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Master’s vs. Ph.D. in social work: What’s the difference?

25 June 2021
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Pursuing a career in social work allows you to promote social change and positive development in individuals and communities alike.

To allow for a career in the field, you will first need a degree in social work. There are various social work programs offered in higher education, including at the associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels. Your career path will likely be determined by the level and type of program you choose.

Master of Social Work (MSW)

A master’s degree in social work is typically a two-year program preparing graduates for direct practice jobs in specialized social work fields. This can include work with clients, including families, the elderly, and children. As an MSW degree holder, you will be qualified to work in clinical and supervisory roles in the social work sector. Before you can get a license to practice as a social worker, you must first obtain an MSW.

With this degree, you can become licensed to treat patients who suffer mental, emotional, and behavioral issues and provide an array of social services and individual support. As a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW), you will be qualified for roles in advocacy, teaching, or social service policymaking.

Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work (Ph.D.)

If you are more interested in the research side of social work or tackling major social work issues from an administrative lens, a Ph.D. in Social Work program may be better suited for you. These programs are designed to prepare you for professional advancement in the social work field, offering a curriculum focused on leadership, analytics, and research.

Ph.D. in Social Work programs usually take 5 to 7 years to complete. Graduates will be prepared to pursue careers in academia, research, administration, and more. Many schools also offer a DSW, or Doctor of Social Work. Discover the difference between a social work Ph.D. and DSW here.

Is a doctorate in social work necessary?

A Ph.D. in social work exposes students to the theoretical and research nature of social work, while an MSW prepares students for the direct practice elements of the profession. While both programs allow you to become a practicing social worker, a Ph.D. prepares you for more versatile and senior roles in the sector.

An MSW is mostly aimed at existing or aspiring social workers who require extra practical social work knowledge, skill development, or specializations.

On the other hand, pursuing a doctorate prepares you for roles beyond practical work; it develops you as a leader, an advocate, and an evidence-driven and informed social worker in the promotion of community health and well-being.

Graduate degrees in social work

Saybrook University’s Ph.D. in Integrative Social Work program is designed to equip you with the knowledge to become an administrator, consultant, teacher, or practitioner in a variety of social work roles.
Learn more about our Ph.D. in Social Work program today and be the catalyst for change in your community.

4 Different Types Of Social Workers

7 May 2021
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Social work is a multifaceted field that includes many specializations and roles. Discover four different types of social workers here.

Social workers can be found in nearly every facet of society, including schools, hospitals, care centers, prisons, mental health clinics, corporations, and more. While the specific services that social workers perform may vary by field, they share a common goal of providing care and support to the individuals and communities that need it most.

What are the types of social workers?

As a licensed social worker, you can pursue many different areas of social work in the field. Depending on your preferences or qualifications, you may choose to work with a specific group of people or in a particular sector. Here are four core areas of social work:

1. Health Care Social Worker

As a health care social worker, you can work in hospitals, clinics, or other health care facilities and serve as a patient liaison.
In this role, you stand to help vulnerable clients and their families with planning and preparation, ensuring they receive the best medical attention. Health care social workers may also provide mental health resources to patients and families.

2. Child Welfare Social Worker

A child welfare social worker provides support to children, parents, and related government agencies to ensure the safety and well-being of the child under their care. A child welfare social worker will work to provide a comfortable environment and safe atmosphere for the growth and development of children.
Social workers work closely with individuals, families, and other stakeholders to protect children from situations of neglect, abuse, violence, and trauma. Child welfare social workers may be hired in schools, government organizations, foster systems, and more.

3. Clinical Social Worker

As a Ph.D. holder in social work, you have the opportunity to pursue a career as a clinical social worker. This role involves working with patients struggling with emotional and mental health problems, as well as providing therapy sessions and other forms of treatment to clients.

4. Social and Community Service Manager

A social and community service manager manages and implements several social assistance programs and community services within a given area. In this role, you have the opportunity to enact positive change in a community and change in a community while tackling larger societal issues

Community social workers are also often organizers, working with government, grassroots organizations, and community leaders to determine the unique needs and best solutions for a given population. They will often use individual and government interventions to ensure social progress and support. At Saybrook University, we believe community-focused social work must also achieve social justice and equity in health.

What’s The Outlook for a Career in Social Work?

A career in social work can be very fulfilling and rewarding. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of social work positions is projected to grow 13% by 2029, indicating a high demand.

What Skills Should You Have to Become A Social Worker?

While social workers will need the proper education and licensure to practice, building the right skill set is just as important. Social workers will interact with a diverse range of clients, each with their individual needs, making the job highly sensitive and requiring social workers to develop the right competencies to succeed.

