DEFINING INCLUSIVE

3
CULTURAL EMPATHY

Informed by a concept of empathy that evolved within an individual-

istic worldview, today's helping professionals generally learn that empathy
occurs when one person vicariously experiences the feelings, perceptions, and
thoughts of another (Clark, 2007). Our purpose in this book, as stated before,
is to expand concepts of empathy to accommodate different cultural world-
views, different reasons for seeking help, and different expectations of helping
professionals. In this chapter we present inclusive cultural empathy (ICE) and
show how it incorporates—and adds to—multicultural competencies. We jus-
tify its relevance in the context of postmodernism and explain how it is inclu-
sive of many definitions of culture, healthy outcomes, and helping relationships.
Next we sketch out the three stages of ICE development: awareness, knowl-
edge, and skill. Finally, we explicate the assumptions behind ICE.

A CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY

The conceptual model of ICE is a revision of the conventional empa-

thy concept applied to a culture-centered perspective of counseling. Con-
ventional empathy typically develops out of similarities between two people.
ICE describes a dynamic perspective that balances both similarities and dif-
ferences, at the same time integrating skills developed to nurture a deep
comprehensive understanding of the counseling relationship in its cultural
context. ICE has two defining features: (a) Culture is defined broadly to include
culture teachers from the client's ethnographic (ethnicity and nationality),
demographic (age, gender, lifestyle, residence), status (social, educational, eco-
nomic), and affiliation (formal or informal) backgrounds and (b) the empathic
counseling relationship values the full range of differences and similarities or
positive and negative features as contributing to the quality of that relationship
in a dynamic balance. ICE goes beyond the exclusive interaction of a counselor
with a client to include the comprehensive network of interrelationships with
culture teachers in the client's cultural context.
The revision of research on the conventional concept of empathy can
be illustrated in two figures contrasting conventional and convergent empa-
thy (Figure 3.1) with inclusive and divergent cultural empathy (Figure 3.2).

The contextual and cultural background

The individual
Figure 3.1. Conventional and Western-based convergent empathy.

42 INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY

 The individual

The contextual and cultural background relationships

Figure 3.2. Inclusive and Asian-based divergent or inclusive cultural empathy.

Empathy is constructed over a period of time during counseling as the foun-

dation of a strong and positive working relationship. The conventional
description of empathy moves from a broadly defined context to the individ-
ual person convergently, like a pyramid upside down (see Figure 3.1). The
revised version of empathy moves from the individual person toward inclu-
sion of the broadly defined cultural contexts in which that individual lives,
like a pyramid (see Figure 3.2).
ICE is a refraining and enlargement of the relationship focus to encom-
pass both similarities and differences in an increasingly comprehensive and
culturally inclusive perspective. The conventional definition of empathy has
emphasized similarities as the basis of comembership in a one-directional
focus that does not include differences (Ridley & Lingle, 1996; Ridley &
Udipi, 2002). According to Ridley and Lingle (1996), "The new construct of
cultural empathy presented in much of the literature appears to be indistin-
guishable from generic empathy except that it is used in multicultural con-
texts to achieve an understanding of the client's cultural experience" (p. 30).
ICE is therefore the learned ability of counselors to accurately understand and

DEFINING INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY 43

respond appropriately to the client's comprehensive cultural context, both in
its similarities and differences, which may include confrontation and conflict
(Ridley, Ethington, &Heppner, 2008).

HOW ICE INCORPORATES AND ADDS TO

MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCE

Clemmont Vontress, who has been active in debate over multicultural

counseling competencies, mainly emphasized shared experience in his defi-
nition of empathy:
Empathy derives from the German word Einfuhlung, which means "one
feeling." It suggests a person's subjective reaction to one or more proxi-
mate individuals. It therefore must be understood in cultural context.
Humans necessarily share commonalities. Shared experiences and con-
ditions produce common cultures. They also enable participants to
empathize with their fellows, because they have "been there and done
that." They easily identify with them. (C. Vontress, personal communi-
cation, January 30, 2006)
Vontress identified at least five shared conditions or sets of experiences
that contribute to empathy. First, as members of the same species, we
humans are housed in a fragile biological system that is universally invari-
able. Therefore, to exist, we behave in predictable ways, to maintain and per-
petuate life. We understand what it is like to love, to become parents, to be
hungry, to be without shelter, to be threatened physically or psychologically,
or to grieve when loved ones die. Second, people who live in similar geo-
graphical zones understand what it is like to inhabit such areas of the world.
For example, natives of Mali can empathize with others who endure the
extreme heat and humidity of sub-Saharan Africa. Third, inhabitants of a
nation adapt to the rules, regulations, values, and attitudes pervasive in that
country. They also understand and empathize with joys and hardships of
their fellow countrymen. Fourth, in large countries, people adjust to specific
regions of the country in which they live. They often instinctively under-
stand and sense what others feel from the same region. Finally, members of
racial and ethnic communities usually share a bond that people external to
their community may not understand. Empathizing easily with their racial
or ethnic fellows, they immediately know "where they are coming from."
Cultural empathy is therefore the learned ability of counselors to accurately
understand and respond appropriately to each culturally different client.
ICE goes beyond accommodating cultural differences toward a dynamic
balance of similarities and differences between the client and counselor. As
we stated earlier, culture is broadly defined to include ethnographic (ethnic-
ity and nationality), demographic (age, gender, lifestyle, residence), status

