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Multicultural Psychology
Psychology 276
March, 2001
Carol Zerbe Enns
Law 106D
895-4351 (office)
895-6605 (home)
cenns@cornellcollege.edu
Class hours selected from:
Week One: 9-11 A.M. Monday through Wednesday; 8:30-10:30 on Thursday the 8th; 9-11:15 on Friday
the 9th; 1-3 P.M. Tuesday through Thursday.
Weeks 2-4: Class times will be selected from 9-11 Monday-Friday mornings and 1:00-3:00 Monday
through Thursday afternoons
Introduction
An article in the most recent issue of the American Psychologist referred to American psychology as “a
child of its culture” (Sampson, 2000, p. 1431), and as bound by Western concepts of individualism.
During the past decade, there has been increasing recognition of the reality that American psychology
has often been culture-bound and culture-blind. The purpose of this course is to examine the
foundations of Western psychology, to examine ways in which psychological constructs can be used in
ethnocentric ways, and to place psychology in a more global perspective. This course will examine how
“cultural traditions and social practices regulate, express, and transform the human psyche, resulting less
in psychic unity for humankind than in ethnic divergences in mind, self, and emotion” (Shweder, 1991,
p. 91). It will explore the ways in which psychology is socially constructed and will pay particular
attention to the following factors as they influence human development: oppression, language,
acculturation, economic concerns, racism and prejudice, sociopolitical factors, child-rearing practices,
religious practices, family structure and dynamics, and cultural values and attitudes.
References:
Sampson, E. E. (2000). Reinterpreting individualism and collectivism: Their religious roots and
monologic versus dialogic person-other relationship. American Psychologist, 55, 1425-1432.
Shweder, R. A. (1991). Cultural psychology: What is it? In R. A. Shweder (Ed.), Thinking through
cultures (pp. 73-110). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Class Texts
Matsumoto, David. (2000). Culture and psychology: People around the world (2nd ed.). Wadsworth.
Chang, Pang-Mei Natasha. (1996). Bound feet and western dress. New York: Doubleday.
Reserve articles.
Tests
Class members will complete two tests during the term.
Test dates: Friday, March 16 and Wednesday, March 28.
Paper #1: Personal Heritage/Identity
For this assignment, you will write a 3-5 page paper in which you describe some of the significant
influences on your development. You should pay particular attention to ethnicity, culture, race,
migration, religious factors, family values, sociocultural influences, economic factors, language,
acculturation, gender, oppression, and racism or privilege. Major goals of this paper are to help
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students: (a) clarify the impact of culture on identity, life experiences, and world views; (b) identify the
major groups and cultures that have contributed to your cultural identity; (c) encourage discussion of
stereotypes that may be embedded in cultural experience; and (d) explore how your cultural identity may
influence one’s interactions with individuals from other cultural, ethnic, and religious traditions. A
discussion of white or racial/ethnic identity development should be included in this paper. I will
distribute a list of questions to further stimulate your thinking. Due: Tuesday, March 13.
Paper #2: Analysis of Bound Feet and Western Dress
After reading the biography of Chang Yu-i’s life, you will write a paper about this person’s life. As you
write, you should consider a variety of factors that are important for understanding persons within a
multicultural society: global/historical influences, interactions with the dominant culture, acculturation
processes, history of oppression, historical and global events, gender, economic factors and class,
language and the arts, racism and prejudice, sociopolitical factors, child-rearing practices, religious
practices, family structure and dynamics, and cultural values and attitudes. Whenever possible, provide
examples of how these experiences influenced Chang Yu-i’s psychological self. Although your paper
will focus primarily on the life of Chang Yu-i, you should also consider the impact of her life and the
writing of this book on the author, Pang-Mei Natasha Chang. More specifically, apply a model of ethnic
identity development to Pang-Mei Natasha’s life. The paper should be approximately 5 pages in length.
Due: Wednesday, March 21.
