You Might Know More Than You Think You Know
University of Wisconsin
Professional and Personal Rejuvenation
Family Living & Youth Development State
Conference
Valerie N. Adams-Bass, PhD
Cornell Cooperative Extension
November 15th, 2012
What Do You Know?
• Group Activity
 Separate into groups of 4-6 people
 List and discuss attributes and observations about
diverse audiences group members have experienced
serving.
 Report out key points
The Danger of a Single Story
The danger of a single story: Chimamanda Adichie
• http://blog.ted.com/2009/10/07/the_danger_of_a/
Cultural Ecological
Perspectives
• Bronfenbrenner’s
Ecological System’s
Theory (EST)
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Microsystem
Mesosystem
Exosystem
Macrosystem
Chronosystem
• Spencer’s
Phenomenological
Variant of Ecological
Systems Theory
(PVEST) 1995
• Vulnerability level
• Net Stress
• Reactive Coping
Strategies
• Emergent Identities
• Life Stage Outcomes
URI BROFENBRENNER, EST
• Behavior is a joint function of person and
environment
 B = f(PE)
• Transformation includes a key substitution
 D = f(PE)
 D stands for Development
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1993).
URI BROFENBRENNER, EST
• Microsystem – pattern of activities
experienced by the developing person in a
face-to-face setting that encourage more
complex interaction with the immediate
environment
 Developmentally instigative characteristics of
the physical environment
URI BROFENBRENNER, EST
• Mesosystem – linkages and processes
taking place between two or more settings
containing the developing person
 Special attention is focused on the synergistic
effects created by developmentally instigative
features of the setting
 The influence of parents and peer groups
URI BROFENBRENNER, EST
• Exosystem – linkages between multiple
settings, one of which does not contain the
developing person, but in which events
occur that indirectly influence processes
within the immediate setting in which the
person lives
 Example: the link between the home of a
developing child and the parent’s workplace
URI BROFENBRENNER, EST
• Macrosystem – the overarching pattern of
micro- meso- and exosystems
characteristic of a given culture, with
particular reference to the patterns of
social interchange that are embedded in
such overarching systems
 E.g. the Great Depression, urban education,
War of Terror, War of Drugs
URI BROFENBRENNER, EST
• Chronosystem–the dimension of time as it
relates to an individual’s environments.
The patterning of the environmental
events and transitions over the life
course, as well as sociohistorical
circumstances.
 Elements within this system can be either
external, such as the timing of a parent’s
death, or internal, such as the physiological
Ecological Systems Theory
Image courtesy of http://mshmsh26.wordpress.com/
Ecological Systems Theory
Applied model courtesy of
http://www3.uakron.edu/schulze/610/lec_bronf_files/image003.jpg
PVEST
• vulnerability level
 protective factors those which help to shield
youth from stressors
 risk contributors those things which heighten
vulnerability and stress reaction
• net stress
 Risks
 Supports (i.e. family structure, neighborhood
composition or friends)
PVEST
• Reactive Coping Strategies
•
 Adaptive
 Maladaptive
Emergent Identities
 Positive
 Negative
• Life Stage Outcomes
 Productive
 Unproductive
PVEST
The Psychology of Diversity
• Diversity
 The presence of difference
 Social diversity
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Gender
Race
Disability
Religion
Social Class
Sexual orientation
Weight
Can’t We All Just Get Along?
Idealistic Perspectives on Diversity
The Melting Pot-Defines the United States as a
society where everyone is welcome, social
differences are understood, accepted and people
with difference live harmoniously.
caveat-alternative definitions associated with
“melting pot”
Can’t We All Just Get Along?
Idealistic Perspectives on Diversity
Multiculturalism is a system of beliefs and values in
which diversity plays a prominent role. Ideals
which promote the recognition, appreciation,
celebration and preservation of social difference.
Blaine, 2007
Psychological Study of
Diversity
• Examines how diversity shape our own identities
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and behaviors
Examines how we shape the diversity of our
social worlds
Confronts a wide ranges of diversity dimensions
Recognizes the social injustice often associated
with dimensions of diversity
Recognizes differences, similarities and diversity
within groups
Blaine, 2007
Psychological Study of
Diversity
• Studying Psychological Diversity May cause:
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Learning
Physical discomfort
Psychological dissonance
Attitude Adjustment
Self reflection & evaluation
Increase awareness and sensitivity to diverse
perspectives and experiences
Looking at the Neighborhood
• What is in the
•
•
•
neighborhood?
Who is in the
neighborhood?
Is there a central
focal area?
How accessible is
the
neighborhood?
