No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

CATHANNARCENEAUX Lloyd (1987) contends that when counseling individuals from other cultures or subcultures it is better to be uninformed about these cultural groups than it is to be knowledgeable about them even if this knowledge is relevant and accurate. Is a university professor actually attempting to convince us that, at least in the case of counseling persons from other cultures, ignorance is to be preferred to knowledge?Are counselors better off not learning about cultural differences because such knowledge will stereotype their counseling behavior with individuals of a given cultural group? Should we as counselors stop our research-or at least stop attempting to learn about the results of such research-on cultural differences? Should we limit our counseling skills to focusing on the individual, even if that individual is a member of a cultural group about which we have some useful information?In vocational counseling, would it be preferable not to learn about the personality characteristics, values, and typical behaviors of persons in each of Holland's six modal personality types? Surely as counselors we can respond to our physicist clients or our accountant clients as individuals, with that response enhanced by our knowledge and use of Holland's stereotypes. Similarly, multicultural counseling courses are based on the supposition that studying about cultures and particular groups yields much useful information that is often critical in the counseling process. Such knowledge, even though it deals with stereotypes, gives counselors concepts and conceptual frameworks around which to base other information that they receive both in and out of counseling-and these concepts are then modified to fit the particular individuals with whom counselors are involved in the counseling process.

No abstract