7 Essential Skills for  Social Work

Possessing these seven core skills can help every social worker succeed in the field.

  1. Empathy: This refers to the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and treat them as you would expect to if you were in their position. This skill enables social workers to better understand a client’s issues and how best to solve them.
  2. Research-minded: A social worker must be equipped with the skills to conduct investigations and research in the field. Doctoral-level social workers in particular will build on the existing theory and practice throughout their careers.
  3. Communication: Social workers are in constant dialogue with a variety of stakeholders, including clients, families, organizations, and more. Therefore, communication channels and tactics must be clear, precise, and transparent. As a social worker, you must also be a good listener to understand your clients’ challenges and prevent misunderstandings. Proper communication is also necessary to help clients understand next steps and achieve personal goals.
  4. Cultural competency: This involves the ability to provide services through a lens that respects the values, culture, dignity, and worth of a diverse range of clients. This ensures that the individuals, families, and communities you’re working with are taken into account and protected throughout the course of your career.
  5. Problem-solving: Possessing and refining this skill helps social workers provide the best solutions and services that clients need—and deserve.
  6. Organization: Attending to different clients daily while tackling various issues may be stressful. It takes a social worker with strong organizational skills to  manage clients, paperwork, call logs, and more while remaining professional on the job.
  7. Tolerance: As a social worker, it’s inevitable that some clients or stakeholders will be more difficult than others. You need to constantly remember that you are working with people who span diverse orientations, religions, beliefs, and more. Each client you serve holds a different set of life experiences. To succeed professionally in social work, you will need to be highly tolerant of others.

Pursuing a degree in social work

Saybrook University’s Ph.D. in Integrative Social Work prepares students for an advanced career in social work. This program will equip you with the required skills to enact transformational change in various organizations and communities.
We offer concentrations in Integrative Community Studies and Integrative Legal Studies, allowing students to specialize in a given field of social work. Visit our program page today to learn more.

How to network in the digital age

25 March 2021
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Building a professional network is one of the most important things you can do to advance your career. In the advent of remote work, networking has also gone digital.

Networking from home can take some extra work and research. What was once defined by coffee chats and in-person events has now transitioned to online forums and messaging. So—how can professionals successfully network in the digital age?

Online networking sites for professionals

With social media, networking has become more comfortable and effortless than ever before. A variety of websites fit for remote networking exist, all with varying approaches to building connections with other professionals.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn has more than 774 million users—all spanning various professions and locations. Almost every business organization has some sort of visibility or presence on LinkedIn.

Due to its targeted purpose and professional features, LinkedIn is the perfect platform for networking. Its group, member, and job offerings make it the go-to site for career-related networking.

LinkedIn offers members a global, remote networking experience. You have the opportunity to reach prospects all over the world, follow and learn from CEOs, and build relationships with your dream company.

Try taking advantage of LinkedIn groups, where you can join based on industry or interest. With this feature, members can share industry updates, job openings, discussion threads, and build quality, relevant relationships.

To succeed in remote networking with LinkedIn, you will need to create an optimized LinkedIn profile. An optimized profile allows you to be better seen and identify relevant opportunities in your industry. LinkedIn will also automatically suggest influential connections to you based on those with related interests or profiles.

LinkedIn also allows you to perform robust searches for members—with filtering options by location, company, and even position.
Seemingly endless job opportunities are posted on the LinkedIn job section, spanning various industries. If you are serious about networking online, LinkedIn should be your first platform.

Slack

If you want to connect with people who share common interests, another great remote networking platform is Slack. Slack hosts communities for every location, skill set, industry, and hobby out there. Try seeking out niche professional Slacks, like Ladies Get Paid or Designer Hangout.

Conferences

Attending virtual conferences, seminars, and workshops is a great way to meet new people related to your industry.

You may even discover more connections at virtual events than at an in-person conference due to their accessibility. At these virtual conferences, attendees are encouraged to—and may feel more comfortable—connecting and fostering relationships outside of the stand-alone event.

Virtual events are great for first-time networkers. By having a shared experience and reference point, it can feel less scary to reach out to new connections and follow up.

Other social media platforms

Social media platforms like Reddit and Facebook also have sections dedicated to people with common interests—a hub for remote networking opportunities.
Try seeking out groups dedicated to announcing job openings or virtual coffee chats. By taking advantage of all social media has to offer, you’re likely to find like-minded individuals and build quality connections.

Professional networking online: methods and advice

Building a robust network of professionals takes effort, but with the right tools and mindset, you can find amazing connections and even job-related success. Keep these tips in mind as you begin your remote networking journey.

It is a two-way process. Networking is about sharing, not just taking. Make sure your remote networking experience is always a two-way street.
Networking should be about building trust and helping one another achieve goals. You can accomplish this by regularly engaging with people in your network and looking out for opportunities to strengthen relationships. With that, connections will naturally feel the desire to help. After all, it’s only human to look for ways to reciprocate good gestures.

Try making friends first. Just as you wouldn’t propose on a first date, the same goes for building connections. A good rule of thumb is to make sure you build a rapport with your connection before furthering any discussion or presenting any big asks.

Avoid generic messages. Before sending emails or direct messages to people you want to connect with, be sure to research who they are, their company, environment, and other things that make your message not sound generic. And whenever you drop comments on platforms, don’t give blanket statements like the layman to the field. Be specific, constructive, and endearing.

Know your network’s network. Often, people we already have in our network will have connections of their own with whom it would be valuable to build relationships. A quick and effortless way to expand your network is to ask people in your network for a referral.

Make follow-up a priority. Following up with existing contacts should be of a higher priority than connecting with new people. A strong bond with a few individuals within your industry is better than just having many people know you without any real connection. It’s important to not only talk with a connection when you need something from them. Check in consistently to ensure you are top of mind when an opportunity arises.

Building your professional network online is a lot like in person—it requires perseverance, persistence, and a desire to connect. Networking is about building relationships over time throughout your career. Don’t wait until you are out of work to start networking. Take time to network online today using these tips and tools.



Allison Winters Fisher

21 March 2021
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Allison Winters Fisher
Ph.D. Mind-Body Medicine: Healthcare Systems Specialization, 2019

“I may not have experienced war firsthand, but I have certainly felt the range of human emotion. Our emotions are what connect us. We are all living, breathing, moving human beings.”

Empathetic Service

I grew up dancing, so dance has always been a really important part of my life. When I was in college, I became interested in psychology, but I didn’t really want to leave dance behind. I ended up marrying the two.

It is a common misconception that dance movement therapy (DMT) has to do with dance in the traditional sense—that is learning a specific sequence of movements within the style of a particular dance technique such as ballet or modern dance. In actuality, DMT is about being with the patient—wherever they are—and moving with them in a way that is meaningful. What makes it therapy, and not just dance, is the relationship between the patient and the therapist.

My first job as a dance/movement therapist was facilitating groups on inpatient psychiatric units in a hospital in New York City. It was exhausting but fulfilling. Joining my patients on their journeys taught me how to be empathic; they taught me much of what I understand today about the human condition. We use movement and the body as a way to process, as a way to express, as a way to work toward goals. It can look very different from person to person. It may be as subtle as focusing on your breath, using your breath to help relax yourself. I’ve also had clients during which we may be talking through part of their story or an issue that they’re working through, and we’ll move together. The dance therapist is then there to guide the client through the process.

When I started pursuing a career as a dance therapist, I didn’t know that I wanted to work with the military and veteran community. Yet when I began working with veterans, I felt this connection that I could not ignore. I may not be serving in the military in the traditional sense, but it is my hope that I am able to help veterans find a sense of peace and healing.

Later, when I was working as a DMT in the Community Living Center of a local Veterans Affairs medical center, I met a man who happened to be on the same aircraft carrier as my grandfather during World War II. Our talks helped me come to realize my personal duty to serve those who have served.

When working for a military medical facility in San Diego, my patients were active-duty military members, many of whom were receiving treatment for multiple diagnoses, including substance abuse, depression, anxiety, and PTSD. I supported their therapeutic goals by teaching them mind-body skills that they could carry with them and utilize wherever missions might take them.

This was also the time in my career when Saybrook University and I found each other. As I was moving, breathing, and exploring with military soldiers, I also was undergoing my own training, deepening my knowledge and understanding of mind-body skills alongside my own army of wellness warriors.

I have now had the opportunity to create and implement a mind-body program at the integrative traumatic brain injury treatment program where I currently work with active-duty service members. As I helped them build their health and wellness skills, I continued to build my own as well. I may not have experienced war firsthand, but I have certainly felt the range of human emotion. Our emotions are what connect us. We are all living, breathing, moving human beings. These are the truths I strive to honor through my work in DMT.

Since the pandemic started, I have been part of a resiliency initiative at a hospital called Operation OASIS that provides virtual offerings to help build resiliency in the community. Offerings include meditation, yoga, and creative arts among others. I specifically offer sessions on breathing techniques, yoga, and guided meditation. In the fall of 2020, I received a civilian achievement award from the Department of Defense for the work I have been doing on this project.

I am both honored and humbled to serve those who serve.

A life of social work

18 February 2021
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Trent Nguyen, Ph.D., chair of the Social Work Department at Saybrook University, has spent his entire career expanding the field and finding new ways to help people who are hurting and marginalized. He began working in the field with families who were struggling with mental health issues and other challenges, before transitioning to academia to find a new way to express his desire to help those in need via teaching and research.

“I started my career working for the county. I worked in the foster care system, often with minority populations struggling with poverty, substance abuse, domestic violence, all kinds of issues,” Dr. Nguyen says. “I started teaching in 1998 honestly just to give myself a break from that work.”

While he may have entered academia to take time off from emotionally draining work on the front lines, he stayed because he found a new passion. Teaching offered a different angle on the same work: helping struggling people, this time by equipping students with the tools they need to succeed in the profession.

“Once I started teaching, I just fell in love with it,” he says. “I love that the students are so eager to learn. They have big hearts and they just want to make a difference in society.”

In the classroom, Dr. Nguyen found a way to share what he had learned in his previous work and to reach and help more people in new ways—effectively creating a new generation of social workers empowered to help those in need.

“When I teach my students, I feel like I can still impact people who need help,” he explains. “These students will implement the new techniques and skills that we talk about in class and continue to do great things out there in the world. I think of them as front-line workers, and I’m sort of like a consultant for them, sharing new knowledge, new skills, and new techniques that they can then implement to benefit their clients.”

Dr. Nguyen finds the connections he makes with students the most inspiring part of his work now. “When I interview prospective students, it’s so exciting for me,” he says. “They come from all walks of life and have very different backgrounds, but the common theme is that they are very passionate in helping others. They don’t care if their clients are different from them—all they want to do is to make a difference in society.”

For Dr. Nguyen, his calling is to give students the tools they need to succeed in making that difference. He speaks warmly of them, mentioning one who hopes to start her own nonprofit to help others when she leaves the program.

“She wants me to continue to collaborate with her,” he says. “These students just want the tools to help others.”

In addition to his work as an instructor, Dr. Nguyen has published 30 research articles with topics ranging from intimate partner abuse, to Asian American youth identity development, to depression among the elderly population. The unifying theme is marginalized populations and people who need help. He also works with his students to teach them the most effective research methodologies. Some have even co-authored articles with them.

Dr. Nguyen is also on the editorial boards of the Journal of Emotional Abuse and the Qualitative Report; serves as an editorial reviewer for Journal of Asian Psychology, Violence Against Women, and the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma; and is the founding editor of the journal Family Violence and Ethnic Populations. When he first began his publishing and research work, he didn’t expect it to be as fulfilling as his teaching role but was surprised by the audience he found for his writing.

“At first I thought that very few people would read these articles I was publishing in journals,” he says. “But I found out that people from all over the globe have read my work. Some people have emailed me about these pieces, wanting to talk about them. I was just blown away. Now when I write, I never know who’s going to read what I publish. It makes me think I can help people I don’t know, whom I’ll never see.”

In his more than 20 years of teaching, he has yet to lose the passion for helping others that motivated him from the beginning.

“It’s so exciting to think we can make a difference right here in California,” he says.

To learn more about Saybrook’s Ph.D. in Integrative Social Work program, visit our program page.

What Is Integrative Social Work?

21 January 2021
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Updated on August 6, 2025

Social work as a whole centers around the interaction between individuals and their environment, providing support and guidance through a given situation. Integrative social work takes it a step further by ensuring the betterment of individuals using the holistic and systematic perspective of social work.

At Saybrook University, the holistic approach is part of our core for all programs, including our Integrative Social Work programs. We offer a Ph.D. in Integrative Social Work, as well as specialized Ph.D. programs that apply a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to social work traditions.

What is a holistic approach to social work practice?

A holistic approach to social work assesses all factors in a person’s life when determining a path to care. Social workers who take a holistic approach to their practice tend to examine client behavior through a wide variety of lenses, including environment, family dynamics, culture, and more.

Often, holistic social work will not only attempt to tackle issues faced by an individual but also their communities. This ensures practitioners are addressing root causes of negative outcomes and ideally affecting change for a wide range of people, not just their given client.

By taking all of these elements into consideration, a social worker can better detect any hidden issues that could give rise to emotional distress or negative behaviors. This holistic lens can lead to better care plans and overall support for clients similar to how integrative social work is concerned with the general well-being of individuals.

What is integrative social work?

