Part A discussion
The concept of acculturation describes the process of psychological and cultural change, which results as different cultures come together. Acculturation effects can be observed at multiple levels in the cultures that are interacting. Therefore, this may lead to a phenomenon called acculturative stress. Acculturative stress is essentially the psychological impact as a result of adaptation to a different new culture.
After reviewing articles from Glimpse website, one of the articles that interested me is an article titled “Acculturative Stress: The Experience of the Hispanic Immigrant” by two authors, David W. Smart and Julie F. Smart. The authors of this article demonstrate the concept of acculturation by describing the acculturative stress experienced by Hispanic immigrants who come to US. In addition, this article clearly demonstrates cross-cultural psychology application to practical issues through examining the behaviors of the Hispanic immigrants and their mental processes, which includes both invariance and variability under their cultural conditions and that of Americans.
I personally experienced what one goes through when adjusting to new environment or situation. This was after I visited a foreign country where I found everything was different from my own country. Actually, I went through various difficulties in trying to cope with the cultures of that foreign country. This situation therefore forced me to develop deep friendship with my new friends and through this I was in a position to cope with their diverse cultures.
Part B discussion
In this discussion post, Universalist perspective is the perspective that I believe both accounts for and describes social anxiety disorder or social phobia and post-traumatic stress disorder. Social anxiety disorder is a psychological disorder that is understood by all the cultures as an anxiety disorder where a person suffering from it experiences intense, persistent, and chronic fear of being humiliated or embarrassed by his or her actions or being judged by the others. On the other hand, post-traumatic stress disorder is a psychological disorder that in all the cultures, it is understood that it results from traumatic events that individuals face. A psychologist under this perspective might treat social anxiety disorder through cognitive-behavioral therapy and social skills training (SST) techniques. On the other hand, post-traumatic stress disorder can be treated by psychological debriefing and cognitive behavioral therapy techniques.
References
Sam, D.L. & Berry, J.W. (2010). Acculturation: When Individuals and Groups of Different Cultural Backgrounds Meet, Perspectives on Psychological Science 5(4). 472
Julie F. Smart & David W. Smart (2008). Acculturative Stress: The Experience of the Hispanic Immigrant. Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.com/dimensionsofmulticulturalcounselingstudy/articles/section3/Article71
American Psychiatric Association. & American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-IV-TR. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association
