ABSTRACT
Because race is so difficult to define and is so loaded with emotional connotations, I find it more profitable to speak in terms of cross-cultural and ethnic differences as I examine the studies done using the MMPI and MMPI-2 with major minority groups in the U.S. I believe that subcultures, especially those that have characteristics that set them apart from the majority U.S. white culture, have different experiences and different expectations for what is seen as normal. If the subculture is isolated enough, its members probably will answer some MMPI questions in clinical directions without having the pathology those answers imply in the standardization sample. In trying to understand some of the conflicting research findings on ethnic groups, I will be concerned with the concept of acculturation, defined as, “the process, witting or unwitting, whereby individuals assume the behavior patterns of an ingroup sufficiently to be accepted into the group, or to get along in it without friction” (English & English, 1959).
