Clinical Psychology Cross-Cultural Issues - Identity Development Models Flashcards
Atkinson, Morten, and Sue’s Racial/Cultural Identity Development (R/CID) Model:
The R/CID Model (Atkinson, Morten, & Sue, 1998) distinguishes between five stages of identity development that differ in terms of how members of racial and cultural minority groups view members of their own minority group, other minority groups, and the majority group.
The first stage of each of the racial/cultural identity models is characterized by:
By the person’s lack of acceptance and/or awareness of his/her culture as an element of his/her identity, while the last stage is characterized by the person’s acceptance and appreciation of his/her culture (Lee, 1999).
Conformity:
People in the conformity stage have either neutral or negative attitudes toward members of their own minority group and other minority groups and positive attitudes toward members of the majority group. They accept negative stereotypes of their own group and consider the values and standards of the majority group to be superior. These individuals prefer a therapist from the majority group and view a therapist’s attempts to help them explore their cultural identity as threatening.
Dissonance:
As the result of exposure to information or events that contradict their worldview, people in this stage question their attitudes toward members of their own minority group, other minority groups, and the majority group. They’re aware of the effects of racism and are interested in learning about their own culture. They may prefer a therapist from the majority group but want the therapist to be familiar with their culture, and they’re interested in exploring their cultural identity.
Resistance and Immersion:
People in this stage have positive attitudes toward members of their own minority group, conflicting attitudes toward members of other minority groups, and negative attitudes toward members of the majority group. These individuals are unlikely to seek therapy because of their suspiciousness of mental health services. When they do seek therapy, they’re likely to attribute their psychological problems to racism and prefer a therapist from their own minority group.
Introspection:
During this stage, people question their unequivocal allegiance to their own group and are concerned about the biases that affect their judgments of members of other groups. They’ve become comfortable with their cultural identity but are also concerned about their autonomy and individuality. These individuals may prefer a therapist from their own minority group but are willing to consider a therapist from another group who understands their worldview, and they’re interested in exploring their new sense of identity.
Integrative Awareness:
People in the integrative awareness stage are aware of the positive and negative aspects of all cultural groups. They’re secure in their cultural identity and are committed to eliminating all forms of oppression and becoming more multicultural. Their preference for a therapist is based on similarity of worldview, and they’re most interested in strategies aimed at community and societal change.
Cross’s Black Racial Identity Development Model:
Cross’s Black Racial Identity Development Model has been revised several times. The original model was known as the Nigrescence Model (Cross, 1971) and distinguished between five stages.
Cross’s Black Racial Identity Development Model five stages:
- Pre-Encounter: People in the pre-encounter stage idealize and prefer White culture. They have negative attitudes toward their own Black culture and may view it as an obstacle and source of stigma.
- Encounter: People in this stage question their views of White and Black cultures as the result of exposure to events that cause them to become aware of the impact of racism on their lives. These individuals are interested in learning about and becoming connected to their own culture.
- Immersion-Emersion: People in this stage reject White culture and idealize and become immersed in their own culture.
- Internalization: During this stage, defensiveness and emotional intensity related to race decrease. People in this stage have a positive Black identity and tolerate or respect racial and cultural differences.
- Internalization-Commitment: People in this stage have internalized a Black identity and are committed to social activism to reduce all forms of oppression.
Cross (1991) subsequently reduced the number of stages to four by combining the
The internalization and internalization-commitment stages. Cross and Vandiver (2001) then changed its name to the Black Racial Identity Development Model and reduced it to three stages, with each stage including multiple identity subtypes. The first stage is the pre-encounter stage, which includes assimilation, miseducation, and self-hatred subtypes. The second stage is the immersion-emersion stage. It consists of intense Black involvement and anti-White subtypes. And the third stage is the internalization stage, which consists of Black nationalist, biculturalist, and multiculturalist subtypes.
Sellers, Smith, Shelton, Rowley, and Chavous’s Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity:
The multidimensional model of racial identity (MMRI) developed by Sellers and his colleagues (1998) does not describe sequential stages of identity development but, instead, proposes that a person’s racial identity may vary across time and situations. It was developed for African American individuals and defines African American racial identity “as the significance and qualitative meaning that individuals attribute to their membership within the Black racial group within their self-concepts” (p. 23).
Four dimensions of racial identity:
1) Racial Salience
2) Racial Centrality
3) Racial Regard
4) Racial Ideology
Racial salience is
The extent to which a person’s race is a relevant part of his/her self-concept at a particular point in time and in a particular situation. For instance, race may become more salient for a person when he/she witnesses or experiences discriminatory behavior or is the only African American in a restaurant, classroom, or other social setting.
Racial centrality is
The extent to which a person normatively defines him/herself in terms of race and is affected by the importance of race to the person relative to other identities such as gender and religion. As an example, for some African American women, gender may be more important than race for their identities while, for others, the opposite may be true. In contrast to salience, centrality is relatively stable across situations.
Racial regard includes
Private and public regard. Private regard refers to the extent to which a person feels positively or negatively toward African Americans and how positively or negatively he/she feels about being an African American. Public regard refers to the extent to which a person feels that others view African Americans positively or negatively. Private and public regard are not necessarily related and a person can have, for example, negative private and public regard or positive private regard and negative public regard.
