The Oxford Handbook of Multicultural Identity (Oxford Library of Psychology) [1 ed.] 9780199796694, 2014006430, 0199796696

Table of contents :
Cover
The Oxford Handbook of Multicultural Identity
Series
Copyright
Short contents
Oxford Library of Psychology
About the Editors
Contributors
Contents
1 Introduction: The Psychology of Multicultural Identity and Experiences
Part 1 Definitional Issues and Basic Processes
2 Dynamic Multiculturalism: The Interplay of Socio-Cognitive, Neural, and Genetic Mechanisms
3 The Bilingual Brain: Language, Culture, and Identity
4 The Identity Dynamics of Acculturation and Multiculturalism: Situating Acculturation in Context
Part 2 The Social-Psychological Context
5 Multicultural Societies
6 The Social Psychology of Multiculturalism: Identitty and Intergroup Relations
7 Exploring the Identity Autonomy Perspective (IAP): An Integrative Theoretical Approach to Multicultural and Multiracial Identity
8 Multiple Groups, Multiple Identities, and Intersectionality
9 Psychological Science of Globalization
Part 3 Measurement and Validity Issues
10 Assessment of Psychological Acculturation and Multiculturalism: An Overview of Measures in the Public Domain
11 Implicit Multicultural Identities
Part 4 Individual Differences
12 Personality and Multicultural Effectiveness
13 Variations in Multicultural Experience: Influence of Bicultural Identity Intergration on Socio-Cognitive Processes and Outcomes
14 Multiculturalism and Adjustment
Part 5 Development, Education, and Counseling
15 Identity Formation in Bicultural Youth: A Developmental Perspective
16 Childhood Socialization and Academic Performance of Bicultural Youth
17 Multicultural Education and Global Citizens
18 Multicultural Counseling and Therapy Counseling for Social Justice
Part 6 Applied Perspectives
19 Bridging Cultural Divides: Traversing Organizational and Psychological Perspectives on Multiculturalism
20 Cultural Diversity and Marketing: The Multicultural Consumer
21 Policies for Managing Cultural Diversity
22 Managing Identity Issues in Intercultural Conflict Communication: Developing a Multicultural Identity Attunement Lens
Author Index
subject Index

Citation preview

The Oxford Handbook of Multicultural Identity

O X F O R D L I B R A RY O F P S Y C H O L O G Y

Editor-in-Chief Peter E. Nathan Area Editors:

Clinical Psychology David H. Barlow

Cognitive Neuroscience Kevin N. Ochsner and Stephen M. Kosslyn

Cognitive Psychology Daniel Reisberg

Counseling Psychology Elizabeth M. Altmaier and Jo-Ida C. Hansen

Developmental Psychology Philip David Zelazo

Health Psychology Howard S. Friedman

History of Psychology David B. Baker

Methods and Measurement Todd D. Little

Neuropsychology Kenneth M. Adams

Organizational Psychology Steve W. J. Kozlowski

Personality and Social Psychology Kay Deaux and Mark Snyder

OXFORD

L I B R A RY

OF

Editor in Chief

PSYCHOLOGY

peter e. nathan

The Oxford Handbook of Multicultural Identity Edited by

Verónica Benet-Martínez and Ying-yi Hong

1

1 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016

© Oxford University Press 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Oxford handbook of multicultural identity / edited by Veronica Benet-Martinez, Ying-yi Hong. pages cm.—(Oxford library of psychology) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–0–19–979669–4 1. Assimilation (Sociology)  2. Group identity.  3. Ethnicity.  4. Ethnopsychology.  5. Identity (Psychology) 6.  Transnationalism—Psychological aspects.  7.  Multiculturalism—Psychological aspects.  I.  Benet-Martinez, Veronica. II.  Hong, Ying-yi, 1964– HM843.O94 2014 305—dc23 2014006430

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

SHORT CONTENTS

Oxford Library of Psychology vii About the Editors ix Contributors xi Contents xv Chapters 1–506 Index 507



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OX F O R D L I B R A R Y O F P S YC H O L O G Y

The Oxford Library of Psychology, a landmark series of handbooks, is published by Oxford University Press, one of the world’s oldest and most highly respected publishers, with a tradition of publishing significant books in psychology. The ambitious goal of the Oxford Library of Psychology is nothing less than to span a vibrant, wide-ranging field and, in so doing, to fill a clear market need. Encompassing a comprehensive set of handbooks, organized hierarchically, the Library incorporates volumes at different levels, each designed to meet a distinct need. At one level are a set of handbooks designed broadly to survey the major subfields of psychology; at another are numerous handbooks that cover important current focal research and scholarly areas of psychology in depth and detail. Planned as a reflection of the dynamism of psychology, the Library will grow and expand as psychology itself develops, thereby highlighting significant new research that will impact on the field. Adding to its accessibility and ease of use, the Library will be published in print and, later on, electronically. The Library surveys psychology’s principal subfields with a set of handbooks that capture the current status and future prospects of those major subdisciplines. This initial set includes handbooks of social and personality psychology, clinical psychology, counseling psychology, school psychology, educational psychology, industrial and organizational psychology, cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, methods and measurements, history, neuropsychology, personality assessment, developmental psychology, and more. Each handbook undertakes to review one of psychology’s major subdisciplines with breadth, comprehensiveness, and exemplary scholarship. In addition to these broadly conceived volumes, the Library also includes a large number of handbooks designed to explore, in depth, more specialized areas of scholarship and research, such as stress, health and coping, anxiety and related disorders, cognitive development, or child and adolescent assessment. In contrast to the broad coverage of the subfield handbooks, each of these latter volumes focuses on an especially productive, more highly focused line of scholarship and research. Whether at the broadest or most specific level, however, all the Library handbooks offer synthetic coverage that reviews and evaluates the relevant past and present research and anticipates research in the future. Each handbook in the Library includes introductory and concluding chapters written by its editor to provide a roadmap to the handbook’s table of contents and to offer informed anticipations of significant future developments in that field. An undertaking of this scope calls for handbook editors and chapter authors who are established scholars in the areas about which they write. Many of the nation’s



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and world’s most productive and best-respected psychologists have agreed to edit Library handbooks or write authoritative chapters in their areas of expertise. For whom has the Oxford Library of Psychology been written? Because of its breadth, depth, and accessibility, the Library serves a diverse audience, including graduate students in psychology and their faculty mentors, scholars, researchers, and practitioners in psychology and related fields. Each will find in the Library the information they seek on the subfield or focal area of psychology in which they work or are interested. Befitting its commitment to accessibility, each handbook includes a comprehensive index, as well as extensive references to help guide research. And because the Library was designed from its inception as an online as well as a print resource, its structure and contents will be readily and rationally searchable online. Further, once the Library is released online, the handbooks will be regularly and thoroughly updated. In summary, the Oxford Library of Psychology will grow organically to provide a thoroughly informed perspective on the field of psychology, one that reflects both psychology’s dynamism and its increasing interdisciplinarity. Once published electronically, the Library is also destined to become a uniquely valuable interactive tool, with extended search and browsing capabilities. As you begin to consult this handbook, we sincerely hope you will share our enthusiasm for the more than 500-year tradition of Oxford University Press for excellence, innovation, and quality, as exemplified by the Oxford Library of Psychology. Peter E. Nathan Editor-in-Chief Oxford Library of Psychology

