Cross-Cultural Issues - Identity Development Models

Reintegration (WRID)

People in this status have attempted to resolve the dilemmas of the previous status by believing that Whites are superior to minority group members and blaming minority group members for their own problems. IPS: selective perception and negative out-group distortion.

Immersion-Emersion (WRID)

People in this status search for a personal meaning of racism and an understanding of what it means to be White and to benefit from White privilege. IPS: hypervigilance and reshaping.

Troiden's Model of Homosexual Identity Development

According to Troiden's model of gay and lesbian identity development, "homosexual identities are most fully realized ... when self-identity, perceived identity, and presented identity coincide; that is, where an accord exists among who people think they are, who they claim they are, and how others view them." It distinguishes between four stages.

R/CID Stage 2: Dissonance

As the result of exposure to information or events that contradict their worldview, people in this stage question their attitudes toward members of their own minority group, other minority groups, and the majority group. They're aware of the effects of racism and are interested in learning about their own culture. They may prefer a therapist from the majority group but want the therapist to be familiar with their culture, and they're interested in exploring their cultural identity.

Helms's White Racial Identity Development (WRID) Mode

Consists of two phases - abandonment of racism and defining a nonracist White identity. Each phase includes three statuses, and each status is characterized by a different information processing strategy (IPS) that people use to think about race-related issues.

Black Racial Identity Development Model

Cross and Vandiver (2001) revision of the Nigrescence Model; reduced it to three stages, with each stage including multiple identity subtypes. The first stage is the pre-encounter stage, which includes assimilation, miseducation, and self-hatred subtypes. The second stage is the immersion-emersion stage. It consists of intense Black involvement and anti-White subtypes. And the third stage is the internalization stage, which consists of Black nationalist, biculturalist, and multiculturalist subtypes.

Atkinson, Morten, and Sue's Racial/Cultural Identity Development (R/CID) Model

Distinguishes between five stages of identity development that differ in terms of how members of racial and cultural minority groups view members of their own minority group, other minority groups, and the majority group.

Nigrescence Model Stage 4: Internalization

During this stage, defensiveness and emotional intensity related to race decrease. People in this stage have a positive Black identity and tolerate or respect racial and cultural differences.

R/CID Stage 4: Introspection

During this stage, people question their unequivocal allegiance to their own group and are concerned about the biases that affect their judgments of members of other groups. They've become comfortable with their cultural identity but are also concerned about their autonomy and individuality. These individuals may prefer a therapist from their own minority group but are willing to consider a therapist from another group who understands their worldview, and they're interested in exploring their new sense of identity.

Racial Regard (MMRI)

Includes private and public regard. Private regard refers to the extent to which a person feels positively or negatively toward African Americans and how positively or negatively he/she feels about being an African American. Public regard refers to the extent to which a person feels that others view African Americans positively or negatively. Private and public regard are not necessarily related and a person can have, for example, negative private and public regard or positive private regard and negative public regard.

Autonomy (WRID)

People attain a state of autonomy when they develop a nonracist White identity, value diversity, and can explore issues related to race and racism without defensiveness. IPS: flexibility and complexity.

R/CID Stage 1: Conformity

People in the conformity stage have either neutral or negative attitudes toward members of their own minority group and other minority groups and positive attitudes toward members of the majority group. They accept negative stereotypes of their own group and consider the values and standards of the majority group to be superior. These individuals prefer a therapist from the majority group and view a therapist's attempts to help them explore their cultural identity as threatening.

R/CID Stage 5: Integrative Awareness

People in the integrative awareness stage are aware of the positive and negative aspects of all cultural groups. They're secure in their cultural identity and are committed to eliminating all forms of oppression and becoming more multicultural. Their preference for a therapist is based on similarity of worldview, and they're most interested in strategies aimed at community and societal change.

Nigrescence Model Stage 5: Internalization-Commitment

People in this stage have internalized a Black identity and are committed to social activism to reduce all forms of oppression.

Homosexual Identity Development Stage 4: Identity Commitment

People in this stage have internalized a gay or lesbian identity, accepted homosexuality as a way of life, and are comfortable disclosing their sexual orientation to heterosexual individuals including family members, friends, and coworkers.

R/CID Stage 3: Resistance and Immersion

People in this stage have positive attitudes toward members of their own minority group, conflicting attitudes toward members of other minority groups, and negative attitudes toward members of the majority group. These individuals are unlikely to seek therapy because of their suspiciousness of mental health services. When they do seek therapy, they're likely to attribute their psychological problems to racism and prefer a therapist from their own minority group.