Integrative social work draws from the concept of holistic social work to create a model rooted in systemic support for an individual. This social work practice model is often described as “person-centered,” meaning it takes into account the physical, emotional, community, and spiritual well-being of a client. The integrative social work model teaches that if you do not recognize all of the above dimensions in your practice, it will undermine the whole.

Integrative social work also addresses an individual’s community issues in relation to their personal issues in an attempt to find long-term solutions.

Integrative social work, at its core, combines the time-honored traditions of social work with the values of social justice and social transformation.

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Pursuing a Ph.D. in Integrative Social Work

Pursuing a doctoral degree in integrative social work prepares students to become leaders, researchers, and advocates of social work and community health.

After the completion of a Ph.D. in Integrative Social Work, graduates will be prepared to do the following:

  • Examine and evaluate the traditional community and societal values of social work and apply them to the dynamic landscape of the 21st century
  • Explain the influence of social policy and public health programs on general health and well-being of individuals, organizations, and communities
  • Support health equity and social justice in health care, society, and law
  • Engage, assess, and intervene with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities
  • Critically evaluate methodologies, apply published research, and conduct independent research to investigate contemporary issues with community and society
  • Assess and synthesize evidence, theories, and informed practices and interventions in integrative social work

By possessing these high-level skills in both practical and research methods, students are ready to enter the field of social work in any capacity. The majority of integrative social work graduates go on to pursue careers in health care, education, community organizing and activism, child welfare, public policy, and more.

Integrative Social Work FAQs

What is integrative social work?
Integrative social work takes traditional social work and incorporates a holistic and systematic perspective of social work to better treat the whole person and garner long-term solutions to community issues.

Can you study integrative social work?
Yes, Saybrook University offers an integrative social work Ph.D. program that is 100% online.

How does integrative social work differ from traditional social work?
Integrative social work utilizes the principles of traditional social work and incorporates holistic insights. Integrative social work also draws on teachings from sociology, psychology, health care, and law, providing a holistic approach with a broad perspective on social work issues within communities and societies.


To learn more about Saybrook’s Ph.D. in Integrative Social Work program, visit our program page. We also offer two specialized Ph.D. programs in Integrative Social Work: Integrative Community Studies Specialization and Legal Studies Specialization. Fill out the form below to request more information or learn how you can apply today.

Interested in other types of practice models in the field of social work? Head to our blog about the four different types of social work practice models.

What is the difference between a DSW and a Ph.D. in social work?

13 January 2021
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If you hold an MSW, or a master of social work degree, you may be interested in taking the next academic step and pursuing a doctorate in social work.

Social work doctoral programs are typically offered in two formats:

The Ph.D. and DSW are both social work doctoral programs that allow graduates to gain more specialized knowledge in the field and pursue different job opportunities.

Students may struggle with deciding which of these two doctoral degrees in social work is the better option.

By laying out the basics, we can discover the difference between them and determine which program is the right fit for you.

What is a Ph.D. in social work?

A Ph.D. in social work is a doctoral program focused on research, education, social work policy, administration, and planning.

With a Ph.D. in social work, graduates are well-equipped to contribute to the ongoing academic conversation around social work through in-depth research and leadership skills.

A Ph.D. in social work elevates professionals in the field and develops key skill sets. Ph.D. programs in social work often maintain a focus on:

  • Evaluating social work methodologies
  • Conducting personal research in social work
  • Applying public research to contemporary issues
  • Assessing and synthesizing social work practices, interventions, and theories

Common career paths for graduates with a Ph.D. in social work include:

  • Training and development manager
  • Social work educator or professor
  • Researcher
  • Consultant

What is a DSW, or doctor of social work?

A doctor of social work degree, or DSW, offers students advanced training and practice in the field of social work. This education may involve research work but typically focuses on the application of social work principles and theory into leadership roles.

Common career paths for graduates with a DSW include:

  • Human services director
  • School social worker
  • Social work administrator
  • Advanced practice social worker
  • Nonprofit executive or administrator

The difference between a DSW and a Ph.D. in Social Work

While both result in doctoral degrees, there are some key distinctions between a DSW and Ph.D. in social work, including:

  • A Ph.D. in social work focuses more on developing students as researchers in the field. In contrast, a DSW is more practice oriented, focusing on clinical practice or social work applications.
  • A DSW prepares the student for administrative and leadership roles in the field, while a Ph.D. prepares the student for roles in academia in social work.

While both degrees hold many similarities, these are the most fundamental differences between them. Understanding these differences—and the most common resulting career paths—can help a student make the best choice for their education.

Interested in pursuing a graduate degree in social work? Saybrook University’s Integrative Social Work Ph.D. program combines the time-honored traditions of social work with the values of social justice and social transformation. Learn more here.

