Acculturation Strategies and Integrative Complexity

Abstract

People are being exposed to second cultures in growing numbers, yet the role played by second-culture exposure in shaping sociocognitive skills has received little theoretical attention. The authors address this gap by exploring the relationship between acculturation strategies and integrative complexity. Consistent with the acculturation complexity model, studies of both Asian American college students (Study 1) and Israelis working in the United States (Study 2) show that biculturals are more integratively complex across domains (e.g., culture, work) than either assimilated or separated individuals. Using priming manipulations to clarify the directional flow of causality between acculturation and integrative complexity, the authors also find that greater integrative complexity among biculturals is driven by acculturation pressures (Study 3). Finally, the authors discuss the adaptive implications of multiculturalism.

Functions of the common ingroup identity model and acculturation strategies in intercultural communication: American host nationals’ communication with Chinese international students

“…It is perhaps expected that immigrants and sojourners will always identify with their home culture as described in the integration strategy to some degree. Taken together, findings from this study illustrate that the effects of cultural identification with home and host cultures are orthogonal (Tadmor et al, 2009). …”

“…The majority of acculturation research has been guided by Berry's (1980) framework which assumes the orthogonality of identification with the host and home cultures (Tadmor, Tetlock, & Peng, 2009). The bi-dimensional model with each dimension indicating the strength of identification with the host or home culture has been accepted as a conceptual map of the acculturation framework (Berry, 1997 (2000) considered Germans, Swiss, and Slovaks as the dominant groups against Turks, former…”

Excellence in International Cooperation

“…Research examining the outcomes of study abroad programs shows that studying abroad leads to several positive affective gains such as promoting students' cultural and personal development by providing experiences that facilitate international awareness, cross-cultural communication skills, and self-confidence [8,10,29], all of which significantly relate to greater creative performance, including the extension and combination of conceptual boundaries and flexibility in recruiting and synthesizing information [30][31][32].…”

n-Culturals, the next cross-cultural challenge

“…It is likely that similarities exist among operating-environments, which are related to the identities that facilitate n-Cultural to manage multiculturalism in a particular environment (La Fromboise et al, 1993;Tadmor et al, 2009). It is also likely that n-Culturals will face situations where norms and values of these social microcosms are in conflict.…”