2. Project Content
Research Data Analysis Portfolio Piece A:
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and Borderline Personality Disorder
Critical Thinking Portfolio Piece B:
Date Rape as a Societal Problem
Cultural Competency Portfolio Piece C:
The Debate over Headscarves: System Justification or Protection?
Ethical Assignment Portfolio Piece D:
Lost In Translation –Cultural Views on Plagiarism
Individual Portfolio Career Piece E:
Professional Goals and Career Plans
3. Introduction
*History, Major Concepts, Theories and Research
in Psychology
*Critical Thinking
*Cultural Diversity
*Ethical Issues from a Psychological Perspective
*Psychology's impact on society.
*Professional and Personal Development
4. Research Data Analysis Portfolio Piece A:
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and
Borderline Personality Disorder
Quality Research is:
• Generalizable
• Able to be Replicated
• Tied to Logical Rationale and Theory
• Generates New Questions
• Done for the benefit of society
(Salkind, 2012, p. 3)
Psychological Research Can Be
• Experimental or Non-Experimental
• Quantitative or Qualitative
• Directly and Indirectly Observed
Quantitative Research Data
Structured and Measurable
Assessments which are validated
Qualitative Research Data
Open-Ended
Hard to Measure Data with Numbers
5. *2-year randomized trial using 2 types of
therapy
*dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
*community treatment by experts (CTBE)
*Female BPD Participants
*Co-occurring Axis I mental health disorders
*Two or more suicide attempts
*Quantitative Data Collected
*Four Assessment Measures used
* Research Data Analysis Portfolio Piece A: Dialectical
Behavioral Therapy and Borderline Personality Disorder
*The Study
6. *DBT
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Treatment
for Borderline Personality Disorder
*Form of therapy which combines both Western
beliefs of Behavioral Therapy and Eastern beliefs of
mindfulness and acceptance
*Therapy focuses on emotional regulation
*Found to be effective form of therapy, first with
Borderline Personality Disorder clients who had
chronic suicidal ideation, later with clients with
PTSD, Eating Disorders, and other Mood Disorders
7. *What is Borderline
Personality Disorder?
*Emotional Dysregulation
*Experience intense emotions
*Fear of abandonment
*Extremes of idealization and
devaluation
*Often have co-occurring Axis
I mental health disorders
such as substance abuse,
depression, anxiety and
eating disorders
* Research Data Analysis Portfolio Piece A: Dialectical
Behavioral Therapy and Borderline Personality Disorder
*Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
8. *Data suggests DBT is an effective form of treatment
*DBT patients slightly more likely to recover from co-
occurring disorder
*DBT had a slight advantage over CTBE treatment for BPD participants with
major depressive disorder (MDD) and anxiety disorders (other than PTSD)
*DBT patients were considerably more likely to recover from substance abuse
disorders
* Important to note that BPD patients with SDD have increased risk of completed
suicide
* Research Data Analysis Portfolio Piece A: Dialectical
Behavioral Therapy and Borderline Personality Disorder
*Summary of Data
9. *Demographics and rates of Axis I diagnoses were equal in both
groups, lending to validity of study
*DBT patients were more likely to recover from substance abuse
disorders
* Research Data Analysis Portfolio Piece A: Dialectical
Behavioral Therapy and Borderline Personality Disorder
*Interpreting Data and Analyzing the
Results
*DBT patients spent longer periods in
partial remission
*Overall remission rate for DBT patients
was quite high
*DBT appears to be an effective
treatment for co-occurring BPD and
Axis I mental health disorders
10. * Research Data Analysis Portfolio Piece A: Dialectical
Behavioral Therapy and Borderline Personality Disorder
*Implications of the Study
*DBT is only slightly more effective at treating some co-occurring
Axis-I disorders in BPD patients
*DBT is 2.5 times more effective for treatment of women who have
been diagnosed with BPD and SDD
*DBT directly targets substance use through self-monitoring, self-
analysis of behaviors, and problem-solving strategies
*The rate of recovery from substance
disorders leads to a conjecture that DBT
will result in less self-harming behaviors in
people with BPD who also have SDD
11. *Chief drawbacks of study
*Lack of sample size
*Only two possible outcomes
*Participants were only women
*Measures used were similar and
structured-interview style,
rather than objective in nature
* Research Data Analysis Portfolio Piece A: Dialectical
Behavioral Therapy and Borderline Personality Disorder
*Critique of Methods, Suggestions and
Summary
*Chief drawbacks of DBT
*Clients often do not move on to the
second stage of DBT therapy in order to
avoid working on the trauma in their
history
*Patients with BPD tend to stay in
treatment until able to control life-
threatening behavior then drop out
when it comes time to treat their life
traumas
*Suggestions
*Larger samples with men and women
subjects
*Additional forms of therapy in study
*Clinically validated measures to
quantify data
12. *Critical Thinking is a Skillful Process
Utilizing Information Gathered by
*Observation
*Experience
*Reflection
*Reasoning
*Communication
*Then using the information for
*Conceptualization
*Application
*Analysis
*Synthesis
*To Guide Belief and Action
*Critical Thinking Portfolio Piece B:
Date Rape: A Societal Problem
13. *Historical Facts about Rape
*Married woman couldn’t claim rape
*Acquaintance Rape Discounted until late in 20th century
*College-age women are prime targets
*35% of attempted rapes and 13% of actual rapes occur on a date
*80% of sexual assaults are committed by someone the victim knows
* Critical Thinking Portfolio Piece B:
Date Rape: A Societal Problem
*Introduction
*The Good News
*Society is more aware now about
Acquaintance Rape
*Overall rate of sexual assault has gone
down significantly in the past 20 years
14. *Why Such a Private Issue is a Societal Problem
* The numbers of college-age women who are raped indicate a societal
problem (6.1 per 1,000 for students and 7.6 for non-students)
*Acquaintance rape was less likely to be viewed as factual as late as the 1990’s
*Circumstances around the issue are problematic for enough women as to
garner community support
* Critical Thinking Portfolio Piece B:
Date Rape: A Societal Problem
*The Societal Issue
*Feminist Movement Can Take Credit
*It was not until the feminist movement of the late
20th Century that date and acquaintance rape
began to be seen as a societal issue
*Feminist movement challenged the narrow
definitions of rape
15. *Gender Role Theory Influences this Issue
*Women were seen as property, so rape was an
affront to husband/father
*Men are seen as aggressive, powerful
*Women are seen as dependent, compliant
*Both men and women with traditional gender role
beliefs tend to discount the victim
*Men are socialized to feel that it is expected for
them to pressure women for sex
*Women are socialized to believe that it is
unacceptable for them to be sexually aggressive
*Traditional gender role beliefs expect initial
resistance by a woman irrespective of her actual
intentions to participate in a sexual act
* Critical Thinking Portfolio Piece B:
Date Rape: A Societal Problem
*Gender Role Theory
16. *Male Entitlement Is a Part of the Issue
*The effect of gender role socialization
*Patriarchal society beliefs of men’s power over
women
*Believes that women’s role is to gratify men’s
needs
*Believes men have a right to sexualize any woman
* Critical Thinking Portfolio Piece B:
Date Rape: A Societal Problem
*Male Entitlement
17. *Increase Awareness of Faulty Social
Scripts
*Teach awareness that sexual assault does not have to
be violent
*Teach awareness that sexual assault can and does
occur between those with some sort of prior
acquaintance/relationship
*Underlying attitudes of male entitlement must be
challenged, including those which are more overt
(e.g., rape), to those more subtle (e.g., body
language)
* Critical Thinking Portfolio Piece B:
Date Rape: A Societal Problem
*Potential Solutions
18. *Cultural Competence is
The capability to connect successfully with people from a
wide range of groups and backgrounds, regardless of:
*Cultural Competency Portfolio Piece C:
*The Debate over Headscarves: System
Justification or Protection?
*Race
*Ethnicity
*Language
*Class/socioeconomic
status
*Sexual orientation
*Religious/spiritual
Affiliation
*Age
*Gender
*Disability
*Education
19. *Debates Centered Around
* Safety concerns
* Separates women from society
* Secularism
* Human freedoms
* Personal or religious rights
*The Burka (or burqua)
*Covers the wearer’s face completely, with a
mesh area around the eyes to see through
* The Niqab
*Headscarf worn with a veil over the face below
the eyes. Only the portion of the face around
the eyes is open
* Cultural Competency Portfolio Piece C: The Debate over
Headscarves: System Justification or Protection?