Paper #3: Short Research Project
General guideline regarding length: 7 to 10 pages
Due: Monday, March 26
Option One: Psychology and/or the human service professions in another country
Minimum number of sources: 4
For this paper, you will describe the discipline of psychology in a county other than the United States or
Canada. You may focus on the following:
-brief history of the discipline in this country
-the degree to which psychology has been imported from other countries
-the nature and scope of psychology in this country
-major issues or concerns addressed by psychologists in this country
-unique contributions and practices of psychologists from this country
-the general status of psychology in this country as well as the methods for preparing to be a
psychologist in this country
-major theoretical orientations of psychologists and research trends in this country
-professional organizations and/or codes of ethics
Option Two: Cross-cultural comparison of a psychological concept
Minimum number of sources: 4
For this paper, you will compare at least two cultures with respect to the psychological phenomenon
being addressed. You will examine comparative research and theory on this concept, examine the
relevance of this concept to a non-American culture, critique it when appropriate, discuss how it may
need to be modified in order to be of value in this culture, and/or identify an alternative concept that may
be more relevant to this culture. The following concepts are likely to be especially relevant to this
project:
-social loafing
-gender roles
-cognitive styles
-locus of control
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-intelligence
-self-efficacy
-culture-specific psychological disorders
-attachment
-child rearing styles
-Piaget’s model of development
-indigenous psychotherapies
-achievement
-interpersonal attraction
-addictions from a cultural perspective
-the experience of emotion
-self-perception
-personality theories in multicultural perspective
-developmental theories
-a specific mental health issue in multicultural perspective
Option Three: Review of recent research on personality constructs
Minimum number of articles: 3. At least two of the three articles must be empirical research studies
(excluding meta-analyses).
In recent years, there has been substantial interest on topics related to culture and personality. Many of
these studies have been published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, which is held by our
library. For this paper, you will summarize each study, integrate the findings from studies, and discuss
the implications of the findings. You should begin the paper with a discussion of the area of research
discussed by the research articles. In addition, for each of the research studies you review, you should
describe: (a) the participants in the study, (b) the measurement instruments used, (c) how the data were
collected, (d) the results, and (e) conclusions or criticisms of the study. After describing the studies, it
will be important to discuss overall implications, areas of commonality and difference, the strengths and
limitations of this research area, and future directions for research. Common research topics include
social loafing, individualism-collectivism, happiness across cultures, interdependent-independent selfconstructs, self-concept across cultures etc.
Sources that may be helpful as you consider research projects:
Atkinson, D. R., Morten, G., & Sue, D. W. (1993). Counseling American minorities: A cross-cultural
perspective. Madison, WI: Brown & Benchmark.
Baruth, L. G., & Manning, M. L. (1999). Multicultural counseling and psychotherapy: A lifespan
perspective. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Chin, J. L. (2000). Relationships among Asian American women. Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association.
Gannon, M. J. (2001). Understanding global cultures (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Gardiner, H. W., Mutter, J. D., & Kosmitzki, C. (1998). Lives across cultures: Cross-cultural human
development. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Lee, L. C., & Zane, N. W. S. (Eds.), Handbook of Asian American psychology. Newbury Park, C: Sage.
Lee, Y-T., McCauley, C. R., & Draguns, J. G. (Eds.). (1999). Personality and person perception across
cultures. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Locke, D. C. (1992). Increasing multicultural understanding. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (1999). Counseling the culturally different (3rd ed.). New York: Wiley.
Thomas, R. M. (1999). Human development theories: Windows on culture. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Valsiner, J. (2000). Culture and human development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
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Approximate Values Assigned to Class Projects
Tests
Personal heritage/identity paper
Autobiography
Short research paper
Participation/attendance
Short, one-page writing assignments
Total points
60-80 points per test
25
35-40
50-60
30-35
20-30
approximately 300-340 points
Grading Scale: A=94%, A-=90%, B+=88%, B=83%, B-=80%, C+=77%, C=72%, C-=70%
Class Schedule
Monday, March 5 Introduction to multicultural/global/cross-cultural psychology
The challenges of communicating across cultures
Reading: Matsumoto, chapter 1
Tuesday, March 6 Defining and doing multicultural psychology
Individualism and collectivism as important dimensions of culture
Reading: Matsumoto, Chapters 2, 3, & 15
Read one of the following (Class members will sign up to read a specific article)
Iijima Hall, C. C. (1997). Cultural malpractice: The growing obsolescence of psychology with the
changing U. S. population. American Psychologist, 52, 642-651.
Marsella, A. J. (1998). Toward a “global-community psychology.” American Psychologist, 53, 12821291.
Sue, S. (1983). Ethnic minority issues in psychology: A reexamination. American Psychologist, 38,
583-592.
Watts, R. J. (1992). Elements of a psychology of human diversity. Journal of Community Psychology,
20, 116-131.
Questions for reflection and class discussion:
1. What are the elements of an inclusive psychology?
2. What assumptions associated with Western psychology may limit its applicability to other cultures?
3. Which of the 25 major global events and forces (see Marsella) are most likely to have a significant
impact on the practice of psychology in global context? Why?
4. In what ways is this psychology similar and different from more traditional forms of psychology?
Supplementary/optional reading:
Triandis, H. C. (1996). The psychological measurement of cultural syndromes. American Psychologist,
51, 407-415.
Due: Write one page of commentary regarding the questions listed above.
Wednesday, March 7 Racism and prejudice: Psychological and personal perspectives on oppression
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Reading: Matsumoto, Chapter 4
Banaji, M. R. (2001). Ordinary prejudice. Psychological Science Agenda, 14 (1), 8-10.
Devine, P. G. (1996). Breaking the prejudice habit. Psychological Science Agenda, 9 (1), 10-11.
Dovidio, J. F., & Gaertner, S. L. (1998). On the nature of contemporary prejudice: The causes,
consequences, and challenges of aversive racism. In J. L. Eberhardt & S. T. Fiske (Eds.),
Confronting racism: The problem and the response (pp. 3-32). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Fiske, S. T. (1998). Interpersonal power: New principles of stereotypes and stereotyping.
Psychological Science Agenda, 11 (4), 8-10.
Personal perspectives on racism: (Class members will sign up to read specific articles)
Chow, C. S. Blending in or standing out: Stories of racism and discrimination. From Leaving deep
water.
Yamato, G. Something about the subject makes it hard to name.
Yamada, Invisibility is an unnatural disaster: Reflections of an Asian American woman.
Mar, M. E. Excerpt from Paper daughter.
Talbot, D. M. (1999). Personal narrative of an Asian American’s experience with racism. Journal of
Counseling and Development, 77, 42-44.
Walker, R. Excerpt from Black, white, and Jewish.
Harris, V. R. Prison of color.
Thursday, March 8 Learning and unlearning racism, White identity development
A.M. class: 8:30-10:30
P.M. class: 1 P.M. library session on writing research papers for multicultural psychology
By Monday, you should be prepared to submit the following: a working title, brief description, and two
references and abstracts for your short research paper
A.M. Reading:
Pack-Brown, S. P. (1999). Racial identity, and white racial identity development. Journal of
Counseling and Development, 77, 88-90.
Kiselica, M. S. (1999). Confronting my own ethnocentrism and racism: A process of pain and growth.
Journal of Counseling and Development, 77, 14-17
Levine, J. White like me.
McIntosh, P. White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack.
Read one of the following:
Brandyberry, L. J. (1999). Pain and perseverance: Perspectives from an ally. Journal of Counseling
and Development, 77, 7-9.
D’Andrea, M. (1999). The evolution and transformation of a white racist: A personal narrative.
Friday, March 9 The Japanese American experience of racism
9:00 A.M. to 11:15 A.M. Movie
Reading: Each class member will read one of the following
Kessler, Lauren. (1993). Stubborn twig: Three generations in the life of a Japanese American family.
(chapter 11 “Coping with internment” & chapter 12 “Homecoming”). New York: Penguin.
Sone, Monica. (1953). Nisei daughter. (chapter 6, “We are outcasts” & chapter 8 “Pearl Harbor
echoes in Seattle”). Seattle: University of Washington Press.
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As you watch the movie and read one of the excerpts above, consider the forms of racism encountered
by Japanese Americans and identify the impact of racism and the events surrounding World War II on
the identities of these individuals. Write a short, one-page reaction, which will be due on Monday
morning.
Monday, March 12 Ethnic identity development: Who am I?
Reading:
Berry, J. W. (1994). Acculturative stress. In W. J. Lonner & R. Malpass (Eds.), Psychology and
culture (pp. 211-215). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Atkinson, D. R., Morten, G., & Sue, D. W. (1993). Minority identity development. In Counseling
American Minorities. Dubuque, IA: Brown & Benchmark.
Root, M. P. P. (1995). Resolving "other" status: identity development of biracial individuals. In the
Culture and Psychology Reader. New York: New York Univ. Press.
Personal perspectives on negotiating an identity: (Class members will sign up to read specific excerpts)
Chow, C. S. (1994, July/August). Too great a price. Family Therapy Networker, 30-35.
Chow, C. S. (1998). Growing up Asian, growing up American. From Leaving deep waters.
Chow, C. S. (1998). Ethnicity and identity: Creating a sense of self. From Leaving deep waters.
Chao, C.M. (1995). A bridge over troubled waters: Being Eurasian in the U.S. of A. In J. Adleman, &
G. Enguidanos (Eds.), Racism in the lives of women (pp. 33-43). New York: Harrington Park Press.
Fukuyama, M. A. (1999). Personal narrative: Growing up biracial. Journal of Counseling and
Development, 77, 12-14.
Noda, K. Growing up Asian in America.
Wang, N. (1995). Born Chinese and a woman in America. In J. Adleman & G. Enguidanos (Eds.),
Racism in the lives of women (pp. 97-110). New York: Harrington Park Press.
Wong, N. (1998). When I was growing up. In G. Kirk & M. Okazawa-Rey (Eds.), Women’s lives:
Multicultural perspectives (pp. 114-115). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.
For further study (optional):
Phinney, J. S. (1998). Ethnic identity in adolescents and adults: Review of research. In P. B. Organista,
K. M. Chun, & G. Marin (Eds.), Readings in ethnic psychology (pp. 73-99). New York: Routledge.
Due: title, brief description, and two references and abstracts for research paper
Short 1 page commentary regarding Friday’s movie and readings
Tuesday, March 13 Continuation of culture and identity
Culture and developmental processes
Research methods and multicultural psychology
Reading: Matsumoto, Chapter 5 & 7
Read through p. 62 of Bound feet and western dress.
Rothbaum, F., Weisz, J., Pott, M., Miyake, K., & Morelli, G. (2000). Attachment and culture: Security
in the United States and Japan. American Psychologist, 55, 1093-1104.
Sue, S. (1999). Science, ethnicity, and bias: Where have we gone wrong? American Psychologist, 54,
1070-1077.
Due: Personal heritage/identity paper
Wednesday, March 14 Culture, development, and emotion
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Reading: Matsumoto, Chapter 11
Thursday, March 15 Culture and gender
Reading: Matsumoto, Chapter 8
Read through page 146 of Bound feet and western dress.
Wade, C., & Tavris, C. (1999). Gender and culture. In L. A. Peplau, S. C. DeBro, R. C. Veniegas, & P.
L. Taylor, Gender, culture, and ethnicity (pp. 15-22). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.
Peplau, L. A., Veniegas, R. C., Taylor, P. L., & De Bro, S. C. (1999). Sociocultural perspectives on the
lives of women and men. In L. A. Peplau, S. C., DeBro, R. C. Veniegas, & P. L. Taylor, Gender,
culture, and ethnicity (pp. 23-37). Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.
Friday, March 16
Test #1
Continue reading Bound feet and western dress.
Monday, March 19 Culture and basic psychological processes
Reading: Matsumoto, Chapter 6
Finish reading Bound feet and western dress.
Steele, C. M. (1997). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance.
American Psychologist, 52, 613-629.
Strickland, B. (2000). Misassumptions, misadventures, and the misuse of psychology. American
Psychologist, 55, 331-338.
Tuesday, March 20 Culture, communication, and social relationships (including love relationships and
intergenerational relationships)
Reading: Matsumoto, Chapters 13 and 16
Dion, K. K., & Dion, K. L. (1993). Individualistic and collectivistic perspectives on gender and the
cultural context of love and intimacy. Journal of Social Issues, 49, 53-69.
Read one of the following:
Chow, C. S. (1998). Between mothers and daughters: Love and guilt. From Leaving deep water.
Chin, J. L. (2000). Mother-daughter relationships: Asian American perspectives. In J. L. Chin (Ed.),
Relationships among Asian American women (pp. 119-132). Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association.
Wednesday, March 21 Culture, health, and treatment
Reading: Matsumoto, Chapter 9
Kozu, J. (1999). Domestic violence in Japan. American Psychologist, 54, 50-54.
Watanabe, K. (1999). Trafficking in women’s bodies, then and now: The issue of military “comfort
women.” Women’s Studies Quarterly, (1/2), 19-31.
Kattoulas, V. (2000, August 3). Bright lights, brutal life. Far Eastern Economic Review, 50-51, 54-55.
Rogers, B. (1999, October/November). Bitter harvest. Ms., 45-53.
Horne, S. (1999). Domestic violence in Russia. American Psychologist, 54, 55-61.
Lum, J. L. (1998). Family violence. In L. C. Lee & N. W. S. Zane (Eds.), Handbook of Asian American
psychology (pp. 505-526). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
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Due: Paper on Bound feet and western dress
Thursday, March 22 Culture and mental health issues and services
Domestic and family violence in multicultural context
Reading: Matsumoto, Chapter 10
APA Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs. (1993). Guidelines for providers of psychological services to
ethnic, linguistic, and culturally diverse populations. American Psychologist, 48, 45-48.
Katz, J. H. (1985). The sociopolitical nature of counseling. The Counseling Psychologist, 13, 615-624.
Biggar, J. (1987, November). Meeting of the twain. Psychology Today, 47-52.
Hedstrom, L. J. (1994). Morita and Naikan therapies; American applications. Psychotherapy, 31, 154160.
Bankart, C. P. (1997). Contemporary Japanese psychotherapies: Morita and Naikan. In Talking cures:
A history of western and eastern psychotherapies. Brooks/Cole.
Friday, March 23 Culture and the structure of work
Reading: Matsumoto, Chapter 17
Monday, March 26 Intercultural communication
Communicating and working effectively with diverse populations
Reading: Matsumoto, Chapters 12 and 14
Due: Short research paper
Tuesday, March 27 Paper presentations
Wednesday, March 28
Test #2