Multicultural Counseling
(a.k.a. cross-cultural or intercultural)
COMPs study guide 2010
(All information is adapted from Encyclopedia of Counseling 3rd Edition by
Howard Rosenthal)
S
Helpful Hints:
S Always take context into account (e.g. cultural conflict may
occur within individual surrounded by new culture, or
between people of differing cultures)
S Read each question carefully before selecting your answer,
and you’ll see that common sense is helpful
Culture Epoch Theory
S Says that cultures progress through stages of development
(similar to children)
S Non-biased cultural perspective necessary for counselor
S Gather information from both material culture (tangible) &
non-material culture (non-tang. Such as values, traditions,
behaviors)
S Ideal culture = societal norm
S Real culture = sum of all behaviors/values within culture
S Counterculture = group who opposes values of ideal culture
Social Psychology Movement
Key Players
S Freud (1921). Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego.
S Fascinated with hypnotics
S McDougall (1908). Introduction to Social Psychology.
S said that people are driven by an innate, inherited tendency
S Negative light cast on his concept to improve the gene pool
through selective reproduction
S Ross (1908). Social Psychology.
S Durkheim (1895). Rules of Sociological Method.
S He is considered a founding father of modern sociology
S Suicide research
S Researched group behavior too
Instinct Theorists
(genetics/inborn tendency)
S Freud : man driven by sex and aggression
S Lorenz : studied fish & applied his research to humans and
the innate aggression theory
S McDougall : also believed behavior is driven by instinct
S **as contradicted by Bandura, et al. & social learning theory
(emphasis on environment & observational learning)
Other Theories
S Assimilation – Contrast Theory
S Client perceives like and unlike statements (to own culture) to be
as more similar or different than it is (see p. 115)
S Social Exchange Theory
S Relationships endure if rewards are greater than costs
S Frustration – Aggression Theory
S Dollard & Miller say frustration leads to aggression
S Frustration occurs when object of goal is blocked or removed
S
Balance Theory (Cognitive Dissonance Theory)
S Festinger (1957) says individuals are motivated to remove
inconsistency and incompatible actions/beliefs
S Justify behavior
Other theories
S Social Facilitation : when part of a group, individual
performance improves, even without verbal communication
(Allport)
S Congruity Theory (Osgood & Tannenbaum) : similar to
balance theory ~ consistency between beliefs and
perceptions will foster relationship
AMCD
S First formed in 1972, as Association for Non-White
Concerns in Personnel and Guidance
S Inspired by the Civil Rights Act of 1964
S Prohibited discrimination based on gender, race, religion, or
national origin
Daniel Levinson
S (1978). Seasons of a Man’s Life
S (1997). Seasons of a Woman’s Life
S Unscientifically stated mid-life crisis happens for men @ 40-
45 years of age; For women @ 35-40 years of age.
S Stages of life transitions:
S Early adult transition (17-22)
S Age 30 transition (28-33)
S
Then comes the Settling down period (for men)
S Midlife transition (40-45)
Some definitions
S Contextualism: behavior must be assessed in context of the
culture in which the behavior occurs
S Worldview: one’s perception of his/her relationship to the
world as a whole
S Propinquity: the term used by social psychologists to refer to
the tendency for people who are in close proximity to be
attracted to each other.
S Prognosis : refers to the probable outcome
S Universal culture: biological similarities connecting all
humans (Human Genome Project)
Some definitions
S Therapeutic surrender : client from different culture
becomes open with feelings and thoughts (trust)
S Acculturation : integration or adoption of cultural
beliefs/customs from majority/dominant culture
S Assimilation : so much acculturation to the point of
becoming part of maj/dom culture
S Ethnocentrism : uses one’s own culture as a yardstick to
measure all others (opinion – based)
S Levine & Campbell claim it is a universal trait
Some definitions
S Connotative error : misunderstanding based on the
emotional content/desired meaning of a used word. One
word may hold different connotations for different cultures
S Emic : insider’s perception of culture
S Counselor would adopt an eclectic position when helping
S Etic : emphasizes the universal traits of humans
S Counselor sticks to one approach no matter the client
Some definitions
S Alloplastic viewpoint: client best copes by changing or
altering external factors in the environment
S Autoplastic viewpoint: change comes from within
S Positive transference = love
S Negative transference = hostility
S Ambivalent transference = uncertainty
Trivia
S Parsons acknowledged culture, however the industry did not
embrace multicultural counseling or competence until 1970s
(just after civil rights movement)
S Rogerian person-centered used to promote understanding
S 1970s workshops to enhance cross-cultural communication
S Carol Gilligan felt Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral
development was more applicable to men than women
S Mainly b/c the theory did not point out that women place
more emphasis on caregiving and personal responsibility and
men tend to focus on individual rights & justice
Trivia
S Tarasoff case resulted in duty to warn when target of
violence or danger
S Jensen’s IQ tests were aimed to prove Blacks had lower IQ
due to genetic factors
S Some research demonstrates that low SES is positively
correlated with aggression
S Folkways and mores are very similar, however breaking a
folkway is embarrassing, and breaking a more may cause
harm to others or threaten the existence of the group.
Trivia
S Bogardus (1920s) developed a social distance scale to measure
feelings toward other ethnic groups
S Freedman & Fraser (1966) coined the “foot-in-the-door
technique” which refers to asking for a minor/less pertinent favor
(may I come in?) when leading up to a larger reques
S To date, there are no completely “culture free” diagnostic
instruments
S The greater the social/cultural gap, the greater the need for
structure (set @ beginning and reviewed as often as beneficial)
Trivia
S Race (genetic) and ethnicity are different
S Approximately 50% of all ethnic minority clients stop
counseling after the first session because they do not trust
they will receive what they desire from the counselor
S Sleeper Effect: as time goes on, one remembers the message
and forgets the communicator (may adopt counselor
message later)
S Milgram is associated with obedience and authority (study
where people were told to administer electric shocks to
others). “obedience to authority”
Affiliation Trivia
S Firstborns and only children are more likely to affiliate with others
(Schachter)
S Study measuring anxiety and group affiliation (waiting for electric
shock experiment) found that in high anxiety situations people
prefer to be alone except if others are in a similar situation
(Schachter)
S Another study demonstrated real fear (rather than anxiety)
increased probability for affiliation (Samoff & Zimbardo)
S Similar to Theory of Social Comparison (Festinger) where people
have a need to compare themselves to assess abilities and options
Trivia
S When faced with two choices, the conflict type will be
written in a way that addresses the desirable factor of each
choice (i.e. approach-approach conflict, approach-avoid
conflict, avoid-avoid conflict) (Lewin)
S Boys Summer Camp experiment (Sherif et al.)
demonstrated that hostility between 2 groups may be
reduced by presenting them with a required joint effort, thus
reducing competition and increasing cooperation
S Clients with higher SES level have time to be introspective