*The Issues Involved
20. *System Justification Theory
*People are motivated to protect a group they identify with, and rationalize the
status quo
*Even when it may be detrimental or prejudicial to specific groups of people.
*People engage in system-justifying processes when there is
*A perceived threat to the in-group or system
*Dependence on a particular system
*System inescapability
*Low personal control
* Cultural Competency Portfolio Piece C: The Debate over
Headscarves: System Justification or Protection?
*System Justification Theory
21. *Threats to security
*Religion and education should be
separate
*Religion and government should be
separate
*Threats to the independence of female
Muslims
*The wearing of burkas makes Muslim
women stand out as separate from
society
* Cultural Competency Portfolio Piece C: The Debate over
Headscarves: System Justification or Protection?
*Differing Perspectives –
*The French Perspective
22. *Muslim People Feel Attacking the
burka = An Attack on Islam
*Muslim women feel that showing
a their hair and face feels too
exposed
*Muslims feel they have a right to
religious expression
* Broad overlap between cultural
and religious connotations of
Muslim head scarves
* Cultural Competency Portfolio Piece C: The Debate over
Headscarves: System Justification or Protection?
*The Muslim Side of the Issue
Many Muslim
Women do not
feel oppressed by
wearing a burka
23. *Education about cultural beliefs
*Awareness of “blind spots”
*Sensitivity on both sides of the issue
*Find solutions which directly address
legitimate concerns
*i.e.: Obtain facial recognition upon entry
to government buildings
* Cultural Competency Portfolio Piece C: The Debate over
Headscarves: System Justification or Protection?
*Competencies Necessary for Finding a
Solution in a Culturally Diverse
Environment
*Honor traditions
and history of
each culture
24. *Seek solutions from a group
comprised of people from
both sides of the issue
*Find ways to build
understanding and inclusion of
Muslims in society
*Use rational reasoning to
address real issues
*Weapons and terrorism occur most
often where no burka is present
* Cultural Competency Portfolio Piece C: The Debate over
Headscarves: System Justification or Protection?
*Best Practices for Resolving or
Improving the Cultural Dilemma
*Address the real issues
*Security risks
*Possible oppression of women
25. *Awareness of and Sensitivity to
Other Cultural Views
*Awareness of any “hidden”
cultural bias
*Understanding that there may be
“blind spots” which the
professional is unaware of
* Cultural Competency Portfolio Piece C: The Debate over
Headscarves: System Justification or Protection?
*Reflections Regarding Attitudes and
Future Professional Behaviors
26. *Ethical Challenges
common for those in
mental health field
*Seeking alternative views
from colleagues brings
well-rounded ideas
*Ethical Assignment Portfolio Piece D:
*Lost In Translation –
Cultural Views on Plagiarism
*(Group Project)
27. *International Student Turns in First Paper in American
University Classroom
*Paper is filled with plagiarism
*University has Strict Policies around Plagiarism
* Ethical Assignment Portfolio Piece D: Lost In Translation –
Cultural Views on Plagiarism
*Summary of Ethical Issue
*Student claims her
culture doesn’t view
plagiarism in same way
*Professor is aware that a
failing grade will be
unrecoverable for
student
28. *Many possible alternatives, including failing the student
*The professor could teach this international student some
valuable lessons on academic integrity in American
classrooms
* Ethical Assignment Portfolio Piece D: Lost In Translation –
Cultural Views on Plagiarism
*Alternatives for Resolving the
Dilemma
*He could also recognize that
other students may be well-
served by a discussion about
plagiarism
29. *There are many cultural differences in
definitions of plagiarism
*Even among American educational
institutions, definitions can be unclear
* Ethical Assignment Portfolio Piece D: Lost In Translation –
Cultural Views on Plagiarism
*Explanations and Supporting
Arguments
30. *American students are raised with cultural values which focus on
individualism
*Many other cultures value collectivism, i.e.:
*Many of the statements in the Qur’an are given without attribution to
the original speaker, because the passing on of wisdom is not
something to be attributed to one man
* Ethical Assignment Portfolio Piece D: Lost In Translation –
Cultural Views on Plagiarism
*Psychological Principles and Concepts
Underlying the Situation
31. *Cultural beliefs could very well
contribute to a
misunderstanding
*The Professor Could:
*Make a one-time exception and allow
student to add in citations, making no
other changes
*Discuss the topic of plagiarism one-on-
one
*The professor could make sure to have
classroom discussions regarding
plagiarism with each new class
* Ethical Assignment Portfolio Piece D: Lost In Translation –
Cultural Views on Plagiarism
*Summary and Conclusion
32. *Long Path toward one goal completed
*Recognition of newfound skills and some abilities I’ve had all along
*Awareness that I made the right decision to go back to school
*Recognition that I am on the right path for myself
*Individual Portfolio Career Piece E:
*Professional Goals and Career Plans
33. *Professional Philosophy, Goals
and Career Plans
*My skills are well-suited to the
caring professions
*Plans for Master’s Degree in
Marriage and Family Therapy
*Plans for becoming licensed in
Marriage and Family Therapy
*Hopes to work art/creativity into
my practice at some point
* Individual Portfolio Career Piece E:
* Professional Goals and Career Plans
*Self-assessment and Self-inventory
Exercises
36. *People–person
*Able to make
connections easily
*Empathetic
*Good listener
*Non-judgmental
*Leader
* Individual Portfolio Career Piece E:
* Professional Goals and Career Plans
*Self-Analysis
37. *How my motivation and
attitudes will help me
overcome obstacles to reach
my goals
*What it takes to be a good
therapist – How My Values
Relate to Professional
Behaviors and Practices
* Individual Portfolio Career Piece E:
* Professional Goals and Career Plans
*Motivation and Attitudes
38. Conclusion
*I feel fortunate to have found myself in the
right educational setting, with the right
degree path for my skills and values
*My journey has been filled with many
amazing gems of knowledge gained,
including:
*Research Data Analysis
*Critical Thinking
*Cultural Competency
*Ethics
*Professional Goals and Career Plans
39. References
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Editor's Notes
Hello, my name is Christina Peterson and I will be graduating with highest honors from Capella University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. Thank you for this opportunity to meet with you.
This final body of work was created to illustrate the knowledge I have gained through my coursework in the Psychology program at Capella University. The information presented here will cover five broad topics which have all been important parts of my undergraduate education, including research, cultural competency, ethical reasoning, and finally my own plans for my future beyond my undergraduate degree. I endeavor to share my gained knowledge and skills in such a way that my understanding and competency is clearly shown.
My specific topics I chose for each of these areas of competency include such issues as Borderline Personality Disorder and how one particular form of treatment called Dialectical Behavioral Therapy can be a solution, how the issue of date rape can be seen as a societal problem, a debate over whether banning Muslim headscarves is culturally insensitive or a rational reaction to the issue of terrorism, and a cultural perspective on the issue of plagiarism. Once I have gone over each of these topics, I will share specific information about how the education and understanding I have gained through my undergraduate work has formed my present personal and professional objectives.
Through the course of this presentation, I hope that my comprehension and awareness of the many-varied areas of psychology will illustrate the positive educational experience I have had within my Undergraduate work.
The coursework I have completed as a part of my undergraduate work has of course covered the major concepts, theories, and history of psychology. While the historical part of my coursework is not directly addressed as one of the topics included in this presentation, having this education about the historical underpinnings of many of the major concepts and theories has aided me in gaining a deeper understanding which is demonstrated in my work. It also allowed me to more fully understand and analyze psychological research, which made my coursework more robust and less stressful.
The historical background aided me in grasping concepts and theories in such a way that later topics of cultural diversity, ethical issues, and psychology’s impact on society as a whole were more easily absorbed and understood on a deeper level. This in turn, has allowed me to develop my critical thinking skills and to be able to apply psychological concepts to everyday life. I have found that the knowledge I’ve gained has an impact on both my personal and professional life.
It is fitting that I will discuss my both my personal and professional goals for the future at the end of this presentation, as I feel that although this is the culmination of all my efforts over the past four years, it is also simply the end of one of the chapters of my life. I endeavor to make the next chapters be filled with as much development in my personal and professional life as my experience in my undergraduate work has been.
