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D I V E R S I T Y
Understanding How Culture, Ethnicity,
and Race Infl uence Behavior
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26 Chapter
1
Introduction to Psychology
socioeconomic differences are increasingly important targets of study by psychologists
(Cardemil, 2005; Li, 2005; Tucker & Herman, 2002).
Although the discipline is growing more aware of the importance of taking cultural
and subcultural factors into account, progress has not been rapid in actual practice. For
example, the amount of research conducted in the United States on groups other than
white middle-class college students is woefully small.
There isn’t even universal agreement on the use of terms such as race and ethnic
group. Race, for instance, is a biological concept that, technically, should be used only
to refer to classifi cations based on the physical characteristics of an organism or species.
But in practice, the term has been used to denote anything from skin color to culture.
In contrast, ethnic group and ethnicity are broader terms that refer to cultural background,
nationality, religion, and language (Bonham, Warshauer-Baker, & Collins, 2005;
Freeman, 2006; Pääbo, 2001).
To compound the diffi culty, there are no universally acceptable names for races and
ethnic groups. Psychologists—like other members of U.S. society—are divided on
whether they should use the label African American (which focuses on geographical
origins) or black (which focuses on skin color), just as they disagree about whether to
use Caucasian or white , Hispanic or Latino , and Native American or American Indian
(Council of National Psychological Associations for the Advancement of Ethnic
Minority Interests, 2000; Phinney, 2003; Wang & Sue, 2005).
Psychologists also know that the consequences of race cannot be understood without
taking into account environmental and cultural factors. People’s behavior is a joint
product of their race and of the treatment they receive from others because of it. In sum,
only by examining behavior across ethnic, cultural, and racial lines can psychologists
differentiate principles that are universal from those that are culture-bound.
Psychology’s Future
We have examined psychology’s foundations, but what does the future hold for the
discipline? Although the course of scientifi c development is notoriously diffi cult to
predict, several trends seem likely:
• As its knowledge base grows, psychology will become increasingly specialized
and new perspectives will evolve. For example, our growing understanding
of the brain and the nervous system, combined with scientifi c advances in
genetics and gene therapy, will allow psychologists to focus on prevention of
psychological disorders rather than only on their treatment (Cuijpers et al.,
2008).
• The evolving sophistication of neuroscientifi c approaches is likely to have an
increasing infl uence over other branches of psychology. For instance, social
psychologists already are increasing their understanding of social behaviors
such as persuasion by using brain scans as part of an evolving fi eld known
as social neuroscience (Bunge & Wallis, 2008; Cacioppo & Decety, 2009).
• Psychology’s infl uence on issues of public interest also will grow. The major
problems of our time—such as violence, terrorism, racial and ethnic prejudice,
poverty, and environmental and technological disasters—have important
psychological aspects (Hobfoll, Hall, & Canetti-Nisim, 2007; Marshall, Bryant,
& Amsel, 2007; Zimbardo, 2004).
• Finally, as the population becomes more diverse, issues of diversity—embodied
in the study of racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural factors—will become
more important to psychologists providing services and doing research. The
result will be a fi eld that can provide an understanding of human behavior in
its broadest sense (Chang & Sue, 2005; Leung & Blustein, 2000; Quintana et
al., 2006).
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