Important individual differences in clinician/client interactions

Abstract

While patterns of racial/ethnic subgroup differences are important (see previous chapter), variables that influence a wide range of individual differences in clinician/client interactions are equally as important for applied psychologists to understand and appreciate. The term “individual differences” is broadly defined to encompass individual differences in cultural characteristics within racial/ethnic groups, levels of intergroup contact, psychological service setting variables, client characteristics, and psychological services. The chapter ends with a discussion of the appropriateness to which race/ethnicity can be considered “primordial” in clinician/client interactions.