Nigrescence Model Stage 1: Pre-Encounter

People in this stage idealize and prefer White culture. They have negative attitudes toward their own Black culture and may view it as an obstacle and source of stigma.

Nigrescence Model Stage 2: Encounter

People in this stage question their views of White and Black cultures as the result of exposure to events that cause them to become aware of the impact of racism on their lives. These individuals are interested in learning about and becoming connected to their own culture.

Nigrescence Model Stage 3: Immersion-Emersion

People in this stage reject White culture and idealize and become immersed in their own culture.

Pseudo-Independence (WRID)

People transition to this status when faced with an event that makes them question their beliefs about Whites and members of minority groups. It's characterized by a superficial tolerance of minority group members that may be accompanied by paternalistic attitudes and behaviors that perpetuate racism. IPS: reshaping reality and selective perception.

Disintegration (WRID)

People transition to this status when they become aware of contradictions that create race-related moral dilemmas - for example, a conflict between the belief that all people are created equal and their unwillingness to live in an integrated neighborhood. These dilemmas cause confusion and anxiety. IPS: suppression and ambivalence.

Racial Ideology (MMRI)

Refers refers to a person's beliefs and opinions about the ways African Americans should live and interact with society. Sellers and his colleagues distinguish between four racial ideologies: (a) Individuals with a nationalist ideology view the African American experience as being unique and believe African Americans should control their own destinies with minimal input from other groups. (b) Individuals with an oppressed minority ideology emphasize the similarity of the oppression experienced by African Americans and members of other minority groups, and they're interested in forming coalitions with other groups. (c) Individuals with an assimilationist ideology emphasize similarities between African Americans and the rest of American society and believe that African Americans should work within the system to change it. (d) Individuals with a humanist ideology emphasize the similarities of all humans, give race low centrality, and are more concerned with issues facing the human race such as peace, poverty, and climate change.

Racial Centrality (MMRI)

The extent to which a person normatively defines him/herself in terms of race and is affected by the importance of race to the person relative to other identities such as gender and religion. As an example, for some African American women, gender may be more important than race for their identities while, for others, the opposite may be true. In contrast to salience, centrality is relatively stable across situations.

Racial Salience (MMRI)

The extent to which a person's race is a relevant part of his/her self-concept at a particular point in time and in a particular situation. For instance, race may become more salient for a person when he/she witnesses or experiences discriminatory behavior or is the only African American in a restaurant, classroom, or other social setting.

Sellers, Smith Bynum, Rowley, and Chavous's Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity

The multidimensional model of racial identity (MMRI) developed by Sellers and his colleagues (1998) does not describe sequential stages of identity development but, instead, proposes that a person's racial identity may vary across time and situations. It was developed for African American individuals and defines African American racial identity "as the significance and qualitative meaning that individuals attribute to their membership within the Black racial group within their self-concepts" (p. 23). It also distinguishes between four dimensions of racial identity.

Cross's Black Racial Identity Development Model

The original model was known as the Nigrescence Model (Cross, 1971) and distinguished between five stages. Cross (1991) subsequently reduced the number of stages to four by combining the internalization and internalization-commitment stages.

Homosexual Identity Development Stage 3: Identity Assumption

The transition to identity assumption occurs when the person begins to accept a gay or lesbian identity, which is usually between 19 and 21 years of age for males and between 21 and 23 years of age for females. Individuals in this stage seek out social and sexual relationships with gays or lesbians and disclose their sexual orientation to gay and lesbian peers and adults and to some heterosexual family members and friends.

Homosexual Identity Development Stage 2: Identity Confusion

This stage begins in middle or late adolescence when individuals start to feel sexually attracted to individuals of the same sex and suspect that they're gay or lesbian. This suspicion leads to uncertainty and anxiety which they attempt to alleviate with denial, avoidance, repair (attempting to change), redefinition (viewing homosexual feelings as a phase), or acceptance.

Homosexual Identity Development Stage 1: Sensitization

This stage occurs during childhood and is characterized by feeling different from same-sex peers. Young girls may feel that they're not feminine or pretty and are more independent and aggressive than other girls are; young boys may say they're less interested in sports and less aggressive than other boys and are more interested in art, reading, and other solitary activities.

Contact (WRID)

This status is characterized by a lack of awareness of racism and satisfaction with the racial status quo. People in this status usually have had limited contact with people from racial minority groups and may describe themselves as being colorblind. IPS: obliviousness.