Since initial stages of our life we all experience diversity in several forms.

A small baby starts to

differentiate his/her mother from other family members. This process of differentiation expands
day by day in every sphere of our life.
Before discussing ‘Diversity’ we should know the nature and scope of Social Psychology in
short. Social psychology is a wide ranged branch of psychology. Though we could say that the
study of social psychology naturally started with the interaction between individuals or among
people, social psychology as a science emerged in the early 20 th century. The sphere of social
psychology is social and its focus is on individual. Hence subject matter of social psychology is
individual behavior in social context. Social psychology is theoretical as well as applied branch
of psychology.
Applied social psychology means using social psychological theories, principles, research
findings, experimental findings to understand social issues and to offer solutions for several
social issues. Attraction, distraction, social influence, group dynamics, attitudes, stereotypes,
prejudices, discrimination, aggression, communication, leadership, relationship, conformity,
these all are the social psychological issues. Day by day the scope of social psychology is
widening drastically.
In this globalization, digital era social change is getting its own shape. Overtly world is coming
closure but issues of social relations are becoming more and more complicated. Psychological
distance is increasing. Diversity is becoming crucial issue. That’s why understanding the concept
of diversity, types of diversity, various approaches, consequences, solutions have become a
prime focus of applied social psychology.
In psychology we have already learned that, ‘there are individual differences’ or ‘personality is
unique combination of different traits’. Similarly in other words we can say that the world is
diverse. People have diverse values, customs, clothing patterns, the language they speak, and
even their thinking process, behavior patterns etc.
Diversity: Introduction
Diversity means differences among people such as how they look, how they think and how they
behave. Social psychologists not only just understand these differences but also they go into deep
to find out the sources that create diversity among people. Some of the common sources are
ethnicity, nationality, religion, caste, sex, physical ability and social class. On the basis of these
categories we shape our social identity. And the interesting thing is that because of this diversity
we could better recognize who we are.
Diversity has consequences. Some of the consequences are positive and some are negative.
Positive consequences are – diversity is an essential value and practice in community. It is
necessary to redress injustice, structural and systemic inequalities. Secondly, diversity brings a
sense of excitement as we discover new perspectives and ideas. Research findings showed that
ability to meet various challenges, problem solving ability, competence and overall development
at workplace and also in educational institutes could enhance better with diversity perspective.
On the contrary, negative consequences of diversity arise when particular community or social
group or religion or caste has to suffer because they are different in some way. And this picture
we can better observe all over the world.

Importance of the concept diversity in social psychology

Diversity has thorough impact on individual behavior which further naturally reflects group
behavior. We always keep in mind that applied social psychology is basically a sub field of
psychology. Thus, its main focus is obviously on individual behavior. And because this is social
psychology attention is also paid to the influence that social groups have on an individual.
Diversity experience is psychologically important because being different from others,
influences the way we think and feel about ourselves and the way we interact with other people.
Landy and Conte (2004) defined psychological diversity as differences in underlying attributes
of members that include human features like skills, abilities, personality characteristics and
attitudes.
Sellor (2015) stated that ‘Diverse perspectives are just better. Diversifying the pool of
psychologists would have important benefits for all areas of psychological science. Research
suggested that functional diversity has an important benefit in two areas of intellectual endeavor:
innovation and problem solving’. What is Functional diversity? It refers to the fact that each
person in a group brings different strengths and talents to the group process (Triandis, Kurowski,
& Gelfand, 1994). Sellor believes that insufficient focus had put on defining race, culture, and
ethnicity so far. There is also a need to pay the attention on how those concepts shape and inform
worldviews. According to Sellor It is not just enough to know that behavior varies but also we
have to understand how and why. Further he also stated that psychological scientists might find
this task challenging because they are taught to think and work objectively, which might not be
possible in examining human behavior. In such study, he underlined the importance of variety of
perspectives rather than objectivity.
The concept diversity is not only restricted to race and culture though these are the key aspects.
But it is much broader concept. Diversity occupies all facets of our lives our diet, exercise,
financial investments, friend circle, etc. Diversity keeps us healthy physically, financially,
professionally and emotionally. It leads to innovation and creativity.
Research on workplace shows that diverse work groups produce more cognitive processing and
more exchange of information. Diversity brings new ideas and experiences, that people can learn
more from each other. Such different ideas and perspectives lead to better problem solving.
In our personal life also diversity plays a key role. When we interact with other people having
different background and life experiences the question arises in our mind why we are doing
things the way we do? This situation allows us to see that there are multiple ways of doing
things. Hence, diversity can free us from the routine pressure. Diversity has intrinsic and
extrinsic value. Without diversity we can’t just imagine our life and the world around us. In other
words we can say that from individual level to group level diversity is everywhere. Thus it
becomes a crucial as well as challenging topic for applied social psychologists.
Types of diversity:
From this discussion we come to know that diversity is about differences in society- in religion,
tradition, culture, economic status and so many other aspects. Diversity is an interesting concept
that makes this universe more livable and attractive. The countries like India are well known for
its diversified nature in different aspects such as, faith, rituals, customs, geographical differences,
linguistic elements, etc.
Diversity can be classified into different categories depending on our focus of study.
Different types of diversity that is commonly seen in our universe are-
1. Religious diversity: There are number of religions in this world. Now-a-days because of
different reasons people from different religious background live together at same
locality. These people contribute more to social diversity. Their religious centers are
there. They celebrate their festivals; share their philosophies with each other; etc. The
major religions exists in the world are Christian, Hindu, Islam, Jain, Buddha, Sikh etc.
and also these religions have thousands of their subdivisions.
2. Linguistic diversity: People interact with others by making use of variety of languages.
Especially in India each state has its own language. Such situation is charming to the
societies to encourage their knowledge of different languages.
3. Racial diversity: There is large number of races in the world. Might be because of the
different causal factors like migration, inter-racial marriages, military invasion, etc.
people from different races come together and live in the same country.
4. Cultural diversity: Culture is a particular style of life. It includes rituals, customs,
celebrations, dress code, language, and mode of relationship between and among people.
When people from different cultural background stay together in same country cultural
diversity could be observed easily in such countries. Cultural diversity is a beauty of
society.
5. Individual diversity: Individual diversity means differences in individual traits, i. e.
intelligence, creativity, interests, attitude, abilities, aptitude, etc. each personality is
different. It is a unique combination of traits. It is individuality of a person. Individual
identity is also considered as a social diversity. Because individual is a unit of society.
Individual differences naturally reflect into social diversity. Social psychologists always
study social behavior at three levels – individual level, interpersonal level and group
level. Hence, we can say that to study individual diversity is basic step in the study of
social diversity.
6. Gender diversity: Gender means sex roles. Our society is classified into male, female
and transgender. This diversity has produced different topics for discussion such as
gender equality, gender bias, male dominance, sexual harassment, etc. Gender diversity
should be focused especially in education field to create positive attitude towards gender
equality. This is key factor to maintain harmony in society.
 7. Geographical diversity: This also needs to study in social psychology because
geographical diversity influences the food people eat, their dress code, attitude, life style,
etc.
8. Positive and negative diversity: Diversity may be classified into positive and negative
category. When people from different background come together and live in harmony, it
becomes positive diversity. But when the members of particular group are not ready to
adjust with others, does not respect others, violet their freedom, in such situation diversity
becomes extremely negative.

