Quiz 4: Chapter 4

• Cultural diversity has recently become so much more diverse in recent years
• Clinical psychologists have recognized that the people who might seek their professional services represent a growing diversity of cultural backgrounds
• Multiculturalism is the impact of issues of culture and diversity on mental health professionals in recent years
• Multiculturalism is the defining issue of the current era of psychology
• The three movements of multiculturalism as paradigms:

  • First force: psychoanalysis
  • Second force: behaviorism
  • Third force: humanism/person-centered
• Multiculturalism enhances and strengthens existing models by infusing them with sensitivity and awareness of how they can best be applied to people from diverse groups
• Efforts of diversity and culture expanded through the 1980s and 1990s
• Scholarly journals have been including more cultural and diversity topics
• New APA divisions emerged with topics such as:

  • Women, religion/spirituality, sexual orientation and gender diversity, culture, ethnicity, race, men and masculinities, and international.
• In the APA ethical code, psychologists are compelled to work with cultural sensitivity and competence. Awareness of diversity issues is a requirement.
• Cultural diversity in psychology graduate programs are a focus
• Diversity is defined in the Commitment to Cultural and Individual Differences and Diversity - which is involved in accreditation for graduate programs
• In DSM-5, the introduction states cultural relevance to diagnostic classification was considered
• Cultural concept of distress: a glossary with a list of terms that represent psychological problems observed in groups from various parts of the world
• When it comes to assessment methods, assessment tools have to be made more appropriate and serviceable to diverse clients.
• MMPI-2 was updated to be more representative of the cultural diversity in the US
• Cultural competence: clinicians should acquire three capabilities - awareness, knowledge, and skills
• When clients perceive their therapists as culturally competent, it fosters strong working relationships
• Cultural self-awareness: the clinical psychologist comes to understand their own viewpoint and recognize that it is unique and idiosyncratic (relating to the individual).
• The psychologist may come to recognize that differences between people are not deficiencies, especially if the difference demonstrated by the client is common or valued in their own cultural group.
• Psychologists should explore their own personal reactions and address any discomfort.
• A key to achieving cultural self-awareness is cultural humility
• Cultural humility: an attitude about diversity centered on the recognition of the limits of your own knowledge and an openness to learning about the identities and experiences o f other people
• A psychologist would not presume that they know every diversity-related factor about the client, and would recognize how much they do NOT know
• Efforts gaining knowledge should be continual, learning through reading, direct experiences, relationships with people in various cultures, and other means.
• Psychologists should be aware of not only current lived experience, but also the history of the diverse groups to which the client belongs, especially social and political issues.
• Not every individual is typical of their cultural group

  • A cultural group may have a collective tendency, and individual members may vary greatly from that tendency.
• Although members of a culture as a group may tend toward certain norms, any individual within that group may fall far from that norm.
• Acculturation: when people find themselves in a new cultural environment, they may respond in a variety of ways, especially with regard to adopting elements of the new culture or retaining elements of their original culture.
• There are four acculturation strategies that have been identified: assimilation, separation, marginalization, integration
• Assimilation: the person adopts much of the new culture and abandons much of the original
• Separation: the person rejects much of the new culture and abandons much of the original
• Marginalization: the person rejects both the new and the original culture
• Integration: the person adopts much of the new culture and retains to much of the original.
• Assessment for Latinx clients would include: generational history, citizenship or residency status, fluency in English, familial support or lack thereof, availability of community resources, education level, change in social status, work history, etc.
• Asian Americans have approx. 43 different ethnic groups with over 100 languages and dialects represented.
• Asian families tend to emphasize connectedness of the family, while European families tend to do the opposite
• For Native North American clients, psychologists must be adaptive and flexible in their personal orientations and in their use of conventional counseling techniques
• For Black clients, self-knowledge of the psychologist is essential, need to become aware of their own racial scripts and beliefs and how they might affect the way they conduct therapy
• A cultural difference is not a deficiency