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MULTICULTURALISM AND SOCIETY - I
Unit Structure
1.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction: What is Culture?
1.2 Cultural Identity Development
1.2.1 What is Cultural Identity?
1.2.2 Stages of Cultural Identity Development
1.3 Cultural Transition and Culture Sh ock
1.4 Language and Regionalism in India
1.5 Caste in India
1.6 Social Class in India
1.7 Summary
1.8 Questions
1.9 References
1.0 OBJECTIVES After studying this unit you should be able to:
 Understand what is culture
 Define cultura l identity
 Study how cultural identity development takes place
 Know what is cultural transition
 Understand language and regionalism in India
 Identify caste as a cultural variable in India
 Describe social class in India
1.1 INTRODUCTION What Is Culture?
The word culture is an all -encompassing term. It includes food habits,
attires, rituals one follows, the language one speaks, the region one munotes.in

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2 belongs to and much more. It is something you are born into and develops
as you experience life. Simply put it can b e understood as a set of customs
or ways through which individuals organize their behaviour and lifestyle.
Taylor (1870) defines culture as “that complex whole which includes
knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and
habits acquired by man as a member of society”.
Theodore Schwartz (1992) defines culture as “derivatives of experience,
more or less organized, learned or created by the individuals of a
population, including those images and their interpretations (meanings)
transmitted from past generations, from contemporaries, or formed by
individuals themselves”.
It is a system of shared meanings that individuals tend to construct from
their common experiences which serve as a basis against which new
experiences would be com pared. People with different cultures will
perceive the world differently because they have been selectively
sensitized to certain arrays of stimuli rather than others as a function of
membership in one cultural group rather than another. (Hallowell, 1951) It
is important to note that the culture of a subgroup is not homogenous
therefore one must not assume that a pattern of behaviour is standard for
all members of a group (Avruch, 2009). Therefore, one must not ignore
variations within the sub -group while studying culture. Culture may be
generic or local in nature (Black and Avruch 1993) Generic culture
consists of universal attributes of human behaviour (such as language
across cultures, smiles and other aspects of body language) while local
culture consis ts of differences within culture such as differences in
language, food and dressing habits.
1.2 CULTURAL IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT 1.2.1 What Is Cultural Identity?
Cultural identity is understood as how an individual perceives and
identifies with a particular social group. It is often an important part of an
individual‟s self -concept. This understanding of one‟s social/cultural
identity is often based on perceived membership in a relevant social group.
A person's cultural identity or social identity would inclu de qualities that
they share with other groups and collectives (Helkama et al 1999).
Various researchers have highlighted that social identity is an important
part of self -concept i.e. the way an individual views/perceives
himself/herself. Tajfel and Turn er‟s Identity Theory (1975) highlighted the
ways in which social identities affect people's attitudes and behaviours.
The theory introduced the idea of personal and social/cultural identity.
Social identity was based on membership in a particular social gr oup. This
affiliation with a group added to the self -esteem of an individual, which
helped to sustain the social/cultural identity. Some social groups include
sports teams, religions, nationalities, occupations, sexual orientations,
ethnic groups, and gend er. The individuals therefore engaged in this
process of perceiving and categorizing individuals into in -group vs out -
group. Tajfel and Turner (1979) proposed that there are three mental munotes.in

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3 Multiculturalism And Society - I processes involved in evaluating others as “us” or “them” (i.e. “in -group”
and “out-group”. These are:
1. Social categorization:
In order to understand the social environment, people are categorized into
distinct groups based on certain attributes such as race, language, religion,
and ethnicity. For e.g. People are categor ized into different ethnicities
based on the region and country they reside in. Indian or American
2. Social identification:
In this stage, we adopt the identity of the group we have categorized
ourselves as belonging to. Emotional attachment to the group is formed at
this stage. For e.g. We tend to identify with Indian identity on a global
stage
3. Social Comparison:
Once we have categorized ourselves as part of a group and have identified
with that group we then tend to compare that group with other gro ups. If
our self -esteem is to be maintained our group needs to compare favourably
with other groups. For e.g. During a cricket world cup, we will identify
with our national team and view our players more favourably and compare
their performances with neigh bouring teams.
Figure 1.1: How social identity develops

Source: Social Identity Theory - Tajfel and Turner (1979). Age of the
Sage. https://www.age -of-the
sage.org/psychology/social/Tajfel's_Theory_of_Social_Identity.jpg munotes.in

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4 Research indicates that group stereotyping and prejudice are more likely
when social identities are important to the individual. Research suggests
that highlighting the importance of intergroup similarities can reduce
prejudice (Leaper, 2011).
1.2.2 Stages of Cultural Identity Develop ment :
Now that one has understood what cultural identity development is, it is
important to understand the process of cultural identity development.
Ideally, it is understood as a multi -stage process and individuals are placed
along a continuum.
James. A. B anks (2004) describes the process through which the
development of cultural identity takes place. This process consists of six
stages and may be understood as a dynamic process. A continuum exists
both between and within the various stages. The individual may
experience the stages in an upward or downward zig -zag pattern.
Stage 1: Ethnic psychological captivity: People at this stage have had
just one cultural encounter, and they have internalized unfavourable
prejudices about their communities. The individ ual is ashamed of his/her
ethnic identity and may respond in various ways such as avoiding contact
with members of the out -group or may take aggressive steps to become
culturally assimilated with the larger group.
Stage 2: Ethnic encapsulation: In this sta ge the individual actively
participates within his/her own ethnic group, and believe that his/her
ethnic group is superior to that of others. They may perceive the majority
culture as threatening to their own group and may participate in
activities/customs that remind themselves that they are proud of their
cultural group.
Stage 3: Ethnic Identity Clarification: In this stage, people begin
reinforcing their emerging cultural identity. Individuals may seek to
clarify their personal attitudes and beliefs and a strong sense of cultural
identity may emerge at this point. Individuals may also develop positive
attitudes towards their group. Here the cultural pride is genuine.
Stage 4: Biethnicity : This stage is characterized by a strong sense of
ethnic identity an d respect for one‟s own culture. Individuals at this stage
have a clear understanding of their own culture while also maintaining a
strong sense of respect for others. They also have a strong desire to
function effectively in two cultures.
Stage 5: Multicu lturalism and Reflective Nationalism: People at this
stage possess knowledge, comprehension, and good attitudes toward many
communities. Personal, cultural, and national identities become clearer
and they view their identities positively.
Stage 6: Globalis m and Global Competency: Individuals have reflected
on and defined their national and global identities at this stage. They
possess the information, abilities, and attitudes required to operate munotes.in

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5 Multiculturalism And Society - I effectively within their own cultural communities, other cultu res within
their nation -state, their nation's civic culture, and the global community.
They feel a sense of commitment to all humans in the global society and a
dedication to fairness that extends beyond any single community.
1.3 CULTURAL TRANSITION AND CU LTURE SHOCK Culture Shock :
When people move to a different culture, they might experience a state of
culture shock. Culture shock in simple words is the experience of negative
emotional reactions when one moves to a new culture. It is important to
note tha t a person might experience culture shock when there is a dramatic
change in the cultural environment.
Adler (1975) defines culture shock primarily as a set of emotional
reactions to a loss of perceptual reinforcements from one's own culture to
new cultur al stimuli which have little or no meaning. Barna (1983)
identified certain factors namely ambiguity, lack of certainty, and
unpredictability which act as primary stressors for the individual when
they move to a new culture.
Normally the process of adjust ment in a new culture takes about a year
although the duration of individual stages may vary from person to person.
Lysguard (1955) observed that the sequence of adjustment over time could
be generalized over a curvilinear trend, U shaped curve of well -being
plotted against time. This pattern is referred to as the U -Curve Hypothesis.
Initial feelings of optimism and challenge give way to confusion and
frustration as the person is unable to interact in a meaningful way in the
new culture. When these diffic ulties are resolved, confidence is restored
and the individual feels integrated with the new culture. This stage is
understood as the recovery phase. Failure to resolve these issues could
lead to continued feelings of frustration and a possible decision to leave.
Figure 1.2. Generalized U - curve of adjustment to a new culture over time.

Source: Kapf, M.K. (1991) International Journal for the Advancement of
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6 1.4 LANGUAGE AND REGIONALISM IN INDIA Language is a crucial element of one‟ s cultural identity. Language can be
defined as the collection of words and rules of syntax and grammar that
are arranged in a way to convey meaning about a context or behaviour in a
particular setting. It may be used to convey thoughts and feelings to
others. Language has two important functions in society aside from being
a means of communication:
a) It has an impact on the allocation of power and wealth, particularly in
illiterate societies.
b) It also serves as a foundation that binds people together bo th
culturally and emotionally.
While the presence of language in itself is something that binds all humans
together and creates a shared human experience, language has now
become a tool to impose regionalism and highlight differences between
groups and cr eate regional conflicts between different states.
Regionalism is defined as the expression of a common sense of identity
and purpose by people within a specific geographical region, united by its
unique language, culture, language, etc. It could also be understood as any
counter -movement to any exaggerated and aggressive form of
centralization (political control of governmental administration). This
feeling of regionalism is further aided by the geographical concentration
of various signs of identificati on and fuelled by a feeling of regional
identity and deprivation. As a national phenomenon, regionalism
frequently takes the shape of well -conceived and well -organized agitations
and campaigns.
Regionalism in India: Regionalism has remained a powerful infl uence in
Indian politics since 1947. Regionalism in India has its roots in the
country‟s vast diversity of cultures, languages, civilizations, tribes, groups,
and religions. Ever since Independence, the Indian state was confronted
with demands for the reo rganization of states on the basis of linguistic
diversity. In order to overcome centre -state conflicts and accommodate the
numerous identity -related demands, the Indian government launched
various initiatives over time, including the JVC Committee, the Da r
Commission, the States Reorganisation Commission, the Rajamannar
Committee, and the Sarkaria Commission.
The States Reorganisation Committee (1960) led by Dr. Faisal Ali,
reorganized states/provinces on the basis of language. The larger province
of Bomb ay was divided into Marathi -speaking Maharashtra and Gujarati -
speaking Gujarat while the Kannada -speaking areas of Bombay were
transferred to the state of Mysore/ Karnataka. Punjab was trifurcated into a
Punjabi -speaking Punjab, Hindi -speaking Haryana, and Pahari -speaking
Himachal Pradesh. While these measures aimed to meet the demands of
regionalism based on linguistic diversity, there were other forms of
regionalism that were observed in the country. In the 1980s, there was a
distinct rise of secessionis t/separatist movements in Punjab, Kashmir and munotes.in

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7 Multiculturalism And Society - I some of the northeastern states (Nagaland, Manipur, and Tripura). These
movements demanded secession/ full autonomy from the Indian state and
demanded the creation of a separate national entity. This was follow ed by
movements for autonomy in several regions -Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh,
Uttaranchal, and Gorkhaland.
While there are a lot of factors that contribute to the rise of regionalism in
India, some of them are:
i) Uneven development: Certain regions in a state may be attracting
more investments and may have better access to infrastructural
development
ii) Fear of losing cultural identity: While regionalism attempts to unite
individuals on the basis of a common cultural identity, some
individuals may feel that a language/culture/practice may be
superimposed on a minority group and may result in loss of cultural
identity
Types/Forms of Regionalism: In general regionalism is manifested in four
different ways viz. The demand of people of certain areas for secession
from the Indian Union, the demand of people of certain areas for separate
statehood, the demand of people of certain union territories for full -
fledged statehood, and the demand of certain people for favourable
settlement in inter -state disputes.
Accordin g to Iqbal Narain, regionalism in India takes three forms. These
are:
1. Supra -State Regionalism: This type of regionalism is an expression of
the group identity of several states, which join hands to take a unified
stand on any issue. For example, the s outhern states of India have a
united stand against Hindi imposition in their states.
2. Inter -State Regionalism: This type of regionalism is defined by state
boundaries, state identities, and issues related to a clash of interests
with one another. For e xample, the clashes and conflicts related to the
Cauvery River water between the states of Karnataka and Kerala.
3. Intra State Regionalism: It reflects a psyche of deprivation or
exploitation in relation to other parts of the same state. Often brought
about by differences in development and infrastructure between
different regions of the same state. For example, the people from the
region of Vidarbha in Maharashtra feel a sense of neglect due to the
concentration of financial resources and infrastructura l development
in select regions of Maharashtra.
1.5 CASTE IN INDIA Caste is a complex social and psychological construct. Caste is an
endogamous social group that has its roots in religion and is often linked
to social and political hierarchy. Ghurye (19 69) highlights the following munotes.in

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8 features of the caste system: (i) Segmental division of society; (ii) Social
hierarchy; (iii) Constraints upon social intercourse; (iv) Civil and religious
exclusionism (v) Restrictions in the domains of occupation and marriage .
Moreover, it is likely that, in many cases, caste identity or caste group
affiliation may provide feelings of belongingness or self -esteem (Jaspal
2011). The caste system is a hierarchal system that is indigenous to India
and has often regulated social i nteractions between members of different
caste groups. Caste is often understood as an ascribed identity which
means that this identity is associated with one‟s birth in a particular social
group. Primarily looked at as a system based on the division of la bour, the
caste system is based on the idea of ritual purity and therefore may allow
for restricted interactions of members between various caste groups. While
the caste system traces its roots to the chaturvarna system in Hinduism,
this system may also be found among Muslims, Christians, Jews and
Sikhs.
The chaturvarna system or the fourfold classification of castes was a
system that divided social groups into four categories of castes or „varnas‟
namely Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (peasants and
merchants) and Shudras (artisans). A fifth category of „untouchables‟ or
Scheduled castes are supposed to be at the bottom of the caste system and
are subject to a lot of restrictions. The higher caste groups enjoyed
relatively high status w ithin the caste hierarchy while the lower caste
groups faced a lot of societal discrimination and may be denied access to
systems of political, economic and social power. The member of the lower
caste groups were considered impure and were denied entry to temples or
other social gatherings. Failure to conform to the restrictions often resulted
in strict punishments meted out to members of lower caste groups and at
times could even get them killed.
Cultures of caste organization can in their rigid forms be understood as
“cultures of poverty”. The caste system ensured that members of certain
castes obtained positions of power and privilege for their offspring,
families, friends, and supporters while at the same time, ensuring that
some people perform duties t hat were required but undesirable, such as
those that are risky, unclean, or poorly compensated. The higher caste
groups enjoyed access to education and economic power and social and
political power while lower caste groups were denied access to education
and job opportunities. Thus certain castes were stuck in the lower
socioeconomic strata of society and were dealing with poverty.
The Indian state passed a number of laws to minimize the social
discrimination faced by scheduled castes and provide affirmat ive action to
members of dis -privileged groups. Article 17 of the Indian constitution
abolished Untouchability and Articles 16,164,225, 330, 334, 335 and 338
and the 5th and 6th Schedule of the Constitution provided special
privileges to members of Schedul ed Caste and Scheduled Tribes to enable
them to come up to the level of upper castes. The State passed various
legislations which reserved seats for members of Scheduled Castes in
educational institutions, government departments and Panchayats to
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9 Multiculturalism And Society - I In 1991, the Mandal Commission extended the benefits of reservation to
members of OBCs (Other Backward Classes) which were a category of
castes that were socially or educationally backward. T he State passed the
Prevention of Atrocities (Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes) Act in
1989 which aimed at countering the various ways in which caste
discrimination played out. This Act criminalized caste -based atrocities
committed against the members of SC/ST by non -SC/ST persons.
Thus a number of legislations were passed by the State to minimize the
discrimination faced by certain castes, however caste -based discrimination
(or casteism) and social stigmatisation of castes is still rampant in society
on the subcontinent and in the Indian diaspora.
1.6 SOCIAL CLASS IN INDIA Social class is defined as a group of people having common economic
interests, income, consumption patterns and social hierarchy. Social class
is an acquired identity based on achie vement in social and professional
contexts. It permits movement within the categories and is less rigid as
compared to the caste system.
Three main sets of criteria are classically used to differentiate social
classes in India:
1. The ownership and contro l by households of means of production.
2. The relative use of different forms of hired labour.
3. The surplus a household is able to generate in a given year (money
lending, salaried employment, investments, trade and business).
Based on the above criter ia, the different economic/social categories in
India are:
a) Zamindars:
These are traditional landlord families. They have ownership of the
majority of the land (land monopoly) and members of their households do
not participate in major agricultural oper ations on the land. Land may be
cultivated by hired labour or tenants to whom the land is leased out on
fixed rent or share. They dominate not just the economy but also
traditional social and modern political hierarchies in the village. Landlord
families s eek entry into the intuitions of state power - Panchayati raj, block
and district level governments, higher legislature, bureaucracy and police,
the legal profession and generally the first to take advantage of higher
education and modern organized sector e mployment.
b) Manual workers:
These individuals work on a variety of tasks, for piece - rates or for
monthly wages or on an annual contract. Many workers are landless
because of the historic exclusion of land ownership. They are wage
labourers who are free to sell their labour power to the employer of his or munotes.in

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10 her choice. However, the freedom of wage labourer to sell his or her
labour is often subjected to constraints (poverty, unemployment, ability to
repay loans, employer -employee relations, and pressures o f migration,
social and economic dominance of employers)
c) Bonded labourers:
Bonded labourers are individuals who do not have any land ownership and
are often trapped into working for employers for little or no pay.
Traditionally some families may be tri cked into bonded labour as a means
of repayment of loans. It may be understood as a type of slavery in which
one may be routinely threatened and subjected to physical and sexual
violence. Bonded labourers do not have the freedom to sell his/her labour
or choose their employer.
It is important to note that both caste and class are associated with the
concept of social disadvantage. Although no caste has ever been
homogeneous in terms of class criteria, the overlap between the two has
always been emphasised, for example. A substantial share of Dalit
households or oppressed castes in various regions belongs to the class of
manual labourers. The upper -class minority's ability to exploit the lower -
class majority is based on the fact that members of the impoveris hed
groups must fight among themselves for the favours of the elite, and lower
caste groups are more at a disadvantage in this rivalry.
Research on caste and class in India has found that individuals from low
castes feel motivated to identify as middle cla ss to escape their caste
identities (Capelos and Basu, 2021). There is also the emergence of the
"neo-middle" class which consists of lower -class aspirants trying to join
the ranks of conventional middle -class identities. This neo -middle class
has loosened social -class borders based on set socioeconomic criteria,
capitalising on the enormous demographic increase of the lower class
(Capelos and Basu, 2021).
Thus, economic class is an important marker of social identity in India.
Religion in India :
Religion i s defined as “an organized system of beliefs, practices, rituals,
and symbols designed to facilitate closeness to the sacred or transcendent
(God, higher power, or ultimate truth/reality)” - Almeda (2006). Religion
in simple words is a system of doctrine or belief in God. It provides a
sense of identity to the individual and through participation in religious
rituals, individuals feel as having something in common. It is a powerful
force that acts both as a marker of social identity and an agent of social
control.
India is home to a multitude of faiths and religions. It houses people from
religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam,
Christianity, and Zoroastrianism. These religions further have sects and
subsects each of which has a numbe r of followers. This co -existence of
faiths has been largely peaceful but has also had its share of communal munotes.in

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11 Multiculturalism And Society - I conflicts since the pre -Independence era. Clashes have been documented
between the major religious groups and conflicts have also occurred
within r eligions between members of different sects. While there has been
a lot of research focusing on factors leading to communal conflicts, one of
the main reasons for communal conflicts is distrust between communities
stemming from ignorance of the other. Arti cle 25 of The Indian
Constitution guarantees freedom of conscience and the right to freely
profess, practice and propagate religion. A person may not be questioned
with regard to religious belief by the State however his/her actions in
pursuance of those b eliefs may come under the purview of some
restrictions in the interest of the community at large to preserve public
order and fundamental rights of others. While each religion is given the
autonomy to lay down its own code of ethics/rules for administratio n,
Section 2A of Article 25 of the Indian Constitution gives the State the
power to make any law regulating or restricting economic, financial or any
other secular activity which may be associated with religious practice.
To a large extent uniformity in c ivil law has been brought about within
different faiths although the State is still not able to exercise complete
regulation with respect to personal laws of marriage, adoption, and
divorce.
1.7 SUMMARY In this section, we learned about what is culture an d how one develops a
cultural identity. We looked at James Banks‟ theory on stages of cultural
identity development. Banks‟ theory described the process of cultural
identity development as a six -stage process where individuals would move
through stages in a zig -zag pattern. The stages in cultural identity
development included 1) Ethnic psychological captivity: People have
internalised prejudices about their communities and are ashamed of their
cultural identity 2) Ethnic encapsulation: People actively parti cipate in
their cultural group and feel their culture or group is superior to that of
others 3) Ethnic Identity Clarification: People seek to clarify their personal
attitudes and have a strong sense of cultural identity 4) Bi -ethnicity:
People have a stron g sense of respect for one‟s own culture and other
cultures 5) Multiculturalism and Reflective Nationalism: People possess
the knowledge and have good attitudes about other cultural groups 6)
Globalism and Global Competency: People feel a sense of commitme nt
towards all humans and a dedication to fairness that extends beyond a
particular community. We also learned about the experience of culture
shock when one moves to a new culture.
The next part of the section focused on major cultural variables in the
Indian context. In this section, we looked at how language and regionalism
play an important role in India. Regionalism was defined as the expression
of a common identity of a group of people of a geographical region united
by a common language, and common culture. Three types of regionalism
were highlighted - supra -state, inter -state and intra - state regionalism. 1)
Supra State Regionalism referred to regionalism based on the expression
of group identity of several states, which join hands to take a unified stand munotes.in

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12 on any issue. 2) Inter -State Regionalism referred to regionalism which was
defined by state boundaries, and state identities. 3) Intra State Regionalism
referred to regionalism that was based on a psyche of deprivation or
exploitation in relation to other parts of the same state.
The next part discussed caste as a marker of social identity in India. Caste
was defined as an endogamous social group linked to rituals of purity. The
section described the chaturvarna system (fourfold classification of cast es)
and we also discussed legislation passed by the Indian State to prevent
caste -based discrimination.
We tried to understand how the class was defined as a social group in
India with reference to the ownership of land, the surplus a household was
able t o generate and the relative use of hired labour. The section also
focused on zamindars, bonded labourers and manual workers in India.
Finally, we looked at religion and the role it plays in social identity in
India. Religion was defined as a belief in God or a system of doctrine.
Various state legislations with regard to religion were also discussed in
this chapter.
1.8 QUESTIONS A. Write long answers on:
1. What are culture and cultural identity? How does cultural identity
develop? Discuss Bank's Stages of cultural identity development.
2. Discuss in detail the problem of regionalism in India
B. Write Short notes on:
1. Culture shock
2. Caste in India
3. Class in India
4. Religion in India
1.9 REFERENCES  Banks, J.A. (2004). Teaching for Social Justice, Di versity, and
Citizenship in a Global World. The Educational Forum. 68, 289 - 298.
 Behere, P. B., Das, A., Yadav, R., & Behere, A. P. (2013). Religion
and mental health. Indian journal of psychiatry, 55(2), S187 –S194.
 Capelos, T. & Basu, I. (2021) Who is i n the Middle Class: Social
Class, Core Values and Identities in India. Political Psychology. Vol
43, Issue 1, 89 -109 munotes.in

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13 Multiculturalism And Society - I  Gochhayat, A. (2014) Regionalism and sub -regionalism: A theoretical
framework with special reference to India. African Journal of Political
Science and International Relations. Vol. 8(1), 10 -26.
 Jaspal, Rusi. (2011). Caste, Social Stigma and Identity Processes.
Psychology & Developing Societies. 23. 27 –62.
 Leaper, C. (2011) More Similarities than Differences in contemporary
Theories of so cial development? : A plea for theory bridging.
Advances in Child Development and Behaviour, 40, 337 -378
 Narang, A.S. (1996) Regionalism and Regional Parties. Indian
Government and Politics, Geetanjali Publishing House, New Delhi,
463- 495
 Pal, R (2012) Un iversal Rights in a World of Diversity: The Case of
Religious Freedom. Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.
 Roy, H & Singh, M.P. (2018) Regionalism by Manju Subhash, Indian
Political System by Himanshu Roy and Mahendra Prasad Singh,
Pearson India Educati on Services Ltd, Fourth Edition, 449 -466
 Zapf, M.K. (1991) Cross -cultural transitions and wellness: Dealing
with culture shock. International Journal for the Advancement of
Counselling, 14, 105 -119.

