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How Various Cultural Factors Influence Childhood Development.

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How Various Cultural Factors Influence Childhood Development.

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Culture can be a lot of things, your race, your religious background or your sexuality, but there's one thing that is concrete, your culture makes up who you are and it will impact you throughout your life.

When children grow up in a culture that's different from what they see in their schools and media it can affect their self esteem. They may feel out of place and misunderstood if their culture is not readily understood or welcomed.

Culture can also mean being bilingual or having a different first language. Children who speak in a different language at home may struggle learning English in school if we don't have the necessary tools for them to learn.

In a classroom during December it's very common to see Santa, reindeers and an array of other Christmas decorations. For most children in the U.S this is the norm, but some children don't celebrate those traditions. There may be a student of Jewish faith in the class who celebrates Hannukah. Though the decorations in the class are meant to be bright and welcoming, it can make the child who doesn't celebrate Christmas feel outcasted. It's important to incorporate different cultures in the classroom so every student feels welcomed.

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What do these mean? Cultural competence is our ability to understand, appreciate and interact with someone from a different background. Implicit bias is a negative attitude or predisposed negative idea of a social group that we may not even be conscious of.

An example of this is affinity bias. It is normal for one to feel drawn to people that are similar to them, maybe in politics. However, this can create a negative bias. If you're very passionate about a political candidate, you may be biased against those who would choose a different one from a different political party. This can create a bias in the classroom if you know a child's parents support a candidate you don't. You may believe that this child's family to be hateful or uninformed leading to unconscious bias against that child and favoring children whose families may be more like you.

Despite the fact we may not notice, a child will surely notice they are being treated unfairly and could lead them to perform poorly in class or even stop participating all together because they do not feel safe and welcomed.

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Framework for Developing Cultural Competence.

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Framework for Developing Cultural Competence.

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How do we develop cultural competence? While there is no step by step guide the most important thing is to listen and learn.

Developing cultural competence is not an overnight process. It involves valuing diversity, conducting ongoing self-assessments, managing differences, willingness to develop cultural knowledge, and ability to adapt to the cultural needs of the community. We need to value diversity in all aspects of life, but as educators it's most important in the classroom where students are coming in expecting to be safe. When you have a love and respect for all cultures, you have the ability to love and respect all people. Consistently conducting self-assessments is important, you don't know how to better yourself if you're never willing to sit down and figure out what you could improve. Ask yourself, if a child of different religion came into my classroom would I know how to interact with them? Would I know what they celebrate or their dietary restrictions? Would they feel included in the classroom or would they feel outcasted and fear ridicule from other students?

Managing differences and the willingness to develop cultural knowledge go hand in hand. To be able to manage differences you have to know the differences and this takes effort on your part. You can research in your own time at home or even encourage open discussions about culture in the classroom.

Adapting to the cultural needs of the community means to learn, communicate and avoid assumptions. Due to cultural differences like economic status or language barriers you may have to change somethings around to ensure everyone is included. If a child is primarily Spanish speaking in their home, find educational videos that can also be played in Spanish. If you have low income students in your class, ensure that activities and projects are costly and potentially unobtainable for some students.

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Impact of Implicit Bias on Teacher Perceptions.

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Impact of Implicit Bias on Teacher Perceptions.

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Implicit bias can and will affect your relationship with students if you don't develop cultural competence. It will negatively impact a student every time. Implicit biases affect your expectations for students. You may expect your female students to behave differently than your male students and this will disproportionately affect the girls in your classroom. If you expect girls to be quieter and more receptive than boys, you're going to report the girls more often than the boys for displaying the same unwelcomed behavior like talking in class or being out of their seat.

Racial disparities in schools are no secret and are often based upon teacher and administrative biases. White teachers report more conflict with black students, than black teachers report with black students, this is another example of the affinity bias. If a white teacher comes with the bias that black students are more difficult to manage than their white peers, they may put less effort into teaching their black students thus affecting the child's academics and his perception of his teacher. When it happens enough times, the student may no longer trust educators anymore and this could negatively impact the rest of their educational career.

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How Does Culture Influence a Child’s Cognitive Development?

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Cultural background gives children a sense of who they are. The unique cultural influences children respond to from birth, including customs and beliefs around food, artistic expression, language, and religion, affect the way they develop emotionally, socially, physically, and linguistically.

When a child's self-identity is at odds with the social environment due to cultural differences, it can hinder learning. Fortunately, culturally competent educators help children of all cultural backgrounds learn by showing an understanding and acceptance of diverse cultures and how they make each child uniquely valuable.

Because culture is such a powerful indicator of a child's future well-being, those who work with children, including social workers, counselors, and specialists, need to understand the cultural influences on child development and how they impact the way people grow and learn. A degree such as Maryville University's online Bachelor of Arts in Human Development and Family Studies can prepare future professionals for success in these roles, providing them with the background and experience they need to support children and families with their services.

The Importance of Childhood Development

Early childhood is a key period of mental and emotional growth, and what children perceive and experience can shape their future: Our childhood environments and how we respond to them can predict the course for our health and well-being as adults. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports, "Although the brain continues to develop and change into adulthood, the first eight years can build a foundation for future learning, health, and life success. ... How the brain grows is strongly affected by the child's experiences with other people and the world."

To understand the environment's impact on a developing child, let's look at the three main ways children process the information around them as they grow.

Classical conditioning. Drawing associations between a stimulus and response. For example, children in religious families might associate bedtime with prayers.

Operant conditioning. Drawing associations between a reward and an action. For example, children might receive dessert after eating their vegetables.

Observational learning. Absorbing and copying what they see from others in real life or in the media. For example, a child might say, "Time to clean up" because a teacher says it in school.

Children learn, therefore, by observing and making associations about their surroundings. Exposure to positive influences can favorably impact a child's development, while exposure to toxic or stressful influences can negatively impact development.

All else being equal, a child's cultural influences at birth are neutral. All too often, however, some elements of cultural background may not be accepted or understood by the society in which a child grows up - potentially harming a child's self-image and development.

In other words, the social cues a young child takes in from others about cultural background can help or hamper development because developing children readily internalize what they see and hear. When a young child's cultural background differs from the prevailing culture - for example, the child's family might speak a different language at home, eat different foods, or observe different holidays - it can affect self-image. This is especially the case if peers or even teachers treat the child in a way that reveals bias or casts the child in the role of an outsider.

According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), childhood exposure to dominant social biases - such as favoring people who are white, Christian, heterosexual, able-bodied, thin, wealthy, fluent in English, natives rather than immigrants - can trigger developing children to judge themselves unfavorably by the same limiting standards. When children do that, their development suffers.

Recognizing Cultural Influences on Child Development

Culture influences development from the moment we're born, making an impact on us as we grow. For instance, culture can affect how children build values, language, belief systems, and an understanding of themselves as individuals and as members of society.

Children can receive these cultural influences in different ways, such as through their parents, their environment, and the media. How society shows an understanding of diverse cultures can impact a child's development in many ways, such as how confident in themselves or how comfortable interacting with others they become as adults.

Parental Influences on Child Development

Parents' culture can influence their children's development. A 2019 study, for example, found that cultural values often influence the way parents raise their children, including how they discipline and set boundaries. It makes sense that parents raise their children based on cultural influences because they're preparing them to develop behaviors necessary to operate and thrive in that culture. However, when the social environment and home culture clash, developmental issues can arise.

Collectivist vs. Individualistic Cultures and Parental Discipline

Parents' cultural influences can impact how they discipline a child's behavior. This, in turn, can affect a child's development, particularly if those methods of discipline differ from the dominant cultural tradition.

Before delving into the methods of discipline and culture, what do the terms "collectivist" and "individualistic" mean exactly? Essentially, a collectivist culture values and rewards the prioritization of community needs over individual needs, as well as generous, kind, collaborative behavior. Collectivism is the norm in Asian, Central American, South American, and African cultures.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, an individualistic culture values and rewards assertiveness and independent action, stressing the importance of the individual over the group. Individualism dominates in North American and Western European cultures.

The 2019 study cited earlier found that parents from individualistic cultures discipline differently from parents from collectivist cultures. The former group of parents might discipline their children by taking something away that matters to them personally. On the other hand, parents from collectivist cultures might tell their children to think about how their behavior affects others.

The study found that children raised in individualistic cultures often described themselves based on their unique attributes, such as "I am good at math." Meanwhile, children raised in collectivist cultures were more likely to describe themselves based on their relationships with others, such as "I am my mother's daughter."

Child development can be influenced if parents or teachers discipline children according to the dominant culture - the U.S. has an individualistic culture - rather than the culture of their family of origin. For example, children whose parents have disciplined them to value cooperation over competition might become confused or upset when a teacher urges them to be competitive.
Parental Influences on Children's Social Behavior Varies by Culture
Children learn how to act by interacting with their parents. For this reason, the parents' cultural background often influences a child's behavior.