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Oxford Library of Psychology

A B O U T T H E E D I TO R S

Verónica Benet-Martínez is currently an ICREA professor in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain, where she leads the Behavioral and Experimental Social Sciences group. Before joining ICREA and UPF, she held faculty positions at the University of California, Riverside and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and was a funded postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Personality and Social Research of the University of California, Berkeley. She obtained a PhD in Social-Personality Psychology from the University of California, Davis. Dr.  Benet-Martínez is appointed fellow of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), associate editor for the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and member of the editorial board for several psychology journals.  She has also been an executive committee member for the International Association of Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP), SPSP, and the Association for Personality Psychology. Her research has been funded by government and private extramural grants from the U.S., Catalonia, and the European Union. Dr. Benet-Martínez’s research interests center on the study of multi/bicultural identity, including individual differences in bicultural identity structure, the interplay of social networks and acculturation, and the personality, socio-cognitive, and adjustment-related outcomes of multiculturalism. She is also interested in the role of culture and language in personality structure and processes, and in cross-cultural research methods. She has published extensively on these issues, and her published work is highly cited. Dr. Benet-Martínez was born in Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) and raised in a Catalan-Spanish multilingual family before moving to the United States, where she lived for 21 years. The cultural and linguistic juxtapositions and dynamics she experienced living in Spain and later in the United States gave her insight into the culturally influenced and dynamic nature of individuals’ social identities and personalities. Her passion for studying these issues scientifically, because they are both socially relevant and also informative regarding many basic processes in cultural and social-personality psychology, continues to this day. Ying-yi Hong is currently a professor at the Nanyang Business School of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. As a Hong Kong native, she grew up in a Chinese family and was exposed to western cultures in public schools during the British colonial period. After receiving undergraduate education at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, she studied overseas, and subsequently received a PhD degree from Columbia University, specializing in Personality and Social Psychology. She has taught at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before moving to NTU. Her main

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research interests include culture and cognition, self, identity, and intergroup relations. She has published over 100 journal articles and book chapters mainly on culture and cognition, multiculturalism, and identity. Her published work has been cited widely in the fields of psychology, business, and education. Dr. Hong is the recipient of the Otto Klineberg Intercultural and International Relations Award in 2001, International Society for Self and Identity Outstanding Early Career Award in 2004, and Nanyang Award for Research Excellence in 2014, and was elected Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and member of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology. She is also a co-director of the Culture Science Institute, a research body housed at Nanyang Business School that aims to conduct cutting edge, interdisciplinary research on culture.

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About the Editors

CO N T R I B U TO R S

James A. Banks

College of Education Center for Multicultural Education University of Washington Seattle, WA

Verónica Benet-Martínez

ICREA and Department of Political and Social Sciences Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona, Spain

John W. Berry

Department of Psychology Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Mary Yoko Brannen

Centre for Asia Pacific Initiatives and Department of International Business Peter B. Gustavson School of Business University of Victoria Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Rupert Brown

School of Psychology University of Sussex Brighton, UK

Melissa G. Bublitz

College of Business University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, WI

Nicole T. Buchanan

Department of Psychology Michigan State University East Lansing, MI

Ozgur Celenk

Department of Cross-Cultural Psychology Tilburg University Tilburg, the Netherlands

Chi-Ying Cheng

School of Social Sciences Singapore Management University Singapore



Chi-Yue Chiu

Nanyang Business School Nanyang Technological University Singapore and Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Beijing, China

Mariah M. Contreras

Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development Tufts University Medford, MA

Kay Deaux

Department of Psychology New York University New York, NY

Thierry Devos

Department of Psychology San Diego State University San Diego, CA

Alexander W. Fietzer

Department of Psychiatry New York Presbyterian Hospital – Weill Cornell Medical College White Plains, NY

Adrián García-Sierra

Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences University of Connecticut Storrs, CT and The Institute of Learning and Brain Sciences University of Washington Seattle, WA

Ying-yi Hong

Nanyang Business School Nanyang Technological University Singapore and School of Psychology Beijing Normal University Beijing, China

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Que-Lam Huynh

Department of Psychology California State University, Northridge Northridge, CA

Mark Khei

Department of Psychology Queen’s University Ontario, Canada

Fiona Lee

Department of Psychology University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI

Angela K.-Y. Leung

School of Social Sciences Singapore Management University Singapore

David Luna

Baruch College City University of New York New York, NY

Jayanthi Mistry

Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development Tufts University Medford, MA

Fathali M. Moghaddam

Joseph G. Ponterotto

Graduate School of Education Division of Psychological and Educational Services Fordham University at Lincoln Center New York, NY

Jean S. Phinney

Emeritus Professor Department of Psychology California State University, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA

Elizabeth Pufall-Jones

Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development Tufts University Medford, MA

Lin Qiu

Division of Psychology School of Humanities and Social Sciences Nanyang Technological University Singapore

Nairán Ramírez-Esparza

Department of Psychology University of Connecticut Storrs, CT

David L. Sam

Department of Psychosocial Science University of Bergen Bergen, Norway

Department of Psychology & Department of Government Georgetown University Washington, DC

Diana T. Sanchez

Department of Psychology Georgetown University Washington DC

Seth J. Schwartz

Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences University of Groningen Groningen, the Netherlands

Isis H. Settles

Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI

Margaret J. Shih

Cristina Novoa

Jan Pieter van Oudenhoven

Laura A. Peracchio

Leyla M. Pérez-Gualdrón

Department of Counseling Psychology University of San Francisco San Francisco, CA

xii Contributors

Department of Social Psychology Rutgers University New Brunswick, NJ Department of Public Health Sciences University of Miami School of Medicine Miami, FL Michigan State University Department of Psychology East Lansing, MI Anderson School of Management University of California Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA

Stella Ting-Toomey

Department of Human Communication Studies California State University at Fullerton Fullerton, CA

Paul Vedder

Rommert Casimir Institute of Developmental Psychopathology Leiden University Leiden, the Netherlands

Maykel Verkuyten

ERCOMER, Department of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences Utrecht University Utrecht, the Netherlands

Vivian L. Vignoles

School of Psychology University of Sussex Brighton, UK

Fons J. R. van de Vijver

Department of Cross-Cultural Psychology Tilburg University Tilburg, the Netherlands and School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia and WorkWell Unit North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

ThuyLoan Vu

Department of Psychology San Diego State University San Diego, CA

Leigh S. Wilton

Department of Psychology Rutgers University New Brunswick, NJ

Christine J. Yeh

Department of Counseling Psychology University of San Francisco San Francisco, CA

Hanna Zagefka

Department of Psychology Royal Holloway University of London Egham, UK

Karen I. van der Zee

Faculty of Behavioral and Social Sciences University of Groningen Groningen, the Netherlands

Contributors

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CONTENTS

  1. Introduction: The Psychology of Multicultural Identity and Experiences  1 Verónica Benet-Martínez and Ying-yi Hong 

Part One  •  Definitional Issues and Basic Processes   2. Dynamic Multiculturalism: The Interplay of Socio-cognitive, Neural, and Genetic Mechanisms  11 Ying-yi Hong and Mark Khei   3. The Bilingual Brain: Language, Culture, and Identity  35 Nairán Ramírez-Esparza and Adrián García-Sierra   4. The Identity Dynamics of Acculturation and Multiculturalism: Situating Acculturation in Context  57 Seth J. Schwartz, Vivian L. Vignoles, Rupert Brown, and Hanna Zagefka

Part Two  •  The Social-Psychological Context   5. Multicultural Societies  97 John W. Berry and David  L. Sam   6. The Social Psychology of Multiculturalism: Identity and Intergroup Relations  118 Kay Deaux and Maykel Verkuyten   7. Exploring the Identity Autonomy Perspective (IAP): An Integrative Theoretical Approach to Multicultural and Multiracial Identity  139 Diana T. Sanchez, Margaret J. Shih, and Leigh S. Wilton   8. Multiple Groups, Multiple Identities, and Intersectionality  160 Isis H. Settles and Nicole T. Buchanan   9. Psychological Science of Globalization  181 Angela K.-Y. Leung, Lin Qiu, and Chi-Yue Chiu

Part Three  •  Measurement and Validity Issues 10. Assessment of Psychological Acculturation and Multiculturalism: An Overview of Measures in the Public Domain  205 Ozgur Celenk and Fons J. R. van de Vijver 11. Implicit Multicultural Identities  227 Thierry Devos and ThuyLoan Vu



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Part Four  •  Individual Differences 12. Personality and Multicultural Effectiveness  255 Karen I. van der Zee and Jan Pieter van Oudenhoven 13. Variations in Multicultural Experience: Influence of Bicultural Identity Integration on Socio-Cognitive Processes and Outcomes   276 Chi-Ying Cheng, Fiona Lee, Verònica Benet-Martínez, and Que-Lam Huynh 14. Multiculturalism and Adjustment  300 Joseph G. Ponterotto and Alexander W. Fietzer

Part Five  •  Development, Education, and Counseling 15. Identity Formation in Bicultural Youth: A Developmental Perspective  335 Paul Vedder and Jean S. Phinney  16. Childhood Socialization and Academic Performance of Bicultural Youth  355 Jayanthi Mistry, Mariah M. Contreras, and Elizabeth Pufall-Jones 17. Multicultural Education and Global Citizens  379 James A. Banks 18. Multicultural Counseling and Therapy Counseling for Social Justice  396 Leyla M. Pérez-Gualdrón and Christine J. Yeh

Part Six  •  Applied Perspectives 19. Bridging Cultural Divides: Traversing Organizational and Psychological Perspectives on Multiculturalism  417 Mary Yoko Brannen and Fiona Lee 20. Cultural Diversity and Marketing: The Multicultural Consumer  438 Laura A. Peracchio, Melissa G. Bublitz, and David Luna  21. Policies for Managing Cultural Diversity  462 Cristina Novoa and Fathali M. Moghaddam 22. Managing Identity Issues in Intercultural Conflict Communication: Developing a Multicultural Identity Attunement Lens  485 Stella Ting-Toomey Author Index  507 Subject Index  527

xvi Contents

CH A PT E R

1

Introduction: The Psychology of Multicultural Identity and Experiences

Verónica Benet-Martínez and Ying-yi  Hong

Abstract This Oxford Handbook, which comprises 22 chapters written by some of the most accomplished scholars on the topic, reviews cutting-edge empirical and theoretical work on the psychology of multicultural identities and experiences (and related topics). The chapters are organized into six thematic groupings: Definitional Issues and Basic Processes (Part I); The Social-Psychological Context (Part II); Measurement and Validity Issues (Part III); Individual Differences (Part IV); Developmental, Educational, and Counseling Issues (Part V); and Applied Perspectives (Part VI). As a whole, the volume addresses some important basic (e.g., measurement of multicultural identity, links between multilingualism and multiculturalism, psychological reactions to globalization) and applied issues (e.g., how to address multiculturalism in marketing and organizational science), and reviews relevant research from diverse traditions within psychology (i.e., social, personality, developmental, acculturation, educational, political) and managerial sciences (i.e., organizational, marketing). This chapter introduces the volume, its background and goals, describes the emphasis and take-home message of each chapter, and explains how the progression of chapters weaves a coherent tapestry of all that is relevant to the psychological study of multiculturalism. Key Words:  multicultural, bicultural, multiculturalism, culture, identity, globalization, acculturation, ­intergroup relations

Globalization, terrorism, Facebook, big data . . . These were some of the buzzwords to characterize the beginning of the new millennium. We are currently over a decade into the new millennium, and it seems as if these buzzwords are getting even more pervasive in people’s everyday lives and conversations all around the globe. A  driving force underlying these buzzwords is an unprecedented rate of connectivity among people from different parts of the world, people who traditionally were separated because of various kinds of limits, such as geographical distance, limited means of global mobility, language and cultural barriers, and so forth. In other words, more people from different cultural background are connecting together, and at

the same time, more people are being exposed to multiple cultures. We live in a world defined by cultural diversity, and thus multicultural experiences have become a regular component of many individuals’ lives. The cultural contact and mixing resulting from migration, colonization, economic globalization, multicultural policies, multi-nation states (e.g., Belgium, Spain), as well as fast travel and media exposure explains why more and more individuals describe themselves as bicultural or multicultural.1 For instance, in the U.S., multicultural individuals may include the 13% who are foreign-born, the 37% who are non-White, the 20.3 % who speak a language other than English at home, and the 1

