Article Review

I need assistance with an article review. 

The articles titled Social Justice….and Professionalism, Ethics… are weekly readings. The article review should be written on the article titled The Impact of Curiosity on Counselors…. The attachment titled Article Review are the instructions for the review. If there are any questions prior to completion, please let me know as to avoid double work and premature payments. Thanks 

Baker, E., Messerschmitt-Coen, S., & Granello, D. H. (2020). The Impact of Curiosity on Counselors’ Social Justice Identity. Journal for Social Action in Counseling & Psychology, 12(2), 2–17. https://doi-org.ezproxy.uwa.edu/10.33043/jsacp.12.2.2-17

Journal of Counseling & Development ■ Winter 2007 ■ Volume 8524
© 2007 by the American Counseling Association. All rights reserved.

For many decades, counselors and counseling psychologists
have been concerned with the relationship between individu-
als’ mental health and the social milieus in which people live.
As the racial and ethnic diversity of the United States con-
tinues to increase, the need for mental health professionals
to tailor their mental health services to the needs of various
cultural populations has become more germane (Constantine,
Kindaichi, Arorash, Donnelly, & Jung, 2002). In particular,
the growing recognition of the negative consequences of
oppression in the lives of people of color has been crucial
in helping many counselors and counseling psychologists to
identify effective interventions to address such issues and to
work more broadly to effect social change (Hage, 2003; Vera
& Speight, 2003). Such awareness and actions have paralleled
the emergence of the multicultural competence movement
(Arredondo & Perez, 2003; Sue et al., 1982).

Multicultural competence generally is defined as the extent
to which counselors possess appropriate levels of self-aware-
ness, knowledge, and skills in working with individuals from
diverse cultural backgrounds (Arredondo et al., 1996; Sue,
Arredondo, & McDavis, 1992). In particular, self-aware-
ness entails being cognizant of one’s attitudes, beliefs, and
values regarding race, ethnicity, and culture, along with
one’s awareness of the sociopolitical relevance of cultural
group membership in terms of issues of cultural privilege,
discrimination, and oppression. The knowledge dimension
of multicultural competence refers to information one has
about various worldview orientations, histories of oppression
endured by marginalized populations, and culture-specific
values that influence the subjective and collective experi-
ences of marginalized populations. The skills component of
multicultural competence involves the ability to draw from an

existing fund of cultural knowledge to design mental health
interventions that are relevant to marginalized populations.
In many respects, multicultural competence has become
inextricably linked to counselors’ and counseling psycholo-
gists’ ability to commit to and actualize an agenda of social
justice (Kiselica & Robinson, 2001).

Social justice reflects a fundamental valuing of fairness
and equity in resources, rights, and treatment for marginal-
ized individuals and groups of people who do not share equal
power in society because of their immigration, racial, ethnic,
age, socioeconomic, religious heritage, physical ability, or
sexual orientation status groups (Fondacaro & Weinberg,
2002; Prilleltensky & Nelson, 1997). In order to address
social justice issues, some counselors and counseling psy-
chologists in the United States have adopted a professional
commitment to ensuring global or international social change
(Osborne et al., 1998). Others have been involved primar-
ily at a domestic level by being concerned with helping
members of U.S. society to deal with the personal, societal,
and institutional barriers that impede their academic, per-
sonal, social, or career development. Both of these levels
of involvement in social justice issues, however, are critical
in understanding the interdependence of macrosystems and
microsystems in people’s lives, especially in the lives of
marginalized populations.

In this article, we discuss the historical and contemporary
connection to social justice issues in the fields of counsel-
ing and counseling psychology vis-à-vis the multicultural
counseling movement. In addition, we underscore ways that
social justice issues can be incorporated into counselors’ and
counseling psychologists’ work with culturally diverse clients
and into the curricula of academic training programs.

Madonna G. Constantine, Sally M. Hage, and Mai M. Kindaichi, Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, all at Teach-
ers College, Columbia University; Rhonda M. Bryant, Department of Counseling, Educational Leadership and Foundations, Albany
State University. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Madonna G. Constantine, Department of Counsel-
ing and Clinical Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 West 120th Street, Box 92, New York, NY 10027 (e-mail:
mc81�@columbia.edu).

Social Justice and Multicultural Issues:
Implications for the Practice and
Training of Counselors and
Counseling Psychologists
Madonna G. Constantine, Sally M. Hage, Mai M. Kindaichi, and
Rhonda M. Bryant

The authors discuss the historical and contemporary connection to social justice issues in the fields of counseling and
counseling psychology via the multicultural counseling movement. In addition, the authors present ways in which social
justice issues can be addressed in counselors’ and counseling psychologists’ work with clients from diverse cultural
backgrounds and in graduate training programs.

Journal of Counseling & Development ■ Winter 2007 ■ Volume 85 25

Social Justice and Multicultural Issues

Social Justice and the Multicultural
Competencies: Their Connections
to the Fields of Counseling and
Counseling Psychology

Within the fields of counseling and counseling psychology,
the holistic, strengths-based philosophy about human nature
and its emphasis on instituting culturally relevant psychoedu-
cational, developmental, social, and vocational interventions
for diverse populations have provided fertile ground for many
social justice initiatives (Vera & Speight, 2003). In fact, many
counselors and counseling psychologists have functioned
as leaders in identifying and implementing guidelines that
address multicultural competence in mental health profes-
sionals (e.g., American Psychological Association [APA],
2003; Arredondo et al., 1996; Sue et al., 1992; Sue et al.,
1982; Sue et al., 1998). The development of such guidelines
or “competencies” has exemplified these fields’ commitment
to social change and remedying social injustices by assisting
various mental health professionals to understand individuals’
circumstances and concerns from a more ecological perspec-
tive (Fondacaro & Weinberg, 2002; Vera & Speight, 2003).
Moreover, the Multicultural Competencies have contributed to
greater awareness of the potentially oppressive roles that these
professionals could unintentionally play through unfounded
assumptions about the universality of cultures and human
experiences (Arredondo & Perez, 2003).

The original presentation of the Multicultural Counseling
Competencies was published in a counseling psychology
journal in the early 1980s (i.e., Sue et al., 1982). Ten years
later, under the leadership of Thomas A. Parham, then-
president of the Association for Counseling and Multicultural
Development, the second iteration of the Multicultural Coun-
seling Competencies was presented (i.e., Sue et al., 1992). In
1996, Arredondo et al. issued a framework that operationalized
the revised version of the Multicultural Counseling Competen-
cies. In 1998, Sue et al. added two competencies related to
organizational multicultural competence. Previous delineations
of the Multicultural Counseling Competencies served as the
backbone of the recent “Guidelines on Multicultural Educa-
tion, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change
for Psychologists” (APA, 2003), which was endorsed by the
APA Council of Representatives in August 2002. Thus, the
broader field of psychology was challenged to adhere to these
aspirational guidelines to promote multicultural competence
in various dimensions of professional practice (e.g., service
delivery, research, and training).

The Multicultural Counseling Competencies (Sue et
al., 1992) were developed as an independent social justice
movement devoted to increasing the relevance of mental
health practice, research, and training to diverse populations
(Arredondo & Perez, 2003). However, most of the existing

literature related to the Multicultural Competencies reflects
attention to issues of social justice at a microlevel (e.g.,
individual counseling and small-group interventions). Such
interventions, however, are generally limited in their ability to
foster broader social change and, consequently, to bring about
true social justice (Helms, 2003). Fairly recent writings (e.g.,
Blustein, Elman, & Gerstein, 2001; Eriksen, 1999; Fox, 2003;
Jackson, 2000; Lee, 1997; Prilleltensky & Prilleltensky, 2003;
Vera & Speight, 2003) have called for increasing numbers of
counselors and counseling psychologists to engage in profes-
sional roles that attend more fully to social and contextual
forces that affect people’s mental health and well-being. As
such, in conducting social justice work, some of these mental
health professionals have adopted roles that have taken them
beyond their offices to settings such as community centers,
churches, school systems, and even legislative bodies for
the purpose of facilitating systemic changes in response to
social injustices (Hage, 2003; Kiselica & Robinson, 2001;
Thompson, Murry, Harris, & Annan, 2003). In addition, coun-
selors and counseling psychologists have been encouraged
to assume preventive mental health roles (e.g., Hage, 2003;
Romano & Hage, 2000) as extensions of social justice and
multicultural agendas.

In our clinical and research work in the areas of multicul-
tural competence and social justice, we have identified nine
specific social justice competencies that we believe are impor-
tant for counselors and counseling psychologists to consider
as they work with increasingly diverse cultural populations in
the United States. These competencies are as follows:

1. Become knowledgeable about the various ways op-
pression and social inequities can be manifested at
the individual, cultural, and societal levels, along
with the ways such inequities might be experienced
by various individuals, groups, organizations, and
macrosystems.

2. Participate in ongoing critical reflection on issues of
race, ethnicity, oppression, power, and privilege in
your own life.

3. Maintain an ongoing awareness of how your own
positions of power or privilege might inadvertently
replicate experiences of injustice and oppression in in-
teracting with stakeholding groups (e.g., clients, com-
munity organizations, and research participants).

4. Question and challenge therapeutic or other interven-
tion practices that appear inappropriate or exploitative
and intervene preemptively, or as early as feasible,
to promote the positive well-being of individuals or
groups who might be affected.

5. Possess knowledge about indigenous models of health
and healing and actively collaborate with such entities,
when appropriate, in order to conceptualize and imple-
ment culturally relevant and holistic interventions.

Journal of Counseling & Development ■ Winter 2007 ■ Volume 852�

Constantine, Hage, Kindaichi, & Bryant

6. Cultivate an ongoing awareness of the various types of
social injustices that occur within international contexts;
such injustices frequently have global implications.

7. Conceptualize, implement, and evaluate comprehen-
sive preventive and remedial mental health interven-
tion programs that are aimed at addressing the needs
of marginalized populations.

8. Collaborate with community organizations in
democratic partnerships to promote trust, minimize
perceived power differentials, and provide culturally
relevant services to identified groups.

9. Develop system intervention and advocacy skills to
promote social change processes within institutional
settings, neighborhoods, and communities.

