Understanding anxiety and facilitating twinship selfobject functions among social workers: Psychodynamic contributions to multicultural education

Abstract

This article addresses the internal and interpersonal process of learning diversity from the perspective of students/learners. Following a review of the current literature on multicultural education, the article examines anxiety about and resistance to diversity training among social workers and students. As an alternative pedagogical perspective on multicultural education, the article discusses some constructs in self psychology that have contributed to multicultural education, in particular the selfobject experience of ‘twinship’ that facilitates personal and professional self development. Cultivating common ground among participants through the twinship selfobject function in multicultural education is important for (1) human connection and relatedness and (2) helping participants regulate their anxiety in dealing with cognitively loaded and affectively charged issues in multicultural education. Two classroom examples from the author's own experience in MSW diversity-training courses illustrate the absence and presence of the twinship selfobject function in multicultural education.

Keywords:

• multicultural education in social work
• anxiety and resistance
• intrapsychic and interpersonal learning process
• self psychology
• twinship selfobject functions
• personal/professional self development

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to greatly appreciate Dr. Carolyn Saari and Dr. Dennis Miehls for their helpful comments and support on earlier versions of this paper.