Multicultural Competency Paper
Multicultural Competency Paper
Marvella S. Morris
Psych/535
September 19, 2013
Dr. Guykesha Gardner, PsyD
Abstract
Multicultural is defined by having many ways of knowing about something/ethnic group, or having many different world views. It is usually complex and contextual. Multicultural psychology examines ways of how culture effects the way people act, think, and feel. Multicultural psychology is defined as the systematic study of cognition, behaviors, and the effects of it in different setting where people of different backgrounds or ethnic groups interact (Hall & Barongan 2010). Culture is an external factor because it influences the events that occur around us and our interactions with other people, but on the flip side of things, …show more content…
culture also influence our internal process, such as how we view and understand things that goes on around us. Many times what occurs in one context may not necessarily happen in another (Hall & Barongan 2010). There are many factors to consider when discussing culture, which many may disregard as well, such as, race, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual identity, disability, and religiosity. According to Hall & Barongan cultural diversity in groups of color is important because the ethnic groups are growing rapidly, and changing North America. According to Hall & Barongan Multicultural psychology has been neglected and most American psychology literatures does not address cultural diversity or the importance of multicultural issues.
The major accomplishment or attribute a person must possess is to be able to achieve a multicultural competency.
This be can done by having the strength and ability to set aside personal feelings, biases, stereotypes and prejudices, and allow seeing the mixture of diverse behaviors amongst many ethnic groups. By achieving this it is noted that psychologist or any professional should receive training on diversity, and expand their knowledge of the different cultures of their clients or students. In this paper I will assess the Multicultural guidelines that The American Psychological Association created for psychologists or professionals to follow in order to reach full multicultural competency. In this paper I will focus on Guidelines # 1 and #2. I will use guidelines #1 and # 2, as a focus to prepare to my experiences in my professional and personal …show more content…
life.
Multicultural Competency Paper
American Psychological Association (APA) created a body of multicultural guidelines. The guideline serves the purpose of supplying psychologists a snapshot to follow in order for psychologist to have a more successful chance in servicing more diverse populations. According to APA a person who has the ability of understanding and respecting another culture while having the ability to communicate and work with individuals from that culture, are considered culturally competent. Guideline 1: Indicates that "Psychologists are encouraged to recognize that, as cultural beings, they may hold attitudes and beliefs that can detrimentally influence their perceptions of and interactions with individuals who are ethnically and racially different from themselves (APA, 2003). It is noted that psychologist should have a general idea and recognize own personal beliefs, opinions, and attitudes, as it can have a huge impact of the effectiveness when working with clients and their families. This guideline is important because psychologist involuntarily have personal views of different groups, which can sometimes lead to negative stereotypes of the individual and their classified group. In my opinion it is important for psychologist or any professional to be familiar with the diversity that may exist in their work place or personal life. This can include cultural heritage, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status just to name a few. Guideline 2# places emphasis on how Psychologists are encouraged to recognize the importance of multicultural sensitivity/responsiveness to, knowledge of, and understanding about ethnically and racially different individuals (American Psychological Association, 2003). I believe that is essential to seek trainings to expand knowledge on various cultures. I say this because the United States has many cultures, and ethnicities, and races, that come from all over the world. Many times when working with many different cultures/groups it is important to have some knowledge about their culture and background. It creates harmony, and understanding. It also creates a comfort environment for the professional and the client/students.
