The document discusses inclusive cultural empathy as an alternative to individualism in psychotherapy. It proposes developing a more relationship-centered approach based on Asian models that considers behavior in its cultural context. The author argues for incorporating non-Western assumptions and inclusive worldviews into psychotherapy to move beyond a focus on Western perspectives. The conclusion advocates for constructing a balanced approach in counseling that manages both similarities and differences between Asian and Western perspectives without prematurely resolving ambiguities.

1. Oct. 12, 2008By Paul Pedersen, Ph.D.
Inclusive Cultural Empathy:
A Relationship-Centered
Alternative to Individualism
Paul Pedersen
Dept of Psychology, Univ. of Hawaii,
Honolulu, HI.
THE FIFTH WORLD CONGRESS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY
BEIJING, CHINA OCTOBER,2008
STATE OF THE ART INVITED PRESENTATION

2.  The importance of Inclusive Cultural
Empathy
 The reframing of “individualistic
empathy” into inclusive cultural
empathy
 Develop a more relationship-centered
alternative based on Asian models
THE PURPOSE OF THE
PRESENTATION

3.  The need to look outside the
boundaries of Western psychotherapies
 The need to develop a “multicultural”
counseling and psychotherapy
 Behavior out of context has no
meaning.
 All behavior is learned and displayed in
a cultural context.
A MULTICULTURAL CRISIS:
WHAT TO DO

4. RACIAL BIAS AND
MICROAGRESSIONS:
WHAT NOT TO DO
Racial microagressions are brief and
commonplace daily verbal, behavioral or
environmental indignities, whether
intentional or unintentional, that
communicate hostile, derogatory, or
negative racial slights and insults toward
a particular population.

5. INDIGENOUS CHINESE
ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES
The Chinese people tend to generalize or
extend their family experiences, rules and
habits to other groups and relationships.

6. SEVEN TIMES NO (Yang, K.S.)
 Not to uncritically adopt Western
psychological concepts
 Not to overlook Western psychologists’
important concepts
 Not to reject useful indigenous concepts
 Not to adopt a Western-dominant approach
 Not to use concepts that are too broad or
abstract
 Not to think about local problems in a foreign
language
 Not to politicize academic research

7. TEN TIMES YES (Yang, K.S.)
 To tolerate vague or ambiguous conditions
 To allow Chinese ideas to be reflected in the
research
 To study psychological phenomenon in a
concrete and specific setting
 To consider the details of a behavior and its
context
 To study culturally unique Chinese
psychological phenomena

8. TEN TIMES YES (Yang, K.S.)
(continued)
 To begin any research with a thorough
immersion into the natural setting
 To investigate both the specific content and
the process
 To base research on Chinese intellectual
tradition rather than Western intellectual
traditions
 To study both traditional and modern
applications
 To study the psychology of ancient and
contemporary Chinese people

9. KILLER ATTITUDES OF
INDIVIDUALISM
 Consumption produces happiness
 Don’t worry about the future
 Short term rewards
 Growth is good
 Get as much as I can
 Keep price of energy low
 Change is unnecessary
 Science will save us
 We will find new solutions in time

10. TWO DIRECTIONAL AND ONE
DIRECTIONAL THINKING
 Both/and thinking is “two directional”
guided by both pleasure and pain.
 Either/or thinking is “one directional”
guided by pleasure.
 Inclusive cultural empathy recognizes
the importance of both pain and
pleasure in balanced problem solving.

11. DEFINING FEATURES OF
INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY
 Culture content includes ethnographic,
demographic, status and affiliation.
 Counseling process defined broadly
includes formal and informal methods.
 Inclusive Cultural Empathy values
differences and similarities.