2.8 % who are multiracial (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). High numbers of multicultural individuals can also be found in other nations where migration has been historically strong (e.g., Canada, Australia, Germany, Singapore) or where there is a history of colonization (e.g., Hong Kong). These impressive statistics do not always include ethnic and cultural minorities who are descendants of immigrants, or people in cross-cultural relationships, all people for whom identification and involvement with a second culture, in addition to the majority culture, may also be the norm. At the same time, the benefits and challenges of multiculturalism have become a hot topic for contestations. On the one hand, some individuals perceive multiculturalism largely as a negative societal challenge. For example, in a landmark speech in 2010, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel claimed that multiculturalism had “utterly failed” in Germany. She concluded that the so-called “multikulti” concept— where people would “live side-by-side” happily—did not work, and immigrants needed to do more to integrate—including learning German. Her comments came amid rising anti-immigration feelings in Germany. Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron followed suit by criticizing “state multiculturalism” and arguing that the UK needed a stronger national identity to prevent people from turning to all kinds of extremism (see http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/ the-staggers/2011/02/terrorism-islam-ideology). On the other hand, there are many uplifting successful stories of multiculturalism. Amini Kajunju, who took the job of President and CEO of the African-American Institute in 2012, has attributed her success to her having a dual cultural identity. While she was born in Congo and has lived a large part of her life on the African continent, she has also lived in the United States for years, including those dedicated to obtaining a higher education. She said in an interview by CNN (“Africa’s secret weapon: The diaspora,” 2013) that some Americans see her as very African and some Africans see her as very American. . . “I have that duality.” In this interview she talks about this cultural duality as a niche that brings benefits to her career and life. In fact, she thinks that this duality is the reason she was hired. U.S. President Obama is another example of someone who successfully straddles countries and cultures. As the son of a Kenyan and an American, he studied the Quran in his youth and as an adult he was baptized. His multicultural and multiracial background enables him to speak the language of a globalized world, in which people of diverse origins 2 Introduction

and races encounter each other and negotiate common meaning across shrinking cultural divides (Saleh, 2009). These contrasting reactions to and experiences with multiculturalism have made it ever more pressing for world leaders, policy makers, educators, business-men and women, and social scientists to understand the nuances of multiculturalism and the state-of-the-art findings. However, there has not been a comprehensive review of the theoretical and empirical work on the psychology of multiculturalism so far conducted by the main scholars researching on this topic. The present Oxford Handbook seeks to fill this void.

Studying Multicultural Identities and Experiences: Goals and Approach of the Handbook

Like the picture shown in the book cover, a type of mosaic called trencadis and made of broken pieces of ceramic from tiles and dinnerware, many multicultural individuals construct their social identities as a mosaic built with different “pieces” representing culturally diverse experiences, knowledge, and relationships.2 How can psychologist best study these processes and their consequences? Multiculturalism as an individual and collective phenomenon was formally examined by some social and acculturation psychologists in the 80s and 90s (e.g., Berry, 1990; Hermans & Kempen, 1998; LaFromboise, Coleman, & Gerton, 1993; Padilla, 1994), but empirical work on multicultural identities did not surface until more recently (e.g., Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005; Hong, Morris, Chiu & Benet-Martínez, 2000; Phinney & Devich-Navarro, 1997; Verkuyten & Pouliasi, 2002). However, the scientific study of multicultural identities has exciting implications for psychology and other social sciences, as the issue of how individuals develop a sense of national, cultural, ethnic, and racial group membership becomes particularly meaningful in situations of cultural clashing, mixing, and integration (Baumeister, 1986; Phinney, 1999). Furthermore, the dynamics of multicultural identity negotiation provide researchers a window to study individual variations in self-concept and social identity development. In fact, as eloquently stated by Phinney (1999), ‘ ‘increasing numbers of people find that the conflicts are not between different groups but between different cultural values, attitudes, and expectations within themselves’’ (p. 27; italics added). Lastly, as the number of multicultural individuals increases, the implications of

understanding this type of identity for applied fields such as education, marketing, management, and organizational studies are also large. The goal of this book as a volume in the Oxford Handbook series is to (1)  provide the first comprehensive review of the scholarly empirical and theoretical work on the psychology of multicultural identities and experiences (and related topics) conducted to date by some of the most recognized scholars on this topic, and (2)  address some important basic (e.g., measurement of multicultural identity, links between multilingualism and multiculturalism, psychological reactions to globalization) and applied issues (e.g., how to address multiculturalism in marketing and organizational science) that have yet to receive the necessary attention. To best accomplish the above goals, we have enlisted the very best researchers in the psychological study of multiculturalism. This international and intellectually diverse list of distinguished researchers represents different traditions within psychology (i.e., social, personality, developmental, acculturation, educational, political) and managerial sciences (i.e., organizational, marketing). These contributors are known as much for their substantive contributions as for their innovative and sophisticated approaches to research and theory in the psychology of multiculturalism. Importantly, we have ensured that each author or team of authors presents their unique vision of the pertinent research topic while also providing a comprehensive (and yet synthetic) review of the relevant literature beyond their own studies. Some of the chapters also address policy implications and prospective interventions. The diversity of the chapters presented in this book will hopefully evidence that one of the strenghts and hallmarks of the psychological study of multiculturalism (and related issues, such as globalization, bilingualism, intersectionality, multiracial experiences, or multicultural policy) is the breadth and sophistication of its methods and theoretical approaches. There is no standard psychological study of multiculturalism—rather, as our book shows, one finds longitudinal studies on the identity formation and academic performance of bicultural youth, experimental and correlational studies of multicultural identity dynamics, genetic and neuroimaging cross-cultural studies, large multi-country acculturation studies, and narrative studies of bicultural life stories, among several others. This diversity also reflects the integration of laboratory and field studies, individual difference and general processes, and intra-person and intergroup perspectives. We

believe this breath speaks of the complexity of multicultural experiences, the diversity of internal and external factors that influence them, and the different ways in which this phenomenon can be examined, appraised, and quantified.

Audience

We hope that aspiring and established researchers and practicioners, regardless of their respective social science sub-disciplines (e.g. acculturation studies, ethnic and racial studies, cultural and cross-cultural psychology, social and/orpersonality psychology, political science, education, organizational studies, marketing, clinical and counseling, etc.) will find in this book a unique, comprehensive, and well organized source of information and guidance. This volume can also be used as a source book in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on acculturation, inter-group dynamics, social identity, cultural psychology, and cultural diversity management, and as a supplement to more traditional courses in psychology. As mentioned earlier, our main goal with this volume was to create a “one-stop” source that described, in a scholarly and comprehensive manner, the relevant research accumulated to date on the various processes and outcomes relevant to the psychology of multicultural experiences and identity. This volume thus includes overviews of classic topics in the study of multicultural experiences, such as multicultural policies, multicultural societies, multiculturalism in counseling and education, as well as more recent topics of inquiry and methodolgoies such as the relevance of multiculturalism to marketing and organizational studies, and the use of brain imaging and implicit measures to study multicultural identieties.

Structure and Content

The chapters are organized into six thematic groupings that highlight the range of societal and psychological processes relevant to the study of multicultural identities and experiences: Definitional Issues and Basic Processes (Part I); The Social-Psychological Context (Part II); Measurement and Validity Issues (Part III); Individual Differences (Part IV); Developmental, Educational, and Counseling Issues (Part V); and Applied Perspectives (Part VI). These groupings illustrate how all these domains are relevant to the psychological study of multiculturalism, and also provide the basis for drawing connections within and across these disciplinary and topical boundaries. As an overview, below we briefly outline the Benet-Martíne z, Hong

3

emphasis and take-home message of each chapter and show how the progression of chapters weaves a coherent tapestry of all that is relevant to the psychological study of multiculturalism.