Diversity at workplace:
Nowadays workplaces have adopted the policy to promote diversity and enhance the company
environment. Workplace diversity simply means employees with different characteristics i.e.
gender, race, religion, ethnicity, language, socio-cultural background, etc. Several countries have
introduced many legislative acts to protect employees’ identity and dignity.
Generally in workplaces we can see following types of diversity –
1. Race and ethnicity: Race is a biological identity of a person. Physical characteristics are
determined by biological factors like, skin color, hair type, color of the eyes, etc.
Ethnicity is more about a person’s cultural background. A recent study by McKinsey in
2022 showed that organizations with higher racial and ethnic diversity are 35 percent
more likely to have stronger financial returns.
2. Age and generation: When company goes for ‘only freshers’ or ‘only some particular
years of experience’ for recruitment this means company is engaged in age biases. Due to
changing atmosphere thinking process naturally differs by generation to generation.
3. Gender and gender identity: This is evident type of diversity. It is not related to number
but an equality angle. Equality in pay, promotions, other facilities, using gender neutral
language, etc.
4. Religious and spiritual beliefs: Company promotes freedom to follow your religious
practices. By providing prayer rooms, religious holidays, celebrations, company can
create diverse work culture.
5. Disability: In order to promote this diversity company has to focus on accommodating
people with disabilities who can show equal productivity like other colleagues. And also
should provide all necessary things to make the workplace more accessible for them e.g.
elevators, ramps, and modes of communication and so on.
6. Socio-economic status and background: Due to different socio economic backgrounds
people carry different attitudes, different perspectives with them. In such situation
company or any workplace must ensure that no employee is judged on the basis of their
social status.

It is already proved by various researches that diversity enhances the quality of organizational
climate and also increases productivity level.
Diversity in the field of education
Researches in the field of education focused beyond overt traits. They believe that diversity in
race, culture, language, or gender are easily observable. They are not the only ways in which
individuals differ. In order to understand diversity in depth, researchers Goethe & Colina (2018)
stated that considering migration history, sexual orientation, disability, culture and disciplines
among other traits is more important. Diversity among teachers provide enriched educational
environment for their students. It is proved that diverse classroom climate play a major role in
students’ cognitive development, problem solving ability, linguistic ability, creativity, etc.
In short, diversity plays a vital role in individual as well as in social life. Study of social
psychology couldn’t progress without considering the concept of ‘diversity’.
APPROACHES TO DIVERSITY
Diversity is crucial and dynamic concept in applied social psychology. Various researchers
studied the concept ‘diversity’ from different angles and developed different approaches to
diversity. Some of them are given below –
Diana (2017) developed three approaches to diversity from work setup –
1. Representational diversity – This is on the basis of what we can see and count. For this,
inviting a more diverse set of people, make them involve in different tasks, promote
them to work together, Invest time, money to make them more able are essential things.
2. Interactional diversity – the approach stated that increase the capacity of diverse
individuals to interact in such a manner that they realize the benefits of diversity. In order
to achieve the goal we can educate and train them, organize discussion sessions on
various topics, motivate and empower them by conducting workshops, training programs,
activities, tasks, etc.
3. Structural diversity – It is a commitment to diversity which reflects in practice, policy
and governance throughout the institution. For this, focused programming, network,
reward and incentives, continuous evaluation programs are essential.

For creating a diverse work environment following three approaches are also discussed –
1. Colorblind approach – It is similar to the American concept of ‘melting pot’- simply
means that people assimilate to become one. Colorblind approach means paying no
attention to color of one’s skin and seeing everyone as a same. This approach accepts
racial diversity.
2. Multicultural approach – This approach focuses on vision, mission, goals, and values
of institution and whether its policies, practices are in accordance with the same.
Institution should ensure that all members of the diverse workforce feel fully included
and have every opportunity to contribute in achieving mission of the organization.
3. All – inclusive multiculturalism – This approach promises to enhance positive
relationships across difference, resulting in heightened employee engagement and
individual and organizational performance. This approach seems to be effective for both
minorities and non minorities.