Positive Multiculturalism as Aspirational Ethical Practice: Concepts and Applications

Molly Haas Cowan, PsyD John A. “Jay” Mills, PhD,

ABPPJeanne M. Slattery, PhD

Positive Multiculturalism as Aspirational Ethical Practice: Concepts and Applications

Good Practice

Positive Multiculturali

sm

Ethical Practice

Our Goals1. Use Code of Ethics to guide a multicultural

practice; 2. Describe a positive multicultural approach,

as well as reasons for paying attention to multicultural issues;

3. Recognize barriers to developing multicultural competency; and

4. Identify strategies for teaching students to apply accepted professional principles in determining how or when to deliver services to multicultural populations

Guidelines on multicultural education, training, research, practice, and organizational changeGuideline #1: Psychologists are encouraged to

recognize that, as cultural beings, they may hold attitudes and beliefs that can detrimentally influence their perceptions of and interactions with individuals who are ethnically and racially different from themselves.

Guideline #2: Psychologists are encouraged to recognize the importance of multicultural sensitivity/responsiveness, knowledge, and understanding about ethnically and racially different individuals.

Guideline #3: As educators, psychologists are encouraged to employ the constructs of multiculturalism and diversity in psychological education.

Guideline #5: Psychologists strive to apply culturally-appropriate skills in clinical and other applied psychological practices.

Today the nation is no longer divided along [racial] lines, yet the Voting Rights Act continues to treat it as if it were. –John Roberts (6/2013)

www.nydailynews.com 

Perceived racism (Norton & Sommers, 2011)Blacks continue to indicate drastically poorer outcomes for Black than White Americans: "from employment to police treatment, loan rates to education," yet…

Perhaps this reflects perception as a zero sum game (Norton & Sommers, 2011)

Teaching multicultural ideas can be difficult

What do we see as racism? (Sommers & Norton, 2006)

1. Discomfort/unfamiliarity (e.g., is uncomfortable around Blacks; doesn't socialize regularly with Blacks)

2. Overt racism (e.g., discourages kids from playing with Blacks; thinks Blacks are not suited for certain professions)

3. Denial of problem (e.g., Thinks slavery was so long ago it is unimportant to talk about; doesn't speak up or act when someone else is racist)

• People of Color are more likely to identify subtle forms of bias as racism

• White observers often respond to allegations of subtle bias with skepticism or questions about ulterior motives

Barriers?When:• Attitudes are the result of personal

experience• Perceive self as an expert • Expect a favorable outcome from status

quo• Attitudes are repeatedly expressed• Stand to win—or lose—something due to

the issue

Barriers in classroom?• Student anger/discomfort (Sweatt, Pedrotti, & Langner,

2013)• May need to acknowledge/give up privilege• Instructor background (Sweatt et al., 2013)

• Agenda?• Lack of expertise?

• Lack of instructor knowledge and perceived self-assessed expertise in content areas (Turner, Burnes, & Taylor, 2013)

• Often weaker student evaluations (Sweatt et al., 2013)• Questions about what should be included

• Turner et al. did not assess religion/spirituality, for example

• Content or theory? (Turner et al., 2013)

White racial identity (Slattery & Park, 2011)

1. Contact2. Disintegration3. Reintegration4. Pseudo-independence5. Independence

What would you do?

Reactions to anti-Muslim comments

Problem with self-reports (Banaji & Greenwald, 2013)

1. White lies • How are you?• Do I look fat in these?

2. Gray lies• Can you spare a dollar?• Is Ms. X at home?

3. Colorless lies• How may cigarettes do you smoke a day?

4. Red lies• I love you.

4. Blue lies• Did you go to church this week?

www.financefox.ca 

Implicit Association Test

Shoot or no shoot? (Watt & Sherbourne, in progress)

Reactions to taking Implicit Attitude Test (Casad, Flores, & Didway, 2012)

Accurate

Inaccurate

Unsure

After taking IAT

33% 46% 21%

Why? (Casad et al., 2012)

Reasons given for IAT's invalidity Structure of test is problematic

25%

In-group preference 15%Explicit and implicit attitude incongruence

13%

Measures cultural stereotypes

8%

Measures associations, not prejudice

6%

Measures snap judgments 6%

Reactions to taking Implicit Attitude Test (Casad et al., 2012)

Accurate

Inaccurate

Unsure

After taking IAT

33% 46% 21%

After lecture/ reading

45% 33% 22%

What happens when we are colorblind? (Plaut, Thomas, & Goren, 2009)

Whites' color blindness

Minorities' psychological engagement

Minorities' perception of bias

Whites' multiculturalism

-.66 *** .57* -.70 **

Whites' color blindness

-- -.54* .54*

Minorities' psychological engagement

-- -- -.76**** p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001

What changes would we like to see in our students?

Attitude

BehaviorSelf-reflection

Knowledge

What changes? (Pope, 1993; Reynolds, 1997)

• First-order changes (assimilation)• Increased awareness, knowledge,

skills • Second-order change

(accommodation)• Cognitive restructuring• Worldview and paradigm shifts

Bloom's Taxonomy (Anderson, Krathwohl, Airasian, Cruikshank, Mayer, Pintrich, Raths, & Wittrock, 2000)

Stages of change (Prochaska, 1999)

• Precontemplation• Contemplation• Action• Maintenance

Ethical acculturation model (Handelsman, Gottlieb, & Knapp, 2005)

High LowHigh

Assimilation Integration

Low Marginalization

Separation

Personal Ethics

Professional Ethics

Our modification

High LowHigh

Assimilation Integration

Low Marginalization

Separation

Personal Commitment to Multicultural CompetenceProfessio

nal Commitm

ent

How do we help students develop their multicultural competence?