My Biases, perceptions, beliefs and attitudes towards other cultures: I am a bi-racial female who was raised in the United States. I am a Christian, and I grew up in what I considered middle class, because many times I didn’t have to want for anything, even though my godparents really didn’t have money like that to support their household. I have been working in the behavioral/mental health field since I was in undergrad school at Temple University, which is about 8 years ago. Before I became more involved in my field, I had many perceptions, attitudes and beliefs about other cultures besides my own. I have a lot of perceptions and beliefs about religions, which at times I still struggle with. Sometimes when around different religions that practiced different beliefs and values then my own, it’s hard for me to comprehend their practices or beliefs. Due to what I consider normal, based off my own practices and beliefs that shaped me growing up. For example, I had a friend who was a female, which went to the same middle and high school as I did. I was very close to her. She was raised as a Christian. However, in her high school years she met a guy who she loved a lot, and who was Muslim, a religion, totally different than what she knew of. However, she was stuck in between if she should convert into a Muslim, to marry her boyfriend or not. She was afraid of what her family and friends would think. This was an entire lifestyle change for her, meaning that her friends had to understand her and her new found culture. However, I remember making jokes about the religion, with the goal in mind to intimidate her not to convert from Christian to a Muslim. I thought that was the worst idea, and that she was going straight to hell, for turning away from god for another entity. I automatically assumed and judge another religion based off beliefs and perceptions that I had as a Christian. I didn’t believe that there can be another god that people workshop besides my god. I also didn’t agree with some of the beliefs and practices that the Muslims had within their culture. For example, Muslim men can marry more than one woman at time, along as they can support all families financially. Christian’s believed in monogamy, and believes that it is a sin to commit adultery. I took all of those ideas and tried to use it to manipulate my friend not to convert. After all that trying I wasn’t able to stop true love, she ended up marrying him anyway, and we stopped hanging out because her whole lifestyle changed, and she had to abide by her husband rules no matter what. This was another idea that I wasn’t so fond of.
How my attitudes/perceptions influence interactions with other cultures besides my own: Piggy backing off of the example above, by me having my own opinions, perceptions and attitude about the Muslim religion, made me lose a friend, due to me not being as acceptable to her new found religion as I should have been. I should have embraced it, and learned more facts about the Muslim religion, before I actually judge her future with that lifestyle along with and her husband motives. Professionally dealing with clients and other cultures, it is extremely important to have some knowledge about other cultures, so that your perceptions won’t over power your judgment in characters. Many times our beliefs sometimes influence how we interact with individuals. For example: If I white man believes that all black people steals, do drugs and commit crimes, he will probably be cautious around any black person he see. He may stand clear from going into black neighborhoods, or working with black people, or even hire black people. When working with clients in the professional and personal worlds, it’s best to have some decent knowledge about their culture, so that the interaction amongst the individual and yourself can be comfortable, and pleasant. For example, if working with some cultures in the mental health behavioral field, which at times recommend medications, it’s good to know that some culture don’t believe in medications, therefore why would you recommend medication, instead of a natural remedy. What works for you may not work for others, is what the whole idea of the multicultural approach.
My Strengths and Weakness in interaction with different cultures: As I mentioned above, one weakness I have that I’m still working on is valuing others beliefs and practices in religion.
I have to come to term 100% that everyone has their own unique set of values, beliefs, and practices as it relates to religion. Even with the understanding of this, I still have to learn that even though I have different beliefs, doesn’t mean I have to agree what others belief and practice. However, I do have to be sensitive towards their culture, to a point I don’t jeopardize the rapport of the relationship, and come to some sort of understanding of the different cultures/beliefs/practices. To address this shortcoming, I need to educate myself on the various religions to gain a better perspective from their point of view. In order to better assist and address client needs. Some strength’s I have is not frowning upon other cultures when working with clients. I never judge or challenge clients beliefs or culture. I learned to accept people as they are, and not who I think they are. I asked questions to learn about client cultures and backgrounds to better my understanding of client’s behaviors or persons. I try to stay updated with historical facts. I also take annual training on cultural diversity in the work place, which I also incorporate and apply to in my daily personal
life.
Conclusion: In conclusion multicultural psychology as has many roles within society. Its helps people understand ways culture interrelate and intercalate in terms of behavior. It enhances way to co-exist amongst many diverse cultures within society. It also facilitates the understanding of diversity within society so that everyone can co-exist. Many cultures/groups have their own unique characteristics, behaviors, morals, values etc. multicultural psychology helps create ways to understand these different factors amongst different ethnic groups, in order to co-exist. Multicultural psychology also enhances globalization. It also improves communication amongst various diverse groups. Also it 's redefining what 's normal and abnormal in order to enhance common knowledge, resulting in coherence and harmony amongst individuals within society. Using multicultural guidelines can help professional be effective when servicing clients. By having a diverse background of the various ethnic groups, helps professional understand other views or beliefs, without criticizing others, because of their beliefs. It’s also important to stay current on life events that may happen to other cultures. It’s also important to stay connected with diverse trainings to expand knowledge of different cultures.
References
American Psychological Association. (2002). Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists. Retrieved from American Psychological Association, Psych/535 website.
