Final Overview: Social and Cultural Foundations

Question 1

Culture

Answer 1

is defi ned as habits, customs, art, religion, science, and the
political behavior of a given group of people during a given period of time. Cultures are said to be dynamic: each culture changing or evolving at its own rate. The dominant or major culture in a country is the macroculture, often contrasted with the smaller, microculture.
Learning the behaviors and expectations of a culture is known as acculturation.

Question 2

Universal Culture

Answer 2

Implies that we are all genetically and biologically similar “biological sameness” (i.e., we all need air, food and water); national culture can determine our language, political views,
and our laws; regional culture gives us the behavior for a certain
region; and ecological culture where factors such as earthquakes, floods, and food supply may influence our behavior.

Question 3

Racism

Answer 3

Occurs when one race views itself as superior to others. A given race has a set of genetically transmitted characteristics such as Caucasian, African American, or Asian.

Question 4

Ethnocentrism

Answer 4

Means that a given group sees itself as the standard by which other ethnic groups are measured.

Question 5

Emic versus Etic Distinctions

Answer 5

In the emic approach the
counselor helps the client understand his or her culture.

In the etic approach the counselor focuses on the similarities in people;
treating people as being the same.

Question 6

The autoplastic–alloplastic dilemma.

Answer 6

Autoplastic implies
that the counselor helps the client change to cope with his or
her environment. Alloplastic occurs when the counselor has the
client try to change the environment.

Question 7

Tests and nosological systems such as the DSM

Answer 7

Can have a Eurocentric or Euro-American bias.

Question 8

Paralanguage

Answer 8

Implies that the client’s tone of voice, loudness,
vocal inflections; and speed of delivery, silence, and hesitation
must be taken into consideration. It is part of the study of
nonverbal communication and is usually considered more
accurate than verbal communication.

Question 9

Low context communication

Answer 9

Implies that there will be a long
verbal explanation and high context communication relies on
nonverbals that are readily understood by others in the culture.

Question 10

Stereotyping

Answer 10

Is the act of thinking that all people of a group are

alike. Stereotypes can be good or bad.

Question 11

Prejudice

Answer 11

Occurs when we have an opinion based on insuffi cient

evidence.

Question 12

Androgynous/androgyny

Answer 12

The notion that psychologically
healthy people possess both masculine and feminine
characteristics.

Question 13

Proxemics

Answer 13

Addresses the issue of personal space, also known as
spatial relations. A counselor who sits too close to a client, for
example, may make the client uncomfortable. Communication
and social relations are impacted by proxemics.

Question 14

Means tests

Answer 14

Determine whether a client is eligible for a social
program or benefi t such as temporary assistance for needy
families (TANF) or food stamps. Income and assets such as
bank accounts are often used to make this determination. Often
contrasted with social insurance programs such as social
security for which an extremely wealthy person could still be
qualifi ed.

Question 15

Social comparison theory

Answer 15

Popularized by early research
conducted by Leon Festinger, simply postulates that we evaluate
our behaviors and accomplishments by comparing ourselves to
others.

Question 16

Worldview

Answer 16

Counselors strive to understand a client’s worldview (the way
the client sees the world due to attitudes, value systems, and
beliefs).

Question 17

Anglo-Conformity Theory

Answer 17

Asserts that people from other cultures
would do well to forget about their heritage and try to become
like those in the dominant, macroculture.

Question 18

The five-stage Atkinson, Morten, and Sue Racial/Cultural
Identity Development Model (R/CID) aka the Minority
Identity Model:

Answer 18

(1) Conformity (lean toward dominant culture and prefer a counselor from the dominant culture);

(2) Dissonance (question and confusion, prefer a counselor
from a minority group);

(3) Resistance and Immersion (reject the dominant culture while accepting one’s own culture);

(4) Introspection (mixed feelings related to the previous stage,
prefer a counselor from one’s own racial/ethnic group) and

(5) Synergetic Articulation and Awareness (stop racial and
cultural oppression, prefers a counselor with a similar attitude
or worldview over merely a counselor who is the same race/
ethnicity, but has different beliefs).

Not everyone goes through all stages and some individuals never progress beyond the second or third stage. An individual can also go backward.