44 INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY

(social, educational, economic), and affiliation (formal and informal) cate-
gories. Each category can be conceptualized through a multiplicity of culture
teachers. Both client and counselor have many different culture teachers who
are similar in some ways and different in others. ICE is a generic counseling
perspective that requires the counselor to manage both similarities and dif-
ferences at the same time.
This inclusive approach is in sharp contrast to the exclusive perspective
of dissonance reduction in conventional empathy. By reframing the whole
counseling relationship into multicultural categories, it becomes possible for
the counselor and the client to accept the counseling relationship as it is—
ambiguous and complex—without first having to change it toward the coun-
selor's cultural perspective. ICE does not require the compromising exclusion
of categories to find common ground but rather enriches the counseling rela-
tionship through inclusion of both the counselor's and the client's diverse
perspectives as they contribute to the growing and ever-changing relation-
ship. This complex and somewhat chaotic perspective is what distinguishes
ICE from other descriptions of empathy and even of cultural empathy.
Just as it is important to say what ICE is, it is also important to say what
ICE is not. Stewart (1981) suggested that the exclusive emphasis on similari-
ties is likely to result in sympathy rather than empathy. "The current definition
of empathy is often confused with a second potential interface between
persons—sympathy, a concept with a much longer and troubled history"
(p. 69). The conventional definition of empathy has emphasized similarities as
the basis of comembership in a relationship that minimizes differences and has
a one-directional focus toward solving a problem. ICE introduces a type of rela-
tionship in which similarities and differences are acknowledged and honored,
and in which a two-directional focus toward life balance is possible.
It is also important to distinguish between ICE and countertransference
from a psychodynamic perspective. Countertransference has the potential to
do considerable damage. Although counselors in a multicultural society are
challenged to expand one's capacity for empathy beyond the barriers of visible
and invisible differences, cultural countertransference limits one's capacity for
cross-cultural empathy. Avoiding the dangers of cultural countertransference
requires one to develop cognitive and affective awareness of oneself and others
at an articulate level of consciousness. Corey (2004) illustrated that problem:
"To the degree that countertransference is present, group therapists react to
members as if they were significant figures of their own original family" (p. 145).
The familial analogy suggests the powerful potential of countertransference for
either good or bad outcomes. Corey described countertransference as frequently
occurring in group counseling. The good or bad consequences depend on how
well it is managed by the counselor.
With ICE, it becomes possible for a counselor to identify common
ground between two people whose positive expectations and ultimate goals

DEFINING INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY 45

are the same even though their behaviors may be very different, without the
counselor having to disregard or minimize those differences. Even the same
individual may change his or her cultural referent group during the course
of the interview, from emphasizing gender, to age, to socioeconomic status,
to nationality or ethnicity, to one or another affiliation. Unless the coun-
selor is skilled enough to understand that each changing and potentially
salient identity will require a different understanding and interpretation of
that person's behavior, the counselor is not likely to be accurate in assess-
ing the person's changing identity. The same culturally learned behavior
may have very different meanings across people and even for the same per-
son across times and situations (Pedersen, ZOOOa).
It is important to interpret behaviors accurately in terms of the intended
expectation. If two people share the same positive expectation—for success,
accuracy, fairness, or safety—they do not have to display the same behaviors
to find common ground. Smiling is an ambiguous behavior, for example. It
may imply trust and friendliness or it may not. The smile may be interpreted
accurately or it may not. Outside of its culturally learned context, the smile
has no fixed meaning. Two people may both expect trust and friendliness
even though one is smiling and the other is not. If these similar positive
expectations such as trust or respect are undiscovered or disregarded, then dif-
ferences of behavior will be presumed to indicate negative expectation, result-
ing in conflict. If, however, the two culturally different persons understand
how they perhaps really have the same positive expectations even though
their behaviors may be very different, they may agree to disagree or recognize
that they are both approaching the same goal from different directions in
complementary ways. The obvious differences in behavior across cultures are
typically overemphasized, whereas the more difficult-to-discover similarities
of positive expectations are typically underemphasized. A visual tool called
the intrapersonal cultural grid is introduced in chapter 5 as a way to help con-
ceptualize the skill of separating behaviors from expectations.
Wrightsman (1992) explained how the perspectives of behaviorism,
psychoanalysis, and humanism are supplemented by a more inclusive per-
spective based on George Kelly's (1955) personal construct theory. Wrights-
man (1992) described this new movement as more collectivistic, resembling
non-Western indigenous psychologies:
We are living in a time when the conventional wisdom about human
nature and the nature of society is under attack. Technology has run
amok; many now question our ability to bring technology under manage-
able control. Bureaucracy—a social structure originally established to pro-
vide for personal growth—now stifles human development and generates
a philosophy that human nature is lazy, irresponsible and extrinsically
motivated. The communal movement has challenged a pessimistic drift

