Reference: Chapter 4: The Psychological Person. Chapter 5: The spiritual Person– Hutchison, E. (2017). Essentials of human behavior: Integrating Person, Environment, and the Life Course (2nd ed.). Los Angeles, Sage Publications.
Answer these questions in detail and reference Chapter 4 & 5 include page numbers.
Chapter 4: The Psychological Person
1. Why do you think we easily get diverted from thinking about societal conditions that create stress, instead, to focus on helping individuals cope with stress?
2. How does such an approach that was social work’s commitment to social justice?
3. What biases do you have about how people should cope with discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and so on?
4. How might the coping strategy need to change in different situations, such as receiving service in a restaurant, being interviewed for a job, or dealing with an unthinking comment from a classmate?
Discussion Chapter 5: The Spiritual Person
1. At the beginning of this chapter you read about the spiritual religious beliefs of seven people. With which of the stories were you most comfortable? Discuss your reasons? With which of these stories were you least comfortable? Discuss your reasons?
2. How comfortable are you with the idea of including the spiritual person in social work’s understanding of human behavior? Would you like about the idea? What do you not like about the idea?
3. Fowler and Wilber both think of spirituality in terms of development higher levels of faith or consciousness over time. Do you think this is a helpful way to think about spirituality? Explain. Is it a helpful way to think about your own spiritual life? Explain. Do you see any cultural biases in either of these theories? Explain.
4. With globalization, we have more regular contact with people of diverse religious and spiritual beliefs. How much religious and spiritual diversity to you come into contact with in your everyday life? How comfortable are you with honoring different religious and spiritual beliefs? How have you seen religious and spiritual beliefs used to discriminate against some groups of people? How have you seen religious and spiritual beliefs used to promote social justice? How comfortable are you in discussing religious and spiritual things with others?
