Definition of Multicultural Psychology - Research Paper Example

? Multicultural Psychology Paper Multicultural Psychology Paper Multiculturalism, by and large, refers to the actual of ethnic and cultural diversity inside the population composition of a place. Some nations have policies that take into consideration all cultures and ethnic groups. This is mainly associated to the immigrants within an integrated community. Taking this into consideration, therefore, means that being multicultural entails providing equity to all cultures in a society, and no cultural or ethnic group should be completely dominant. On the other hand, psychology studies the minds of individuals through behavior observation. To many, psychology has tremendous benefits to the society as it employs scientific techniques in studying individuals’ behaviors, and their relationship to each other and their surroundings. In addition, psychology investigates specific cases and sets up general principles in trying to understand individuals or groups of people (Barongan & Nagayama, 2001). The notions of culture and ethnicity have become areas of interest of psychology in dealing with issues of human diversity in society. One of the main challenges is how to make each ethnic or cultural group realize that each and every individual is equal and, therefore, should have equal opportunities and suffer same challenges. Despite the arguments of shared beliefs, behaviors, and values being passed on from one generation to the next being common, others concentrate on features of the surrounding. Others give emphasis to knowledge, ideas, and beliefs, while others look at the course of behavior (Geiger, Zachman & Inmon, 1997). This paper will look at the definition of multicultural psychology; provide a brief history of multicultural psychology, and give a rationale for the establishment of multicultural psychology as a subspecialty of psychology. Definition of multicultural psychology Psychology, being the systematic study of behavior, thought process, and consequence, make psychologists concerned with understanding the thoughts of individuals and their response and factors that have some bearing on the human processes. In relation, in a number of viewpoints, multicultural psychology studies the effect of culture in the way individuals may feel, act, or think. Culture explains the way of life and the environment that a person is familiar with. It also influences the interactions and events between various individuals. These purposes of culture make it both internal and external to humans (Geiger, Zachman & Inmon, 1997). Multicultural psychology is essentially defined as the systematic study of every feature of human behavior as it appears in surroundings where individuals of various cultural environments relate to each other. Multiculturalism is considered to be a fourth force in the discipline of psychology as it complements other aspects of psychology such as theories of psychodynamics and behaviorism. Multicultural psychology scrutinizes and understands the different worldviews; prejudice, racism, and discrimination; developing cultural identity, and structuring it. Additionally, multicultural psychology studies the similarities and differences between cultures. Research under multicultural psychology focuses on the distinctive features within particular cultures (Tumambing, Barker-Hackett & Mio, 2005). Brief history of multicultural psychology Multicultural psychology is a relatively new area in the field of psychology. This, as well as research in the field, support the notion that psychology is culture-bound. Humanistic psychology being also concerned with the freedom, power, and weakness on behavior of individuals in addition to issues correlated to meaning, productivity in work, interpersonal relationships, and psychosocial development. This sequentially changed the foundational course of the field which had held that scientific knowledge should not take culture into consideration. This objective was not accomplished. Moreover, it was recognized that psychology had created comprehensions of human behavior that were lacking differences in culture and their effect (Barongan & Nagayama, 2001). Multicultural psychology not only broadens the field of psychology generally, but also enlightens and enlarges the subspecialties that are already in existence. These incorporate behavior of individuals as affected by ethnicity, race, gender, age, religion, social, political, and sexual orientation. Multicultural psychology, being a new force in the discipline, provides the required perspective for already obtainable information in subjects such as humanistic and psychodynamic theories, and behaviorism. Furthermore, multicultural psychology is related with its pedigree consisting of cross-cultural psychology. Cross-cultural psychology advanced soon after the Second World War in answer to the new comprehension of cross-cultural relations that was as a component of the attempt of the war (Geiger, Zachman & Inmon, 1997). Multicultural psychology developed with the thought that, natural science, with the suggestion of cultural impartiality, was not the ultimate model of psychology. To a certain extent psychology as a discipline was a consequence of society’s conventional culture. Without a field meant to specifically deal with multicultural concerns, psychological studies in America would not be possible. Documents on multicultural psychology point out that every one of the concerns recorded are subjects where there has been a huge impact as a result of cultural variety. Multicultural psychology has also been employed by counselors in their practice. Multicultural psychology gives humanistic counselors a broad understanding of the matters as they associate to life both in counseling and general surroundings. Multicultural psychology broadens the field of psychology and enhances the quality by making it relevant to human behavior (Tumambing, Barker-Hackett & Mio, 2005). Rationale for the establishment of multicultural psychology The global social alterations are making psychologists to change their perspectives on issues that relate to cultural differences both inside and across the national borders. Multicultural psychology differs from other branches of psychology because it takes into consideration cultural factors, and its influence on human behavior and wellbeing. Multicultural psychology comprehends that culture influences how psychologists approach, assess, and interpret the behavior and emotional state of their clients. The rationale for the establishment of multicultural psychology is found in the shortcomings of the main field of psychology. The influence of culture on humans was initially not taken into consideration by psychologists who made theories and recorded findings found in the discipline (Tumambing, Barker-Hackett & Mio, 2008). Psychologists in the major field of psychology incorporated to the course of studying and observing individuals the prevailing effect of their Western culture, resulting to a foregone conclusion. Theories from the main field of psychology are ethnocentric. Culture has an immediate effect on the making of theories in psychology that are perceived to be accurate. Therefore, theories found in the main field of psychology point towards a compromise on the truth, but the compromise is a deceitful and biased concurrence. Multicultural psychology is a means to correct the false assessment about what is truthful. The field accomplishes this by looking at different cultural perspectives across the world (Barongan & Nagayama, 2001). Culture-bind and culture-bound are terms that have been used to address the shortcomings in psychology. General psychology is considered with culture-bind. This is because it does not take culture into consideration in its study. Psychology should be culture-bound so as to show how culture has played a key part in making theories of psychology. Multicultural psychology helps to study the influence of culture in the wellbeing of a person and his or her life in the society. Additionally it has been vital in the way earlier varied knowledge has been included into a form of knowledge that is frequent (Geiger, Zachman & Inmon, 1997). References Barongan, C., & Nagayama, G. C. (2001). Multicultural psychology. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Geiger, J. G., Zachman, J. A., & Inmon, W. H. (1997).  Data stores, data warehousing, and the Zachman framework: Managing enterprise knowledge. New York: McGraw-Hill. Tumambing, J., Barker-Hackett, L., & Mio, J. (2005). Multicultural psychology: Understanding our diverse communities. New York: McGraw-Hill. Tumambing, J., Barker-Hackett, L., & Mio, J. (2008). Multicultural Psychology (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Read More