Sue and Sue’s Racial/Cultural Identity Development (R/CID) Model

Sue and Sue’s Racial/Cultural
Identity Development (R/CID) Model
Sue and Sue have provided a five-stage model of
what oppressed individuals encounter as they struggle
to understand themselves. First is the conformity stage.
In this stage, minority group members prefer the val-
ues, beliefs, and perspectives of the dominant culture.
Second is the dissonance stage. In this stage, a specific
event yields information that is inconsistent with the
individual’s beliefs and values. This event results in an
increase in questioning and challenging of the values
and beliefs held in the conformity stage. Third is the
resistance and immersion stage. This stage is charac-
terized by the individual immersing himself or herself
in the minority culture and possessing negative
attitudes toward the dominant culture. Fourth is the
introspection stage. Here individuals focus on under-
standing themselves and their own cultural group.
Additionally, individuals may experience some discon-
tent with some group views held during the resistance
and immersion stage. Fifth is the integrative awareness
stage.  In this stage, the individual exhibits an inner
sense of stability while appreciating components of his
or her own culture and other cultures.
IDENTITY DEFINED
Identity is the definition of self based on the context,
salience, meaning, and attachment people give to their
combined and interactive personal, social, intragroup,
group, and human dimensions. The first component of
this definition is a person’s definition of self. A self-
definition is the way in which people perceive them-
selves. The perception is influenced by context,
salience, meaning, and attachment, but ultimately, the
definition comes from the individual. Context includes
the environmental factors that influence an individual’s
actions, thoughts, and feelings. For example, loud
Ethnic Identity Development———179cheers, passionate emotions, and opinionated com-
mentary on team strategies befit fans at a basketball
game.  Salience is the degree of prominence and
awareness accorded to a specific dimension of identity
at a given time. A person’s identity as a parent may
have little or no salience when he or she is single and
has not had children. However, upon that person mar-
rying and having twins, parenting will likely have
high salience. Meaning is the value people place on
themselves as a result of the process of organizing,
interpreting, and integrating their experiences. Two
students may value themselves differently even
though they receive the same grade on a final exami-
nation. The difference in reaction is based on the
meaning each individual makes out of the grade (i.e.,
“my intellect is declining” versus “time to celebrate”).
Attachment is the degree to which individuals feel
bonded to a specific aspect of their identity. At work,
an individual may feel highly bonded to success and
efficiency. At home, an individual may feel a stronger
bond to other roles, such as mother and wife.
The second part of the definition enumerates the var-
ious dimensions of identity. The first dimension is per-
sonal, which consists of specific physical and personal
characteristics. Physical characteristics include height,
hair color, and eye color. Personal characteristics (per-
sonality) may include being shy, charming, or logical.
The second dimension is  social, which is based on
group membership that is representative of an existing
social system of categories. An example is a European
American heterosexual male who is categorized based
on his race, sexual orientation, and gender. The third
dimension is  intragroup—the position an individual
occupies within specific groups. Within the African
American community, an individual may be a mentor,
role model, consultant, and churchgoer. The fourth
dimension is group, which consists of the boundaries,
values, history, and reputation of groups as a whole.
Every group possesses a unique group identity, regard-
less of the characteristics of similar and dissimilar
groups. Westminster Presbyterian Church has a group
identity that sets it apart from rotary clubs, small col-
leges, and restaurants, as well as from other Presbyterian
churches. The last dimension is human. Human identity
stands in contrast to the identity of other species, such as
animals and plants. The major differences lie in the mul-
tidimensionality of human identity, whereas in other
species, identity is unidimensional. The combination
and interaction of personal, social, intragroup, group,
and human dimensions defines a person’s  individual
identity. In addition, individual identity is subject to
change, depending on the context, salience, meaning,
and attachment given to its various dimensions.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Identity is multidimensional, and ethnic identity is a
particular instance of this construct. A number of
theories of ethnic identity development have been
proposed, further illustrating the challenge and oppor-
tunity to understand how people give themselves
meaning as ethnic beings. Helping individuals
develop healthy ethnic identity requires psychologists
to embrace the multidimensionality of the construct
and facilitate purposeful progression through the var-
ious stages of development. The ultimate goal of eth-
nic identity development is respecting oneself and
respecting others regardless of variations in ethnicity.
—Charles R. Ridley
—Andrew Case
See also Ethnic Identity Development Measures; Ethnicity
FURTHER READING
Aponte, J., & Crouch, R. (1995). The changing ethnic profile
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Atkinson, R., Morten, T., & Sue, D. (1998).  Counseling
American minorities: A cross-cultural perspective (5th
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Cross, W. (1971). The Negro-to-Black conversion experience:
Toward a psychology of liberation. World, 20, 13–27.
Cross, W. (1978). The Cross and Thomas psychological mod-
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Cross, W. (1989). Nigrescence: A nondiaphanous phenome-
non. The Counseling Psychologist, 17, 273–276.
Helms, J. (1990).  Black and White racial identity: Theory,
research, and practice. New York: Greenwood.
Kunnen, E., & Bosma, H. (2000). Development of meaning
making: A dynamic systems approach.  New Ideas in
Psychology, 18, 57–82.
Phinney, J. S. (1990). Ethnic identity in adolescents and adults:
Review of research. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 499–514.
Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (1990). Counseling the culturally dif-
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180———Ethnic Identity DevelopmentWorchel, S., & Coutant, D. (2001). It takes two to tango:
Relating group identity to individual identity within
the framework of group development. In M. Hogg &
S. Tindale (Eds.), Black Group processes  (pp. 461–481).
Malden, MA: Blackwell