I think that having cultural biases in particular is part of how our brains work. It is constantly striving for simplification and unification, which results in the occurrence of this kind of perception error. Prejudices, especially cultural ones, are formed throughout life and people do not even notice it. At a more mature age, such attitudes become habitual and it becomes difficult to eliminate them because they are simply unnoticeable. Cultural biases may not have a significant impact on the daily lives of many people. However, for a specialist who focuses on helping clients, these attitudes can be extremely negative. In particular, because the professional needs to work with the individual situations of each client and take into account all aspects of a person’s identity. Cultural biases can prevent important aspects of a person’s character and identity from being identified, reducing the quality of care or even causing harm.
Culture is part of a person’s identity and is involved in shaping attitudes and values from the earliest moments of life. My own culture also influences the way I think and act, but they are mostly positive. In particular, I think my culture has had a profound effect on instilling moral values and behavior in me. Thus, I often think about how my actions can affect the lives of other people. To expand understanding of both my culture and the culture of other people, it is necessary to interact more with representatives of different groups. This will allow me not only to note the characteristics of other cultures, but also to realize how they differ from my own. In this way, I will also be able to better understand what aspects of the culture I am familiar with may be perceived negatively by representatives of other groups.
The cultural background plays a key role in the process of providing assistance and can significantly influence the formation of the most appropriate approach to interacting with the client. It is noted that “cultural factors are an integral part of the helping process, and culture influences the interventions we make” (Corey & Corey, 2021, p. 103). Thus, looking at a problem from a cultural perspective can highlight the need to consider different solutions. As a specialist, I carefully examine the cultural factors that make up the background of the client, including ethnic, religious, ideological and others. I can take these aspects into account when formulating an intervention plan to avoid providing culturally insensitive care that could harm the client. I need to expand my knowledge of different cultures through more interaction with them, but I am ready to work with representatives of different cultures.
The life experience that allows me to work effectively with people with different worldviews is living in a multicultural community. I seek to interact with representatives of different cultures and identities in order to better understand the points of contact and differences between our cultures. I constantly study the habits of members of various groups that are close to me and try to highlight for myself the peculiarities of their behavior and worldview. The main area of cultural bias that can negatively affect my interaction with representatives of different groups is limited knowledge and understanding of religious groups. This topic is the least interesting for me and I have limited experience of interacting with representatives of different religious groups. This aspect can greatly reduce my ability to interact effectively with clients who identify with any religious identity.
To challenge my biases, I first need to pay more attention to the study of this aspect of culture and representatives of various religious groups. I think that due to popular culture, many people have prejudices against certain religious minorities, which is not always relevant to the experience of live interaction. Thus, as a specialist, I need to focus on expanding my knowledge of various key aspects specific to different cultures. Perhaps I should pay more attention to researching this issue when interacting with clients in order to highlight the commonalities that dominate in a particular religious culture. Additionally, I need to better understand exactly how the elements of religion influence the formation of a worldview and what role they play in the common life of people.
However, the most important step in removing the prejudices that I have is to become aware of them. It is not always easy for a person to understand what mistakes exist in his worldview, what is missing and what, on the contrary, is of too great importance. So the first step in overcoming cultural biases is to celebrate them. I should write down every moment my cultural biases come up so I can analyze them and challenge them. I am sure that this approach will allow me to understand how many cult prejudices I really have. At the moment, I see myself as a person who is free from these negative attitudes, but this may not be the case at all in reality.
Reference
Corey, M. S., & Corey, G. (2021). Becoming a helper (8th ed.). Cengage Learning.