Communication style is a case in point. Children tend to communicate in a style that resembles their parents' way of communicating, and diverse cultures converse and explain things in different ways.

Children who communicate based on an individualistic cultural model will often tell long, self-focused stories with themes of autonomy and personal preference. Conversely, children who communicate based on a collectivist cultural model will often tell brief, other-oriented stories with themes of authority and interrelationships.

These cultural influences on children's language development can help or hinder them on the playground, and later in the workplace. If children's culture is respected at school, including the way the children interact verbally with others, then they'll be more likely to experience the acceptance and respect they need to grow and develop. They're more likely to become adults with a healthy self-image who feel understood and capable of confident, fruitful interactions. If not, however, they may become adults who hesitate to raise their voices and be heard for fear of being ridiculed or misunderstood.

Environmental Influences on Child Development

Environmental influences on child development can include influences from community and culture as well as from environmental health hazards. Pollution from a nearby power plant, contaminated water, or lead in the home, for example, can cause lasting impacts on children's health. As the CDC reports, environmental contaminants can cause greater harm to children than to adults because children's bodies are still developing.

In fact, children take in more air, water, and food per pound of body weight, making them more vulnerable to health issues from environmental hazards. The health issues might not show up until later in life, causing difficulty in school, work, and socialization. A child exposed to polluted air, for example, might develop asthma as a teenager.

Children of low-income communities are most likely to be at risk of exposure to environmental hazards. As the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) reports, low-income communities may have poor infrastructure, making them more vulnerable to the effects of natural disasters, such as contaminated water and damaged drainage systems. They may also be located closer to factories and highways, both of which contribute to high levels of pollution in the air, soil, and water.

Media Influences on Child Development

Media influences on childhood development include movies, TV shows, video games, and other online content. Research that the American Psychological Association (APA) has shared shows that children's exposure to violent media can result in aggressive behavior; exposure to advertising for non-nutritious foods can increase rates of childhood obesity; and too much screen time can be linked to lower brain development in preschoolers.

A study from the Cognitive Impacts of Digital Media Workgroup found that children begin to learn from TV programs at around 2.5 years old. Educational programs, such as "Sesame Street," can positively influence their knowledge and social skills, preparing them for school. However, after they turn 6 years old, children begin to watch more entertainment programming, which can, in turn, influence their behavior negatively. In addition, while video games can help children develop visual processing skills, they can also yield aggressive behavior. The effects on cognitive skills and behaviors are often specific to the games played.

As a result of these findings, the study suggests that clinicians and early childhood service providers should work with parents to limit TV exposure before children turn 2 years old. As children begin to learn how to read, clinicians and service providers should advise parents to regulate children's media consumption - with a focus on providing educational media content - and encourage reading habits.

The connection with cultural background is clear: Diverse cultures have different attitudes toward TV and other entertainment media, as well as different abilities to afford access to such media. A child from a collectivist culture, for example, may be encouraged to help infant or elderly family members in lieu of watching educational TV after school. Indirectly, culture influences these children's ability to benefit from such experiences.

In addition, to take the example further, children whose culture discourages educational TV and other media may be ridiculed by school peers for missing out on popular pastimes other children engage in.

Another way that media in popular culture can influence child development is by depicting and perpetuating cultural stereotypes. For example, a movie might show women or minorities in a negative light, or not at all. A sitcom might feature only white characters, never those of diverse races or ethnicities.

Clearly, the absence of role models in entertainment media, or the presence of negative stereotypes, can affect children's self-esteem. This can cause media to become a negative cultural influence on a child's development.

A Crucial Understanding of Childhood Development

Educators, parents, caregivers, and social workers need to understand how children's cultural influences affect their development. With this knowledge, adults can better guide students of different cultures and backgrounds through their growth processes and ensure that they're being exposed to healthy influences. They can also provide them with the tools they need to cope with negative influences, such as cultural biases and prejudices against diverse cultures, in schools and in society at large.

According to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), for example, early childhood programs can foster children's development - physically, mentally, and socially. Consider the Head Start program, which provides children from low-income families with services to promote their educational and emotional growth. Children who participated in programs such as Head Start grew up healthier and engaged in less harmful activities, such as drinking and smoking, than those who didn't.

Educators and social workers need to be aware of their own implicit biases about cultural differences. As the NAEYC reported, teachers can exhibit biases in their treatment of children according to the child's race, ability, socioeconomic status, and behaviors. The biases can inhibit teachers from effectively helping these students and, therefore, prevent students from developing at the pace that's best for them. By understanding the cultural influences on child development, including their own cultural biases, professionals in these roles can better make an impact on children's lives and deliver the care they need.

Careers That Incorporate Cultural Influences on Child Development

An understanding of cultural influences on child development is important for professionals in a range of roles.

Child Life Specialist

A child life specialist is clinically trained to help families work through the developmental impact of serious injury or illness. For example, a child life specialist might work with families to help children cope with illness or stress in a hospital setting. This work includes identifying stressors, encouraging self-expression, and ensuring that children can make their voices heard in often overwhelming situations.

Understanding how the healthcare system approaches cultural diversity helps child life specialists assist families from various cultural backgrounds. Further, a child life specialist understands that the trauma of illness or injury looms large in child development and thus seeks to mitigate the impact, while taking into account each child's cultural background.

Mental Health Counselor

Mental health counselors treat people for issues such as behavioral disorders, substance abuse, anxiety, depression, and stress. They might work in a range of settings, including individual and family services, community care centers, and government facilities. Mental health counselors can train to work specifically with children and families, helping them work through mental health issues, access necessary resources, and navigate treatment plans.

By understanding cultural influences on child development, mental health counselors can more effectively help children and families get to the root of their issues and work through them.

Community Health Worker

Community health workers help individuals and groups access healthcare information, resources, and services. For example, if a community is exposed to an environmental hazard, community health workers might connect people with screenings for lung cancer or asthma. Another example is if an impoverished community has difficulty accessing food, community health workers might connect the community to local services, such as food banks. These professionals also advocate on behalf of vulnerable communities, providing local government representatives, healthcare providers, and health educators with data about people's health status and needs.

Community health workers learn about the factors that influence child development to help families access the healthcare resources they need. They also understand the influence of culture on how families and communities seek aid and respond to stress in crises.

Child Care Center Director

Child care center directors build and manage programs for before- and after-school care, including educational programs, and social activities. Directors also hire and train staff to run these programs and work with children. With an understanding of cultural influences on child development, child care center directors can be prepared to support children outside their home, resolve issues when they arise, and provide working families with the extra help they need in supervising their children.

Social Worker

Social workers assist individuals and families on a case-by-case basis, helping them navigate stressful situations, such as unemployment, illness, and substance abuse. On top of providing these services, clinical social workers are licensed to diagnose clients with mental health issues and intervene in emergencies, such as child abuse. Social workers understand how cultural influences can impact behavior and development.

Social workers can also train in specialty areas, including the following:

Child and family social work
Example: Guiding children through the adoption process or the foster system, or locating community child care services

School social work
Example: Helping students with behavioral issues find a therapist

Mental health social work
Example: Connecting children who have anxiety or depression with a psychiatrist or support group

Healthcare social work
Example: Supporting children through a diagnosis and hospital visits

All social workers are trained to be aware of the factors that influence people's behavior, including their childhood development and how their culture may be influencing it. If a child is acting out at school, for example, a social worker considers how cultural influences at home might affect the child's acceptance by peers at school or how the child responds to challenging school demands, such as competition or collaboration.

Make an Impact in Childhood Development

Maryville's online Bachelor of Arts in Human Development and Family Studies program offers students the knowledge and skills they need to work with families and children in different stages of their lives. Through the program's comprehensive curriculum, students explore the human experience and how individuals develop in their societies and interpersonal relationships. They also gain real-world experience through fieldwork, research projects, and service-learning opportunities in a range of settings where they can begin making an impact in their roles.

If you're interested in learning more about cultural influences on child development - including parental, environmental, and media influences on child development - exploring Maryville's online Bachelor of Arts in Human Development and Family Studies can help you pursue your professional goals.
Recommended Reading Early Childhood Education vs. Childhood Development Nature vs. Nurture Child Development: Exploring Key Differences How to Become a Child Life Specialist Sources American Psychological Association, Kids & the Media Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Child Development Basics Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Children's Environmental Health Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Early Brain Development and Health National Association for the Education of Young Children, The Social-Cultural Context of Child Development and Learning National Environmental Health Association, Children's Environmental Health Equity Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Early Childhood Development and Education Pediatrics The Conversation, "How Culture Influences Children's Development" The Urban Child Institute, What Do We Know About Social and Emotional Development in Early Childhood? The Washington Post Verywell Mind, "Experience and Development" Verywell Mind, "Individualistic Cultures and Behavior" Verywell Mind, "Understanding Collectivist Cultures" U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Health Educators and Community Health Workers U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Preschool and Childcare Center Directors U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Social Workers U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Child Life Specialist" Wiley Online Library, "Environmental Influences on Health and Development: Nutrition, Substance Exposure, and Adverse Childhood Experiences" , "How Different Cultures Shape Children's Personalities in Different Ways" , Digital Screen Media and Cognitive Development

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Cultural Influences on Child Development | Maryville Online

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Explore cultural influences on child development, and learn how educators, parents, and social workers can use this information to improve services and care.