Social Justice Issues and
Counseling Practice

Active involvement in advocacy, community outreach, and
public policy making are prime examples of interventions that
can promote attention to social justice issues among practic-
ing counselors and counseling psychologists (Eriksen, 1999;
Hage, 2003; Vera & Speight, 2003). In the spirit of encour-
aging mental health professionals to broaden their potential
repertoire of helping behaviors beyond those associated with
providing individual counseling or psychotherapy, Atkinson,
Thompson, and Grant (1993) presented a framework that
addressed eight potential helping roles in relation to working
with diverse cultural populations: (a) facilitator of indigenous
healing methods, (b) facilitator of indigenous support systems,
(c) adviser, (d) advocate, (e) change agent, (f) consultant, (g)
counselor, and (h) psychotherapist. Atkinson et al. proposed
that the assumption of any given role(s) depended on the
interaction of three client-based factors: clients’ level of ac-
culturation (i.e., the degree to which clients identify with the
values, beliefs, customs, and institutions of their culture of
origin and the host culture), the locus of the etiology of clients’
presenting problem(s) (i.e., the extent to which clients’ pre-
senting issues stem from internal issues or dynamics or from
external sources), and the goals of intervention or treatment
(i.e., the desired outcomes of helping).

Mental health professionals often adopt the counselor and
psychotherapist roles because they have been taught almost
exclusively to do so in the context of their training programs
(Constantine et al., 2002). However, the assumption of such
roles without full consideration of clients’ level of accultura-
tion, problem etiology, and treatment goals might result in the
delivery of ineffective or culturally irrelevant services. For
example, some low-acculturated individuals might experi-
ence interpersonal difficulties stemming from internal issues
(e.g., low self-esteem), but these individuals may not feel
comfortable or safe in helping relationships with counselors
or counseling psychologists who are not members of their
indigenous frameworks of helping (e.g., family members or

close friends). In such cases, these clients might benefit more
from working with counselors or counseling psychologists
who are able to serve as facilitators of indigenous support
systems or facilitators of indigenous healing methods. In
adopting either of these latter roles, these mental health
professionals should be aware of the potential functions and
importance of indigenous cultural resources, such as family
and friendship networks, religious figures and institutions,
respected community elders or leaders, and “energy healers,”
who could provide assistance that might be more synchronous
with some clients’ worldviews and values.

The roles of adviser, consultant, advocate, and change
agent embody tenets of social justice and activism through
client empowerment and advocacy. In particular, counselors
and counseling psychologists serve as advocates and change
agents when they communicate or interface with structures,
organizations, or institutions that marginalized or disenfran-
chised individuals or groups of people perceive as inherently
oppressive to their well-being. For example, a Black gay
male real estate agent, repeatedly overlooked for promotions
despite an exceptional sales record, might seek counseling or
psychotherapy to address his depressive symptoms arising
from a sense of feeling powerless at work. Although counsel-
ing or psychotherapy might assist this client in achieving his
stated presenting goal, the client also might be helped by a
counselor or counseling psychologist who could assume other
roles such as (a) aiding the client to identify his experiences
regarding racial and/or sexual discrimination and (b) helping
the client to identify potential legal recourses related to his
experiences of discrimination on the job (e.g., serving as an
adviser or consultant). The client also could be encouraged to
join a gay men’s support group or a support group consisting
of men of color in order to obtain support for discussing is-
sues of discrimination based on race or sexual orientation (i.e.,
serving as a facilitator of an indigenous support system). This
example shows that counselors and counseling psychologists
committed to principles of social justice must develop skills in
creativity and courage in order to ameliorate the consequences
of social injustice.

Using the following case example, we illustrate some ways
in which several of Atkinson et al.’s (1993) helping roles
outside of those of counselor and psychotherapist might be
assumed by a counselor or counseling psychologist working
with an international college student.

Case Example

Lydia (a pseudonym) is a 20-year-old, 3rd-year college student
from Lima, Peru, who attends a predominantly White univer-
sity in the midwestern United States. According to the intake
counselor at the university college center, Lydia presented
with issues related to feelings of homesickness. Throughout
her college experience, Lydia stated that she has struggled to
“fit” into the campus community. She also indicated that she
daydreams about her life in Peru, especially her friends and

Journal of Counseling & Development ■ Winter 2007 ■ Volume 85 27

Social Justice and Multicultural Issues

family, and that she misses speaking Spanish. Lydia spoke fluent
English, with a very slight Peruvian accent. At the end of her
intake session, Lydia requested to work with a Latina therapist,
preferably one who spoke Spanish. However, no Latina counselor
was available for ongoing counseling sessions, so Lydia was as-
signed to work with an Asian American female counselor.

During her initial counseling sessions, Lydia discussed her
erratic sleeping patterns, noting that her sleep cycles had been
short and interrupted over the past 3 weeks. She also stated that
she often had to remind herself to eat and that she had been
feeling lethargic and disinterested in her academic courses.
In addition, she reported that she had begun to withdraw from
her friends in the dorm because, she said, she “doesn’t want
to burden them with my problems.”

Lydia indicated that her symptoms began shortly after the
semester had begun, about 1 month ago. After 2 years of work-
ing part time as a teller with a Latino male supervisor with
whom she was on friendly terms, the supervisor left and was
replaced by a White woman. When Lydia was under review
for a salary increase, a financial discrepancy arose in which
the bank till was short. The female supervisor denied Lydia a
raise, despite a flawless work record, and then accused Lydia of
stealing from the bank. During this same time period, Lydia’s
philosophy professor asked her to respond to a question in
class, to which she hesitated because she felt “self-conscious”
about her accent and ability to articulate her thoughts clearly.
In the middle of Lydia’s response, her professor interrupted
and said, “Hurry up, chica,” to which her classmates laughed.
Lydia felt mortified, and, shortly after these incidents, she
became easily distracted from her studies and cared less about
schoolwork in general. Lydia remarked,

It’s not only that I think I don’t fit in here, but it’s like nobody
really wants me here, and I don’t want to be here either. I work
20 hours a week at the bank with that woman and twice as
long as other students [in completing homework assignments].
Somehow, even though my grades are good, I feel down and
drained. I try to show my teachers that I’m as smart as every-
body else, but they keep asking me if I need a tutor and to speak
quicker. I feel like no one else is going through what I’m going
through. Maybe I should just go back home to Lima.

Discussion of the Case Example

Lydia’s intake counselor initially had conceptualized her
situation as involving feelings of homesickness. However,
as Lydia worked with her assigned counselor, it appeared
that her experiences of cultural discrimination in her work
setting and in her classes had precipitated some depressive
symptoms. Lydia’s counselor explored her feelings about her
employment and educational experiences as related to ethnic
and gender discrimination and considered additional ways she
might be able to help address some of Lydia’s concerns in ways
that extended beyond their direct one-on-one work together.
For example, her counselor assumed the role of adviser by

educating Lydia about how to access civil protections against
discrimination, such as consulting with the campus Affirma-
tive Action Office and the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission. The counselor also undertook a change agent
role on the university campus by offering cultural sensitivity
workshops to faculty members and students, focusing on rais-
ing participants’ awareness of international college students’
cultural adjustment experiences. Such a role could represent
one potential way of indirectly helping Lydia and other inter-
national students to experience less distress related to cultural
insensitivities or racism on campus. Lydia’s counselor also
served as a facilitator of an indigenous support system by
referring Lydia to a Latino(a) student organization so that she
could interact with and obtain support from other Latino(a)s
on campus who might be experiencing similar issues.

Social Justice Issues and
Counseling Training

To prepare future counselors and counseling psychologists
to assume social justice roles, it is vital that the structure,
requirements, and goals of many graduate training programs
are modified to assist students in developing competencies to
intervene at broader levels. Social justice training initiatives,
which often include applied service delivery components
(e.g., Kenny & Gallagher, 2000; Pearlman & Bilodeau, 1999;
Victims’ Service Program, 1992), have offered some graduate
students in counseling and counseling psychology with oppor-
tunities to translate their academic knowledge into real-world
contexts by developing and implementing innovative models
and programs within large community sites and by becoming
involved in social policy work (Pearlman & Bilodeau, 1999).
For example, service-learning training programs can provide
students with a practical understanding of large-scale societal
inequities, along with mechanisms by which they may intervene
to effect change (Kenny & Gallagher, 2000). In addition,
service-learning programs could offer opportunities to gain
valuable research, evaluation, and program development skills
in the context of community mental health settings, which coun-
selor and counseling psychology trainees could then transfer to
other related settings (Kenny & Gallagher, 2000).

Some counselor and counseling psychology training pro-
grams also might consider including educational, legal, and
public policy institutions as experiential or applied learning
sites for the development of critical social justice competen-
cies among their students. For example, Boston College has
partnered with the Boston Public School System’s School-to-
Career program to facilitate academic–community collabora-
tion and to provide trainees with an opportunity to learn from
educational empowerment programs (Hartung & Blustein,
2002). Within this partnership, trainees work with ninth-grade
students by offering career counseling psychoeducational
services focusing on four areas (i.e., identity development, rec-
ognizing resources and barriers to academic and career goals,

Journal of Counseling & Development ■ Winter 2007 ■ Volume 8528

Constantine, Hage, Kindaichi, & Bryant

bridging school and work, and building personal strengths).
Academic–legal collaborations also may offer counselor and
counseling psychology trainees with opportunities to witness
litigation issues related to the victimization of specific groups
of people, such as racial discrimination and sexual harassment
cases. Furthermore, collaborations with legal entities or insti-
tutions might provide these trainees with increased fluency in
navigating bureaucratic processes (Fox, 1993, 1999).

Working in social justice training settings that emphasize
less traditional helping roles could challenge some counselor
and counseling psychology trainees to work outside of their
comfort zones. Moreover, trainees who work with some com-
munity action organizations might encounter difficulties in the
initial stages of establishing trust with some of these entities,
particularly if these students and the community’s constituents
are racially, ethnically, and/or socioeconomically different from
each other. Hence, it is vital that counselor and counseling
psychology trainees who engage in social advocacy work with
organizations reflect on their personal ecological histories and
how their values, beliefs, and privileges can either facilitate or
undermine their work efforts (Prilleltensky, 2001). Experience
in community-based social justice settings also could contribute
to these trainees’ abilities to self-reflect about issues of race,
ethnicity, oppression, power, and privilege relative to their own
lives (Mulvey et al., 2000) and to nurture their competence in
working with a broader array of individuals.

Another potential issue related to counselor and counseling
psychology training and social justice initiatives pertains to
the importance of trainees critically examining their ethical
judgment and decision-making styles in relation to clients
from diverse cultural populations. For example, Welfel and
Lipsitz (1983) reported that counselors’ ethical orientation
was positively correlated with moral reasoning, counseling
experience, and number of contributions made to profes-
sional and social action organizations. If attention is given to
understanding how ethical orientation and decision-making
processes of counselor and counseling psychology trainees
might relate to the assumption of social justice initiatives in
a professional context, it might encourage these students to
recognize areas that might need attention with regard to their
competence as service providers.

Lee (1997) asserted that mental health professionals should
become better trained to understand social justice issues from a
more global perspective. This point is based on the notion that
as the interconnectedness of the world becomes increasingly
acknowledged in psychology, social and economic forces will
continue to reshape the composition of societies throughout
the world and narrow the physical and social distance between
groups of people. As such, counselor and counseling psychol-
ogy training programs also should focus on worldwide social
transformation and the need for mental health intervention at
the individual, group, organizational, societal, and interna-
tional levels. Hence, counselor and counseling psychology
trainees should be encouraged and required to understand

how mental health issues may be manifested in populations
residing outside of the United States.

One mechanism that could provide counseling and counseling
psychology students with applied training in this vein would be
the opportunity to conduct a practicum or internship outside of
the United States (Lee, 1997). For example, in a collection of
narratives by feminist community psychologists (Mulvey et al.,
2000), Ingrid Huygens described how her efforts to engage Maori
women in a lesbian health promotion group forced her to reevalu-
ate her notions of relationship building, in comparison with Maori
cultural practices that initiate collaborations. Her efforts also led
her to realize that the numerical or physical representation of
people from marginalized groups within certain contexts was
not necessarily equivalent to the sharing of procedural power in
such contexts. Thus, opportunities for counselor and counseling
psychology trainees to participate in foreign exchange programs
would expose students to different cultural ecologies and racial
landscapes that could encourage them to reflect more deliberately
on their status as helpers and as cultural beings (Lee, 1997).

Finally, counselor and counseling psychology training pro-
grams might consider increasing the emphasis given to preven-
tion in their curricula and research initiatives (Conyne, 1997;
Romano & Hage, 2000). In addition to developing practicums
that give greater emphasis to applying and evaluating preven-
tion interventions, a prevention focus could be achieved either
through freestanding courses or through infusion into existing
courses. Romano and Hage suggested eight training domains
relevant to prevention that could be the content of such course
work: community and multidisciplinary collaboration, social
and political history, protective factors and risk-reduction
strategies, systemic intervention, political and social environ-
ment, psychoeducational groups for prevention, prevention
research and evaluation, and prevention ethics. These training
domains could provide students with knowledge and skills to
engage effectively in the practice of prevention.

Conclusion
Counselors and counseling psychologists must continue to
think creatively about how to address social justice issues
in their own work with clients and with students in training
in their fields. As leaders in the multicultural competence
movement, counselors and counseling psychologists are also
in unique and powerful positions to educate their peers about
the importance of mental health professionals achieving
appropriate levels of competence in working with diverse
cultural populations. Counselors and counseling psycholo-
gists are situated in an optimal position to help society’s in-
habitants understand the undue effects of social injustices for
the well-being of the larger society. The increasing cultural
diversity of the United States underscores the importance
and timeliness of these issues, which ultimately could have
profound implications for the well-being of individuals
around the world.

Journal of Counseling & Development ■ Winter 2007 ■ Volume 85 29

Social Justice and Multicultural Issues

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Journal of Counseling & Development ■ April 2014 ■ Volume 92 131

Special Section:
Professionalism, Ethics, and
Value-Based Conflicts in Counseling

© 2014 by the American Counseling Association. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1002/j.1556-6676.2014.00138.x

The primary purpose of a code of ethics, for any profession, is
to establish norms and expectations for practitioners in order
to collectively minimize the risk of harm to clients and the
general public (Welfel, 2010). In a broader sense, a code of
ethics is also a reflection of the profession’s collective values
and moral principles. Indeed, the establishment of a code of
ethics, which communicates a normative orientation to the
service of others and a commitment to protect the welfare
of clients, is considered the “hallmark of professionalism”
(Gorman & Sandefur, 2011, p. 279). Promulgation of a code
of ethics places the needs and interests of clients over and
above the personal needs or values of any individual member
of the profession (DeMitchell, Hebert, & Phan, 2013; Gor-
man & Sandefur, 2011). A code of ethics helps to ensure
the primacy of client welfare by articulating a profession’s
collective set of values and communicating standards of prac-
tice for all members of that profession. Because laws set the
minimum standards of acceptable behavior, ethical standards
often exceed the legal requirements articulated in federal and
state laws (Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2011). Entry into and
continued association with a profession requires all of its
practitioners to make a commitment that they will abide by
the profession’s code of ethics and the profession’s collective
values as reflected in that code.

By all measures, counseling is a profession (Gorman
& Sandefur, 2011). Counseling is a vocation that requires
individuals to obtain specific, university-based training to
acquire expertise in a specialized set of knowledge and
skills; confers status and power upon its members; has an

Perry C. Francis and Suzanne M. Dugger, Department of Leadership and Counseling, Eastern Michigan University. Correspon-
dence concerning this article should be addressed to Perry C. Francis, Department of Leadership and Counseling, Eastern Michigan
University, 135 Porter Building, Ypsilanti, MI 48197 (e-mail: pfrancis@emich.edu).

Professionalism, Ethics, and
Value-Based Conflicts in Counseling:
An

Introduction to the Special Section

Perry C. Francis and Suzanne M. Dugger, Guest Editors

This introduction to this special section of the Journal of Counseling & Development explores the importance of a code
of ethics to the establishment and maintenance of a profession. Recognizing a code of ethics as a communication of
a profession’s collective values and expectations, the editors of this special section acknowledge the dilemmas that
arise when a counselor’s personal values do not align with the profession’s collective values. The authors of each
article address value-based conflicts in counseling.

Keywords: counselor training, ethics, litigation, religion, LGBT

established national association through which it establishes
a collective identity, communicates professional values, dis-
seminates scholarly research, and advocates for its members;
and regulates itself through licensure and a code of ethics.

Although counselors vary with regard to specializations
and/or the settings in which they practice, they are united as a
single profession through the American Counseling Associa-
tion (ACA). Through this umbrella association, counselors
of varied specializations come together for the purposes of
promoting a shared professional identity, protecting clients,
and promulgating the ACA Code of Ethics (ACA, 2005) to
which all members must adhere. In addition, many counselors
join divisions within ACA, which are focused on more spe-
cialized areas of practice (e.g., college or school counseling)
or shared goals or ideals (e.g., social justice). When these
divisions have established their own code of ethics, those
codes are designed to supplement, not supplant, the ACA
Code of Ethics. As such, their members are responsible for
adhering to those specialized ethical standards and the ACA
Code of Ethics.

Values and Expectations Communicated
by the ACA Code of Ethics

The collective values of the counseling profession are com-
municated in the ACA Code of Ethics (ACA, 2005). Included
within these values and most relevant to this special section
are the recognition of each client’s inherent worth and dignity;
a respect for each client’s uniqueness, autonomy, and right

Journal of Counseling & Development ■ April 2014 ■ Volume 92132

Francis & Dugger

to self-determination; an honoring of human growth and
development; and a respect for diversity within our clientele
and a valuing of cultural competence in counselors. Related
to the communication of these values, ACA (2005) also com-
municated expectations for professional behavior, stating “the
primary responsibility of counselors is to respect the dignity
and promote the welfare of clients” (Standard A.1.a.).

Toward this goal, professional counselors are expected
to conduct themselves in ways that demonstrate a genuine
valuing of each client as a unique individual, that honor each
client’s right to make choices in accordance with his or her
own personal beliefs and standards, and that facilitate each
client’s growth within a myriad of developmental domains
(ACA, 2005, preamble). Professional counselors are also ex-
pected to constantly strive toward increased levels of cultural
competence (Standard C.2.a.) and to avoid discriminatory
practices with respect to a wide variety of cultural dimen-
sions (Standard C.5.). Indeed, competence as a professional
counselor is contingent upon one’s ability to “embrace a
cross-cultural approach in support of the worth, dignity,
potential, and uniqueness of people within their social and
cultural contexts” (ACA, 2005, preamble). In respecting the
diversity of clients, professional counselors must be “aware
of their own values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors and avoid
imposing values” (ACA, 2005, Standard A.4.b.).

Values, Power, and Potential for Harm
In light of the prohibition against counselors imposing their
values on clients, counselors should recognize the ways in
which their personal values may be directly or indirectly
communicated to clients and be aware of how the power
differential that exists within each counseling relationship
may result in the imposition of their values. Although most
counselors understand that directly communicating their
values to clients is unacceptable, concerted effort and con-
stant vigilance are necessary to avoid communicating their
values indirectly. Without such vigilance, counselors may
inadvertently communicate their personal values through
nonverbal and extraverbal responses to client disclosures,
by which client stories they focus on and which they avoid,
by how convincingly they communicate caring and respect
for a client, by which interventions they select, by the sug-
gestions they make or the homework they assign, and by
their willingness to continue seeing a client. In such ways,
counselors may intentionally or inadvertently communicate
their personal values to their clients.

Although communication of one’s own values within an
equal, reciprocal relationship would not constitute an imposi-
tion of values, communication of one’s personal values within
an unequal relationship with a vulnerable client can result in
the imposition of values. Zinnbauer and Pargament (2000)
showed that, when a counselor’s values are communicated
during psychotherapy, clients demonstrate a tendency to

move toward adopting those values. Factors likely to contrib-
ute to such influence include the power differential present
within the counseling relationship, the counselor’s perceived
expertise, and the client’s vulnerability. Individuals who are
most vulnerable to this potential imposition of values include
clients or students in any setting where the choice of a coun-
selor may be restricted (e.g., K–12 schools, small colleges
and universities) or where professional services are limited
to a handful of potential practitioners (e.g., clients in rural
or underserved areas).

To be sure, though, the potential for an abuse of power
exists in every counseling relationship, and clients are vul-
nerable to undue influence and microaggressions that can
occur when a counselor communicates any personal values
that are contrary to those of the client (Sue, 2010; Zinnbauer
& Pargament, 2000). When clients are struggling with issues
about which they feel confused, conflicted, or ambivalent,
even the most subtle communication of personal values has
a likelihood of swaying a client to act in accordance with
the counselor’s values rather than facilitating the client’s
exploration of his or her own values. In this way, values can
be imposed. Therefore, the expectation that counselors take
special care in not imposing their values is especially impor-
tant in demonstrating respect for each client’s right to make
choices in accordance with his or her own personal beliefs
and standards and in avoiding discriminatory practices. In the
absence of such restraint, counselors place clients at risk for
harm in ways that may be blatant or subtle and rationalized
as a means to providing the best care for the client (Shiles,
2009; Sue, 2010).

Value Conflicts
Although the ACA Code of Ethics (ACA, 2005) prescribes
expectations for professional behavior, the ultimate hope is
that each individual counselor will internalize the profession’s
collective values. The preamble of the ACA Code of Ethics
delineates this:

Professional values are an important way of living out an
ethical commitment. Values inform principles. Inherently held
values that guide our behaviors or exceed prescribed behaviors
are deeply ingrained in the counselor and developed out of
personal dedication, rather than the mandatory requirement
of an external organization. (ACA, 2005, preamble)

Such internalization, however, does not always occur. This
lack of internalization is most likely when there are areas of
conflict between an individual’s personal values and the pro-
fession’s collective values as articulated by the ACA Code of
Ethics (ACA, 2005). Such value conflicts are the focus of this
special section. Specifically, this special section is designed
to address the dilemmas that occur when an individual coun-
selor’s personal values conflict with the profession’s collective

Journal of Counseling & Development ■ April 2014 ■ Volume 92 133

Introduction to the Special Section

values as communicated in its code of ethics. At the heart of
these dilemmas is the issue of how best to protect clients from
harm that may result from counselors acting in accordance
with their personal values and in violation of the collective
values of the profession.

Recent and Not-So-Recent
Value Conflicts

Recent court cases (i.e., Keeton v. Anderson-Wiley, 2010; Ward
v. Wilbanks, 2009) challenged the profession about what to do
when the personally held values of counselors are in conflict
with the ACA Code of Ethics (ACA, 2005). The aformentioned
court cases focused on a specific conflict between the personal
values of some counselors and the collective values of the
profession. Whereas the profession values diversity, prohibits
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation (and many
other factors), and requires that “counselors gain knowledge,
personal awareness, sensitivity, and skills pertinent to work-
ing with a diverse client population” (ACA, 2005, Standard
C.2.a.), some counselors and counselors-in-training object to
the idea of providing counseling services to nonheterosexual
clients in any manner that could be mistaken for acceptance
of their lifestyle. They contend that any requirement for them
to do so is discriminatory against their constitutional right to
practice in accordance with their religious beliefs. In contrast,
the profession (via ACA) argued that communication of
such beliefs reflects an imposition of one’s personal values
and that a refusal to see nonheterosexual clients represents
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation (Ex. at Sep.
30, 2009; see also http://www.counseling.org/resources/pdfs/
EMUamicusbrief ).

Central to this dilemma for some counselors is a belief
that the only ways to honor their personal and/or religious
beliefs as counselors are by directly communicating one’s
values to the client, refusing to discuss same-sex relation-
ships with clients, or implementing a policy of automatically
referring nonheterosexual clients to other counselors. We
respectfully disagree with this belief and offer a discussion
of a much less recent dilemma to illustrate another pos-
sibility. Whereas sexual orientation and gay rights are the
hot-button issues of the day that most frequently conflict
with religious beliefs, a different issue caused similar con-
troversy in the 1960s. That decade was marked by the sexual
revolution and an increasing level of societal acceptance of
sexual activity outside of marriage. This issue, too, caused
great consternation for people who held religious beliefs
against such activity.

One can easily imagine a counselor in 1965 feeling deeply
conflicted when faced with a client engaged in sexual activ-
ity outside of marriage; the counselor’s conflict would have
reflected religious beliefs that were opposed to such activity.
If counselors also believed that the only way they could honor

their religious convictions was to communicate their values to
the client, refuse to discuss extramarital sexual relationships
with clients, or implement a policy of automatically referring
those clients to other counselors, how would this action have
affected those clients? As it happens, Carl Rogers encountered
just such a client, and his session with “Gloria” was recorded
on a widely disseminated training video that is still used today
(Shostrom, 1965) and is now available on YouTube.

Although we do not know what religious beliefs Carl
Rogers held or whether he experienced any value conflict
when counseling Gloria, we do know that (a) Gloria revealed
her participation in casual sexual relationships after her re-
cent divorce and (b) her counselor could have experienced
a value conflict in this situation. In a particularly tender
point in the session, Gloria expressed feeling guilty about
engaging in these sexual relationships and guilty for lying
to her daughter about it. When Gloria directly asked Carl
Rogers what she should do, she was clearly vulnerable to
an imposition of his values. Consider how the following
possible responses—none of which were made by Carl
Rogers—could have affected Gloria:

• “This is your life and you can do as you like, but I
believe that sex outside of marriage is a sin.”

• “Your sexual relationships aren’t something I am
comfortable discussing with you. What else would
you like to talk about?”

• “I know a great counselor across town who specializes
in these issues, and I would like to refer you.”

Our hope is that the potential harm that could befall Glo-
ria as a result of such responses is clearly evident. Already
feeling guilty, Gloria was especially vulnerable to signs
of disapproval or rejection. Carl Rogers’s actual response
offered neither. Additionally, and very importantly, his
response also did not communicate acceptance. Instead, he
acknowledged hearing Gloria’s plea for advice about what
to do and communicated that, although he wished he could
tell her what she should do, this was a very personal deci-
sion that only she could make.

For counselors facing any similar dilemma involving a
conflict between their personal value system and the pro-
fession’s values, we suggest that this approach may offer
a way to resolve the conflict. This nondirective approach
does not violate the ACA Code of Ethics (ACA, 2005) and
allows a counselor to honor personal religious beliefs. It
simply does not involve communicating those beliefs to the
client via direct statements; indirect, selective attention to
topics; or referrals.

Focus of the Special Section
Each of the articles in this special section addresses the issue
of value conflicts and explores means by which they might be

Journal of Counseling & Development ■ April 2014 ■ Volume 92134

Francis & Dugger

reconciled. The section begins with three articles addressing
the recent Ward v. Wilbanks (2009) court case. In the open-
ing article, Suzanne Dugger and Perry Francis describe the
case and offer insights into the lessons learned. Next, ACA’s
chief professional officer, David Kaplan, analyzes the ethi-
cal implications of the case and describes ACA’s position on
the issues raised by this case. Then, Barbara Herlihy, Mary
Hermann, and Leigh Greden explore the legal and ethical
implications of using religious beliefs as the basis for refusing
to counsel certain clients.

The section then shifts from this narrow focus on the
Ward v. Wilbanks (2009) case to a broader exploration of
value-based conflicts within the counseling profession. In her
article, Irene Ametrano addresses ways in which counselor
educators can teach ethical decision making and help students
reconcile their personal values with the profession’s values.
Also addressing ways to prepare future counselors to deal
with values conflicts, Joy Whitman and Markus Bidell’s article
explores ways to bridge the gap between religious beliefs and
affirmative counselor education. In the next article, Markus
Bidell explores the experience of individual counselors expe-
riencing discord between their conservative religious beliefs
and the expectation that they, as professional counselors,
will not discriminate in offering positive regard to clients.
Next, Michael Kocet and Barbara Herlihy reveal their newly
developed model for ethical decision making. This model is
focused on addressing value-based conflicts that may arise
within a counseling relationship.

Finally, this special section concludes with two articles
dedicated to exploring the perspectives of various religions
pertaining to sexual orientation and value conflicts. Richard
Balkin, Richard Watts, and Saba Ali offer Jewish, Christian,
and Muslim perspectives on the intersection of faith, race,
and sexual orientation. In the final article, Devika Choudhuri

and Kurt Kraus address ways in which Buddhist perspec-
tives may be useful in reconciling value conflicts that arise
in counseling.

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curriculum and the constitution: Personal beliefs and professional
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articles for individual use.

The Impact of Curiosity on Counselors’ Social Justice Identity
Emily Baker

The Ohio State University

Shelby Messerschmitt-Coen
Central College

Darcy Haag Granello
The Ohio State University

Abstract

The role of counselors has expanded to emphasize social justice principles and community action, encouraging
social justice to become infused with counselor’s professional identity. As a result, counselor educators are
examining strategies for promoting the social justice identity of students and new professionals. Curiosity
has been positioned as theoretically related to the concept of social justice. The current study investigated the
relationship between counselor curiosity with social justice identity across three domains (self-efficacy, interest,
and commitment) in a sample of 124 counselors and counselor trainees. Results indicated that three types of
curiosity (specific, diversive, and competence) predicted each domain of social justice identity. Strategies to
incorporate counselor curiosity into social justice pedagogy are discussed.

© 2020 Baker, Messerschmitt-Coen, & Haag Granello. Free to copy and share for education and scholarship under a Creative Commons
Attribution NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

The Impact of Curiosity on Counselors’ Social Justice Identity
Community-based action and social justice advocacy approaches are growing as critical elements of

a counselor’s role (Constantine et al., 2007). Mental health professionals recognized the growing need for
counselors to advocate for diverse clientele through social action, which called for an extension beyond the
previously established Multicultural Counseling Competencies (MCC; Sue, Arrendondo, McDavis, 1992). The
updated Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (MSJCC) outlines a multilevel framework
on attitudes and beliefs, knowledge, skills, and a newly added competency in action (Ratts, et al., 2015). Thus,
social justice has become a distinct responsibility and a required competency in the counseling profession
(Kiselica & Robinson, 2001; Ratts, 2009; Ratts, Singh, Nassar-McMillan, Butler, & McCullough, 2016; Sue &
Sue, 2013), and has been recognized as the “fifth force” of counseling (Ratts, 2009, p. 161).

Consequently, scholars seek to examine the factors that promote social justice interest and action. Several
research studies have identified factors that predict social justice attitudes or identity, including political ideology
(Parikh, Ceballos, & Post, 2012), problem-solving skills (Nilsson & Schmidt, 2005), spirituality (Prior & Quinn,
2012), collectivistic attitudes (Autin, Duffy, & Allan, 2017), and confidence (Briodo & Reason, 2005). These
factors can influence how counselor educators identify and implement social justice pedagogy and training into
coursework and experiences. Additionally, Caldwell and Vera (2010) identified critical incidents for cultivating
a social justice orientation that included social justice training, immersive or experiential exercises, mentorship,
and exposure to injustice. Thus, strategies for enhancing social justice training in counselor education can
incorporate both individual predictors and training factors. More than 50 years ago, philosopher-educator
Paulo Freire argued that critical curiosity, which he conceptualized as an eagerness to learn about and develop
an understanding of the world, was related to developing a deeper understanding of social issues (Freire, 1970).
Despite these historical connections between these two constructs, the relationship between curiosity and
social justice identity within the field of counseling has not been investigated. Therefore, the current study seeks
to understand how the specific characteristic of curiosity might predict and inform social justice identity of
counselors.

Social Justice Identity
Social justice identity is described as the fusion or internalization of social justice principles with one’s

own life (Krathwohl, Bloom, & Masia, 1964). Social justice identity goes beyond a general understanding of
social justice; counselors prioritize social justice domains as an important part of one’s personal and professional
identities (Dollarhide, Clevenger, Dogan, & Edwards, 2016). Domains of social justice identity include self-
efficacy, interest, and commitment to social justice (Miller et al., 2009). Miller and colleagues (2009) defined
social justice self-efficacy as a specific set of beliefs regarding one’s perceived ability to perform social justice
tasks across domains. Social justice interest refers to the pattern of likes or dislikes that a person holds toward
social justice activities, while social justice commitment is related to the domain-specific social justice goals
that one intends to pursue (Lent & Brown, 2006). Counselors with a social justice identity not only understand
fundamental components of social justice, they infuse social justice principles with their personal and
professional values.

The development of social justice identity requires having the tools necessary to critically examine and
act within oppressive systems (Adams & Bell, 2016). The skills needed to identify and examine social justice
issues can be cognitively complex (Reason & Davis, 2005) and require students to be able to engage in a high
level of perspective taking, self-reflection, and critical thinking (Rios, Trent, & Castaneda, 2003). Bishop (2002)
outlined a six-step process for social justice identity development that starts with recognizing oppression in
society prior to acquiring the skills for action. Each step is characterized by recognizing and filling the current
gaps in knowledge, perspectives, and worldviews to infuse social justice into one’s identity.

Baker, Messerschmitt-Coen, & Haag Granello | The Impact of Curiosity on Counselors’ Social Justice Identity 3

ISSN 2159-8142

Social Justice Identity in Counselor Education
Counselor educators have developed pedagogical approaches that support this identity development.

For instance, Dollarhide and colleagues (2016) suggested incorporating experiences in affective, behavioral,
cognitive, and contextual domains, rather than focusing on specific cultural competencies, to promote social
justice identity development. Further, the underlying motivations may be particularly important for fostering
social justice identity in the classroom. Thus, the inclusion of specific motivational factors included in social
justice training is linked to increased participation and interest in social justice activities, such as highlighting
connections with the oppressed, self-interest, moral foundations, responsibility, and passion (Caldwell & Vera,
2010; Edwards, 2006). These motivational factors emphasize students’ individual purpose, meaning, and reasons
for engaging in social justice work, rather than maintaining fixed training or lecturing based in standardized
knowledge and competencies (Broido & Reason, 2005). Additionally, counselor educators incorporate social
justice into their pedagogy by challenging limited perspectives, incorporating experiential exercises, and
increasing students’ interest and self-efficacy in advocacy through discussion, self-reflection, sociological
context, and exposure to injustices (Constantine et al., 2007; Mayhew & Fernandez, 2007; Miller & Sendrowitz,
2011; Odegard & Vereen, 2010; Vera & Speight, 2003). However, many counselor education programs only
address social justice in specific courses or trainings (Pieterse et al., 2009), and social justice can become an
ascribed lesson or desired competency with barriers for growth and infusion into one’s identity.

Despite an emergence of guidelines, programming, and training opportunities in social justice
education, additional focused research may expand the understanding of why some students are more apt to
become effective social justice advocates. Such research can inform strategies for counselor educators to infuse
social justice more holistically into the program and incorporating facilitators of social justice identity into
classroom environments. As a strengths-based profession, one strategy of interest is identifying and honing
specific counselor characteristics that promote the development of social justice identity. Most counselors join
the profession with a sense of compassion, a desire to help others, and genuine curiosity about others’ stories
(Allan, Owens, & Douglass, 2019; Ding, Laux, Salyers, & Kozelka, 2017). Research has yet to address how
fostering students’ curiosity may motivate counselors to engage in social justice during and after their education.
Curiosity motivates people to explore and learn new ideas and new topics. Therefore, curiosity may also be a key
motivational element of counselors exploring, learning, and engaging in new worldviews, systems, and social
justice action.

Curiosity
Curiosity has been broadly defined as the desire to acquire new information and knowledge (Litman &

Spielberger, 2003). Philosopher and psychologist Williams James (1899) described curiosity as the deep desire
to understand what you do not. Curiosity stimulates exploratory behavior, discovery, and problem-solving that
allows individuals to adapt and grow in new and unique situations (Litman & Spielberger, 2003). Curiosity has a
role in development, learning, decision-making, motivation, and social interactions (Kang et al., 2009; Renner,
2006), impacting nearly all domains of human functioning (Reio, Petrosko, Wiswell, & Thongsukmag, 2006).
Since curiosity is conceptualized in numerous ways, research has given way to various dimensions of curiosity,
including perceptual or sensory (curiosity of stimuli), epistemic (curiosity of knowledge), diversive (intellectual
exploration of novel stimuli), competence (a need to seek information in order to feel competent), problem
solving or feelings of deprivation (not having access to information and having the desire to answer a question),
that describe the different ways curiosity can manifest (Reio et al., 2006).

Everyone experiences moments of curiosity, but the frequency and intensity of such moments may
denote a character trait that is a stable component of one’s personality (Litman & Silva, 2006). Curiosity has
been conceptualized as both a personality trait and a motivational or emotional state (Litman, 2005). Although
curiosity can vary in intensity based on situational stimuli, many people have a dispositional tendency to engage
in exploration regardless of the stimulus (Grossnickle, 2016). Thus, curiosity can be an individual strength to

JSACP | Volume 12, No. 2 | Winter 20204

be harnessed, as well as a state that can be encouraged and stimulated (Litman, 2005; Reio & Callahan, 2004).
Curiosity and Counseling

Kashdan and Roberts’ (2004) research on interpersonal curiosity provides several insights into how
curiosity fits in the counseling field. Curiosity promotes exploration and approach behaviors, in response to
unfamiliar and meaningful environmental cues. This is particularly useful in social interactions, where curiosity
can broaden one’s attention of verbal and nonverbal patterns and stimulate a desire to learn more about the
person and their perspectives (Kashdan & Roberts, 2004). In fact, curious people tend to readily observe and
be more attentive to the people with whom they interact (Kashdan et al., 2012), and are more willing to tolerate
deviations from the expected (Langer, 1992). Thus, curious people have greater sensitivity to the context and
are more likely to effectively regulate their emotions and sustain resilience (Kashdan et al., 2012). Curious
people are more likely to capitalize on opportunities and situations that foster intimacy and closeness, create
conversations that are more interesting and enjoyable (Kashdan, McKnight, Fincham, & Rose, 2011), and have
nondefensive and nonjudgmental attitudes (Kashdan et al., 2012). Further, curious individuals’ preference for
growth over safety, openness over closure, and complexity over simplicity (Vitterso, Soholt, Hetland, Thoreson,
& Roysamb, 2010) aligns well with the mission of social justice.

Freire’s beliefs about curiosity fit with this conceptualization. He hypothesized that when individuals
adopt a stance of “critical curiosity” (Freire & Macedo, 1995, p. 385) about the world around them, it helps
raise their critical consciousness. They begin to engage in the problems of the world around them in ways that
become personally meaningful. Freire believed that curiosity helps people both gain an understanding of and
ultimately challenge the systems of oppression (Freire, 1998). Importantly, he believed that although some types
of curiosity are innate to the individual, this critical curiosity, which he likened to an epistemic or universal
curiosity (simply put, the urge to know more about the world around the self), could be fostered through
specific, intentional educational strategies (Freire, 1998).

Counselors may be naturally curious, but they also receive extensive training in developing a stance
of unconditional positive regard and respectful curiosity (Dyche & Zayas, 1995). This curious stance is the
foundation for the formation of the unique counseling relationship and enhances rapport and trust within
this relationship (McEvoy, Baker, Plant, Hylton, & Mansell, 2013). One of the central aims of counseling is to
create a space that allows new types of conversations to take place (Mason, 1993), and this is possible when
counselors adopt a humble, curious, and respectful approach (Roy-Chowdhury, 2006). Further, an attitude of
curiosity facilitates the breakdown of assumptions and demonstrates a willingness and interest to understand
the individual and their unique perspective (Bansal, 2016). This has important implications in the development
of counselor’s social justice identity. Research has demonstrated that curiosity is linked to other pertinent
traits, including openness to experience (Woo et al., 2014), tolerance of uncertainty (Litman, 2010), intrinsic
motivation (Kashdan et al., 2018), and taking initiative (Kashdan & Silva, 2008), all of which are associated
with multicultural and social justice counseling. In fact, the less curious we are, the more likely we are to jump
to conclusions and reach premature certainty about situations and people (Stewart et al., 1991). Kashdan and
colleagues (2013) found that certain types of curious people, described as the problem-solvers and the fascinated,
were less likely to engage in relational or interpersonal aggression. Curiosity, then, is a tool for practicing cultural
humility (Mosher et al., 2017) and engaging in culturally responsive conversations (Bansal, 2016).
Curiosity in Counselor Education

Counselor educators already use curiosity to facilitate epistemological development (Granello, 2002).
Encouraging counselors-in-training to embrace uncertainty, explore topics of interest, and identify multiple
perspectives assists in moving students out of a dualistic mindset (Wilkinson & Dewell, 2019). In fact, research
shows that when people are genuinely curious about something, they learn more and better (Engel, 2013), and
curiosity enhances learning by motivating individuals to engage in deeper critical thinking (Pluck & Johnson,

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2011). Lowenstein’s (1994) information gap theory posits that students’ curiosity increases as students get closer
to resolving a gap in information. The examination of information gaps paired with a supportive, stimulating
environment is the driving force behind student curiosity (Pluck & Johnson, 2011). Counselor educators can
harness this curiosity by probing, communicating the value of knowledge, and breaking information gaps into
smaller, manageable learning tasks, where research suggests that curiosity is maximized (Reio et al., 2006).

Curiosity can be nurtured in a similar manner to enhance social justice identity development. Following
Bishop’s (2002) social justice identity development process, curiosity about social justice may be stimulated
through identifying informational gaps in worldviews, knowledge, and skills, and providing students flexibility
to explore such gaps in the classroom. Curiosity is both a learnable skill and disciplined habit (Jacobs, 2015),
but curiosity should be cultivated in a purposeful manner. That is, curiosity towards specific topics or goals can
promote more sustained interest and attention to such topics. For social justice awareness and orientation, Jacobs
(2015) posits that student curiosity can be stimulated through providing challenges, purpose, and/or variety in
the classroom and should not be bound by course designation or subject matter. Despite these suggestions,
there is no current research that examines curiosity as a predictor of counselors’ social justice self-efficacy,
interest, and commitment. Further, it is unclear what form of curiosity (e.g., diversive, epistemic, competence,
problem solving) is stimulated in the suggested various pedagogical strategies, and what dimensions of curiosity
might be most useful in promoting counselor social justice interest and identity. Curiosity has clear benefits to
classroom learning through increasing engagement and motivation in the classroom, however it is unclear if the
impact of curiosity expands to predict the elements of sustained social justice identity.

The Present Study
The current study arose from a desire to understand potential strategies that can help foster social

justice identity development in counselor education programs and social justice trainings. As a strengths-based
profession, we sought to understand how curiosity is related to social justice identity. This study examined the
association between various dimensions of curiosity and the components of social justice identity. We sought to
answer the following research questions:

1) Does curiosity predict social justice identity?
2) What components of curiosity (e.g., specific to counseling, diversive, competence, intolerance, and

problem solving) predict social justice identity?
3) What components of social justice identity (self-efficacy, interest, and commitment) are most

influenced by curiosity?
We hypothesize that all five domains of curiosity positively predict social justice self-efficacy, interest,
and commitment.

Method

Data Collection
The university’s Institutional Review Board approved the present study. Members of the research team

provided physical copies of the survey for interested participants at national clinical mental health and school
counseling conferences. A member of the research team approached potential participants in an area of the
conference reserved for conversing and networking. The researcher recited a prewritten script regarding the
study to inform conference attendees of the study. Surveys took approximately 10-15 minutes to complete.
Upon completion, participants returned completed surveys to a member of the research team, where surveys
were stored in a file case.
Participants

The research team recruited from two national clinical mental health and school counseling conferences

JSACP | Volume 12, No. 2 | Winter 20206

that had a total of over 4,000 attendees. Eligibility criteria for this study included (1) 18 years of age or older, and
(2) association with the counseling field (e.g., Counselor Educator, professional counselor, masters or doctoral
student, retired from counseling profession). Surveys were distributed to approximately 140 participants
at both conferences. Although 4,000 attendees were at these conferences, the research team was physically
unable to meet every person at the conferences. Therefore, the research team recruited from a common area
of the conference reserved for networking to identify potential participants. Of the 140 surveys distributed,
124 completed surveys were returned to the research team. A total sample size of 124 participants returned
completed surveys to the research team and were used for analysis, which was appropriate for the current
study, post-hoc power (1–β error prob) = 0.92.
Instrument

Curiosity. Participants were administered two curiosity measures: the Epistemic Curiosity Scale (ECS;
Litman & Spielberger, 2003) and the Curiosity as a Feeling of Deprivation Scale (CFDS; Litman & Jimerson,
2004). The content of the 10-item ECS inquired about interest in acquiring new knowledge and in cognitively
processing information related to a variety of stimuli. The content of the 15-item CFDS reflects feelings of
uncertainty and tension that motivates information-seeking and problem-solving behavior. These two measures
are often used together because one (ECS) frames curiosity as the desire to obtain new information to stimulate
positive feelings or interests while the other (CFDS) frames curiosity as the desire to reduce the undesirable
state of information deprivation (Litman, Crowson, & Kolinski, 2010). Together, these scales resulted in a 25-
item curiosity instrument used for the present study.

ECS subscales. The ECS included two subscales, which were ECS-Specific (ECS-S) and ECS-Diversive
(ECS-D). The ECS-S included 5 items that measure curiosity about a particular stimulus (Litman & Spielberger,
2003). In the original scale, the items had primarily mathematical or mechanical concerns. For the present study,
this specific stimulus was modified to focus on curiosity in counseling. In the original ECS, ECS-S items included
“I enjoy new kinds of arithmetic problems and imagining solutions” and “I am interested in discovering how
things work.” The research team modified the language to represent curiosity specific to the field of counseling.
These were transformed to “I enjoy facing new kinds of problems or challenges in counseling and imagining
solutions” and “I am interested in discovering why and how change happens in counseling.” Participants rated
their agreement with these items on a 6-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 6 = strongly agree). Because
of the modifications to the original instrument, the researchers ran a pilot of the entire instrument with the
original ECS-S scale as well as the modified ECS-S to determine internal consistency. The pilot study had 28
cases. For the ECS-S pilot, with the original (mechanical/mathematical) questions, α = 0.52. With the modified
(counseling) questions, α = 0.62. In addition to determining overall subscale internal consistency, individual
items were assessed to determine whether the Cronbach’s alpha of the subscale increased if an individual item
was deleted from the subscale. In no case did the alpha coefficient increase with the removal of one of the scale
items. The present study suggested internal consistency for ECS-S to be α = 0.69.

The ECS-D included 5 items that involved general exploration of one’s experiences or surroundings
related to curiosity (Litman & Spielberger, 2003). ECS-D items included “I enjoy learning about subjects which
are unfamiliar to me” and “It is fascinating to learn new information.” Participants rated their agreement with
these items on a 6-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 6 = strongly agree). The present study suggested
internal consistency for ECS-D to be α = 0.73 (α = 0.84 for the pilot study).

CFDS subscales. The CFDS consists of three subscales, which are 5-items each. The three subscales
include (1) the need to feel Competent (CFDS-C), (2) Intolerance experienced when information is inaccessible
or inadequate (CFDS-I), and (3) a sense of urgency to Problem Solve (CFDS-PS). CFDS-C items included “If
I read something that puzzles or confuses me, I keep reading or learning until I understand it better” and
“I do not like the feeling of not knowing, which helps motivate me to try and learn about complex topics.”
CFDS-I items included “It troubles me if there doesn’t seem to be a reasonable solution to a problem” and “I

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enjoy carefully analyzing and evaluating ideas and theories, looking for other ways of seeing things.” CFDS-PS
items included “I can spend hours on a problem, and I sometimes can’t rest until I come up with an answer or
solution” and “I become frustrated if I can’t figure out a problem, so I work harder to solve it.” Participants rated
their agreement with these items on a 6-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 6 = strongly agree). Internal
consistency in the original article was reported for each subscale, CFDS-C α = 0.64, CFDS-I α = 0.68, CFDS-PS
α = 0.78. The present study suggested internal consistency for the subscales, CFDS-C α = 0.56, CFDS-I α = 0.65,
CFDS-PS α = 0.70. (For the pilot study, CFDS-C α = 0.77, CFDS-I α = 0.69, CFDS-PS α = 0.79).

Social justice identity. Participants completed the Social Inquiry Questionnaire (SIQ; Miller et al., 2009).
The SIQ is an instrument designed to measure people’s social justice identities as defined by five constructs. The
present study utilized three of the social justice identity constructs: self-efficacy, interest, and commitment,
which amounts to a total of 33 items.

Self-efficacy. This domain is measured using a subscale of 20 items. Self-efficacy is defined as an
individual’s perceived ability to engage in social justice advocacy behaviors across a variety of domains (e.g., inter/
intrapersonal, community). Items for self-efficacy were prompted with the statement “How much confidence do
you have in your ability to” and items included “respond to social injustice (e.g., discrimination, racism, religious
intolerance) with nonviolent actions” and “examine your own worldview, biases, and prejudicial attitudes after
witnessing or hearing about social injustice.” Participants rated these items on a 10-point Likert scale (0 = no
confidence at all, 9 = complete confidence).

Interest. This domain is measured using a subscale of 9 items. Interest is defined as the pattern of likes,
dislikes, and indifferences regarding social justice advocacy activities. Items for interest were prompted with
the statement “How much interest do you have in” and items included “volunteering your time at a community
agency (e.g., Big Brother/Big Sister, volunteering at a homeless shelter)” and “reading about social issues (e.g.,
racism, oppression, inequality).” Participants rated these items on a 10-point Likert scale (0 = very low interest,
9 = very high interest).

Commitment. This domain is measured using a subscale of 4 items. Commitment is defined as an
individual’s choice-content goals or intentions to engage in social justice advocacy in the future. Items for
commitment were prompted with the statement “How much do you agree or disagree with the following
statements” and items included “In the future, I intend to engage in social justice activities” and “I think engaging
in social justice activities is a realistic goal for me.” Participants rated these items on a 10-point Likert scale (0 =
strongly disagree, 9 = strongly agree).

The internal consistency was calculated for each subscale of the SIQ in the current sample.
Results indicated acceptable to high reliability (Kline, 2000) for self-efficacy (α = 0.95), interest (α = 0.83), and
commitment (α =0.92). These alpha scores are comparable to the original study with the SIQ that included
undergraduate students as participants: self-efficacy (α =0.94), interest (α =0.90), and commitment (α =0.93).
Data Analysis

The research team manually entered responses into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 25
(SPSS; IBM Corp, 2017) for analysis. Linear regression was used to determine if five curiosity factors (e.g.,
specific to counseling, diversive, competence, intolerance, and problem solving) were significant predictors of
three social justice identity components (e.g., self-efficacy, interest, commitment). Several linear regressions
were performed; predictors and outcomes were added separately into fifteen (five predictors, three outcomes)
linear regressions to determine the unique variance that each curiosity subscale added into the model. The
research team was interested to determine which unique factors of curiosity were significant in predicting
specific factors of social justice identity. Thus, several regression analyses were used rather than analyses that
would consider each variable set as defined by these multiple variables (e.g., canonical correlation analysis).
As explained previously, curiosity and social justice identity are defined by multiple constructs. To answer the
study’s research question, the researchers considered how these variables contribute separately to a significant
association between curiosity and social justice identity rather than identify which variables defined “curiosity”

JSACP | Volume 12, No. 2 | Winter 20208

and “social justice identity” as done previously. Future research may consider the use of data analyses that aim
to define curiosity and social justice identity as unique variable sets.

Results

Sample Characteristics
Participants identified as female (83.7%, n = 103), male (15.4%, n = 19), and trans male/trans man

(0.8%, n = 1). Most participants identified as Caucasian (65.3%, n = 81), with 19.4% (n = 24) identifying as
Black or African American, 7.3% (n = 9) identifying as Latinx, 3.2% (n = 4) identifying as Asian or Asian
American, 2.4% (n = 3) identifying as bi/multiracial, and 2.4% (n = 3) indicating that their identity was not
listed. Participants were on average 38.36 years of age (SD = 11.15, range = 22-72). Most participants indicated
that they held a current counseling license or certification (78.9%, n = 97). Participants primarily specialized
in school counseling (65.8%, n = 77), with 27.4% (n = 32) in clinical or community mental health, 2.6% (n = 3)
in marriage and family therapy, 1.7% (n = 2) rehabilitation counseling, and 2.6% (n = 3) indicating that their
specialization was not listed as an option.

Participants were able to indicate two current areas of practice in counseling. Most participants reported
that their primary practice was as a practicing counselor (58.6%, n = 72), with 14.6% (n = 18) in a counseling
masters program, 13% (n = 16) working as a Counselor Educator, 5.7% (n = 7) in a counseling doctoral program,
1.6% (n = 2) retired from counseling work, and 6.5% (n = 8) indicating their practice was not listed. Most
commonly, participants reported their second area of practice to be as a practicing counselor (40%, n = 18),
15.6% (n = 7) in a counseling masters program, 15.6% (n = 7) working as a Counselor Educator, 13.3% (n = 6)
in a counseling doctoral program, and 15.6% (n = 7) indicating that their area of practice was not listed as an
option.

Table 1. Correlations

Diversive Specific
Problem
Solve Competence Intolerance

SJ Self
Efficacy

SJ
Interest

Diversive 
Specific .57** 
Problem Solve .37** .27** 
Competence .50** .41** .43** 
Intolerance .18 .24** .62** .56** 
SJ Self Efficacy .32** .30** .15 .21* .12 
SJ Interest .43** .37** .11 .23* .07 .53** 
SJ Commitment .29** .36** .08 .27** .08 .56** .71**

Note: **p < 0.01, *p < .05 Curiosity as a Predictor of Social Justice Identity

Intercorrelations for variables of interest are reported in Table 1 Measures of curiosity significantly
predicted social justice identity concepts (see Table 2). The regression model with ECS-Specific as a predictor
was statistically significant for social justice self-efficacy, R2 = 0.09, F(1,114) = 11.03, p = .001, interest, R2 = 0.13,
F(1,115) = 17.80, p < .001, and commitment, R2 = 0.13, F(1,120) = 18.13, p < .001. Effect sizes were calculated for the significant predictions (Cohen, 1988). ECS-Specific resulted in a small to medium effect size for self-efficacy (Cohen’s F2 = 0.10), a medium effect size for interest (Cohen’s F2 = 0.15), and a medium effect size for commitment (Cohen’s F2 = 0.15). For every one-point increase in ECS-Specific curiosity, participants were expected to have higher social justice self-efficacy (β = 0.80, p = .001), interest (β = 0.98, p < .001), and commitment (β = 1.28, p

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< .001). Thus, as curiosity of counseling increased, participants were expected to have higher social justice self- efficacy, interest, and commitment.

The regression model with ECS-Diversive as a predictor was statistically significant for social justice self-
efficacy, R2 = 0.10, F(1,113) = 13.05, p < .001, interest, R2 = 0.18, F(1,114) = 25.21, p < .001, and commitment, R2 = 0.08, F(1,119) = 10.97, p = .001. Effect sizes were calculated for the significant predictions (Cohen, 1988). ECS-Diversive resulted in a small to medium effect size for self-efficacy (Cohen’s F2 = 0.12), a medium to large effect size for interest (Cohen’s F2 = 0.22), and a small to medium effect size for commitment (Cohen’s F2 = 0.09). For every one-point increase in ECS-Diversive curiosity, participants were expected to have higher social justice self-efficacy (β = 0.82, p < .001), interest (β = 1.09, p < .001), and commitment (β = 0.99, p = .001). Thus, as general curiosity of experiences and surroundings increased, participants were expected to have higher social justice self-efficacy, interest, and commitment.

The regression model with CFDS-Competence as a predictor was statistically significant for social justice
self-efficacy, R2 = 0.04, F(1,112) = 4.94, p = .028, interest, R2 = 0.06, F(1,113) = 6.53, p = .012, and commitment,
R2 = 0.07, F(1,118) = 9.49, p = .003. Effect sizes were calculated for the significant predictions (Cohen, 1988).
CFDS-C resulted in a small effect size for self-efficacy (Cohen’s F2 = 0.04), a small effect size for interest (Cohen’s
F2 = 0.06), and a small to medium effect size for commitment (Cohen’s F2 = 0.08). For every one-point increase
in CFDS-C curiosity, participants were expected to have higher social justice self-efficacy (β = 0.47, p = .028),
interest (β = 0.53, p = .012), and commitment (β = 0.84, p = .003). Thus, as the need to feel competent as a
motivator of curiosity increased, participants were expected to have higher social justice self-efficacy, interest,
and commitment.

Table 2. Curiosity as a significant predictor of social justice identity
R2 F2 β

ECS-S
Self-efficacy 0.09 0.10 0.80***
Interest 0.13 0.15 0.98****
Commitment 0.13 0.15 1.28****
ECS-D
Self-efficacy 0.10 0.12 0.82****
Interest 0.18 0.22 1.09****
Commitment 0.08 0.09 0.99***
CFDS-Competence
Self-efficacy 0.04 0.04 0.47*
Interest 0.06 0.06 0.53*
Commitment 0.07 0.08 0.84**

Note: * p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p = .001, **** p < .001

There were two curiosity variables that did not yield statistically significant results for any of the outcome
variables. The first was intolerance [self-efficacy R2 = 0.014, p = .207; interest R2 = -0.004, p = .467; commitment
R2 = -0.002, p = .395]. The second was problem solving [self-efficacy R2 = 0.014, p = .106; interest R2 = 0.004, p =
.221; commitment R2 = -0.001, p = .365].

JSACP | Volume 12, No. 2 | Winter 202010

Discussion and Implications
The results provided support for our hypothesis that greater curiosity would predict stronger social justice

identity, although only certain types of curiosity were statistically associated with social justice identity. Three
of the five subscales within the two curiosity measures were significant predictors of all three subcomponents of
social justice identity (self-efficacy, interest, and commitment). Specifically, both subscales of the ECS, Specific
and Diversive curiosity, were associated with higher self-efficacy, interest, and commitment to social justice
principles. That is, counselors with both a generalized sense of curiosity and individuals motivated by a specific,
detailed exploration of counseling predicted higher levels of social justice identity. Only the Competence subscale
of the CFDS positively predicted social justice identity. The need to feel competent, and thus seek information,
increased one’s level of social justice identity. These significant predictors align easily with the multicultural and
social justice counseling competencies already taught in counselor education, placing curiosity as a potential
contender for improving pedagogical strategies of social justice education.

The intolerance and problem-solving subscales of curiosity did not predict any dimension of social
justice identity. Intolerance to lack of access to information and a sense of urgency to problem-solve are not
characteristics that typically occur in counseling process; however it was predicted that these dimensions
aligned with the leadership and action orientation of social justice work. Although we thought these dimensions
of curiosity would predict social justice identity, it may be that people who cannot tolerate a lack of information
and are urgent to problem-solve are less likely for social justice motivation to be sustained. Social justice
advocacy requires endurance and sustained effort despite barriers, and people who are intolerant to not having
all of the information or need to solve problems quickly may be burned out easily and not have social justice
fully incorporated into one’s identity. Additionally, the lack of significant results for these predictors may be due
to the limited diversity of the sample. Future research should explore these constructs further to determine if
the results are replicated in more diverse samples.

Counselor educators are tasked with training new professionals in advocacy and social action through
increasing students’ self-efficacy, interest, and commitment to social justice work. As counselors expand their
roles, new and innovative strategies for fostering social justice identity must be explored and incorporated into
counselor education pedagogy. This study demonstrates that counselors’ curiosity helps predict social justice
identity, suggesting the possibility that including strategies that stimulate counselors’ curiosity may enhance
social justice training and education. Curiosity is linked to improved learning more broadly, but this study
suggests that it may be beneficial to intentionally select pedagogical strategies for social justice education that
enhance student or counselor curiosity. The three predictive subcomponents of curiosity align easily with
common characteristics of counseling professionals (Allan, Owens, & Douglass, 2019), and curiosity is likely a
common strength present in counseling training programs. Counselor educators, and more generally graduate
instructors, already use effective strategies to foster epistemological development by modeling and scaffolding
student curiosity (Sinha, Bai, & Cassel, 2017), but counselor educators may promote social justice identity
development by using strategies that foster purposeful curiosity in social justice issues. Further, these strategies
can be readily fused with various social justice pedagogical strategies, allowing student curiosity to be applied to
case studies, self and group reflection, sociological and power discussions, and service-learning and immersion
projects (Caldwell & Vera, 2010; Goodman et al., 2004; Kumagai & Lypson, 2009; Mayhew & Fernandez, 2007).
Thus, using strategies found to increase student curiosity generally or towards social justice issues may assist
students in perceiving the value, purpose, and/or relatedness of social justice more than other pedagogical
approaches (Jacobs, 2015).

Previous research on curiosity demonstrated curiosity’s influence on learning, motivation, and social
interactions (e.g., Kang et al., 2009; Renner, 2006). This research extends the importance of harnessing students’
curiosity in counseling work and facilitating culturally responsive conversations and relationships (Bansal,
2016), making it of keen interest to counselor educators and trainers of social justice. It appears that fostering

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curiosity in the classroom not only assists in the development of students’ epistemological development but
may also influence the development of students’ social justice identity. Using pedagogical theories and strategies
that increase curiosity in targeted topics, such as Lowenstein’s (1994) information gap theory, Jacobs’ (2015) use
of challenge, purpose, or variety in curiosity-based exercises, and Pluck and colleagues’ (2011) suggestion of
inquiry-based teaching approaches, may be useful in the context of social justice education. Creating a classroom
environment that fosters curiosity through student-directed engagement, scaffolding, and topic flexibility may
be more useful in in combination with critical incidents and training exercises previously found to be effective
in developing social justice identity. These strategies foster both critical and creative thinking skills that are
associated to student curiosity by examining and addressing social justice issues while using strategies that
enhance curiosity (Seymour, Kinn, & Sutherland, 2003).

Further, the specific dimensions of curiosity found to be significant predictors in this study can be
tailored in pedagogical strategies to increase effectiveness. The specific and diversive curiosity of students
can be fostered specifically by encouraging multiple perspectives and identifying information gaps across the
affective, cognitive, behavioral, and contextual domains of social justice identity development (Dollarhide et
al., 2016). These specific types of curiosity can be further enhanced by introducing variety in the discussion
topic, the perspectives used, and the manner in which discussions are facilitated (Jacobs, 2014; Kashdan &
Fincham, 2004). On the other hand, competence-focused curiosity may be fostered through intentional and
individualized student goal setting. Students who develop goals that challenge their interest and skill level in
social justice are more likely to sustain their curiosity for longer periods of time (Jacobs, 2015). Kumagai and
Lypson (2009) suggest that the development of pragmatic goals can maintain continued engagement in social
justice classrooms, as long as the established goals promote genuine curiosity and challenge in students.

A focus on curiosity may be particularly helpful for students struggling to understand and adopt
social justice principles during a counseling education program. Although most new counselors enter their
training programs in a dualistic mindset (Granello, 2002; Granello, 2010), some students struggle to move out
of dualistic thinking even with the help of counselor educators. In terms of social justice identity development,
these students may maintain belief systems that fail to acknowledge worldviews outside of their own, making
it difficult to recognize and take action in the face of societal inequities and oppression. Students struggling
to manage conflicting belief systems may benefit from less focus on learning the specifics of multiculturalism
initially and more on strategies and interventions that foster any type of curiosity that promotes social justice
identity.

Lastly, social justice identity is developed over the course of a career (Adams & Bell, 2016), yet social
justice education still typically occurs within the confines of a multicultural counseling course (Collins et
al., 2015). As students and new professionals expand their roles to include social justice and advocacy work,
counselor educators must also expand the breadth and depth of social justice training. As counselors graduate
and enter the workforce, intentional goals, opportunities for continued education, and maintaining a curious
stance may sustain interest and commitment to social justice issues outside of the training environment (Jacobs,
2015), making it more likely for counselors to adopt social justice into their identity.

This study has limitations to consider. Most notably, there is potential for reverse relationship between
curiosity and social justice identity. Although this study provides evidence that certain dimensions of curiosity
predict social justice identity, previous research has identified that discussing the importance of a specific topic,
like social justice work, maintains curiosity (Jacobs, 2014; Kashdan & Fincham, 2004). As people with social
justice identities will be more likely to discuss the importance of social justice, sustained curiosity may be a
byproduct of stronger social justice identity. Further, curiosity and social justice identity may have a bidirectional
or feedback relationship not explored in this study. Regardless of the directionality of the variables, counselor
educators know that it can be difficult to teach difficult and challenging social justice concepts. Freire (1998)
believed that epistemic curiosity, which was related to social justice identity in this study, could be taught through
intentional and specific strategies. Thus, it may be that intentionally enhancing this type of curiosity among
counseling students could help raise their willingness to engage in a social justice identity, although this was

JSACP | Volume 12, No. 2 | Winter 202012

not investigated in this research study. Future research should confirm the relationships through experimental
research designs or the inclusion of more covariates that potentially influence the direction and strength of the
relationships.

A second limitation was that the sample size consisted of mostly White female counseling professionals
attending two different conferences. Although both conferences where data was collected are widely attended
by counseling professionals, the cost of conference attendance and travel may limit a large range of counselors
from attending and thus participating in the study. Further, the lack of diversity in the sample may impact
the generalizability of the results. This study’s participants may not have the same contributing factors to the
development of social justice identity. For example, lived experiences of injustice may not predict social justice
identity for White counselors but may for counselors of color. For White female counselors, curiosity predicted
social justice identity, but future research should replicate this study with a diverse sample. Third, social justice
is a frequent topic of discussion and research area for counselors; therefore, there is a high potential for social
desirability in participants’ answers of their self-efficacy, interest, and commitment of social justice identity. Lastly,
curiosity that measured curiosity of counseling specifically (ECS-S) was measured using a piloted instrument
that combined multiple subscales related to different forms of curiosity. Although the ECS-S curiosity subscale
was piloted with a group of counseling students and found acceptable internal consistency, this scale with the
use of counseling language has not been validated in larger samples.

Conclusion
As counselors’ roles expand and incorporate social justice and community-based action, the training and

education must also expand. The social justice identity development of counselors may start in the classroom, but
the pedagogical strategies utilized by counselor educators are critical in fostering lifelong self-efficacy, interest,
and commitment to social justice. Among other counselor strengths, curiosity can be harnessed in counseling
session, counselor education classrooms, and within communities to motivate counselors for the social justice
work that is crucial to the field and the clientele we serve.

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Terra Tadlock Smith for her role in sparking our interests concerning the role
of curiosity in counseling.

Corresponding Author
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to:

Emily Baker
Department of Educational Studies
The Ohio State University,
444 PAES Building
304 Annie & John Glenn Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210-1124
email: baker.2750@osu.edu

ISSN 2159-8142

Baker, Messerschmitt-Coen, & Haag Granello | The Impact of Curiosity on Counselors’ Social Justice Identity 13

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v6i1.26 

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https://doi.org/10.1002/ss.161

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ARTICLE REVIEW INSTRUCTIONS

You will write an article review,

 

relevant to this week’s learning module and readings. You will select the article yourself by searching the UWA Library Databases. The article you choose should be a research article (has a hypothesis that is empirically tested). Pick an article relevant to a topic covered in the weekly readings. Each review is worth 20 points.

  

The review should be 1-2 single-spaced pages in a 12-point font. It is in your best interest to submit your review before it is due so you may check your originality report and correct any spelling and grammatical errors identified by the software program. 

The purpose of the review is to provide students knowledge of how research is conducted and reported. The main part of your review needs to include the following information. Please comment on these aspects of the article as part of your review. Provide only the briefest summary of content. What I am most interested in is your critique and connection to weekly readings.  

Reference.Listed at the top of the paper in APA style. 

Introduction. Read the introduction carefully. The introduction should contain:

·

A thorough literature review that establishes the nature of the problem to be addressed in the present study (the literature review is specific to the problem)

· The literature review is current (generally, articles within the past 5 years)

· A logical sequence from what we know (the literature review) to what we don’t know (the unanswered questions raised by the review and what this study intended to answer

· The purpose of the present study

· The specific hypotheses/research questions to be addressed. 

· State the overall purpose of the paper. What was the main theme of the paper?

· What new ideas or information were communicated in the paper? 

· Why was it important to publish these ideas?

Methods. The methods section has three subsections. The methods sections should contain:

· The 
participants and the population they are intended to represent (are they described as well in terms of relevant demographic characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity, education level, income level, etc?).

· The number of participants and how the participants were selected for the study

· A description of the 
tools/measuresused and research design employed. 

· A detailed description of the procedures of the study including participant instructions and whether incentives were given.

Results. The results section should contain a very thorough summary of results of all analyses. This section should include:

· Specific demographic characteristics of the sample

· A thorough narrative description of the results of all statistical tests that addressed specific hypotheses

· If there are tables and figures, are they also described in the text?

· If there are tables and figures, can they be interpreted “stand alone” (this means that they contain sufficient information in the title and footnotes so that a reader can understand what is being presented without having to go back to the text)?

Discussion. The discussion is where the author “wraps up the research”. This section should include:

· A simple and easy to understand summary of what was found

· Where the hypotheses supported or refuted?

· A discussion of how the author’s findings compares to those found in prior research

· The limitations of the study

· The implications of the findings to basic and applied researchers and to practitioners 

 

Critique.

In your opinion, what were the strengths and weaknesses of the paper or document? Be sure to think about 
your impressionsand the reasons for them. Listing what the author wrote as limitations is not the same thing as forming your own opinions and justifying them to the reader.

·

. Were the findings important to a reader?

. Were the conclusions valid? Do you agree with the conclusions?

. If the material was technical, was the technical material innovative?

 

Conclusion.

Once you provide the main critique of the article, you should include a final paragraph that gives me your overall impression of the study. Was the study worthwhile? Was it well-written and clear to those who may not have as much background in the content area? What was the overall contribution of this study to our child development knowledge base?  

 

APA Format Review

 

If you are unfamiliar or a bit “rusty” on your APA format, you may want to use the tutorial available through the APA website which is listed on your syllabus. 

 
  

Grading Criteria

 

I will grade your paper based upon:

· How well you followed directions (as indicated in this page) 

· How thoroughly you used examples to support the critique 

· How accurately you used APA format 

· your organization, grammar, and spelling 

· Integration of assigned weekly readings