Part I: Definitional Issues and Basic Processes

Chapter  2 (Dynamic Multiculturalism:  The Interplay of Socio-Cognitive, Neural, and Genetic Mechanisms, by Hong and Khei) provides excellent definitions for key constructs such culture and cultural processes, and discusses who can be considered multicultural, and the difference between multicultural identity and multicultural experiences. The chapter also describes the basic tenets of the dynamic constructivist approach to culture, discusses the important distinction between processes such as cultural frame switching, that fall under the rubric of the multicultural mind (i.e., how an individual acquires and applies knowledge from multiple cultures) and processes such as bicultural identity dynamics, that represent instead the multicultural self (i.e., how an individual makes sense of the multicultural influences on oneself ). In discussing and illustrating all these issues, this chapter integrates findings and theory from the social cognition literature and the young field of cultural neuroscience. The chapter also discusses how genetic predispositions play a role in affecting individuals’ adaptation to multicultural contacts and mixing. Chapter 3 (The Bilingual Brain: Language, Culture, and Identity, by Ramírez-Esparza and García-Sierra) delineates the links and boundaries between two topics, multilingualism and multiculturalism, that have traditionally been kept separate; for instance, can bilinguals also be considered bicultural and vice versa? To answer questions like this, the authors review studies from developmental psychology, speech and hearing sciences, linguistics, and educational, social-personality, and cultural psychologies. The reader will also find a description of the bilingual brain and its development from infancy to adulthood. Chapter  4 (The Identity Dynamics of Acculturation and Multiculturalism: Situating Acculturation in Context, by Schwartz, Vignoles, Brown, and Zagefka) provides a nice transition to Part II in the book, the social-psychological context of multiculturalism, by situating acculturation and identity dynamics within the context of intergroup relations. Because so much of the social psychological literature on multicultural identities and experiences to date represents the social cognition perspective (and to a lesser extent, the individual differences and 4 Introduction

acculturation perspectives), this chapter’s emphasis on inter-group dynamics provides a welcome and needed theoretical advance. This chapter shows that cultural identifications (and the meanings people ascribe to them) are fluid and context dependent, and inherently driven by the changing nature of the power held by majority group members (this perspective is reaffirmed and extended in Chapter 6).

Part II: The Social Psychological Context

Chapter 5 (Multicultural Societies, by Berry and Sam) discusses the nature, dynamics, and both benefits and challenges of multiculturalism (defined as policies and practices supportive of cultural diversity, intercultural contact, and equality); it also reviews impressive cross-national data (e.g., Multiculturalism Policy Index, Migrant Integration Policy Index) reflecting the differential presence of multicultural policies and practices in many contemporary democracies. Theory and research on acculturation strategies—examined at the individual, group, and societal level—is also presented as a guide to understanding variations in public policy and attitudes towards multiculturalism. Chapter 6 (The Social Psychology of Multiculturalism:  Identity and Intergroup Relations, by Deaux and and Verkuyten) provides a thorough and synthetic discussion of two key aspects of multiculturalism:  (1)  the intersection and dynamics of immigrants’ multiple social identities (e.g., culture, ethnicity, gender, religion, class), noting that these intersections are not only structural in nature but also have implications for behavior (a point that is the theme of Chapter 8); and (2)  the attitudes of majority group members towards multiculturalism, and the conditions that lead majority members to either support or resist cultural diversity and group-based equality. Importantly, this chapter reminds us that attention to the above social identities should not come at the expense of ignoring both super-ordinate identities (e.g. national and community commitments) and individual choices. Chapter 7 (Exploring the Identity Autonomy Perspective:  An Integrative Theoretical Approach to Multicultural and Multiracial Identity, by Sanchez, Shih, and Wilton) provides an overview of the growing body of research on multiracial individuals, a very timely topic—e.g., 20% of the U.S. population is projected to be multiracial. The chapter discusses these issues from both the target’s and perceiver’s perspectives, while also highlighting points of overlap, distinction, and synthesis between the multiracial and multicultural identity literatures. Notably, the chapter discusses the importance

of allowing multiracial individuals autonomy in their identity formation and negotiation, and describes particular societal and personal attributes that thwart this autonomy. Chapter  8 (Multiple groups, Multiple Identities, and Intersectionality, by Settles and Buchanan) discusses intersectionality theory, which stresses the importance of considering an individual’s combination of group memberships and identities—e.g. those related to culture, race, gender, profession, class, etc., and also describes the particular ways in which this theory can inform the study of multiculturalism. This integrative approach effectively portrays the dynamic, valenced, and multi-layered nature of social identity:  even when particular identity intersections (e.g., being a female scientist) are at the core of an individual’s self-concept, providing a stable lens from which to see and react to the social world, additional identities and combination of identities (e.g., being an Asian-American, being upper-class) also become salient in different situations and guide behavior. This section ends with Chapter  9 (Psychological Science of Globalization, by Leung, Qiu, and Chiu), which describes how the rapid increase in interdependence among regional economies, societies, and cultures, is resulting in unprecedented opportunities for multicultural interactions and multicultural identities. The authors provide an overview of the important and emerging psychological science of globalization, while identifying major relevant research questions (e.g., what are some of the main psychological reactions individuals have to the inflow of global or foreign cultures? What contextual and personal factors moderate these reactions?), and reviewing recent empirical attempts to answer these questions.

Part III: Measurement and Validity Issues

Chapter  10 (Assessment of Psychological Acculturation and Multiculturalism, by Celenk and van de Vijver) deals with the issue of how best to measure both psychological acculturation (including the experience of having bicultural or multicultural identities, behaviors, and values) and multicultural attitudes (support for cultural diversity in institutions and society at large). The authors review the conceptual (e.g. domains and dimensionality) and psychometric properties of a large collection of available measures. The chapter also provides guidelines for choosing or developing measures of acculturation and multiculturalism, and includes a useful internet site where these measures can be downloaded and selected according to a meaningful

set of criteria. Chapter  11 (Implicit Multicultural Identities, by Devos and Vu) breaks new ground in the measurement and conceptualization of multiculturalism by (1) showing that self-related mental processes underlying multicultural identities often operate at a largely automatic or non-conscious (i.e., implicit) level, and (2)  describing techniques and studies that assess implicit multicultural identities. The chapter discusses also the links between implicit and explicit cultural identities, and the plasticity and context-dependent nature of implicit multicultural knowledge and selves. Implicit cultural identity measures are useful not only for their capacity to access thoughts and feelings outside consciousness, or to bypass social desirability or demand characteristics, but also because they provide important theoretical and empirical insights.

