Race in the United
States The psychology and social boundaries that
divide people are mostly racial.
Race is one of the most enduring and elusive aspects of life.
Race has been a central theme throughout American history,
form the Constitution to the Civil War to the denial of Native
American and Black citizenship and social participation.
Despite the central and enduring significance of race in
society, the psychology, psychiatry, and mental health disciplines
treat race as a descriptor of primarily Black people and delineates
the psychological effects of their status as victims of racism.
Because race is a central aspect of society, it is part of
each person’s personality and social world. Yet little
information can be acquired from traditional (psychodynamic,
humanistic, cognitive-behavioral, family systems, etc.) theories
of human development and personality about race.
Traditional Models vs. Racial Inclusion:
Traditional Models:
Do not include race in personality development.
Can offer little information about human development, personality
and race.
Discuss race and development in terms of social effects of
racism, thus inferring that Blacks are psychologically damaged.
Has ignored how race affects the psychological, emotional
and social development of all people in the US.
Racially Inclusive Model:
I contend that before race can be included in psychotherapy,
one must understand how race becomes part of a person’s
psychological structure.
Racial Groups in the U.S:
The primary markers of racial categories are a person’s
skin color, physical features (which are biologically determined),
and language (Hispanics are grouped into a functional racial
group not on the basis of skin color alone but on language
and physical features).
Racial groups in the US have been shaped and guided by distinct
rules, many of which have become associated with accepted
and unquestioned cultural practices and assumptions.
Basic cultural assumptions guide how racial group members
identify with a racial group, process sensory information
into precepts and concepts, use language and form thought
patterns, and determine emotional and psychological types,
which guide behaviors.
For various racial groups, psychological, emotional, and
behavioral processes determine how members view self, others
and the world.
Understanding Racial Identity:
1950’s – 1970’s: Civil Rights movement
started as did the:
Realization of the individual’s unique mode of identifying
with their racial reference group emerged.
Theorist delineation of types and models of Black racial
identity for individuals began to appear in the psychological
literature.
1984: Helms publishes her model of White racial identity
Understanding Psychological Race: Racial Identity:
The quality or manner of an individual’s psychological
identification with a racial group
How one views, or understands members of their own racial
group and understands members of other racial groups.
Includes consideration of other domains of difference such
as gender, social class, ethnicity, etc.
A life-long process that begins during childhood and requires
resolutions throughout one’s life.
Racial identity is an aspect of one’s personality
Development and Race:
As a child develops, he or she creates racial schemata through
the process of socialization.
A segregated society that maintains taboos about interracial
unions interjects racial concerns early in a person’s
life. Race influences who is accepted in one’s intimate
life space.
As the child matures physically, emotionally, intellectually
and psychologically, he or she does so in the context of racial
rules and norms.
A child’s awakening, self-awareness and recognition
of others are thought to begin during the first few months
of life.
Imitation of adult behavior is characteristic of child behavior
during the formative years of human development.
Personality consists of the constellation of attributes and
characteristics of a person that are enduring and that guide
thoughts and behaviors.
At various stages of maturity, the child learns from different
vantage points. While cognitive and physical maturation are
proceeding, so is social and identity development. These human
processes occur within a racial context. Therefore, as a child
intellectually develops, he or she creates schemata that are
influenced by the schemas of his or her family, peers and
society.
Race affects a person’s development such that one internalizes
the respective socio-cultural meanings assigned to racial
groups.
One should consider how the prevailing assumptions about
race are absorbed when considering personality development
.
Racial Identity Statuses:
Black/People of Color
Pre-encounter or Conformity- Idealization of White
culture; Denigration of or distance from Black culture or
of origin
Encounter or Dissonance- Confused about personal
and cultural meaning of race
Immersion/Emersion or Resistance - Idealization
of Black culture; Distance and rejection of White culture
Internalization or Awareness- Inner security with
one's race and culture and American cultural heritage
Whites
Contact - Denial about the personal significance
of race and unaware of cultural world view
Disintegration - First conscious acknowledgement
of one’s Whiteness and its cultural norms about race-confused
Reintegration - Idealization of Whiteness and cultural
heritage; dismissal of Black culture
Pseudo-independence - Intellectualized acceptance
of one’s Whiteness and cultural norms about race
Immersion-Emersion - Emotional and Intellectual
integration of positive sense of Whiteness and culture
Autonomy - Positive non-racist White identity
Racial Identity and Clinical Applications
Race’s influence on the psychotherapy process starts
with an understanding of a person’s race and racial
identity.
Knowing the racial identity that a person primarily operates
with provides an initial step toward understanding how race-related
issues affect him/her and how race manifests intra-psychically.
Focusing on the patient is not sufficient if an understanding
of the process of psychotherapy is not grasped. The therapist
level of racial identity is also important to the success
of treatment.
In summary
Racial identity status expressions are the mechanism for
racial influences in each person’s personality.
Therapeutic interactions of relationships are characterized
by “type,” as defined by the combination of each
person’s racial identity status.
Race applies to all people. Therefore, theories and models
of psychology treatment must be racially inclusive as is the
model presented here.
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