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14 2
MULTICULTURALISM & SOCIETY - II
Unit Structure
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Gender in India
2.2.1 Violence Against Women
2.2.2 Work -Family Conflict
2.2.3 Prevalence of Mental Health Disorders in Women
2.3 LGBTQIA Community
2.4 Acculturation
2.4.1 What is Acculturation?
2.4.2 Acculturation Strategies
2.4.3 Acculturative Stress
2.4.4 Adaptation
2.4.5 Types of Acculturation
2.4.6 Differences between Assimilation and Acculturation
2.5 Summary
2.6 Questions
2.7 References
2.0 OBJECTIVES After studying this unit, you should be able to:
 Understand women’s issues primarily work family conflict
 Know about LGBTQIA Community
 Understand Religion as a major Cultural variable in India
 Know what is cultural transition
 Understand the steps of cultural transition
 Define acculturation and identify types of acculturation
2.1 INTRODUCTION The previous unit looked at cultural identity development in the context of
variables such as regionalism and language, caste, social class and religion
in India. This uni t will focus on how gender plays a major role in identity
development and we will try to understand gender as a cultural variable in
Indian context. The next part of the unit will look at acculturation as a
process with special focus on strategies and type s of acculturation. munotes.in

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15 Multiculturalism & Society - II 2.2 GENDER IN INDIA Gender is one of the most significant determinants and predictors of
mental health and mental illness. It has been documented that gender
differences are observed in the prevalence of mental health disorders.
Resear ch on gender and mental health has focused on variables such as
gender discrimination, poverty, hunger, sexual abuse, and how they play a
mediating role in determining mental health outcomes for women and
men. Much of the psychological research on women’s studies have
focused on certain themes namely work -family conflict, violence against
women, and the prevalence of mental health disorders among women.
2.2.1 Violence against Women :
A UN report published in 2005 revealed that around two -thirds of married
women in India have been victims of domestic violence, rape or coerced
sex. Some common forms of violence against women in India include
female infanticide, domestic violence, harassment for dowry, dowry
deaths, mental and physical torture, sexual harassme nt at the workplace
and sexual violence which includes rape, molestation and trafficking of
girls. Women are victims of both direct and indirect forms of violence.
Direct violence forms of violence against women include rape, domestic
violence, female infa nticide and female feticide (where after sex
determination, the growing fetus of a girl child is killed inside the womb
using medical procedures or other techniques). Indirect forms of violence
against women include unequal distribution of household goods, and lack
of access to educational and employment opportunities and less spending
on nutrition, education and health of women. All these factors have been
observed to have an adverse impact on a woman’s right to life, liberty and
dignity, and thereby to de velopment. The consequences of gender -based
violence are devastating, including post -traumatic stress disorder, lifelong
mental health issues and poor reproductive health.
Reasons for violence against women: Cultural and social beliefs such as
preference for sons and a patriarchal family system that discriminates
against women often lead to both direct and indirect forms of violence
against women in the familial setup. A widespread acceptance of male
sense of entitlement and violent behaviour against wome n are factors that
lead to a high prevalence of violence against women. There is a
‘normalization’ of violence against wives as a routine aspect of married
life by women too which adds to the problem.
Gender inequality has been observed on the social fron t (less respect in
family and society, access, economic front (e.g. unequal wages) and also
religious practices.
2.2.2 Work -Family Conflict in Women :
Research has established that while women’s entry into the workplace has
allowed them to be independent a nd self -sufficient, it has also added to the
existing burden faced by a woman in personal and professional roles and
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16 well documented that women in professional roles women often face inter-
role conflict in trying to meet the demands of their work and family
simultaneously. This inter -role conflict often adds to the stress faced by
the women and is often termed a work -family conflict. Research on work -
family conflict has focused on unde rstanding variables such as the nature
of work, spousal support, child care arrangements, family’s attitude
towards women’s employment and how they impact the level of stress a
working woman faces. Some factors that have been identified to be strong
predic tors of work -family conflict in women include traditional attitudes
disapproving of women’s employment, lack of spousal support and
sharing of responsibilities, lack of clarity in the division of domestic
responsibilities, the inadequacy of child care arra ngements, and difficulties
in commuting to work (Vindhya 2007). It has been further established that
in urban dual -earning couples where both spouses are working, the
majority of the responsibilities of household and childcare still lie with the
woman and thus add to the stress faced by the woman.
2.2.3 Prevalence of Mental Health Disorders in Women :
According to a WHO Report published in 2001, it has been observed that
symptoms of depression, anxiety and unspecified psychological distress
are more common in women, in fact, symptoms of depression are more
lasting in women. Studies on gender and schizophrenia report that gender
differences exist in the age of onset of symptoms, clinical features, long -
term outcomes and level of social adjustment. Research on gender and
mental health reveals that women are 2 -3 times more likely to develop
disorders such as depression and anxiety while men are more likely to
develop an addiction, substance use disorders and psychopathic
personality disorders. While hormonal fac tors linked to reproductive
cycles may put women at risk of being vulnerable to depression, certain
factors such as excessive partner alcohol usage, sexual and physical
aggression by the husband, being widowed or separated, having little
autonomy in decisi on-making, and having little support from one's family
put women at a disadvantage making them more prone to suffering from
depression. Throughout their lifetime women are faced with life stressors
such as childbirth, caregiving and maternal roles, and tak ing care of sick
family members among other issues. Lack of access to education and lack
of opportunities for employment and financial independence further act as
obstacles in the road to development.
Women’s poor mental health is linked to the gender -based discrimination
they face as well as issues such as poverty, starvation, malnutrition,
overwork, domestic violence, and sexual abuse.
A positive correlation is observed with respect to the frequency and
severity of such social factors and the occurrence and severity of mental
health issues in women. In addition, traumatic life events that generate a
sense of loss, inadequacy, humiliation, or confinement can predict
depression in women.
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17 Multiculturalism & Society - II Thus, women are faced with innumerable stressors throughout their
lifetime and are ill -equipped to cope with the same. A woman’s mental
health cannot be looked at in isolation without looking at the social,
economic, and legal factors that affect women’s lives. Efforts to promote
mental health in women should focus on lif estyle and infrastructural
factors and change should be initiated in institutional factors at family and
societal levels that act as obstacles in women’s path to growth. A holistic
focus should be placed on the physical, nutritional and mental health of
women with interventions at both individual and societal levels.
2.3. LGBTQIA COMMUNITY Before we look at the LGBTQ community in India, it is important to
understand the constructs of sex, gender and sexual orientation and the
differences between the three. While sex/sexual identity is understood as a
biological construct or the biological identity of an individual, gender is
understood as a social construct or the schema of being masculine or
feminine. Sexuality or sexual orientation is understood as desire towards
someone else. Heterosexuals are individuals who are attracted to members
of the opposite sex while homosexuals are individuals who are attracted to
the same sex. Lesbians are females who are attracted to females, gays are
males who are attracted t o males while bisexuals are individuals who are
attracted to either sex i.e. males or females. Transsexuals are individuals
who may feel trapped in their gender identity and who may wish to change
their gender identity through clinical, hormonal, or surgic al procedures.
Inter -sexual are individuals who are born with both male and female
hormonal, chromosomal, and/or genital characteristics. Queer is an
umbrella term that might refer to individuals from the LGBTQIA
community or may be used to define a sexual orientation where
individuals do not conform to the binary view of gender (gender seen as
binary consisting of only two categories that is men and women) and see
gender and sexual orientation as more fluid.
With respect to the LGBTQ community in India, t he traditional view of
individuals being heterosexual is still more socially acceptable. Thus,
heterosexual or 'straight' individuals are easily accepted as they conform to
the gender schema in which men act like males, that is, being masculine in
their so cial perspective, and females act like females, that is, being
feminine in their social outlook, and they both tend to get attracted to one
other. This long -held conventional picture of heterosexual behaviour is
currently being disputed in order to make ro om for different sexual
orientations. The latter do not fit within the gender schema and are
opposed to the concept and practice of heterosexuality (Srivastava 2014)
This discourse is rewriting the laws of involvement in the three pillars of
human society : family, marriage, and kinship, allowing for the
democratization of desire. The LGBTQ community thus faces a lot of
discrimination and violence from different quarters in the country and
must be given legal protection. LGBTQ activism in the country has
focused on repealing laws that criminalize homosexuality in India and
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18 their individuality and social self. A number of pride parades are held
every year in different cities of India to c elebrate homosexuality and the
LGBTQ community. Research has shown that marginalization by society
and oppression by the state has led to a number of attempted suicides by
members of the community. While in the earlier years, the State had not
been sympath etic towards the LGBTQ community and had used force to
threaten and oppress members of the community, activism has resulted in
the Supreme Court quashing Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and
subsequently a constitutional amendment to Section 377 was pa ssed in
2018, decriminalizing homosexual activity.
A number of organizations have been set up in India which attempt to
sensitize the general public about the LGBT Community. In October 1992,
the very first lesbian group “Sakhi” was set up in India to dis pel various
myths related to lesbianism in India. In April 1994, Ashok Row Kavi set
up the first openly gay community -based organization “Humsafar Trust”
in Mumbai which was an organization that focused on issues such as gay
men coming out to their familie s, legal issues, health and human rights of
gay men, tacking cheaters and hustlers in the community. In 1999,
“Sangama” – a bilingual organization that provided a comprehensive list
of LGBT support groups in India was founded in Bangalore. In 2003,
“Orinam”- an online social and support group was set up in Chennai
which provided a comprehensive mailing list of the LGBT community and
its allies in Chennai. In February 2013, ‘Grooms Wanted’ - an online
matrimonial site for gay and bisexual men in India was set up by a
Chennai -based LGBT rights group named “Chennai Dost”. Thus, a lot of
organizations and support groups in India are providing members of
LGBT groups a platform to express their identity, and discuss specific
issues while also allowing anonymity to its members.
2.4 ACCULTURATION 2.4.1 What Is Acculturation?
Acculturation is defined as ‘the dual process of cultural and psychological
change that takes place as a result of contact between two or more cultural
groups and their individual members (Berry 2005). At the group level, it
might involve changes in the social structure and practices/customs of the
group, and at the individual level it might involve changes in the
behaviour of an individual. Acculturation is a long process spanning many
years, an d generations and may sometimes span some centuries.
Acculturation is a cultural change that occurs as a result of the interaction
of two or more independent cultural systems. Following are some
features/characteristics of the acculturation process.
i. Acculturative change may be the consequence of direct cultural
transmission.
ii. It may be derived from non -cultural causes, such as ecological or
demographic modification
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19 Multiculturalism & Society - II iv. It may be delayed, as with inter nal adjustments following upon the
acceptance of alien traits or patterns
v. It may be a reactive adaptation of transitional modes of life. (Social
Science Research Council, 1954)
This cultural change may take place either in one group or may take place
in both the dominant i.e., the settled group and the non -dominant group.
This process may also result in a cultural change that is reactive in nature
brought about by rejecting the cultural influence from the dominant group
and reverting back to traditional/ old ways of life.
Figure 2.1: A general framework for understanding acculturation

Source: Berry, J.W. (2005) International Journal of Intercultural Relations
29, 697 -712
Graves (1967) emphasizes the idea of psychological acculturation which
refers to ch anges in the behaviour of an individual who is a participant in
the cultural contact situation where changes take place at two levels by
changing practices of a group of which he/she is a member and by being
directly influenced by the dominant group.
2.4.2 Acculturation Strategies :
The process and extent of acculturation for each individual or group may
not be uniform for all. The way each individual or group experiences the
process of acculturation may differ from group to group and may be
dependent on a number of external factors and the extent to which they
may seek to get involved in the process. These variations in acculturation
are termed acculturation strategies and may involve two components
namely, attitudes which include an individual’s preference s on how to
acculturate and behaviours that might be exhibited in day -to-day activities
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20 Berry (1980) developed a list of four acculturation strategies on the basis
of an individual’s preference and orientation toward one’s own g roup and
one toward other groups. Thus, an individual or group’s acculturation
strategy was defined in response to the following criteria 1) relative
preference for maintaining own cultural/ethnic identity and 2) relative
preference to maintaining contact with the larger society and other ethno -
cultural groups.
When individuals seek to maintain interaction with the larger society and
do not wish to maintain their own cultural identity/heritage, the
acculturation strategy is termed assimilation. Individuals using the
assimilation strategy prefer to be absorbed by the host/dominant group and
let go of their old heritage/cultural identity. In contrast, when individuals
attempt to maintain their own heritage and cultural identity and resist
contact or interactio ns with the larger society, the resulting process is
referred to as separation. When individuals prefer to interact and adopt the
practices of the larger society/other groups while also upholding the
heritage and values of their own cultural identity or gr oup, they are said to
have adopted the strategy of integration. As opposed to this, some
individuals or groups may have little interest in maintaining their cultural
identity and would also resist contact/interaction with the larger group.
This strategy wo uld then be termed marginalization. It is important to note
that the above strategies may be defined in the case of non -dominant
groups when they possess the freedom to choose the strategy they would
like to adopt for acculturation. Integration as a strate gy would require that
the society is open and inclusive and mutual accommodation is required
by both the dominant and non -dominant group for a group to have been
integrated into a setting/cultural context.
Figure 2.2. Four Acculturation strategies based u pon two issues, in
ethnocultural groups, and the larger society .

Source: Berry, J.W. (2005) International Journal of Intercultural Relations
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21 Multiculturalism & Society - II In some cases, the dominant group may force some type of acculturation
and may have the power to inf luence the way the process of acculturation.
This scenario where the dominant group dictates the process of
acculturation results in four other acculturation strategies for the members.
These are:
• When the dominant acculturating group seeks assimilation, it is
referred to as the "melting pot."
• When the dominant group forces separation, it is referred to as
"segregation."
• When the dominating group imposes marginalisation, it is referred to
as "exclusion."
• When diversity is embraced as a characteristi c of society as a whole,
encompassing all ethno -cultural groups, this is referred to as
"multiculturalism."
2.4.3 Acculturative Stress :
When the process of acculturation causes problems for acculturating
individuals, the observed phenomenon is referred to as acculturative
stress. Berry (1992) described two possible after -effects of the
acculturation process. The first result of the acculturation process is a shift
in the behaviour of an individual which is relatively easier and non -
problematic. This proces s involves three sub - processes namely culture
shedding, culture learning, and cultural conflict. Culture shedding involves
the selective, accidental, or deliberate loss of behaviours while culture
learning involves the replacement of those behaviours by n ew behaviours
that allow the individual to better fit with the society of settlement
(Furnham 2001). Thus, adjustments with minimal difficulty may be made
at this stage. However, some amount of cultural conflict may occur and
may be resolved differently de pending upon the acculturation strategy
adopted by a group. When conflict occurs in the case of assimilation, the
member may seek to adopt the norms and values of the dominant group in
order to minimize conflict. For those pursuing segregation, individuals
may seek to avoid conflict by withdrawing from the larger
customs/practices. For groups seeking integration, cultural conflict may be
avoided only when both groups/entities agree to make mutual
adjustments/accommodations. Whereas for individuals adopting
marginalization as a strategy, conflict may be an integral part of their lives
and may result in individuals showing little or no interest in either culture.
With respect to behavioural shifts, the fewest changes in behaviour are
observed on account of the separation strategy whereas the assimilation
strategy is accompanied by the maximum behavioural adjustments.
Integration strategies result in the selective adoption of new behaviours of
the majority culture while also retaining are customs/habits of the o riginal
culture/heritage while marginalization is often accompanied by major
cultural/heritage loss and development of new and dysfunctional
behaviour patterns such as delinquency and family and substance abuse
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22 The second effect of the accultu ration process is acculturative stress which
is stress experienced by individuals on account of making life changes due
to the process of acculturation. When individuals experience stress in
response to life events rooted in acculturation, the resultant ph enomenon is
understood as acculturative stress. This stress may include both positive
and negative reactions. With respect to acculturative stress, the integration
strategy is the least stressful while the marginalization strategy results in
the most stres sful responses. Assimilation and separation strategy result in
a moderate amount of stress for the individual.
2.4.4 Adaptation :
Adaption refers to relatively stable changes that take place in an individual
or group in response to external demands (Berry 2005). Individuals may
be able to accomplish some long -term adaptations in response to attempts
to deal with these acculturation changes. Adaptations may or may not
improve the fit between individuals and their environments. It is important
to note that adaptation may necessarily not translate into the use of an
assimilation strategy where individuals may change to become more like
their environments. It may also involve resistance or attempts to move
away altogether. Therefore, adaptation should not be o nly understood as a
positive response.
It is a multifaceted concept. Adaptation may be psychological and/or
socio -cultural in nature. Psychological adaptation largely involves one's
psychological and physical well -being while socio -cultural adaptation
refers to the extent to which an acculturating individual is able to manage
daily life (Ward 1996). Personality traits, social support, and life transition
all predict successful psychological adaptation, while cultural knowledge,
degree of contact, and posit ive intergroup attitudes predict good
sociocultural adaptation.
Research on adaptation and acculturation strategies has revealed that
integration results in better socio -cultural and psychological adaptation
while marginalisation results in poor socio -cultural and psychological
adaptation. Assimilation and separation strategies may be associated with
intermediate levels of socio -cultural and/or psychological adaptation.
2.4.5 Types of Acculturation :
Bogardus (1949) suggests that there are three types of ac culturation
namely blind acculturation, imposed acculturation, and democratic
acculturation. Blind acculturation refers to the phenomenon where people
of different cultures live near one another and cultural patterns are adopted
on a chance, hit, or miss b asis. Imposed acculturation refers to one group's
suppression of another group's culture and the forced imposition of their
own behaviour patterns and ideas. Democratic acculturation refers to the
phenomenon where representatives of one culture view anothe r culture
with respect.
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23 Multiculturalism & Society - II 2.4.6 Differences between Assimilation and Acculturation :
Several authors have tried to provide a conceptual framework for the
processes of assimilation and acculturation highlighting the differences
between the two. Some differen ces between the two processes based on
some key features are:
• Positive orientation towards outgroup: Assimilation requires a
positive orientation towards the out -group and identification with the
out-group while acculturation does not require a positive orientation
towards the members of the cultural patterns of the out -group.
• Direction: Assimilation is a uni -directional process. It involves
movement from one cultural group to another while acculturation has
been mostly understood as a bidirectional o r a two -way process where
both (dominant) and sub -dominant/ minority groups make changes in
their social structures. Acculturation is defined as a combination of
processes that result when groups of individuals come into continuous
first-hand contact with subsequent changes in the original culture
patterns of either or both cultural groups (Teske and Nelson, 1991)
• Acceptance by the out -group: Assimilation requires acceptance by
members of the out -group while acculturation may not require
acceptance by mem bers of the out -group.
• Change in value orientation: Some researchers highlight the concept
of antagonistic acculturation which refers to the “phenomenon of
resistance to the goals of the out -group”. Thus, acceptance of the
value orientation of the out -group may not be a necessity for
acculturation. While assimilation requires a change in the value
orientation of the in -group and acceptance of values from the out -
group.
• Nature of contact: Assimilation as a process takes into account both
secondary and primary group contact while acculturation only
requires contact of a secondary group nature.
• Nature of changes: Internal changes are not a prerequisite for
acculturation. Whereas for assimilation to occur, internal changes are
required.
Table 2.1: Comp arison of the salient characteristics of acculturation
and assimilation Acculturation Assimilation 1. A dynamic process A dynamic process 2. May be treated either as an individual or group process May be treated either as an individual or group process 3. Involves direct contact Involves direct contact 4. Does not require a change in values; Change in values required munotes.in

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24 though values may be acculturated 5. Reference group change not required Reference group change required 6. Internal change not required Internal change required 7. Outgroup acceptance not required Outgroup acceptance required
Source: Teske, R. H., & Nelson, B. H. (1974). Acculturation and
assimilation: A clarification. American Ethnologist, 1(2), 351 –367
2.5 SUMMARY The section also looked at violence agai nst women, the work -family
conflict faced by women and the prevalence of mental health disorders in
men and women, and factors contributing to the same.
The second part of the section talked about the LGBTQIA Community
and differentiated the constructs of sex, gender, and sexual orientation.
Sex was defined as a biological construct, gender was defined as a social
construct or the act of being masculine or feminine while sexual
orientation was defined as sexual and emotional attraction towards
members of th e same sex, opposite sex, or either sex. Homosexuality and
heterosexuality were discussed. The section defined the terms lesbians,
gays, transgender, queer, and bisexuals and also highlighted the
discrimination faced by the queer community in India.
The n ext part of the unit focused on acculturation. Acculturation or the
process of mixing together two cultures was discussed in the unit. We
looked at strategies of acculturation employed by different individuals
namely assimilation, integration, separation, and marginalization.
Assimilation is when individuals maintain interaction with a larger
community but do not seek to maintain their own heritage. Integration is
individuals adopt practices of the larger group but also maintain their own
heritage. Separati on is when individuals resist contact with the dominant
group while maintaining their cultural identity. Marginalization is when
individuals have little interest in maintaining their own heritage and also
resist contact with a larger group.
The phenomenon of acculturative stress was also discussed. We looked at
adaptation as a consequence of acculturation. Adaptation was defined as
relatively stable changes that an individual or group makes on account of
external demands.
The section also enlisted three t ypes of acculturation namely blind
acculturation, imposed acculturation and democratic acculturation. The
final part of the unit highlighted the differences between assimilation and
acculturation.

