Ch. 10 Cultural Diversity - Key Terms
Acculturation
Acculturation: The process of learning the beliefs and behaviors of a dominant culture and assuming some of its characteristics. This usually occurs slowly over many years.
Cultural Diversity
Cultural Diversity: Differences based on cultural, ethnic, and racial factors.
Holistic Care
Holistic Care: Care that provides for the well-being of the whole person, meeting physical, social, emotional, and mental needs.
Personal Space
Personal Space: Also called territorial space; the distance people require to feel comfortable while interacting with others.
Sensitivity
Sensitivity: The ability to recognize and appreciate the personal characteristics of others.
Agnostic
Agnostic: An individual who believes that the existence of God cannot be proved or disproved.
Culture
Culture: The values, beliefs, attitudes, languages, symbols, rituals, behaviors, and customs unique to a group of people, passed from one generation to the next.
Matriarchal
Matriarchal: A family structure where the mother or the oldest female is the authority figure and decision-maker.
Polytheist
Polytheist: An individual who believes in and worships many gods.
Spirituality
Spirituality: The beliefs individuals have about themselves, their connections with others, and their relationship with a higher power.
Atheist
Atheist: A person who does not believe in any deity or god.
Ethnicity
Ethnicity: A classification of people based on national origin and/or culture (e.g., African American, Hispanic American).
Monotheist
Monotheist: An individual who believes in the existence of only one God.
Prejudice
Prejudice: To "prejudge"; a strong feeling or belief about a person or subject formed without reviewing facts or information.
Stereotyping
Stereotyping: Making an assumption that everyone in a particular group is the same; "labeling" an individual.
Bias
Bias: A preference that inhibits impartial judgment (e.g., believing college-educated people are superior to uneducated people).
Ethnocentric
Ethnocentric: The belief that one's own ethnic or cultural values are superior to those of others.
Nuclear Family
Nuclear Family: A family unit usually consisting of one or two parents and a child or children.
Race
Race: A classification of people based on physical or biological characteristics such as skin color, hair, eyes, and bone structure.
Transcultural Health Care
Transcultural Health Care: Health care based on the cultural beliefs, emotional needs, spiritual feelings, and physical needs of a person.
Cultural Assimilation
Cultural Assimilation: The absorption of many cultures into a dominant culture, requiring newly arrived groups to alter their unique beliefs and adopt the ways of the dominant group.
Extended Family
Extended Family: A family unit that includes the nuclear family plus grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Patriarchal
Patriarchal: A family structure where the father or the oldest male is the authority figure and decision-maker.
Religion
Religion: An organized system of belief in a superhuman power or higher power.