Introduction: Culture, Privilege, and Oppression in Psychological Assessment
Abstract
This presentation will discuss a model of thinking about culture, privilege, and oppression both in the content and process of psychological assessment. Through a lens of structural competency (Wilcox et al., 2024), the life cycle of an individual psychological assessment will be broken down into its component parts to elucidate where issues of culture, privilege, and oppression interact with the assessment process (Wright, 2024a). The concept of psychological testing endeavoring to assess clients under ideal (or best possible) circumstances will be examined (Wright, 2024b), as will specific actions to reduce bias in the process.
Presenter
Dr. A. Jordan Wright | New York University
Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of the Webinar, attendees will be able to:
- Identify three ways culture, privilege, and/or oppression can affect the psychological assessment process.
- Describe three strategies to address issues of culture, privilege, and/or oppression in the psychological assessment process.
Continuing Education Statement
The Society for Personality Assessment (SPA) and the Society of Clinical Psychology, Division 12 of American Psychological Association are approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. They maintain responsibility for this program and its content.
Society for Personality Assessment is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0218.
1.Wilcox, M. M., Pérez-Rojas, A. E., Marks, L. R., Reynolds, A. L., Suh, H. N., Flores, L. Y., ... & Miller, M. J. (2024). Structural competencies: Re-grounding counseling psychology in antiracist and decolonial praxis. The Counseling Psychologist, 52(4), 650-691. https://doi.org/10.1177/00110000241231029
2. Wright, A. J. (2024a). Introduction: Culture, oppression, and privilege in psychological assessment. In A. J. Wright (Ed.), Essentials of culture in psychological assessment (pp. 1-22). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
3. Wright, A. J. (2024b). Queering psychological assessment. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 55(6), 529-536. https://doi.org/10.1037/pro0000594
A. Jordan Wright, PhD, ABAP, ABPP is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Psychology at New York University, where he is the Director of the PhD program in Combined Clinical/Counseling Psychology and the Founding Director of NYU’s training clinic, the Center for Counseling and Community Wellbeing. He is a licensed psychologist in New York, New Jersey, California, Florida, and Massachusetts and is involved in direct clinical service, teaching/education, clinical supervision, and research.
Dr. Wright earned his PhD in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University, as well as a Master’s in Psychology in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. He is board certified from the American Board of Professional Psychology (Clinical Psychology) and the American Board of Assessment Psychology. He is the President Elect of the Society of Clinical Psychology, serves on the Board of the Society for Personality Assessment, and will serve as President/Chair of the American Board of Assessment Psychology (ABAP) beginning in 2025. He has authored many peer-reviewed journal articles and multiple books in the field of psychological assessment.