For my portfolio piece A, I discussed research and data analysis of a particular form of treatment therapy with a specific group of people who suffer from a mental health disorder. I was expected to read and analyze research data throughout many areas of my coursework, as so much of the information we have in the field of psychology has been gathered through psychological research.
Psychological research can be conducted in several different ways, by means of both non-experimental, and experimental research, gathering data through direct and indirect observation, case studies, surveys, interviews, assessments, and by utilizing parts of experimental design such as control groups, random selection, and both independent and dependent variables. Quantitative Research is used to make predictions and test hypothesis, while Qualitative Research helps us understand and interpret social interactions. Data collection for Quantitative Research is based on data which uses structured, reliable and validated data-collection instruments, while Qualitative data uses observations, interviews, and surveys with open-ended questions which cannot be measured (Johnson & Christensen, 2008, p. 34).
After selecting my topic for this piece, I narrowed down the many pieces of research I was able to find based on the quality of the research. I wanted to make sure that the information I included in my analysis of research data was as trustworthy and valid as possible, while still matching the topic of the use of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) with clients who have been identified as having Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The research needed to be tied to the rationale and theory I had chosen, while still being measurable and valid. I found data which included information which was likely to be replicated, as the same authors had conducted separate studies with similar results. I also sought studies which had data that is generalizable, and of course was done for the benefit of society.
The study evaluated the efficacy of two different treatments in reducing co-occurring Axis I mental health disorders. These disorders included “depressive disorder, substance use disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, and eating disorders” (Harned et al., 2008).
One hundred and one participants were selected for this study. All were females age 18 - 45 who had already been identified as meeting diagnostic standards for BPD with two or more reported suicide attempts.
Four assessment measures were used for quantitative data collection, comprised mainly of structured interview-type assessments. These included: the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Personality Disorders (SCID-II; First, Spitzer, Gibbon, & Williams, 1995b), the International Personality Disorders Examination (Loranger, 1995), The Treatment History Interview (Linehan & Heard, 1987), and the Longitudinal Interval Follow-Up Evaluation (LIFE; Keller et al., 1987).
The treatment I chose to focus on for my research analysis is called Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which is a particular style of cognitive-behavioral psycho-therapy which was established in the 1980s by Marsha M. Linehan, designed to address the symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD). This form of therapy helps clients learn to regulate their emotions so that they are better able to cope with emotions as they arise, which in turn helps the BPD client be more successful in relationships and other social situations, and to avoid getting so caught up in emotion as to inflict self-harm.
Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) was found to be two and a half times better for treatment of people who have been diagnosed as having both borderline personality disorder and substance abuse issues. There are several aspects of DBT which may contribute to this significant difference in the rate of recovery for individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD). DBT was proven to directly target substance use by encouraging clients to monitor themselves, analyze their behaviors, and learn problem-solving strategies. Community treatment by experts (CTBE) addresses substance use indirectly through examinations of other, unrelated problems. People suffering from BPD who also struggle with substance abuse issues are more likely to engage in suicidal or other self-injurious behaviors. The improved rate of recovery from substance disorders infers that DBT will lead to less suicidal and self-injurious behavior in people with BPD who also are identified as being substance-dependent.
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized as a mental health disorder with patterns of unbalanced or tempestuous emotions. Individuals with this disorder experience their emotions intensely and their personal inner turbulence often brings negative consequences and chaotic relationships with other people due to the individual’s impetuous actions and irrational behaviors.
Individuals with BPD often have difficulty with treatment, as these individuals not only struggle with emotional regulation, with “frequent displays of temper [and] constant anger” (DSM-IV, 2000) but also have intense fears of abandonment and typically “alternate between extremes of idealization and devaluation” (DSM-IV, 2000) with interpersonal relationships.
BPD patients often have co-occurring Axis I mental health disorders, including but not limited to depression, anxiety, low impulse-control, eating disorders and substance abuse. Those who have co-occurring substance abuse disorders (SDD) have an increased risk of completed suicide.
Overall, the study found that DBT patients were approximately 7% more likely than the CTBE patients to achieve a complete recovery from at least one disorder studied (Axis I). The overall remission rate of co-occurring Axis I disorders for BPD patients of 74% is quite high, especially given the severity of BPD co-occurring disorders, the data from this study suggests that DBT is effective in the treatment of patients who have both Axis I disorders and BPD.
The DBT and CTBE patients were not considerably different for either relapsing of Axis I disorders or full remission with the exception of substance abuse disorders (SDD), which showed that “DBT patients were significantly more likely to achieve full remission from SDD than were CTBE patients” (Harned et al., 2008). This information is important, as the authors point out that BPD patients who have co-occurring SDD have an increased risk of completed suicide. This statistical information lends itself to the conclusion found by the authors that the positive impact of DBT goes further than general non-behavioral expert therapy in reducing suicide attempts and self-injurious behavior.
The study also indicated that although the reduction of anxiety disorders, eating disorders, or major depressive disorder did not significantly differ in DBT and CTBE, DBT did have a slight advantage over CTBE treatment for BPD participants with major depressive disorder (MDD) and anxiety disorders (other than PTSD), with an approximately 8% greater chance of full remission for MDD and 4% greater chance of full remission for other anxiety disorders (non-PTSD).
The authors of the study I focused on for this topic were careful to consider both the demographics and the rates of Axis I diagnoses to ensure that both the DBT and CTBE groups of subjects were not significantly different prior to treatment. This is important, as it lends to the overall validity of the study.
DBT patients in this study were considerably more likely for to attain full remission from substance abuse disorders (SDD) than CTBE patients were. Furthermore, the authors noted that DBT patients spent considerably longer periods of time in partial remission from substance dependence disorders and less time where there was no remission from SDD than CTBE patients did. This is important to note, as it was stated earlier that BPD patients with co-occurring SDD are more likely to follow through with suicidal behaviors and actually commit suicide.
Because this study found that DBT patients were at least slightly more likely than the CTBE patients to realize actual recovery from one co-occurring Axis I disorder or more, the data from this study illustrates that DBT shows promise as a treatment for any female BPD patient with co-occurring Axis I disorder, most especially if the co-occurring disorder is substance abuse.
Community-based therapy by experts was shown to be effective as well, however when examined as a whole, the overall remission rate of 74% for BPD patients with co-occurring Axis I disorders is quite high, especially given the severity of BPD co-occurring disorders. My interpretation of the data from this study is that there is a strong implication that DBT is effective in the treatment of patients who have both Axis I disorders and BPD.
Keeping in mind that the participants in this study were all women, the implications for the study relate only as treatment for females with BPD. The implications of this study show that dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) is two and a half times better for treatment for women who have been diagnosed as having both borderline personality disorder and substance abuse issues, which is an encouraging number.
The authors of this study believe that there are several aspects of DBT which may contribute to this significant difference in the rate of recovery for individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD). DBT was proven to directly target substance use by encouraging clients to monitor themselves, analyze their behaviors, and learn problem-solving strategies. Community treatment by experts (CTBE) addresses substance use indirectly through examinations of other, unrelated problems, which may attribute to the lower overall rate of recovery using this treatment.
People suffering from BPD who also struggle with substance abuse issues are more likely to engage in suicidal or other self-injurious behaviors. One of the more important implications of this study, therefore was that the improved rate of recovery from substance disorders infers that DBT will lead to less suicidal and self-injurious behavior in people with BPD who also are identified as being substance-dependent.
What I felt was the chief drawback of this study was a potential lack of strength to distinguish differences amongst the two treatment groups due to the relatively small sizes of subject samples for the particular Axis I disorders in this body of research, although following close behind that was the fact that the study could only bear dichotomous outcomes, which was also problematic. With only two types of possible outcomes, the study could only prove the efficacy of either DBT or CTBE. I felt that it was also noteworthy that the study only included females subjects, which for me raised the question as to whether the outcomes of the study would have been different if the study had included both women and men and whether men and women differ in their response to these forms of therapy.
In addition, despite the fact that the authors validated significant findings of the study using the LIFE with an ancillary measure of a similar conclusion, there is a likely risk of a "false positive". Although the measures used were validated with a secondary measure, there would be greater validity to the statistical measurement if, in addition to a measure which follows a structured interview style, the study used a clinically reliable, validated, objective personality assessment, such as the MCMI-III or MMPI-2 to validate the pre-treatment diagnosis of BPD, and a behavioral assessment such as the Beck Suicidal Ideation Scales, Beck Depression Scales, and Beck Anxiety Scales to validate measures during and after treatment.
I also found evidence in other bodies of work (Sweezy, 2011; Decker & Naugle, 2008), which also show that DBT is effective at helping individuals who suffer with substance abuse coupled with BPD and additional suicidal or self-injurious behavior to cease these detrimental behaviors and achieve “remission”. The authors of the study discussed herein did not elaborate as to whether the subjects in their study stayed in phase I of DBT or moved on to phase II. According to Decker & Naugle “treatment or even discussion of any past trauma does not occur until Stage II” (p. 57, 2008). The second phase of DBT is to go further into the individual’s personal history of traumatic events, and it is at this point that many people who have overcome their current life-threatening behaviors drop out of treatment. Clients often do not move on to the second stage of DBT therapy in order to avoid working on the trauma in their history, which is a root cause of their disorders. According to Sweezy, (2011) people who have been working in treatment for BPD tend to stay in treatment until they are able to control their life-threatening behavior but then drop out of treatment when it comes time to treat the traumatic emotional experiences that had precipitated the lack of ability to control behavior in the first place. When clients drop out of treatment at this point, “a return to habitual high-cost strategies that regulate negative affect is a risk” (Sweezy 2011). This suggests that although the findings of this study seem positive, there may be a backslide in substance abuse and/or suicidal/self-injurious behaviors when patients move past simply achieving remission of negative behavior patterns and begin working on the root cause(s) of their behavioral issues.
My suggestions for future research on this topic would be to have larger samples of subjects and clinically validated measurements in order to confirm these findings through replication of the results of the study I discussed here. I felt that it would also be important to include both males and females in future studies in order to determine if DBT or another form of therapy is more successful with men vs. women. I believe further research on different treatment instruments which could potentially reduce Axis I disorders among patients with BPD is also necessary. In conclusion, the findings of this study were interesting; however it seems to leave enough questions that it warrants a more extensive and inclusive study to determine how valid the results of the current study truly are.
This piece of work involved utilizing the critical thinking skills I had garnered through the course of my undergraduate work. Critical Thinking has been defined as the “intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action” (Defining Critical Thinking, 2013).
As I navigated the coursework for my undergraduate degree in psychology, I developed my skills in grasping and applying the concepts and theories of psychology in order to better analyze and, combine different information in such a way as to form a deeper understanding of psychology.
The societal issue I chose for my critical thinking piece was the issue of date rape. Although the problem of date rape and acquaintance rape is an issue which has been addressed more directly for the last 40 years or so, statistics still show that it is highly probable for the sexual assault victim to have had some previous relationship with the perpetrator.
I chose this topic already having a belief that society must address the issue from a different perspective, as it is clear that this issue is not going away. I also had an basic awareness of society’s underlying gender role beliefs, and how they must play some role in the issue of date rape.
Historically, rape was a term associated with forced sexual intercourse between strangers. This meant that a married woman could not claim rape, and that a woman who claimed to have been raped by a man she had had some form of relationship with (either past or present) was discounted as well. While our society has become more aware in the past 40 years about sexual violence, there are still many beliefs around date or acquaintance rape which contribute to the fact that this issue still looms large, especially on American college campuses. My work on this issue addressed the issue of date rape as a social issue, explored the psychological theories behind this problem, and proposed an action plan for possible future work toward remedying this problem.
My research on this problem found that the historical statistics on date rape indicate that college-age women are primary targets and that simply going on a date is dangerous for these young women. One study on the issue of rape which was conducted with students from American colleges reported that 35% of attempted acquaintance rapes, and 13% of acquaintance rapes, occurred while the student was on a date (Boskey, 2010).
While the good news is that the overall rate of sexual assault has gone down in the past 20 years by as much as 50% (National Crime and Victimization Survey, 2014), statistics from this same survey indicate that rape is a large problem for college-age women, with an alarming rate of rape and sexual assault for students, but even higher rate for nonstudents - 1.2 times higher than the already shocking number of college students who have been raped (Langton, 2014). More shocking still is the fact that, the perpetrator was someone the victim knew in about 80% of sexual assault victimizations and rape for both nonstudents and college students (Langton, 2014).
In evaluating the research on this issue, it became very clear that this is not just a female issue, nor just a college-campus issue. Keeping in mind the fact that the data reported shows that there is a 6.1 per 1,000 rate of rape and sexual assault for students and, a rate of 7.6 per 1,000 for nonstudents, this is definitely indicative of a large social problem.
It is shocking to realize that rape between people who have some form of relationship was not recognized as rape until fairly recently. “Acquaintance rape is less likely to be viewed as ‘real’ and is often treated less seriously by the general public, as well as by the criminal justice system” (Bachman & Paternoster, 1993; Estrich, 1987; Shotland & Goodstein, 1983, as cited by Black and McCloskey, 2013).
What was necessary for the issue to be seen as a societal problem was for more people to see this as a valid threat to a large part of the population. According to the constructionist perspective on social problems, circumstances around an issue need to be “convincingly constructed as problematic before they will be publicly recognized as harms” (Schneider 1985; Spector and Kitsuse 1977, as cited by Chasteen, 2001).
The feminist movement in the late twentieth century can take credit for a major role in helping society to recognize the harms of acquaintance and partner rape, by challenging those narrow definitions of rape. This resulted in a characterization which broadened to include acquaintance rape, date rape, and marital rape. This broader definition changed the way that society viewed rape, with an awareness of the truth that a great number of sexual attacks “are by acquaintances or someone else the woman knows, such as her date or boyfriend. These are not unknown assailants, but often men that women think they can trust” (Chasteen, 2001).
The most common theoretical approach regarding the issue of rape in general is found within cultural beliefs around gender roles. In the past, a woman was viewed much like a possession to the men in her life, which in turn meant that if a rape occurred, it was viewed more as an affront to her father or husband, than to the woman herself.
Traditional gender roles in society today are still all around us and our youth are bombarded with messages about what masculinity is (powerful, independent, aggressive) and what femininity is (gentle, caring, dependent). These messages in turn cause our young men to feel that they should behave in authoritarian ways, maintaining control in both professional and personal lives. In contrast, young women attach much self-worth to pleasing men, not realizing that this often comes at the price of objectifying themselves in order to gain male attention, or placing their needs aside in order to keep the relationship.
Those who hold more traditional beliefs in gender roles have a tendency to negate or discount victim claims of rape, holding an image of rape as one between strangers, with the victim both verbally and physically fighting back. In fact, there is research indicating “beliefs about men’s and women’s roles may be stronger predictors of rape perceptions than is gender” (Black and McCloskey, 2013). In other words, it is not just men who embrace traditional gender role views of rape; women who have a view which is more traditional regarding gender roles are much more likely to blame the victim and assign less harsh punishment to perpetrators (Ong and Ward, 1999, as cited by Black and McCloskey, 2013).
Traditional gender-role views are indeed more prevalent among men, making a gender bias for assigning responsibility to the perpetrators of rape prevalent, particularly where there is a relationship of some sort between the victim and offender (Angelone, Mitchell, & Lucente, 2012) however, one study found that “women with traditional gender role attitudes attributed less responsibility to the perpetrator than did women with liberal attitudes when the victim did not resist at all” (Black and McCloskey, 2013).
Gender role theory places women and men into specific roles, with men traditionally viewed as being more aggressive and assertive, and women being more sensitive and compliant. This theory asserts that men and women are differentially classified “as the primary origin of sex-differentiated social behavior, [and] their impact on behavior is mediated by psychological and social processes”(Eagley, 1997).
Men are socialized to feel that it is not only acceptable, but expected for them to pressure women for sex, while women are socialized to believe that it is unacceptable for women to be more sexually persuasive and/or aggressive (Hill & Fischer, 2001). Sexual scripts which follow traditional gender roles typically include initial (albeit nominal) resistance by a woman irrespective of her actual intentions to participate in a sexual act, while in contrast, men, are the seducers, instigating sexual activity and expecting sex early-on in relationships.
With gender role beliefs in mind, it is perhaps not surprising that when social beliefs about sexual encounters are examined, the typical “rape script” held by those with traditional gender role attitudes “involve violent stranger rapes that occur outdoors” (Littleton & Axsom, 2003; Littleton et al., 2009, as cited by Black and McCloskey, 2013). In actuality, however, acquaintance rape is not only the most common type of rape, it usually transpires indoors between people with some type of previous connection and involves lesser degrees of force and injury (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2006, as cited by Black and McCloskey).
Digging a bit deeper into the gender roles beliefs which contribute to our societal problems around rape, what I found in the articles I read was the issue of male entitlement. Academics studying the social problems of rape have proposed that male entitlement may be the effect of “gender role socialization and that it is a part of men's power over women in a patriarchal society” ( Funk, 1993; L. A. Gilbert, 1992; Kaschak, 1992; Pharr, 1988, as cited by Hill & Fischer, 2001).
The studies and research articles I read provided evidence to suggest that in our American patriarchal society, young men usually are taught that it is the role of women to gratify men's needs. Additionally, the young men within a patriarchal society feel that “a sense of entitlement to women … is extended to all men in a patriarchal society, who have the right to view and evaluate, to sexualize any woman who falls within the range of their sight” (Kaschak, 1992, p. 62, as cited by Hill & Fischer, 2001).
Even for men who initially believed that they did not hold beliefs which would contribute to rape, issues involving masculinity were likely predictors of men's sense of general and sexual entitlement, and “both general and sexual entitlement, in turn, predicted an array of rape-related attitudes and behaviors” (Hill and Fischer, 2001). This is a significant indicator that this issue is indeed societal in nature.
My research into this issue found that many Americans hold social scripts regarding what constitutes rape which continue to make it difficult for both men and women to recognize that a sexual assault does not have to involve violent rape by a stranger to still be a crime. It is imperative to recognize this potential problem in order for society to begin to see perpetration of date rape and its associated problems more fully, especially within the minds of possible future offenders (Bouffard and Bouffard, 2011).
Concentrating on behaviors and underlying attitudes does not seem to be going far enough, or producing long-term effects on the connection between the attitudes themselves and sexual aggression. According to some studies, programs on college campuses which focus on rape prevention have met with at least some temporary success in changing these attitudes” (e.g. Gidycz et al., 2001, Bouffard and Bouffard, 2011), however the long-term impact seems to thus far be somewhat elusive, as statistics show that rates of rape and sexual assault in 2013 were not considerably different from their corresponding rates in 1997 for both students and nonstudents ages 18 to 24 (Langton, 2014).
Along these same lines, there are theories which seem to suggest that, in order to successfully implement programs which prevent sexual assaults, “underlying attitudes of entitlement must be challenged … We [men] need to examine, man-to-man, why we think we should ‘get what we want when we want it,’ and why that is applied to other human beings” (Funk , 1993, p. 61 as cited by Hill and Fischer, 2001). What this means is that it is not simply the gender-role attitudes alone which must be addressed when facing the challenge of reducing incidents of date and acquaintance rape, but rather a underlying attitudes of entitlement must be challenged , from those which are more overt (e.g., rape), to those more subtle (e.g., body language) which media campaigns on high school and college campuses could address.
Through my work both in courses which were centered specifically around cultural issues, and as a part of the larger whole of my undergraduate work, I learned more about what it means to be culturally competent. While I myself had the opportunity to grow up in a home where such factors such as race, socioeconomic class, sexual orientation and religious affiliation were not an issue, I am fully aware that this sort of openness and acceptance of others does not come easily to everyone. Many people are raised in a family system where there is a sort of “us and them” mentality, which causes people to feel even more separate from anyone who is different from themselves. My education challenged me to dig deeper and recognize that although I felt very culturally competent, I also have some areas where I hold some “us and them” thought patterns.
Some of the more insidious thought patterns which contribute to difficulties in connecting with others of different groups/backgrounds have to do with psychological principles of in-group and out-group and our natural tendency to want to connect with the more acceptable group. Like many Americans, some of my own cultural disconnects are based on fear which arose after 9-11. In college, I had dated middle eastern men, but after the terrorist attacks I found myself having uneasy feelings around anyone who was from that culture. Although I had always prided myself as someone who did not judge others based on culture, I struggled to keep an open mind, to not generalize fears and judgments to people of the Muslim culture based on the actions of a small percentage of the culture.
That is why, although I was shocked at first to find that the French government had enacted laws banning the wearing of Muslim headscarves, I understood how fears and judgments based on one’s own narrow cultural view might cause such laws to be enacted. These laws were first enforced in government buildings including schools, however the laws were later generalized to encompass a ban on covering one’s face in all public spaces. It is not surprising that there has been much controversy, not only in France, but throughout Europe regarding this issue, as there are justifications which make valid points on both sides of the issue.
Many in French society argue that it is important to keep one’s religious beliefs private. Many Muslim women feel that they have a right to express their religion through wearing traditional headscarves if they choose to do so. While there are no cut-and-dry answers which completely address all the nuances both for-and –against wearing headscarves, the solutions to the issue of whether women should be allowed to wear garments of their choosing and practice their religion without fear of incrimination can only be found by examining the issue from a culturally sensitive perspective.
My focus for illustrating my knowledge and skills gained in cultural competence centered on a Time Magazine article entitled, “Should France Ban Head Scarves?”(Graff, 2004). While many people have genuine and logical concerns regarding the wearing of the burka or niqab in public spaces, this issue also brings forth fears for human freedoms and personal or religious rights to dress as one pleases. This issue has been hotly debated around Europe, particularly in the past decade, with other countries and European cities also enacting bans on headscarves which obscure the face.
The burka, which covers the wearer’s face completely, has a mesh area around the eyes to see through (see Appendix A), while the niqab is a headscarf worn with a veil over the face below the eyes, leaving only the portion of the face around the eyes open (see Appendix B). For those who oppose these Muslim headdresses, the issue is focused primarily around the idea that wearing a headscarf separates the women who wear them from the rest of society, symbolizing what the French see as the suppression of women in Muslim culture, as well as the possibility that wearing such face-covering clothing will further subjugate women by hindering a woman's capabilities of communication, and her integration within society. In French society, there are strongly held secular beliefs regarding the separation of religion and government institutions, and convictions that “secularism allows us [the French people] to build on the attributes that unite us, and not those that separate us, and to advance universal concerns while allowing beliefs to remain private and individual” (Graff, 2004, p. 2).
For those who wear these garments, the symbolism is much different of course, as most of the women who wear burkas or niqab do so for religious reasons. There are convincing reasons for wearing these headscarves covering a woman’s face, which are not related to religious freedoms as well, such as a woman's personal right to decide what garments she wears. A woman of European or American culture may see it as an affront to wear a veil covering her face, but a woman of Muslim culture may view it as a choice of preference, enjoying the barrier of the cloth over her face. Indeed, it could be argued that enacting laws which make it illegal to wear a burka or niqab violates a woman's independence to make her own personal decisions in the same way that obliging her to wear the burka or niqab does; in both circumstances, a woman’s right to express herself is controlled by someone else, infringing on her personal freedoms.
The psychological theory I chose to focus on underlying the issue of burkas being banned was System Justification Theory, which holds that people are motivated to protect a group they identify with, and rationalize the status quo, even in cases where it may be detrimental or prejudicial to specific groups of people. It has been proposed that people engage in system-justifying processes under specific circumstances including a threat to the in-group or system; dependence on a particular system; system inescapability, and low personal control (Kay and Friesen, 2011). This theory is just one of many I could have chosen to illustrate for this piece on cultural competency, however I felt that this theory held quite a bit of the rationales held by those who wished to ban the burka.
Some of the more compelling reasons behind the ban of burkas or niqabs have to do with threats to security. We live in an age where terrorism is prevalent and is not limited to the typical Middle-Eastern male Muslim, so it is not surprising that there is fear among Europeans and Americans when one not only cannot see another person’s face, but that person also is identified as Muslim. Recent news stories, such as the story of the burka-clad woman who stabbed an American teacher in Abu Dhabi and planted a bomb outside another American’s home (Marquardt, McGarry and Murray, 2014) add fuel to the already explosive tensions between those of the Muslim culture and European and American people. The burka and niqabs, therefore, represent the implication of a possible threat of terrorism due to the connection between the Muslim culture and terrorist acts in America and Europe. When someone is part of a group he or she identifies with, and that group is threatened, threats to that group in general elicit defensive reactions in people.
Enter the System Threat: because terrorism is connected to those of Muslim culture, and burkas or niqabs are also connected to the Muslim culture, a proposed ban by the government on burkas or niqabs would be more readily embraced via system-justifying processes.
