Title: 
Headings: 

Content: Psychologist Gilbert Wrenn challenged the notion that White European American culture was universal by writing about the “culturally encapsulated counselor,” and the multicultural counseling movement has expanded the notion of culturally bound values. Formation of Cultural Values
Cultural values are formed through environmental adaptations, historical factors, social and economic evolution, and contact with other groups. Individuals develop cultural perceptual patterns that determine which stimuli reach their awareness. These cultural perceptual patterns also determine judgments of people, objects, and events. When the individual or society prioritizes a set of values (usually of the ethical or doctrinal categories), a value system is formed. Values dictate what is important. They serve as a guide for the ideals and behavior of members of a culture. As guided by its values, culture can be seen as a dynamic system of symbols and meanings that involves an ongoing, dialectic process where past experience influences meanings, which in turn affects future experience, which in turn affects subsequent meaning. Cultural values provide patterns of living and prescribe rules and models for attitude and conduct. For example, several culture-specific values have been identified for specific groups.