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25 Multiculturalism & Society - II 2.6 QUESTIONS A. Write Long Answers on:
1. What are Accult uration and acculturative stress? Discuss the
strategies of Acculturation.
2. Elaborate on gender as a cultural variable in the Indian context.
B. Write Short notes on:
1. Acculturative Stress
2. LGBTQ community in India
2.7 REFERENCES  Berry, J.W. (2005) . Acculturation: Living successfully in two
cultures. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29, 697 –71
 Malhotra, S and Shah, R. (2015) Women and mental health in India:
An overview. Indian Journal of Psychiatry. July, 57 (2). 205 -211
 Srivastava , S.S. (2014) Disciplining the 'Desire': 'Straight' State and
LGBT Activism in India. Sociological Bulletin. Indian Sociological
Society. 63(3) September to December, 368 -365.
 Teske, R. H., & Nelson, B. H. (1974). Acculturation and assimilation:
A clarific ation. American Ethnologist, 1(2), 351 –367
 Vindhya, U. (2007) Quality of Women's Lives in India: Some
Findings from Two Decades of Psychological Research on Gender.
Feminism & Psychology, Sage Publications. Vol 17(3): 337 -356.
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26 3
PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION - I
Unit Structure
3.0 Objectives
3.1 Introduction: Understanding Prejudice and Discrimination:
Introduction
3.1.1 Racial Attitudes and Prejudice
3.1.2 Causes of Prejudice
3.1.3 Characteristics of Prejudice
3.1.4 Types of Prejudice
3.1.5 Assessment of Prejudice
3.2 Discrimination
3.2.1 Development and Maintenance of Prejudice and
Discrimination
3.2.2 Methods of Reducing Prejudice and Discrimination
3.3 Summary
3.4 Questions
3.5 References
3.0 OBJECTIVES After studyi ng this unit, you should be able to:
 Define prejudice;
 Describe the nature of prejudice;
 Understand the characteristics of prejudice;
 Explain the nature of discrimination.
 Analyze the factors responsible for the development and maintenance
of prejudice and discrimination
3.1 INTRODUCTION: UNDERSTANDING PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION Prejudice is an important term in Social Psychology. Social Psychologists
tried to define prejudice from different viewpoints. Some psychologists
define prejudice as a preconc eived irrational judgment, while others define
it as an expression of dislike against members of some religion, race or
group. According to Secord and Backman, “Prejudice is an attitude that
predisposes a person to think, perceive, feel and act in favorabl e and
unfavorable ways towards a group or its individual members.” munotes.in

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27 Prejudice And Discrimination - I According to Baron & Byrne, “Prejudice is generally a negative attitude
towards the members of some social, ethnic or religious group.” Prejudice
whether it is negative or positive it deci des an attitude and has all three
components of attitude i.e., affective, cognitive and behavioral.
According to Allport (1954) prejudice is composed of generalized beliefs
and attitudes that are inherently negative. Prejudice is a strong negative
feeling about an individual based on generalizations one has about that
individual’s group. One can have negative and positive prejudice toward
the ingroup or outgroup. The ingroup represents the group to which the
individual belongs and Outgroup is the alien grou p to which
misconceptions or stereotypical reactions are linked.
Prejudice has also been identified as an attitude. As an attitude, prejudice
is viewed as having cognitive, affective, and behavioral components.
There are so many debates on this topic. In s hort Prejudice usually
 Occurs between groups.
 involves a positive or negative evaluation of a group.
 is a biased perception of a group.
 is based on real or imaginative characteristics of a group.
Racism and prejudice research has been guided by theory. St udies with a
focus on prejudice initially relied on psychodynamic perspectives. Gordon
Allport's seminal book, The Nature of Prejudice (Allport, 1954), also was
highly influential in the study of prejudice as it served as the foundation
for subsequent conc eptualizations. The social -cognitive perspective
(Hamilton, 1981) has led to studies of people's cognitions as they relate to
people, groups, or social situations. Social identity theory also has
influenced studies of paths by which stigma influences a tar get's self -
concept.
3.1.1 Racial Attitudes and Prejudice :
Racial attitudes and prejudice have been major area of study in the
psychology of race. Perhaps, as evidence of the importance and relevance
of this field of study, Nelson 12009) recently publishe d the Handbook of
Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination, in which past research and
theory are presented and synthesized.
3.1.2 Causes of Prejudice :
According to Oskamp’s review of four possible factors that cause
prejudice proposed by Duckitt (1992 ) is given below -
1. Genetic and evolutionary predispositions - at this level, intermediate
or short -term interventions are relatively nil because of their
biological foundation.
2. Societal, organizational, and inter -group patterns of contact and norms
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28 ground for inducing changes in interactions with others, for e.g., laws,
regulations, and norms of unequal access, which maintain the power
of dominant groups over subordinate ones.
3. Mechanisms of social influence that operate in group and
interpersonal interactions -This level of etiology focuses more on
heuristic influences such as mass media, the public education system,
and organizational work roles. For e.g., influences from t he mass
media, the educational system, and the structure and functioning of
work organizations.
4. Personal differences in susceptibility to prejudiced attitudes and
behaviors, and unacceptability of specific intergroup attitudes. At this
level, the perso nal differences are based on personality factors that
would make an individual susceptible to prejudice or non -prejudice
messages and attitudes.
Oskamp (2000) urges the importance of influential societal and
organizational laws and regulations by citing t he 1954 decisions of the
U.S. The Supreme Court outlawed segregation in public schools and equal
opportunity and affirmative Intergroup relations are generally affected
when norms and personal influences are considered. Psychologists usually
focus on group influences and interpersonal interactions to resolve
prejudiced beliefs, attitudes, and interactive patterns.
Stephan and Stephan (2000) propose a theoretical approach reviewed by
Oskamp (2000) on the causes of prejudice. In essence, the theory adds to
Duckitt's by including fears and threats as other major causes of prejudice.
Oskamp (2000) restates Stephan and Stephan (2000) four main bases of
prejudice:
1. realistic threats posed by an outgroup;
2. symbolic threats from an outgroup e.g., perceived group differences in
morals, values, standards, beliefs, and attitudes
3. intergroup anxiety in interactions with outgroup members for e.g.,
apprehension about negative experiences such as being embarrassed,
rejected;
4. negative stereotypes of the out group for e.g., negative expectations of
particular behaviors that will cause conflict and/or uncomfortable
interactions. (Oskamp, 2000).
All four bases are intertwined and operate in combination with one
another. Prejudice reduction interventions should a ddress all of these for
effective results. Additionally, cognitive or knowledge -based interventions
can lessen feelings of threat whether they are realistic or symbolic.
Interactive interventions can lessen negative stereotyping and intergroup
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29 Prejudice And Discrimination - I Researchers have linked stereotyping to prejudice (Lewin, 1948; Stephan,
1999; Sue & Sue, 2003), and they have found ways to measure
stereotyping and prejudice. Nowadays, stereotyping is considered a natural
consequence of cognition (Fiske, 199 8). It is important to understand that
children are exposed at a very young age to stereotyping and prejudices.
Initially, they are exposed to their parent’s beliefs and values, which in
turn may affect the internalizing of stereotypes and prejudices, thus
causing negative outgroup perceptions. However, there is contradictory
evidence regarding such negative perceptions (Aboud & Doyle, 1996).
children can develop their own biases from other individuals who may
influence them, even if their parents are more tolerant towards outgroup
differences.
Furthermore, children receive overt and covert information from the media
through movies, television, reading materials, video and computer games,
and other types of media experiences. Clearly, it is recognized that the
media are often less objective and/or may make mistakes in reporting
certain incidents of crimes which involve a particular ethnic group -thus
influencing the stereotyping and developing attitudes toward specific
ethnic groups. Stereotypes are therefor e maintained through social
cognition. Judgments are reached (whether they are accurate or not) and
quick evaluations are made of an individual or group. Consequently,
cognitions must change in order to destroy the induced cognitive
stereotype (Nelson, 200 2).
Practitioners are alerted to recognize that stereotyping is a "cognitive”
process. It is not related to any psychological fact or the result of deviant
characteristics (Nelson, 2002). Frequently, stereotyping has been
perceived as part of the mind's n ormal propensity to categorize (a
cognitive classification of similar objects in the environment) stimuli from
the environment (Duckitt, 1992; Nelson, 2002). Researchers have
questioned whether certain individuals are more prone to prejudiced
personalities than others. At present, there is no evidence that indicates
they are.
Current research tends to view prejudice as a cognitive process that
adheres to social categorization (Duckitt, 1991). Conversely, in their more
recent book on prejudice prevention, P onterotto, Utsey, and Pedersen
(2006) discuss a fairly new construct in psychology, the multicultural
personality. Research taken from counseling psychology, social
psychology, organizational psychology, feminist studies, and African -
centered psychology pr oposes that multicultural personality disposition
may be predictive of psychological well - being and assist in intercultural
ease (Ponterotto et al., 2006). A recent comprehensive definition of the
multicultural personality described by Ponterotto et al. ( 2006) identifies
several characteristics:
• The individual has attributes of emotional stability.
• The individual is confident in their ethnic identity.
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30 • The individual is eager to learn about new culture s.
• The individual interacts well with culturally diverse people.
• The individual spiritually connects to others.
• The individual is able to work with culturally diverse people.
Most impressive is the individual's ability to understand his or her bi ases,
openness to exploring other worldviews, and recognition of the effects of
racism and homophobia. This is a new area of research that, when
validated, will bring further understanding of personality types. An
assessment instrument that is deemed psych ometrically adequate and
recommended by Ponterotto et al. (2006) is the Multicultural Personality
Questionnaire (MPQ -Van der Zee & Van Oudenhoven, 2000, 2001).
In short, what children observe and how they are treated will impact their
behaviors and influe nce the formation of their identity.
3.1.3 Characteristics of Prejudice :
Psychologists have identified the following characteristics of prejudice:
Prejudice is acquired: Like attitude, prejudice is acquired through the
process of learning and socializati on. When born a child is like a blank
slate and is free of any kind of prejudice. It is only when the process of
socialization begins that a child starts imitating their parents and their likes
and dislikes. Norms, values, customs, and traditions of the so ciety of
which they are members make him prejudiced toward members of other
groups. Acquisition of prejudice is facilitated by classical conditioning,
instrumental conditioning, and observational learning.
Prejudice is functional: Prejudice helps the indiv idual justify his
hostilities, repressed desires and strengthens feelings of self -esteem and
prestige. It helps individuals justify their exploitation, and discrimination
of members of other groups.
Emotional overtones: Prejudice is always colored with em otions. It is
either for or against some group, community, or religion. If favorable, the
person would show too much affection, love, care, and sympathy for
members of another group. But if unfavorable the person would show
hatred, dislike, and hostility.
Prejudice is irrational: Prejudice does not lend itself to reason, wisdom,
and relevance. The individual does not change his prejudice in the face of
information and evidence to the contrary.
Prejudice has no connection with reality: It is primarily based on hearsay,
incomplete and wrong information, customs, and traditions of the society.
It can’t stand the test of logic and reasoning.

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31 Prejudice And Discrimination - I 3.1.4 Types of Prejudice :
Prejudices are of different types depending upon the social conditions of
the individual. Soc iologists and Psychologists explained the following
main types of prejudices:
• Racial prejudice: This is aimed at members of another race. For
example, Negros have been the subject of racial prejudice at the hand
of whites. Similarly, Jews were a target o f prejudice by Nazis in
Germany.
• Sex prejudice: This is for centuries women have been the target of
prejudice. They have been thought of as weak, dependent, and
intellectually less gifted than men.
• Caste prejudice: Indian social structure is the best example of such
prejudice. Our society is divided into numerous castes and each caste
is believed to have specific characteristics.
• Religious prejudice: In religious prejudice, an individual holds a
positive attitude toward his own religion and an unfavo rable attitude
toward other religions. Consequently, misunderstandings and
misconceptions about people of other religions crop up. Some other
prejudices are political prejudice, communal prejudice, etc.
3.1.5 Assessment of Prejudice :
School psychologists are advised to assess prejudiced attitudes to reduce
prejudice in children and youth. The abundant research on prejudice has
led to the development of assessment measures designed to evaluate
prejudicial attitudes and racism. Presently, racial prejudice se lf-report
measures focus on cognitive and affective aspects of prejudice. The
review by Ponterotto et al. (2006) covers some of the various
psychometric scales developed to assess prejudiced attitudes and racism;
they are all considered to have adequate ps ychometric properties (i.e.,
reliability and validity).
Psychometric Instruments :
The Quick Discrimination Index (QDI) (Ponterotto, Burkard, et al., 1995;
Utsey & Ponterotto, 1999): It is a Likert -type scale that was designed to
address cognitive and affe ctive aspects of prejudice. It comprises three
factors that measure cognitive attitudes toward racial diversity,
interpersonal -affective attitudes regarding racial diversity, and general
attitudes toward women's equality. It can be used with adolescents an d
adult populations.
Modern Racism Scale (McConahay, 1986): It measures whites' racial
attitudes toward blacks. Includes six - and seven -item versions of
unidimensional factors. It is appropriate for adolescents and adults. munotes.in

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32 Institutional Racism Scale (Bar barin & Gilbert, 1981): This scale
measures institutional racism and is appropriate for adolescents and adults.
Includes six factors and 72 items.
School -Based Prejudice Reduction Interventions :
Over the last several decades, several researchers have devel oped various
strategies for reducing prejudice. This section reviews informative
readings that describe several effective techniques for reducing prejudice
and bias.
• Dramatic plays: it was described by Gimmestad, B. J., & de Chiara, E.
(1982). This rese arch paper describes four plays about ethnic groups
(blacks, Puerto Ricans, Jews, and Chinese), and related classroom
activities to increase knowledge, improve attitudes about ethnic
groups, and reduce prejudice.
• Prevention of prejudice in elementary sc hool students: it was
described by Rooney -Rebeck, P., & Jason, L. (1986) in the Journal of
Primary Prevention. This article advocates the use of cooperative
group peer tutoring to improve interethnic relations among young
children.
• Research on reducing prejudice: it was described by Pate, G. S.
(1988) in the journal Social Education. This article discusses various
strategies for prejudice reduction (e.g., audiovisual strategies, films,
drama, television, cognitive approaches, and cooperative learning
approaches).
Teacher training aimed at the elimination of prejudice. The training
program includes curriculum materials, videotapes, and support manuals.
The A World of Difference project is tailored to the specific needs of the
school. This teacher training project is an excellent opportunity for school
psychologists to participate in and advocate for prejudice reduction
educational programs.
3.2 DISCRIMINATION Discrimination is the differential treatment of individuals belonging to a
particular social group or community or religion. It is generally the
behavioral expression of prejudice. Generally, the person discriminated
against is denied some privilege or right that is accorded to other members
of society who do not belong to the minority group.
The exte nt to which the members of the minority group feel discriminated
against and dislike or feel hostile toward the majority group is a function
of the relation between their comparison level and that of the majority
group.
If the minority group has the same comparison level as the majority
group, it will feel dissatisfied and hostile. But if the comparison is
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33 Prejudice And Discrimination - I occur. However, ‘minority groups’ use of comparison level relative to the
majo rity group depends upon past experiences, the outcomes available in
alternative relations, and structural and cultural factors. Sometimes
discrimination occurs without the accompanying feeling of prejudice. For
example, a proprietor may refuse to accept a patron member of a minority
group because he feels it would injure his business. He may not be
prejudiced toward those people but he gives priority to his business.
3.2.1 Development and Maintenance of Prejudice and Discrimination :
Psychologists have cate gorized the causal and maintenance factors of
prejudice as given below:
Historical facts: Prejudice and discrimination develop out of a history of
economic conflict as well as from political power distribution among
groups of people. Historical incidents led to the development of an attitude
that slowly takes the form of prejudice. In our society prejudice against
women is one such example. Women have always been considered weak,
and dependent, and such prejudice developed and atrocities were
perpetrated o n women and they kept tolerating them thinking it to be their
duty.
Status and Power Structures:
The structure of relations between two groups in terms of relative status
and power sometimes gives rise to prejudice. For example, where a
dominant group hol ds another group in a condition of slavery, slaves are
likely to be considered lazy, irresponsible, and lacking initiative. These
beliefs emerge from the fact that slaves act upon orders from their masters
and are not given an opportunity to demonstrate in itiative or
responsibility. Thus, their beliefs about them are consonant with their
behavior, which is controlled by the structure of relations.
Situational Factors:
The number of situational factors in the immediate environment of the
individual also lea ds to the development of prejudice.
Social learning:
Every individual during the process of socialization learns and acquires
beliefs, values, and attitudes through parents, school, and religion. These
agents of socialization invariably transmit prejudic es held by them to the
child. Besides childrearing practices adopted by parents have been shown
to help develop prejudice and discrimination. The scarcity of job avenues
and the abundance of applicants is one important economic factor for the
development o f prejudice.
Conformity to Norms:
Once prejudice and discrimination against the outgroup are well
established, the accompanying cognitions and feelings concerning the
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34 ingroup and the members expect each other to hold such attitudes. The
factors underlying conformity to the norms of prejudice may be explained
in terms of the varying reward -cost outcomes ensuing from conformity or
nonconformity. If prejudice and discrimination against ot her groups are
the norms, then the overt expression of prejudice and discrimination will
receive approval from other members of the group.
Interaction Patterns:
Several interaction patterns increase cohesion and thus strengthen the
power of the group to e nforce conformity to norms of prejudice and
discrimination. Any factor that makes members more dependent on the
group is likely to increase cohesion. Interaction patterns within the
ingroup may also increase the economic dependence of members upon
each oth er. Finally, if interaction within each group predominates over
interaction across group lines, the development of patterns of thinking,
feeling, and behaving uniquely to each group is fostered.
Psychodynamic factors:
Researches reveal that a number of ps ychological factors also give rise to
prejudice.
Frustration and Aggression:
Frustration also gives rise to prejudice. The underlying theory in it is
displaced aggression. According to this theory when an individual finds
some obstacle between him and hi s goal, he gets frustrated and becomes
aggressive toward the obstacle. Since the interfering agent is stronger and
more powerful and has the power to punish him this frustration and
aggression is displaced toward some weaker object. Thus, the weak person
or group becomes a scapegoat.
Authoritarian Personality:
Among psychological factors of prejudice authoritarian personality has
received much attention from psychologists. People with authoritarian
personalities exhibit rigid thinking. These tendencies pre dispose
individuals toward prejudice. Besides these people value people on the
scale of power, people above them in the power scale are attributed all
good characteristics, and people below them on the power scale are treated
as inferior and deserve to be exploited and hated.
Personality needs:
A variety of personality needs may support prejudice and discrimination.
One such need is “intolerance for ambiguity”. Persons differ in the extent
to which they are disturbed by confusing or ambiguous situations. S ome
persons like to have everything in black and white i.e., they are unable to
tolerate the least uncertainty or complexity in situations while some
persons are least disturbed by confusing or uncertain situations. In general,
it has been found that indiv iduals who are more intolerant of ambiguity are
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35 Prejudice And Discrimination - I clarify ambiguity and uncertainty embedded in the situation. Similarly, a
need to achieve superior status may be supported by prejudice, which
provides a group of persons lower in status than oneself. The need for
security may be satisfied through the rejection of outgroups.
3.2.2 Methods of Reducing Prejudice and Discrimination :
Psychologists have suggested a number of methods for reducing prejudice
which is as follows:
Intergroup Contact:
Allport was the first psychologist to realize the importance of intergroup
contact between a prejudiced person and the target person. Such
interactional situations provide the two parties an opportunity to know
each other from close quarters and understand each other thereby reducing
misunderstandings and misconceptions. However, for intergroup contact
to be effective certain conditions are to be met. Intergroup contact is an
effective method of reducing prejudice only in those conditions where
both the parties have equal status. Intimate and honest contact between the
concerned parties motivates the person to perceive members of the target
group more as humans than as stereotypes. Intergroup contact metho d is
more successful in situations where the success of both parties is
dependent on each other i.e., when a common goal is to be achieved. In
such a situation both parties are forced to understand each other in a better
manner.
Education:
Social psycholog ists emphasize that appropriate education has an
important role to play in the reduction of prejudice, particularly racial
prejudice. In it both informal and formal education is important. As far as
informal education is concerned parents ought to be encou raged not to
indulge before children in things which knowingly or unknowingly
promote prejudice. As for formal education, its syllabus and curriculum
should be designed to promote harmony between different sections of
society. It should aim at developing h ealthy minds. It has been found that
higher and better formal education leads to decreased prejudice and
increased liberalism. Recently, psychologists have devised a new method
called cultural assimilator. In this method, a group of prejudiced persons is
explained about traditions, norms, beliefs, and value systems of people of
other communities and races so that they can appreciate those
communities and races in the light of recent information. A number of
social psychologists have successfully used this m ethod.
Incongruent role:
It has been found that when a person is made to play a role contrary to his
prejudice it leads to a reduction in prejudice after some time. It happens
because playing such a role creates dissonance in the individual. This
dissonan ce gives rise to tension compelling the individual to change his
prejudice and restore the balance between his behavior and attitude. For munotes.in

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36 example, if a person prejudiced against a particular community is
entrusted with the task of the welfare of that commu nity, he is left with no
alternative but to change his prejudice because he is not able to change his
role.
Anti Prejudice propaganda:
Mass media has been helpful in reducing prejudice. In one of the studies,
it was found that films and documentaries aime d at reducing prejudice
have been successful in reducing prejudice by 60 percent. Some other
psychologists have reported anti -prejudice propaganda to be more
effective than formal education.
Social legislation:
This is another method of reducing prejudice . Governments in different
countries have adopted and enacted several legislations which prohibit the
expression of prejudice in any form. Any public manifestation of prejudice
is unlawful and liable to punishment.
Personality change techniques:
This is b ecause, for prejudice reduction to be effective, a person must have
a balanced personality and open mind. However, in cases where prejudice
is an integral part of the personality, it becomes imperative to seek the
help of therapeutic treatment. A number of psychotherapies have been
developed to help such persons. For example, play therapy is an important
tool for detecting prejudice at an early stage and bringing reformation in
the personality of children.
3.3 SUMMARY In this unit, we studied prejudice and its nature. What are the different
types of prejudices and what havoc do they play with society and
individuals. We also studied the characteristics of prejudice. Then we
studied discrimination, and what it means and we also discussed prejudice
and discrim ination. It was followed by a detailed discussion on the causes
of the development and maintenance of prejudice.
This chapter has highlighted the importance of prejudice reduction.
However, its central aim has been to entice the nascent multicultural
school psychologist to initiate, intervene in, and advocate for the
implementation of prejudice reduction programs and strategies at the
school and community levels. In conjunction with the initial intention of
imparting awareness and knowledge of the causes o f prejudice, the review
of racial/ethnic identity development models and the assessment of
prejudice and programs. were examined specifically to encourage
practitioners to see how these approaches hold a critical relationship to
school -based clinical pract ice. In the last, we discussed methods of
reducing prejudice.
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37 Prejudice And Discrimination - I 3.4 QUESTIONS 1. Write long answers:
a) What do you understand by the term prejudice? What are the different
types of prejudice?
b) Write an essay on factors of the development and maintenance of
discrimination and prejudice.
c) Discuss the psychological factors that give rise to prejudice and
discrimination
d) Explain how authoritarian personality and personality needs
contribute to the development of prejudice and discrimination?
3.5 REFER ENCES  Aronson, E., Wilson, T. D., & Akert, R. M. (2010). Social Psychology
(7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
 Crisp, R. J., & Turner, R. N. (2010). Essential Social Psychology (2nd
ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
 3. Gamst, G.C., Liang, C.T.H., Der Karabetian , A. (2011). Handbook
of Multicultural Measures, La Verne: SAGE

*****

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38 4
PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION - II
Unit Structure
4.0 Objectives
4.1 Introduction: Rights -Based Approach
4.1.1 Need for Human Rights
4.1.2 Human rights responsibilities
4.1.3 Human rights principles
4.1.4 The Limitations and Value of human rights
4.1.5 HRBA and psychological practice
4.1.6 HRBA and applied psychology training and Pedagogy
4.1.7 Applied Psychologists as a Practitioner
4.1.8 Challenges to the Assimilationist Notion of Citizenship
4.2 Equity and social Justice
4.2.1. Equity, Balancin g Unity and Diversity
4.2.2. Literacy, Social Justice, and Citizenship Education
4.2.3. The Bellagio Diversity and Citizenship Education Project
4.3 Summary
4.4 Questions
4.5 References
4.0 OBJECTIVES After reading this unit, you will be able to:
 Describe the Right Based Approach
 Understand the Equity
 Explain Social justice.
4.1. INTRODUCTION: RIGHTS -BASED APPROACH Human rights and applied psychology share one key focus, amongst
others: health and well -being. Whilst human rights and psychology shar e
many values, their limitations are intertwined, and human rights are
contested. Yet, human rights offer a tool that can help defend the human
rights of those we work with and support.
A human rights -based approach (HRBA) is defined, as one which draws
on a human rights framework and some key principles of human rights
and considers their relevance to psychological practice, research,
advocacy, and pedagogy.
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39 Prejudice And Discrimination - II Human rights are international legal standards, conceived and constructed
following World Wars I and II, first with the establishment of the United
Nations, an intergovernmental organization, then by the development and
adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 (UDHR).
The UDHR, together with the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (1966) with its two Optional Protocols and the
International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (1966)
formed the International Bill of Rights. The UDHR is the origin of the
other nine international legal treaties, which to gether with various regional
conventions, declarations, principles of law, agreements and judicial
decisions, form international human rights law. Whilst the doctrine of
human rights, as derived from international human rights law, promotes
human rights as norms that share key features, they are perhaps more
accurately to be understood as minimal moral claims, encoded and
established in legal language. They are the outcome of a political
enterprise of international consensus -building on morality, on what
governments should and should not do to those under their jurisdiction.
This political process has included the establishment of human rights
machinery, regional and international systems and peer review structures
to ensure accountability between States wit hin the international
community.
4.1.1. Need for Human Rights :
One compelling justification for human rights is that they seek to protect
against threats to fundamental human interests, and that “an account of
human rights requires reflection both on what are the most basic human
interests and on which political, social, and legal abuses are most
dangerous to those interests” (Nickel, 2004).In psychology, human rights
have often been ignored as peripheral: inequalities and injustices which
happen ‘out ther e’, in ‘other’ countries or by the ‘other’, rather than by us,
and within our psychological practices and institutions.
The term human rights framework refers broadly to human rights
responsibilities, commitments, and principles, which are based on
interna tional human rights law.
4.1.2. Human rights responsibilities :
Human rights responsibilities rest with the State which is obliged to
protect the rights of its citizens.
The responsibilities include:
1. The recognition that every individual, by virtue of being human, has
human rights. This includes people who use psychological/health
services, their carers and family members who are rights -bearers; and
staff working in State institutions or State Commissioned services
who are both rights -bearers and duty -bearers.
2. The State and public authorities, as duty -bearers, have a responsibility
to respect, protect and fulfill the human rights of each individual. It munotes.in

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40 includes the State, policy -makers, hospital managers and health
professionals) who work within St ate institutions, inspectors,
regulatory bodies and others. The term public authority covers private
organizations, including non -governmental or private organizations,
which are commissioned to carry out a public function on behalf of
the State.
3. Accou ntability for human rights:
This requires duty -bearers to provide mechanisms to ensure the social
determinants of health are known, understood and addressed; to monitor
discrimination and disparities in access to healthcare and support; and to
identify th e most vulnerable and marginalized. It helps duty -bearers to
explain their practices and to make necessary changes. It also allows
rights -bearers, including those who use services and their carers, to
understand how service providers have fulfilled their d uties.
4. Implementation of human rights:
Human rights are legally enforceable entitlements, which should be put
into practice. In healthcare, this means adhering to human rights
commitments and principles in service design and delivery, organizational
strategies and priority -setting, policies, commissioning and funding
processes; in the organizational culture, clinical practices, and in all
monitoring and evaluation activities of health services.
The right to health, first established in the United Natio ns International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, article 12)
is important for all health professionals. This is not a right to be healthy,
but the right to access healthcare providing equality of opportunity for
everyone to enjoy the highest attainable level of physical and mental
health. the right to health includes (a) Equal and timely access to basic
health services, the provision of health -related education and information
and services which are available, accessible, acceptabl e and of good
quality; (b) obligations for States to address the underlying determinants
of health, which include adequate nutrition and housing, healthy working
and environmental conditions, gender equality and health -related
education and information; an d (c) freedoms, such as the freedom from
torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and
freedom from non -consensual medical treatment and experimentation.
To understand how rights work in practice it is essential to understand tha t
different types of rights set out in the European Convention on Human
Rights allow for different types of lawful interference with them, under
certain circumstances. Absolute rights, such as the right to not be tortured
or treated in a cruel, inhuman, or degrading way, addresses any treatment
which causes severe pain or suffering, physical and/or mental. The
consideration of whether treatment amounts to torture or to cruel,
inhuman, or degrading treatment depends on the particular circumstances
of each ca se. As an absolute right, it cannot be limited or restricted in any
way or derogated from under any circumstance or situation – whether
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41 Prejudice And Discrimination - II An absolute right cannot be balanced against the needs of another
individual or public interests, except where two absolute rights need to be
balanced. The right to a fair trial and to not receive punishment without
the law is also a limited right; and it applies to both civil and criminal
matters, detention under mental health leg islation, employment matters
and dismissal from employment and expulsion from a profession or
withdrawal of license to practice a profession. Both rights can be limited
in certain circumstances although any restriction has to be explicit, lawful,
carefully justified by those responsible, and finite. Qualified rights are
those which may need to be balanced against the rights of others and in the
interests of the wider community, or public good, to achieve a fair
outcome (as decided by courts).
For example, t he right to respect private and family life, home, and
correspondence, highly relevant to healthcare, is a qualified right. It
includes protecting an individual’s private life; protecting (keeping
confidential) personal. information, including medical, fin ancial, and other
personal records, including the storing, sharing, and dissemination of such
information; and the right to access one’s own personal information (such
as health records).
4.1.3. Human Rights Principles :
Many of the principles underpinning human rights are similar to those
embedded in ethical codes for psychologists (e.g., Meta -Code of Ethics of
the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations, EFPA, 2005;
Universal Declaration of Ethical Principles for Psychologists), which are
also provided as a universally applicable framework (Gauthier et al.,
2010)). Of the numerous human rights principles embedded in many
international treaties and articles, twelve principles are summarized to
illustrate their relevance to psychological practice and all healthcare
(Table 2). The interdependence, indivisibility and inter -relatedness of
rights, together are an overarching human rights principle (Vienna
Declaration and Programme of Action, 1993), emphasizing the need to
consider rights together, sinc e the violation of one right can impair other
rights.
Another cross -cutting human rights principle is the need for gender and
cultural appropriateness. In the context of patients’ rights, the WHO states
that “everyone has the right to have his or her moral and cultural values
and religious and philosophical convictions respected” (WHO, 1994,
article 1.5). The right to health also requires health facilities, goods and
services to be “culturally appropriate, i.e., respectful of the culture of
individuals, min orities, peoples and communities, sensitive to gender and
life-cycle requirements” (UN, 2000, para.12(c)).
A gender -based approach recognizes “that biological and socio -cultural
factors play a significant role in influencing the health of men and
women” an d “where a gender perspective is integrated into health -related
policies, planning, programmes and research to promote better health for
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42 Similarly, equality and non -discrimination are important human rights
princip les, relevant to all healthcare (UN, 2009a). States have an
obligation to prohibit discrimination and a positive obligation to ensure
equality of opportunity for the enjoyment of the right to health by persons
with mental health problems (ICESCR, Article 2 (2)); UN, 2009 a, b).
States are also obliged to prohibit and eliminate discrimination on all
grounds in access to health services and address underlying social
determinants and prohibit and eliminate racial discrimination and
guarantee the right of everyo ne to public healthcare (International
Covenant on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination
(ICERD), article 5). The principle of non -discrimination extends to those
with mental health difficulties (UN 2017a) and requires States parties to
“recognize that persons with disabilities [physical or mental] have the
right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health without
discrimination on the basis of disability” (CRPD, Article 25).
The reliance on the person’s ability to pay can be seen as discrimination
against those without the adequate financial means to access the equal
quality of psychological healthcare. Yet, there are different qualities of
psychological care provided to different social groups and to those from
socially di sadvantaged groups (e.g., low -income families, ethnic minority
people or refugee people); and differential access to psychological
therapies, dependent on the national health structures and health -financing
systems.
4.1.4 The Limitations and Value of Hu man Rights :
There are many obstacles to the implementation of human rights globally,
including geopolitical and economic national interests, lack of political
will, weak or absent civil society, corruption, lack of an independent
judiciary, harassment of h uman rights defenders, lack of awareness and
understanding of human rights, fear of threats, marginalisation,
persecution, detention, torture, and ill -treatment. The reasons are multiple,
complex, and variable, differing from country to country.
At the the oretical and philosophical levels, human rights remain deeply
contested (for example, Ignatieff, 2001, An -Nai’im, 2016, Panniker, 1982,
Shachar, 2001). Human rights are arguably a substitute for traditional,
institutionalized morality. the classification o f some rights as absolute, and
hence as conclusively valid, always, is also contested (Gewirth, 1981).
Hence, whilst human rights are posited as minimum moral guarantees
encompassing fundamental principles of humanity, their context -
boundedness undermines claims to universality across contexts, cultures,
ethnicities, religions, political and philosophical backgrounds and history.
Human rights continue to evolve encompassing a wider set of values,
arguably consistent with ‘pluralist universalism’ (Parekh, 1 999), or
interpreting universalist values through a cultural lens, more akin to
‘relative universality’ (e.g., Donnelly, 2007). However, cultural rights
arguments can also be problematic in their propensity to reproduce
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43 Prejudice And Discrimination - II application of human rights, such that girls and women continue to be
most at risk of harm and rights violations.
Ignatieff (2001) suggests, what is important is what human rights can do
for people, an approach that a ssumes that no one would want to contest the
view that all human beings deserve to be free of violence, poverty,
insecurity, and that each of us should be allowed to pursue a ‘good life’
with peace, freedom, and safety. The recognition that every individua l is
worthy of respect and protection as a human being, and even more so
when a person is vulnerable to marginalization, exploitation, or harm, is
one of the core values central to both human rights and psychology.
The World Health Organisation holds that a “human rights -based
approach [HRBA] to health provides strategies and solutions to address
and rectify inequalities, discriminatory practices and unjust power
relations, which are often at the heart of inequitable health outcomes”
(WHO, 2015). The aims of HRBA are that States ensure that “all health
policies, strategies, and programmes are designed with the objective of
progressively improving the enjoyment of all people to the right to health”
(WHO, 2015).
In mental health, an HRBA is advocated by UN bodies. The UN’s High
Commissioner for Human Rights, noting that stigma, discrimination,
violations of human rights, and the denial of autonomy and legal capacity
are some of the challenges faced by those who use mental health services,
recommended policy shifts to include systematic inclusion of human
rights and the recognition of the individual’s autonomy, agency and
dignity and attention to the underlying social determinants; elimination of
stigma and non -discrimination, as well as the application of the principles
of participation, data collection/monitoring for accountability and free and
informed consent for treatment (UN, 2017b).
The implications of HRBA for practitioners have been largely neglected,
partly due to the lack of agreed definitions of an HRBA. In the UK, the
FREDA principles of human rights (fairness, respect, equality, dignity,
and autonomy) (Curtice and Exworthy, 2010); and the PANEL principles
(people’s right to participate in decisions that affect their lives;
accountability of duty -bearers; non -discrimination and prioritization of
vulnerable groups; empowerment of rights -holders; and legality) (Dyer,
2015), are put forward as part of an HRBA to health services. An HRBA
to applied psychology and mental health can be described as the ad option
of human rights as a conceptual framework for all aspects of healthcare,
from policy, research, practice, and monitoring; an approach that places
physical, psychological, and social health firmly within the context of
security, social justice, equal ity, and non -discrimination. Hence, an HRBA
frames health not just as needs but as rights to safety, various protections,
and freedoms, whereby every individual and community can enjoy health
and well -being.
For all psychologists and mental health profess ionals, the structural reality
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44 professional knowledge production, methods, practices, and professional,
academic, and regulatory institutions. The dynamics of power between
psychologists an d those we seek to support are also inevitable. In some
cases, the site of psychological assessment, formulation, therapy, or other
research or other psychological activities is the very source of
disempowerment and discrimination, raising human rights iss ues.
An HRBA also requires identification of the social determinants of health,
social inequalities, patterns of discrimination and human rights violations
which happen ‘out there’ and within health services and practices. It
requires an honest examination and acknowledgment of how and when our
practices and services lead to adverse consequences;
4.1.5 HRBA and psychological practice :
An HRBA implies that psychologists can promote human rights principles
and awareness in everyday professional practice with individuals, groups,
and communities, in different settings and services.
HRBA and advocacy :
An HRBA in psychology includes two levels of advocacy, individual -level
(specific to an individual case - individual or family); and policy -level
advocacy, both consistent with the role of psychologists as human rights
defenders.
4.1.6 HRBA and Applied Psychology Training and Pedagogy :
The adoption of an HRBA to psychology depends largely on the
commitment of diverse professional bodies and psychology training
institutions to prioritize and meaningfully engage with human rights. The
broad components of any human rights training would ideally include
knowledge and a critical appraisal of human rights and their relevance to
psychology; skills in applying human right s principles, alongside ethical
principles, in clinical practice, services, research, and advocacy. Human
rights education is important for all health professionals (UN, 2017a, para.
45) and ideally should be integrated at every level of the curriculum
prequalification; and post -qualification, it should be valued as a
continuous process of learning and professional development.
4.1.7 Applied Psychologists as practitioner :
The role of applied psychologists can be conceptualized as practitioner -
activists. Th e label of activism directly challenges traditional
psychological approaches which focus primarily on the psychological
manifestations and consequences of social adversity and rights violations.
In adopting an HRBA, it is important to recognise that every aspect of
psychological practice which is aimed at changing processes, whether
individual, interpersonal, familial, community, organizational or societal,
is activism factors and conditions which impact adversely on
psychological health and the well -being of individuals, families and
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45 Prejudice And Discrimination - II rights of all people to be treated as human beings with dignity. As
practitioner activists, psychologists acknowledge and seek to understand
and theorize th e relationship between social context, social injustices and
human rights violations, and health; they commit to an HRBA in
psychological practice, research, service design, and delivery. This in turn
demands that practitioner -activists name, expose and se ek to understand
the dynamics of power as well as address the root causes of suffering and
its impact. A practitioner -activist works in collaboration with others, such
as legal and advocacy practitioners, to engage in advocacy -related
activities which seek to promote and defend human rights and to help
prevent human rights violations, enabling access to justice and healthcare.
This requires more than human rights education, it demands changes in
our theories, methods of knowledge -production, professional tr aining,
regulatory bodies, and in our practice so that human rights -based practice
is a core, foundational competency
4.1.8 Challenges to the Assimilationist Notion of Citizenship :
An assimilationist conception of citizenship education existed in most of
the Western democratic nation -states prior to the rise of the ethnic
revitalization movements of the 1960s and 1970s. A major goal of
citizenship education in these nations was to create nation -states in which
all groups shared one dominant mainstream cult ure. The ethnic
revitalization movements of the 1960s and 1970s strongly challenged the
assimilationist conception of citizenship education. These movements,
triggered by the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, echoed
throughout the world. French a nd Indians in Canada, West Indians and
Asians in Britain, Indonesians and Surinamese in the Netherlands, and
Aborigines in Australia joined the series of ethnic movements, expressed
their feelings of marginalization, and worked to make the institutions
within their nation -states responsive to their economic, political, and
cultural needs.
Indigenous peoples and ethnic groups within the various Western
nations —such as American Indians in the United States, Aborigines in
Australia, Maori in New Zealand, Afric an Caribbeans in the United
Kingdom, and Moluccans in the Netherlands —wanted their histories and
cultures to be reflected in their national cultures and in school, college,
and university curricula (Eldering and Kloprogge 1989; Gillborn 1990;
Smith 1999).
Multicultural education was developed, in part, to respond to the concerns
of ethnic, racial, and cultural groups that felt marginalized within their
nation -states (Banks and Banks 2004). The right of ethnic and cultural
minorities to maintain important as pects of their cultures and languages
has been supported by philosophers and educators since the first decades
of the 1900s. Julius Drachsler (1920) and Horace M. Kallen (1924) —of
immigrant backgrounds themselves —argued that the southern, central,
and east ern European immigrants who were entering the United States in
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46 while enjoying full citizenship rights. Cultural democracy, argued
Drachsler, is an essential component of a political democracy.
In the first decades of the 1900s, Rachel Davis DuBois established school
ethnic heritage programs for European immigrant groups. Leonard
Covello was the principal of a community school that incorporated the
culture of Italian -American students (C. Banks 2004). More recently, Will
Kymlicka (1995), a Canadian political theorist, maintained that ethnic and
immigrant groups should have the right to maintain their ethnic cultures
and languages as well as participate fully in the civic cultures of
democratic nation -states.
4.2 EQUITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE 4.2.1. Equity, Balancing Unity and Diversity :
Cultural, ethnic, racial, language, and religious diversity exist in most
nations in the world. A delicate balance of diversity and unity should be an
essen tial goal of democratic nation -states and of teaching and learning in
democratic societies (Banks et al. 200l). Unity must be an important aim
when nation -states are responding to diversity within their populations.
They can protect the rights of minoritie s and enable diverse groups to
participate only when they are unified around a set of democratic values
such as justice and equality (Gutmann 2004).
Citizenship education must be transformed in the 21st century because of
the deepening racial, ethnic, cult ural, language, and religious diversity in
nation -states throughout the world. Citizens in a diverse democratic
society should be able to maintain attachments to their cultural
communities as well as participate effectively in the shared national
culture. Unity without diversity results in cultural repression. Diversity
and unity should coexist in a delicate balance in democratic, multicultural
nation -states.
4.2.2. Literacy, Social Justice, and Citizenship Education:
Literacy as defined and codified in the high-stakes tests that are being
implemented in most states in the United States is often interpreted as
basic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. Although it is essential
that all students acquire basic skills in literacy, basic skills are neces sary
but not sufficient in our diverse and troubled world.
Literate citizens in a diverse democratic society should be reflective,
moral, and active citizens in an interconnected global world. They should
have the knowledge, skills, and commitment needed t o change the world
to make it more just and democratic. The world’s greatest problems do not
result from people being unable to read and write. They result from people
in the world from different cultures, races, religions, and nations being
unable to get along and work together to solve the world’s intractable
problems such as global warming, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, poverty,
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47 Prejudice And Discrimination - II Multicultural literacy consists of the skills and abilities to identify the
creators of knowledge and their interests (J. Banks 1996), to uncover the
assumptions of knowledge, to view knowledge from diverse ethnic and
cultural perspectives, and to use knowledge to guide action that will create
a humane and just world.
4.2.3. The Bellagio Diversity and Citizenshi p Education Project :
Citizenship education needs to be changed in significant ways because of
the increasing diversity within nation -states throughout the world and the
quests by racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious groups for cultural
recognition and r ights (J. Banks 2004; Castles 2004). The Center for
Multicultural Education at the University of Washington has implemented
a project to reform citizenship education so that it will advance democracy
as well as be responsive to the needs of cultural, racia l, ethnic, religious,
and immigrant groups within multicultural nation -states.
The first part of this project consisted of a conference, “Ethnic Diversity
and Citizenship Education in Multicultural Nation -States,” held at the
Rockefeller Foundation’s Study and Conference Center in Bellagio, Italy,
June 17 –21, 2002 (Bellagio Conference). The conference, which was
supported by the Spencer and Rockefeller Foundations, included
participants from 12 nations: Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India,
Israel, Japan, Palestine, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and
the United States. The papers from this conference are published in
Diversity and Citizenship Education: Global Perspectives
One of the conclusions of the conference was that world migration and the
political and economic aspects of globalization are challenging nation -
states and national borders. At the same time, national borders remain
tenacious; the number of nations in the world is increasing rather than
decreasing. The number of United Nations member states increased from
80 in 1950 to 191 in 2002 (Castles 2004). Globalization and nationalism
are contradictory but coexisting trends and forces in the world today.
Consequently, educators throughout the world should rethink and redesign
citizenship education courses and programs.
Citizenship education should help students acquire the knowledge,
attitudes, and skills needed to function in their nation -states as well as in a
diverse world society that is experiencing rapid globalization and quests
by ethnic, cultural, language, and religious groups for recognition and
inclusion.
Another conclusion of the Bellagio Conference was that citizenship and
citizenship education is defined and implemented differently in various
nations and in different social, economic, and political contexts. It is also a
contested idea in nation -states throughout the world. However, there are
shared problems, concepts, and issues, such as the need to prepare students
in various nations to function within, as well as across, n ational borders.
An international group should identify these shared issues and problems
and formulate guidelines for dealing with them. In response to this
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48 Education at the University of Was hington created an international
consensus panel that is developing principles and identifying concepts for
educating citizens about democracy and diversity in a global age (J. Banks
et al. in press).
Increasing Diversity and Global Citizenship Education C itizens in this
century need the knowledge, attitudes, and skills to function in their
cultural communities and beyond their cultural borders. They also should
be able and willing to participate in the construction of a national civic
culture that is a mor al and just community. The national community
should embody democratic ideals and values,
The community cultures and languages of students from diverse groups
were to be eradicated in the assimilationist conception of citizenship
education that existed in the United States prior to the Civil Rights
Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. One consequence of assimilationist
citizenship education was that many students lost their original cultures,
languages, and ethnic identities. Some students also became alienated
from family and community. Another consequence was that many students
became socially and politically alienated from the national civic culture.
Members of identifiable racial groups often became marginalized in both
their community cultures and the natio nal civic culture because they could
function effectively in neither. When they acquired the language and
culture of the Anglo mainstream, they often were denied structural
inclusion and full participation in the civic culture because of their racial
chara cteristics (Alba and Nee 2003; Gordon 1964).
The Development of Cultural, National, and Global Identifications
Assimilationist notions of citizenship are ineffective in this century
because of the deepening diversity throughout the world and the quests by
marginalized groups for cultural recognition and rights. Multicultural
citizenship is essential for today’s global age (Kymlicka 1995). It
recognizes and legitimizes the rights and needs of citizens to maintain
commitments both to their cultural communitie s and to the national civic
culture. Only when the national civic culture is transformed in ways that
reflect and give voice to the diverse ethnic, racial, language, and religious
communities that constitute it will it be viewed as legitimate by all of its
citizens. Only then can citizens develop clarified commitments to the
nation -state and its ideals. Citizenship education should help students to
develop thoughtful and clarified identifications with their cultural
communities and their nation -states. It a lso should help them to develop
clarified global identifications and deep understandings of their roles in
the world community.
Global education’s major goals should be to help students understand the
interdependence among nations in the world today, to c larify attitudes
toward other nations, and to develop reflective identifications with the
world community
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49 Prejudice And Discrimination - II Nonreflective and unexamined cultural attachments may prevent the
development of a cohesive nation with clearly defined national goals and
policies. Although we need to help students develop reflective and
clarified cultural identifications, they also must be helped to clarify their
identifications with their nation -states. Blind nationalism, however, will
prevent students from developing reflective a nd positive global
identifications. Nationalism and national attachments in most nations are
strong and tenacious.
An important aim of citizenship education should be to help students
develop global identifications. They also must develop a deep
understand ing of the need to take action as citizens of the global
community to help solve the world’s difficult global problems. Cultural,
national, and global experiences and identifications are interactive and
interrelated in a dynamic way. Students should develo p a delicate balance
of cultural, national, and global identifications. A nation -state that
alienates and does not structurally include all cultural groups in the
national culture runs the risk of creating alienation and causing groups to
focus on specific concerns and issues rather than on the overarching goals
and policies of the nation -state. To develop reflective cultural, national,
and global identifications, students must acquire the knowledge, attitudes,
and skills needed to function within and acros s diverse racial, ethnic,
cultural, language, and religious groups.
The Stages of Cultural Identity Self -acceptance is a prerequisite to the
acceptance and valuing of others. Students from racial, cultural, and
language minority groups that have historical ly experienced
institutionalized discrimination, racism, or other forms of marginalization
often have a difficult time accepting and valuing their own ethnic and
cultural heritages. Teachers should be aware of and sensitive to the stages
of cultural develo pment that all of their students —including mainstream
students, students of color, and other marginalized groups of students —
may be experiencing and facilitate their identity development.
Stage 1 - “Cultural Psychology Captivity”: During this stage, indiv iduals
internalize the negative stereotypes and beliefs about their cultural groups
that are institutionalized within the larger society and may exemplify
cultural self -rejection and low self -esteem.
Stage 2 - “Cultural Encapsulation”: Individuals within this stage often
have newly discovered their cultural consciousness and try to limit
participation to their cultural group. They have ambivalent feelings about
their cultural group and try to confirm, for themselves, that they are proud
of it.
Stage 3 - “Cultural Identity Clarification”: individuals are able to clarify
their personal attitudes and cultural identity and to develop clarified
positive attitudes toward their cultural group. In this stage, cultural pride is
genuine rather than contrived.
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50 Stag e 4 - “Biculturalism”: In this stage, individuals have a healthy sense
of cultural identity and the psychological characteristics to participate
successfully in their own cultural community as well as in another cultural
community. They also have a strong desire to function effectively in two
cultures.
Stage 5 - “Multiculturalism and Reflective Nationalism”: Individuals at
this stage have clarified, reflective, and positive personal, cultural, and
national identifications and positive attitudes toward other racial, cultural,
and ethnic groups.
Stage 6 - “Globalism and Global Competency”: At this stage, individuals
have reflected and clarified national and global identifications. They have
the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to function effectively w ithin
their own cultural communities, within other cultures within their nation -
state, in the civic culture of their nation, and in the global community.
Gutmann (2004) argued that the primary commitment of these individuals
is to justice, not to any human community
Strong, positive, and clarified cultural identifications and attachments are
a prerequisite to cosmopolitan beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors.
4.3 SUMMARY Human rights set high international standards, yet the numerous political,
economic, cul tural, and other obstacles to the realization of human rights
may mean that for the foreseeable future, human rights remain partially
achievable and aspirational. For applied psychologists, often working with
those who are particularly vulnerable and disad vantaged, an HRBA
provides a framework and resources which complement our professional
and ethical obligations. Equity and Social Justice are really important. In
short, an HRBA enables psychologists to use their knowledge and skills,
as practitioner -activ ists, to help respect, promote and defend human rights.
The Bellagio Diversity and Citizenship Education Project promote social
justice.
4.4 QUESTIONS Write long answers:
a) Explain Human rights responsibilities
b) Explain Rights Based Approach Introduct ion
c) Explain The Bellagio Diversity and Citizenship Education.
4.5 REFERENCES  Banks, J. A. (2004) Teaching for Social /justice, Diversity and
Citizenship in a Global World. The Educational Forum.68,289 -298.
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51 Prejudice And Discrimination - II  Cerna, C. (1994). Universality of human right s and cultural diversity:
Implementation of human rights in different social -cultural contexts.
Human Rights Quarterly, 16, 751 -752. DOI: 10.2307/762567
 Curtice, M. and Exworthy, T. (2010). FREDA: A human rights -based
approach to healthcare. The Psychiatr ist, 34, 150 -156. DOI:
10.1192/pb.bp.108.024083
 Donnelly, J. (2007). The relative universality of human rights. Human
Rights Quarterly, 29(2), 281 -306. DOI: 10.1353/hrq.2007.0016
*****

