Chapter 1 What is Multicultural Psychology?
1. Multicultural psychology: the study of cultural and sociocultural influences on behavior
a. Cultural influences: e.g., culture of origin, U.S. cultures
b. Sociocultural influences: e.g., minority status, discrimination
2. Cross model of racial identity
a. Cross’s (1971) model was developed in an African American context
b. Racial identity involves 4 stages:
i. Pre-encounter
1. African Americans view the world as non-Black or anti-Black
2. African Americans view European Americans as superior to African Americans
3. Goal is assimilation into European American society ii. Encounter
1. African Americans become aware of what it means to be African American
2. Begin to validate themselves in terms of that racial identity
3. Search for new and different interpretations of his identity iii. Immersion/Emersion
1. Immerse themselves in African American culture
2. May reject all values that are not African American iv. Internalization
1. African Americans develop a self-confident and secure African American identity
2. Comfortable expressing interests and preferences for experiences from other cultures
3. Identify with the oppression of all people
4. Often become involved in social activism
3. Comparison of the cross model of racial identity to other models
Cross
Pre-Encounter
Encounter
Immersion/Emersion
Internalization
Helms
Contact
Disintegration
Reintegration, immersion/emersion
Autonomy
Sellers
Assimilationist, Humanist
Oppressed minority
Nationalist, Oppressed minority
Humanist
Phinney
Diffusion
Foreclosure
Moratorium
Achievement
Poston
Personal identity
Choice of group categorization
Enmeshment/Denial, Appreciation
Integration
4. Helms model of White racial identity
a. Helms (1990) developed a model of White racial identity
b. 6 stages:
i. Contact
1. Race is not a distinguishing factor in psychological development
2. A person in this stage sees all people as having much in common ii. Disintegration
1. Confusion and perplexity about being White
2. May face moral dilemmas about what it means to be White in a society that denigrates persons who are not White
3. A recognition that European Americans perpetrate discrimination iii. Reintegration
1. An attempt to deal with the sense of disintegration by asserting racial superiority
2. African Americans and other minorities are viewed as inferior iv. Pseudo-independence
1. Gains a broader understanding of impact of race, ethnicity, and culture on psychological development
v. Immersion/emersion
1. An attempt to develop a personal and moral definition of Whiteness vi. Autonomy
1. The development of a nonracist White identity
2. Comfortable with his or her own identity as well as with the identities of others who are not European Americans
5. Sellers Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity
a. The significance and meaning of racial identity in the Sellers model may vary across time and situations
b. Racial identity involves:
i. The importance of race in the individual’s perception of self ii. The meaning of being a member of a racial group
c. 4 dimensions of racial identity
i. Racial salience: the relevance of race as part of one’s self-concept in a particular situation
1. Racial salience is more relevant to people of color in North America than to European Americans, insofar as European Americans typically are the majority and race issues are not salient unless they are in situations in which they are the minority. ii. Racial centrality: the extent to which persons normatively identify themselves with race
1. Relatively stable across situations
2. Involves the importance of race relative to other identities iii. Regard: the positive and negative feeling a person has about his or her race
1. Private regard: positive or negative feelings about one’s race and positive or negative feelings about being a member of the racial group
2. Public regard: perceptions of the positive or negative feelings of others in society toward
