PSYC 307 Module 3 Chapter 7 The Complexity of Studying Acculturation · Acculturation: The process in which people who have moved to a new, unfamiliar location learn, and adapt to, a culture that is different from their own . Heritage culture: the original culture . Host culture: the new culture · Ideally, longitudinal study but it is rare because ? Cost ? Difficulty . Cross-sectional studies are common ? But provides incomplete picture . Thousands of studies relevant to acculturation have been conducted, but extracting a set of generalizable findings, or any cumulative theories, is difficult · Challenges o (1) Acculturating individuals have such widely varying experiences Example: refugees, move to get famous, move for work Remote acculturation: gradually adjust to a foreign culture from afar by regularly watching its media or eating its foods o (2) Acculturating individuals can also move to dramatically different kinds of environments o (3) People may move to new cultures that vary in terms of similarity to the heritage culture o (4) People have very different personalities, goals, and expectations that affect their acculturation experiences Moving to a New Culture · Moving to a new culture involves psychological adjustment o acquiring a new language o learning new interpersonal and social behaviors ? getting used to new values o perhaps becoming part of a minority group o adjusting one's self-concept . the longer immigrants spend in a new culture, the more similar their emotional experiences become to those of other people living in that culture . the more people adapt to a new culture, the more they acquire the host culture's norms for relating to others Changing Attitudes Toward the Host Culture · Migrants: people who move from a heritage culture (their original culture) to a host culture (their new culture) o includes sojourners (those who intend to stay temporarily)
o Includes immigrants (those who intend to stay permanently) . Norwegian Fulbright scholars to the United States ? First few months: honeymoon stage Honeymoon stage keeps tourism industry in business ? Next 6-18 months: crisis stage/culture shock feeling of being anxious, helpless, irritable, and generally disoriented and homesick on moving to a new culture I After several months in crisis stage: most started to adjust and began to enjoy their experiences more Adjustment stage: lasts several years o U-shaped acculturation curve can happen after a sojourner return to their home country: reverse culture shock finding themselves puzzling over why they don't quite feel at home anymore, and feeling somewhat alienated from those around them · Migrants to Japan Did not replicate U shape pattern o Demonstrated pessimistic L-shape Included honeymoon and crisis stage · No adjustment stage Who Adjusts Better? · Cultural Distance o difference between two cultures in their overall ways of life o the more cultural distance someone needs to travel, the harder the acculturation process o one of the best predictors of acculturation success is language ability . The ease with which people learn English is influenced by how distant their mother