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52 5
MULTICULTURAL ASSESSMENT – I
Unit Structure
5.0 Objectives
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Cross -cultural sensitivity in assessment: using tests in culturally
appropriate ways.
5.2.1 What is Culturally Sensitive Assesment?
5.2.2 Concerns in Culturally Sensit ive
5.2.3 Translation and Adaptation of Tests
5.2.4 Recommendations for Nonbiased Assessment Practices
5.3 Summary
5.4 Questions
5.5 References
5.0 OBJECTIVES After studying this unit, you will be able to understand:
 The importance of cultural sensiti vity in assessment.
 The meaning of cultural sensitivity
 Complexity and precautions to be taken in translation and adaptation
of tests
 Factors to keep in mind while doing nonbiased assessment
5.1 INTRODUCTION Educators, counsellors, and therapists often us e assessment tools to collect
information about their clients so that they can determine the line of
treatment. Educators use standardized tests to assess the academic
performance of students to determine whether they should be promoted to
the next grade. These assessment tools are used to gather information for
various other purposes too, such as career guidance, recruitment, training,
etc. Most of these tools have been standardized on white male Eurocentric
populations and do not provide an accurate pictu re when they are used on
populations from other cultures or minority groups. For example, such
tests do not accurately portray the true characteristics and abilities of
women, ethnic minorities, limited English speakers, and the physically
challenged. Sue (1998) bolstered this argument by pointing out that on a
speed test that has been developed in English, a non -English speaker will
take more time and will be at disadvantage than a person having English
as the native language. Moreover, their different exp eriential background
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53 Multicultural Assessment – I In fact, Mensh and Mensh (1991) pointed out that results from even a
standardized test can enhance the social, economic, and political hurdles
for racial and ethnic minorities. Considering such an encompassing and
long-lasting impact of the results of such testing practices, it is important
to use culturally appropriate tests. Darling -Hammond (2004b) reported
that in 1997 -98, more than 20,000 students were tested on standardized
tests pertaining to grades 3,6, and 8 and were found to be unfit to be
promoted to the next grade. Retaining students in the same grade and not
promoting them contributed to their future academic failure and also led to
behavioural problems. Similarly, in another study, it was found that white
population and minority community students were taught different
curricula because standardized test scores showed that minority
community students were scoring low on those standardized tests. Many
psychologists and educationists pointed out that if a student, who has been
schooled in a vernacular medium or through lower quality schooling,
scores even mediocre score on a test, it should be taken as a sign of his
dedication to studies and high ability. But most of the standardized scores
do not reflect this triumph of such a student.
Another problem with standardized testing is that if a student belongs to a
group about which there is already a negative academic stereotype, that
student becomes vulnerable to wrong int erpretation due to this negative
stereotype. For example, there is a negative academic stereotype about
women having low proficiency in mathematics or African Americans
having a low intellectual ability. In such cases, if the students are asked to
disclose their race, gender, or socioeconomic status before taking the test,
the negative academic stereotype becomes active and influences the
interpretation.
The multicultural assessment focuses on the evaluation of individuals,
taking into consideration their cultural context. Multicultural assessment
involves “a continuing and open -ended series of substantive and
methodological insertions and adaptations designed to mesh the process of
assessment and evaluation with the cultural characteristics of the gr oup
[individual] being studied” (Padilla & Borsato, 2008). Assessment results
influence educational opportunities, diagnosis, and employment.
Therefore, culturally appropriate testing practices are critical given the
potentially important and long -term con sequences for the examinee. Gray -
Little and Kaplan (1998) pointed out that many studies conducted to
investigate the psychiatric diagnosis of ethnic minorities showed that
psychiatrists and other mental health workers are often influenced by the
race and e thnicity of the client and make a biased clinical judgment while
making a prediction of diagnosis which is independent of symptoms.
Similarly, in forensic assessment, wrong interpretation of the test scores
can cost personal freedom and other legal liabili ties to a person of a
minority culture. Thus, it is very important to pay attention to cultural
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54 5.2 CROSS -CULTURAL SENSITIVITY IN ASSESSMENT: USING TESTS IN CULTURALLY
APPROPRIATE WAYS 5.2.1 What Is Culturally Sensitive Assessme nt?
Bringing cultural sensitivity to assessment is a complicated issue. A
common misnomer is that culture refers to only geographical, racial, and
ethnic differences only. In a multicultural society like America, cultural
differences also include factors such as English -language proficiency,
formal education, age of the migrants, generational status, for how long
that group has been residing in America, ethnic identity, and the degree of
acculturation, etc. (Sue, 1998).
Culturally sensitive assessment mus t ensure that while constructing new
tests or adapting the existing tests, determining the methods of
administering, scoring, and interpreting the results of these tests, one
should keep in mind the cultural characteristics of the targeted population
under investigation. All three components of an assessment are susceptible
to contamination through biases. For instance, in test construction, the test
items may be such that one cultural group has more advantages than the
other group. This was highlighted by Sternberg in the measurement of
intelligence. He pointed out that children raised in different cultures may
develop different competencies and cognitive abilities than children raised
in the dominant culture. So, to ensure equality in assessment, it is ess ential
to pay attention to the sociocultural context. Moreover, in the case of
norm -referenced tests and criterion -referenced tests, it is essential to see
that not only norms are recent but also that they are representative of the
cultural values of the p opulation being tested. Even if the test is well
constructed, biases can occur at the time of test administration. These
biases can take place due to the formatting of the test, the mode of test
administration, or the personality of the tester, which may f avour one
group of test takers over another. The bias can also be due to the wrong
application of the test. For instance, to select a candidate for a job, a test
may be used that does not represent the tasks to be performed on the job.
The outcome of such a bias in the selection process will be unfair
treatment and unequal opportunity or access for some groups.
The problem of unfairness in assessment is becoming more and more
acute as the school -age migration population is rapidly increasing in
developed co untries. It is also becoming a cause for concern in developing
countries where the population belonging to lower socioeconomic strata
and having limited or no English proficiency is aspiring to enter formal
education, where the medium of instruction is Eng lish. So, there is a need
to lay down the guidelines for not only the administration of the tests but
also for selecting appropriate tests that are not racially and culturally
discriminatory.

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55 Multicultural Assessment – I 5.2.2 Concerns in culturally sensitive :
According to The Ethi cal Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct
(American Psychological Association [APA], 1992), test developers must
give detailed information about the limitations of the test for the
individuals and the groups being tested. This aspect becomes all the more
important if the outcome of these tests is going to influence the social
policies or will prove to be disadvantageous to a particular age group,
gender, ethnic or socioeconomic group, etc. Gregory and Lee (1986)
pointed out that examiners should n ot only be careful about choosing an
appropriate test but also ensure that the test does not appear to be
discriminatory in either administration or interpretation too. When
choosing a test to be administered to the migration population, it is
important fo r test users to consider migrants‟ native language, immigration
information, educational status, and cultural background into account.
This information will indicate the migrant populations‟ proficiency in
language and culture related to the test.
5.2.3 Translation and Adaptation of Tests :
Many research studies have shown that test scores of those having English
as their mother tongue are far better than those who learn English as a
second language. However, this gap in their performance reduces
significa ntly when the language demand of the test items reduces. To
overcome this disparity and to reduce the language demand, many
researchers resort to translating an English instrument into another
language. But this practice is also not error -free. Inadequate ly translated
and adapted tests from one source language to another language can
greatly compromise the accuracy of the results. Abedi et.al. (2004) pointed
out that while translating a test from one language to another, the biggest
challenge is to maintai n the exact equivalence of the construct being
measured.
Geisinger (1994) has given certain guidelines for the translation and
adaptation of a test from one language and culture to another language and
culture. These guidelines are:
• Individuals translat ing or adapting an assessment instrument should
not only be fluent in the two languages, but also fully knowledgeable
about both cultures, the content that the instrument purports to assess,
and the uses to which the instrument will be put.
• A group of in dividuals who meet the same rigorous requirements as
the translators should review the quality of the translation or
adaptation, and any recommendations for change should be
incorporated subsequently.
• The instrument should be pilot - and field -tested.
• Scores must be standardized and necessary validation research
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56 If we follow these guidelines strictly, it will be apparent that translating an
instrument is not an easy job and it takes lots of time. The complexity of
translating an instrument bec omes more profound because first of all,
directions given in the test are too technical or „foreign‟ to allow exact
translation. Secondly, it has been noticed that translations produced by
practitioners do not have the same meanings as the original test l anguage
and cannot be translated back in exact terms. Thirdly, the psychological
construct that a test is measuring may be specific to one particular culture
and may not be available in the culture of the test taker. In other words, it
may not be a univers al psychological construct. For example, in the case
of achievement tests, the content of the test can differ significantly from
one culture to another culture or from one language to another language.
Auchter and Stansfield (1997) reported that it was di fficult to translate an
achievement test from the English language to the Spanish language due
to certain idiomatic expressions used in the English version that did not
have equivalent expressions in the Spanish language.
Another problem can be that the test taker‟s attitude towards test
directions and procedures may differ from culture to culture. Furthermore,
Brislin (1970) pointed out that there are no standardized translation
procedures developed so far that can systematically and objectively assess
the equivalence of psychological construct and its translation through
different languages and cultures. Even if a psychologist has been careful in
translating an instrument and has taken all precautions, it is important to
have a pretest or pilot study tes t of the translated test to find out the
undetected errors that might have cropped in. So, back translation and a
pilot study of the translated instrument is the bare minimum requirement
for having a good quality translation of an instrument. Due to all t hese
complexities in translation and the cost and time involved in properly
translating an English test into another language is done only when there is
a sufficiently large number of non -English speaking test takers belonging
to a specific culture.
Werne r and Campbell (1970) suggested that to have error free translation
of the original psychological instrument, the researcher must have a team
of researchers having expert knowledge of both the topic under study and
should be indigenous to the culture of th e target population under study.
Brislin (1980) listed out 12 guidelines for developing psychological
instruments that can lead to good -quality translation. These are –
1. Short, simple sentences of not more than 16 words should be used.
2. Active voice instead of passive voice should be used.
3. Use nouns repeatedly instead of using pronouns.
4. Metaphors and colloquialisms should be avoided as such phrases are
not likely to have equivalents in the target language.
5. The subjunctive mood should be avoided (that is, expressing wishes,
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57 Multicultural Assessment – I keep studying psychology all day.". So, these are verb forms with
could or would).
6. In single -country research, ensure to provide sentences that give
context for important ideas and redundancy.
7. Avoid adverbs and prepositions giving directions about where or
when (e.g., frequently, beyond, around).
8. As far as possible avoid possessive forms.
9. Use specific rather than general terms (e.g. , the specific animal‟s
name, such as cows, chickens, or pigs, rather than the general term
such as livestock).
10. Avoid vague words (such as probably, frequently) about an event or
thing.
11. As far as possible, use words that the translators are fam iliar with.
12. Avoid sentences with two different verbs if the verbs suggest two
different actions.
5.2.4 Recommendations for Nonbiased Assessment Practices :
By now it is obvious that, right from the beginning, an assessment that is
contaminated with cul tural biases is one of the causes of constant error in
making inferences about the members of a community that is culturally
different from the one making inferences. Researchers have been aware of
this source of error and have been applying various strat egies to reduce or
eliminate it. For example, researchers have been trying to develop culture -
fair tests in which cultural and verbal parts of testing are reduced.
Similarly, they have been also developing different norms for different
cultural groups. Fo r instance, Mercer (1979) developed the System of
Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment (SOMPA) to ensure that members of
the non -dominant sociocultural group do not get adversely affected by
discrimination that takes place due to misinterpretation of their test scores.
Though he propagated that there should be different norms for different
groups, and developed techniques to develop differentiated norms, it was
later rejected by civil rights legislation.
Even if group -adjusted norms are developed, it has b een observed that
very few psychologists have the knowledge and expertise of ensuring that
cultural bias does not creep in when they are conducting assessments of
people belonging to a minority community or different backgrounds. It has
been observed that school psychologists make better decisions than other
psychologists when choosing an appropriate and equitable test to be
administered to students as they are more familiar with the students and
their backgrounds. (Lam,1993).
Many research studies in the e ducational field, that have been conducted
on a minority population, have resulted in wrong interpretations of the
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58 the paradigms of these studies. Most of these studies have been
comparative studies that have compared people belonging to different
cultures, social classes, gender, or language groups. However, the
response pattern of the respondents to questions in an interview or in a
questionnaire depends upon their cultural backgro und. This has been
amply demonstrated by Sternberg‟s research on intelligence. It is
important to involve members of the community (on whom the study will
be conducted) in designing the questionnaire for the survey or even for an
interview. They should be involved not only in determining the question
items but also in the mode of administration, interpretation, and
development of the norms.
Instead of conducting comparative studies, the researchers should study
any particular ethnic group for its own sake and not just compare it with
the dominant culture group or any other group. While conducting
comparative studies, the researchers must ensure that the instrument that
they are using is not biased and does not inadvertently favour any specific
group over a nother group.
The researchers conducting research in the educational field must be
careful while conducting research on a minority group. They need to
ensure that they are not concentrating on such groups‟ failures in the
educational system. Instead, they should be looking at the ways and means
of ensuring the success of such minority groups, no matter what the tasks
are and whatever the levels of difficulty of doing these tasks are.
They should also ensure that their instruments can sufficiently assess t he
changes in behavior or learning taking place due to the treatment or
educational programs. In other words, the instrument should be reliable
enough to give proper pretest and posttest scores.
The researchers who are designing the questionnaires and lat er on the test
users must keep in mind that test performance gets impacted by inequality
in educational opportunity, parents' educational attainment, cultural
orientation, language spoken at home, proficiency in English, socialization
experiences, family s tructure and dynamics, family income, and level of
motivation to do well. Being aware of such confounding factors that can
influence the test performance will help them in choosing an appropriate
test and later on in the appropriate interpretation of the s cores.
Most psychometric tests are constructed by taking an archetypal middle -
class sample. The test administrators who are aware of and are at ease with
the traditional customs and communicative styles of those who do not
belong to a typical middle class will have high cross -cultural assessment
competency. The test administrator can either put in an effort to increase
his own cross -cultural competencies or he can involve a minority
community member in choosing an appropriate test to be used in that
minori ty group. This will help in building up a rapport with that minority
group and enhancing trust in the testing procedure. With an appropriate
instrument used, the results given by the minority group will also be more
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59 Multicultural Assessment – I To ensure that cultural biases are kept at the bay, it is essential that more
and more qualified minority psychologists are given training in test
construction and psychometric testing. Simultaneously, concentrated
efforts should be made to increase the cultural sensitivity of the
psychologists from the dominant culture and they must be made aware of
the role of cultural biases in erroneous interpretations of the tests.
5.3 SUMMARY Assessment is an integral part of career counselling, cli nical treatments
and of education. Psychologists and counsellors use standardized tests to
do assessment. However, one the most glaring problem is that most of the
standardized tests are standardized on white population in America. Their
use creates more s ocial, economic and political problems for ethnic
minorities and for migrants instead of helping them.
Very often the diagnose given by mental health workers and psychiatrists
for a client belonging to minority community is influenced by their own
prejudi ce and stereotypes about that community. To be impartial and
accurate it is important for mental health workers and psychiatrists to be
culturally sensitive. Even the researchers who are developing new tests
must be culturally sensitive while determining t he question items,
administration, scoring and determining the norms of a new test.
It has also been found that subjects who have English as their mother
tongue get better scores on the tests than those who either do not have
proficiency in English langu age or use English as their second language.
In fact it has been found that those subjects who use English as their
primary language but their parents speak another native language, also do
not perform as well as those having English as native language. Ve ry often
it is necessary to translate or adapt a standardized test to suit a particular
culture. In translation and adaptation of a test one needs to keep in mind
that translator should be fluent in both languages - English and the
language in which it is being translated. Then it should be reviewed by
another set of people who also have expertise in both the languages. The
third step is to back translate the new instrument and test it through pilot
study. Then norms need to be developed appropriate to the specific
cultural group for which it is being developed. Brislin has given 12
guidelines for developing a test that can lead to good translation.
It is recommended to use Mercer‟s (1979) System of Multicultural
Pluralistic Assessment (SOMPA) to ensure tha t members of non -dominant
sociocultural group does not get adversely affected by discrimination that
takes place due to misinterpretation of their test scores. Psychologists must
have the knowledge and expertise of ensuring that cultural bias does not
creep in when they are conducting assessment of people belonging to
minority community or different backgrounds. It is also recommended that
psychologists should avoid conducting comparative studies where they
compare one ethnic group with dominant cultural gr oup. Furthermore, it is
recommended that more and more qualified minority psychologists are
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60
5.4 QUESTIONS 1) What is meant by cultural sensitivity and what is its importance in
assessment.
2) What are the complex issues in translation and adaptation of tests and
what precautions can be taken?
3) What will you recommend to do nonbiased assessment?
5.5 REFERENCES  Elrich, H. (2003). The Social Psychology of Prejudice: A systematic
Theoretical R eview and Propositional Inventory of the American.
New York, Wiley.
 Gamst, G.C., Liang, C.T.H., Der -Karabetian, A. (2011). Handbook
of Multicultural Measures, La Verne: SAGE
 Garrett McAulifee & Associates (2008). Culturally Alert Counselling:
A Comprehen sive Introduction, Sage Publications.
 Sue, D.W., Sue, D. (2012). Counselling The Culturally Diverse:
Theory and Practice (6th Ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
 Sue, Sue D.W. (2006) Multicultural Competencies: Individual and
Organizational Develop ment, Sage Publication, New Delhi.