Course Spotlight: Disaster, Trauma, and Crisis Intervention

29 December 2020
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According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the number of federal disasters rose 40% from 2000 to 2015. Social workers must be prepared to deal with the effects of many different kinds of crises, as climate change accelerates natural disasters, incidences of domestic terrorism rise, and the devastating impacts of COVID-19 compound.

Trent Nguyen, Ph.D., in Saybrook University’s social work course 1020: Disaster, Trauma, and Crisis Intervention, takes on that task, preparing future social workers to work with clients who are coping with trauma as a result of major negative events. His course lays the theoretical framework that will enable his students to assist clients struggling with such complex issues as suicide, sexual assault, violent behavior, intimate partner violence, substance abuse, grief, and mass tragedies.

“Social workers deal with clients who have trauma all the time, especially with what we are going through globally right now,” Dr. Nguyen says. “Not just the pandemic, but domestic violence, substance abuse, and child abuse are all through the roof.”

His course covers timely topics such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), sexual assault, bereavement, and school shootings. He also delves into the ways that cultural and social differences complicate social work, making cultural sensitivity an essential skill for any effective social worker.

“Help-seeking behavior is so different depending on one’s cultural and social background,” Dr. Nguyen explains. “Social workers have to be sensitive and humble to build rapport with their clients and cut across barriers and boundaries. These clients are looking for help but due to their background they may not know how to articulate that or how to ask for support. What we teach students is that with every person with whom they work, they must always start from scratch. They cannot make any assumptions whatsoever.”

Dr. Nguyen notes that social workers may see more than 15 clients in a day, and he teaches his students to be alert to the toll that can take on them. Burnout, vicarious traumatization, and compassion fatigue are common among social workers and can lead to issues such as substance abuse, distance from loved ones, depression, and numbness.

“When I was in school, we did not talk about secondary trauma at all,” he notes. “We were just trained to be present and provide quality services to clients. Now I want my students to realize that they also have some limitations. Most social workers have secondary trauma and they don’t seek help at all.”

Social workers often hear horrific stories and may struggle to leave those thoughts behind at the end of the day. A therapist who works with child abuse victims or a social worker helping military veterans may find themselves deeply impacted by what they learn in their line of work.

“For example, working with children who have been abused physically and sexually can impact professionals tremendously,” says Dr. Nguyen. “They bring these kids home with them, mentally and emotionally. They can’t get over it, can’t just forget it, and it can impact their personalities to a great extent. The reality is even though they don’t witness these events firsthand, their clients’ accounts impact them and the images stay with them.”

Dr. Nguyen teaches his students to build strong psychological boundaries to prevent compassion fatigue, and to use their peers and colleagues as a mutual support system. “One of the things I emphasize is that in this profession we cannot act as ‘Lone Rangers.’ We have to provide support to our peers and seek their support as well because there’s no way we can see dozens of trauma clients and at the end of day say that it doesn’t impact us at all,” he says.

Processing professional experiences with trusted peers allows social workers to tackle the secondary, vicarious trauma that would otherwise build up and calcify, leading to deeper impacts. Dr. Nguyen points out that acknowledging your limitations and accepting help and support will allow you to be a more effective social worker for your clients in the long term.

At the end of a year in which the U.S. saw hospitals overwhelmed, hundreds of thousands of deaths, millions of jobs lost, and a corresponding surge of domestic violence and mental health problems, social workers who are equal to the moment can make a huge difference. While global disasters may often be viewed as singular events, they are also composed of millions of personal tragedies in the lives of individuals who come from diverse backgrounds and disparate cultures. SW 1020 helps future social workers amass the tools needed to help these individual sufferers without compromising their own mental health and to be able to provide help by knowing when to ask for help themselves.

SW 1020: Disaster, Trauma, and Crisis Intervention is available to students in our Ph.D. in Integrative Social Work program. Learn more and apply today.

The psychology of morality

20 December 2020
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The Greeks coined the term utopia to mean “no place.” It became colloquial and used in conversation in 1516 when Sir Thomas Moore wrote a two-volume book on the perfect society called Utopia. He wanted to wax and wane about the various considerations of how a perfect society would coalesce. Moore used the term utopia to allude to the fact that there is no such thing as a perfect society.
Yet, what is morality? What is good and bad? How do we define these terms? The history of their meanings has evolved as time has passed, and with a bevy of philosophers offering research and social hypotheses, we must accept that it is based on ethics and current culture. As we progress forward from century to century, ethics and values change, but our interest in morality does not.

Are we good or bad?