46 INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY

 in our society. Through study of the movement's assumptions, aims,
procedures and outcomes, we may gain an understanding of the future of
philosophies of human nature, (p. 293)
Complex and dynamic psychosocial theories that incorporate cul-
ture have been available for a long time. The postmodern survivors are
"shapeshifters" (Lifton, 1993) with multiple identities as a source of strength,
and they provide a new psychological ideal for the postmodern world. Lifton
contrasted the shapeshifting self with an alternative "fundamentalist self"
who avoids fragmentation by being consistent. In the postmodern world, dis-
continuous change seems to be a permanent feature. This need not result in
chaos. The value of ICE is to incorporate the cultural context in a compre-
hensive way, recognizing its own self-regulating dynamic as the counseling
relationship develops. Imposing the counselor's perspective can also remove
the chaotic features but at the expense of devaluing the client.

AN INCLUSIVE DEFINITION OF CULTURE

By defining culture broadly to include ethnographic, demographic, status,

and affiliation categories, the multicultural construct becomes relevant to all
counseling relationships. Narrower definitions of culture have limited multi-
culturalism to what might more appropriately be called "multiethnic" or "multi-
national" relationships between groups with a shared sociocultural heritage that
includes similarities of religion, history, and common ancestry. Ethnicity and
nationality are important to individual and familial identity as one aspect of
culture, but a more broadly defined construct of culture goes beyond national
or ethnic boundaries. People from the same ethnic or nationality group may still
experience cultural differences. Not all Blacks have the same experience, nor
do all Asians, all American Indians, all Hispanics, all women, all old people, or
all people with disabilities, and so on. No particular group is rigidly unified in
its perspective. Therefore the broad definition of culture is particularly impor-
tant in preparing counselors to deal with the complex differences among clients
from every cultural group.
Poortinga (1992) defined culture as "shared constraints that limit the
behavior repertoire available to members of a certain sociocultural group in
a way different from individuals belonging to some other group" (p. 10).
Segall, Dasen, Berry, and Poortinga (1990) affirmed that ecological forces are
the prime movers and shapers of cultural forms, which in turn shape behav-
iors: "Given these characteristics of culture, it becomes possible to define it
simply as the totality of whatever all persons learn from all other persons"
(p. 26). Culture is part of the environment and all behavior is shaped by cul-
ture, so that it is rare (perhaps even impossible) for any human being ever to
behave without responding to culturally learned patterns.

DEFINING INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY 47

 Another implication of the broad definition of culture is cultural
psychology, which presumes every sociocultural environment depends on
the way human beings give each cultural context meaning and are in turn
changed in response to that environment. Cultural psychology studies the
ways cultural traditions and social practices regulate, express, and transform
people in patterned ways. Shweder (1990) stated, "Cultural psychology is the
study of the ways subject and object, self and other, psyche and culture, per-
son and context, figure and ground, practitioner and practice live together,
require each other, and dynamically, dialectically and jointly make each
other up" (p. 1).
Counselors have sometimes been misled by dichotomous thinking habits
in their search for objectivity. There is a tendency to oversimplify a context and
even a client by measuring everything on a 7-point scale of either-or catego-
rizations from good to bad or normal to abnormal in ways that ignore the
possibility of both-and thinking from quantum theory (Butz, 1992). As a con-
sequence of our search for dissonance reduction, we may distort our perspective
of the client and the client's cultural context. Just as differentiation and inte-
gration are complementary processes, so are the emic (culture specific) and etic
(culture general) perspectives necessarily interrelated. The terms emic and etic
were borrowed from "phonemic" and "phonetic" analysis in linguistics describ-
ing the rules of language to imply a separation of general from specific aspects
(Pike, 1966). Even Pike in his original conceptualization of this dichotomy sug-
gested that the two elements not be treated as a rigid dichotomy, but as a way
of presenting the same data from two complementary viewpoints. Although
research on the usefulness of emic and etic categories has been extensive, the
notion of a "culture-free" (universal) etic has been just as elusive as the notion
of a "culture-pure" (totally isolated) emic.
The basic problem facing counselors is how to describe behavior in terms
that are true to a particular individual in a specific culture while also general-
izing from those behaviors to one or more other cultures (Pedersen, 200Gb).
Combining the specific and general viewpoints provides a multicultural per-
spective. This larger, inclusive perspective is an essential starting point for
mental health professionals seeking to be more accurate and to avoid cultural
encapsulation by their own culture-specific assumptions.
The multicultural perspective, broadly defined, complements rather
than competes with traditional theories of behavioral, psychodynamic, or
humanist counseling. Counseling from whatever theoretical perspective is
interpreted from the counselor's own cultural self-awareness and is applied to
the client's cultural context. D. W. Sue et al. (1998) specified the importance
of counselor self-awareness and an awareness of the client's cultural context
to the delivery of effective counseling services.
The broad and inclusive definition of culture has been mistakenly crit-
icized for reducing culture to individual differences. The distinction between

48 INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY

individual differences and cultural differences is real and important. Your skin
color at birth was an individual difference, but what that skin color has come
to mean over time and socialization has turned skin color into a cultural fac-
tor. We learn our individual identity in a cultural context. The cultural iden-
tities to which we belong are no more or less important than our individual
identity. Although culture has traditionally been defined as a multigenera-
tional geographic phenomenon, the broad definition of culture suggests that
cultural identities and culturally significant shared beliefs may develop in a
contemporary time frame independent of geography and still be distinguished
from individual differences.
Frequently, we hear about how multiculturalism or cultural differences
present problems to counselors and counseling, usually in the form of quotas
or measures of imposed equity. Culture has frequently been seen as a barrier
to counseling rather than as a tool for helping counselors be more accurate
and as a means of facilitating ICE. As long as our understanding of culture is
limited to labels for narrowly defined perspectives, the generic relevance of
cultural contexts to multicultural counseling is not likely to be appreciated.
The rhetoric in support of recognizing cultural complexity as part of
multicultural counseling has been in professional documents of accreditation,
certification, and licensure for many years now. From the narrow definition
of culture, these statements have been perceived as political, favoring the spe-
cial interests of one group or another. From the perspective of a broad defini-
tion of culture, however, multiculturalism goes beyond the self-interests of
any particular group to redefine the very basis of identity for both the coun-
selor and the client, regardless of their skin color, age, gender, socioeconomic
status, or affiliations. The argument on which much of multicultural coun-
seling rhetoric has been based has been largely humanitarian in its basis. The
argument from a broad definition of culture is based on functional accuracy
or utilitarian goals of ICE in the counseling relationship, without diminish-
ing the humanitarian imperative.
The cultural context provides a force field of contrasting influences,
which can be kept in balance through ICE. There are several implications of
considering ICE to be necessary for good counseling to occur. Each implica-
tion contributes toward a capability for understanding and facilitating a bal-
anced perspective in multicultural counseling. Can a counselor hope to know
about all possible cultures to which the client belongs? Probably not, but the
counselor can still aspire to know about as many cultural identities as possi-
ble, just as in aspirational ethics, whereby the counselor tries always to do
good but never expects to achieve absolute goodness.
Individualism by itself is proving to be dysfunctional and needs to be
combined with other perspectives for different cultures to exist together.
Helgesen (2005) described society as a living system that rejuvenates itself
when confronting inefficiencies through a "web of inclusion" that combines

DEFINING INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY 49

the group and the individual approach in a dynamic unity. The web of inclu-
sion follows an open and flowing architecture of organizations in ways that
are similar to the percepts of the Tao in Chinese philosophy in the search for
a kind of balance.
In the physical sciences, a state of equilibrium does not imply a healthy
balance, but refers rather to random dispersal of energy—a kind of death.
The more coherent or rigid the structure, the tighter and more organ-
ized, the more immune it is to the living energies of transformation.
(Helgesen, 2005, p. 287)
This dynamic and inclusive form of "syntropy" is appropriate to our inter-
connected world and may define the next stage of our evolution as a
species.

AN INCLUSIVE DEFINITION OF POSITIVE THERAPY OUTCOMES

Healthy functioning in a multicultural context may require a person to

maintain multiple conflicting and culturally learned roles without the oppor-
tunity to resolve the resulting dissonance. Balance, as a construct for ICE,
involves the identification of different or even conflicting culturally learned
perspectives without necessarily resolving that difference or dissonance in
favor of either viewpoint.
The construct of balance was defined by Heider (1958) and Newcomb
(1953) in consistency theory as the search for an enduring consistency in an
otherwise volatile situation. Cognitive balance is achieved by changing,
ignoring, differentiating, or transcending inconsistencies to avoid dissonance
(Triandis, 1977). From another more complicated perspective, however,
asymmetrical balance can be described as requiring a tolerance for ambiguity,
inconsistency, and dissonance (Pedersen, 2000b) rather than rushing to
resolve differences too quickly.
Change in this context is perceived as a continuous and not an episodic
process. Balance as a construct seeks to reflect the metaphors of organismic
systems in holistic health. Problems, pain, and otherwise negative aspects of
one's experience may also provide necessary resources for understanding the
dark side of healthy functioning, as in ecological analysis of psychological
process (Berry, 1980).
Health is more than the absence of illness; it is a positive force with its
own separate definition. The construct of balance is useful for understand-
ing this unique characteristic of health as a goal orientation of counseling.
By attending to the client's cultural context, a skilled counselor will find it
necessary to respond differently even to the same presenting symptoms. The
counselor acts much as a social engineer compensating for a lack of harmony

50 INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY

in the cultural context by increasing the influence of a counterbalancing
perspective for the client.
The function of counseling is to restore balance in the client's cultural
context. There are several examples of empathic balance in the counseling
literature. Tseng and Hsu (1980) discussed how therapy compensates for cul-
turally different features. Highly controlled and overregulated cultures might
encourage therapies that provide a safety-valve release for feelings and emo-
tions, whereas underregulated or cultural contexts with less rigid norms might
encourage therapies with externalized social control at the expense of self-
expression. Lin and Lin (1978) attributed mental illness to five harmful ema-
nations affecting the yin and yang when they are disturbed or out of balance.
In some cases the balance has been restored through therapy by bring-
ing in a mediator as a third person in addition to the counselor and client.
Bolman (1968) advocated the approach of using two professionals, one from
each culture, collaborating in cross-cultural counseling with traditional
healers as cocounselors. Weidman (1975) introduced the notion of a culture
broker as an intermediary for working with culturally different clients. Slack
and Slack (1976) suggested bringing in a coclient who has already effectively
solved similar problems in working with chemically dependent clients. Satir
(1964) introduced mediators in family therapy for problems of pathogenic
coalitions with the therapist mediating to change pathogenic-relating styles.
Counseling itself is a "go-between" process whereby the therapist or mediator
is the catalyst for resolving conflict.
Trimble (1981) suggested that, in some cultures such as American
Indian cultures, a third person as mediator might work better than in other
cultures. However, if the mediator is poorly chosen, bringing in a third per-
son as mediator or interpreter may seriously distress clients through embar-
rassment, misinterpretations, inaccuracies, invasions of privacy, and for a
variety of other reasons (LeVine & Padilla, 1980). If counselors are them-
selves trained to be bicultural and bilingual, the mediating function is inter-
nalized within the counselor's range of skills. This internalized mediation
goes back to the earliest Greek role of the counselor as a mediator between
the client and a superordinate world of powers and values.
Pope-Davis, Coleman, Liu, and Toporek (2003) provided a compre-
hensive survey of multicultural competencies that demonstrate the impor-
tance of balance. Professionals who practice ICE help clients achieve balance
when they use skills such as the following:
• The ability to see positive implications in an otherwise negative expe-
rience from the client's cultural viewpoint. Ivey and Ivey (2007)
emphasized the importance of a "positive asset search" in coun-
seling. It would be simplistic of a provider to assume that the
negative experiences of culturally different clients are not also
related to positive outcomes and consequences.

DEFINING INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY 51

 The ability to anticipate potential negative implications from an
otherwise positive experience. Each solution a counselor brings
to a culturally different client will almost certainly also have
potential negative effects that must also be considered from
the client's viewpoint.
The ability to articulate statements of meaning. This helps to inter-
pret or integrate positive and negative events in a constructive
way without requiring the client to resolve the dissonance in
favor of one or another culture. The role of the counselor is to
help clients articulate the meaning of an otherwise difficult sit-
uation for their lives and for their future. The meaning of each
event will include both positive and negative elements, which
must be understood in a cultural context. Ivey and Ivey's (2007)
microskill "reflection of meaning" requires counselors to explore
basic and often conflicting concepts in their multiple cultural
identities.
The ability to avoid simpk solutions to complex problems and acknowl-
edge the complicated constraints of a client's cultural context. Ivey and
Ivey (2007) described the "premature solution" as the most fre-
quent mistake of beginning counselors. This is even truer in a
multicultural setting. Pedersen (2000b) suggested that it is useful
to anthropomorphize the problem as a third-person metaphor to
help counselors better understand the complexity of problems in
culturally different settings.
Sensitivity to how collective forces influence an individual's behaviors.
Ivey and Ivey (2007) frequently pointed out how traditional
counseling is biased toward an individualistic perspective. In a
more collectivist culture, the welfare of the unit or collective
forces may be more important than the individual. Good multi-
cultural counseling may require balancing the welfare of the indi-
vidual client against the welfare of those collective forces in a way
that satisfies the individual and the collective.
Sensitivity to the changing power of the client over time. Strong
(1978) described social influence theory's contribution to
understanding the importance of power in counseling. Power
is culturally defined, and good multicultural counseling will be
sensitive to whether counseling is enhancing or diminishing
a client's power.
Sensitivity to the changing power of the client across different
topical areas. This reduces stereotyping. Differentiation by
counselors requires them to note changes in social influence
and power across topics as well as across time. A good multi-
cultural counselor should be able to identify clients' areas of

