How shall we all live together?: Meta-analytical review of the mutual intercultural relations in plural societies project

Living together in culturally plural societies poses numerous challenges for members of ethnocultural groups and for the larger society. An important goal of these societies is to achieve positive intercultural relations among all their peoples. Successful management of these relations depends on many factors including a research-based understanding of the historical, political, economic, religious and psychological features of the groups that are in contact. The core question is ‘how we shall we all live together?’ In the project reported in this paper (Mutual Intercultural Relations in Plural Societies; MIRIPS), we seek to provide such research by reviewing three core psychological hypotheses of intercultural relations (multiculturalism, contact and integration) in 21 culturally plural societies. The main goal of the project is to evaluate these hypotheses across societies within the MIRIPS project in order to identify if there are some basic psychological principles that underlie intercultural relations panculturally. If there are, the eventual goal is to employ the findings to propose some policies and programmes that may improve the quality of intercultural relationship globally. An internal meta-analysis using the MIRIPS project data showed that the empirical findings from these societies generally support the validity of the three hypotheses. Implications for the development of policies and programmes to enhance the quality of intercultural relations are discussed.     

Empirical Correlates of Cosmopolitan Orientation: Etiology and Functions in a Worldwide Representative Sample

Psychology has begun contributing to social theory by providing empirical measures of actually existing cosmopolitanism that complements more purely theoretical conceptions of the construct common in philosophy and sociology. Drawing from two waves of research on representative adult samples from 19 countries (N = 8740), metric invariance was found for the three factors of cosmopolitan orientation (COS): cultural openness (CO), global prosociality (GP), and respect for cultural diversity (RCD). In terms of etiology, among Wave 1 measures, the personality factor of agreeableness was the best predictor of the cosmopolitan factors of GP and RCD at Wave 2, whereas openness of personality best predicted CO. Wave 1 measures of education, political liberalism, and self-reported social status independently also explained a small amount of variance in COS. Functionally, COS was shown to predict less prejudice against immigrants, and more support for global civil society, even after controlling for social dominance orientation. All three COS factors independently predicted better attitudes towards immigrants. GP was the best predictor of trust in the United Nations, whereas RCD was the best predictor of support for environmental protection. The three-factor model of COS appears well-calibrated for assessing actually existing cosmopolitanism across cultures.     

Relational Strategies for Teaching Multicultural Courses in Counselor Education

Multicultural courses pose several challenges for counselor educators. This article presents a rationale for using a relational approach to teaching multicultural courses and includes 3 classroom activities based in relational pedagogy and relational-cultural theory. By using a relational approach, counselor educators can encourage students to become more engaged, more self-motivated, and more willing to take risks in the pursuit of learning inclusive, competent, and culturally aware counseling practice. Los cursos multiculturales presentan varios retos para los educadores de consejeros. Este artículo presenta un razonamiento para el uso de un enfoque relacional en la enseñanza de cursos multiculturales e incluye 3 actividades para el aula basadas en la pedagogía relacional y la teoría relacional-cultural. Mediante el uso de un enfoque relacional, los educadores de consejeros pueden animar a sus estudiantes a estar más involucrados, motivados y dispuestos a asumir riesgos en su esfuerzo por aprender una práctica de la consejería que sea culturalmente inclusiva, competente y consciente.     

Closing the Solidarity Gap? How Ethnic Diversity Alters Who We Are Willing to Support

Citizens tend to be more solidary with ethnic ingroup members than ethnic outgroup members. As a result, increasing ethnic diversity is often found to impede solidarity. Although this perspective is well established, I present an alternative argument: Under circumstances that foster intergroup contact, increasing diversity promotes, rather than impedes, intergroup solidarity. To test this argument, I combine a survey experiment fielded among Danish students with quasi-random observational data on students' classroom ethnic composition. I find that ethnic-majority adolescents are on average more willing to support ethnic-majority recipients than immigrant and ethnic-minority recipients. Yet, although increasing diversity does not moderate the majority-minority solidarity gap, increasing diversity diminishes and erases the majority-immigrant solidarity gap. As further shown, one explanation is that immigrants in particular face strong stereotypes of being lazy and that ethnic diversity reduces this specific stereotype. These findings suggest that immigration and solidarity need not be incompatible. Under certain circumstances, ethnic diversity at worst leaves intergroup solidarity unaltered and at best improves such solidarity.     

