Components of the Multicultural Personality

Adopted from Ponterotto et al. [ 2006, p. 327]

Scholars claim that according to their research, adolescents and adults who score higher on measures of Black and White racial identity exhibit higher self-esteem, higher goal achievement, greater comfort examining their own emotional states, and more positive views of other racial and ethnic groups; for mental health professionals, they report greater multicultural competence. Furthermore, women who scored within the higher stages of feminist identity development report higher self-esteem. Adolescents and adults who score higher on a measure of the tolerant personality, which focuses on racial and gender attitudes, indicate higher levels of acceptance of gay men, greater acknowledgment of the reality of White privilege and institutional racism, and, for mental health professionals, higher levels of multicultural competence. For the construct of universal-diverse orientation, adults who score higher on this construct exhibit higher levels of empathy, academic self-concept, coping skills, self-efficacy, and general multicultural tolerance. Finally, findings indicate that adults who score higher in one or more of the dispositions also score higher on measures of international career interest, multicultural activities (e.g., travel, cross-cultural friendships), life satisfaction, and psychological and physical well-being [ibid., p. 327].

Stella Ting-Toomey describes the attributes and abilities of transcultural competence, a competence that should enhance the success of intercultural encounters [Ting-Toomey, 1999, p. 272]:

1. Tolerance for ambiguity requires that we approach encounters mindful of the need to be attentive listeners and to consider carefully the perspectives of others; it also requires us to check carefully that we have understood the intended messages.

2. Open-mindedness requires us to avoid rushing to evaluate others perspectives and actions.

3. Flexibility enables us to appreciate a range of alternative perspectives on a situation or relationship.

4. However, as well as developing an understanding of others’ perspectives, it is also important that we display respectfulness towards others and their views.

5. Successful communication also necessitates adaptability so that we can communicate in an appropriate manner.

6. The attribute of sensitivity facilitates empathy and our capacity to explore others’ views and experiences.

7.Creativity enables us to generate the appropriate and effective communicative strategies necessary in order to successfully manage intercultural encounters.

Developing the idea of close correlation of multicultural identity with a high level of intercultural competence, Y.Y. Kim (2001) coins the term “adaptive personality” [Kim, 2001, p. 172]. Such a personality is characterised by openness, strength, and positivity and these aspects tend to mutually reinforce one another. “Openness”, in Kim’s view, “allows strangers to examine themselves and the environment with a genuine willingness to be transformed as they incorporate new experiences and new learning” [ibid., p. 174]. Strength is the quality that allows a person to be steadfast and at the same time flexible. Positivity is the belief that it is possible to change and that the change itself can be rewarding. The importance of this mental outlook is that it can render insiders (culture brokers) more receptive to strangers who exhibit it and, crucially, it may help to undermine stereotypical categorisations of strangers. In addition, if the institutions that migrants participate in are receptive, then the whole process of becoming a cultural insider or multicultural person is eased.

Having fulfilled a complex study of multicultural people, M. Michie (2014) concludes that people who see themselves in the role of culture broker (in this case we can speak about high level of intercultural competence) revolves around the idea of an intermediary working between two groups or individuals. Most of the participants saw the broker as an insider, whereas a few saw it as something they did only sometimes or only as an outsider. The primary purpose of a culture broker was seen as a role to assist others to understand about aspects of the western culture, assisting them to make border crossings between their own culture and the western one. Other purposes were to clarify communication between two groups and taking on an advocacy role; these perceptions are more in line with being cultural mediators [Michie, 2014, p. 138].

The intrinsic qualities for culture brokers which the participants identified in the data fall into five categories:

1. Having an understanding of the other culture, particularly of the customs and protocols, relationships and status, and maybe the language;

2. Understanding that the other culture has alternative perspectives or ways of knowing or making sense of the world (world view), which results in the creation of different knowledge and epistemology, and that these have intrinsic value;

3. Showing respect for the indigenous people leading to earning their trust;

4. Being sensitive to possible conflicts between the cultures and able to develop strategies to deal with conflicts;

5. Being a reflective practitioner and undertaking self-evaluation [ibid., p. 138-139].

These qualities are considered as the qualities of a border crosser as they are both cognitive and affective in scope and reflect enhancement of identity learning.

Being a culture broker is not seen as a full-time job by the participants of M. Michie’s study. Brokerage is seen as a role individuals mostly use in their professional capacity for a particular purpose. The fact that individuals themselves refer to differing cultures indicates their awareness of being bicultural or multicultural.

We want to finish this part of our work with W. Gudykunst and Y.Y. Kim endorsements about “international personhood” as the highest degree of personal adaptation to a host culture theoretically conceivable [Gudykunst & Kim 2003, p. 360]: “In becoming intercultural, we rise above the hidden forces of culture and discover that there are many ways to be ‘good’, ‘true’, and ‘beautiful’. In this developmental process, we acquire a greater capacity to overcome cultural parochialism and develop a wider circle of identification, approaching the limits of many cultures and ultimately of humanity itself. The process of becoming intercultural, then, is like climbing a high mountain. As we reach the mountaintop, we see that all paths below ultimately lead to the same summit and that each path presents unique scenery. Becoming intercultural is a gradual process of liberating ourselves from our limited and exclusive interests and viewpoints and striving to attain a perspective in which we see ourselves as a part of a larger, more inclusive whole [ibid., p. 385].

We believe that these ideas illustrate all the positive consequences of being a multicultural personality.

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 907