Hall,G.C.N., & Barongan, C. (2010). Multicultural psychology 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall
Marvella S. Morris
Psych/535
September 19, 2013
Dr. Guykesha Gardner, PsyD
Abstract
Multicultural is defined by having many ways of knowing about something/ethnic group, or having many different world views. It is usually complex and contextual. Multicultural psychology examines ways of how culture effects the way people act, think, and feel. Multicultural psychology is defined as the systematic study of cognition, behaviors, and the effects of it in different setting where people of different backgrounds or ethnic groups interact (Hall & Barongan 2010). Culture is an external factor because it influences the events that occur around us and our interactions with other people, but on the flip side of things, …show more content…
culture also influence our internal process, such as how we view and understand things that goes on around us. Many times what occurs in one context may not necessarily happen in another (Hall & Barongan 2010). There are many factors to consider when discussing culture, which many may disregard as well, such as, race, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual identity, disability, and religiosity. According to Hall & Barongan cultural diversity in groups of color is important because the ethnic groups are growing rapidly, and changing North America. According to Hall & Barongan Multicultural psychology has been neglected and most American psychology literatures does not address cultural diversity or the importance of multicultural issues.
The major accomplishment or attribute a person must possess is to be able to achieve a multicultural competency.
This be can done by having the strength and ability to set aside personal feelings, biases, stereotypes and prejudices, and allow seeing the mixture of diverse behaviors amongst many ethnic groups. By achieving this it is noted that psychologist or any professional should receive training on diversity, and expand their knowledge of the different cultures of their clients or students. In this paper I will assess the Multicultural guidelines that The American Psychological Association created for psychologists or professionals to follow in order to reach full multicultural competency. In this paper I will focus on Guidelines # 1 and #2. I will use guidelines #1 and # 2, as a focus to prepare to my experiences in my professional and personal …show more content…
life.
Multicultural Competency Paper
American Psychological Association (APA) created a body of multicultural guidelines. The guideline serves the purpose of supplying psychologists a snapshot to follow in order for psychologist to have a more successful chance in servicing more diverse populations. According to APA a person who has the ability of understanding and respecting another culture while having the ability to communicate and work with individuals from that culture, are considered culturally competent. Guideline 1: Indicates that "Psychologists are encouraged to recognize that, as cultural beings, they may hold attitudes and beliefs that can detrimentally influence their perceptions of and interactions with individuals who are ethnically and racially different from themselves (APA, 2003). It is noted that psychologist should have a general idea and recognize own personal beliefs, opinions, and attitudes, as it can have a huge impact of the effectiveness when working with clients and their families. This guideline is important because psychologist involuntarily have personal views of different groups, which can sometimes lead to negative stereotypes of the individual and their classified group. In my opinion it is important for psychologist or any professional to be familiar with the diversity that may exist in their work place or personal life. This can include cultural heritage, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status just to name a few. Guideline 2# places emphasis on how Psychologists are encouraged to recognize the importance of multicultural sensitivity/responsiveness to, knowledge of, and understanding about ethnically and racially different individuals (American Psychological Association, 2003). I believe that is essential to seek trainings to expand knowledge on various cultures. I say this because the United States has many cultures, and ethnicities, and races, that come from all over the world. Many times when working with many different cultures/groups it is important to have some knowledge about their culture and background. It creates harmony, and understanding. It also creates a comfort environment for the professional and the client/students.
