Multicultural Psychology Paper

As a psychology major, it is important to know how to work with diverse populations, especially in today’s society. It seems that there are more cultural groups today, compared to the past because of groups such as LGBTQ and an increase in immigration to America from more countries than just Europe and Africa. In America, we expect people to know how to speak English and have a basic understanding of the American culture, but for the most part, Americans lack a willingness to understand other people’s cultures. While some do not want to take the time to understand different cultures, those individuals who work with diverse populations have to understand different cultures in order to truly help those from diverse situations. In order to learn

America is built on diversity. Right or wrong, good or bad, this diversity is a cauldron of creativity and productivity. The sociocultural, economic and psychological diversity in America’s history is fascinating. Society today has many misconceptions about what it means to belong to a particular ethnicity or race, hence why diversity seizes to exist. It is in fact not difficult to categorize oneself according to the American Psychological Association. Studied research demonstrated in the article “The study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race in American Psychology”, when asking a person to choose race, it will always pertain to a social matter.

Essentially, every culture has a specific basis, native language, religion and custom that reflects its history, values and beliefs. These conceptual constructs represents the total reality of life within the community of which is commonly known as “Culture”. Culture is not only a race, but is a way of life. In the United States, there are many different races that integrate with the American race and culture. However, these individuals often times may have difficulties adjusting, adapting or maintaining their heritage. How well they acculturate and adapt to the process can have an impact on how well the individual is able to integrate or engage to one or another culture.

The United States is a multi-ethnic nation. In fact, according to the national census survey results, there are more than twelve races including whites, black Americans, American Indians, Chicanos (Mexican Americans) among many others in the US. With such a rich ethnic diversity, it calls for an equally rich ethnically diverse nursing workforce. An ethnically diverse workforce will, among other things, prove decisive in providing the best medical attention possible, increase efficiency in obtaining and disseminating crucial information and provide patients with options on the ways to attend to them (Huston, 2010). Furthermore, it will be important in enabling the nurses on call to undertake their duties with greater zeal due to the many options

Categories for people who are able to embody multiple cultures ranges from 3 or 4 groups with some common overlap of ideas. Yampolsky, Amiot, and Sablonnière (2015) have three main configurations to describe multicultural identity: categorization, compartmentalization, and integration. In the creation of MULTIIS, the questions, and items revolved around the concepts of what each configuration is. Categorization tends to emphasize and reflect the dominant culture (Pg 168). Their identity is revolved around and exclusive to the majority culture. This is similar to Iwamoto and Liu (2010) conformity, in which a person of a nonwhite ethnic background disregards their native culture in favor of the dominant (white) culture.(Iwamoto & Liu, 2010, pg 81). Both of these groups might see themselves as “white washed” or not a representative of the native culture. It contrasts

As the population of the United States grows, one thing is apparent: minorities are overtaking the Caucasian population (which is bound to become a minority before 2100). The increase of the population of minorities in the United States will produce mixed-race persons, who not only have two sets of DNA from two different persons of different races, but two sets of culture. Sometimes, this can cause a clash of ideologies, which can lead to an individual being raised multi-culturally; one may grow up eating the food of one culture in another culture’s way. When one has a multi-cultural background, it may be hard to express one’s cultural identity; alternatively, one may identify as another, wholly separate culture. Perhaps growing up with a

"Multiculturalism" is the co-existence of diverse cultures, where culture includes racial, religious, or cultural groups and is manifested in customary behaviors, cultural assumptions and values, patterns of thinking, and communicative styles”.

The first section is about the basic concepts related to multicultural theory and multicultural counseling. This section explains the foundation of cultural lifestyles and does a great job preparing the reader for the life stories that come after (in the next section). The major sticking point for me was the two major reasons why counselors are not adequately prepared in cultural competency. For me, I feel like I am more prepared than those who came before me. I think it is unfortunate that they did not get the same training, but can see how this came about. I can relate to the book discussing that students do not learn more of the advanced multicultural skills and/or culturally sensitive interventions. This is something that I am not too surprised about because I feel like not all programs can focus on this concentration. I know that there are some programs that focus on this concentration and I would like to learn more about them in the future.

There is often as wide a range of differences within groups. Examples of the different types of cultural groups are gender, culture, disability, parental status etc. Within each group, we must take into account the differences in each group. Cultural considerations are crucial to the effectiveness of any counseling approach. ( J.J Murphy) For example, a white social worker may not see oppression in Black Americans, because they are going through conflict and pain themselves, and they have not considered the pain blacks endured and their white oppression. (G. Applebey) Another example of cultural consideration is Hispanics and Latinos. In an article by Karen Peterson-Iyer, it states that “The United States defines someone "Hispanic" or "Latino" as a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race.” (K. Peterson) In the Unites States, Hispanics are not considered as a race. The Hispanic culture is not taken into

The only multicultural issue that can be perceived is the issue of white privilege in the sense that the daughter may face some opposition from her peers because of that. Though her being a woman is not necessarily a culture, it can provide some kind of hindrance for her because woman in this nation are not typically treated fairly. It makes one wonder whether or not the student’s father would treat her differently if she were to be a male. Pertaining to the sociocultural theory, diversity and multicultural issues can be addressed through rearranging the way society functions when it comes to different issues. One way this can be addressed is through education and open discussions. With cognitive theory, the way these issues would have to be addressed is through the thoughts of the individuals. If society changes the way that they think about different cultures, then there can be a sense of change. This happens because the thoughts have an impact on people’s and emotions towards those that are from diverse

Charmaraman, L., & Grossman, J. M. (2010, April). Importance of race-ethnicity: An exploration of Asian, Black, Latino, and Multiracial adolescent identity. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 16(2), 144-151. doi: 10.1037/a0018668

Participants were 490 men and 510 women at a large Pacific Northwest college who were in psychology classes. Thirty-four point eight percent of participants were multicultural. The average age was 26 years. Participants received extra credit for their participation in the study.

Sue (1997) reinforced this idea by saying that multicultural psychology is a general concept that refers to a study of interactions of social constructs within an individual. On the other hand, few psychologists have raised a concern on this argument saying that because race and culture are such broad concepts to begin with, adding more variables to the equation could make things worse (Hall & Barongan, 2002; Paniagua & Yamada, 2013). Similarly, most of the multicultural research that has been published up to date focus on issues regarding race and culture (Essandoh, 1996; Marsella,

Using this understanding however, one simply has to side that American Psychological research can not be generalized to be applicable to all cultures. Each have different ideas and perceptions making culturally diverse research absolutely critical to worldly understanding of psychology. As Arnett proves, a cultural context is vital to the complete picture of a study, without the research is not whole. Furthermore emphasizing just how great studies need that cultural context. The diversity in a study helps to further the research. Real life issues are far more complex than the simple physicality of science. Humanity is intensely impacted on its outside factors like religion, and historical factors. For example, mental illness is prevalent in all parts of the world, but where you are in the world the illness is treated differently based on those factors. This just further demonstrates just how important cultural context is to a study, as without the results can not be put toward the advancement of

Multicultural education relates to education and instruction which is intended for the cultures of different races in the educational system. This approach to teaching and learning is based up building, respect and encouraging cultural pluralism inside racial societies. Essentially, it is about consolidation positive racial eccentricities into the classroom which can ultimately spread beyond the classroom. Multicultural education gets to be focal when we need to communicate with individuals from different backgrounds. Individuals interpret and asses things in different ways. What is viewed as a fitting behavior in one society is frequently inappropriate in another. Misinterpretation happens fundamentally when we need attention to our won behavioral rules and project them on others. Without better understanding we have a