertiary institutions and ensuring that standards are set and maintained. NAB usually relies on the faculty to assess the quality of psychology curricula developed at the new departments as well as the quality of student assessment practices prevailing at the new psychology departments (Oppong Asante & Oppong, 2012). Psychology is a recent development for the other universities. For instance, though the University of Cape Coast (UCC) established its Bachelor of Education in Psychology in the late 1970s, it was only in the 2005/2006 academic year that the university introduced its B.Sc.

Psychology. Though UCC offers master’s degree in educational psychology, educational measurement and evaluation, educational planning, curriculum and teaching, guidance and counseling, teacher education, educational administration, administration in higher education, and PhD in curriculum and teaching as well as qualitative research methods, it does not have as at now any postgraduate degree programme in fields of psychology like clinical, industrial/organizational, developmental, health and social psychology. Similarly, psychology at Methodist University College was originally introduced as part of the Department of General Studies at the inception of the university in early 2002. By the end of 2008, a full-fledged department had been established for the teaching and research in psychology as part of the Faculty of Social Studies (Oppong Asante & Oppong, 2012). Currently, it offers B.A. Psychology, B.A. Religion, Ethics and Psychology as well as a Master of Arts and Master of Philosophy degree in Guidance and Counselling. There is ongoing preparation to mount an MPhil/PhD in Clinical-Health Psychology at the Department. At Regent University College of Science and Technology, the Department of Psychology was established in September, 2008 after approval from National Accreditation Board to run the BSc Psychology and Human Development programme. There is also ongoing preparation to mount an M.Sc.in Human Development. Two other private universities that deserve mention here are the University of Applied Management (UAM) and Central University College (CUC). UAM offers B.A and M.A in Business Psychology at its McCarthy-Hill campus whiles CUC offers a BA Family Counseling and theology. Given that only the Department of Psychology at the University of Ghana offers psychology education up to the doctoral level, there are often few places that many prospective students have to compete for. As a result, many of those who desire postgraduate education in

psychology have to travel abroad for their studies. Among the countries where some Ghanaian psychologists are trained are Australia, Canada, Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom (UK), the United States of America (USA) and South Africa, with majority of the externally-trained psychologists receiving their education in the UK and the USA.

Professional Practice of Psychology There are currently seven (7) categories of professional psychologists in Ghana (Oppong Asante & Oppong, 2012). They are the industrial/organizational (I/O) psychologists, clinical psychologists, social psychologists, developmental psychologists, educational psychologists, community psychologists and counseling psychologists. Among the various applied fields of psychology, I/O psychology and clinical psychology are the most popular. As a result, the discussion about the professional practice of psychologists will be limited to I/O and clinical psychologists. It is worth noting that the various psychologists in Ghana are in various positions in several organizations including institutions of higher learning, Corporate Ghana and non-profit organizations. Industrial and Organizational (I/O) psychologists are found in various positions in Corporate Ghana as heads of Human Resource Departments or as consultants. For instance, a number of the I/O psychologists have established their consulting firms, providing services mostly in the area of training, recruitment, psychometric testing, and to a lesser extent, organizational development. Though there are few I/O consulting firms, I/O graduates have been hired by some of the management consulting firms operating in Ghana. Most I/O graduates are in Human Resources and/or training positions in the banking, insurance, shipping and logistics, telecommunication, and allied industries (Oppong, 2013).

Clinical psychologists are also hired by various organizations in Ghana. These organizations include the Ghana Armed Forces, Hospitals and educational institutions. Other Ghanaian clinical psychologists work with non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The passage of the Mental Health Act, 2012 (Act 846) and the inclusion of clinical psychologists on the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) for the public and civil services will also facilitate the hiring and placement of clinical psychologists into the various public and private health institutions in Ghana.

