Cultural competence and sensitivity in applied psychology: Ethical and scientific problems

Abstract

There have been significant problems in precisely defining cultural competence and cultural sensitivity in applied psychology. This chapter examines definitional issues related to this problem and suggests that these constructs rest, at least partially, on an ethical premise. This may account for the paucity of empirical evaluation as ethical claims (when viewed deontically or from the perspective of virtue ethics) may not be decided on empirical grounds. Although these constructs may have empirical dimensions, significant paradoxes and contradictions continue to exist.