Part IV: Individual Differences

Chapter  12 (Personality and Multicultural Effectiveness, by van der Zee and van Oudenhoven) presents a framework linking personality dispositions to how individuals select, perceive, and react to intercultural situations, and how they develop dynamic and complex cultural identities. The authors review the relevant growing literature on this topic, focusing on the Big Five, intercultural traits, core self-evaluations, coping styles, learning orientations, and attachment styles. Findings are integrated to propose key personality-related intercultural competencies that predict intercultural success among expatriates, immigrants, and majority members. The issue of variations in multicultural experiences and identities is also the topic of Chapter  13 (Variations in Multicultural Experience: Influence of Bicultural Identity Integration on Socio-Cognitive Processes and Outcomes, by Cheng, Lee, Benet-Martínez, and Huynh). This chapter proposes the Integrative Psychological Model of Biculturalism (IPMB) as a theoretical framework to understand biculturalism’s socio-cognitive processes and individual differences. It reviews accumulated research on Bicultural Identity Integration (BII)— the degree to which biculturals perceive their two cultural identities as harmonious vs. conflictual and fused vs. compartmentalized—including BII’s links to a wide range of acculturation, personality, interpersonal, socio-cognitive, and adjustment outcomes. The chapter also outlines a future research program examining the developmental, cultural, and socio-historical antecedents of these variations in bicultural experience. Chapter  14 (Multiculturalism and Adjustment, by Ponterotto Benet-Martíne z, Hong

5

and Fietzer) explores the links between psychological multiculturalism—broadly defined here as individuals’ particular orientation towards the diversity resulting from differences in nationality, race, ethnicity, gender, religion/spirituality, social class, and sexual orientation, among others—and personal adjustment. The authors review several models tapping multicultural values, multicultural personality, racial identity development, and biculturalism, and link these constructs to an individual’s cognitive, behavioral, and emotional abilities to adapt to and thrive in changing life circumstances.

Part V: Developmental, Educational, and Counseling Perspectives

Chapter  15 (Identity Formation in Bicultural Youth: A Developmental Perspective, by Vedder and Phinney) waves an integrative picture showing that although bicultural youth are agents in the construction of their complex cultural identities—through processes such as commitment, exploration, reconsideration, and negotiation—these processes nevertheless are strongly influenced by the attitudes, values, and practices of the cultural settings where these youth reside. The chapter also highlights the need for both micro-level research (e.g., case studies, interviews, narratives, vignettes) to adequately reveal individual instances of identity-relevant challenges and decisions that shape bicultural identity development, as well as multi-level research and nested designs that reveal valid information about the context dependence of bicultural identity development. The developmental perspective is also emphasized in Chapter 16 (Childhood Socialization and Academic Performance of Bicultural Youth, by Mistry, Contreras and Pufall-Jones). The authors review the extant literature showing that racial and ethnic socialization messages provided by the family and the larger context impact bicultural youth’s educational outcomes, indirectly and directly through their impact on racial-ethnic identity and self-esteem. The salience of being an underrepresented minority, having a sense of belonging to the relevant educational and community settings, and the diversity of these settings emerge as critical features of these developmental and academic processes. Chapter  17 (Multicultural Education and Global citizens, by Banks) addresses the issue of how to develop educational policies and practices that not only are fair and appropriate in representing society’s cultural diversity, including the experiences and traditions of marginalized groups, but also effectively nurture and rip the benefits of 6 Introduction

this diversity. The author reviews assimilationist and multiculturalist (or interculturalist) conceptions of citizenship education, and describes the five dimensions that encompass the later (content integration, knowledge construction process, prejudice reduction, equity pedagogy, an empowering school culture and social structure). The chapter persuasively argues that effective multicultural education enables both minority and majority students to develop a synergistic balance between cultural, national, regional, and global identifications, and that this balance and recognition is precisely what makes individuals become successful local and global citizens. This section ends with Chapter 18 (Multicultural Counseling and Therapy, by Perez-Gualdron and Yeh). This chapter reviews theory and practice behind the counseling of multicultural individuals, and highlights the effectiveness of strength-based approaches that incorporate the client’s cultural backgrounds. The authors propose models and practices where both the counselor and client can become positive agents of social change and justice. Counselors become agents of change when they develop self-awareness about their worldviews and identities, and provide individual, community, and advocacy counseling interventions that are contextualized in the sociopolitical realities of the populations they serve.

Part VI: Applied Perspectives

Chapter 19 (Bridging Cultural Divides: Traversing Organizational and Psychological Perspectives on Multiculturalism, by Brannen and Lee) draws from theories and findings in the organizational literature to effectively (1)  expand our definitions of both culture and biculturalism (e.g., biculturalism might involve specific cultural knowledge and attachments, but defining it instead as a “mindset” has more explanatory power), and (2)  deepen our understanding of the psychological antecedents, mechanisms, outcomes and significance of multiculturalism. The authors discuss how to best leverage multicultural individuals and multicultural settings as a strategic resources that lead to positive organizational-relevant performance outcomes such as negotiation effectiveness, leadership of multinational teams, knowledge sharing across cultural contexts, and even better job satisfaction, commitment to the organization, and tenure. The timely topic of Chapter 20 (Cultural Diversity and Marketing: The Multicultural Consumer, by Peracchio, Bublitz, and Luna) is one of growing importance to organizations, as the size of multicultural and multilingual

consumers and their spending power grows. The authors discuss how culture and identity influence consumption patterns, and how these processes change when consumers adopt different cultural and linguistic frames. The chapter also includes discussions of how consumers, in turn, have the ability to influence culture, and how branding, advertising, and other marketing efforts may be received by multicultural consumers. The issue of what are the best policies for managing cultural, ethnic, religious, and linguistic diversity is the focus of Chapter  21 (Policies for Managing Cultural Diversity, by Novoa and Moghaddam). The authors discuss how accelerating globalization is resulting in sudden local, national, and global contact between groups with little preparation for contact, and how this in some cases results in collective identity threats (including those leading to radicalization and even terrorism). Adequate policies for managing this diversity are then essential for minimizing and overcoming collective identity threats. The chapter describes and evaluates the dominant policies of multiculturalism and assimilation, both in terms of their foundational assumptions regarding intergroup relations and also with regards to some its psychological and sociological consequences. Alternative approaches to addressing diversity, such as polyculturalism and omniculturalism, are also briefly discussed. The last chapter in the volume, Chapter 22 (Managing Identity Issues in Intercultural Conflict Communication: Developing a Multicultural Identity Attunement Lens, by Ting-Toomey) deals with the topics of inter-cultural encounters broadly speaking, and intercultural conflict and intercultural communication more specifically. The author proposes the multicultural identity attunement (MIA) lens as an integrative model to understand and effectively manage these issues. Developing multicultural identity attunement involves acquiring cultural knowledge and interpersonal responsiveness concerning the identity-relevant issues in self and others, the cultivation of mindfulness, and having appropriate, effective, and adaptive communication styles. The chapter also describes the steps needed to develop MIA and some of its applications. With this preview of what is to come, we invite readers to start reading the Handbook of Multicultural Identity:  Basic and Applied Perspectives.

Acknowledgments

We thank Abby Grossman for her encouragment and guidance throughout the project, and for her

wisdom in recognizing the importance and timeliness of the topic. We also thank Jennifer Vafidis, Anne Dellinger, and the other members of the OUP staff who assisted us in creating the final product. Above all, we deeply thank each of the contributors to this volume for their scholarship, hard work, vision, their diligence in incorporating our feedback, and for their tested patience in dealing with the ourdurous (and always slow) task of asembling a volume like this. It has been a privilege to work with these experts and learn from their accumulated knowledge and expertise on the various topics. By means of designing the structure and content of this volume, reviewing and editing each chapter, and writing our own chapters, we have learned a great deal of information about the multi-level processes, outcomes, and moderating factors involved in the experiene of multiculturalism. We have also renewed our enthusiasm for the topic and our faith on its importance within basic and applied psychological science. We trust the readers of this book will as well.

Notes

1. For the sake of simplicity and consistency, in our writing we will favor the broader term “multicultural” or “multiculturalism” over the term “bicultural.” Regardless of the term used, we always refer to individuals and societies who position themselves between two (or more) cultures and incorporate this experience (i.e., values, knowledge, and feelings associated to each of these identities and their intersection) into their sense of who they are. 2. Trencadis originates in Catalan Modernism, with architects Antoni Gaudí and Josep-Maria Jujol. Interestingly, the mosaic theme became a part of Canadian 1970s multiculturalism policy early on, as Canada was envisioned as an integrated “cultural mosaic,” rather than a melting pot (Gibbon, 1938).

References

Africa’s secret weapon: The diaspora. (2013). Retrieved November 1, 2013, from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/01/opinion/ africas-secret-weapon-diaspora/index.html Baumeister, R. (1986). Identity: Cultural change and the struggle for self. New York: Oxford University. Benet-Martínez, V., & Haritatos, J. (2005). Bicultural identity integration (BII):  Components and psychosocial antecedents. Journal of Personality, 73, 1015–1050. Berry, J. W. (1990). Psychology of acculturation. In J. Berman (Ed.), Cross-Cultural Perspectives:  Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (pp. 201–234). Lincoln, NE:  University of Nebraska. Gibbon, J. (1938). The Canadian Mosaic, McClelland & Stewart Limited, Toronto. Hermans, H. J. M., & Kempen, H. J. G. (1998). Moving cultures: The perilous problem of cultural dichotomies in a globalizing society. American Psychologist, 53, 1111–1120. Hong, Y. Y., Morris, M. W., Chiu, C. Y., & Benet-Martínez, V. (2000). Multicultural minds:  A  dynamic constructivist

Benet-Martíne z, Hong

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approach to culture and cognition. American Psychologist, 55, 709–720. LaFromboise, T., Coleman, H. L., & Gerton, J. (1993). Psychological impact of biculturalism: Evidence and theory. Psychological Bulletin, 114, 395–412. Padilla, A. M. (1994). Bicultural development: A theoretical and empirical examination. In R. G. Malgady & O. Rodriguez (Eds.), Theoretical and conceptual issues in Hispanic mental health (pp. 20–51). Melbourne, FL:  Krieger Publishing Co., Inc. Phinney, J. S. (1999). An intercultural approach in psychology: Cultural contact and identity. Cross-Cultural Psychology Bulletin, 33, 24–31.

8 Introduction

Phinney, J. S., & Devich-Navarro, M. (1997). Variations in bicultural identification among African American and Mexican American adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 7, 3–32. Saleh, N. (2009, January 29). The world’s first global president. Miller-Mccune. Retrieved from http://www.psmag.com/ politics/the-worlds-first-global-president-3979/ U.S. Census Bureau. (2010). Retrieved March 11, 2013, from http://www.census.gov/2010census/ Verkuyten, M. & Pouliasi, K. (2002). Biculturalism among older children:  Cultural frame switching, attributions, self-identification and attitudes. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 33, 596–609.

PA RT

Definitional Issues and Basic Processes

1

CH A PT E R

2

Dynamic Multiculturalism: The Interplay of Socio-Cognitive, Neural, and Genetic Mechanisms

Ying-yi Hong and Mark Khei

Abstract This chapter seeks to understand multicultural experiences by integrating literature from social cognition and cultural neuroscience. We start the chapter by defining culture and cultural processes. Then we discuss the differentiation between the multicultural mind (i.e., how an individual acquires and applies knowledge from multiple cultures and how the human mind is flexible in making use of multiple cultural knowledge systems as tools to navigate the social world) and the multicultural self (i.e., how an individual makes sense of multicultural influences on oneself and their implications for one's identity). Empirical findings from cultural priming, neuroscience, and lay theory of race are discussed. We end the chapter with a discussion of how the human mind and sense of self may evolve with the exponential prevalence of multicultural contacts and mixing, and how genetic predispositions play a role in affecting individuals' adaptation in an era of multicultural contacts and mixing. Key Words:  multiculturalism, identity, cultural priming, essentialism, gene

The pandit spoke first. “Mr. Patel, Piscine’s piety is admirable. In these troubled times it’s good to see a boy so keen on God. We all agree on that.” The imam and the priest nodded. “But he can’t be a Hindu, a Christian and a Muslim. It’s impossible. He must choose.” “I don’t think it’s a crime, but I suppose you’re right,” Father replied. The three murmured in agreement and looked heavenward, as did Father, whence they felt the decision must come. Mother looked at me. A silence fell heavily on my shoulders. “Hmmm, Piscine?” Mother nudged me. “How do you feel about the question?” “Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love God,” I [Piscine] blurted out, and looked down, red in the face. Life of Pi, Yann Martel (1.23.49-54)

Although Piscine’s encounter here takes place in Yann Martel’s (2001) work of fiction, Life of Pi, his experience is likely to strike a chord among people in real life. In the wake of the exponential prevalence of cultural contacts and mixing resulting from migration, travel, media exposure, and Internet connection,

an ever-increasing number of individuals around the world describe themselves as bicultural or multicultural. Under this backdrop, Piscine’s experience is arguably widely shared among individuals who are negotiating multicultural identities and are challenged by the belief that these identities (not necessarily 11

Figure 2.1  Cultural frame switching III. Painted by: Ying-yi Hong. Acrylic & alkyd on wood, 2008, 76 × 61 cm. Photo by Chris Brown.