Challenges Like other Sub-Saharan African countries, Ghanaian psychologists encounter challenges. The small number of universities that offer four-year bachelor’s degree in psychology is a serious challenge as it limits access to psychology education to only a handful of prospective students who gain admission to these four universities. What makes the situation more difficult is the fact that out these four universities, only one offers postgraduate-level psychology education up to the doctoral-level; the consequence of this is that only a handful of Ghanaian psychologists have obtained their PhD. Related to the problem of limited access is lack of variety in psychology programmes offered in universities. As at now, prospective students can only hope to train successfully as a clinical psychologist, an industrial psychologist, a social psychologist, an educational psychologist, and a counseling psychologist in Ghana at a Ghanaian university. Given that fewer universities offer psychology at graduate level in Ghana, the only alternative is for the individual to obtain their postgraduate training abroad. However, a major obstacle is the scarcity of scholarship to support postgraduate studies abroad. This accounts for the lack of

psychologists in other areas of specialization such as sports, forensic, engineering, health and many others in Ghana. Limited availability of suitably trained personnel further exacerbates the problem. The scarcity of scholarships combines with this problem of lack of suitably trained personnel to further reduce capacity for the training of next generation of psychology educators. This is to say that if there were more suitably trained psychologists, access to postgraduate training can be expanded even at the few universities that provide the postgraduate training. It also minimizes the capacity of the existing programmes to expand course offerings. Another challenge is the over-reliance on western theories for applications. Despite its existence for almost half a century, psychology in Ghana is foreign in its content and relies predominantly on western theories. As a result, practitioners often have difficulties applying the western theories to Ghanaian cultural context. Indeed, it is crucial to admit that the “imported disciplinary organization of psychological knowledge may not be appropriate at all times and everywhere” (Danziger, 2006; p. 269). According to Peltzer and Bless (1989) Zambian psychologists overcome this lack of fit between theory and the socio-cultural milieu “by utilizing their own experience and link them up with the cross-cultural research material available” (p. 8). Similarly, Ghanaian psychologists also addressed this lack of fit by utilizing their own experience and support their practices with culturally relevant examples. Another notable challenge is the fact that the psychology is not well known among Ghanaians. “Unlike many other physical and social science disciplines, psychology is not much known by the average administrator/policy maker, let alone the average person…” (Machungwa, 1989, p. 55). The situation described by Machungwa (1989) about psychology in Eastern and Southern Africa is still true in Ghana today. McKnight, Sechrest, and McKnight (2005) also have

suggested that “because policy makers do not have the luxury of doing a literature search when charged with finding political solutions, they often will contact experts who they think might have some ideas about solutions” (p. 563). McKnight et al (2005) intimated this as an explanation for the low profile of psychology in policy circles in the US. The situation in the US is not so different from what happens in Ghana and as a result, equally makes it less likely for Ghanaian psychologists to be called upon for their expertise. This implies that Ghanaian psychologists have a responsibility to create awareness about the role that psychologists can play in the nation-building process as policy-makers will only consult experts whom they think can actually help them. For a long time profession of psychology in Ghana has been plagued with absence of a vibrant association for psychologists and legislative instruments to protect the practice of psychology in Ghana and this has been a hindrance to the growth of the discipline and profession. However, Ghana Psychological Association has been relaunched (Mate-Kole, 2013) and the Mental Health Act, 2012 (Act 846) has also been passed. Act 846 has established a Mental Health Authority. It is expected that new regulatory framework will provide the needed legal backing for psychologists to practice their trade in Ghana as they ought to.

Opportunities for Growth and Development Growth of the profession of psychology in this chapter is defined as the increased awareness of the profession and the increased use of the expertise of psychologists in Ghana. A major approach to enhance the growth and development of psychology in Ghana lies in the application of the theory of mere exposure effect as advanced by Zajonc (1968). According this theory, “mere repeated exposure of the individual to a stimulus is a sufficient condition for the

enhancement of his attitude toward it” (Zajonc, 1968, p.1).This was further advanced by Lee (2001) that mere exposure effect occurs because what is familiar is preferable, as it reduces uncertainty. Thus, the devil you know is better than the angel you do not know. The argument being advanced in this section is that repeated exposure of Ghanaian policy-makers and the general populace to the applications of psychological principles and the role of psychologists will enhance their attitude towards the profession and the professionals. Are there opportunities which Ghanaian psychologists can exploit to accelerate the growth of the profession? One sure way of achieving this is to provide appropriate solutions to some of the social problems Ghanaians and policymakers face. Notable social problems include corruption, crime, suicide, homosexuality, poverty, unemployment, alcohol and drug dependency, ethnocentrism and political polarization, child and adult prostitution, child labour and streetism, adolescent problems (e.g. teenage pregnancy, poor academic performance, etc.), conflicts, outmoded cultural practices, pornography, HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular diseases and other lifestyle diseases, job evaluation and fair remuneration, psychometric testing, customer service, employee supervision, human capital development, occupational and traffic safety, industrial relations and strikes, and employee motivation (Oppong, 2011; Tonah, 2009). In addition, Ghanaian psychologists can also focus their attention on creating psychological sense of community to mend the ethnic divisions among Ghanaians and to also support peace-building processes in the North; attitude change to promote proper disposal of waste in order to prevent cholera and malaria; response to disaster via psychological trauma management; empirically assessing the effect of duration of academic performance of senior high school students (viability of four-year vs. three-year SHS); empirically examining the role of mother-tongue in quality early childhood education; political campaigning; and training and