My Biases, perceptions, beliefs and attitudes towards other cultures: I am a bi-racial female who was raised in the United States. I am a Christian, and I grew up in what I considered middle class, because many times I didn’t have to want for anything, even though my godparents really didn’t have money like that to support their household. I have been working in the behavioral/mental health field since I was in undergrad school at Temple University, which is about 8 years ago. Before I became more involved in my field, I had many perceptions, attitudes and beliefs about other cultures besides my own. I have a lot of perceptions and beliefs about religions, which at times I still struggle with. Sometimes when around different religions that practiced different beliefs and values then my own, it’s hard for me to comprehend their practices or beliefs. Due to what I consider normal, based off my own practices and beliefs that shaped me growing up. For example, I had a friend who was a female, which went to the same middle and high school as I did. I was very close to her. She was raised as a Christian. However, in her high school years she met a guy who she loved a lot, and who was Muslim, a religion, totally different than what she knew of. However, she was stuck in between if she should convert into a Muslim, to marry her boyfriend or not. She was afraid of what her family and friends would think. This was an entire lifestyle change for her, meaning that her friends had to understand her and her new found culture. However, I remember making jokes about the religion, with the goal in mind to intimidate her not to convert from Christian to a Muslim. I thought that was the worst idea, and that she was going straight to hell, for turning away from god for another entity. I automatically assumed and judge another religion based off beliefs and perceptions that I had as a Christian. I didn’t believe that there can be another god that people workshop besides my god. I also didn’t agree with some of the beliefs and practices that the Muslims had within their culture. For example, Muslim men can marry more than one woman at time, along as they can support all families financially. Christian’s believed in monogamy, and believes that it is a sin to commit adultery. I took all of those ideas and tried to use it to manipulate my friend not to convert. After all that trying I wasn’t able to stop true love, she ended up marrying him anyway, and we stopped hanging out because her whole lifestyle changed, and she had to abide by her husband rules no matter what. This was another idea that I wasn’t so fond of.
How my attitudes/perceptions influence interactions with other cultures besides my own: Piggy backing off of the example above, by me having my own opinions, perceptions and attitude about the Muslim religion, made me lose a friend, due to me not being as acceptable to her new found religion as I should have been. I should have embraced it, and learned more facts about the Muslim religion, before I actually judge her future with that lifestyle along with and her husband motives. Professionally dealing with clients and other cultures, it is extremely important to have some knowledge about other cultures, so that your perceptions won’t over power your judgment in characters. Many times our beliefs sometimes influence how we interact with individuals. For example: If I white man believes that all black people steals, do drugs and commit crimes, he will probably be cautious around any black person he see. He may stand clear from going into black neighborhoods, or working with black people, or even hire black people. When working with clients in the professional and personal worlds, it’s best to have some decent knowledge about their culture, so that the interaction amongst the individual and yourself can be comfortable, and pleasant. For example, if working with some cultures in the mental health behavioral field, which at times recommend medications, it’s good to know that some culture don’t believe in medications, therefore why would you recommend medication, instead of a natural remedy. What works for you may not work for others, is what the whole idea of the multicultural approach.
My Strengths and Weakness in interaction with different cultures: As I mentioned above, one weakness I have that I’m still working on is valuing others beliefs and practices in religion.
I have to come to term 100% that everyone has their own unique set of values, beliefs, and practices as it relates to religion. Even with the understanding of this, I still have to learn that even though I have different beliefs, doesn’t mean I have to agree what others belief and practice. However, I do have to be sensitive towards their culture, to a point I don’t jeopardize the rapport of the relationship, and come to some sort of understanding of the different cultures/beliefs/practices. To address this shortcoming, I need to educate myself on the various religions to gain a better perspective from their point of view. In order to better assist and address client needs. Some strength’s I have is not frowning upon other cultures when working with clients. I never judge or challenge clients beliefs or culture. I learned to accept people as they are, and not who I think they are. I asked questions to learn about client cultures and backgrounds to better my understanding of client’s behaviors or persons. I try to stay updated with historical facts. I also take annual training on cultural diversity in the work place, which I also incorporate and apply to in my daily personal
life.
Conclusion: In conclusion multicultural psychology as has many roles within society. Its helps people understand ways culture interrelate and intercalate in terms of behavior. It enhances way to co-exist amongst many diverse cultures within society. It also facilitates the understanding of diversity within society so that everyone can co-exist. Many cultures/groups have their own unique characteristics, behaviors, morals, values etc. multicultural psychology helps create ways to understand these different factors amongst different ethnic groups, in order to co-exist. Multicultural psychology also enhances globalization. It also improves communication amongst various diverse groups. Also it 's redefining what 's normal and abnormal in order to enhance common knowledge, resulting in coherence and harmony amongst individuals within society. Using multicultural guidelines can help professional be effective when servicing clients. By having a diverse background of the various ethnic groups, helps professional understand other views or beliefs, without criticizing others, because of their beliefs. It’s also important to stay current on life events that may happen to other cultures. It’s also important to stay connected with diverse trainings to expand knowledge of different cultures.
References
American Psychological Association. (2002). Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists. Retrieved from American Psychological Association, Psych/535 website.
Hall,G.C.N., & Barongan, C. (2010). Multicultural psychology 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall