Cultural Diversity in the Helping Professions MODULE 1

culture

a set of attitudes, behaviors, and symbols shared by a large group of people and usually communicated from one generation to the next. Something we share, learn, live, experience, and perform. a way of being.

fluidity

our definitions of culture will change because our world is changing and culture is changing

paradigm

a set of shared beliefs and assumptions about how the world works

cultural diversity

the array of differences among groups of people with definable and unique cultural backgrounds

culturally diverse

two people have been socialized in different ways and may find difficulty communicating 

surface culture 

things that are explicitly learned, things that if they changed a little bit, might not cause anxiety 

deep culture

things that are less noticeable, not necessarily talked about but covert, if it were to change, it might be a culture shock

enculturation

process by which children acquire their culture’s attitudes, behaviors, values, norms, usually through daily interactions with others

vertical cultural transmission

learning something from an older generation, learning across generations, younger generations can also teach older generations 

horizontal cultural transmission 

cultural knowledge that is passed down to other people within the same generation

direct cultural transmission

something that is talked about

indirect cultural transmission

something you observe

socialization

process by which we internalize our cultural values, norms, beliefs, attitudes, usually through interactions with others 

nationality 

place of birth 

ethnicity

people who are closely related to each other through characteristics such as language, ancestry, religion, culture 

race 

physical characteristics such as skin color, socially constructed

universal

ways in which people in all groups are the same

cultural

what does a group of people have in common with each other that may be different from other groups

personal

how I feel, what I value, and what I believe.

cultural myopia 

attributing the same characteristics to all members of a single cultural or ethnic group 

absolutism 

the idea that humans think, and feel the same across cultural contexts 

universalism

human nature is universal and shaped by cultural factors

relativism

humans think, act, and feel in diverse ways across cultural contexts; nature is culturally patterned 

emics 

describing and understanding particular cultures with the intention of acquiring ann insider’s point of view 

etics

studying human activity across cultural communities to compare and contrast how culture shapes our experiences 

ethnocentrism 

judging another culture’s customs, practices, and beliefs in the context of your own culture 

cultural relativism

the process of viewing another society’s customs, practices, and beliefs within the context of that cultural setting

individualism

world view, belief system that emphasizes the individual

collectivism

world view that emphasizes sensitivity to others, group harmony, humility, behaving according to social norms and expectations 

tight knit social frameworks

may expect relatives or members from their in-group to look after them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty

cultural competence 

a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals and enable that system, agency, or those professionals to work effectively in cross cultural situations 

distancing 

avoiding situations in which one feels different. can occur physically, emotionally, or intellectually

denial

pretending that there is no difference between oneself and another, minimizing its importance, or ignoring the differences altogether 

defensiveness 

trying to protect oneself from from acknowledging the difference between oneself and another to avoid the discomfort

devaluing 

assessing the difference between oneself and another as deficient 

discovery 

appreciating the difference between oneself and another, seeing how enriching that difference may be, and seeking out opportunities to gain familiarity 

prejudice

learned attitude

bias

prejudiced in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared to another, usually in a way that is considered to be unfair 

stereotype

belief that is assigned to entire group of people

Communication 

exchanges that involve a sender and a receiver both of whom participate in a system that involves the exchange and comprehension of information in particular cultural and social contexts 

LAD Language Acquisition Device

a mental ability allows children to extract the rules of a language simply from hearing it spoken and without any type of learning

high context cultures

emphasizes indirect/implicit language, less likely to communicate direct meaning. Assumption that we know each other well neough that we don’t have to be super direct in what I’m saying because I can count on other people to pick up on it 

low context cultures

direct/explicit/simple speech, focused on independence, self-reliance, uniqueness “say what you mean, mean what you say”

honne 

true feelings 

tatemae

following socially appropriate norms

omoiyari

empathy and collectivistic norms

sociolinguistics

interested in how people use language in social contexts

dialects

regional variations of a language that speakers of the standard language cna understand

dialects

regional variations of a language that speakers of the standard language can understand 

code switching

moving between formal and informal language

code-mixing

combining elements of different languages

self-disclosure

sharing of personal information between two people

cultural considerations

some cultures do not feel comfortable talking about themselves with strangers and are unlikely to respond well to demands for self-disclosure 

how many gestures are culturally similar around the world 

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emotions 

how we think, feel as well as the way our body responds to situational events 

emotions

subjective responses to experiences in our

emotional intelligence

set of skills and abilities that helps us to process, understand, interpret, and regulate our emotions and those that belong to others

James Lange Theory of Emotion

suggests that emotions are physiological responses to our emotional experience of particular situation- we experience emotions based on how our body responds only