certification of pastoral counselors. It is, however, important to note that Ghanaian psychologists should not wait for policymakers to call on them to participate in the nation-building process but be proactive and avail themselves in the service of nation-building pro bono when the need arises. There have been countless occasions that Ghanaian psychologists could have seized to enhance the public image of the profession. For instance, after major floods in Accra, psychologists have been unable to offer free psychological trauma management services and to make public pronouncements about their impact on the general wellbeing of the affected people. Ghanaian psychologists have not utilized the persistent conflict in the Northern Ghana to provide lasting solutions based on empirical social psychological studies. Additionally, Ghanaian psychologists have been silent in the midst of the ongoing problems associated with managing the single spine salary structure and labour unrest as well as the use of intemperate language on the political scene. Psychologists in Ghana can become relevant to the general populace by engaging in public lectures, free psychological services, press releases, press conferences, issuing of white papers or position papers. Ghanaian psychologists can also put together a team of psychologists to examine draft legislations and make presentations to the appropriate parliamentary select committees when the draft legislation advances to the committee stage.

Indigenizing psychology in Ghana Psychology as taught and practiced in Ghana is an imported discipline in both content and orientation. Like any other colonial import, psychology has remained imperialistic and racist (Owusu-Bempah & Howitt, 1995) as the mainstream theories and methods are still EuroAmerican and the principal focus is on topics that reflect an externalized orientation (Nsamenang, 2007). This has created a situation whereby we largely lose sight of the context in

which the existing African societies have grown and the human values they have produced (Nsamenang, 2007; Westermann, 2001). Peltzer and Bless (1989) have indicated that psychologists tend to overcome this lack of fit between theory and the socio-cultural milieu “by utilizing their own experience and link them up with the cross-cultural research material available” (p. 8); however, more is needed to be done to domesticate or indigenize psychology to enhance the relevance of psychological knowledge imparted to Ghanaian students. This contextually relevant psychological knowledge imparted to students will also improve the capacity of next Ghanaian psychologists to facilitate nationbuilding by making their knowledge available to policymakers. To address this lack of fit between the western theories and the Ghanaian socio-cultural milieu, systematic inquiry should be carried out into what practices and techniques best fit our cultural context; a mixed model design combining both qualitative and quantitative methods could be useful. Results of such research should be incorporated into the psychology curriculum to enable knowledge transfer to future Ghanaian psychologists. In addition, academic psychologists are encouraged to also draw on the oral literature (folktales, songs, values, proverbs, maxims, and beliefs) of the various ethnic groups in Ghana to develop acceptable psychological theories and models that best explain certain phenomena in their cultural context. Thus, to the extent that folk and philosophical psychologies serve as the foundation for scientific psychology (Yang, 2012), oral literature which is an embodiment of both folk and philosophical psychologies can be drawn on in the indigenization project. As an example, Asante and Akyea (2011) drew on Akan and Ewe proverbs to explore gender perceptions among Ghanaians; their work is exemplary as it shows the potential of proverbs as relevant sources for understanding the psychology of Ghanaians. Another study that also deserves mention here is the work of one