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I'm full of warm and fuzzy memories of holiday celebrations from my time as a student: the annual Thanksgiving dinner in the gymnasium, the Halloween parade of costumes, Christmas concert preparations and presentations, and Easter egg painting.

Holiday celebrations and traditions are often the most exciting part of the school year for kids and teachers, but how do we navigate holidays and traditions while creating a classroom that is inclusive and respectful?

Strategies in classrooms and schools allow teachers to navigate any holiday or special event respectfully with academic benefits as well. Select holidays and religious celebrations based on your classroom representation. When I get more diverse classrooms, I do my best to celebrate more prominent holidays, learn about ones that would be new to most of my students, and at least share a quick video or do a small activity to acknowledge them.

Learn About Each Other

Knowing and learning about classmates' and teachers' cultural backgrounds, religions, families, and traditions at the beginning of the school year reduces fear and increases empathy. It also creates a platform where students can ask questions and break down stereotypes. Because some students and parents may be resistant at first, I send a message home at the beginning of the school year outlining our purpose in celebrating different holidays as part of my general introduction letter. I usually include a section that reads: "We are excited to learn about each other's families, cultures, holidays, and celebrations throughout the school year. If you would like to volunteer to share a cultural holiday, meal, or celebration with us, please contact me via the signature information below."

As a result of my invitation through the introductory letter, I have had many parents come forward to share and take part in celebrations with us. We've burned sweetgrass, displayed traditional costumes from various cultures, danced to traditional holiday songs from many areas of the world-and of course cooked and tried many holiday dishes.

Identity Collage: Students can create and present a visual collage that represents their ancestry, religion, and family. Teachers can also complete and present this activity.

10 Questions: Ask students to create a list of 10 get-to-know-you questions, and then allow students to interact with each other. Each pair of students then introduces their partner to the class. Often, students will require example questions to get them started. I usually start with a brainstorming list of questions students can use and leave them on the board throughout the duration of this activity.

Possible questions might include:

How many places have you lived?

Where have you traveled?

What's your favorite pastime?

What's your favorite holiday?

Do you play sports?

What's your favorite subject in school?

What's your cultural background?

How many people are in your family?

Do you have any pets?

What's your favorite food?

Line Game: Use a tape to create a line on the classroom floor. Then ask students questions such as "Who has a sibling?" or "Who has lived in another country?" and have any students with that experience stand on the line. Students can ask questions, and the teacher can participate as well. The game provides a low-risk way for students to share information about their experiences and backgrounds.

Incorporate Academics

Why do we celebrate or acknowledge holidays and traditions? How did these holidays and traditions develop? Often, students have no idea about the origins of the holidays or traditions they celebrate. Learning about them allows for academic study and discussion about why they exist.

Expand the focus beyond North American holidays and traditions. My favorite way to expand our focus is to start with a History Channel video about holidays and traditions from a variety of cultures and religions. I find that they are short and engaging, and often come with activities and resources for teachers. Once viewing is complete, you can follow up with a variety of different activities to deepen learning. For example, after viewing, I will ask students to write a paragraph about an element of the film. Group discussions about the content can also be a good starting point for understanding different holidays and faiths.

Films are not the only mechanism for fostering better understanding. Inviting leaders of different faith traditions to the classroom to share their experiences can be a personalized way to improve understanding. I invite a local indigenous leader to my classroom to share about his traditions and oral creation stories. He usually also burns sweetgrass as part of this activity, and my students have always been interested and engaged in this experience that is foreign to most of them. Students gain a more nuanced understanding of the neighboring indigenous traditions by hearing in person from a local leader.

Celebrate Everything

If you're learning about a variety of holidays and traditions around the world that have specific celebration dates, they should be celebrated in your classroom the same way you would celebrate traditional North American holidays and traditions. Simple strategies such as inviting students to dress a certain way, create a piece of art, share food, sing a song, or write something related to the holiday or tradition can help students appreciate others' holidays and traditions.

Whatever method of celebration you choose, the fact that you are stopping your regular classroom activities to show respect to all holidays and traditions celebrated by your students creates an environment of acceptance and inclusivity.

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Sharing Holiday Traditions in the Classroom

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I'm full of warm and fuzzy memories of holiday celebrations from my time as a student: the annual Thanksgiving dinner in the gymnasium, the Halloween parade of costumes, Christmas concert preparations and presentations, and Easter egg painting.

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The Systematic Effects of Bilingualism on Children’s Development

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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Jan 1.

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State of the Science: Implicit Bias in Education 2018-2020 | Kirwan Institute

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Over the past 10 years, the Kirwan Institute has explored developments in implicit bias research in education. Schools are oftentimes believed to have the power in promoting more positive racial attitudes and allowing all to partake equitably in society (e.g., Banks et al., 2006). However, teachers and school administrators who are entrusted with fulfilling this capacity, are themselves immersed in a social environment where implicit racial biases are pervasive (Nosek et al., 2007; Gullo & Beachum, 2020). For this multi-year State of the Science report, we examined 33 articles published between 2018-2020 that interrogated the role of implicit racial bias in education

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Implicit bias, also known as implicit prejudice or implicit attitude, is a negative attitude, of which one is not consciously aware, against a specific social group.

Implicit bias is thought to be shaped by experience and based on learned associations between particular qualities and social categories, including race and/or gender. Individuals' perceptions and behaviors can be influenced by the implicit biases they hold, even if they are unaware they hold such biases. Implicit bias is an aspect of implicit social cognition: the phenomenon that perceptions, attitudes, and stereotypes can operate prior to conscious intention or endorsement.

Adapted from the APA Dictionary of Psychology and Wikipedia

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Implicit bias, also known as implicit prejudice or implicit attitude, is a negative attitude, of which one is not consciously aware, against a specific social group.

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Implicit or Unconscious Bias

By Charlotte Ruhl, published July 01, 2020

Take-home Messages

Implicit biases are unconscious attitudes and stereotypes that can manifest in the criminal justice system, workplace, school setting, and in the healthcare system.

Implicit bias is also known as unconscious bias or implicit social cognition.

There are many different examples of implicit biases, ranging from categories of race, gender, and sexuality.

These biases often arise as a result of trying to find patterns and navigate the overwhelming stimuli in this very complicated world. Culture, media, and upbringing can also contribute to the development of such biases

Removing these biases is a challenge, especially because we often don't even know they exist, but research reveals potential interventions and provides hope that levels of implicit biases in the United States are decreasing.

The term implicit bias was first coined back in 1995 by psychologists Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald, where they argued that social behavior is largely influenced by unconscious associations and judgments (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995).

Specifically, implicit bias refers to attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious way, making them difficult to control.

Since the mid-90s, psychologists have extensively researched implicit biases, revealing that, without even knowing it, we all possess our own implicit biases.

System 1 and System 2 Thinking

Kahneman (2011) distinguishes between two types of thinking: system 1 and system 2.

System 1 is the brain's fast, emotional, unconscious thinking mode. This type of thinking requires little effort, but it is often error prone. Most everyday activities (like driving, talking, cleaning, etc.) make heavy use of the type 1 system.

The type 2 system is slow, logical, effortful, conscious thought, where reason dominates.

Implicit Bias vs. Explicit Bias

It is also possible that your implicit and explicit biases are different from your neighbor, friend, or even your family member. There are many factors that can control how such biases are developed.

What Are the Implications of Unconscious Bias?

Implicit biases become evident in many different domains of society. On an interpersonal level, they can manifest in simply daily interactions. This occurs when certain actions (or microaggressions) make others feel uncomfortable or aware of the specific prejudices you may hold against them.

Racial Stereotypes

Unconscious racial stereotypes are a major example of implicit bias. In other words, having an automatic preference for one race over another without even being aware of this bias.

This bias can manifest in small interpersonal interactions and has broader implications in the legal system and many other important sectors of society.

Examples may include holding an implicit stereotype that associates Black individuals as violent, and as a result, you may cross the street at night when you see a Black man walking in your direction, without even realizing why you are crossing the street.

The action taken here is an example of a microaggression. A microaggression is a subtle, automatic, and often nonverbal, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative prejudicial slights and insults toward any group (Pierce, 1970). Here, crossing the street communicates an implicit prejudice, even though you might not even be aware.

Another example of an implicit racial bias is if a Latino student is complimented by a teacher for speaking perfect English, but he is actually a native English speaker. Here, the teacher assumed that simply because he is Latino that English would not be his first language.