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61 6
MULTICULTURAL ASSESSMENT – II
Unit Structure
6.0 Objectives
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Ethical Issues in multicultural assessment
6.3 Writing psychological and educational reports for culturally and
linguistically diverse client
6.4 Summary
6.5 Questio ns
6.6 References
6.0 OBJECTIVES After studying this unit, you will be able to understand
 Ethical issues that plague multicultural assessment
 Concerns to be addressed while writing a psychological and
educational reports for culturally and linguistically diverse client
6.1 INTRODUCTION Psychological assessment is a very complicated decision -making process
that gets influenced by various sociocultural factors. It poses many ethical
challenges and these challenges become more acute, especially in the case
of multicultural assessment. Many times, the request for a psychological
assessment of an individual, comes from another person or institute, and
not from the person undergoing the assessment. The referring authority
may use the results of the assessment f or making decisions about
academic performance, disability status, clinical diagnosis, etc. Thus,
psychological assessment can have a profound impact on the lives of
people who had been subjected to psychological assessment. For example,
studies have shown that for a long time in the past, in America, very
frequently, African American patients were wrongly diagnosed with
schizophrenia instead of being diagnosed with affective disorders. Ridley
(2005) termed it a race -based misdiagnosis.
It is the responsib ility of psychologists to take utmost care and precaution
while doing the psychological assessment, especially when it involves
assessing people from diverse cultural backgrounds. If the psychologists
assessing subjects from another culture are not careful , there are chances
that they might commit the error of either overemphasizing or
underemphasizing the influence of subjects’ cultural background on their
test performance or they may pay too much attention to a client’s personal
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62 influenced his test performance. Ethically, it is important for an assessor to
consider an assessee’s sociocultural environment as well as his personal
lived unique experiences while making a judgment about that pe rson.
Especially in the case of multicultural assessment, it is important that
psychologists pay attention to ethical considerations, even before starting
the assessment, during the assessment, and even after the assessment is
over and they have to submit the report.
For instance, to assess a person from another culture, they need to choose
a culturally suitable instrument and use norms that are appropriate for that
cultural group. In case, they have to use interpreters, they need to take
informed consent from the client, and make sure that the interpreter is a
trained one and is not only proficient in both languages but is also well
versed with both cultures – the one in which the original instrument was
constructed and the other one in which the translat ed version of the test
will be used. Psychologists also need to be sensitive to the fact that a
person’s behavior is influenced not only by his sociocultural environment
but from his own subjective experiences in that social environment. While
determining the meaning of his responses and interpreting the scores, the
psychologists should be able to pay attention to the client’s subjective
experiences as well as their interaction with the sociocultural environment.
There are many such ethical considerations that a psychologist must
adhere to. Let us look at some of them in detail
6.2 ETHICAL ISSUES IN MULTICULTURAL ASSESSMENT The Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct [APA Ethics
Code] (APA, 2002) gives guidelines to be followed by psychologi sts
while fulfilling their professional roles as psychologists. This will include
their professional activities in clinical, counseling, and school settings; in
research, teaching, policy development, social intervention, development
of assessment instrume nts and conducting assessments, educational
counseling, organizational consulting, forensic activities, program design,
and evaluation, etc. APA Ethics Code has five general principles (A -E)
and certain Ethical Standards specified. These five general princ iples are
not obligatory but desirable for high ethical conduct. Let us understand
Principle E out of these five principles, which holds importance in the
assessment process.
Principle E: Respect for People’s Rights and Dignity
Out of these five principles , principle E states that psychologists must
have respect for people’s rights and dignity. They must respect the right to
privacy, confidentiality, and self -determination. They must put in extra
effort to safeguard such right especially people from the min ority
community or those who are vulnerable and may not be able to or allowed
to make independent decisions about themselves. While working with a
client, psychologists must be sensitive to and respectful of cultural,
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63 Multicultural Assessment – II gender identity, race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, religion, sexual
orientation, disability, language, and socioeconomic status.
There are ten Ethical standards given in APA Ethics Code (2002). It is
compulsory fo r psychologists to adhere to these Ethical Standards.
Competence:
The second ethical standard deals with competence. It states in 2.01
ethical standard (a) that psychologists should render their services, and
indulge in teaching and research with only th at population and only in
those areas where they have competence in terms of their education,
training, supervised experience, consultation, study, or professional
experience.
They should have scientific or professional knowledge of factors related to
age, gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, culture, national origin,
religion, sexual orientation, disability, language, or socioeconomic status.
If they don’t have that competence, then they should undergo relevant
education, and training and gain experi ence before rendering their services
in that area.
For maintaining high ethical standards in psychological assessment, they
must pay attention to factors such as the selection of culturally appropriate
tests, their own competence to administer and interpre t the test, the need
for translation, and adaptation of the test.
Multicultural Competence:
In the context of multicultural assessment, competence is defined as "the
ability and committed intention to consider cultural data in order to
formulate accurate, comprehensive, and impartial case conceptualizations"
(Ridley et al., 2001).”
The need to have multicultural competence was highlighted by Fischer
and Chambers (2003). They found that many psychologists do not have
competence in adjudging client accultura tion, while using assessment
tools and interpreting the results they did not take into account the culture
of the client. They could not resolve multicultural predicaments and
unintentionally indulged in racism, chose culturally inappropriate tools,
and mi sinterpreted culturally specific behaviors that were different from
their own culture.
The Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice,
and Organizational Change for Psychologists [Multicultural Guidelines]
(APA, 2003) aimed to pro mote multicultural competence by encouraging
them to realize that they are also cultural beings, influenced by their own
cultural norms. There is a high possibility of their own beliefs and
attitudes that are shaped by their own culture may have an adverse impact
on their perception and interaction with people from other cultures. In
nutshell, they must develop cultural sensitivity. Enhanced self -awareness
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64 other groups. With increa sed awareness of multicultural distinctions,
psychologists will be able to respect cultural diversity more and will have
more competence in multicultural assessment.
Language and Competence in Assessment Administration :
Studies have shown that if there i s a difference in the languages of the
assessor and assessee, it will adversely affect the accuracy of the
assessment process. Neither the client will be able to give accurate
information, nor the psychologist will be able to draw meaningful
information fr om the client. However, this problem can be circumvented
to a great extent if the psychologist uses the services of a well -trained
interpreter. If the psychologist does not have the required language
competency and if it is not possible to hire a well -trained interpreter, then
the psychologist should refer the case to an appropriate referral.
In 2015, it was felt that there is a need to revise Multicultural Guidelines
and divide them into two parts – one that covers universal factors that are
applicable across various identity groups, for example, factors such as age,
disability, race, ethnicity, gender, religion/spirituality, sexual orientation
and gender diversity, social class, language, immigration status. The
second part of the multicultural guidelin es covers race/ethnicity -related
developments in research that have taken place after the 2002
Multicultural Guidelines were adopted.
Assessment Tool Selection :
For most of the standardized psychological instruments, the norms are
developed by taking whi te, middle -class population, and mostly Western
approaches to assessment are used. Most of these standardized tools are
culture -specific and suitable for European Americans, but they are
wrongly assumed to be suitable for all cultures. It will be unethical and the
results will be inaccurate if such standardized instruments, which are so
culture -specific, are used to assess the multicultural population.
Psychologists must use instruments that have metric equivalence and
cross –cultural validity. Metric equiv alence will facilitate a direct
comparison of the scores across cultures and cross -cultural construct
validity will facilitate the empirical measurement of the construct, across
the culture.
Padilla (2001) pointed out that very often assessment instrument s selected
by the psychologist fail to identify cultural bound symptoms of a problem.
For example, very often psychopathological symptoms reported by the
immigrant population are connected to acculturative stress. For example,
in one of the research studie s conducted on Latino immigrants, there was a
predominant prevalence of a folk illness called “susto” – having symptoms
of fright disorder that takes place due to traumatic experiences. But
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory II (MMPI -II) failed t o report
this illness.
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65 Multicultural Assessment – II Therefore, it was suggested that a psychologist must collect
multidimensional information through a cultural measurement before
starting the actual assessment process. In other words, the psychologist
must collect information about culture -specific attitudes and values,
socioeconomic status, immigration status, and language proficiency and
preferences of the ethnic minorities. One can use informal cultural
orientation interviews to support the formal psychological assessment
process . Through such interviews, the psychologist can collect information
about family, culture -specific psychopathologies and about the culture of
that ethnic minority group in general.
Adaptation and Translation of Assessment Measures :
APA Ethics Code sugges ts that the assessment should take place in the
participants’ preferred language. To assess a person whose mother tongue
is not English, the psychologist will have to use instruments that are
translated into the subject’s primary language. However, transl ating an
instrument into another language is not a simple task. It is a lengthy and
costly process and a psychologist need to take utmost precautions to
ensure that the translated instrument is not faulty.
First of all, even before getting an instrument t ranslated into another
language, psychologists need to see whether that instrument takes into
account the social -cultural factors that shape the thinking of the
respondents, that is, whether it has cultural validity or not. There might be
certain construct s in the dominant culture that are not available in other
cultures. Secondly, they also need to ensure translation validity. Very
often, instruments constructed in English have many technical words that
are difficult to be translated into other languages.
To ensure cultural and translation validity, it is imperative for a
psychologist to follow all guidelines rigorously. A translated version of a
test will have high translation validity if the original instrument and the
translated version of that test a re equivalent in linguistic, functional,
cultural, and metric equivalences to guard against validity threat (Pena,
2007).
Administration/Application of Assessment Techniques :
Many psychologists, especially European American psychologists, assume
that the assessee will undergo psychological assessment without any
hesitation or apprehensions. But people from non -European American
cultures may consider this assumption to be rude and intruding on their
privacy and therefore may not cooperate with the psycholog ist. The
psychologist interacting with people from diverse cultures must adapt his
way of approaching the client and communication style as per the culture
of the client. Right from the beginning, he must put in the effort to develop
a relationship where t he client can trust him, develops a positive attitude
toward the psychological assessment, and is willing to cooperate with the
psychologist. To develop such a trustworthy relationship, the psychologist
should clarify any doubts that an assessee has, patie ntly take care of any
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66 consent, he should administer the test to him. APA Ethical Code (2002)
specifies that the psychologist must ensure that the assessee is capable of
giving informed c onsent and is willing to give such consent. The assessee
should be provided detailed information about the psychological
instrument and assessment, either in writing or orally in the language of
the participant’s choice. The language should be very simple language
having no or minimum technical words.
They should be given detailed information about -
• the aim, nature, method, and duration of the test,
• any potential discomfort or risk involved in participating in the
assessment, as well as the potential usefulness of that assessment
• The situations in which there will be restrictions on them during the
assessment
They should also be assured about |:
• the confidentiality of their data but at the same time, they should also
be told about the limitations or conditions of confidentiality,
• their right to either accept or reject to participate
• their right to get feedback or results of the assessment
The assessor should ensure that participants have clearly understood all
terms and conditions, had suff icient time and opportunity to ponder over
that information, and are giving voluntary informed consent to participate
in the assessment procedure. In case, the psychologist is dealing with
participants from a collectivist culture, he should keep in mind th e cultural
norms and be ready to involve other members of the participant’s family
in getting informed consent. The assessor must take care to use norms that
are relevant to the ethnic group, from which the participant is taken. The
methodology of administ ering the test also should be chosen according to
the demographic characteristics of the participants. While assessing
participants from diverse cultures, it is desirable to use mixed methods of
assessment.
Interpretation and Release of Assessment Results :
According to the APA Ethics Code of 2002, Standard 2.05, the
psychologist should choose interpreters who are competent and do not
have multiple relationships with the participants.
As per Standard 9.03, the psychologist must take permission from the
participant to use an identified interpreter. While reporting the assessment
results, giving any recommendations, or giving forensic testimony, the
psychologist must acknowledge the limitations of the data.

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67 Multicultural Assessment – II Some of the core guidelines given for using the int erpreter are -
1. Only bilingual - bicultural highly trained and competent interpreters
should be used.
2. Even when the interpreter is engaged with the client, the psychologist
should pay attention to nonverbal cues and use that information later
while dealing with the client.
3. Psychologist must remember that his primary contact must be with the
client and not with the interpreter.
4. The psychologist must keep in mind the applicable cultural norms
(e.g. eye contact, touch, personal space requirem ents, etc.) of the
client while interacting with him.
5. There should be minimum unsupervised contact between the
interpreter and the client.
6. The psychologist should not have any side conversation with the
interpreter
7. Same interpreter should be used throughout the assessment process.
8. While talking to the client, the psychologist should maintain eye
contact with the client and not with the interpreter.
While interpreting the results of the assessment, the psychologist must
ensure that this in terpretation should be as per the culture of the client. He
should also ensure that interpretation does not carry any negative bias in
the assessment results, especially if the standardized instrument is used,
due to the potential influence of environmenta l stressors on the
performance of the client. Finally, psychologists must be conscious of the
‘consequential validity’ of the assessment, i.e., they must be aware of the
potential positive or negative social impact of their assessment results.
They must be conscious of the fact that misdiagnosis or any kind of
labelling can have far -reaching harmful effects on participants. While
dealing with clients from a collectivist culture, the psychologist must share
the assessment feedback and plan of treatment for t he client with
significant others from his family, but it should be done only after taking
consent from the client.
6.3 WRITING PSYCHOLOGICAL AND EDUCATIONAL REPORTS FOR CULTURALLY AND
LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE CLIENT A psychoeducational report can be defi ned as a systematic, structured,
broad, consolidated written record of results of psychological and/or
educational assessment. This report is written in a different manner
depending on the purpose of its use.
While writing reports for culturally and lingu istically diverse clients,
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68 versed with local and state laws, immigration and naturalization laws, civil
rights related to educational services, and bilingual and ESL program
legislatio n.
In the Professional Conduct Manual prepared by the National Association
of School Psychologists (NASP) (2000), culturally diverse populations
Practice Guideline 5 says:
“School psychologists have the sensitivity, knowledge, and skills to work
with ind ividuals and groups with a diverse range of strengths and needs
from a variety of racial, cultural, ethnic, experiential, and linguistic
backgrounds. School psychologists incorporate their understanding of the
influence of culture, background, and individu al learning characteristics
when designing and implementing interventions to achieve learning and
behavioral outcomes.”
In the same Manual, Section IV: Professional Practices —General
Principles; D: Reporting Data and Conference Results, point 3, p. 28,
states the guideline for writing psychological reports as
“School psychologists prepare written reports in such form and style that
the recipient of the report will be able to assist the child or other clients.
Reports should emphasize recommendations and i nterpretations; unedited
computer -generated reports, pre -printed “check -off” or “fill -in-the-blank”
reports, and reports that present only test scores or global statements
regarding eligibility for special education without specific
recommendations for int ervention are seldom useful. Reports should
include an appraisal of the degree of confidence that could be assigned to
the information.”
It is suggested that before signing the reports, school psychologists must
review their reports for accuracy.
Apart f rom giving these guidelines, NASP’s standards recommend the
following five areas of sound psychological assessment that should be
adhered to, so as to ensure that ethical and legal concerns have been
respected -
Multifaceted —it should ensure the use of mu ltiple methods of assessment
to avoid a single test score being used as the sole basis for decision -
making
Comprehensive —assessments should cover all areas of the child’s
difficulties (e.g., health, vision, hearing, social/emotional functioning,
intellectu al abilities, educational achievement, communication skills, and
motor abilities);
Fair—while selecting assessment instruments and procedures, the
assessor must take into consideration age, gender, native language,
socioeconomic status, disabilities, and cultural and ethnic background.
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69 Multicultural Assessment – II procedures must be selected in order to ensure that cognitive ability,
educational achievement, and adaptive behavior are fairly evaluated.
Student s with limited English proficiency (LEP) must be tested for
language proficiency so that appropriate instruments can be selected to test
them and proper interpretation can be made keeping their limitations in
mind.
Valid —the validity of the test utilized should be assured by following the
Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (AERA, APA, &
NCME, 1999). A summary of the standards indicates that school
psychologists are ethically responsible for evaluating the technical
standards (validity, rel iability, standardization norms) of the tests they use,
so as to guarantee that they are valid for their intended purposes.
Practice Implications of Writing Psycho -Educational Reports for CLD
Students
There are many ways of conducting assessments of CLD ( culturally and
linguistically diverse) students. While writing a psycho -educational report
for CLD students, the assessor has to incorporate students’ cultural, racial,
and experiential background, the dominant language and the second
language acquired, ac culturation stages, educational qualifications,
community, and home background, etc. This information is vital for the
report because assessment and report writing are interconnected. If this
background information is not collected and reported in the repo rt, it will
be just a traditional report.
The traditional report merely describes the personal history or identifying
information of the student, reasons for referral, the tool used for
assessment, observations, clinical impressions and results of the
quantitative measurement, and specific recommendations. However,
Sattler (2001) highlighted that a psychoeducational report has many
objectives and for writing a fair ethical report, these objectives must be
kept in mind. Some of these objectives are -
1. It is important to give the referral source and other relevant authorities
the full information about the background in terms of developmental,
medical, intellectual, social, cultural, and educational history
background, language, and environmental or polit ical influencers.
While reporting cultural background, the assessor should include
information about the racial or biracial identity, religious or traditional
beliefs, socioeconomic status, health practices, immigration status,
acculturation stage of the s tudent as well as the parents, and also the
disciplinary norms practiced at the home of the students. The assessor
should be able to differentiate a language disorder from second
language acquisition developmental stages.
2. The report should cover CLD students’ interpersonal skills,
intellectual and cognitive abilities, motor skills, and personality, as
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70 3. The report should have enough information about the burden on the
social, emotional, and intellectual development of the CLD ch ild who
needs to adjust to the second culture and learn a second language. The
level of their language proficiency in a second language should be
mentioned in the report.
4. All assessment results should be reported in a culturally sensitive
manner.
5. The report should be written in such a manner that it can be used to
form clinical hypotheses, and relevant intervention programs, and can
be a base for evaluation and further research. For academicians, it
should serve as a guide to CLD students’ academic strengths and
weaknesses.
6. One should report the quantitative tools and qualitative techniques, if
any, used to measure language dominance or bilingualism, especially
for students who are not very proficient in their native language.
7. If any modifi cation was done to the standardized tool or any other
kind of adjustments/deviations were used, that also should be
reported. If the scores obtained by CLD students were interpreted
against the norms that were not standardized on the CLD student
population , then results should be described in a qualitative manner
too.
8. Pertinent comparison group should be used to interpret the assessment
of CLD students.
9. While reporting on the cognitive abilities of the CLD student, the
assessor must give an estima te of the intellectual functioning of the
child after making sure that biases in testing have been removed or
adjusted for. If intelligence has been assessed by using alternative
methods or qualitative methods it should be reported accordingly, for
example , if intelligence is measured in terms of musical, bodily -
kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal abilities, etc. The
qualitative methods used to assess intelligence in the non -
conventional method can include performance -based assessment,
functional assessment, dynamic assessment, and/or developmental
assessment.
10. The report should also include the results of the learning ecology
assessment. This assessment can be done by following steps -
(a) review of educational records;
(b) observation of th e student during class instruction, as well as an
examination of the content of the instruction;
(c) suitability of the curriculum;
(d) evaluation of the fit between the student and the curriculum with
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71 Multicultural Assessment – II (e) deducti ons made from parent and teacher interviews; and
(f) review of medical records (Ortiz, 2002).
11. The clinical impression given in the report should actually reflect the
true personality and behavior of the CLD child as per his culture and
ethnicity.
12. The report should include the results of the ecological assessment of
the CLD child, indicating the child’s functioning within his own
family and community.
13. If the assessor has used an interpreter, then the details of the
interpreter’s training and credentials as well as limitation must be
mentioned.
14. If a translated version of any test is used, then it should be highlighted
that the psychometric properties of the original non -translated test and
the psychometric properties of the translated vers ion of that test are
not the same.
Cross -Cultural Competencies Relevant to Report Writing
Multicultural assessment includes many areas of competencies such as -
(a) clinical interviewing and assessment of individuals from diverse
backgrounds;
(b) maint aining culturally centered ethics in testing;
(c) expertise in cultural identity and acculturation;
(d) appropriate selection of assessment instruments; and
(e) knowledge of diagnosing individuals from diverse cultures.
Cross -cultural practices also include having knowledge and skills about
choosing the interventions and recommendations that are most relevant to
the specific culture. Report writing should also follow the same
competencies as both assessment and report writing are interconnected. As
there are no specific guidelines about the cross -cultural competencies
necessary for report writing, one can differentiate the competencies
needed for cross -cultural report writing by looking at the culturally
competent practice in assessment described by t he National Association of
School Psychologists (NASP).
Standard III. Psychoeducational Assessment:
1. Knowledge and skills in assessing CLD students, include variables
such as environment, social issues, language development, second
language acquisition , acculturation, educational history, quality of the
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72 2. One needs to understand that normed tests may not be a valid measure
for English Language Learners (ELLs) due to the inappropriateness of
norms, scores reflectin g English proficiency, product as opposed to
process orientation, fairness of content, and differences in educational
background, acculturation, and economic situation; need to be
familiar with second language acquisition stages; cultural variables
that in fluence the results of an assessment; use of translators.
6.4 SUMMARY Psychological assessment can have profound impact on the lives of people
who had been subjected to psychological assessment. Therefore, it is
necessary for psychologists to take utmost c are and precaution while doing
psychological assessment, especially when it involves assessing people
from diverse cultural backgrounds. Ethically, it is important for an
assessor to consider an assessee’s sociocultural environment as well as his
personal lived unique experiences while making a judgment about that
person.
The assessors must choose a culturally suitable instrument, and use norms
that are appropriate for that cultural group. In case, they have to use
interpreters, they need to take informed c onsent from the client, make sure
that interpreter is a trained one and has not only proficiency in both the
languages but is also well versed with both cultures.
They must respect clients’ cultural, individual, and role differences
including those based on age, gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity,
culture, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, language,
and socioeconomic status. They should have scientific or professional
knowledge of factors related to age, gender, gender identi ty, race,
ethnicity, culture, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability,
language, or socioeconomic status. They should not indulge in racism
even unintentionally. If the psychologist does not have required language
competency and if it is not possible to hire a well -trained interpreter, then
psychologist should refer the case to an appropriate referral. The
psychologists must use instruments that have metric equivalence and cross
– cultural validity. Even before getting an instrument tran slated in another
language, the psychologists needs to see whether that instrument takes into
account the social cultural factors that shape the thinking of the
respondents. The psychologist interacting with people from diverse
cultures must adapt his way of approaching the client and communication
style as per the culture of the client. The psychologist must take
permission from the participant to use an identified interpreter, if
interpreter is needed. While writing a psychoeducational report, a school
psychologist must keep in mind certain guidelines such as , in his report,
he must give full information about the background in terms of
developmental, medical, intellectual, social, cultural and educational
history background, language and environmental or political influencers,
racial or biracial identity, religious or traditional beliefs, socioeconomic
status, health practices , immigration status, acculturation stage of the
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73 Multicultural Assessment – II home of the students. It should also cover students’ interpersonal skills,
intellectual and cognitive abilities, motor skills, and personality, as
assessed at present. He should also mention the tools used to do
assessment as well as any modification done to th e tools, any translations
done, interpreter used, etc. The report should reflect the true personality
and behavior of the CLD child as per his culture and ethnicity.
6.5 QUESTIONS 1. Describe the various issues in multicultural assessment.
2. Discuss writi ng psychological and educational reports for culturally
and linguistically diverse client.
3. What are the practice implications of writing psycho -educational
reports for CLD students?
4. Write short notes on:
a) Multicultural competence
b) Language and co mpetence in assessment administration
c) Assessment tool selection
d) Adaptation and translation of assessment measures
e) Administration/applications of assessment techniques
f) Interpretation and release of assessment results
g) Cross -cultural competenci es relevant to report writing
6.6 REFERENCES  Elrich, H. (2003). The Social Psychology of Prejudice: A systematic
Theoretical Review and Propositional Inventory of the American.
New York, Wiley.
 Gamst, G.C., Liang, C.T.H., Der -Karabetian, A. (2011). Handbook
of Multicultural Measures, La Verne: SAGE
 Garrett McAulifee & Associates (2008). Culturally Alert Counselling:
A Comprehensive Introduction, Sage Publications.
 Sue, D.W., Sue, D. (2012). Cou nselling the Culturally Diverse:
Theory and Practice (6th Ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
 Sue, Sue D.W. (2006) Multicultural Competencies: Individual and
Organizational Development, Sage Publication, New Delhi.

