Cross Cultural Psychology Notes
Whose values count?
Culture: any group sharing values, beliefs, customs
“…isms” ethnicism/racism sexism heterosexism (homophobia) classism ageism prejudice against disabled religious bigotry
Cultural Competence
Familiarity with other groups culture
Know thyself
People including students, therapist, profs, are humans first and
Three challenges to know about yourself
Humans rarely contemplate the origin, validity or meaning of their value
Humans underestimate the arbitrariness of their values and beliefs
Humans have an intense emotional need to have others share their values and worldviews
What drives us to surround ourselves with like minded others?
Comfort
Self-affirmation
Self-validation
We also like to change others so they are more like us.
Two types of therapist
1. Those who want to help clients achieve their goals
2. Those who want clients to adopt and conform to therpists social norms * * Thomas Szasz
“the myth of mental illness” (1961) szasz thinks therapy is mostly “missionary work”
“….therapists are handmaidens of the status quo”
Three quick stories
Muslim Taxi drivers in Minnesota (2006)
Pharmacists refusing to fill prescription for morning after pill
Psychologists referring gay clients to other therapists
In therapy, whoses values will prevail?
The challenge for therapists and people
To separate their personal beliefs from positions on matters that are based on evidence, logic, etc.
Confirmation bias
You already believe something is correct and you go out and try and find data that confirms that it is.
You ignore all the data that disproves it.
Intelligent design: is a theory which says that the Universe is so complex that it must have been designed by a higher intelligent being. People who believe in intelligent design think that life did not evolve by natural selection. Most creationists use intelligent design as an explanation of how life was formed. Most scientists
Culture: any group sharing values, beliefs, customs
“…isms” ethnicism/racism sexism heterosexism (homophobia) classism ageism prejudice against disabled religious bigotry
Cultural Competence
Familiarity with other groups culture
Know thyself
People including students, therapist, profs, are humans first and
Three challenges to know about yourself
Humans rarely contemplate the origin, validity or meaning of their value
Humans underestimate the arbitrariness of their values and beliefs
Humans have an intense emotional need to have others share their values and worldviews
What drives us to surround ourselves with like minded others?
Comfort
Self-affirmation
Self-validation
We also like to change others so they are more like us.
Two types of therapist
1. Those who want to help clients achieve their goals
2. Those who want clients to adopt and conform to therpists social norms * * Thomas Szasz
“the myth of mental illness” (1961) szasz thinks therapy is mostly “missionary work”
“….therapists are handmaidens of the status quo”
Three quick stories
Muslim Taxi drivers in Minnesota (2006)
Pharmacists refusing to fill prescription for morning after pill
Psychologists referring gay clients to other therapists
In therapy, whoses values will prevail?
The challenge for therapists and people
To separate their personal beliefs from positions on matters that are based on evidence, logic, etc.
Confirmation bias
You already believe something is correct and you go out and try and find data that confirms that it is.
You ignore all the data that disproves it.
Intelligent design: is a theory which says that the Universe is so complex that it must have been designed by a higher intelligent being. People who believe in intelligent design think that life did not evolve by natural selection. Most creationists use intelligent design as an explanation of how life was formed. Most scientists