Multicultural Psychology: Understanding Our Diverse Communities

by Jeffery Scott Mio

"Throughout the years that we have taught courses on multicultural psychology and attended conference presentations and workshops on this topic, what has stuck with us are the stories people felt compelled to tell. In fact, the genesis of this book was a student's reaction paper that was so moving we felt it had to be published. Thus, we planned this book around stories (narratives or anecdotes) that illustrate important aspects of scientific studies and other professional writings in the field of multicultural psychology. The personal stories from our students have generally not been edited for grammar, although some markedly ungrammatical phrases and sentences were modified to make them a bit more grammatical. We did this to maintain the flavor of their stories from the heart, which seemed to illustrate the academic points we are trying to make. In general, science tells us that anecdotes are not sufficient evidence to prove one's point. Although we agree with that stance from a scientific perspective and do not substitute anecdotes for scientific investigation, we do use anecdotes as central points around which to build our case for multicultural issues based on science. In addition, multicultural psychology emphasizes the value of integrating quantitative and qualitative methods to accurately capture the richness of diverse cultures and communities. Thus, rather than substituting for science, our anecdotes are prototypes for scientific investigation. For example, science tells us that there are differences in the way in which men and women communicate. We illustrate those differences by presenting anecdotes highlighting the common experience women have of sometimes being shut out of conversations, particularly ones that are about "male" topics. Science tells us that there are various stages or statuses of racial identity, and we present some prototypical anecdotes that illustrate how those statuses of racial identity affect one's perceptions and life experiences. Science tells us that clients of color, now referred to as "BIPOC" for "Black, Indigenous, and People of Color," may have very different reactions to European American therapists, and we present an anecdote that conveys a typical reaction to a European American therapist who did not approach a BIPOC family of color in a culturally sensitive manner. Again, these stories are meant not to replace science, but to enrich science-to add texture to the clean (and sometimes sterile) lines of science"--

Genres: School, Nonfiction, Psychology, Textbooks, Academic, Read For School

Unknown Binding

First published June 21, 2005

Reviews

[Cait Fogerty · Rating 4 out of 5]

~ 4.0 ~

Yes, I'm adding this textbook to my Goodreads because I've spent too much time reading it for it not to count towards my Reading Challenge goal 🙃 Also because it's definitely not your average textbook - almost every page includes excerpts from a diversity of students reflecting on their personal experiences related to Multicultural Psychology. In my opinion, listening to real people tell their own stories is the most effective way to learn! There are also several authors, which enriches the text, but I think some portions could have used more editing.

Topics covered: cultural differences in worldviews and communication; immigrants, refugees, and the acculturation process; stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, and racism; culture and health; culture and the diagnosis & treatment of mental disorders

[Bridget]

Read this cover to cover for my Culture and Psychology class and considering the amount of time I spent reading and highlighting this textbook I’m going to mark it as read on here haha

[Mouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for a class, in which I had to write a reflection paper each week regarding what I had read. Below is an excerpt from one of those reflections. It addresses some of my misgivings about this textbook, which could have been a little better if the authors had done even a tiny bit more research.

This week, I was surprised to see a reference to my favorite Star Trek movie, the one with the whales, in my Multicultural Psychology textbook (Mio et al., 2020, p. 73). To be a nitpicky nerd, the patient is an adorable elderly woman, but the textbook says “his” twice in reference to the patient, implying that the patient is a man. I found this tiny bit of woman erasure to be ironic coming from this source. Dr. “Bones” McCoy is a role model of mine, with this scene being one of many reasons why. Before giving the patient the pill that fixed her kidney (not appendix, as the textbook states; the lack of fact-checking for something this menial is worrisome because it implies the authors’ research is not entirely trustworthy), he said, “What is this, the Dark Ages?!” I think of that quote often when reading about healthcare in America, whether it be some historical horror (e.g., the Tuskegee Syphilis Study mentioned in last week’s discussion) or the present costs of hospital visits.
Another part of the textbook that gave me some trouble was the paragraph regarding Caitlyn Jenner on page 103. Though I disagree with some of Caitlyn’s ideas and don’t have very fond feelings for her, I don’t think it’s appropriate to deadname or misgender her. I understand that language and the rules surrounding it change quickly, so the authors might not have had any bad intentions. Perhaps if this book was released today, the paragraph’s opening sentence might say something like, “Ever since Caitlyn Jenner, who was once known as the athlete Bruce Jenner, announced to the world that she was transgender, the topic of transgender individuals has been of interest in the broader society.” The paragraph goes on to say there isn’t “an equivalent female to male model.” I feel like this an uninformed opinion; Chaz Bono famously came out as a trans man in the early 2000s (GLAAD, 2009; Oprah, 2011). I wonder if sexism could be at play here. A person assigned male at birth is considered a “role model” for being publicly trans, while a person assigned female at birth is forgotten for doing the same thing, despite receiving media coverage.

[Helena Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

i mean i'm sure it's good for what it is but i think it felt very surface level. idk man who am i to criticize a textbook but it felt like it was so broad in its subject i didn't get any real depth out of it that i wouldn't have gotten from my other psychology classes. a multicultural psychology book that barely scratches the surface of different cultures is ridiculous! sorry! whatever i read it though so im putting it here

[Cheyanne Herrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want an easy to read book to help you understand the complexities of multiculturalism, I recommend this one.

[Racy-tay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure why this is the text that so many multiculti psyc classes choose. It's extremely flawed even though it is quite basic... and so expensive! I say go with Scott Plous and Derald Wing Sue.