• A single multicultural course (90%, Hill & Strozer, 1992)

• Mainstream across the curriculum• Both a single course and

mainstreaming

Changes reported by students (Sammons & Speight, 2008)

%Increased knowledge 69Increased self-awareness 66

Attitudinal change (both positive and negative)

33

Behavioral change 24

What do students attribute change to? (Sammons & Speight, 2008)

%Interactive activities 34Didactic activities 32Course as a whole 15Instructor influence 11Reflective activities 8

The Color of Fear

Recommendations• In-class discussion, with films and lectures less

frequently identified (Pedrotti, 2013; Sammons & Speight, 2008; Yi & Lee, 2013)

• Peer teaching may put face to issues (Sweatt et al., 2013)

• Identifying the benefits for all members in, for example, identifying oppression (Sweatt et al., 2013)

• Consider multiculturalism in terms of both minority and majority group membership (Sweatt et al., 2013)

• Help students develop a model for working through ethical decision making, using openness, tolerating ambiguity, holding positions tentatively, and becoming self-aware (Tjelveit, 2006)

Recommendations from our experience• Start where they are• Foster sensitivity to signs of own biases• Encourage empathy-inducing activities

• Exploration of aesthetic traditions from other countries

• Direct engagement in perspective-broadening activities

• Contact with situations that cause cognitive dissonance

• Perform psychosocial histories of clients (seeing beyond symptoms)

Andrea YatesResnick: And so you thought that your children,

all five of your children, somehow because of what you saw as your defective mothering, were not on the path of righteousness and were stumbling. [Hmm] And did you feel then that it was good for them or bad for them, if you in fact threw them into the sea—or in a bathtub—in a very real sense? What were you trying to accomplish then when you did take your children’s lives?

Yates: Maybe in their innocent years … God would take them up.

Resnick: It would be their innocent years and God would take them up? Is that what you said?

Yates: Be with him. Uh huh.

Resnick: God would take them up to be with Him in heaven? Is that what you mean? [Uh huh.] All right. And if you had not taken their lives, what did you think would happen to them?

Yates: Guess they would have continued stumbling.

Resnick: And where would they end up?

Yates: Hell.

www.nytimes.com

Lia Lee and her mother

Henry Louis Gates Jr.

news.harvard.edu

ReferencesAmerican Psychological Association. (2002). Guidelines on multicultural education,

training, research, practice, and organizational change for psychologists. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/policy/multicultural-guidelines.aspx

Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R., Airasian, P. W., Cruikshank, K. A., Mayer, R. E., Pintrich, P. R., Raths, J., & Wittrock. M. C (2000). Taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing, A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Banaji, M. R., & Greenwald, A. G. (2013). Blindspot: Hidden biases of good people. New York, NY: Delacorte.

Casad, B. J., Flores, A. J., & Didway, J. D. (2012). Using the Implicit Attitude Test as an unconsciousness raising tool in psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 40, 118-123.

Handelsman, M. M., Gottlieb, M. C., & Knapp, S. (2005). Training ethical psychologists: An acculturation model. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 36 , 59–65.

Lee, M. R., & Yi., S. (2013, August). Qualitative reports of multicultural learning in psychology students. Poster presented at the meetings of the American Psychological Association, Honolulu, HI

Norton, M. I, & Sommers, S. R. (2011). Whites see racism as a zero-sum game that they are losing. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(3), 215–218.

Plaut, V. C., Thomas, K. M., & Goren, M. J. (2009). Is multiculturalism or color blindness better for minorities? Psychological Science, 20(4), 444-446.

Pedrotti, J. T. (2013, August). I can do it! Perceptions of cultural self-efficacy in a multicultural psychology class. Poster presented at the meetings of the American Psychological Association, Honolulu, HI.

References (cont.)Prochaska, J. O. (1999). How do people change, and how can we change to help

many more people? In M. A. Hubble, B. L. Duncan, & S. D. Miller (Eds.). The heart and soul of change: What works in therapy (pp. 227–255). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Sammons, C.C., & Speight, A. L. (2008). A qualitative investigation of graduate-student changes associated with multicultural counseling courses. Counseling Psychologist, 36, 814-838.

Slattery, J. M., & Park, C. L. (2011). Empathic counseling: Meaning, context, ethics, and skill. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Sommers, S. R., & Norton, M. I. (2006). Lay theories about white racists: what constitutes racism (and what doesn't). Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 9, 117-138.

Sweatt, L., Pedrotti, J. T., & Langner, C. (2013, August). Teaching about multiculturalism: Views from the front of the classroom. Poster presented at the meetings of the American Psychological Association, Honolulu, HI

Tjeltveit, A. C. (2006). To what ends? Psychotherapy goals and outcomes, the good life, and the principle of beneficence. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 43, 186-200. doi:10.1037/0033-3204.43.2.186

Turner, S. M., Burnes, T. R., & Taylor, S. (2013, August). Life experience or clinical expertise: Exploring instructor content knowledge in cross-cultural courses. Poster presented at the meetings of the American Psychological Association, Honolulu, HI

Watt, J., & Sherburne, C. L. (2011). Implicit attitudes as viewed through a shoot-no shoot simulation. (Unpublished manuscript).