Abstract
The present paper will focus on cultural humility, by highlighting this concept’s theoretical and practical significance in advancing cross-cultural understanding in psychology. In the recent psychological literature, cultural humility has been described as a core value, consisting in the psychologist’s engagement to an interpersonal stance that is other-oriented and self-reflective in relation to cultural identities and differences (American Psychological Association, Multicultural Guidelines, 2017). Cultural humility is intrinsically linked to the question of intersectionality, which requires the psychologist’s openness to the multiple factors and identities that interconnect in creating meaning and self-definition. Given the significance of cultural humility in eliminating the power imbalances and cultural biases that often arise within the field of psychology, the present paper will focus on specific epistemic and methodological parameters that serve the elucidation of this concept. At the theoretical level, the present paper will analyze the issues of interdisciplinarity, contextuality, and interpretative models of knowledge as important epistemological angles linked with the development of cultural reflexivity in psychology. At the methodological level, the paper will review a corpus of cutting-edge scientific guidelines and standards linked with the enhancement of cultural humility in different areas of psychological practice (research, counseling, and academic teaching). This review will include a wide spectrum of practices for maximizing the psychologists’ cultural openness that ranges from sampling issues to ethical considerations of privilege and power in conducting psychological work with marginalized and deprived communities.
Author Information
Vasiliki-Ioanna Konstantopoulou, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
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