Gender Stereotypes

Gender biases are another common form of implicit bias. Gender biases are the ways in which we judge men and women based on traditional feminine and masculine assigned traits.

For example, a greater assignment of fame to male than female names (Banaji & Greenwald, 1995) reveals a subconscious bias that holds men at a higher level than their female counterpart. Whether you voice the opinion that men are more famous than women is independent of this implicit gender bias.

Another common implicit gender bias regards women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). In the school setting, girls are more likely to be associated with language over math, whereas males are more likely to be associated with math over language (Steffens & Jelenec, 2011), revealing clear gender-related implicit biases that can ultimately go so far as to dictate future career paths.

Even if you outwardly say men and women are equally good at math, it is possible you subconsciously associate math more strongly with men without even being aware of this association.

Health Care

Healthcare is another setting where implicit biases are very present. Racial and ethnic minorities and women are subject to less accurate diagnoses, curtailed treatment options, less pain management, and worse clinical outcomes (Chapman, Kaatz, & Carnes, 2013).

Additionally, Black children are often not treated as children at all, or not given the same compassion or level of care that is provided for White children (Johnson et al., 2017).

It becomes very evident that implicit biases infiltrate the most common sectors of society, making it all the more important to begin to question how we can work to remove these biases.

LGBTQ+ Community Bias

Similar to implicit racial and gender biases, individuals may hold implicit biases against members of the LGBTQ+ community. Again, that does not necessarily mean that these opinions are voiced outwardly or even consciously recognized by the beholder for that matter.

Rather, these biases are unconscious. A really simple example could be asking a female friend is she has a boyfriend, assuming her sexuality and that heterosexuality is the norm or default.

Instead, in this specific situation, you could just ask your friend if she is seeing someone. There are several other forms of implicit biases that fall into categories ranging from weight to ethnicity to ability that come into play in our everyday lives.

Legal System

Both law enforcement and the legal system shed light on implicit biases. An example of implicit biases functioning in law enforcement is the shooter bias - the tendency among the police to shoot Black civilians more often than White civilians, even when they are unarmed (Mekawi, & Bresin, 2015).

This bias has been repeatedly tested in the laboratory setting, revealing an implicit bias against Black individuals. Blacks are also arrested at disproportionally high rates, given harsher sentences, and Black juveniles are tried as adults more often than their White peers.

Black boys are also seen as less childlike, less innocent, more culpable, more responsible for their actions, and as being more appropriate targets for police violence (Goff, 2014).

Together, these unconscious stereotypes, which are not rooted in truth, form an array of implicit biases that are extremely dangerous and utterly unjust.

Work

Implicit biases are also visible in the workplace. One experiment that tracked the success of White and Black job applicants found that stereotypically White received 50% more callbacks than the stereotypically Black names, regardless of the industry or occupation (Bertrand & Mullainathan, 2004).

This reveals another form of implicit bias: the hiring bias - Anglicized‐named applicants receiving more favorable pre‐interview impressions than other ethnic‐named applicants (Watson, Appiah, & Thornton, 2011).

Causes of Implicit Bias

We're susceptible to bias because of these tendencies:

We tend to seek out patterns

A key reason we develop such biases is that our brains have a natural tendency to look for patterns and associations in order to make sense of a very complicated world.

Research shows that even before kindergarten, children already use their group membership (e.g., racial group, gender group, age group, etc.) to guide inferences about the psychological and behavioral traits.

At such a young age, they have already begun to seek out patterns and recognize what distinguishes them from other groups (Baron, Dunham, Banaji, & Carey, 2014).

And not only do children recognize what sets them apart from other groups, they believe "what is similar to me is good, and what is different from me is bad" (Cameron, Alvarez, Ruble, & Fuligni, 2001).

Children aren't just noticing how similar or dissimilar they are to others, but dissimilar people are actively disliked (Aboud, 1988).

Recognizing what sets you apart from others, and then forming negative opinions about those outgroups (a social group with which an individual does not identify) contributes to the development of implicit biases.

We like to take shortcuts

Another explanation is that the development of these biases is a result of the brain's tendency to try to simplify the world.

Mental shortcuts make it faster and easier for the brain to sort through all of the overwhelming data and stimuli we are met with every second of the day. And we take mental shortcuts all the time. Rules of thumb, educated guesses, and using "common sense" are all forms of mental shortcuts.

Implicit bias is a result of taking one of these cognitive shortcuts inaccurately (Rynders, 2019). As a result, we incorrectly rely on these unconscious stereotypes to provide guidance in a very complex world.

And especially when we are under high levels of stress we are more likely to rely on these biases than to examine all of the relevant, surrounding information (Wigboldus, Sherman, Franzese, & Knippenberg, 2004).

Social and Cultural influences

Influences from media, culture, and your individual upbringing can also contribute to the rise of implicit associations that people form about the members of social outgroups. Media has become increasingly accessible, and while that has many benefits, it can also lead to implicit biases.

The way TV portrays individuals, or the language journal articles use, can ingrain specific biases in our mind.

For example, they can lead us to associate Black people as criminals or females as nurses or teachers. The way you are raised can also play a huge role. One research study found that parental racial attitudes can influence children's implicit prejudice (Sinclair, Dunn, & Lowery, 2005).

And parents are not the only figures who can influence such attitudes. Siblings, the school setting, and the culture in which you grow up can also play a role in shaping your explicit beliefs and implicit biases.

Implicit Attitude Test (IAT)

What sets implicit biases apart from other forms of biases is the fact that they are subconscious - we don't know if we have them.

However, researchers have developed a tool, called the Implicit Association Test (IAT) that can help reveal such biases.

The IAT requires participants to categorize negative and positive words together with either images or words (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998). Tests are taken online and must be performed as quickly as possible, the faster you categorize certain words or faces of a category, the stronger the bias you hold about that category.

For example, the Race IAT requires participants to categorizing White faces and Black faces and negative and positive words. The relative speed of association of black faces with negative words is used as an indication of the level of anti-black bias.

Professor Brian Nosek and colleagues tested more than 700,000 subjects and found that more than 70% of White subjects more easily associated White faces with positive words and Black faces with negative words, concluding that this was evidence of implicit racial bias (Nosek, Greenwald, & Banaji, 2007).

Outside of lab testing, it is very difficult to know if we do, in fact, possess these biases. The fact that they are so hard to detect is in the very nature of this form of bias, making them very dangerous in various real world settings.

How to Reduce Implicit Bias

Because of the harmful nature of implicit biases, it is critical to examine how we can begin to remove them.

Meditation

Practicing mindfulness is one potential way, as it serves to reduce the stress and cognitive load that otherwise leads to relying on such biases. A 2016 study found that brief mediation decreased unconscious bias against black people and elderly people (Lueke & Gibson, 2016), providing initial insight into the usefulness of this approach and paving the way for future research on this intervention.

Adjust your perspective

Another method is perspective taking - looking beyond your own point of view, so that you can consider how someone else may think or feel about something.

Researcher Belinda Gutierrez implemented a videogame called "Fair Play" in which players assume the role of a Black graduate student named Jamal Davis. As Jamal, players experience subtle race bias while completing "quests" to obtain a science degree.

Gutierrez hypothesized that participants who were randomly assigned to play the game would have greater empathy for Jamal and lower implicit race bias than participants randomized to read narrative text (not perspective taking) describing Jamal's experience (Gutierrez, 2014), and her hypothesis was supported, illustrating the benefits of perspective taking in increasing empathy towards outgroup members.

Training

Specific implicit bias training has been incorporated in different educational and law enforcement settings. Research has found that diversity training to overcome biases against women in STEM improved with men (Jackson, Hillard, & Schneider, 2014).

Training programs designed to target and help overcome implicit biases may also be beneficial with police officers (Plant & Peruche, 2005), but there is not enough conclusive evidence to completely support this claim. One pitfall of such training is a potential rebound effect.

By actively trying to inhibit stereotyping actually results in the bias eventually increasing more so than if it had not been initially suppressed in the first place (Macrae, Bodenhausen, Milne, & Jetten, 1994). This is very similar to the white bear problem that is discussed in many psychology curricula.

This concept refers to the psychological process whereby deliberate attempts to suppress certain thoughts make them more likely to surface (Wegner & Schneider, 2003).

Education

Education is crucial. Understanding what implicit biases are, how they can arise, how, and how to recognize them in yourself and others are all incredibly important in working towards overcoming such biases.

Learning about other cultures or outgroups and what language and behaviors may come off as offensive are critical as well. Education is a powerful tool that can extend beyond the classroom, through books, media, and conversations. On the bright side, implicit biases in the United States have been improving.

From 2007 to 2016, implicit biases have changed towards neutrality for sexual orientation, race, and skin-tone attitudes (Charlesworth & Banaji, 2019), demonstrating that it is possible to overcome these biases.

Books for further reading

As mentioned, education is extremely important. Here are a few places to get starting in learning more about implicit biases:

1. Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See Think and Do by Jennifer Eberhardt

2. Blindspot by Anthony Greenwald and Mahzarin Banaji

3. Implicit Racial Bias Across the Law by Justin Levinson and Robert Smith

About the Author

Charlotte Ruhl is a member of the Class of 2022 at Harvard University. She studies Psychology with a minor in African American Studies. On campus, Charlotte works at an implicit social cognition research lab, is an editor for the undergraduate law review, and plays softball.

"implicit bias"

"implicit gender bias"

"unconscious bias"

"implicit prejudices"

"hidden bias"

"implicit racial bias"

"cognitive bias"

"Implicit Association Test" or IAT

"implicit association"

"implicit social cognition"

APA Style References

Aboud, F. E. (1988). Children and prejudice. B. Blackwell.

Banaji, M. R., & Greenwald, A. G. (1995). Implicit gender stereotyping in judgments of fame. Journal of personality and social psychology, 68(2), 181.

Baron, A. S., Dunham, Y., Banaji, M., & Carey, S. (2014). Constraints on the acquisition of social category concepts. Journal of Cognition and Development, 15(2), 238-268.

Bertrand, M., & Mullainathan, S. (2004). Are Emily and Greg more employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A field experiment on labor market discrimination. American economic review, 94(4), 991-1013.

Cameron, J. A., Alvarez, J. M., Ruble, D. N., & Fuligni, A. J. (2001). Children's lay theories about ingroups and outgroups: Reconceptualizing research on prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5(2), 118-128.

Chapman, E. N., Kaatz, A., & Carnes, M. (2013). Physicians and implicit bias: how doctors may unwittingly perpetuate health care disparities. Journal of general internal medicine, 28(11), 1504-1510.

Charlesworth, T. E., & Banaji, M. R. (2019). Patterns of implicit and explicit attitudes: I. Long-term change and stability from 2007 to 2016. Psychological science, 30(2), 174-192.

Goff, P. A., Jackson, M. C., Di Leone, B. A. L., Culotta, C. M., & DiTomasso, N. A. (2014). The essence of innocence: consequences of dehumanizing Black children. Journal of personality and socialpsychology,106(4), 526.

Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (1995). Implicit social cognition: attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes. Psychological review, 102(1), 4.

Greenwald, A. G., McGhee, D. E., & Schwartz, J. L. (1998). Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: the implicit association test. J ournal of personality and social psychology, 74(6), 1464.

Greenwald, A. G., & Krieger, L. H. (2006). Implicit bias: Scientific foundations. California Law Review, 94(4), 945-967.

Gutierrez, B., Kaatz, A., Chu, S., Ramirez, D., Samson-Samuel, C., & Carnes, M. (2014). "Fair Play": a videogame designed to address implicit race bias through active perspective taking. Games for health journal, 3(6), 371-378.

Jackson, S. M., Hillard, A. L., & Schneider, T. R. (2014). Using implicit bias training to improve attitudes toward women in STEM. Social Psychology of Education, 17(3), 419-438.

Johnson, T. J., Winger, D. G., Hickey, R. W., Switzer, G. E., Miller, E., Nguyen, M. B., ... & Hausmann, L. R. (2017). Comparison of physician implicit racial bias toward adults versus children. Academic pediatrics, 17(2), 120-126.

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Macmillan.

Lueke, A., & Gibson, B. (2016). Brief mindfulness meditation reduces discrimination. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 3(1), 34.

Macrae, C. N., Bodenhausen, G. V., Milne, A. B., & Jetten, J. (1994). Out of mind but back in sight: Stereotypes on the rebound. Journal of personality and social psychology, 67(5), 808.

Mekawi, Y., & Bresin, K. (2015). Is the evidence from racial bias shooting task studies a smoking gun? Results from a meta-analysis. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 61, 120-130.

Nosek, B. A., Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R. (2007). The Implicit Association Test at age 7: A methodological and conceptual review. Automatic processes in social thinking and behavior, 4, 265-292.

Pierce, C. (1970). Offensive mechanisms. The black seventies, 265-282.

Plant, E. A., & Peruche, B. M. (2005). The consequences of race for police officers' responses to criminal suspects. Psychological Science, 16(3), 180-183.

Rynders, D. (2019). Battling Implicit Bias in the IDEA to Advocate for African American Students with Disabilities. Touro L. Rev., 35, 461.

Sinclair, S., Dunn, E., & Lowery, B. (2005). The relationship between parental racial attitudes and children's implicit prejudice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 41(3), 283-289.

Steffens, M. C., & Jelenec, P. (2011). Separating implicit gender stereotypes regarding math and language: Implicit ability stereotypes are self-serving for boys and men, but not for girls and women. Sex Roles, 64(5-6), 324-335.

Watson, S., Appiah, O., & Thornton, C. G. (2011). The effect of name on pre‐interview impressions and occupational stereotypes: the case of black sales job applicants. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 41(10), 2405-2420.

Wegner, D. M., & Schneider, D. J. (2003). The white bear story. Psychological Inquiry, 14(3-4), 326-329.

Wigboldus, D. H., Sherman, J. W., Franzese, H. L., & Knippenberg, A. V. (2004). Capacity and comprehension: Spontaneous stereotyping under cognitive load. Social Cognition, 22(3), 292-309.

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Implicit biases are unconscious attitudes and stereotypes that can manifest in the criminal justice system, workplace, school setting, and in the healthcare system. Specifically, implicit bias refers to attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious way, making them difficult to control.

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The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity

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The murder of George Floyd has led to a movement to hold police departments and officers accountable. It's also an opportunity for educators to work on becoming culturally competent in a diverse society.

The National Education Association describes cultural competence as "having an awareness of one's own cultural identity and views about difference, and the ability to learn and build on the varying cultural and community norms of students and their families." The differences that make individuals unique are essential ingredients of America, part of our country's strength.

When educators fail to acknowledge their own biases and assumptions, the hindrance of a student's developmental process is inevitable. Having good intentions is not sufficient; the actions are what will be seen and felt by students. What one individual may perceive as innocent can have detrimental ramifications. Districts need to feel the urgency and race to end exclusionary practices by practicing the following:

R Recognize your own biases, ideas, and stereotypes of cultures that are different from your own.

A Admit/Acknowledge that there are differences in the treatment of people based on their appearance.

C Commit to being a part of the change that is needed in seeing that people are treated fairly.

E Educate yourself and others on cultural differences to gain more understanding.

No longer can administrators and staff steer away from cultural conversations. Cultural competence is more than just learning about the music students enjoy or understanding their slang. For individuals to become competent in another culture, they must first understand their own biases and stereotypical ideas. This recognition allows people to become more aware of their thoughts and actions towards others who do not look like them.

The opportunity is now for districts to address the reality of bias, stereotypes, and cultural differences for cultural competency. While Covid-19 and preparing for another school closure is necessary, so is the importance of cultural competency. If districts forfeit the opportunity to address injustice, the damage could be catastrophic.
Cultural Competence in Schools
Many classrooms are diverse as a result of either the differences within the student population or the differences between the teaching population and the student body. If cultural competency is to become an essential component of schools, training must be more than a single day. Checking off back-to-school professional-development boxes is insufficient to identify, address, and begin to resolve bias, stereotypes, and discrimination.

To begin, schools must shift away from the notion of culture as a celebration or event. Instead, schools should move to a view of culture as experiences, knowledge, beliefs, and values that affect the lives of everyone in the school building.

Gaining cultural competency will require a plan. Tight schedules and the need for pandemic-related preparations do not leave an abundance of time for cultural competency training. However, the time does allow for foundational discussions. School districts should provide training throughout the entire year.
Understanding Cultural Awareness

Know the Community You Serve - Teachers sometimes work in communities where they do not live. The biggest mistake with this practice is when educators fail to educate themselves about the community in which they serve.

I can recall a specific day when the main road into school was shut down. A teacher had difficulty navigating into work and asked for help getting home. As I led the teacher in my car through the parts of the city where our students lived, the teacher called my phone to make sure the route we were on was safe. I reassured the teacher the route was safe and continued to navigate through the city. Once we exited the city and the teacher was familiar with the area, I received a call thanking me for my help. I asked the teacher if this route was a route she would take in the future. The response was an emphatic no. In essence, the teacher was unwilling and afraid to navigate the same city streets as the population we serve.

There can be vast differences between hearsay about a community and the factual historical reality of the community. Fear should not be the driving emotion when serving a community. Asking questions and searching for answers to help better serve the community should be the prevailing mindset.

Identify Areas for Growth - Everyone has a past and upbringing that has shaped the way they view the world. Those experiences themselves are not negative, but when these experiences skew the way a person views others, an adjustment may be required.