Asian Pacific Americans & Core Cultural
Values
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Collectivist orientation
Patience
Gentleness
Being Well-Mannered
Cooperation
Avoid confrontation:
Being accommodating,
conciliatory, and
cooperative
Blending with the group
rather than distinguishing
oneself for either good or
bad behavior
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Humility and Modesty
Withholding free expression
of feelings
Suppression of conflict
Avoiding potentially divisive
arguments and debates
Communicating indirectly
Refraining from openly
challenging others’
perspectives
Nonverbal communication
Conformity to conventional
behavior
Cultural Phenomenology
• The meaning that individuals make of
cultural values within their personal,
familial, neighborhood, and societal
interactions and contexts.
Who is a Latino/a?
• Refers to people of Mexican, Puerto Rican,
Cuban, Dominican and Central or South
American descent
• In the US - 35.3 Million
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58.5% Mexican
9.6% Puerto Rican
3.5% Cuban
4.8 Central American
3.8 South American
What is a Latino/a?
• Latinos can be of any race
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White
Black
Asian
Indian or Indigenous
Other
Core Latino Cultural Values
• Personalismo
 Interpersonal relationships, sensitivity
• Respeto
 Unquestioning deference to authority
• Parenting
 Latino parents (mothers) focus on the child’s
public behavior
Core Latino Cultural Values
 Familismo
 Relational Orientation
 I did it thanks to others rather than I did it on my own.
 Family Orientation
 Needs of family above needs of the individual
 Simpatia
 General tendency toward avoidance of personal
conflict
 Emphasis of positive behaviors in agreeable situations
 De-emphasizing negative behaviors in conflictive
circumstances
Core Latino Cultural Values
• Informality
 Less emphasis on formality
• May lead to:
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Late to appointments (and staying longer)
Little regard for routines, rules schedules
Establishing a relationship more quickly
Expectation of personal favors or rule bending
Core Latino Cultural Values
• Spirituality
• Fatalism
 It happened because God wanted it that way
 I deserved it for some wrongdoing, or as a
humbling reminder of God over me.
Black(African-American) Experience
Triple Quandary (Boykin, 1983; Boykin & Toms, 1985)
Where Black culture is explained by
• Mainstream Experience
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 shaped by Amer. society
 mainstream success
Minority Experience
 numerical political entity
 shared w/ other groups
Cultural Experience
 peculiar Black expression
 reactionary & evolutionary
Racial, Ethnic and Cultural Transmission and Acquisition of
(REC) Information, Relationships, Identities, & Styles (IRIS)
•SelfKnowledge and
OtherKnowledge
• Primary Stress
Appraisal
racial
ethnic
Information
“What I know
about in-group
& out-groups?”
Styles
•Self-Other Expression
& Self-Other
Restriction
•Short-Long-term Coping
Outcomes
“How I
cultural
behave
toward us &
them?”
Relationships
“What I learn &
transmit during
encounters with
the in-group &
out-groups?”
• Other-Awareness &
Other-Foreclosure
• Secondary Stress
Appraisal
• Self-Efficacy Beliefs
• Evaluation of
Controllability of
Stressor
Identities
“What I
believe
about me,
you, us &
them?”
•Self-Awareness
& SelfForeclosure
• Coping Efforts
Bentley, Stevenson, & Adams 2009
Black(African-American) Experience
Models of Racial Identity
• Cross Theory of Racial Identity
Development 1971, 1995
 Began with African Americans but has
been applied to most ethnic groups
Black(African-American) Experience
Models of Racial Identity
 Cross, Parham, Helms, Spencer,
Stevenson & others
 BRID is ongoing- process of
psychological Nigrescence (dev. of
Black racial identity) is a lifelong
process which begins with late
adolescence/early-adulthood
White Racial Identity
• Janet Helms’(1995) White Racial Identity
Model:
1. Contact
2. Disintegration
3. Reintegration
4. Pseudo Independence
5. Immersion/Emersion
6. Autonomy
Using What You Know
Using What You Have Learned
• Ecological psychology models provide a
framework for engaging diverse
communities
 Choose a model
 Determine where your work fits in the model
• Does your program meet the needs of the audience
or community?
• Is your program delivery culturally relevant?
• Is your program design culturally relevant?
• Make adjustments as necessary.
Using What You Know
Using What You Have Learned
• Group Activity
 Separate into groups of 4-6 people
 Choose a Extension Project your are planning to use
or use.
 Using what you know and have learned, map the
project onto the Bronfenbrenner EST model.
• Does your program meet the needs of the audience or
community?
• Is your program delivery culturally relevant?
• Is your program design culturally relevant?
• Make adjustments as necessary.
Thank You!
Valerie N. Adams-Bass, PhD
Cornell Cooperative Extension
4-H State Program Leader
Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research
202C Beebe Hall
Ithaca, NY 14852
607.255.7958
vnadams@cornell.edu