As an example, people who were polled after the terrorist attacks of September 11 showed better public support for practically all system-level authorities, such as the police and the president (Kay and Friesen, 2011). There is a direct connection between the perceived criticism directed at both Americans and Europeans from Muslims and an especially potent feeling of threat to the American and European System(s), which Kay and Friesen (2011) say can be a cause for people to defend their system in subtle ways. As I mentioned on a previous slide, I myself did not feel any particular prejudice against people of Muslim faith prior to the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
Keeping this in mind, it is perhaps not too surprising that Westerners did not voice many objections to Muslim women wearing burkas or niqabs until recent history, in fact, this learner cannot find any prior to the time that this became an issue in France in 2004. Prior to the threat of terrorism, one simply didn’t hear about any possibility of banning a type of clothing symbolizing a specific culture. The fears over terrorism, as well as Western beliefs that Muslim women are subjugated and forced to wear burkas or other headscarves covering their faces, has caused these headscarves to hold a negative connotation for Europeans and also to many Americans.
In reading the Time article as well as several other news articles on this topic, I found that there were many, if not somewhat difficult to understand, reasons behind the French burka bans. These included but were not limited to perceived threats to the security of French citizens, the idea that religion and education and/or government should be separate, as well as the perceived threat to female Muslims independence. I suspect that I may have had some difficulty understanding the reasoning behind the French perspective because I do not share the same cultural perspective. While I do understand the stand from a fear-based perspective, I have a harder time understanding the issue from the ideas that I found which centered around the fact that a woman wearing a burka stood out and was therefore perceived as separate from society. This is perhaps due to the fact that I am American and we value independence and individuality.
All these reasons have resulted in the passing of laws banning burkas or niqabs in public spaces in France, and the politicians and voters feel quite justified in doing so. This is where prejudice also comes into question, as it is obvious from the laws passed regarding the wearing of Muslim headscarves, that the French government believes that they know better what a woman should want to wear than she herself does. According to Hunt, (2007) Prejudice is present when people of one group think of themselves as “better than other groups in order to maintain their self-esteem and positive self-image” (p. 499). This learner would argue that the law banning burkas and niqabs from all public spaces is based at best on stereotyping, and at worst on prejudice. That is not to say that the French government has enacted the law with malicious intentions, but rather based on what is most likely an unconscious and unintentional form of prejudice, based on views formed within the French ethnocentrism.
Because the goal of this piece was to examine a cultural issue from a competent perspective, it was important that I also look at and discuss the perspective of the culture which was being threatened or under scrutiny. If we look at the other side of the issue, we recognize that by the same token, Muslim people may perceive the passing of laws against the wearing of burkas and niqabs as a threat to their culture. The Time article references a quote by Sheik Ikrimah Sabri, in which he declared that the ban on headscarves such as the burka and niqab is in essence a declaration of war on Islam (Graff, 2004).
The ban on burkas and niqabs is no doubt viewed as a threat to the Muslim culture by many people within this group, as the law intimates that wearing such headgear amounts to a threat, either personally against the woman wearing it, or towards people around the woman wearing it. Defenders of the burka and niqab feel that legislation regarding a person’s attire is oppressive, illogical, filled with bias, and based on viscerally negative reactions, rather than concerns based on any legitimate basis (Bakht, 2014).
In order to find a solution which is sensitive to both the French culture and the Muslim culture, it would be important for all decision makers to make it a point to learn more about the Muslim culture, including the traditions and history, as well as the values and family relationships within the culture. After learning more about the Muslim culture, it would then be important to examine how these values and traditions may conflict with the values and traditions of the French culture, in order to become aware of potential “blind spots” and work toward finding solutions to cultural issues such as this which honor the cultures of both sides as much as is possible.
French businesses and governments may be uncomfortable with the idea that a woman is wearing a burka or niqab in fear that it separates her from the group, keeps her in a lower status, and holds the potential to cause fears, however enacting legislation prescribing what a person can or cannot wear also separates that person from the group of their culture, which goes against some of the main reasons for enacting the laws in the first place.
If it truly is about security issues, enact laws which govern the ability to obtain facial recognition prior to entering a government facility, afterward allowing the woman to resume wearing the headscarf if that is what she wants to do. If it is truly about the goal of enculturation, and a desire to have all people within a society behave in ways which are considered to be appropriate for the majority of that society, then that is a hair’s breadth away from prejudice. If enacting laws governing headwear are actually about a desire to shield Muslim females from oppression, the law can be seen as causing oppression itself, so that is a poor basis for enacting a law. Through education on the Muslim culture, coupled with awareness of any unconscious (or conscious) prejudices, especially in light of the current level of threat by Muslim terrorist groups, governments of Western societies can hope to find solutions which are more culturally sensitive.
Religious freedom does not mean that a person can infringe upon another’s rights based on his or her own religious convictions. It isn't unconditional and it should be restricted proportionately where there are genuine concerns about security. Wearing a headscarf to school, at a movie theater, or other public space does not represent an actual threat to society. If a woman (or man) wanted to hide weapons under a burka or niqab, it would not be difficult to conceal a weapon by other means. Rational thought tells one that the terrorists of 9-11 and countless other crimes were not women wearing burkas – they were also not men wearing burkas, disguised as women or otherwise.
Where there is a realistic, legal rationalization, such as passing through security gates at a government building or through airport security, this learner would support public institutions having the privilege to enact their own polices restricting any garment which covers face, however intruding into the educational systems and all public spaces seems a bit too harsh and over-controlling. Rather than making sweeping rules regarding wearing burkas or niqabs in any public space, the governing body could look for ways to include Muslim people in finding a solution to the problem. No doubt there will be many ideas and suggestions from people of the Muslim faith regarding allowances for circumstances under which the burka or niqab could be lifted to show the woman’s face.
In regards to the ideas of the burka or niqab causing women to be separated from society, or singled out in educational situations, or causing the female wearer to have feelings of being “less than” by being forced to wear the headscarf, perhaps it would be better to work toward inclusion of these females into French society. The Muslim girls in schools could share more with their classmates about why they wear a burka or niqab, or the educational system itself could provide education on this part of the Muslim culture, so as to bring people together, rather than singling them out further, by imposing restrictions on the freedom to wear what one chooses.
The examination of this article and social issue led me to examine more closely my own underlying prejudices and fears regarding Muslim people. Because the issue of Muslim terrorists looms large in our society, it does make sense that there would be some underlying fear around Muslim people, and this learner is not immune to that, despite the fact that twenty years ago, friendships with people of Muslim faith was a non-issue.
The problem with legitimate fears around terrorism is that these fears have impacted the way many people, including this learner perceives Muslim people now, leading to the sort of unfounded fear which, in turn could lead to an unconscious form of prejudice. This for me was personally surprising to find about myself. It is apparent that it will be important to continue to examine any underlying prejudices which unwittingly come from my own cultural frame of reference, so that I may work with potential clients and colleagues of diverse cultures, and to also be aware of and sensitive to the cultural views of others.
As a mental health professional, my work will no doubt bring ethical challenges from time to time, if not on a daily basis. I will also of course be required to work with colleagues on issues, which in terms of issues surrounding ethics is an especially good idea, as each team member can bring a fresh perspective to the problem. For this piece, I worked with a partner to discuss the problems, the issues surrounding the situation, and possible solutions for the issue at hand.
The matter our ethical piece focused on was a touchy one, in which ethics and cultural differences collided. Acts of plagiarism are all too common within academic writing, with some being deliberate acts and some being unwitting or uneducated acts, in which the writer is either unaware that he or she is committing plagiarism.
Plagiarism in American Universities is typically described as the “use of another person’s ideas, including another learner’s, without proper reference or citation” (Capella, 2014, p. 1). The international student claims that she did not realize what she was doing was plagiarism and that her culture is very tolerant of the use of another’s written work.
The issue addressed in this portion of my Capstone project concerns both cultural and ethical issues, as it involves an act of plagiarism by a University student from a different culture (Institute for Global Ethics, n.d.). This situation presented for consideration involved both the ethical considerations around plagiarism, as well as those involving different cultural views as to what the definition of what plagiarism is exactly.
The situation we find is one in which an international student has turned in her first paper in a class she is taking in an American college. The professor notices that the student’s paper is nearly completely plagiarized work, with no citations for the references listed on the back of her paper. The problem the professor faces is whether he should follow the strict policies set forth by the University and give the student a failing grade, or instead take a more compassionate route, by allowing the student’s cultural defense and instead direct her to re-write the paper.