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74 7
MULTICULTURAL PRACTICE IN
PSYCHOLOGY - I
Unit Structure
7.0 Objectives
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Multicultural counselling: counsellor’s self -awareness and
counsellor’s awareness of the client’s worldview, developing
multicultural competencies and cultural ly appropriate interventions.
7.2.1 Counsellor’s self -awareness and counsellor’s awareness of the
client’s worldview
7.2.2 Developing multicultural competencies and culturally
appropriate interventions
7.2.3 Developing Appropriate Intervention Strategie s and
Techniques
7.3 Summary
7.4 Questions
7.5 References
7.0 OBJECTIVES After studying this unit, you will be able to understand
 Why it is important for a counsellor to have self -awareness in
multicultural counselling
 What is meant by awareness of clie nts’ worldview and its importance
in multicultural counselling
 What are the various intervention strategies and techniques that a
counsellor can use in multicultural counselling
7.1 INTRODUCTION Before we talk about the competencies of counsellors practici ng
multicultural counseling or therapy, we must once again look at what is
meant by multicultural counseling/therapy.
“Multicultural counseling and therapy can be defined as both a helping
role and process that uses modalities and defines goals consisten t with the
life experiences and cultural values of clients, recognizes client identities
to include individual, group, and universal dimensions, advocates the use
of universal and culture -specific strategies and roles in the healing
process, and balances t he importance of individualism and collectivism in
the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of client and client systems.” (D.
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75 Multicultural Practice In Psychology- I The inferences that can be drawn from this definition are -
1. Helping role and process:
Generally, in a clinical setting, a counsellor helps the client by being
passive and having a very objective attitude. Though such a passive stance
does help the client, a counsellor practicing multicultural counselling
needs to use more variety of techniques to help the client such as teaching,
consulting, and advocacy, keeping in mind the cultural background of the
client.
2. Consistent with life experiences and cultural values :
Whatever goals and the methods of achieving those goals are decided by
the counsellor they should be congruent to the cultural, ethnic, gender, and
sexual orientation of the clients, coming from different cultures. For
example, traditionally, counsellors are discouraged to give any advice to
the client and let the solutions come from the client himself. But some
clients, having a specific cultural background, benefit more if advice and
suggestions are used to help them.
3. Individual, group, and universal dimensions of existence :
It is well -established fact that each individual’s identity is ma de up of
three things - individualism (uniqueness), group (our family and
community), and universal dimension (human attributes). A counsellor
practicing multicultural counselling must pay attention to all these three
components in totality otherwise, he m ight miss out on any important
aspect of the client’s identity.
4. Universal and culture -specific strategies :
In multicultural counselling, it is believed that apart from using the
techniques of helping a client that is concerned about basic human values
and is common in all cultures and societies, a client responds best when
strategies used to help him are congruent specifically with his culture. For
example, Asian American clients respond well when a more directive or
active approach to counselling is u sed, such as advising or giving
suggestions. On the other hand, African American clients respond well
when a counsellor makes authentic self -disclosure.
5. Individualism and collectivism :
Individualistic culture differs from collectivist culture. In a co llectivist
culture, an individual is deeply entrenched in his family, people who are
significant others for him, community, and culture. A counsellor who
realizes this and takes into consideration the social and cultural context of
the client’s behaviour w ill have a better view of his client’s problems,
especially clients coming from diverse cultural backgrounds.

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76 6. Client and client systems :
Though traditionally, the counsellor needs to pay attention to the problems
of the client in exclusion of its conte xts. In such a situation, the counsellor
helps a client to gain insight into his problems and learn different
behaviors to cope with those problems. However, there might be a
situation in which a client belongs to a minority community and has been
the vict im of racial prejudice or discrimination in school, on the job, in the
neighbourhood, in governmental policies, in the judicial system, and even
in mental health organizations. In such a scenario, it is imperative for a
counsellor to pay more attention to changing the client’s systems instead
of paying attention to developing the client’s adaptive behaviours.
7.2 MULTICULTURAL COUNSELLING: COUNSELLOR’S AWARENESS 7.2.1 Counsellor’s self -awareness and counsellor’s awareness of the
client’s worldview
Counsell or’s Self-Awareness:
All training programs for counsellors emphasize on potential counsellors,
therapists, and social workers to have self -awareness. They must be aware
of their own prejudices, biases, values, or mental blocks that may hinder
their optimum ability to help a client. In such training programs, while
trying to enhance the self -awareness of the therapists at an intellectual
level, it is much easier to make them understand how their own culture
influences their judgement about what is normal and abnormal, the goals
they help a client to set for himself are actually influenced by the cultural
values of the therapist and the values they consider important for human
behavior.
The problem comes when therapists have to realize the emotional aspect
of their beliefs and the affects that they have for cultures that are different
from their own. For example, when they have to deal with the emotional
aspect of their attitudes towards racism, sexism, sexual orientation of
people, ageism, etc. It becomes emo tionally challenging for a White Euro -
American therapist to realize that at a personal or professional level, he
has been dealing with a non -white or person of colour in a racist,
oppressive, and discriminating manner. For a White person, to be an
effectiv e counsellor, he must be aware of his own biases and values and
work through his own feelings of guilt and fear that is connected with such
biases.
Understanding the Worldview of Culturally Diverse Clients :
Counsellors and therapists must understand the e mpathize with the
worldview of their clients. Therapists need not accept these worldviews as
their own. It only means that they can understand and accept others’
worldviews without evaluating them in any way and by being non -
judgmental about it. This proce ss of understanding and accepting others’
worldviews is known as ‘cultural role taking’. A counsellor belonging to munotes.in

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77 Multicultural Practice In Psychology- I the majoritarian population, such as being a Whiteman, has to realize that
his personal experiences are very different from those of others b elonging
to racial minorities and he can not think or feel or behave in the same way
as they do. It is not possible for him to empathize with them affectively,
however, he can empathize with them cognitively. Clients belonging to
minorities can be non -whites, women, LGBT, politically marginalized
groups, etc.
By going through, the process of cultural role -taking, he can acquire
practical knowledge about their daily living experiences and the nature of
their cultural background, their socio -political syste m, etc.
7.2.2 Developing multicultural competencies and culturally
appropriate interventions :
Sue (2001) offered a multidimensional model of cultural competence to
describe multicultural competencies. This model conceptualized three
important aspects of multicultural competencies. These are:
a.) specific racial/ cultural group perspectives
b.) components of cultural competence
c.) foci of cultural competence
Let us look at each of these dimensions.
Dimension 1: Specific Racial/ Cultural Group Perspect ives:
Initially while talking about multiculturalism, Sue’s model identified only
five major groups to discuss racial or ethnic categories. These groups were
European Americans, Native Americans, Latino Americans, Asian
Americans, and African Americans. But later on, multiculturalism
included gender, sexual orientation, physical ability/ disability, age,
socioeconomic status, religion, etc. also as important reference groups.
Sue emphasized that a multicultural counsellor must be knowledgeable
and sensitive to the worldviews of these diverse cultural groups.
Sue also believed that therapists should also be aware that a therapist’s
theoretical orientation can influence their worldview. For example, Euro -
American psychotherapies believe that a therapist shoul d not accept any
gift from the client as it puts them under obligation, but there are some
Asian cultures where it is well accepted normal tradition to give and
accept gifts in helping relationships. Clients from different racial or ethnic
minority groups may view therapists practicing traditional mainstream
therapies as incompetent. A competent therapist needs to use both cultural
specific as well as cultural -universal therapies to be competent.
Dimension 2: Components of Cultural Competence :
Another co mpetency that a multicultural therapist must have is his
awareness of his own biases and assumptions about human behavior,
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78 therapist must be aware of his own cultural conditioning that i nfluences
his own beliefs and values. He must have knowledge of the worldviews of
other diverse cultural group members. He should also be able to use
culture -specific intervention strategies while working with clients of
diverse cultures. Apart from these three dimensions, the therapist must
also be aware of the racial identity of the client to realize the socio -
political factors that may be influencing his behavior.
Dimension 3: The Foci of Cultural Competence:
The multidimensional model of cultural comp etence further proposes that
a therapist should not restrict himself/herself to thinking about the
individual only. He should also think about the profession of psychology
in general, and intervention at the organizational level as well as at the
societal level. Even if a therapist is sensitive to cultural differences, it will
have no impact if the organization that he is employed with has a
monoculture, and would not allow him to use his sensitivity to cultural
competency. The same is true for society at a macro level, where inherent
monoculturalism makes his interpretation of reality a biased one. Let us
look at each of the foci points that we have mentioned here:
Focus 1: Individual :
It is a well -established fact that no human being is born with any kind of
prejudice or bias. They are acquired through social learning. All therapists
have also gone through social conditioning and acquired certain
prejudices, biases, and values. These biases put hurdles in their becoming
culturally competent. To remove thes e hurdles, they must realize and
accept that their own biases and values do have a significant influence on
their thoughts, emotions, and actions even at the unconscious level and
they are personally responsible for their actions. They must become free of
their biases not only at the cognitive level but also at the emotional level.
They need to change their attitudes, beliefs, emotions, and actions towards
people of different cultural groups.
Focus 2: Professional
It is not just the therapists, but the ve ry profession of psychology is also
culture -bound and has a base in a Eurocentric perspective. The very
definition of psychology as a study of mind and behavior appears to be
biased and in contrast to the philosophies of other cultures. Asian cultures
emph asize collectivism and interpersonal constancy, which is totally in
contrast to individualism and interpersonal freedom. To be professionally
and culturally competent, psychologists need to revisit their definitions of
what is normal and abnormal from diff erent cultural points of view. The
professional standards of ethics in mental health practices, that are seeped
into a predominant monoculture, must become compatible with
multicultural worldviews.

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79 Multicultural Practice In Psychology- I Focus 3: Organizational
Most mental health workers are wo rking for some organization or the
other. Every organization has its own organizational or institutional
practices, policies, and structures. These policies and practices may be
discriminatory and oppress certain groups. Especially in a monocultural
organi zation, organizational policies, and procedures may not allow
people from diverse groups to have equal rights to avail opportunities and
justice. Even mental health services provided may not be equal. In that
case, efforts must be made to change such poli cies.
Focus 4: Societal
Societies having monoculture may have social policies such as racial
profiling, misinformation in educational material, inequalities in health
care, etc. Such social policies can be harmful to the physical as well as
mental health of minority group members. Mental health workers must
work towards changing such social policies. They must not consider the
client only as an individual but as a part of a larger social system.
Sometimes, the problems of a client can be due to failure in systematic
processes. In such a case, intervention at the individual level will be
insufficient. The emphasis should be on changing the environment instead
of trying to change the client. Traditionally, psychology has emphasized
on individual and not devel oped any plan of action to bring larger changes
in society as such.
7.2.3 Developing Appropriate Intervention Strategies and Techniques :
A mental health worker needs to be aware of and sensitive to the diverse
cultural backgrounds of the client and also realize that his own training has
seeped into the predominant individualized culture. Western theories and
mental health practices are ineffective when it comes to clients from other
cultures. For example, in countries like India and China, there is a lot of
cultural emphasis to put family, community, and even country before self.
In different cultures, the very definition of what is normal and abnormal
differs.
Whether and how a person will seek help also differs from culture to
culture. In many cultures , especially Asian cultures, seeking help for
mental health issues attracts stigma and brings a bad name to the family.
There is no such stigma attached to seeking help for physical ailments. So,
Asian - Americans may seek help only as a last resort, and th at too not for
mental health issues but for psychosomatic issues.
Finally, when a client from different cultural background seeks help from
a mental health professional, the techniques used by the mental health
worker might be in contrast to the value sys tem of the client. The client
may find them very oppressive and may either resist or discontinue
counselling sessions after one or two sessions. There might be a
communication gap between the therapist and the client due to different
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80 a.) economically and educationally weaker clients are not amenable to
‘talk therapy’.
b.) Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American Indians are not
comfortable with self -disclosure. It is against their cultural values.
c.) Racial and sexual orientation minorities may not be comfortable with
self-disclosure due to the socio -political environment.
d.) Clients from Asia culture and Hispanics may prefer a directive and
active type of intervention approach rather than a non -directive and
passive type of approach.
This makes it imperative for a multicultural therapist to be aware of both
universal as well as culture -specific perspectives of intervention
techniques. Let us see some of these factors that a mu lticultural therapist
must keep in mind while choosing an intervention technique.
Communication Styles:
The first and foremost factor that determines the effectiveness of therapy
is communication between the therapist and the client. Both therapist and
the client should be able to send and receive, verbal as well as nonverbal
precise messages in an appropriate manner. Many therapists pay attention
only to the accuracy of communication (content) and not to the
appropriateness of the communication (how it i s said). Traditional
counselling techniques encourage a therapist to use direct and
confrontational techniques to help the client, but an Asian American or
American Indian client may find such confrontational approaches to be
very rude, insensitive, and ev en insulting. Paying attention to how the
message is communicated is a very important aspect of the intervention.
Many communication experts believe that nonverbal communication
forms almost 40 percent of communication and can strengthen or
neutralize the content of the message. Communication style assumes more
significance in face -to-face communication.
Some of the facets of communication style are:
• whether the conversation starts smoothly or in fits and starts,
• whether both parties or a single one i nterrupts each other
continuously,
• preference for topics to be discussed or to be avoided,
• the depth of involvement of both parties,
• the form of interaction (ritual, repartee, argumentative, persuasive,
etc.),
• the channel of communication (verbal v s. nonverbal) used
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81 Multicultural Practice In Psychology- I All these facets can also be called social rhythms that form the base of the
speech and actions of a person. These communication styles, especially
nonverbal get greatly influenced by the race, gender, ethnicity, and cultu re
of the person. A Euro -American therapist may assume certain behaviors or
ways of speaking to be universal and have the same meaning for everyone,
but that may not be the case.
Nonverbal Communication:
While interacting with a client of a different cultu re, therapists do face
problems in communication due to language, cultural factors, class, and
even because of inefficiency in understanding nonverbal communication.
Nonverbal communication can either facilitate or hinder communication.
For example, when a lady’s eyes become steely and her body stiffens and
she says ‘I am not angry’, there is a stark contrast in her verbal and
nonverbal communication.
Different people interpret the same nonverbal behaviour in different
manners. For example, if a lady lower s her eyes when a man comes close
to her and moves away a bit, one observer may interpret it as a dislike for
the approaching person, while another observer may interpret it as
shyness. Another problem is that we are not consciously paying attention
to non verbal communication when it takes place but at the unconscious
level, it does influence a person’s evaluation and behavior.
Another complexity of nonverbal communication is that it can take place
at all five sensory levels and also it can be in the form of artifactual
communication, i.e., it is expressed through our clothing, hairstyle, display
of other material things, etc.)
Proxemics :
Proxemics refers to the perception of personal and interpersonal space.
Different cultures have different norms for the use of physical space in
interpersonal interaction. In Western cultures, more distance is maintained
between two interacting people, especially if they are not in an intimate
relationship. Hall (1969) described four interpersonal distance zone as -
Intim ate - contact to 18 inches
Personal - 1.5 ft. to 4 ft.
Social - 4 ft - 12 ft
Public speech - more than 12 ft.
In Western culture, if these norms are violated, it may generate feelings of
anger and fear and may lead to flight, withdrawal, and conflict. On t he
other hand, in Asian cultures, much more proximity is permitted by
cultural norms and if people maintain more distance than stipulated by the
norm, it is considered a sign of rejection, aloofness, being too formal, or a
desire for not communicating, etc . The therapist must be aware of racial
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82 Kinesics :
Kinesics refers to bodily movements, including facial expressions, bodily
posture, gestures, eye contact, etc. Kinesics is also guided by cultural
norms. Western cultural norms consider the display of facial expressions
as a sign of weakness, while in Asian cultures, it is a sign of warmth and
permissible.
Paralanguage :
Paralanguage refers to other vocal cues given out in communica tion. For
example, the tone of voice, pauses, hesitation, silences, rate of speech,
inflections, etc. It also includes the way people greet each other and
address each other, taking turns in speaking. For example, silence in a
conversation is interpreted d ifferently in different cultures. It may be
interpreted as a mark of agreement, politeness, respect, desire for privacy,
or plain rudeness. A multicultural therapist must be aware of these
different meanings of silence so that he does not misinterpret his client’s
silence. In Chinese and Japanese culture, silence in a conversation does
not mean that the speaker has finished speaking and the other person in the
conversation can start speaking. Instead, it means that the speaker has
made a certain point and i s preparing to make another point in the
conversation. Similarly, there are different cultural norms for frankness,
volume, and intensity of speech in conversation. Paralanguage can
indicate lots of characteristics of people such as age, gender, race,
emotions, etc.
7.3 SUMMARY To be an effective multicultural counsellor or a therapist, it is essential for
the counsellor to be aware of his own prejudices, biases, values, or mental
blocks that may interfere with his intervention program when he is dealing
with a client from a different culture. He must realize that the
interpretation of what is normal or abnormal is coloured by one’s cultural
values and there is no objective definition of normality. So, it is very
important to understand the client’s perspe ctive of normality and his world
views too. The therapist must understand and accept clients’ worldviews
without adopting them as his own worldviews. He must be just aware that
his worldview differs from the client’s worldview and both are valid. Sue
has d eveloped a multidimensional model of cultural competencies which
includes three dimensions - specific racial or cultural group perspectives,
components of cultural competence, and foci of cultural competence.
The first dimension emphasizes that the therap ist must be aware of the
theoretical orientation of his own training can influence his own
worldview and intervention strategy. A competent therapist needs to use
both cultural specific as well as cultural -universal therapies to be
competent.
The second d imension emphasizes that the therapist must be aware of his
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83 Multicultural Practice In Psychology- I The third dimension emphasizes that a therapist should not restrict
himself/herself to thinking about the individual only. He should also think
about the profession of psychology in general, and intervention at the
organizational level as well as at the societal level.
Lastly, the therapist must realize that a client from a different cultural
background may find the techniques u sed by the mental health worker
very oppressive as they are in contrast to the value system of the client.
In such a scenario, he may resist or discontinue counselling sessions after
one or two sessions. The therapist must pay attention to those contrasts as
well as also be aware that even communication style is influenced by
cultural context.
7.4 QUESTIONS 1. What is multicultural counselling?
2. Write in detail about the counsellor’s self -awareness and awareness of
the client’s worldview.
3. What ar e multicultural competencies?
4. In multicultural counselling, what are the factors contributing to the
effectiveness of intervention strategies
7.5 REFERENCES  Elrich, H. (2003). The Social Psychology of Prejudice: A Systematic
Theoretical Review and Pro positional Inventory of the American.
New York, Wiley.
 Gamst, G.C., Liang, C.T.H., Der -Karabetian, A. (2011). Handbook
of Multicultural Measures, La Verne: SAGE
 Garrett McAulifee & Associates (2008). Culturally Alert Counselling:
A Comprehensive Introduction, Sage Publications.
 Sue, D.W., Sue, D. (2012). Cou nselling The Culturally Diverse:
Theory and Practice (6th Ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
 Sue, Sue D.W. (2006) Multicultural Competencies: Individual and
Organizational Development, Sage Publication, New Delhi.

