Because of your earlier experiences, family rules and roles, race, culture, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, physical and intellectual abilities, and age, you may value different experiences and set different goals for yourself than do the people you meet and talk to. It is very easy to overlook those differences -- perhaps in our attempt to find a common ground with the other person? However, one of the most important parts of doing therapy is recognizing and validating, rather than overlooking or minimizing, differences in values and goals. When we see differences, we may find it difficult to recognize that this other approach might be equally valuable to our own -- especially if your group generally holds more status in your culture. We may see the other group as different (and bad).

This project is the most open-ended you will be given this semester -- and therefore more difficult to explain. Your task is to: (a) explore an aspect of your difference from another person of a different group, and (b) consider the implications it has for that person and, by implication, you. Remember that the person you interview, although perhaps taking a different viewpoint, sees his/her viewpoint as valuable and defendable. Be sure to see and communicate this.

Some possible topics:

• Talk to someone about being straight (if you're gay), out (if you are in the closet), perhaps thinking about issues of heterosexual privilege, feeling accepted and valued, initiating dating relationships.

• Discuss the effects of having/not having a physical disability on self-esteem, relationship patterns, and body image.

• How is the experience of an international student here different than your own? How is their perception of this school/country a function of their own culture and values, how they feel about them, and previous schooling?

• How does being an African-American (or any other minority), at a school that is largely Euro-American, affect self-esteem, attitudes towards one's own group/culture/race, feelings of being understood and accepted?

• Talk to a traditional aged student if a returning adult, a returning adult if not, exploring values surrounding school, work, relationships and childrearing.

Remember! Your interview is about one person's experiences, not all members of a particular group. Notice that this assignment is different from that on others' worldviews in that this is an interview rather than observation.

Page by jms
URL= http://psy1.clarion.edu/jms/cptdiffs.html

Last updated August 31, 1998