LPC Social and Cultural Diversity 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A counselor working with a recent immigrant client notices the client avoids eye contact and speaks very softly. The culturally competent response is to:
- Encourage the client to maintain eye contact to build rapport
- Recognize these behaviors may reflect cultural norms rather than discomfort (Correct answer)
- Document the behaviors as signs of depression
- Refer the client to a counselor who shares the same background
Correct answer: Recognize these behaviors may reflect cultural norms rather than discomfort
Culturally competent counselors understand that nonverbal communication norms vary across cultures and avoid imposing dominant-culture standards.
Question 2: Which concept describes the process by which individuals from one culture adopt the values, behaviors, and norms of another culture?
- Assimilation
- Acculturation (Correct answer)
- Enculturation
- Transculturation
Correct answer: Acculturation
Acculturation refers to cultural and psychological changes that occur when individuals from different cultures come into continuous contact.
Question 3: A counselor who assumes all members of an ethnic group share the same values and beliefs is demonstrating:
- Cultural sensitivity
- Ethnic stereotyping (Correct answer)
- Cultural humility
- Positive regard
Correct answer: Ethnic stereotyping
Assuming all members of an ethnic group are identical is stereotyping, which ignores within-group diversity and individual differences.
Question 4: In Sue and Sue's tripartite model of personal identity, the three levels are individual, group, and:
- Cultural
- Universal (Correct answer)
- Societal
- Historical
Correct answer: Universal
Sue and Sue's tripartite model includes individual uniqueness, group (shared cultural experiences), and universal (common humanity) levels.
Question 5: A client from a collectivist culture presents a problem framed as a family decision rather than a personal one. The LPC should:
- Redirect the client to focus on individual needs
- Explore how family dynamics influence the presenting concern (Correct answer)
- Explain that therapy focuses only on the individual
- Suggest family therapy as a more appropriate modality
Correct answer: Explore how family dynamics influence the presenting concern
Collectivist cultures prioritize group welfare, and exploring family context honors the client's worldview rather than imposing individualistic assumptions.
Question 6: Which term refers to the daily verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights or indignities, often unintentional, directed at members of marginalized groups?
- Macroaggressions
- Implicit bias
- Microaggressions (Correct answer)
- Stereotype threat
Correct answer: Microaggressions
Microaggressions are brief, commonplace exchanges that communicate denigrating or negative messages to members of marginalized groups, often without conscious intent.
Question 7: Cultural encapsulation in counseling, as described by Wrenn, refers to:
- Integrating multiple cultural perspectives into practice
- Defining reality according to one set of cultural assumptions without regard for other views (Correct answer)
- Encapsulating or protecting a client's cultural identity during therapy
- A training model for multicultural competence
Correct answer: Defining reality according to one set of cultural assumptions without regard for other views
Wrenn described cultural encapsulation as the tendency to define reality from one's own cultural perspective and impose those standards universally.
LPC Social and Cultural Diversity 2
A counselor working with a recent immigrant client notices the client avoids eye contact and speaks very softly.
The culturally competent response is to: