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Chapter 6. Current Theoretical Perspectives
CHAPTER REVIEW
Chapter 6 provides an introduction to contemporary postmodern perspectives of the helping
relationship and psychological processes of human development and change. These perspectives
transcend the traditional theories discussed in Chapter 5. They are more culturally sensitive,
analysis of traditional power structures and the impact of these structures on the self-concept and
development of individual women is encouraged. Attention is paid to political and social action,
as well as change agentry as components of helping strategies.
The multicultural approaches require sensitivity to and awareness of inter- and
intracultural differences about lifestyles and values. They focus on the culturally different
The ecological systems perspective focuses on interpersonal and person/systems
relationships in context. The symptoms of an individual both reflect and control interpersonal
MAJOR TEACHING OBJECTIVES
1. To explore contemporary theoretical views as extensions or critical responses to the major
2. To facilitate consideration by students of all aspects of multicultural human development,
3. To understand the contemporary focus on the integration of physical, emotional, behavioral,
spiritual, and social approaches.
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1. What is meant by “the personal is the political”? Have students give examples from their
2. What gender roles did students learn in their families of origin? How does that early learning
3. Encourage students to bring in children’s books that show traditional and nontraditional
gender roles. Have students look in the multicultural sections of bookstores and report on
4. Ask students how many consider themselves “feminists.” Discuss what the term means to
them and what it has come to mean to many people, both male and female. Note the
5. Do students think it matters whether helpees see helpers of the same gender? What about
6. Ask students to talk to primary school teachers or students in education departments. How
are holidays being discussed in school systems today? For example, what types of holiday
7. Do any students consider themselves advocates or change agents? What actions for social
change have they taken? Consider such actions as writing letters to the editor or to
8. At the end of this chapter, the instructor might share with the class his/her own evolution of
COMMENTS ON EXERCISES IN THE BOOK
There are the same two exercises in this chapter as in the last. The first asks students to answer a
INTERNET ACTIVITIES
1. Have students provide information about one of the following associations or institutes. Can
they find other institutes or associations for theories discussed in the chapter but not listed
below?
2. The Online Association for Multimodal Psychology listed above in #1 has links to articles,
3. Have students use the Internet to learn about what steps they can take to bring about social
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for Social Responsibility, www.bfsr.org; and Amnesty International USA,
amnestyusa.org/actnow/
4. Go to the following Internet web sites and then discuss how these three approaches might
influence your understanding of the helping process:
1. When watching films of different theories in practice, ask students to consider how much of
what the therapist is doing is related to the actual theory he/she espouses. The APA
2. You can find videos depicting many of the approaches discussed in this chapter on
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. What type of theory is constructivism?
2. Constructivism differs from traditional cognitive-behavioral theories because of its attention
to:
3. What does the client learn to deconstruct in constructivism?
4. Constructivism does all of the following except:
5. Which statement about constructivism is not true?
6. Feminist therapy:
7. Feminist therapists:
8. The major principles of feminist theory include all of the following except:
9. Multicultural models include all of the following except:
10. Integrated approaches:
11. An integrated approach includes all of the following except:
12. All of the following are associated with multimodal theory except:
13. BASIC ID:
14. BASIC ID includes all the following except:
15. From the ecological systems perspective, an individual’s problems are:
16. The ecological systems perspective includes all of the following except:
17. An example of change agentry is:
18. Motivational Interviewing focuses on:
19. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
20. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy teaches skills for:
ESSAY QUESTIONS
3. In constructivism, who is the expert and how is this demonstrated in the therapeutic
4. According to feminist theory, how might a woman’s socialized experience affect her well-
14. Why are there so many different theories of helping?
15. How are human relations skills useful when applying advocacy and change agentry