52 INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY

 expertise as well as areas of deficiency. The importance of self-
esteem and the destructive effects of perceived helplessness
apply especially to a client attempting to cope in a culturally
unfamiliar context.
Sensitivity to the changing power of the client in culturally different
social roles. Clients who function at a very adequate level in
some roles may not function adequately in other roles. Cultur-
ally biased counselors frequently disregard differences in role-
functioning ability.
The ability to adjust the amount of culturally defined influence by
the interviewer. This can facilitate the independent growth of
the other person. To facilitate a balanced perspective, the
counselor will need to provide enough but not too much con-
trol, influence, or power as defined by the cultural context. If
the counselor exerts too much control to a strong client, the
client may rebel and reject the counselor as more troublesome
than the problem. If the counselor exerts too little control
toward a weak client, the client may abandon the counselor
as inadequate and unable to provide the necessary protection
(Pedersen, 2000a).
The ability to maintain harmony within the interview. Ivey and Ivey
(2007) commented on the importance of competence in coun-
seling techniques being measured by the counselor's contri-
bution to a harmonious rapport between client and counselor,
even though they may be from different cultural backgrounds.
Although the construct of dynamic balance through ICE is elu-
sive, the preceding examples of observable counselor behaviors
describe some of the essential aspects. These examples are
rooted in the traditional counseling research literature and
are not, by themselves, controversial. Because these examples
are familiar, they may provide a bridge for counselors to under-
standing how ICE can expand the possibilities for human serv-
ices. Further discussion of these and other specific skills can be
found in chapters 8 and 9 of this volume.

DEVELOPING INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY

In the next chapters, the development of ICE is presented following a

three-stage sequence of multicultural competence, moving from awareness
(of culturally learned assumptions, context, and experiences) to knowledge
(information gaps and essential facts about the cultural context) to skill
(making decisions and taking action on the basis of accurate awareness and

DEFINING INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY 53

a meaningful understanding of the cultural context). The following equa-
tion describes the dynamic process of developing ICE:

Affective acceptance + Intellectual understanding +

Appropriate interaction = Inclusive cultural empathy

Affective acceptance is defined as the development and emotional

acknowledgment or awareness of culturally learned assumptions and a network
of comemberships across cultural boundaries that include both cultural pat-
terns of similarity and difference. Intellectual understanding is the increase in
knowledge and comprehension of specific similarities and differences within a
counseling relationship. Appropriate interaction-intervention requires devel-
oping the skills and abilities to incorporate both similarities and differences in
a plan for working together by reframing the culturally learned assumptions
and information to bring about constructive change.
Now that readers have been introduced to the basic concepts of ICE, we
can reveal assumptions behind the ICE model. Underlying all the assumptions
listed next is this main assumption: that cultural patterns of thinking and act-
ing were being prepared for us even before we were born, to guide our lives,
shape our decisions, and put our lives in order. We inherited these culturally
learned assumptions from our parents and teachers, who taught us the rules of
life. As we learned more about ourselves and others, we learned that our own
way of thinking was one of many different ways. By that time, however, we had
come to believe that our way was the best of all possible ways, and even when
we found new or better ways, it was not always possible to change. We are more
likely to see the world through our own eyes and to assume that others see the
same world in the same way using a self-reference criterion. Multiculturalism,
infused with inclusion, offers a contrasting perspective.
D. W. Sue, Ivey, and Pedersen (1996) identified the underlying assump-
tions for multicultural counseling and therapy. Building on that foundation,
they identified the following eight assumptions behind ICE so that readers
can more easily find points of agreement and disagreement.
1. We are both similar and different at the same time. No mat-
ter how different another person is from you, there is always
some degree of similarity. No matter how similar the other
person is to you, there is always some degree of difference. If
either similarities or differences are overemphasized, you will
get into trouble. If you overemphasize diversity and differences
between people, you end up with stereotyped, disconnected
categories that tend to be hostile toward one another. If you
overemphasize similarities, you rob persons and groups of their
individual identities.