home-grown social psychologist, Jonathan Kuma Gavi whose work on moral development using the Ananse Modelled Behaviour (AMB) as it is a pioneer work. Gavi (2009) began the pursuit of this research agenda during his undergraduate research years. This AMB is a set of undesirable social behaviours demonstrated as unacceptable through the telling of folktales in which the villain or protagonist is Ananse, the spider. The crux of Gavi’s (2009) research using the AMB is that though behaviours modelled by Ananse in the folktales are unacceptable, there appears to be no attempts in these oral narratives to provide adequate punishment for Ananse. This, therefore, implies that the desired outcome (learning of ethical behaviour) of telling such narratives is defeated as Ananse is never caught and punished in these oral narratives. Thus, Gavi’s work is an attempt to explore the folk psychology of Ghanaians. Another approach is to adopt problem-oriented research paradigms as opposed to method-oriented research paradigm. Adair (1999) distinguished between method-oriented and problem-centred approaches to research. He provided the following distinction: Contrasted with method-oriented research to demonstrate competence as a researcher, problem-oriented research, whether guided by theory or not, can still be a useful direction to pursue. It encourages researchers to solve a problem; not to demonstrate their methodological rigour. It frees researchers from the shackles of methodology (which is Western) to focus on that which can solve a problem (which is indigenous). (pp. 411 – 412). This suggests that adopting a problem-oriented approach to research will imply that the problems to be addressed will determine the research methodology rather than available methodology determining what problems can be studied. The reverse is the situation in Ghana where research students are forced to fit their problems to known research techniques.

Adair (1999) has also suggested that the above problem of fitting problems to mainstream research methods is as a result of the fact that newly trained psychologists are attempting to establish themselves. He further wrote that:

Within a newly imported discipline, the vast majority of researchers are either newly graduated psychologists or young researcher s still in training. Most are just beginning to establish themselves as independent investigators. To these scholars, previous research serves as a model for how research should be conducted, and topics to research are readily selected from the journals. To become established as a psychologist, conducting a replication of a Western study applied to their own culture ensures a demonstration of their abilities as researchers and yields some knowledge about the replicability of the phenomena within the culture. However, it does not chart new ground for indigenous development (Adair, 1999 p. 409).

In addition to adopting a problem-centred research paradigm and making use of indigenous Ghanaian concepts captured in the oral literature, there is also a need to strengthen doctoral-level training programmes in psychology in Ghana. According to Adair (1999), many psychologists who receive their research training abroad may no longer be sensitive to problems within their own culture. Trained in Western models with Western methods for research they become poised to identify research problems within the research literature rather than turn to problems and behaviours within their socio-cultural milieu. This makes case for the strengthening of doctoral programmes in Ghana.

Thus, the application of contextually relevant psychological knowledge will enhance the public image of Ghanaian psychologists. Contextually relevant knowledge from problemcentred research and problem-centred paradigm not appreciated among many foreign-trained psychologists should make a compelling case for all psychologists to constructively support doctoral programmes in Ghana. As indicated earlier, we benefit from the enhanced collective public image of our profession and our collective public image is enhanced only when we make meaningful contributions to nation-building while our meaningful contributions only come from application of contextually relevant knowledge. It is important to note that production of contextually relevant knowledge can be promoted and strengthened through quality domestic doctoral training in psychology. Psychology has grown in countries that promote domestic doctoral training. Related to the promotion of domestic doctoral training in psychology is the production of contextually relevant teaching and learning materials. Thus, Ghanaian psychologists are encouraged to collaborate to produce textbooks on psychology that incorporates relevant Ghanaian concepts and methods. The establishment of quality domestic journals and publication in such journals is highly recommended; however, the materials in the journals should be used as teaching materials. In describing how the first Canadian psychology textbook was produced, Adair (1999) stated that:

As a first step in addressing the need for Canadian textbooks and supplementary teaching material, edited books of readings were produced that brought together examples of Canadian research on culturally relevant issues. Concurrent with developing research

personnel, the infrastructure for the discipline developed: two new journals were added; a code of ethics was drafted and adopted… (p. 414). Annual conferences and symposia are equally needed to help promote psychology in Ghana and to also share new insights about the contextually relevant paradigms. All these will be useless if academic psychologists are unwilling to impart such knowledge to the next generation psychologists in Ghana.

Conclusion In this chapter, we traced the history of psychology as both an academic discipline and profession, identified some of the challenges associated with the practice of psychology in Ghana. Given the challenges that scientific psychology currently faces in Ghana, we conclude that Ghanaian psychologists should take advantage of the prevalent social problems to demonstrate the role psychology can play in the nation-building process. Through relevant research and dissemination of the research findings to policymakers and the general public, Ghanaian psychologists can enhance the image of the profession as suggested by the theory of mere exposure effect. The authors also call upon fellow academic psychologists to begin to think about contextualizing the content of the current psychology curricula by incorporating Ghanaian values into the theoretical frameworks of psychology.

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