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84 8
MULTICULTURAL PRACTICE IN
PSYCHOLOGY - II
Unit Structure
8.0 Objectives
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Barriers to multicultural counselling.
8.3 Managing Diversity and Conflicts in Organizations.
8.4 Summary
8.5 Questions
8.6 References
8.0 OBJECTIVES After studying this unit, you will be able to understand
 Various barriers to multicultural counselling
 Management of diversity
 Management of conflicts in the organization
8.1 INTRODUCTION In the previous units we have discussed various competencies that a
multicultural counsellor must have. As an extension of that, it is necessary
for a multicultural counsellor to be aware of what can be the pitfalls or
barriers to multicultural counselling. Some of these barriers are culture -
bound values, class -bound va lues, and language barriers. Though these
three barriers are mentioned separately they are interconnected. Let us see
each one of them.
8.2 BARRIERS TO MULTICULTURAL COUNSELLING Culture -bound values:
First of all, let us understand what is meant by cultur e. It is an abstract
term that includes the behavior, beliefs, values, skills, tools, and customs
of the people. It also includes institutions in which people are born in a
society. Since culture is a learnt way of life, one can belong to more than
one cu lture. A person may be born in one culture and later on, may
migrate to another society and learn the culture of that society too. Thus, a
person can be bicultural. Being bicultural can be advantageous or
disadvantageous. People who can’t form dual ethnic identities due to
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85 Multicultural Practice In Psychology- II People from cultures other than majoritarian culture (mostly Euro -
American culture or White man’s culture) are considered to have
dysfunctional values and beliefs. These dysfunctional beliefs and values
are considered to be disabilities, which a person must be ashamed of and
must try to overcome. Racial and ethnic minorities are given the
impression that being different from the mainstream is like being sick and
needing tr eatment. In fact, the critics point out that traditional therapy
appears to be helping the political narrative that those who differ from
majoritarian and dominant society are deviants and need to be ignored,
discriminated or punished.
Traditional therapy originated in Western countries and emphasizes
individualism. But in many Asian societies, there is more emphasis on
identifying oneself as a member of a group. For example, in the Japanese
language, there is no word for ‘I’. In India, one of the biggest punishments
that could be given to a person or family was to disown that individual or
family. Disowning or boycotting a person indicated that the targeted
individual loses his identity. Members of Western and Asian cultures
differ in their emotional exper iences also. For example, if a person
belonging to individualistic culture does something wrong, he will feel
guilty (an individual phenomenon) while an Asian person will feel
ashamed (a phenomenon that spreads to his family as he brings shame to
the famil y name). Similarly, when an Asian patient says he will make a
decision only after consulting his family, the therapist may mistake it to be
a sign of immaturity because he has been trained to help clients make their
own decisions responsibly. The therapis t does not realize that in a
collectivist society, making decisions in consultation with other family
members is considered to be a mature and responsible way of making
decisions.
Verbal/Emotional/Behavioral Expressiveness :
Therapy is basically talk thera py where clients express themselves
verbally, emotionally as well as behaviourally. A therapist practicing
traditional therapy encourages a client to understand their feelings and
then verbalize their emotional reactions. In fact, some therapists believe
that a specific emotion exists in a client only if the client expresses that
emotion. The therapist expects a client to actively assert himself and
uphold his rights, being active and not a passive being. But all these
expectations of a therapist are disa dvantageous for a client who does not
belong to European culture that emphasizes individualism. For example,
while American culture values verbalization of thoughts and emotions,
Japanese and Chinese cultures ethos teach children not to speak unless
they a re spoken to or asked to speak. The flow of communication in
Japanese and Chinese culture is from higher social status people to lower
social status people, from older people to younger people. Younger or
lower social status people are expected to respond with silence to show
their respect. This may apply to therapy sessions too, where a client may
respond with silence to show respect to the therapist. A therapist, who is
not aware of these cultural norms may misinterpret the client’s silence as
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86 In traditional therapy, one of the most important goals is that the client
should be able to express his emotions. But, in some Asian cultures, a
person is considered wise and mature, only if he/she can control his/her
emotions. Thus, the value passed on is to control and hide emotions as you
grow up. This applies to all kinds of emotions such as disappointment,
frustration, anger, love, etc. The therapist who is unaware of these cultural
norm s may think the client is not spontaneous or is repressed or reserved
or reticent.
Self-Disclosure (Openness and Intimacy) :
Traditional therapy believes that self -disclosure, that is, disclosing the
most private and personal aspects of one’s life, disclo sing what a client
feels, thinks, or believes, is a sign of a healthy personality. If a client is not
ready to do self -disclosure, then he has negative personality traits of being
secretive, guarded, does not trust others, or paranoid. However, instead of
having these negative traits, a person may not disclose his most personal
details for two reasons
a.) cultural norms of his culture, and
b.) socio -political reasons.
If an Asian American or a Hispanic client talks freely about his personal
or social p roblems, it will have a reflection not only on him as an
individual, but also on his family. So, there might be a strong insistence
from his family not to disclose his personal matters to an outsider or to an
unknown person.
There can be socio -political r easons too for a client’s reluctance to do self -
disclosure with a therapist. For example, it has been observed that African
Americans do not want to talk about their innermost feelings, thoughts,
and beliefs to a White therapist, because of their past suff erings due to
racism. Since white therapists are the members of a white society that has
inflicted atrocities on black people, African Americans believe that instead
of helping them, white therapists will pass on their innermost information
to white socie ty and white society will use it against them. This emphasis
on self -disclosure in traditional therapy is at odds not only with people of
diverse cultural backgrounds but also with people belonging to lower
socio -economic classes.
Similarly, another impor tant assumption in psychoanalytic therapy is that
if a client gets insight into what his actual problems are and what are their
causes, will be a better -adjusted individual. However, it is reported that
clients from lower socioeconomic status do not value insight and even
clients from diverse cultures are not always benefitted from having more
insight. Clients from lower socioeconomic status do not have time to sit
back and review the causes of their behavior. They are more focused on
making both ends meet. Many cultures, such as Asian cultures do not
encourage self -exploration techniques to understand one’s own problems.
In fact, in many such cultures, it is believed that too much thinking causes
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87 Multicultural Practice In Psychology- II Ambiguity:
Another key f eature of traditional psychotherapy is that it is not structured
and there is a lot of ambiguity built into it. People from a minority group
or from diverse cultures may find this baffling and mysterious way of
treatment. This type of therapeutic process m ay cause them confusion and
anxiety. For example, Hispanic culture has structured social relationships
and specifically defined patterns of communication. Therefore, Hispanics
may find the ambiguity and unstructuredness of traditional therapy very
stressfu l.
Class bound Values:
Research studies have reported that people from lower socioeconomic
classes are more likely to suffer from depression, a lower sense of control,
and poorer physical health. It is important for therapists to be aware of
factors that c ause extra stress and hardship in the day -to-day lives of
people who do not have sufficient resources. Due to poverty, struggle to
survive, and day -to-day hardships, these people tend to develop a feeling
of helplessness, inferiority complex, and dependenc e. A therapist
belonging to middle or higher socioeconomic status may not understand
their hardships and may not get ego involved with them.
Language Barrier :
People who migrate from one country to another country, may not be
conversant with the local la nguage of that country or even with the
English language. In such cases, very often, for medical or legal issues,
their children play the role of a translator as they might have picked up the
local language to some degree. But this half -baked knowledge of the
language can lead to lots of adversaries such as -
i) it can harm the traditional parent -child relationship
ii) children who have just picked up English or the local language may
not have sufficient vocabulary and emotional maturity to be effective
translators
iii) by default, children get exposed to the confidential medical or
psychiatric information of the relative
iv) As a by -product of being a translator, they are saddled with emotional
responsibilities that they are not equipped to carry out.
Research studies on language have reported that proper learning of
language may be hampered if a person comes from a background where
one or both of his parents speak the native language. So, the bilingual
background of many migrated people can lead to a l ot of
misunderstandings, even if they cannot speak their own native language
anymore. When a client from a minority community visits a mental health
worker, it is expected that he should report his problems in standard
English. That client may know only no nstandard English or no English at
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88 language. In this language, they tend to use shorter sentences and rely
more on nonverbal communication. But in the English language, there is
more emphasis on words and grammar rather than on nonverbal
communication. If bilingual clients are expected to express their problems
only in standard English and not use their native language, the chances are
very high that they might not be able to express many aspec ts of their
emotional experiences, thoughts, feelings, ad their unique situations, so
those aspects will not get covered in the treatment. Since therapy is largely
a verbal interaction, it is essential that the therapist and the client
understand each othe r’s language, conceptually and grammatically.
Generalizations and Stereotypes: Some Cautions
While it is necessary for therapists to understand the basic key elements of
counselling and psychotherapy as well as be aware of the culture -specific
life value s of their clients, there is a very high possibility that they may
overgeneralize these values and may develop stereotypes of people
belonging to different cultures. There are individual differences in
minority communities too just as all people belonging to majoritarian
cultures do not have the same characteristics. It is very natural for a
therapist to form an impression of the client that is in sync with his own
experiences and values. The gender and race of the client, the neatness of
the client, etc. w ill influence the first impression or assumptions that a
therapist makes about the client. These impressions will be based on the
therapists’ own generalizations about human behavior. There is a very
strong possibility of these generalizations becoming ste reotypes and
guiding forces to influence therapists’ own thought processes and
behavior. Stereotypes are very strong and inflexible preconceived notions
about all people belonging to a specific group. This specific group can be
another race, gender, class, religion, sexual orientation, etc. Stereotypes
do not bother about individual differences among members of a particular
group. Stereotypes are not based on any logic or experiences of the holder
of stereotypes. If their experience throws up some contradi ctory
information, they distort that information to fit their stereotypes.
8.3 MANAGING DIVERSITY AND CONFLICTS IN ORGANIZATIONS Generally, conflict is considered to have a negative connotation, but it can
have a positive side too. Conflicts in organizati ons help organizations to
grow. If there is no difference of opinions, ideas, or attitudes among
employees, the organization will become stagnant and the employees will
become stagnant. So, for the growth of an organization as well as for the
growth of an individual, conflicts are necessary.
There is a very strong relationship between diversity and conflict. Conflict
in an organization can arise due to employees belonging to different races,
gender, socioeconomic status, culture, religion, sexual orientat ions, ages,
education levels, personalities, etc. Whatever may be the source of
conflict, the by -product of that conflict is that it generates ideas. Conflicts
are seen as problems to which solutions need to be found. This need for munotes.in

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89 Multicultural Practice In Psychology- II solutions triggers a var iety of ideas coming from diverse employees. For
example, employees having high self -esteem present their ideas to others
without any hesitation. If there are many employees with high self -esteem
and all of them keep presenting their ideas, we will have a pile of diverse
ideas, leading to conflicts among them. But that will also help the
organization choose the best idea out of those ideas and make products
innovative and unique. Thus, diversity in ideas will help an organization to
grow. Secondly, when in novative solutions are found to the conflicts, it
can bring all those diverse high esteemed people together and true
teamwork will take place and members will be able to work together.
However, if innovative solutions are not reached for the problems, conf lict
can be destructive too.
Unresolved conflicts lead to the simmering of negative feelings, and small
insignificant arguments damaging the relationships among employees.
Many conflicts, that are born from hatred, lead to the development of
“isms” that a re not beneficial for anyone and organizations need to
discourage such “isms”. When hate is the root cause of conflict, it is very
difficult to find any solutions to resolve it.
One of the areas of conflict, that organizations find hard to resolve, is
sexual harassment. Sexual harassment leads to many problems such as the
productivity of the employees suffers, they tend to fall ill more often, their
confidence comes down, they may even leave the job or the organization
may have to deal with court cases fil ed against it. These problems take
place not only for the victim of the sexual harassment but also for those
employees who witness it happening.
Leadership Skills to Reduce Conflict Pitfalls:
To ensure that minimum conflicts take place and when conflicts do occur,
they can be dealt with immediately and amicably, it is necessary that
managers/ leaders have certain qualities. For example, they must have
 Good listening skills - This will help them to sense any subtle signs
of negative behavior and impending conflict.
 Good communication skills - They should be very constructive
while discussing these potential conflicts with their colleagues. There
are five response skills that managers can use to ensure that conflict
does not take place or can be reduced wh en it takes place. These skills
are -
1. Support:
A manager should express his support when he finds people of diverse
groups working together and effectively communicating in the team.
2. Clarity:
Managers can use the technique of paraphrasing to get more clarity about
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90 3. Suggest:
Even if another person puts across his point of view or expresses anything
in no uncertain terms if a manager does not consider it to be appropriate,
he should gently but firmly suggest alternatives that are specific and
creative in nature. The manager can begin his sentences by saying ‘I feel
…; or ‘I think….’. Humor is another way of presenting one’s own ideas
that are different from the one presented by others and do not enhance the
conflict.
4. Request:
Every employee must be aware of the boundaries of his own role as well
as be aware of others’ boundaries too. Encroaching on the boundaries of
another person can be a cause for conflict. However, if permission is
sought or when cooperative action needs to be taken by the employees,
people can work with a sense of shared responsibility.
5. Insist:
If there is a strong conflict that requires immediate intervention, then the
manager should be willing to actively deter people from indulging in
undesirable behavior or words. For example, we have seen representatives
of various political parties taking part in live debates on T.V. Some of
these spokespersons don’t allow anot her person to speak. In such
situations, the anchor stops such persons and ensures that other panellist
can put their views across. It is a similar situation in organizations. If a
manager finds any employee dominating the conversation during the
meeting, he should immediately tell him that all need to be given chance,
or if somebody is already speaking and another person tries to speak in
between, the manager should be able to say ‘…. please let him finish.
Managing Conflict Diversity :
1. The Team -buildi ng Wheel :
William Sonnenschein developed a model for raising high -performing
teams. He called it the team -building wheel. It is called a wheel because
the process of building the team is non -hierarchical. According to this
model, first of all, a manager m ust ensure that all members accept the
differences in everyone’s background and celebrate humanity. They
should learn to appreciate the uniqueness of each and every one and
establish the team mission. The manager should ensure that there is a
supportive cl imate built to achieve those team goals. Once the team starts
working and stabilizes then evaluations can be introduced. All these
components of high performing team are equally important and team
building is a continuous process.
2. Embracing Differences :
As mentioned above, all team members must acknowledge that all of us
are different from each other in many ways, and yet we are equal. If these
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91 Multicultural Practice In Psychology- II organization expects everyone to think, fee l and behave in a similar
manner, conflicts arise. The team members must have more self -
awareness - awareness of their own prejudices, biases, and cultural values
that differ from others’ values. If such awareness is not there, people make
unjust assumptio ns based on their prejudices and that breaks down
communication, further lowers performance and people start putting
spooks in each other’s performance instead of cooperating. Finally, the
team becomes dysfunctional instead of effective. So, it is essentia l to
acknowledge the differences.
3. Group Discussion Exercise :
While working in a team, each member should use and practice active
listening skills. They should all ponder over questions such as
• Where have I grown up? How has that influenced me as a person
today?
• Which specific areas of my culture are so important to me that I
cannot give them up and which areas I can give up for adjustment’s
sake?
• Think about the memories of your favourite holiday or tradition
followed in your growing -up years. What are the most striking
features of those memories.
4. Celebrating Humanity :
There is unity in diversity. All employees come from different cultural and
other backgrounds and yet all of them have human values that are
common to all. For example, we all communicate through some language,
we all have more or less similar physical capabilities and limitations, we
all like to have good food, and spent time with our families, etc. These
commonalities can be used to initiate building better relationships.
5. Building on Uniqueness
In spite of having commonalities, we have to acknowledge that all of us
are unique in our own way. We have different strengths and weaknesses,
personalities, etc. that come with us to our workplace as part and parcel of
us. To have a strong team, it is necessary to identify these unique qualities
of each and every member and harness them for building up the strength
of the team. Along the lines of the Gestalt principle, it can be said that the
whole or total sum is different and bigger than the individual parts. It is
not always beneficial to treat everyone equally in the team, and everyone
on the team should bear equal responsibility and workload. But different
people have different strengths. The tasks should be allotted to the m
depending on their strengths. The manager should ensure that everyone
feels that his unique talent and skills are appreciated and utilized for the
benefit of the team.
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92 6. Establish a Team Mission Statement :
The team leader must collaboratively establis h a team mission based on
the core values of the team. To understand the core values of the team, the
team leader and the team members should think about questions such as:
• To what extent diversity is important for our team?
• Do conflicts in our team g et affected by the diversity in the team? If
yes, then how much?
• How does this diversity influence our values?
• What is the process through which our different values get merged
into a single set of values?
7. Develop a Supportive Climate :
The team lea der should ensure that there is a supportive climate in his
team and that all team members respect and appreciate each other’s
uniqueness. All team members should feel secure, and respected and
should be aware that they will not be unduly criticized, ridic uled, or
punished for making a mistake. However, at the same time, team members
should be open to constructive criticism and use it as a learning tool.
8. Continuously Evaluate the Team :
A team becomes more and more productive if its members are
continuo usly evaluated and feedback is given to them. This feedback can
come from the team leader as well as from team members. Giving
feedback also means communicating with each other. An effective team
ensures that there is constant communication among team memb ers.
Constant communication leads to the continuous growth of the team and
by default of the organization too.
8.4 SUMMARY In this unit, we have discussed various barriers to multicultural
counselling. There are three major types of barriers - Culture bo und
values, class -bound values, and language barriers. Since psychotherapy
originated in America, it is influenced by American culture. The therapists
trained in traditional psychotherapy and also belonging to the White race
value individualism, assertiven ess, independent decision -making, insight,
etc. These values are very different from values in collectivist cultures
such as Asian cultures. The very definition of normality is different in
both cultures. But traditional therapy gives the impression that t hose who
differ from majoritarian culture are sick and need to be treated. There are
cultural differences in the way people verbalize or express their emotions
and behavior. If a multicultural therapist is not aware of these differences,
the therapy will b e ineffective. For example, traditional therapy
emphasizes self -disclosure while a client belonging to a minority
community will be uncomfortable doing so due to cultural values or socio -
political reasons Furthermore, research studies have shown that value s munotes.in

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93 Multicultural Practice In Psychology- II differ on the basis of socioeconomic class too. As far as language is
concerned, of course, it is a disadvantage if a client does not know
standard English. It is also reported that even bilinguals whose parents at
home speak their native language are at disadvantage in spite of knowing
English. It is a well -known fact that in each language there are certain
concepts that cannot be exactly translated into another language and
therefore non -English speakers find it difficult to express all of their
emotion al experiences.
Therapists tend to generalize the characteristics of people from minority
communities and develop certain stereotypes that influence their
judgements about the clients. They operate from their prejudice instead of
being receptive to indivi dual differences in minority communities.
As most countries have a migratory population now, even organizations
have employees coming from diverse backgrounds. Their diversity in
cultural background can be the source of conflicts. Conflicts can be
detrime ntal to an organization’s growth. The managers or team leaders
need to know how to minimize the possibility of the occurrence of these
conflicts and to develop high -performing teams. For this, they must use
active listening skills and communication skills. To manage conflict
diversity, a team leader should use the team building wheel developed by
William Sonnenschein. He must encourage team members to embrace
background differences and celebrate humanity. He should build on the
uniqueness of each and every employee, collaboratively establish a team
mission and develop a supportive climate. He should also ensure that there
is continuous feedback given to each and every team member and
continuous communication flow is there in the team.
8.5 QUESTIONS 1. Discuss in detail various barriers in multicultural counselling.
2. How cultural and class -bound values can hinder effective
multicultural counselling.
3. What are various leadership skills that can be used to reduce conflict
pitfalls arising out of divers ity?
4. What are the techniques that a leader can use to manage conflict
diversity?
8.6 REFERENCES  Elrich, H. (2003). The Social Psychology of Prejudice: A Systematic
Theoretical Review and Propositional Inventory of the American.
New York, Wiley.
 Gamst, G.C., Liang, C.T.H., Der -Karabetian, A. (2011). Handbook
of Multicultural Measures, La Verne: SAGE munotes.in

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94  Garrett McAulifee & Associates (2008). Culturally Alert Counselling:
A Comprehensive Introduction, Sage Publications.
 Sue, D.W., Sue, D. (2012). Counselli ng The Culturally Diverse:
Theory and Practice (6th Ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
 Sue, Sue D.W. (2006) Multicultural Competencies: Individual and
Organizational Development, Sage Publication, New Delhi.
 Suzuki, L.A., Meller, P.J., Ponterotto, J.G. (1996). Handbook of
Multicultural Assessment: Clinical, Psychological and Educational
Applications. San Francisco, CA: Jossey - Bass Inc.
 Swanson, J.L., Fouad, N.A. (1999). Career Theory and Practice:
Learning Through Case Studies. New Delhi: Sage Publications.

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