54 INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY

2. Culture is complex and not simple. Complexity is your friend,
not your enemy, because it protects you against accepting easy
answers to difficult questions. It is tempting to create simple
models that can be explained and understood but that do not
reflect the complexity of a real-world cultural context. It is dan-
gerous to confuse these simple explanations and labels with the
more complex reality.
3. Behaviors by themselves are not meaningful. Behaviors are not
meaningful data until and unless they are understood in the
context of a person's culturally learned expectations. Behaviors
can only be accurately interpreted in their cultural context.
Similar behaviors might have different meanings and different
behaviors might have the same meaning. If two persons share
the same expectation for trust and respect, they do not have to
display the same behaviors to get along with one another.
4. Not all racism is intentional. Counselors who presume they are
free of racism underestimate the power of social pressure, mod-
em advertising, and privilege. In many cases this racism emerges
as an unintentional action by well-meaning, right-thinking,
good-hearted, caring professionals who are probably no more or
less free from cultural bias than the general public. Racism
is defined as a pattern of systematic behaviors resulting in the
denial of opportunities or privileges to one social group by
another. Racism can refer therefore to aversive behavior by indi-
viduals or institutionalized social groups. Overt racism is inten-
tional, whereby a particular group is judged inferior and/or
undeserving. Covert racism is unintentional, whereby misinfor-
mation or wrong assumptions lead to inaccurate assessments or
inappropriate treatments. Covert, unintentional racism is less
likely to be challenged or changed.
5. We are all vulnerable to cultural encapsulation. Wrenn (1962,
1985) first introduced the concept of cultural encapsulation. A
person who has fallen victim to cultural encapsulation defines
reality according to her or his own set of cultural assumptions. The
person is insensitive to cultural variations among individuals and
assumes her or his own view is the only right one. The person's
assumptions are not dependent on reasonable proof or rational
consistency but are believed true regardless of evidence to the con-
trary. Everyone is judged from the viewpoint of the person's self-
reference criterion without regard for the other person's separate
cultural context. In particular, a culturally encapsulated helping
professional tends to seek technique-oriented short-term solutions
with little attempt to accommodate the client's needs.

DEFINING INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY 55

 6. Inclusion is more likely to define a cultural context than exclu-
sion. A broad and inclusive definition of counseling interventions
includes both the educational and the medical model to accom-
modate the diversity of culturally different consumer populations.
"Even our definitions of health and pathology can be culture-
bound, especially in the area of mental health. Thus what consti-
tutes healthy human development may also vary according to the
socio-cultural context" (Kagitcibasi, 1988, p. 25). The task is to
match aspects of each cultural context with significant and salient
antecedents to achieve appropriate outcomes in a purposive way.
It is essential to recognize the importance of an inclusive perspec-
tive for accurately understanding each cultural context.
7. Internal spiritual resources are important. In many cultures the
client may seek help from "intrapsychic resources" within the
person, using self-righting mechanisms such as the client's nat-
ural support system. These endogenous resources are frequently
overlooked as one of the treatment modes available. In many
cultures conditions of stress lead to a mobilization of these self-
healing modes that might result in altered states of conscious-
ness as in dreams, dissociated states, religious experiences, or
even psychotic reactions.
8. Ambiguity, although inconvenient, has potentially positive
value. Levine (1985) suggested that the social sciences have
failed to deal with ambiguity as an empirical phenomenon and
have ignored the constructive possibilities of ambiguity for the-
ory and analysis. "The toleration of ambiguity can be produc-
tive if it is taken not as a warrant for sloppy thinking but as an
invitation to deal responsibly with ideas of great complexity"
(p. 17). Complexity theory in the social sciences (Waldrop,
1992) grew out of chaos theory in the physical sciences, seek-
ing to redefine conventional categories. "They believe that
they are forging the first rigorous alternative to the kind of
linear, reductionistic thinking that has dominated science
since the time of Newton—and that has now gone about as
far as it can go in addressing the problems of our modern
world" (p. 13).
Knowledge has many forms. Concepts of knowledge must be enlarged
to go beyond the boundaries of rational process. Knowledge in other cultures
has many forms. There are many ways to gain knowledge, for example, intu-
ition and other forms of knowledge accumulated through experience.
Although reasoning is a valuable skill, in some cultures it is presumed to get
in the way of knowledge because it excludes potentially valuable sources of

56 INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY

information. For that reason, logical inconsistency and paradox become
valuable approximations of truth in many societies. Logic is only one form
of validation, dependent on a linear, empirical, and exclusionary principle
to describe human behavior. The criteria of balance suggest other sources of
qualitative validation as well.

THE CONTRASTING PROCESS OF MORAL EXCLUSION

Cultural encapsulation becomes most visible in the actions of exclusion.

