Multicultural Psychology: Chapter 1 Vocabulary

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from the 'What is Multicultural Psychology?' lecture.

Multicultural Psychology

The systematic study of behavior, cognitions, and affect in settings where people of different backgrounds interact.

BIPOC

A relatively new term that stands for: Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, used to emphasize the importance of skin color as a determinant of people’s reactions to racial markers.

Culture

The systems of knowledge, concepts, values, norms, and practices of a group of people, shared through symbols, that are learned and transmitted across generations.

Surface structure of culture

The physical manifestations of a group’s way of life that can be easily observed, such as music, food, dress, and language.

Deep structure of culture

The philosophical assumptions that underlie a culture and are reflected in its values, practices, and beliefs.

Diversity

Acknowledgement of individual human differences that go beyond race, ethnicity, and nationality, such as age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, and physical ability.

Biological concept of race

The perspective that a race is a group of people who share a specific combination of physical, genetically inherited characteristics that distinguish them from other groups.

Sociocultural concept of race

The perspective that characteristics, values, and behaviors that have been associated with groups of people who share different physical characteristics serve the social purpose of providing a way for outsiders to view another group and for members of a group to perceive themselves.

Ethnicity

A combination of race and culture.

Intersectionality

The meaningful ways in which various social statuses (e.g., race, gender, social class) interact and result in differing experiences with oppression and privilege.

Culture Contact

Critical incidents in which people from different cultures come into social contact with one another either by living and working with one another on a daily basis, or through visiting other countries on a temporary basis, such as for business, tourism, or study.

Cross-Cultural Psychology

The search for universal principles of human behavior, cognition, and affect, or for what is common across cultures.

Tolerance (Multiculturalism)

A fair, open, and objective attitude toward people and ideas that differ from yours.

Respect (Multiculturalism)

To value, appreciate, and show regard or consideration for differences.

Inclusion (Multiculturalism)

Active efforts to reverse the historical exclusion of certain groups in society.

Sensitivity (Multiculturalism)

Awareness that cultural differences exist and taking these differences into account in our interactions.

Equity (Multiculturalism assumption)

Equal access to opportunities and resources; this includes providing extra assistance to those who have historically not been given equal access.

Empowerment

Helping individuals from marginalized, disenfranchised, and mistreated groups stand up for their rights and fight for equal treatment.

Social Justice

Working towards equity, where every citizen is treated fairly and has equal access to the rights, privileges, opportunities, and resources available within society.

Social Change (Multiculturalism)

Widespread change in the institutions, behaviors, and relationships within a society.

Equality (vs. Equity)

Assumes that everyone is equal, such as everyone’s vote in an election counts the same as everyone else’s vote.

Equity (vs. Equality)

Recognizes differences and injustices and helps to provide remedies for these injustices, such as by recognizing the extra difficulties encountered by students from poor backgrounds and providing scholarships for them.

Whitelash

The backlash exhibited by European Americans in response to the changing demographics of society, particularly embodied by the election of Barack Obama as president by a minority of European American voters but a majority of votes from people of color.

Hispanic (U.S. Census)

No longer a racial category in the U.S. Census, although a significant percentage of the population identifies as Hispanic or Latino.

Multiculturalism as the Fourth Force

The idea that multicultural psychology is so important that it will fundamentally change the direction of the field of psychology, as psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and humanism did.

Cultural Context (Behavior)

The understanding that all human behavior occurs in and is impacted by the cultural environment, a fact historically ignored by the field of psychology until recently.

Biopsychosocial Model

A model of human behavior that takes into consideration biological, cognitive-affective, social interpersonal, social institutional, and cultural factors.

Multicultural Counseling and Therapy (MCT) Theory

A meta-theory of counseling and psychotherapy with assumptions regarding the formation of identities, cultural identity development, culturally consistent modalities, multiple helping roles, and the liberation of consciousness.

Eugenics

A movement that maintains only “good genes” should be passed from generation to generation and “undesirable” groups should be dissuaded from reproducing.

APA Ethics Code (Diversity Issues)

The American Psychological Association's code that first addressed diversity issues in 1992.

APA Multicultural Guidelines

Guidelines published by the American Psychological Association, first in 2003 and revised in 2017 to include issues of identity and intersectionality, promoting an ecological approach to context, identity, and intersectionality in psychological practice.