La psychologie interculturelle a montre qu'il existait des rapports etroits entre le contexte culturel et le developpement comportemental de l'individu. Cette relation etablie, l'effort des recherches interculturelles a de plus en plus porte sur ce qu'il advenait des individus quand ils tentaient de refaire leur vie dans une culture differente de leur culture d'origine. Les consequences psychologiques a long terme de ce processus d'acculturation sont tres variables, dependant de variables sociales et personnelles qui renvoient a la societe de depart, a la societe d'accueil et a des phenomenes qui existent avant, mais qui emergent pendant la periode d'acculturation. Cet article esquisse un schema conceptuel a partir duquel acculturation et adaptation peuvent ětre etudiees, puis presente quelques conclusions et resultats generaux tires d'un echantillon de travaux empiriques. On envisage des applications possibles a la politique et aux programmes d'insertion en prenant en consideration les couts et les benefices sociaux et psychologiques emanant de l'adoprion d'une orientation pluraliste et integrationniste.

Cross-cultural psychology has demonstrated important links between cultural context and individual behavioural development. Given this relationship, cross-cultural research has increasingly investigated what happens to individuals who have developed in one cultural context when they attempt to re-establish their lives in another one. The long-term psychological consequences of this process of acculturation are highly variable, depending on social and personal variables that reside in the society of origin, the society of settlement. and phenomena that both exist prior to, and arise during, the course of acculturation. This article outlines a conceptual framework within which acculturation and adaptation can be investigated, and then presents some general findings and conclusions based on a sample of empirical studies. Applications to public policy and programmes are proposed. along with a consideration of the social and psychological costs and benefits of adopting a pluralist and integrationist orientation to these issues.

Immigration, Acculturation, and Adaptation

Conceptual approaches to acculturation.

We enhance the theoretical precision of cultural intelligence (CQ: capability to function effectively in culturally diverse settings) by developing and testing a model that posits differential relationships between the four CQ dimensions (metacognitive, cognitive, motivational and behavioural) and three intercultural effectiveness outcomes (cultural judgment and decision making, cultural adaptation and task performance in culturally diverse settings). Before testing the model, we describe development and cross-validation (N = 1,360) of the multidimensional cultural intelligence scale (CQS) across samples, time and country. We then describe three substantive studies (N = 794) in field and educational development settings across two national contexts, the USA and Singapore. The results demonstrate a consistent pattern of relationships where metacognitive CQ and cognitive CQ predicted cultural judgment and decision making; motivational CQ and behavioural CQ predicted cultural adaptation; and metacognitive CQ and behavioural CQ predicted task performance. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of our model and findings.

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Cultural Intelligence: Its Measurement and Effects on Cultural Judgment and Decision Making, Cultural Adaptation and Task Performance

The unidimensional model of acculturation posits that heritage and mainstream culture identifications have a strong inverse relation, whereas the bidimensional model posits that the 2 identifications are independent. The authors compared these models in 3 samples of ethnic Chinese (ns = 164, 150, and 204), 1 sample of non-Chinese East Asians (n = 70), and one diverse group of acculturating individuals (n = 140). Although the unidimensional measure showed a coherent pattern of external correlates, the bidimensional measure revealed independent dimensions corresponding to heritage and mainstream culture identification. These dimensions displayed patterns of noninverse correlations with personality, self-identity, and psychosocial adjustment. The authors conclude that the bidimensional model is a more valid and useful operationalization of acculturation.

Is acculturation unidimensional or bidimensional? A head-to-head comparison in the prediction of personality, self-identity, and adjustment.

In cross-cultural psychology, one of the major sources of the development and display of human behavior is the contact between cultural populations. Such intercultural contact results in both cultural and psychological changes. At the cultural level, collective activities and social institutions become altered, and at the psychological level, there are changes in an individual's daily behavioral repertoire and sometimes in experienced stress. The two most common research findings at the individual level are that there are large variations in how people acculturate and in how well they adapt to this process. Variations in ways of acculturating have become known by the terms integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization. Two variations in adaptation have been identified, involving psychological well-being and sociocultural competence. One important finding is that there are relationships between how individuals acculturate and how well they adapt: Often those who integrate (defined as being engaged in both their heritage culture and in the larger society) are better adapted than those who acculturate by orienting themselves to one or the other culture (by way of assimilation or separation) or to neither culture (marginalization). Implications of these findings for policy and program development and for future research are presented.

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Wendy Searle

Papers

The prediction of psychological and sociocultural adjustment during cross-cultural transitions☆

The impact of value discrepancies and cultural identity on psychological and sociocultural adjustment of sojourners.