Insiders are separated from outsiders. Certain individuals or groups are judged
to be outside the boundaries, and the normal rules of fairness no longer apply.
Those who are excluded are nonentities, expendable, and undeserving, so
doing harm to them is acceptable if not perhaps appropriate and justified.
Ranging from discrimination to genocide and ethnic cleansing, victims are
blamed for allowing themselves to become victims!
By better understanding the process of moral exclusion, we can better
build a system of ethical guidelines for the future of counseling. This phe-
nomenon is most evident in two nations at war, but subtle forms of moral
exclusion are evident elsewhere as well. When intergroup contact fails, it
often results in exclusionary behavior. Moral exclusion—meaning exclusion
of a group or person for moral reasons—results from severe conflict or from
feelings of unconnectedness and antipathy. Opotow (1990) listed the ratio-
nalizations and justifications that support moral exclusion of minorities,
which help to identify otherwise hidden examples of moral exclusion through
psychological distancing, displacing responsibility, defining group loyalty, and
normalizing or glorifying violence.
According to Opotow (1990), some examples of moral exclusion and
consequent behaviors include the following: (a) biased evaluation: mak-
ing unflattering comparisons; (b) derogation: disparaging and denigrating
others; (c) dehumanization: repudiating others' dignity and humanity;
(d) fear of contamination: perceiving contact as threatening; (e) expand-
ing the target: redefining legitimate victims; (f) accelerating harm doing:
engaging in destructive acts; (g) approving destructive behavior: condon-
ing harm doing; (h) reducing moral standards: defining harmful as proper;
(i) blaming the victim: displacing the blame for actions; (j) self-righteous
comparisons: justifying retaliation; and (k) desecration: harming others to
demonstrate contempt.
Other more subtle, hidden, and covert processes of moral exclusion and
their consequences include the following: (a) groupthink: striving for group
unanimity; (b) transcendent ideologies: exalting the group experience;
(c) deindividuation: feeling anonymous in the group; (d) moral engulfment:
replacing ethical standards; (e) psychological distancing: not feeling others'

DEFINING INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY 57

presence; (f) technical orientation: focusing on efficient means; (g) double
standards: having different sets of moral rules; (h) unflattering comparisons:
emphasizing one's superiority; (i) euphemisms: conferring respectability on
hurtful behavior; (j) displacing responsibility: appealing to higher authority;
(k) diffusing responsibility: doing harm collectively; (1) concealing the
effects: minimizing injurious outcomes; (m) glorifying violence: making vio-
lence legitimate; (n) normalizing violence: accepting violent behavior; and
(o) temporal containment: allowing a necessary exception (Opotow, 1990).
Moral exclusion is the obvious consequence of cultural encapsulation
and can occur in degrees from overt and malicious evil to passive unconcern
when intergroup contact fails. It is possible to be exclusionary by what you do
not do as well as by what you do. Moral exclusion is pervasive and not iso-
lated. Psychological and social supports may condone otherwise unacceptable
attitudes, intentionally or unintentionally. Opotow (1990) noted, "As sever-
ity of conflict and threat escalates, harm and sanctioned aggression become
more likely. As harm doing escalates, societal structures change, the scope of
justice shrinks, and the boundaries of harm doing expand" (p. 13). This model
can also be applied to counseling and other areas of psychology. Opotow and
Weiss (2000) demonstrated how moral orientations of inclusion and exclu-
sion underlie and fuel environmental conflicts. A typology of denial in envi-
ronmental conflict demonstrates "a form of selective inattention toward
threat-provoking aspects of a situation to protect a person from anxiety, guilt,
or other ego threats" (p. 479). As Opotow and Weiss pointed out, (a) we are
all victims of exclusion, (b) we are all violators of inclusion, and (c) we all
need to work on increasing our inclusionary perspective in problem solving
through dialogue.
Palombi and Mundt (2005, p. 175) developed a model for inclu-
sion with regard to gender and disabilities by combining the themes of
wellness and liberation at the personal, relational, and collective levels.
Personal needs involve mastery and control. Relational needs include sup-
port and affective bonds. The collective perspective combines the need for
economic security, shelter, and safety nets. The community model of
embeddedness, interdependence, intradependence, and evolution com-
bines consideration of the target, purpose, and method of intervention as
the basis of social justice.
Usually, moral exclusion results from severe conflict or from feelings of
unconnectedness as relationships are perceived. Opotow (1990) listed the
rationalizations and justifications that support moral exclusion and help to
identify otherwise hidden examples of moral exclusion. Other examples of
moral exclusion might include psychological distancing, displacing responsi-
bility, group loyalty, and normalizing or glorifying violence. The list of exam-
ples is provided to demonstrate that moral exclusion can be so ordinary an
occurrence that it fails to attract attention.

58 INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY

 CONCLUSION

In this chapter we have described—by way of definitions, comparisons,

contrasts, examples, and assumptions—our inclusive cultural empathy or
ICE model. The first stage in developing ICE is awareness of assumptions.
Whether we know it or not, we are all taught to assume certain things about
who we are and how to behave. Most of these assumptions are unspoken but
can be brought to a level of consciousness whereby we can articulate them.
We have also examined the processes and manifestation of moral exclusion
to describe why the alternatives to inclusion are unacceptable. In the next
two chapters we explore how to develop awareness, both of our own cultural
assumptions and of the possibly different assumptions of others.

DEFINING INCLUSIVE CULTURAL EMPATHY 59