When we start the debate on whether humans are inherently good or bad, we should start with Thomas Hobbes’ and John Locke’s debate about the government and its interaction with people. According to Hobbes, people are vile beasts. Therefore, it is necessary for government to be very much involved in protecting people from themselves.

Locke later proposed that people are in fact good. Therefore, government can take a step back. He believed that if people have to interact with others they’ll make the right choices because they know what’s good.

The interesting part of this debate is that with Hobbes’ idea, people are “vile beasts” and the government needs to be involved, but the government is made up of people. So how are they to protect people if they themselves are vile beasts? The main consideration was Locke offering this idea that people will do what’s good. And the real question against Locke is: How do you define what’s good?

What is good?

When young parents were asked to convey the most vital element of a child’s social development, morality was at the top of the list. Morality is the capacity to make evaluations about what is right or wrong and to act in accordance with what is deemed right (Broderick and Blewit, 2015). When we start to approach the idea of learning morality, we give this broad definition in terms of what is right. When we anchor morality around what is good, then we must posit that it is dependent upon values and ethical codes, which further obscure and complicate these ideas of right and wrong. But only through this understanding can we begin to consider how people make moral decisions.

One theory about this decision-making process is the Social Intuitionist Model (SIM) from Jonathan Haidt (2001). Haidt posits that a set of causal links join three psychological processes, namely intuition, judgment, and reasoning. SIM advances the notion that intuition is the driving force behind moral judgment, and once that judgment has been made, reasoning sets in post hoc.

Joshua D. Greene developed an alternate theoretical model called the dual processing model of moral judgment, which holds that morality can be impelled by cognition and not intuition. Current research highlights the role of emotion and intuition in moral adjudication, countering research that cognition and reasoning are the most integral considerations of determining morality (Paxton and Greene, 2010).

Natural intuition

According to Haidt, the argument for the decision—the logical part—only comes after you’ve made the decision. There’s a set of causal links—intuition, judgment, and reasoning. Intuition makes you feel something, which generates the judgment you have about it, which then forces you to come up with a reason for your feeling and judgment.

As a determinist, Haidt’s perspective posits that cognition never really plays a role. A determinist believes that our decision-making is very narrow—meaning many unconscious mechanisms are at the core of the way we navigate life. So it makes sense that he would believe intuition would be the way that people would make decisions as opposed to the logic. Rational thought is really not deterministic; it’s more of an autonomous means of how people experience life.

 

Intuition is a limbic indicator—an emotional beacon that points you in the right direction. … The origination is not coming from a rational argument; it’s how you feel about the question.

Intuition is a limbic indicator—an emotional beacon that points you in the right direction. SIM establishes that after you limbicly, or emotionally, conclude something, you generate an argument. The origination is not coming from a rational argument; it’s how you feel about the question.
SIM considers reasoned moral judgment to be a rarity, no matter the circumstances within an individual. According to the SIM principle, morality that guides behavior is intuitive, and no cerebral reasoning will alter another person’s behavior unless that

person has a change in sentiment.

The dual processing model disagrees with this presumption and advances that dialogic reasoned intercourse on morality can change a person’s thinking, which engenders a new sentiment (Paxton and Greene, 2010).

Cognition and rationality

Paxton and Greene’s dual processing model does not discount the fact that the way you feel about a question is involved in the decision, but adds that one can use moral logic in order to come to a conclusion prior to the decision. This is a key component when discussing changing someone’s mind as well. There must be rational thought in order for it to be possible.

Paxton and Greene (2010) conveyed an example of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech as a modality of changing someone’s perspective. The use of imagery and metaphor engages the emotions of others as a way of altering perspective. Paxton and Greene (2010) suggest that in reality it is not possible to say that emotion alone is the deciding factor when engaging another person. The reason is because emotional decisions can lead someone to make choices without considering the morality of the decision. For a person to engage another person and alter moral tenets, reasoning must be employed and is accomplished by the “pain of inconsistency.”

Another consideration was advanced by Pizzaro, Uhlmann, and Bloom (2003) who studied people’s reaction to the fictitious case of Barbara who wanted to kill her husband John. She slipped poison into his food at a restaurant. The poison was not strong enough to kill him, but it impaired the taste of the food, causing him to change his order. The exchanged food is something that John is allergic to, and he dies after eating it. When participants evaluated this scenario initially, they indicated that it appears Barbara is less blameworthy for her actions; nevertheless, they could not logically explain their intuitive judgment. However, when participants were asked prior to make a rational moral judgment, they were unlikely to say that Barbara was less blameworthy, citing her intention as a prime reason for her moral mea culpa.

