Role of Diversity in Psychology Research and Practice

Owing to the effect of the global economic integration, which has turned the world into a global village, the workplace is becoming more and more diverse than ever. It is with no doubt that the global economic integration is an on-going process that is concretising the connexions amid cities, persons, regions, neighbourhoods, and nations closer together than they have ever been before (Inegbedion et al., 2020). Currently, organizations are becoming ambiguous and intricate at a very high rate.  And in the wake of tough competition coupled with massive work pressure, it has demanded the construction of a universal culture capable of attracting and inspiring workers from various regions and parts of the globe to be fit for employment in any institution without having a sense unsuitability. Regardless of the challenges of embracing diversity, there are various advantages that can make a diverse labour force to generate a positive trade-off (Inegbedion et al., 2020). Some of the benefits of a diverse workforce comprise of obtainability of a greater variety of alternate procedures for resolving problems, rapid adaptability, allocation of resources and in-service sourcing. Apart from that, diversity at the workplace also facilitates diverse viewpoints, diverse cultural background and languages, a diverse assemblage of experiences/skills, and a wider range of service. Besides, the variety of alternate problem-solving techniques coupled with a diverse assemblage of experiences and skills leads to effectiveness as well as efficiency in the implementation of projects. Moreover, workplace diversity results in customer gratification since it improves how employees interrelate with a more diverse public and clientele. Furthermore, having a workforce that is diverse in nature with multi-lingual workers from varying cultural backgrounds can also be helpful for those firms who want to expand as well as improve operations in national, international, local and regional markets.

For some 50 years, cultural competence has been a key aspect of psychological practice and thinking. Cultural competence has become one of psychology’s key competencies after becoming such an integral part of this particular field. Cultural competence should be comprehended in the context of a more intricate and richer conception of how individuals are shaped by culture. We are all products of multiple overlying identities. It thus follows that the enterprise of effecting the cultural competence agenda throughout the mental healthcare field is not only a delicate but also a complicated task (Soto et al., 2018). It is important to recognize that building trust amid persons from varied walks of life can present impediments on both sides of the counselling encounter. By being culturally competent, counsellors can deliver the best outcome possible, irrespective of the dissimilarities between themselves and their clients. Furthermore, culturally competent psychologists are perfectly aware of culturally learned presumptions by themselves and their clientele, understand the culturally significant information and facts about the client’s culture, and can skillfully intercede to bring about constructive change via counselling.

Before psychological science can truly say that it comprehends a particular psychological phenomenon or construct, it must be able to capture the full breadth of human experiences (Hewer, 2015). Besides, if at all psychologists are really trying to come up with laws of human behaviour, then it is essential that those particular laws are grounded on data that captures erraticism. Apart from that, it is vital that psychological scientists widen their horizons whenever they are selecting what to study, especially as it correlates to the multitude of racial and ethnic experiences. Research studies must implement a framework that values viewpoint, and most essentially, a variety of perceptions, rather than objectivity. Moreover, researchers must examine both the diversity of their subjects and their colleagues because if they are going to diversify their samples, then they must have persons who comprehend something about the experience of the people they are studying (Hewer, 2015). These particular measures would set the psychological field on the right path to aggregating ethnic and racial minority representation in all psychological science areas. Furthermore, both knowledge production and equity outcomes in the sciences are heightened by attention to cultural diversity especially diversity of sites of scientific practice, methods, notions and populations.

In my capstone topic, research is considered important, and when designing interventions and conducting research, psychologists must be heedful of diverse experiences and perspectives. The main goal of all scientists is to be able to comprehend the world around them. Psychologists mainly concentrate on comprehending behaviour as well as the psychological and cognitive processes underlying behaviour. Contrary to other people’s techniques to understand others’ behaviour, such as personal experiences and intuition, scientific research’s hallmark is that there is evidence to support the said claim. Scientific research is based on tangible and objective substantiation that can time and again be observed irrespective of who is observing. When a claim is made by an individual, the claim should be evaluated from various perspectives (Levitt et al., 2017). Besides, research partakers should echo the diversity of our conditions and culture, taking into consideration age, ethnicity, race and gender, among others. Lack of diversity among research partakers could lead to ethical as well as research consequences. Besides, in the nearby future, organizations with a good comprehension of how to effectively manage diversity at the workplace will have a distinctive advantage in hiring and retaining talent.