Why is multiculturalism good?

This article explores the moral sources that give multiculturalism the potency to move psychology to reassess itself. The power of the multicultural perspective appears to derive from its ability to show how psychology's tendency toward monocultural universalism has undermined its aims as a science of human behavior and promoter of human welfare. The multicultural critique also draws on Euro-American moral traditions and ideals, such as individual rights, authenticity, respect, and tolerance. In spite of the importance of these ideals, multiculturalists often criticize Euro-American culture without acknowledging their debt to it. Moreover, these particularist moral sources undercut multiculturalism's universalist appeal. There is a paradoxical tendency among some advocates of multiculturalism to encourage cultural separatism and an inarticulateness in dealing with intercultural value conflict. We present some recommendations for dealing with these dilemmas from philosophical hermeneutics, including the contextualization of multiculturalism, an approach to sifting and evaluating cultural values, and an ontological account of the dialogical nature of humans. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parenting style as context: An integrative model.

Despite broad consensus about the effects of parenting practices on child development, many questions about the construct parenting style remain unanswered. Particularly pressing issues are the variability in the effects of parenting style as a function of the child's cultural background, the processes through which parenting style influences the child's development, and the operationalization of parenting style. Drawing on historical review, the authors present a model that integrates 2 traditions in socialization research, the study of specific parenting practices and the study of global parent characteristics. They propose that parenting style is best conceptualized as a context that moderates the influence of specific parenting practices on the child. It is argued that only by maintaining the distinction between parenting style and parenting practice can researchers address questions concerning socialization processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Socially constructing sexuality: Toward a postmodernist theory of sexual intimacy.

Takes issue with the biological focus of traditional theories of sexuality, drawing on postmodern trends such as hermeneutics and social constructionism. It is argued that traditional theories are characterized by a reductionism that precludes meaningfulness and an individualism that precludes genuine intimacy. The theories thus offer an essentially barren account of what is otherwise a richly meaningful human activity. A more fruitful account of human sexuality begins with acknowledging that sexuality is a fundamentally social and meaningful phenomenon and that it can only be understood in the social, historical, and moral context in which human beings live and act. If the linguistic aspect of sexuality were at the heart of theories, biological information could be given its proper place as context for understanding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a "global-community psychology": Meeting the needs of a changing world.

Changes in telecommunications, transportation, and economic ties are linking our welfare and well-being to events and forces in distant lands. Emerging social, cultural, political, and environmental problems around the globe are imposing intense and complex demands on individual and collective psyches, challenging our sense of identity, control, and well-being. The fabled global community is now upon us. Psychology can assist in addressing and resolving these problems, especially if it is willing to reconsider some of its fundamental premises, methods, and practices that are rooted within Western cultural traditions and to expand its appreciation and use of other psychologies. The present article advocates the development of a superordinate or meta-discipline of psychology—global-community psychology—defined as a set of premises, methods, and practices for psychology based on multicultural, multidisciplinary, multisectoral, and multinational foundations that are global in interest, scope, relevance, and applicability. Characteristics of global-community psychology as a disciplinary specialty are discussed, as are various issues supporting its development and need. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Orthoses used in the management of neurologic and muscular disorders

In conclusion, it should be kept in mind that family-centered practice is not merely a theoretical construct or philosophical position. Its practical implementation assumes that virtually any variety of options for how the family, child, and professionals will interface and collaborate will be possible, based on the needs and wishes of the family, community make-up, and the complexity of issues involved. As providers of service in a critical area of development, communication, we must be mindful of the many individual, social, and political factors, such as cultural and racial background, poverty, prejudice, mental and other health issues, managed care in medical practice, outcomes-based service models, and funding sources, that will impinge on this relationship. Key to our success is the focus on achieving mutual goals for the child: optimal communication skills in a positive, healthy family context.     

Are trustworthiness and fairness enough? Contextual family therapy and the good family

The moral dimension of family therapy theory and practice has received increasing attention in recent years. Boszormenyi-Nagy was among the first to see that family therapy and moral questions are inseparable. His focus on relational ethics has helped us to reappropriate individual responsibility and accountability within a systemic context. Although contextual therapy has clearly enriched the field, we argue that its emphasis on trustworthiness and fairness provides a limited view of the good in family life and leads to three related problems. First, Boszormenyi-Nagy offers a compelling ethical vision of the family and then denies that he has done so, which undermines some of his key moral claims. Second, because fairness is defined subjectively, contextual therapy may not have the resources to deal with legitimate differences in family ideals. Third, the reliance on self-interest as the primary motive for trustworthy relating appears to be self-defeating. We offer a hermeneutic perspective that takes a broader approach to the good. It places greater emphasis on the social and historical context, deals squarely with different understandings of the good in family life, and recommends an approach to resolving these differences.     