12. INTRAPERSONAL CULTURAL
GRID Figure 1: Intra-personal Cultural Grid
Culture
Teachers
Behavior Expectatio
n
Value
Ethnographic
Demographic
Status
Affiliation

13. THE QUESTIONS OF
MULTICULTURAL AWARENESS
There is a growing awareness that we
must study problems in their socio-
cultural context so that all psychotherapy
will be inherently cultural.
 What?
 Why?
 Where?

14. THE VISUAL IMAGE OF CULTURE
Imagine…
 that there are a thousand culture teachers
sitting in your chair with you and
 another thousand in your client’s chair,
collected over a lifetime from friends,
enemies, relatives, strangers, heroes and
heroines.
 Simple solutions to complex problems are
dangerous.
 Complexity is your friend.

15. THE CONCEPTUAL IMAGE
OF MULTICULTURAL QUESTIONS
 When does a specific psychological
theory provide valid explanations?
 What are the cultural boundaries?
 Which psychological patterns always
appear?
 Which patterns only sometimes
appear?

16. NON-WESTERN ASSUMPTIONS
 Illness is a lack of balance in the
cosmos.
 Emphasize social relationships
 Independency is dysfunctional in a
collectivist culture.
 Value subjectivity as well as objectivity

17. INCLUSIVE NON-WESTERN
WORLD VIEWS
 Ayurvedic therapies from India
 Yoga binds the body-mind-soul to God.
 The Tao or "the way", Ch'i or "the energy-force"
 Buddhism denies the separated self.
 Sufism is the mystical aspect inside the person.
 Zen Buddhism, Naikan and Morita linked to
nature.
 Shamanism linked to spiritual being.
 Native American Healers one with nature
 African healing is based on cultural values.
 Others

18. WESTERNIZATION OR
MODERNIZATION?
Westernized perspectives, which have
dominated the field of mental health, must
not become the exclusive criteria of
"modernized" psychotherapy.

19. INTERPERSONAL CULTURAL
GRID
Figure 2. The Interpersonal Cultural Grid
BEHAVIOR OR ACTION
EXPECTATION
SAME/
POSITIVE
DIFFERENT/
NEGATIVE
SAME/
POSITIVE I II
DIFFERENT
/ NEGATIVE III IV

20. FROM PSYCHOLOGICAL ABSOLUTISM
TO ANTHROPOLOGICAL RELATIVISM
 Try to imagine a dimension with conventional
“psychology” anchoring the extreme end of
the scale on one end and conventional
“anthropology” anchoring the extreme other
end of the scale.
 The area between these two extremes is
occupied by a variety of theoretical positions,
which tend to favor one or the other
perspective in part but not completely.

21. ARGUMENTS FOR
MULTICULTURAL
PSYCHOTHERAPY
 Accuracy in
Measurement
 Conflict Resolution
 Identity Formation
 Health Achievement
 Encapsulation
Protection
 Survival
Opportunities
 Social Justice
 Right Thinking
 Culture Learning
 Spirituality
 Political Stability
 Effective
Psychotherapy

22. ARGUMENTS AGAINST
MULTICULTURAL
PSYCHOTHERAPY
 It competes with already established theories
of psychology.
 It promotes reverse discrimination, racism,
sexism and political correctness.
 Arguments against postmodernism also
apply to multiculturalism.
 The same practice of counseling and therapy
apply equally to all populations.
 There are no accepted standards for
describing multiculturalism.

23. ARGUMENTS AGAINST
MULTICULTURAL
PSYCHOTHERAPY
(continued)
 There are no measurable competencies for
multiculturalism.
 Multiculturalism is too complicated and
unrealistic.
 More research is needed on multicultural
approaches.
 Multiculturalism requires that all groups be
included.
 Multiculturalism is anti-White.

24. CONCLUSION
 The task is to construct a complex and
dynamic balance of tendencies that a
competent counselor or psychotherapist can
manage without distorting the truth in either
Asian or Western perspective.
 Inclusive Cultural Empathy requires
managing a comprehensive balance of
essential similarities and differences at the
same time without resolving the ambiguity
prematurely.