A few years ago, a teacher entered my office upset about the disposition of a student. As the student stood beside the upset teacher, I began to listen to the teacher explain the incident. What was explained was the reality that the teacher was upset with the student's disrespectful attitude. I asked for more details about the perceived disrespectful nature of the attitude. The teacher described colloquialism, tone, and a lack of eye contact. At that moment I dismissed the student and explained that the student was not being disrespectful, but rather what the teacher was experiencing was the method of communication in which the student interacts with his community.

Educators must have an inner dialogue to determine what experiences have shaped the teacher's views of students. Districts must create space to have a broader discussion and be realistic about how teachers' individual bias encroaches on the rights of students. The space for a macro conversation for the district is necessary and must be accompanied with how cultural awareness is reflected in individual buildings.

Listen and Observe-What may seem as a simple task is rarely practiced. The beginning of understanding is listening. When one is constantly talking there is no room for listening.

In my early years as an educator, I served as dean of school culture. One responsibility of the job was to oversee school discipline in a predominantly black school. One classroom of 13 students included a white male teacher and one white male student. This particular student was involved in several incidents daily. One of his first comments was always, "no one understands, and no one listens to me." Everything came to climax one day. I had to mediate a situation between the student's parent and the teacher. What was uncovered in the meeting was the student felt no one understood him because he was white, and he did not feel welcomed in the school. As a school, we failed this student by not taking the time to listen to his needs.

Districts and educators fail at cultural awareness because listening has not been initiated. Listen to the parents, listen to the students, listen to your peers, listen to your staff. When what you hear corroborates what you see, act. Far too often districts fail to see because they fail to listen.

Develop Cross-Cultural Skills-One of the biggest mistakes made across cultures is the attempt to try to fit in. Fitting in leads to offensive words that can cause a strain in relationships.

Just last year I was in the school's main office receiving food from parents for a cultural celebration. One specific dish a parent made was heated to a high temperature. To show my newly acquired Spanish skills I uttered to the parent "mucho caliente." As I watched the front office staff gasp and show visible signs of discomfort, I knew I said something wrong. When the parent left the office I immediately asked, "Did I say something wrong?" I learned using the term "mucho caliente" to the opposite sex is offensive even though I was talking about food and not the parent. I learned a valuable lesson that day. Cross-cultural skills take time and an intentional effort rooted in understanding.

Cultural awareness is not only being aware of black students. Cultural competency is recognizing the differences in everyone represented in the school regardless of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Now is the time to lean into cultural competency to strengthen the relationships between the school and the community. Districts cannot assume staff understand cultural competence. Leaders must take the initiative to provide adequate space to discuss cultural differences and reestablish norms built on cultural competency. Talking about change is over. Now is the time for words to become actions.
George Farmer is an administrator at an elementary school in Camden, New Jersey, and a doctoral candidate in educational leadership at Capella University.

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How Schools and Teachers Can Get Better at Cultural Competence

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The valuable lesson of a "mucho caliente" mistake

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This article will help better understand cultural competence and its components. Adopted cross-cultural attitude strategies will help to develop and enhance the ability to practice effective communication in intercultural situations.

Working and living in a global society requires the ability to create interactions and relationships with people who are different from oneself. It is critical to know how to assess our cultural competency and evaluate our own cultural behaviors. Globalization and diversity lowered the barriers that once separated cultures both internationally and domestically (Garneau & Pepin, 2015). Cultural competency skills can help businesses run more productively, and efficiently. Practicing cultural competency skills can also elevate your customer service skills. Exceptional customer service gives you the ability to set your business apart from your competitors and keeps your customers returning to your business.

What is culture?

In 1951, Kluckhohn explained culture as sharing a pattern of thinking, feeling, reacting, and problem-solving. Culture is a dynamic relational process of shared meanings that originate in the interactions between individuals (Carpenter-Song, Schwallie, & Longhofer, 2007). In 2010, Gregory and colleagues emphasized that culture must be considered in historical, social, political, and economic contexts. Betancourt (2004) defined culture as a pattern of learned beliefs, values, and behavior that are shared within a group; it includes language, styles of communication, practices, customs, and views on roles and relationships. Edgar Schein (2010) described a culture as "shared beliefs, values, and assumptions of a group of people who learn from one another and teach to others that their behaviors, attitudes, and perspectives are the correct ways to think, act, and feel." Psychologists argue that unfamiliar culture negatively affects an individual's sensemaking mechanisms and determine their behavioral responses. As a result, individuals cannot accurately perceive, interpret, explain, and predict the behavior of people with different cultural background(s) (Muzychenko, 2008).

What is cultural intelligence?

Cultural intelligence is the ability to interpret the stranger's behavior the way the stranger's compatriots would (Muzychenko 2008). For example, if employees don't feel as if their manager understands or respects their culture, employees may find it hard to trust the leader or work as a team.

What is cultural competence?

Current research on cultural competence focuses on sensitivity to cross-cultural differences and the ability to adapt to other cultural environments (e.g., Hansen, Pepitone-Arreola-Rockwell, & Greene, 2000), or reflective awareness of cultural influences on one's thoughts and behaviors (Chao, Okazaki, & Hong, 2011). Muzychenko (2008) defined cultural competence as the appropriateness and effectiveness of one's behavior in an alien cultural environment. Wilson, Ward, and Fischer (2013) defined cultural competence as "the acquisition and maintenance of culture-specific skills" for very practical reasons:

function effectively within a new cultural context.

interact effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds.

Williams (2001) defined cultural competence as " the ability of individuals and systems to work or respond effectively across cultures in a way that acknowledges and respects the culture of the person or organization being served" p.1.

Why do we need to develop cultural competence?

Developing cultural competence helps us understand, communicate with, and effectively interact with people across cultures. It gives us the ability to compare different cultures with our own and better understand the differences. Unconsciously, we bring our own cultural frame of interpretation to any situation. This is not to say that culture alone determines how one interprets a situation. One's own unique history and personality also play an important role (Hofstede, 2002).

How do we develop an attitude and components of cultural competence?

Developing cross-cultural attitudes allows one to develop skills for better engaging with people from all kinds of cultures. Cross-cultural skills demonstrated through the ability to communicate with respect; recognize others' values, accept knowledge, skills, and talents; and tolerate, engage, and celebrate the success of others. Deardorff defined competence as " the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in intercultural situations based on one's intercultural knowledge, skills, and attitudes" (Deardorff, 2006, pp. 247-248). We adopted Deardorff (2006) cross-cultural attitude strategies that help you to develop and enhance one's ability to practice effective communication in intercultural situations:

Practice openness by demonstrating acceptance of difference.

Be flexible by demonstrating acceptance of ambiguity.

Demonstrate humility through suspension of judgment and the ability to learn.

Be sensitive to others by appreciating cultural differences.

Show a spirit of adventure by showing curiosity and seeing opportunities in different situations.

Use a sense of humor through the ability to laugh at ourselves.

Practice positive change or action by demonstratinga successful interaction with the identified culture.

Borchum (2002) described cultural competence as " a non-linear dynamic process that is never-ending and ever expending. It is built on increases in knowledge and skill development related to its attributes" p. 5. We synthesized and adopted Williams's (2001) and Martin and Vaughn's (2007) studies that can assist in better understanding of components of cultural competency. These attributes will guide you in developing cultural competence:

Self-knowledge and awareness about one's own culture.

Awareness of one's own cultural worldview.

Experience and knowledge of different cultural practices.

Attitude toward cultural differences.

In conclusion, our global society necessitates interactions and relationships with people who are different from oneself. By developing one's own cultural competence, productivity and efficiency may increase and in turn improve one's customer service skills. Customers who feel valued and understood will return for repeat business.

Resources

Burchum, J. L. R. (2002, October). Cultural competence: An evolutionary perspective. In: Nursing Forum: (Vol. 37, No. 4, p. 5). Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Carpenter-Song, E. A., Schwallie, M. N., & Longhofer, J. (2007). Cultural competence reexamined: critique and directions for the future. Psychiatric Services, 58(10), 1362-1365.

Betancourt, J. R. (2004). Cultural competence-marginal or mainstream movement? New England Journal of Medicine, 351(10), 953-955.

Chiu, C.-Y., Lonner, W. J., Matsumoto, D., & Ward, C. (2013). Cross-Cultural Competence: Theory, Research, and Application. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 44(6), 843-848.

Garneau, A. B., & Pepin, J. (2015). Cultural competence: A constructivist definition. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 26(1), 9-15.

Gregory, D., Harrowing, J., Lee, B., Doolittle, L., & O'Sullivan, P. S. (2010). Pedagogy as influencing nursing students' essentialized understanding of culture. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 7(1), 30. doi:10.2202/1548-923X.2025

Hofstede, G. J., Hofstede, G., & Pedersen, P. B. (2012). Exploring culture: exercises, stories, and synthetic cultures. Boston: Intercultural Press.

Hofstede, G. J., Pedersen, P. B., & Hofstede, G. (2002). Exploring culture: Exercises, stories, and synthetic cultures. Nicholas Brealey.

Martin, M., & Vaughn, B. (2007). Cultural competence: The nuts and bolts of diversity and inclusion. Strategic Diversity & Inclusion Management, 1(1), 31-38.

Muzychenko, O. (2008). Cross-cultural entrepreneurial competence in identifying international business opportunities. European Management Journal, 26(6), 366-377.

Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership (Vol. 2). John Wiley & Sons.

Williams, B. (2001). Accomplishing cross cultural competence in youth development programs. Journal of Extension, 39(6), 1-6.

Wilson, J., Ward, C., & Fischer, R. (2013). Beyond culture learning theory: What can personality tell us about cultural competence? Journal of cross-cultural psychology, 44(6), 900-927.

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What is Cultural Competence and How to Develop It?

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This article will help better understand cultural competence and its components. Adopted cross-cultural attitude strategies will help to develop and enhance the ability to practice effective communication in intercultural situations. Working and living i

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Building relationships and working successfully with different others can seem like a major challenge.

But you can enjoy the rewards, while keeping frustration to a minimum.

The key to making them work is cultural competence.

What is cultural competence?

Cultural competence is defined as the ability to work effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds. Cultural competence is comprised of four components or aspects:

a diplomatic mindset,

agile cultural learning,

reasoning about other cultures, and

a disciplined approach to intercultural interactions.

We go through each of these competency areas in more depth, below. Essentially, cultural competence is a set of skills and knowledge that can help you learn, reason, solve problems, and interact comfortably when you're working with people from different cultures. Cultural competence can be improved through training, education, and experience.

In our increasingly connected world, it's not surprising that we are encountering people from all manner of backgrounds in our workplaces. Whether you are leading a diverse team to develop a new product, treating patients from different walks of life, promoting stability in a conflict zone, or teaching in a multicultural classroom, cultural competence is critical to your success in the professional realm.

Why improve your cultural competence?

Cultural competence can help you do your job more effectively. What does that mean in practice?

Cross-cultural teamwork has many benefits. But, working in a culturally diverse environment sometimes comes with differences of opinion and tension.

Cultural competence can allow you to detect problems early and prevent knee-jerk reactions is situations that initially seem puzzling or even provoking. This allows you to connect and build mutual trust with the people you work with. These relationships can provide fresh insights and innovative solutions to problems. They can even give you the inside scoop on others in your environment who don't support your agenda.

Relating better to people you work with, so you can get things done. That's a realistic objective with obvious benefits.

What are the essential cultural competencies for work?

To address this question, Louise Rasmussen and Winston Sieck of Global Cognition studied professionals with extensive experience working across cultural boundaries. Their paper, "Culture-general competence: Evidence from a cognitive field study of professionals who work in many cultures," was published in the International Journal of Intercultural Relations.

One of the unique features of their research was that participants were required to have a wide range of cultural experiences to be included in the studies. It was not enough to be deeply immersed in one foreign culture. This enabled the research team to tease out general cross-cultural skills that apply when working with someone from any group.

In addition, in contrast to previous work, the team did not ask these seasoned professionals for their opinions about cultural competence. Instead, the researchers dug into their lived experiences using cognitive task analysis to uncover the skills they used to meet their most challenging interactions.

The researchers identified four broad cultural competency domains that the experts used to create successful cross-cultural relationships.

Diplomatic Mindset

Diplomacy is the art of dealing with people in a thoughtful and effective way. Though it's often talked about in connection with international relationships, diplomacy and tact can be applied to every interaction we have with people from other cultures or social backgrounds.

A diplomatic mindset starts with a focus on what you are trying to accomplish. And recognizing that you need to work with diverse others to meet your goals. It means being aware of your own worldview and realizing that your own background shapes how you see things.

Doing so helps you understand how you are viewed by the person you are interacting with. It also helps you manage your own attitudes toward the other person's culture. Making it easier to find ways to get the job done despite your differences.

Cultural Learning

Professionals who successfully navigate cross-cultural relationships actively learn cultural norms, language and customs in an ongoing fashion. There's far too much to know about peoples and cultures to think that you can read a book or take a class and be done with it.

Rasmussen and Sieck found that cross-cultural experts deliberately seek out the experiences and relationships that will advance their cultural understanding rather than remaining fixed in their own narrow experience.

They were also sensitive to the limits and biases of their guides. Hence, they'd consult and check a variety of sources such as web sites, books (even fiction), local informants, and colleagues to get a full understanding of the range of views within a culture.

Cultural learning does not only take place in preparation for an interaction, it continues afterward as well. The professionals would often seek feedback from natives of their host country after an experience to find out what they got wrong and what they could do better in the future.

Cultural Reasoning

Cultural reasoning helps you make sense of cultural behaviors that initially seem odd. Like a scientist with an unexpected result, treat puzzling behaviors as opportunities to deepen your understanding of the culture. Dig in and figure out why they do what they do.

If you're walking into a situation completely fresh, with no context to draw from, all is not lost. Taking a moment to reflect on the 'why' likely leads you to discover a few possible alternatives.

Maybe she was trying to get a read on your personal values to gauge how we'll you'll work together. Or, maybe he was trying to get a rise out of you, to get a sense of how well you manage conflict.

It may not be possible to figure out a person's real motivation is in the moment. But, with practice, you'll find that you can regularly take the point of view of diverse people you're working with. You can more readily consider their beliefs and desires in the moment and use that perspective to work together more effectively.

Once you discover people's beliefs and motives, you're in a better position to spot the differences that cause misunderstandings and conflict. And, you have your hands on the levers to influence their perceptions and decisions if you need to.

Intercultural Interaction

Showing you've taken the time to learn a custom or bit of language goes a long way to build rapport with someone from a different culture. Yet, it's natural to feel awkward and uncertain, or even silly, and so avoid giving it a try.

Fortunately, there is a natural tendency for people to positively respond to someone's attempts to address language and cultural norms, regardless of their performance level.

For example, using a customary greeting in a person's native tongue will be seen positively even if it hits the limit of your language skills.

The connection begins in the attempt. Mastery happens over time.

One trick the seasoned professionals use is to plan their critical intercultural communications in advance. This goes beyond rehearsing that greeting to getting your nuanced talking points down before a difficult negotiation.

No matter how much you've planned, sometimes interactions go poorly. People from other cultures sometimes want fundamentally different things than you. And, as is the case within any group of people, sometimes they really are just rude.

Cross-cultural experts draw on deep reserves of discipline to face these situations. They manage their reactions and the impression they make, which often earns them greater respect in the process.

How to cultivate cultural competence within your team or organization

You might be able to influence the cultural competence of others within your team or organization. Here are four ways you can get started:

Make cultural competence part of your team or organization's narrative

To do that, include cultural competence in your policies, mission or vision statements, project plans, and other resources or documents that define your expectations for your people.

Be sure to get buy-in from key stakeholders and influencers within your team or organization. They are the ones who will take your vision from paper and to practice.

Recognize and reward instances of cultural competence. Even if it's just with positive attention.

Deliberately foster dialogue with and between teammates or subordinates around cultural issues

To get the conversation started, you can share this article. You might organize discussions of cultural issues or experiences around the following activities:

Get people to report on cultural surprises that occur within the context of your work.

Discuss them as a group.

Try to take the cultural other's perspective.

Come up with some alternative hypotheses about the beliefs and motivations behind the behaviors.

Locate cultural mentors inside or outside your team or organization and ask them questions.

Compare their answers.

Discussions like this can help you set or define a positive vision. Seeing examples of outcomes of handling intercultural interactions wisely will motivate your people to improve their cultural competence.

Provide cultural competence instruction and other professional development

Incorporating a cross-cultural training program can be a reasonable option, if it's done well. Do you have someone who develops or delivers cultural competence or diversity instruction within your team or organization? Or, are you evaluating existing options on the market?

In either case, be sure the folks who develop the content you use:

Understand what cultural competence is.

Promote the specific cultural skills and knowledge that are important for your people to learn.

Give examples of how cultural competence will change and improve the ways your people do their jobs.

When you talk to instruction developers or vendors, you can use the competencies in this article as a starting point for describing the positive behaviors you expect within your team or organization.

Set realistic objectives for the change you want to see.

It's important to keep in mind that developing cultural competence is not a one-shot enterprise. It takes time and practice. No single book, article, workshop, course, or even immersion is going to get the job done.

Use the information in this article to define a specific and realistic vision for the changes you want to see within your team or organization. And, make a plan for how you will sustain and advance your people's cultural competence.

How to avoid pandering and related pitfalls

When you engage with people from other cultures, it can be tempting to think that you can't be yourself. You might even feel that you need to pretend to be someone who's willing to go along with pretty much anything.

The thing is, people in other cultures are people too. They have likes and dislikes just like you. And, they can sense when you're not being real.

Similarly, studying up on other expressions, customs, and interests is great. But it's important to think carefully about how you use that information.