The worlds we live in: Gender similarities and differences.

Explores 2 traditions of gender difference research and theory. One tradition emphasizes similarities between the sexes, whereas the other emphasizes differences. Reasons for the tension between these 2 traditions are explored. The author argues that rather than choose 1 of these 2 views, it is better to use the tension created to explore the dialectic between similarity and difference. To illustrate the usefulness of this tension, the controversy around gender and moral reasoning is explored. After examining empirical and political concerns about linking an ethic of care to gender, the author explores the interaction of care and justice with gender similarities and differences in developing moral theory. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

International psychological research that matters for policy and practice.

After a brief history of the Committee on International Relations of the American Psychological Association, 3 points are made about international psychological research that matters. First, it matters when the definition of the research problem area and the findings can potentially be reflected in policy change, in the practice of educators or psychologists, or in the mindsets of a new generation of researchers. Person-centered analysis of adolescents’ social and political attitudes has this potential and can complement variable-centered analysis. A cluster analysis of the IEA Civic Education Study’s data in 5 Western European and 5 Eastern European countries illustrates this. The following 5 clusters of adolescents were identified: those supportive of social justice but not participative, those active in conventional politics and the community, those indifferent, those disaffected, and a problematic cluster of alienated adolescents. Second, research that matters is situated in a cultural context. It is proposed that publications using data from any single country be required to include information about the cultural context in which the research was conducted. Finally, it matters that attention be given to the dynamics of the collaborative international research process, not only to research results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nursing clients of Greek ethnicity at home

The home healthcare nurse who cares for persons with Greek ancestry should be aware of their unique cultural heritage. The nurse should also be aware that Greek people throughout the world are proud and independent, valuing their religious faith and practices, good health, education, and success. Care should be designed to include appreciation of traditions and customs that these clients may have. The nurse should make a special effort to develop trust with the Greek client and family members in order to effectively implement culturally competent healthcare.     

Current dilemmas, hermeneutics, and power.

A key to the shortcomings and confusions afflicting 20th century social science seems to be problematic moral underpinnings or "disguised ideologies" that drive much of its research and theory. Philosophical hermeneutics shows great promise for diagnosing this condition and reorienting human science inquiry in helpful ways. However, it has been suggested by a number of thoughtful critics that hermeneutics has not yet taken the full measure of the kinds of "power" that can imbue and distort human communication, including social theory and research. This paper addresses several of these critiques, finds merit in them, but argues that such concerns about power may be able to be addressed more adequately by a hermeneutic approach than by the viewpoints from which they are raised. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Values, assumptions, and practices: Assessing the moral implications of psychological discourse and action.

Despite an increased awareness concerning the role of values in psychology, psychologists lack clear guidelines to appraise the moral implications of their work. To address this discrepancy, the author proposes a framework for examining the moral dimensions of psychological discourse and practice. The framework contains 3 central elements: values, assumptions, and practices. These components may be used to articulate and to challenge the ethical, social, and political implications of theories and practices. To illustrate its applicability, the framework is used to evaluate the moral propositions of traditional, empowering, postmodern, and emancipatory communitarian approaches. The author concludes with a vision for addressing the shortcomings of predominant models by proposing for psychology an emancipatory communitarian approach that promotes the emancipation of vulnerable individuals and that fosters a balance among the values of self-determination, caring and compassion, collaboration and democratic participation, human diversity, and distributive justice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward integrating feminist psychotherapy and feminist philosophy.

Describes liberal, cultural, radical, and socialist feminist philosophies and proposes that psychologists' orientations toward feminist political and philosophical theory will have an impact on their practice of feminist psychotherapy with regard to their preferences for group or individual modalities, therapeutic interventions, diagnostic practices, and organizational affiliations. Psychologists' philosophical positions may also influence their attitudes about research, epistemology, and the role of men and women as clients and therapists. Specific connections between feminist philosophy and psychological theories and other aspects of practice are discussed. It is proposed that all psychologists who work with gender-related issues can benefit from contemplating how their therapeutic practices intersect with feminist philosophy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Forgiveness Therapy: The Context and Conflict.

This paper is a critique of forgiveness therapy that focuses on the cultural contexts in which forgiveness therapy arose, with a special focus on the movement to address the victimization of women. I describe forgiveness as described by forgiveness therapy advocates and the moral and non-moral benefits claimed on its behalf. I then describe the cultural context that may explain the popularity of this form of therapy at this historical moment; the first context is a broad cultural context, looking at ideologies and practices that support forgiveness as a therapeutic intervention; the second context is the more narrow context of a movement within the field of psychology called "positive psychology" that also supports forgiveness interventions; and the third context, is the ideologies and narratives around victimization and in particular victimization against women that have led to an application of forgiveness therapy for victims of abuse (Freedman & Enright, 1996). After describing these three contexts in which forgiveness therapy arose, I present a critique from a feminist as well as a broader humanistic/psychodynamic perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cultivating a moral sense of nursing through model emulation

This paper reports part of a longitudinal research project, which sought to capture students' conceptualization of caring practice as they progressed to different levels of study in a nursing diploma programme in Hong Kong. Model emulation was found to be an effective means of focusing students' learning processes on the moral aspects of nursing practice. The theory of model emulation from a Chinese perspective and how it is applied to create a learning context to allow students to acquire a moral sense of nursing are discussed. The participating students are invited to be sincere enquirers in the pursuit of the good embedded in practice through introspective self-examination and dialogue. They are asked to describe and share their experience of positive and negative examples of nursing in written accounts. Van Kaam's phenomenological method was adopted to explicate the good and bad constituents of nursing from these examples, with the students assuming an active role in the explication process. The explication reveals that the students were able to articulate the good and bad practices in a variety of patient care situations.     

American psychotherapy and its malcontents: A review of Cushman, Phillip (1995).

Reviews the book, Constructing the self, constructing America: A cultural history of psychotherapy by Phillip Cushman (1995). Phillip Cushman's 1995 Constructing the self, constructing America: A cultural history of psychotherapy provides both a far-reaching critique of psychoanalysis in America and an alternative theoretical approach founded on the notion of the self as sociohistorically configured and moral. With the proliferation and sometime redundancy of critiques of the mainstream, it would not be unfair to ask what Cushman's critical analysis effects beyond what has already found its way into print. To begin with, his contribution is distinguished by its object. Whereas most critiques are aimed at theories and practices as institutionalized in the academy, Cushman takes as his primary target those which have dominated the professional practice of psychotherapy in America. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moral aspects of risk and innovation

In all areas of technological innovation and application, there are nontechnical (moral, cultural, religious, political, and regulatory) risk factors and uncertainties that have to be taken into account if research design and introduction of new devices and applications are to be successful. Products and methods will be beneficial to the patient if they meet personal and cultural expectations. Value assessment of individual patients and of cultural preferences and obstacles therefore has to be included in complex technology assessment. Successful recognition and management of moral and cultural risk factors may require changes in governmental regulation and research design and the development of risk recognition competence within professional organizations.     

Work/family demands, work flexibility, work/family conflict, and their consequences at work: A national probability sample in Taiwan.

The aim of this research was to explore relations between work/family demands, work flexibility, work/family conflict, and work-related outcomes in the cultural context of Chinese society, using a national probability sample. For Taiwanese employees, work demands were positively related to work/family conflict, whereas both work and family demands were positively related to family/work conflict. Work/family conflict was negatively related to job satisfaction and family/work conflict to organizational commitment. More importantly, the authors found that organizational policies and practices such as work flexibility could alleviate feelings of work interfering with family, further enhancing job satisfaction and organizational commitment. It is recommended that various family-friendly company policies be reformulated taking into account core cultural values such as individualism-collectivism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Practices, Power, and Cultural Ideals.

This article and the following ones by Slife (2005; see record 2005-08232-002) and Westerman (2005; see record 2005-08232-001) represent a coordinated effort on the authors' part to begin to mine the resources of what has been termed the "practice turn in contemporary theory" (Shatzki, 1996, Shatzki, Cetina, & Savigny, 2001) for psychology. The liberal approach tends to focus on a fear of power and how it can corrupt our best ideals, while the postmodernist tends to focus on a fascination with power flowing through the social and institutional expressions of these very ideals. Given modern Western culture's deep antiauthoritarian tenor, these two responses can be seen as reflecting what might be termed an underlying "control or be controlled" dilemma. We suggest the practice turn and hermeneutics offer an avenue for effectively getting past this basic dilemma. They make it clear that in everyday life, we are both profoundly shaped and influenced by the world and other people and influence them, in turn, by the way we interpret them and adjust to them as we engage in the fields of practices in which we find ourselves. Personal and social influences at play in the everyday business of human living create a continuum rather than a dichotomy regarding issues of control and power, leading to a dissolution of our taxing "control or be controlled" dilemma. Such an ontology clearly entails rethinking some prominent cultural ideals, leading us perhaps to think as much or more in terms of character than achievement, of cooperation than competition, of patience than striving restlessly to get somewhere. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)