The ethnic community that I have chosen is the African American community which has the most historical and cultural differences with my own ethnic community. The differences that exist include language where although both communities speak English, the accents as well as most vocabulary are different. For instance, while white people say “it is not,” African Americans say “it ain’t.” Other differences are in skin color, food, entertainment, religious practices, dressing codes, and social interactions. The most significant part of the African American community that should be considered that differs fundamentally is how their racial identity is defined by themselves as well as outsiders. For instance, most outsiders view African Americans negatively as lazy, unintellectual, violent, and loud among others. White are usually viewed the exact opposite and as a result each community tends to behave in ways that support these presuppositions. It is therefore significant to investigate what underlying ethnic differences shape most African American personalities to fulfill these traits.
The Psychodynamic perspective is the best theory to use to describe this population because it focuses on how early childhood experiences derived from the environment that one grows up in influence a person’s character. In psychology, the psychodynamic perspectives explains personality as it is informed by conscious and unconscious desires, beliefs, and thoughts and the goal of therapy is to discover and interpret the unconscious mind. The theory does not need to change in order to describe the African American community as it looks at how early childhood environment affects conscious and unconscious behavior. There are several variations in White and Black culture that make them fundamentally different. Some studies show that up to a certain age, there are no significant differences between African American and White children meaning that these disparities are instilled by the different environments that either community raises its children in. Therefore, the theory takes enough into consideration how ethnicity can affect personality as it shows how people think differently due to their culture. For instance, the African Americans history of oppression and denial of civil rights make them feel that practices such as being loud makes are part of their identity and that a Black person that is not loud is rejecting the community.
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My background as a white person does not help me understand the African American ethnicity due to what is commonly referred to as the white privilege. Even in the modern world, African Americans still face a lot of indirect discrimination in areas such as educational and job opportunities, wages, voting, et cetera. It is impossible for someone who does not share in the experience to understand their predicament especially when it is mostly white people who propagate these racial disparities. The steps needed to understand the African American community using the psychodynamic theory is to identify ways in which these people think differently based on their inner perspective of the world that is different from other ethnic groups. It is also important to identify how these differences can be connected to cultural traits that are specific to the group. For instance, African Americans are often viewed as lacking intellect as they are better in sports and sports are viewed as incompatible with high intellect.
Cultural emersion can help to understand the differences and similarities between African Americans and my ethnicity because although they have a real effect on personality, they are more of a perception than reality. Understanding the biases that one may have towards a certain group due to preconceived cultural notions also helps to disprove it and consider other ethnic communities objectively. Doing research on other groups of people and interacting with them can also help one to be culturally sensitive when dealing with other ethnic groups.