Both my partner and I could see the issue from the ethical side of the university’s rules surrounding tolerance of any sort of plagiarism, and we could both find compassion for the international student who states that she was unaware that her writing involved plagiarism. On the one hand, we have clear policies set in place for the students at the university; on the other hand, we have a very real possibility that the student may have trouble grasping the concept of plagiarism from an American perspective. If one was not raised in our American culture, it could be difficult to fully understand the concept of plagiarism, let alone all the implied ruled around intellectual property, which Americans are keen to know at even an unconscious level.
It was clear to both my partner and myself that if the professor denies that the possibility exists that this student indeed had written her paper using her own cultural reference as a guide, he runs the risk of being culturally insensitive. While American Universities such as Capella typically outline standards on plagiarism and have policies in place to address instances of plagiarism, the student’s defense is a plausible one. He could allow the student to re-write her work, adding in proper citations as necessary, but making no further adjustments and grade the paper based on the current content, with proper citations.
On the other hand, if the professor allows the student to use her cultural perspective as an excuse for plagiarism, he may be sending a message that such flagrant violations of the university’s policies will be tolerated or ignored in favor of one student over another. He does not want to set a precedent for being the type of professor who allows one student to violate the rules for academic honesty, even if it is for a seemingly good reason. From this viewpoint, the professor has no choice but to fail her, providing her with clear reasons for why he has done so.
Like many ethical dilemmas, this scenario has many different possible courses of action which the professor could take, citing his ethical reasoning as justification for doing so. It is, however important to recognize that matters do not necessarily need to be seen as simply black or white, but rather from a perspective which takes into account valid evidence from both sides and provides a more neutral shade for an answer. The professor could make this into an opportunity to teach this international student, as well as the rest of the class, some valuable lessons on academic integrity in American classrooms. He would serve his student population as a whole well if he were to take some time to talk more about what constitutes plagiarism, and why proper citation is important to do correctly.
Taking the idea that all students may benefit from a discussion on plagiarism into consideration, this professor could start by sitting down one-on-one with this student to go over what he sees is lacking in this paper, give it back to her to correctly add in the citations and turn back in, within a short time frame. In doing so, he has acknowledged that there are cultural differences, while still stressing the importance of adhering to the academic policies of his institution.
My partner and I were in agreement that there is much supporting information regarding the differences between cultural definitions of plagiarism. Cultures which value individuality are more likely to hold that intellectual property must be cited when used. For example, it is expected that university learners in the Middle East and Asia are able to paraphrase or quote famous political or religious authorities of their culture, and do so without acknowledgement to the source, as it is expected that the reader, especially university professors, would already be cognizant as to which text has been referenced. “Indeed, it might be a serious insult to the teacher if the student writer formally cites the text being borrowed” (Moore, 1999, p. 1).
Professors from SUNY who were conducting a sociological study were surprised to find “how vague and open to interpretations institutional policies can be” (Trautner and Borland, 2013, p. 385). This means that although the professor in this scenario had felt that because the topic of plagiarism was covered in the syllabus, the policies may still be somewhat vague, and possibly difficult to understand, especially for a student from a different culture.
Supporting the argument that the professor in our story could take this as an opportunity for educating and creating awareness around his institution’s rules around plagiarism , the students in the SUNY study overwhelmingly found that they had new knowledge about academic honesty after taking part in class discussions about the topic, one student noting “’that there are many forms of academic integrity not just plagiarism’” (Trautner and Borland, 2013, p. 384).
There are many possible underlying causes for the act of plagiarism by the international student in the case study under consideration here. She may have, as she claims, unintentionally plagiarized due to her cultural norms for academic writing. There is evidence to support the idea that she did not intentionally violate her university’s honor codes, as some studies have shown that “student cheating is less prevalent in schools where there are academic honor codes that specify severe consequences for cheating” ( May & Loyd, 1993; McCabe & Trevino, 1993, as cited by Murdock, Miller and Kohlhardt, 2004). The facts that the university in this case has strong policies in place regarding plagiarism, and that the student should have been aware of them as they were included in her syllabus for the class, are both reasons to suspect that this was not a case of intentional plagiarism.
American students are raised with cultural values which focus on individualism and the rights of individuals, as well as a respect for the work of others. American students typically learn to clearly distinguish the ideas of other writers from their own before they even enter college, learning more about the proper methods for citation as they pursue their educational career. There are many other views around the world on the use of another’s written work, so although the student did go against the ethical codes on plagiarism for her American University, the views of her culture may indeed be quite different.
In other cultures, individualism is frowned upon, and individual autonomy is regarded much less favorably than it is in American culture. In individualist cultures, “judgment about what is right or wrong can be made only from the point of view of each individual” (Lustig and Koester, 2013, p. 108). By contrast, some collectivist cultures believe that the individual is dependent on the group as a whole, with decisions based more on benefits to the group, as the group is expected in turn to take care of the individual. Moten (2014) discusses how plagiarism is unacceptable in the Muslim academic world, although the perception of what it actually is may be slightly different. For example, he discusses the Qur’an and how many of the statements made in certain parts are given without attribution to the original speaker, which is deemed or thought of not as being plagiarism simply because the passing on of wisdom is not something to be attributed to one man; that value, or origin is something lost in time or lacking of importance. Furthermore, it current times the attitudes toward the act of plagiarism continue to appear to be thought of differently in this culture. Moten (2014) states, “A Ph.D. student submitted her assignment but could not present it orally. On insistence from the course instructor, she replied, ‘I must confess, the assignment . . . was written by my husband.’ The instructor told the author (August 12, 2014) that he decided to award an F for the course to which she replied, ‘I must be given a second chance as a reward for my telling the truth.’”(P.177-178).
This cultural difference could add more reasons behind the student not citing the sources for the information in her paper. Although an individual can learn to read and write in their new language, there are cultural variations in who is held more responsible for understanding the written communication. According to Lustig and Koester, (2013) English communication assumes that the speaker is responsible for providing the structure, and specific meaning of statements made, while there are other cultures such as Japanese culture, where the listener is responsible for having the correct underlying knowledge to construct meaning, while the speaker only needs to indirectly indicate what they want the listener to know (p.208).
If one were to consider the possibility that the student intentionally plagiarized, there are yet more cultural and psychological concepts which may underlie her act of plagiarism. DiMaria, (2009) explains that some reasons behind violations of American criteria for academic honesty might perhaps take into account “internal and external pressures to succeed, inability or lack of confidence in one’s ability to express thoughts in English and rejection of U.S. cultural norms as are applicable to academic behavior” (para.2).
From the authors’ perspective, it is clear that the professor would be only fair in allowing the student to add in the proper citations, but not re-write her work. My partner and I both felt that it would not necessarily cause harm to use this as an educational opportunity to teach the student more about what constitutes plagiarism, by highlighting certain areas in her work which need citations and why. We both felt that there was enough evidence from articles and internet searches that there are indeed many nuances in cultural beliefs which could contribute to this being chalked up to exactly what the student claimed – an honest mistake, based on cultural differences.
We both also felt that the professor would also serve the student and his class as a whole well by going over the policies regarding plagiarism and educating this student, as well as the rest of the class, on the policies of academic honesty and proper citations in his university. Furthermore, it would be prudent to take a look at how exactly information about academic honesty is being judged by the students and encoded at a cognitive level.
Perhaps in future research there may be wisdom in conducting a quantitative study to measure these abilities and gain scientific insight into exactly what is going on, and the thought processes present in the international student population specifically. This could provide valuable insight into how the environment is producing plagiarism, considering that Moten (2014) seems to think that plagiarism is akin at this point in time, to a rampantly spreading plague.
Finally, I have arrived at the end of my undergraduate journey; the culmination of many years of late nights at the keyboard, hours of reading on lunch breaks at work, and in-between batches of cookies being baked for kids or waiting for one to be done with an activity. The dream of completing my degree in psychology finally coming to a close, I find myself looking forward to what lies ahead. I have realized many things as I completed assignments and read articles for my coursework, which have changed my vision of the future dramatically from what it was when I first entered Capella.
Completing my undergraduate degree in psychology has been a long and somewhat arduous path. I have learned not only much academically, but also personally about my own values, talents, and abilities as I have trod this path. If you would have asked me at the beginning whether I thought I would be able to complete this degree, I would have nervously laughed and said “I hope so”, uncertain that I would be capable of keeping up with the demands of home, work, and coursework. As I look into my future, I see that my path still lays before me as one which will be challenging, however I am more aware of how capable I am and feel certain that I will continue on my path toward fulfillment in my career.
Although I had originally intended to complete my undergraduate degree in psychology as a means to obtaining a promotion with the assessment publishing company I work for, it has become much clearer through my coursework that I would find more fulfillment in becoming a therapist. The self-assessments and self-inventory exercises I took during my Capstone coursework helped to solidify my plans for continuing on with my education to obtain my master’s degree in marriage and family therapy.
My beliefs regarding being a professional and becoming the best mental health professional that I can be center around a belief that all people have worth and value, regardless of their heritage, sexual orientation, mental health disorder, or race. I see that there are people in this world who are suffering and struggling with relationship and family issues and that although there is often a scapegoat who is seen as the crux of the issue, the reality is that there are dynamics at play in any relationship system which contribute to the problems of the whole. Gaining the education and training to be able to help people who are in troubled relationships or family systems will allow me to make a difference in some of those lives.
My dream is to be able to help both individuals, couples, and families work through their issues in such a way as to bring healing and peace. I would truly enjoy having the opportunity to also bring in my creativity, and help people express themselves through art, exploring their feelings, resolving conflicts, and finding the serenity which can be found through the creative process. Unfortunately, the reality is that I will probably not find myself obtaining the education I need to actually become an art therapist, as the only graduate program in my state which offers coursework at the graduate level in art therapy is not only out of reach for my budget, there are also prerequisites for a specific number of credits obtained in a studio arts program. As Cathy, Malchiodi, an art therapist and author of several books on art therapy stated in an article on art therapy education, “because art therapy graduate level education is largely found in private colleges and universities rather than state universities, many students cannot afford tuition or may not be able to relocate to attend courses” (para. 4, 2013).
Because of these issues, I have a goal of enrolling in a master’s program for marriage and family therapy through Capella, obtaining licensure, then beginning my career as a marriage and family therapist. Once I have done that, I may choose to go back and take the undergraduate coursework in studio arts which would be required, then enroll in the Adler graduate program for art therapy. I may find that I am able to work art into my therapy with clients, depending upon the climate and flexibility within the organization with which I find a job.
I found that empathizing with and motivating others ranked high on my list, as did counseling and group facilitating. While I am able to use my skills of empathizing and motivating others in my career as a sales professional on a somewhat superficial level, I would not be able to fully utilize these skills, nor would I be able to exercise any skills I have in counseling others. If I become an outside sales representative or product manager, I may have some opportunities to do some group facilitation, which is another skill which showed up on my inventory exercises, however this would also be very limited.
Having a career in the counseling profession would allow me to utilize my skills in counseling, empathizing, motivating, and group facilitating.
The last skill which appeared on my results was “creating”. This is a life-long passion for me, as I was raised by my single mom, who often brought me along to the art studios as she studied at the University of Minnesota. I feel that when I am creating, I am able to express myself truly and have used art as a means to healing during difficult times in my own life. Because of this, I would like to find someplace to take classes on art therapy, to learn more about the use of art in the healing professions, and hopefully one day use my creating skills alongside my other skills which fit nicely into my dreams of becoming a marriage and family therapist.
One of the values I ranked highest in the values exercise was monetary compensation. I cringed a bit when I realized that this was one of my values, as I do not consider myself a materialistic person. The fact of the matter is that I want a job that allows me to pay the bills and put some money in the bank for my children’s future, while still being able to take a vacation now and then.
At this point, I am able to do some of these things, however the opportunities for advancement have become difficult to find at my present company, especially since the outside sales representatives are now primarily comprised of PhD-level psychologists and school psychologists. The company also let go of more than 50 people from my division in the past year, so although I survived the cut, I do not feel as secure with my current company as I once did, which goes against my value of having steady employment and income.
All of these factors mean that even moving forward and obtaining my master’s degree in the field of psychology would not necessarily mean a better job for me at my current place of work. This once again, leads me toward recognizing that a change is needed in order to not only utilize my skills in empathizing, motivating, counseling, and group facilitating, but also to be in alignment with other values which came up in my inventory. I value working in an environment that is consistent with my beliefs and I also value helping others and society. I find a great sense of accomplishment when I am able to help others in my current job; when I close a conversation with a customer and they thank me for helping them find the right assessment to fit their needs, I feel better about my job; I feel more fulfilled. When a customer sends me an email thanking me for the information I provided them which solved an issue, I feel like I made a difference for that person. Once again, I feel more fulfilled.
Unfortunately, with some recent changes at my company, my opportunities for solving problems for my customers and providing the kind of service which results in helping them find the best tools to fit their needs have become fewer and farther between. I am expected to continue on to the next sales call, rather than getting “stuck in the weeds”, taking too much time with a customer. This has resulted in feeling that my current work environment not only lacks the opportunities for advancement and job security I value, but also goes against my values for working in an environment consistent with my beliefs, where I can help other people.
I have been a person who strives to please others for most of my life, which has meant that I became pretty good at helping others. It also meant, unfortunately, that I didn’t always do so in the healthiest ways. I would give and give, counseling others, empathizing with others, helping them through difficult times, and end up feeling let down when these people didn’t follow my well-intentioned advice, or worse yet, took advantage of my giving nature. I found myself in therapy, examining what it was about myself that caused me to over-give, only to feel resentful later on.
I worried that if I let go of that “helper” side of me, I would be letting go of a big part of who I was, but I also didn’t want to have all my self-esteem and feelings of worthiness come from how much I could do for others. I discovered that I could examine my reasons for giving, allow others to do things for themselves which they were capable of, share from a place of my own experience, strength, and hope, and set boundaries so that I wasn’t the only person in the relationship who was giving.
I found that I was capable of being a leader, when I led small meetings of women who shared similar life experiences to mine, and later on, became the chair of a national board for a non-profit organization for these meetings. I found that people told me time and again that I would make a great therapist; some being the same people I used to drive crazy with my constant well-meaning advice. I went from a dependent personality to a person who is strong and capable of doing things on her own, regardless of the agreement from others. I went from being a people-pleaser, to being a true helper, and became capable of sharing strength with others in a way that didn’t make me feel depleted.
To sum it up, I found that therapy worked, as I had become a much stronger, more fully realized person. I feel that this life experience lends itself nicely to my goal of becoming a licensed marriage and family therapist. I feel strongly that I am on the right path!
One of the things I know about myself is that once I put my mind to a goal, I can be dogged about it, although somewhat slow, I continue on toward my goals quietly and carefully. My Myers-Briggs type of ENFP is said to be effective in work which is focused on the social sciences and creativity, so I am well suited to a career as a psychologist or counselor.
In my current career as a sales professional, I am able to express myself verbally and interact with others, which is important to me, however as I stated earlier, I am not fulfilled in the areas of making a difference in others’ lives and contributing to the betterment of the larger community. According to the Myers Briggs foundation, “when you do have an opportunity to take a new path in your work, type can help you analyze the fit of your type with your past work and consider what new direction can best fit with your preferences” (Myers Briggs, n.d.). This tells me that I must continue on my path and pursue my dreams of becoming a therapist and I will draw motivation from the knowledge that I will be more comfortable in this new career.
In looking forward toward obtaining my master’s degree, I began the application process for grad school at Capella, and found that the essay included a section on “the role of a licensed counselor”. This made me begin thinking about not only the role of the counselor or therapist in the therapeutic environment, but also about what it takes to be a good therapist, and how well I see myself fitting into those characteristics. I know that there have been some therapists I have seen whom I feel lack the sort of personality which makes me want to work with him or her. If the therapist is someone who seems ill-at-ease, is judgmental, standoffish, or preoccupied, I have been less likely to want to return to that therapist. If I don’t feel heard by the therapist, or they seem to take the first part of each session to remember who I am again, I don’t want to return.
There are several characteristics which come to mind when I think of a good therapist, and I found an article on the APA website which addressed this issue, summing up nicely what makes a good therapist. The author tells us that “effective therapists have a sophisticated set of interpersonal skills, including verbal fluency, warmth, acceptance, empathy and an ability to identify how a patient is feeling” (Novotney, 2013). The results of my skills and values activity, as well as my Myers-Briggs classification as an ENFP, show that I not only value helping others, I have the interpersonal skills to be able to do so in an effective way.