This buttresses the dual processing model of social influence of moral reasoning in that it was the instruction the researchers gave prior for making a rational moral judgment (social discourse) that elicited an altered cognitive response by the participants. Paxton and Greene (2010) further cited various studies of brain scans during moral reasoning before judgment was made, which found activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This is an area identified with cognitive processing. If SIM was correct, then this activity should occur after the moral judgment has been made.

 

Cultural impact

As we know, an integral element regarding moral reasoning is culture. According to Zhang and colleagues (2013), major distinctions exist between different cultures in moral reasoning. They give an example of a moral dilemma told to Chinese and American fifth grade students. Thomas was a poor child who never won anything in his life and who had few friends. Thomas finally gets a chance to win a model car making competition; however, he does not do so fairly because he has help from his brother. Thomas tells his secret to Jack. The moral question asked is if Jack should tell on Thomas.

Initial reactions by Chinese students were allocentric, namely that their concern for Thomas was initially centered on a collective perspective. Chinese children concluded that Jack should tell on Thomas so that it will help correct his ways and make him a better part of society in the future. Americans were more idiocentric, namely that their concern was centered on an individualistic perspective. Americans thought that Jack should not tell because he would get in trouble with Thomas.

These reactions are in line with the collective element of Chinese culture and the individualistic mindset of American culture. Nevertheless, collaborative discussions regarding moral reasoning helped to modify and clarify subsequent behaviors within groups. This means that rational and logical dialogues aided each group to consider alternate ways of viewing the story and subsequently modify perspectives. This example suggests that the dual processing model regarding the social influence of cognition on morality is accurate.

 

The therapist’s dilemma

As clinicians, the division between SIM and the dual processing model becomes integral regarding the approach that the clinician will use when contending with the moral tenets of the client. The question is: Should the clinician engage the client’s intuitions, or should the clinician focus on reason and logical discussion?

In advancing the notion of the dual processing model as an implementation of addressing morality in the therapeutic environment, one must be cognizant of moral development. When we think back to how importantly parents ranked teaching their children morality, it’s important to remember this cognizance.

According to Piaget (1932) and Kohlberg (1981), moral development is a cognitive process. Piaget advanced that children are initially egocentric in cognition, and punishment is not connected to any specific act but instead an arbitrary response imposed by powerful adult authority figures. The end of the preoperational phase (age 7) is when children start to understand the interplay between action and consequence predicated on mutuality rather than arbitrary elements. This is an extension and development of the theory of mind where a child can recognize others and their perspective and intent.

Callender (2002) suggests that depressed people, who Beck (1979) understood to be those who had a negative opinion of themselves, of the world, and of the future, may need to graduate from Piaget’s first moral stage of powerful authority figures to the second stage of recognizing others’ point of view through mutuality. Piaget’s third level, which is about age 10 or 11, is when an appreciation for rules develops and the potentiality that they can change through consensus.

 

In therapy, many times people couch their circumstances through a moral lens, asking, “Did I do the right thing?” Or simply saying, “I’m bad,” especially when discussing addiction or even in marriage therapy.

In therapy, many times people couch their circumstances through a moral lens, asking, “Did I do the right thing?” Or simply saying, “I’m bad,” especially when discussing addiction or even in marriage therapy. Whiting (2008) advanced that in a clinical setting focused on couples’ therapy, couples spoke in moral terminology regarding responsibility for behavior and regarding their self-appraisals. Many times, people on the defensive bend morality or modify the recollection of an episode in order to bring confluence between an event and a personal moral tenet.

Callender (2002) advances that this is common. Persons who hold a belief about being failures will modify praise and progress as either not genuine or as a disappointment because of some perceived flaw. Clients who behave in conflict with moral principles, for example with violence and aggression, may rationalize that their behavior is defensive and that the victim was deserving of this consequence to be free of moral impingement. It could also be that the moral stage in which a client is situated impedes understanding of the moral imperative of respecting others.

As a therapist, it’s important to recognize the role that the concept of good and bad may have in the conversation. However, “utopia” does not exist. There is no morally right society or set dichotomy of good and bad. When we consider the ways that the dual processing model affects our patients, we can more adequately assist them in their journeys.

About Rabbi Ron Finkelstein

Rabbi Ron Finkelstein serves as the director of a mental health and addiction clinic in Brooklyn, New York. Rabbi Finkelstein earned his master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling at Touro Graduate School of Behavioral Science and is currently obtaining a doctorate in clinical psychology at Saybrook. His research is focused on religion and psychology.

References for “The Psychology of Morality”

17 December 2020
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References for “The Psychology of Morality”

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