Combatting Ethnocentrism

It was found that socioeconomic status, anomie, and authoritarianism are effective factors in in-group and out-group ethnocentrism.

Ethnocentrism means that one may see his/her own culture as the correct way of living. For those who have not experienced other cultures in depth can be said to be ethnocentric if they feel that their lives are the most natural way of living.

1. Be Self-aware. Acknowledge the advantages or disadvantages you have.
2. Educate. Read, attend lectures, presentations, and training sessions designed to help interaction between different ethnic groups.
3. Listen.
4. Speak Up.
5. Review Team Norms.
6. Avoid Giving or Taking Offense.
7. Be Forgiving.

Our stereotypes constrain strangers’ patterns of communication and engender stereotype-confirming communication. In other words, stereotypes create self-fulfilling prophecies. We tend to see behavior that confirms our expectations even when it is absent.

Xenocentrism is the preference for other people’s cultural practices which entails how they live, what they eat, rather than of one’s own way of life. Xenocentrism is countered by ethnocentrism, the perceived superiority of one’s own society to others.

For example, Kinder and Kam (2009) begin their recent book on ethnocentrism with: “Ethnocentrism is an ancient phenomenon but it is a modern word, invented at the opening of the twentieth century by William Graham Sumner, an eminent professor of political and social science at Yale” (p. 1).

The term “ethnocentrism” was coined by William Graham Sumner in reference to the view that one’s own group is the center of everything, with others judged in terms of the familiar standards of that group. One manifestation of ethnocentrism is “xenophobia,” or the fear of outsiders.

Meanwhile, some cross-cultural psychologists also study something known as ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism refers to a tendency to use your own culture as the standard by which to judge and evaluate other cultures. It can also make it difficult to see how your own cultural background influences your behaviors.

Psychological bias is the tendency to make decisions or take action in an unknowingly irrational way. To overcome it, look for ways to introduce objectivity into your decision making, and allow more time for it.

In psychology, holism is an approach to understanding the human mind and behavior that focuses on looking at things as a whole. It is often contrasted with reductionism, which instead tries to break things down into their smallest parts.

Holism (from Greek ὅλος holos “all, whole, entire”) is the idea that various systems (e.g. physical, biological, social) should be viewed as wholes, not merely as a collection of parts. The term “holism” was coined by Jan Smuts in his 1926 book Holism and Evolution.

Reductionism is a theory in psychology centered on reducing complex phenomena into their most basic parts. The purpose of reductionism is to simplify psychological events and processes by looking at their smallest elements, thus “reducing” something rather complex into its most simple.

Thus, the opposite of a holistic treatment approach to a patient would be purely symptoms-based approach, and a single symptom or small set of symptoms at that.

The atomistic approach is based on the notion that events and their causes can be decomposed and individually quantified. In contrast, in the holistic approach, such as found in ATHEANA, the analysis centers on the entire event, which is quantified as an indivisible whole.

Homeopathic medicine is also known as homeopathy and is often added to mainstream medicine, used as a complementary/integrative approach. “Homeo” means “similar to” or “like.” This type of healthcare is often considered to be the opposite of allopathic medicine.

Homeopathy is a type of holistic medicine, but has a distinctly unique approach compared to other types of holistic medicine, like naturopathic medicine or traditional Chinese medicine (eg. Acupuncture).

Alternative medicine, complementary therapies, holistic practices, natural healthcare, integrative medicine–these are a few of the terms used nowadays to describe a wide array of healing practices that fall outside purely pharmaceutical or surgical treatments. Some examples are massage, meditation, and acupuncture.

Many complementary therapies concentrate on relaxation and reducing stress. They might help to calm your emotions, relieve anxiety, and increase your general sense of health and well being. Many doctors, cancer nurses and researchers are interested in the idea that positive emotions can improve your health.

Most Popular Alternative Healing Therapies

• Acupuncture – One of the better known alternative healing therapies is acupuncture.
• Acupressure – Acupressure just like acupuncture works on the principal of various specific points being energy centers of the human body.