The Psychology of Intercultural Adjustment: Tools for Self-Awareness and Practice

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The increasing globalization of society requires greater ease in intercultural interactions. Intercultural adjustment can be challenging in public service, education and the workforce given 1) the diversity of families, including intra-familial diversity (multicultural families); 2) the recognition that our "culture" is translated through parents, family and community members; and 3) the frequency of interactions requiring personal adjustment. In particular, the workforce is becoming more diverse requiring that we adapt to ethnic, gender, and other cultural differences including inter-professional diversity. The ability to be successful and competent in intercultural situations has been attributed to personality, intelligence, and previous experiences. This workshop will address intercultural adjustment and interactions in multiple settings by considering what it takes to develop intercultural sensitivity and competence. Participants will do a self-assessment and a group exercise about intercultural interactions. Information will be shared about the challenges of intercultural interactions, identity development, culture shock, and cultural intelligence, and models for intercultural contact and intercultural competency will be presented and discussed. Participants will have opportunity to practice application of learning to professional cases.

Stream: Psychology, Cognitive Science and Behavioural Sciences

Paper: Intercultural Adjustment for Cultural Competence in Shared Context

Rebecca Phillips, Ph.D., Vice President of Education and Training at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Associate Professor-Field Service, Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati. Dr. Phillips previously served as the first Laboratory Training Officer and Director, and as Deputy Director for Human Resources at the Los Alamos (NM) National Laboratory. She was also an industrial fellow and loaned executive to Motorola University as the Director of Organizational Research and Associate Director of the Center for Knowledge Management. In January 2007, Dr. Phillips will begin her appointment on the American Society for Training and Development Board of Directors. Dr. Phillips has considerable experience with the analysis, design, delivery and evaluation of adult learning programs. Her research, teaching, publications, and international presentations are on career development, mentoring, performance improvement, scientific knowledge community productivity and education systems structure for alignment with organization objectives