Picking up others' gestures or attire can sometimes seem like mocking or intruding on another's identity.

There's a fine line between paying respect and pandering. You have to read reactions and adapt to circumstances. Going overboard showing respect can sometimes cause you to lose it.

Instead, be yourself. If you're genuine, people pick up on that and appreciate it.

Regardless of your industry or the type of workplace in which you are employed, cultural competence plays an important role in your daily environment. As a leader or a part of team, recognizing and dealing cultural differences will create a more productive workplace as well as a happier setting for everyone who is there. In today's modern world, cultural competence is a necessity for everyone.

Image Credit: rawpixel

References

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Cultural Competence: What, Why, and How - Global Cognition

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Cultural competence means you can work effectively with people from diverse backgrounds. It comprises mindset, learning, reasoning, and interaction skills.

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Arkansas Open Educational Resources (OER)

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Bias Isn't Just A Police Problem, It's A Preschool Problem | Let's Talk | NPR

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A friend of mine recently told me about an incident involving students at Berkeley High School. On the first day of classes, African-American juniors and seniors were being asked by their honors course teacher to show him their schedule when they entered the classroom. The teacher, who was white, apparently assumed the black students were lost and in the wrong room, and his gesture made them feel unwelcome and humiliated.

This is an example of implicit bias-a behavior that arises from subconscious associations, which may even contradict someone's explicit values. Implicit racial bias plays a role in many classrooms and schools with potentially devastating effects. In one recent experiment with preschool teachers, researchers found that when teachers were primed to look for behavioral problems while watching a classroom video with black and white children (none of whom were misbehaving), teachers gazed much longer at black children than white children, as if anticipating the behavioral problems would come from the black children.

In another experiment from the same study, teachers read a vignette about a behavioral problem with a preschooler randomly identified as a black boy, black girl, white boy, or white girl, and then were given details about the child's background or not. Providing the background information on the child increased the severity of suggested disciplinary actions when the race of the teacher didn't match that of the child, supporting the idea that we are more inclined to punish those who look different from us.

In fact, disciplinary actions are more likely to be perpetuated against African Americans-boys and girls alike-than any other group of students, regardless of the infraction. And while it's understandable that teachers would want to prevent disruptions in the classrooms and take actions to avoid them, some seem to have little idea of how to do that without turning to ingrained biases.

Of course, teachers are not alone in having racial biases. Their behavior reflects how social messages are hard to escape, even for people of color. But studies like these show how racial disparities can be perpetuated in classrooms, too. If left unchecked, this kind of biased treatment can haunt a student well into elementary school and beyond, making the promise of "schools as the great social equalizers" a false one.

The good news is that teachers can learn to combat their prejudice, even the implicit kind, if they become more aware of it and take steps to actively fight it in themselves. Here are some of the ways that might help educators treat all of their students with dignity and care.

1. Cultivate awareness of their biases

Teachers are human and therefore influenced by psychological biases, like the fundamental attribution error, when we assume that others who behave in a certain way do so because of their character (a fixed trait) rather than in response to environmental circumstances. In-group bias leads us to assign positive characteristics and motivations to people who are similar to us.

Biases like these are natural, used as cognitive shorthand for making quick social judgments in ambiguous situations, especially those involving people from unfamiliar ethnic or social groups. They become a problem when we're not aware of their impact on other people. And if we're part of a majority group with more social, economic, or political power than a minority one, then accumulated unconscious bias can be extremely destructive, limiting the life opportunities and hurting the well-being of the minority group.

Many researchers believe that becoming more aware of our biases can help us improve our interactions with others, decrease our sense of unease in interracial contexts, and make better decisions. Though most of this research has been done with other professional groups or the general public, the same lessons are likely to apply to teachers.

However, many teachers feel pressures not to cop to those biases, perhaps out of fear they will be accused of racism. This leaves them blind to the ways that biases work at an unconscious level. Pretending to be colorblind is not helpful and in fact adhering to a color-blind philosophy has been shown to increase implicit bias, at least in college students. Admitting that we are all subject to biases creates a safer space to examine them more carefully and to take steps to fight them.

2. Work to increase empathy and empathic communication

Empathy -the ability to understand another's perspective and emotions-is important in all human social encounters, including teaching. Yet, often teachers have little understanding of the communities where their students live and have trouble understanding their perspectives, leading them to treat these students more harshly.

One solution: learning about the lives of students and showing that you care. At least one study has found that actively trying to take the perspective of another person-as opposed to trying to be "objective"-increased one's ability to not fall prey to stereotypical views of others. Actively inducing empathy for another person has been tied to a willingness to consider environmental circumstances more closely when handing out punishments for misbehavior. And, one recent study has found that training teachers in empathy cut down student suspension rates in half.

Though perhaps more research has been done on empathy in other professionals (such as physicians and police officers), teachers may want to take note of the ways that they have learned to increase their empathy through a combination of stress reduction, learning how to manage difficult emotions, and practicing empathic communication. Treating students with kindness and consideration is a sure way to bring out kindness in them, too.

3. Practice mindfulness and loving-kindness

Mindfulness practices-such as paying attention in a nonjudgmental way to one's breath or other sensations-has been shown to decrease stress in teachers, which can indirectly have an effect on reducing bias. But according to some research, mindfulness may also have a direct effect on bias reduction as well.

In one study, young white participants who listened to a 10-minute audiotape with instructions in mindfulness showed less implicit bias towards blacks and older people than those who listened to a 10-minute discussion of nature. This suggests that nonjudgmental awareness, even when not specifically focused on reducing prejudice, can help reduce unconscious biases.

Loving-kindness meditation-a practice that involves consciously sending out compassionate thoughts toward others-may also help. In a recent study, the random assignment of a short-term loving-kindness meditation reduced implicit bias toward a targeted group, though it didn't decrease implicit bias for other groups not targeted by the meditation.

4. Develop cross-group friendships in their own lives

While it's important to take steps in the classroom, the relationships we form outside of the classroom can also have an impact on bias.

Cross-group friendships have been shown in several studies to decrease stress in intergroup situations, to decrease prejudice toward outgroup members, and to decrease one's preference for social hierarchy or domination over lower-status groups. These findings alone might encourage teachers to seek out cross-group friendships in their lives so that they can be more receptive to the diverse students they find in their classrooms.

Another reason for teachers to consider developing cross-group friendships is that they may influence their students to do the same. When people see cross-group friendships working out in positive ways, they tend to be more willing to engage in cross-group friendships themselves.

In addition, positive cross-group friendships can have contagion effects in other people within social groups, turning whole communities into warmer, more receptive spaces for cross-group interactions. All of this bodes well for teachers role-modeling the kind of behavior they want to see in their students.

Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean teachers should indiscriminately approach someone just because they are from a different racial group. Instead, teachers can reach out to colleagues at work, or get involved in activities or perhaps attend events where people with different backgrounds and perspectives come together for a common cause. Developing friendships can be one of the best ways to break down barriers of prejudice, and it's more easily done when people have some common interests.

Is this a lot to ask, given all the burdens our society heaps on teachers? Perhaps. Teachers should get more support than they do, and, ideally, school districts should make reducing implicit bias a priority backed up with money, policy, and training. Individual teachers can only do so much.

Luckily, the teaching profession tends to attract altruists who want to teach in a way that helps their students. By working at countering implicit bias in themselves, they can truly make a difference in the lives of their students, making them feel safe, cared for, and welcome in the classroom.

Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?

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Four Ways Teachers Can Reduce Implicit Bias

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We're all subject to bias. Here are tips to help teachers treat all of their students with dignity and care.

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Mitigating Bias in Education | Kirwan Institute

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Studies from 2018-2020 did not simply continue to confirm the last ten or more years of evidence, supporting a direct link between implicit racial bias and educational policies and outcomes. Many studies also proposed and/or tested mitigation strategies, which has led to a crucial debate: Should the focus be on fixing the implicit bias held by students and teachers through awareness training, or should efforts be concentrated at the policy level? Girvan and colleagues (2017) found evidence for the former, showing that when explicit guidelines are provided, individuals are more likely to make equitable decisions. However, just making each individual accountable for their biased decisions isn’t enough. Anyon and colleagues (2018) argued for the necessity of examining specific school settings as a more systemic factor that creates discrepancies in discipline. Their study showed that it is the classroom environment itself that contributes most substantially to the disciplinary disparity among students of color. Furthermore, Tate and Page (2018) raised critiques about individual level implicit bias training. They argued that we must recognize that biases are often interlinked with broader institutional and systemic structures, emphasizing the unconscious nature of implicit bias may downplay the role of White supremacy in maintaining racism. Arlo Kempf (2020) also pointed out that the implicit bias perspective may provide a corporate-friendly lens for understanding racism at the individual level, but it is not enough for disrupting racism at the institutional and structural levels. He called for the use of critical race theory and critical pedagogy as tools to deepen implicit bias intervention approaches.