Let's Talk About Race: Evaluating a College Interracial Discussion Group on Race

The authors evaluate Dialogues on Race, an interracial group intervention in which undergraduate student facilitators led conversations about race with their peers. The evaluation process is described, including developing collaborative relationships, identifying program goals, selecting measures, and analyzing and presenting results. The authors discuss lessons learned about evaluating an interracial dialogue intervention that did not originally include researchers in the hope that this examination will encourage others to evaluate similar campus interventions. Diálogos sobre Raza es una intervención de grupo interracial en la que estudiantes universitarios moderaron conversaciones sobre raza con sus compañeros. Se describe el proceso de evaluación, incluyendo el desarrollo de relaciones de colaboración, la identificación de objetivos del programa, la selección de medidas, y el análisis y presentación de los resultados. Los autores discuten las lecciones aprendidas sobre la evaluación de una intervención interracial dialogada que en principio no incluyó a investigadores con la esperanza de que este examen animará a otros a evaluar intervenciones similares en sus campus.     

Minority status,access to information,and individual performance

With growing nationality diversity in organizations, the question under which circumstances differences in nationality background between team members affect individual performance increases in importance. Research showed that dissimilarity may negatively affect individual performance and that the status difference between nationality majority and nationality minority moderates this effect. We take this analysis an important step further by recognizing that not all nationality minorities are low status and propose that status differences among nationality minority groups influence the extent to which nationality minority background affects individual performance. We identify the elaboration of distributed information in the team as a mediator and process accountability as a moderator in this effect. Results of a multilevel team experiment in which we manipulated team nationality composition and process accountability supported our hypotheses, testifying to the value of status-based distinctions between minority groups in the study of relational demography effects. The mediating role of the elaboration of distributed information also provides an important bridge to team diversity research inviting further conceptual integration.     

Intimate Partner Violence, Welfare Receipt, and Health Status of Low-Income African American Women: A Lifecourse Analysis

Although the association among intimate partner violence (IPV), welfare receipt, and health status has been well-established, little is known about the temporal sequencing of these events. In a random sample of low-income African American women in an urban Midwestern county, lifecourse data about IPV and welfare receipt were obtained using the Life History Calendar method (D. Freedman, A. Thornton, D. Camburn, D. Alwin, & L. Young-DeMarco, 1988), along with data about mental and physical health status. Controlling for relevant factors, longitudinal analyses found that previous experience of IPV increased women's odds of receiving welfare benefits in a given year, but previous welfare receipt did not. Cumulative IPV, but not cumulative welfare receipt, was associated with current and past-year health problems. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that IPV leads women to turn to welfare assistance, and that compromised physical and mental health due to past cumulative IPV interferes with women's gainful employment.     

The “Big Tent” of Community Psychology: Reactions to Paul Toro’s 2004 Presidential Address

This article summarizes discussions that took place following Paul Toros presidential address for the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA). Toro argued that community psychology and SCRA are big tents. He suggested growth through increasing the involvement of ethnic minorities, community practitioners, international colleagues, students and early career professionals and individuals from allied disciplines. Themes in the discussions included: the founding values of community psychology, diversity, and social action. Those present felt that the field was facing a mid-life crisis and needed to re-establish its identity. Newer professionals looked to their seasoned colleagues to help define and establish that identity, and involve them in the process. Respondents were supportive of increased involvement of individuals from oppressed groups and practitioners in SCRA. Less attention was paid to increasing the role of international colleagues, professionals from allied disciplines, and members of the community.