This article discusses the inception of psychology, with its positivistic underpinnings, and challenges Brazilian psychologists, especially community psychologists, to examine their values and act upon them to create a psychology with practical cultural significance. Specifically, it is suggested that Brazilian researchers form "horizontal collaborations" with national and regional agencies to address practical problems with largely illiterate and poor populations (both rural and urban). A balance should be reached among equally worth values of caring and compassion, self-determination, human diversity, collaboration and democratic participation, and distributive justice, as described by Prilleltensky (1997). Our ultimate challenge is to bring about structural changes in the social fabric if we are to avert a gloomy future for humankind
European-Americana Psychology; values; opressed population