Globalization has lead to the decline and disrupt of cultural practices, language and beliefs because of the increased migration, imperialism and overpopulation globalization vices which have lead to cultural diversity. The social, economic and political elements of globalization has lead to the rapid change of values, traditions, social and political relationships that bound a group of people through a common historical background, geographical location, language, religion and social standards.This has lead to the coexistence of different socioeconomic classes, ethnic groups, races and gender in a common social unit thereby eroding their cultural practices because of integration of the multicultural environment into their daily practices (Cohen et al.
, 2007). In the event human beings tend to identify themselves with certain cultural practices, races and nationality to bind their language, beliefs and customs. This practice has lead to the division of a countries population to consist of the majority and minority ethnic groups which has perpetuated social harassment and prejudice of the minority.For instance some ethnic groups are alienated from the social and economic aspects in countries for example in Germany there are different social and economic amenities for different ethnic groups because of the racial practice in the country.
Other places such as Italy exhibit religious prejudice as they perpetuate Christianity and thus do not fully associate with communities that practice other religious beliefs (Cohen et al. , 2007).The impact created by cultural diversity has increased the need for different cultural knowledge and understanding to eradicate ethnocentrism which believes that ones cultural practices, customs and language are more important than those of others. This believe has affected the economic growth of a country and the well being of the community because of the inability of population to correlate and coordinate adequately, for instance various economic aspects such as health care and education delivery has been incapacitated.This has lead to the incorporation of cultural diversity and ethic minority psychology into the society to eradicate this paradigm in an attempt of improving all levels of health care such as clinical settings, medical administration, education and research thereby strengthening and broadening health care delivery systems.
Furthermore, alternatives in health care delivery services can be conceptualized thus helping medical practitioners to understand how different cultural groups define community wellness and their background of maintaining health.Therefore, this report will study and emphasize the importance of cultural diversity and ethnic minority psychology (Chryssochoou, 2004). Cultural Influence on Personality A person personality includes the characteristics and concepts that constitute the behavior of the individual. Cultural diversity has played a major role in influencing the personality of individuals and communities thereby changing their perception and interrelation.In the event the growth and development of individuals in regards to their self-esteem, physical and mental health, education and employment among others are affected because of the change in physical factors such as diet and genetic inheritance and illnesses brought forth by intermarriages, change in the social and emotional factors for example ethnicity, religion and gender, change in the economic factor like material posses and change in the environmental factors that include pollution and access to health and welfare services among others (Zhu & Han, 2008).Cultural diversity has adversely affected the self perception of individuals as they cannot clearly describe their internal attributes leading to the assumption that they share the same values and practices with everyone.
This has greatly perpetuated ethnicity thus leading to the classification of the population in accordance to their majority resulting to social prejudice of minority ethnic groups. Psychology relates the cross cultural personality witnessed in populations to the role played by culture.Human beings react differently to this diversity adopting a neurotic personality especially if they belong to the despised ethnic group where they feel helpless, are constantly sad and regret being associated with their ethnic groups. They may also adopt gregarious personalities which demand for social companionship and integration. However, individuals connected to the majority ethnic group tend to develop conscientious self conception which gives them self reassurance and confidence which increases their aspiration.
They tend to mingle with other who has characteristics that can be associated to them and in the event differ with practices perpetuated with the minority ethnic groups (Bender et al. , 2009). In US the majority ethnic groups exhibit an independent self which focus on the improvement of an individual whereas the minority ethnic group such as the Japanese-Americans exhibit an interdependent self which focuses on the improvement of the community thus the conflict of the two personalities which is perpetuated by their cultural practices, beliefs and customs.This has clearly affected the delivery of health care to such communities because of the different health care principles, therefore, the importance of medical practitioners to understand the self conception of individuals from different cultural practices thereby improving the delivery of these services. Also the welfare of the ethnic minority has improved because of establishment of poverty eradication and fair treatment programs such as increased employment opportunities in decent jobs that offer good payment schemes (Zhu & Han, 2008).
Cultural Diversity in Work Value Cultural diversity in workplaces is supposed to propel success and positive development thus improving the welfare of communities regardless of their cultural background. However, this is not true especially in corporate America which perpetuates the growth of the gap between the economically and socially fit communities and the under served communities.For instance the minority groups such as Asian Americans, Africans and Latinos work in menial and other low paying jobs while the majority ethnic groups are engaged into white collar jobs that pay high wages and salaries. This can be attributed to the social conception of ethnic groups which does not advocate for a balance in cultural diversity in the hierarchy and structure of organizations (Liu et al. , 2008). Organizations contain employees from different cultural backgrounds that have different practices and beliefs thereby creating conflicts between employees.
