L06 - Culture and the Self II Flashcards
are there also differences between individualistic cultures? how does being multicultural affect the self-concept and psychological processes? how does multicultural identity affect well-being?
Describe Koopmann-Holm et al.’s study on emotional experience in USA vs. Germany (2014).
Examined differences in reaction to grief between European Americans and Germans
Germany is an independent culture, but emotional experience is different from USA
Ps imagined their reactions to a close acquaintance losing a loved one
Results:
- European Americans (vs. Germans) reported greater desire to avoid negative emotions
- led to differences in how sympathy was expressed
– European Americans more likely to send sympathy card that focuses on the positive
– Germans more likely to send sympathy card that focuses on negative
What is a multicultural identity?
(How does being multicultural affect the self-concept and psychological processes?)
Sense of belonging to 2 or more cultural groups
- e.g., Polish Canadian
Often experienced by:
- immigrant families
- ethnic minorities
- Indigenous peoples
What is acculturation?
Process of learning and incorporating the values, beliefs, language customs and mannerisms of the new country/majority culture
evidence of acculturation on a psychological level
- example: emotional acculturation
Describe Consedine et al.’s study on individual emotional acculturation (2014).
study of 915 immigrant women from Eastern Europe and Caribbean living in USE compared to USA-born non-immigrant women
Results: longer amount of time they had spent in USA, the more they fit mainstream American emotional norms (r = 0.11)
- i.e., more expressivity and less inhibition of emotions
Describe de Leersnyder et al.’s study on generational emotional acculturation (2020).
How well does each immigrant generations’ emotional experience fit with characteristic majority culture pattern?
Study: compared emotional fit between Turks and Belgians
- Turkish people in Turkey (“Turkish majority”)
- 1st generation Turkish immigrants in Belgium
- 2nd generation Turkish immigrants in Belgium
- Belgians in Belgium (“Belgian majority”)
assesses “emotional fit” by:
- self-report answers to emotional experiences questionnaire
- average emotional experiences for each group
- compare Turkish majority and immigrants’ scores to Belgian majority
Results: more contact a generation has with Belgian culture, more emotional acculturation
- Turkish majority least like Belgians emotionally
- 2nd generation Turkish immigrants indistinguishable from Belgians
evidence of emotional acculturation from one generation to the next
What are the implications of the acculturation findings?
minority individuals become psychologically more similar to majority culture individuals
does this mean that they lose their heritage culture?
can new culture and heritage culture co-exist?
What is cultural frame switching?
multicultural individuals’ cognitive, emotional, and behavioural reactions are context specific
- depend on which cultural identity is activated by the situation
Describe de Leersnyder et al.’s study on cultural frame switching in emotion (2020).
Examined 2nd generation Turkish immigrants’ emotional experience in Belgium
Results:
- work/school: emotions more consistent with characteristic Belgian pattern
- Home: emotions fit characteristic Blegian and Turkish patterns equally well
suggests that multicultural individuals flexibly shift behaviour to fit culture that’s most salient in a situation
Describe Ross et al.’s study on cultural frame switching in self-concept (2016).
Do multicultural individuals engage in cultural frame-switching in their self-descriptions?
Method: recruited European-Canadian and Chinese born students at a Canadian university
- wrote open-ended self-description: “describe what you’re like as a person”
– coded writing for references to others and collective self-statement
- questionnaire assessing agreement with Chinese cultural views
- Experimental manipulation for Chinese students:
– study done in Chinese or study done in English –> language acting as a cultural prime
– European Canadians all did study in English
Chinese Ps’ self-descriptions are more characteristically Chinese when answering in Chinese than in English
What are the implications of cultural frame switching?
even though multicultural individuals undergo acculturation, their heritage cultural identity and mainstream cultural identity can co-exist
can flexibly shift between cultures depending on which is most salient
What is integration?
(navigating multicultural identity grid)
strategy
HIGH-HIGH: participating and identification with mainstream culture - maintaining heritage cultural identity
participate in mainstream culture and hold onto heritage identity
What is assimilation?
(navigating multicultural identity grid)
strategy
HIGH-LOW: participation and identification with mainstream culture - maintaining heritage cultural identity
participate in mainstream culture, give up heritage identity
What is separation?
(Navigating multicultural identity grid)
strategy
LOW-HIGH: participation and identification with mainstream culture - maintaining heritage cultural identity
hold onto heritage identity, avoid mainstream culture
What is marginalization?
(Navigating multicultural identity grid)
strategy
LOW-LOW: participation and identification with mainstream culture - maintaining heritage cultural identity
not participating in mainstream or heritage culture
What are some factors that affect one’s multicultural identity strategy?
Which multicultrual identity strategy a person adopts depends on:
- to what extent are they encouraged to hang on to heritage identity by larger society
- how much exposure do they have to the mainstream culture
- how similar is the heritave identity to the mainstream identity
