Multicultural Competency

Multicultural Competency

Guideline 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 to, knowledge of, and understanding about ethnically and racially different individuals.

3) What is your opinion of the Guidelines? What parts do you agree or disagree with, and why?

After reading through the first set of guidelines I can say that I agree with these guidelines. The guidelines are mapped out to be straight forward. The psychologist should recognize that their own beliefs and attitudes that are based on cultural experiences have the ability to hinder or influence their own beliefs and their interactions with individuals who are much different from whom they are. "Psychologists are encouraged to learn how cultures differ in basic premises that shape worldview" (American Psychology, p. 382). The guidelines stress the importance of keeping an open mind and realizing that many cultures exist, and differences will surface. The guidelines also speak of professionals needing to be self-aware and not exaggerate information sub consciously. "These include a tendency to exaggerate differences between groups and similarities within one group and a tendency to favor one's in-group over the out-group; this, too, is done outside conscious processing (American Psychology, p. 383).

In this particular guideline I was not able to find any material that I necessarily did not follow or disagree with. This guideline made me realize that understanding different racial/ethnic groups is highly important within the profession. It is very important for psychologists to be aware of their own attitudes and to work at increasing their contact with different groups of people, building trust is always important.

Guideline #2 was an extension of guideline #1. This guideline brought up some logical points on the recommendations for psychologists to understand the stigmatizing aspects of being a member of a culturally devalued other group (American Psychology, 2003). Other aspects that I was very much in tune with were that psychologists should enhance their sensitivity level and understanding further. Psychologists are also encouraged to understand and become knowledgeable on legislation, employment opportunities, affirmative action, Civil Rights Act, as this all relates to ethnicity, race, religion, sex, and gender (American Psychology, 2003). Cultural ratio perspective was mentioned in this guideline and psychologists are urged to familiarize themselves with theories and information from a variety of cultures (American Psychology, 2003).

I found these guidelines to be a direct extension of what was discussed in the first set. I did not find anything that I disagreed with, I agreed with everything was presented in these guidelines. These guidelines have been enacted to better recognize the importance of multicultural sensitivity and come to an understanding about racially different individuals. In particular the mention of racial identity models will also assist with racial and ethnic minority groups.

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