For instance the reluctance of some employees to solve issues with others because of their differences in beliefs regarding the issue such as gender equality in the workplace and the constant blaming game which is mainly focused to a certain ethnic group in the working environment resulting to unnecessary additions of costs to the organization. This is because the employees define and interpret issues differently in an attempt of establishing their boundaries and membership.Therefore the importance of cultural diversity and ethnic minority psychology as it helps people to understand the practices and beliefs of other ethnic groups thus device mechanisms that they abide by to help them correlate and coordinate with their workmates. In the event they perpetuate team working which is essential to the development of an organization as it improves the performance of the employees leading to the creation of an adaptable working environments which enables employees to create a profound relationship with each other and the task at hand further respecting each other (Chryssochoou, 2004).
Impact of Psychological Processes in aspects of Cultural Diversity It is quite clear from the lifestyle that is practiced in America today, stipulates stereotyping as individuals classify others in accordance to their traits. This has further perpetuated racism and ethnicity resulting to ethical violation and abuse of human rights geared to some communities. The basic concepts of psychological processes have helped in the categorization of certain stereotypes focusing on their positive attributes thus enabling the incorporation of positive stereotyping which demands respect and recognition of the violated rights of the minority in a society.These processes have enabled the incorporation of all cultural practices and beliefs into one setting of the society where individuals have been able to balance them allowing their correlation with other ethnic groups that they prejudiced.
Individuals have also been able to generalize values and perception of communities improving their cognitive approach on categorizing thus perpetuating positive stereotyping. In the event equal development of the communities is advocated for and resources and opportunities are availed to all in an attempt of treating emotional suffering (Chryssochoou, 2004).Generally ethnocentrism cannot be fully eradicated from the society or communities because of the cultural practices and beliefs that center the growth of a person from childhood therefore related to them and believing in their importance and superiority in comparison to other cultural practices and beliefs. However basic psychological practices have created cultural relativism which has helped to change the perception of communities’ thereby decreasing ethnocentrism.
These processes have also allowed the collection of various aspects of the human sociology phenomenon through conduction of field work thereby enabling the eradication of ethnocentrism in the society. In the event factors affecting the provision of economic attributes such as health care to all ethnic groups have been reduced (Chryssochoou, 2004). Furthermore, the mechanism and technology for the provision of these attributes has been improved because of the incorporation of different cultural elements that all communities can relate with and thus eradicate classification of individuals into different social groups.For instance individuals have been trained on effective mechanisms of managing their emotions in regards to the development of the society and thus can adjust to different cultural contexts, effectively emanate their personal qualities and social skills and share a common consensus on the resolving conflicts that curb the interrelation of communities in a multicultural environment (Walton & Cohen, 2007). Cultural diversity and ethnic minority psychology has improved the interrelation of cultural diversity in a multicultural environment because it has initiated the efforts of identification of the dimensions of cultural diversity in a society.
This has helped people to acknowledge the difference that are there between them and other individuals. These psychological practices have also enabled individuals to discuss their cultural differences thus having knowledge of other cultural practices and beliefs which helps them to eradicate stereotyping and ethnocentrism thus develop mechanism to effectively relate with each other (Chryssochoou, 2004).For instance it is quite evident that the society of today supports and nurtures a variety of ideas and practices from different cultural backgrounds thereby improving the economic, social and political status of their country. Moreover, these psychological processes have enabled people to change their behaviors in addressing conflicts that arise from cultural diversity thereby perpetuating the coalition of communities geared towards the development of one society.
Furthermore, the benefits of cultural diversity have been emphasized thus encouraging communities to acknowledge various contribution of the different cultures in the country, for instance Americans can replace their independent self conception with the interdependence self conception which advocates for general well being of the community exhibited by the Japanese-Americans ethnic group in improving the welfare of the community and democracy in their country (Cheng, et al. , 2008).Conclusion The economic downturn that the world is facing further increases the challenge portrayed by cultural diversity such as understanding the different cultural practices, customs, beliefs and religions in the society, thereby creating the urgency of cross cultural polarization to curb further development of ethnocentrism which results to the prejudice of the minority ethnic group thus denying them access to resources that can help them survive in this economic recession.Research should also be conducted to formulate new psychological mechanisms that will help the correlation and collaboration of communities from different ethnic groups without the erosion of their cultural practices and beliefs which may play an important role in improving economic attributes such as provision of education and health care services.
Also mechanisms that perpetuate social development in Churches should be concurrent with the cross-cultural practices that are taught in schools to enable children adopt a cognitive responsibility of further perpetuating equality and unity in the society through eradication of social prejudice.Therefore, the spiritual, cultural and moral psychological principles taught to children will not contradict further stimulating cultural conflict and misinterpretation. Furthermore, the contradicting aspects of human interaction in work places, schools, homes and in religion should be re-evaluated to enable effective incorporation of cultural diversity in a multicultural environment by stipulating aspects and distinctive features of worship to be adopted from every community.