religious identities) are mutually exclusive and insoluble. This type of tension can also be illustrated by a painting done by the senior author of this chapter (Ying-yi Hong). Figure 2.1. shows this painting, in which an image of Marilynn Monroe, an American cultural icon, is superimposed on the feminine face of the Goddess of Mercy, a ubiquitous Buddhist symbol. Over the years, the author has received a wide range of reactions toward this painting, ranging from admiration and appreciation to umbrage at the merger of an image of a popular sexual figure and iconography associated with a noble religious figure. The painter (author) did not have any intention of offending any persons or religions when she created the painting, and was surprised by the responses.1 These polarized responses, nevertheless, have intrigued our interests, and motivated us to devote this chapter to exploring the psychological processes underlying people’s responses to multicultural influences. Unlike the conventional usage of the term multiculturalism, which refers to policy or ideology in dealing with cultural diversity, we define multiculturalism in this chapter as the acquisition and usage of multicultural knowledge and/or assimilation of multicultural identities within a single individual. 12

Dynamic Multiculturalism

When defining multicultural individuals, we adopt a liberal definition, which comprises individuals who possess multicultural demographic or sociological characteristics such as a mixed racial or ethnic background, residence in more than one country, immigration to another country, and exposure to societies in which they are exposed to multiple cultural traditions (e.g., in postcolonial societies, such as Hong Kong and Singapore) (see also Cheng, Lee, Benet-Martínez, & Huynh, this volume, for a discussion of biculturalism and bicultural individuals). Drawing from social-cognitive theories and the emerging field of cultural neuroscience, this chapter will discuss how to conceptualize multicultural experiences. We will start with a definition of culture and cultural processes. Then we will discuss the differences between multicultural mind and multicultural self. The term multicultural mind, on the one hand, is used to describe how individuals acquire and apply knowledge derived from multiple cultures and use more than one cultural knowledge systems to navigate in the social world. The term multicultural self, on the other hand, is used to capture how individuals make sense of multicultural influences on one’s self and their

implications on identity. Questions pertaining to the latter term include “Who am I?” “Is it possible for me to claim identities from multiple cultures?” “How do others view me?” ‘Do others accept me as a “true” member of a cultural group?’ “Do I feel emotionally attached to multiple cultures and feel secure within them?” We will discuss how individuals’ lay theories and beliefs about race and ethnicity have implications for their experiences upon such encounters. We will end the chapter with a discussion of how the human mind and self may evolve with the exponential prevalence of multicultural contacts and mixing. That is, we will explore whether multicultural contacts and mixing affect the cognitive and neurological underpinnings of human and genetic predispositions and how they play a role in affecting individuals’ adaptation in an era of multicultural contacts and mixing.

Definition of Culture and Cultural Processes

Culture is not an easy concept to define. There are many ways to define culture (see review by Chiu & Hong, 2006), but a widely adopted definition of culture in anthropology is well captured by Kroeber & Kluckhohn’s (1963) analogy: Culture is to society what memory is to individuals. That is, culture is a network of shared systems of knowledge, consisting of learned routines of thinking, feeling, and interacting with other people, as well as a corpus of substantive assertions and ideas about aspects of the world (Barth, 2002; see Hong, 2009, for a review). Importantly, culture is a unique type of knowledge system in that it is (a) shared (albeit incompletely) among a collection of interconnected individuals, who are often, but not necessarily, demarcated by race, ethnicity, or nationality, (b)  externalized in (a)

rich symbols, artifacts, social constructions, and social institutions (e.g., cultural icons, advertisements, and news media), (c) used to form common ground for communication among members of a cultural group, (d) transmitted from one generation to the next or from old members to new members, and (e) subject to continuous modifications because aspects of the knowledge system may be falsified or deemed not applicable by newer social orders and realities. To the extent that culture represents a collection of shared beliefs, norms, and practices among a group of people, culture can be acquired through learning. When someone has been immersed in a particular culture for an extended period of time, he or she will likely pick up and acquire knowledge of that culture either through implicit learning (through media exposure or social interactions in that country, for instance) or explicit learning (by attending a foreign language class, for instance). Having that arsenal of shared beliefs, norms, and practices, coupled with the culture’s language, allows an individual to interact and function normally in their daily discourse with the local, native people in the culture. Importantly, these processes explain how human mind and cognition are shaped. For an illustration of these ideas, take a look at panel (a) of Figure 2.2. Most people see three protruding dots and an array of dents. Why do people perceive those dots as protruding and dented? It’s because we assume that light comes from above, just as we might experience it under the sun or in a lit room. This background assumption sets up a framework within which we infer a three-dimensional percept from a two-dimensional picture. So when the bottom half is in the dark, we think that the dot is protruding (because light travels in a straight line, (b)

Figure 2.2  Illustrations of how shared lay assumptions affect perception of the world.

Hong, Khei

13

and since the top half is bright and the bottom half is in the dark, we think it is protruding). However, if we turn the previous picture 180 degrees, the top half is in the dark and the bottom half is bright, as shown in the (b) panel of Figure 2.2. and we will see the protruding dots as dented and the dented as protruding. This illustration demonstrates how the background assumption about the location of the light source shapes our basic cognition and perception of the world. People living together in the same environment are likely to hold similar assumptions. The environment is not limited to the physical environment; it stretches to the socio-political-historical environment. Transmissions can happen horizontally, meaning assumptions/beliefs can be communicated through mass media and daily discourse in the group. And transmissions can happen vertically as well, meaning that the assumptions/beliefs can be transmitted from one generation to another. These assumptions/lay beliefs have functions:  They help individuals to survive (e.g., three-dimensional perception helps individuals not to fall over a cliff when they see one) and the group to coordinate in coping with environmental demands. The lay beliefs, norms, values, and other practices shared among a group of individuals constitute the core of culture (see a review by Hong, 2009). Taking this perspective can help us understand the vast research findings on cross-cultural differences in individualism-collectivism (Triandis, 1989; Triandis, & Gelfand, 1998), self-construals (e.g., Markus & Kitayama, 1991), values (e.g., Schwartz, 2009), cognitions (e.g., attribution; Norenzayan, Choi, & Peng, 2007; thinking style, Nisbett, 2003; Nisbett, Peng, Choi, & Norenzayan, 2001; and categorization and reasoning, Medin, Unsworth, & Hirschfeld, 2007), and subjective well-being (Tov & Diener, 2007). For more information, see the review by Fiske, Kitayama, Markus, & Nisbett (1998), Handbook of Cultural Psychology edited by Kitayama & Cohen (2007), and the Oxford Handbook of Chinese Psychology edited by Bond (2010). The majority of these studies involve comparisons between Western (mainly North American, Canadian, and European) and Eastern (Japan, Chinese, Indian, Korean, and Southeast Asian) cultures. Findings from these comparisons generally characterize Westerners as more individualistic, independent in self-construal, and analytic in information processing, whereas Easterners are more collectivistic, interdependent in self-construal, and holistic in information processing. Over the 14

Dynamic Multiculturalism

years, the value and validity of these seemingly binary characterizations has been questioned. These debates mainly center on the following points:  (a)  These cross-cultural comparisons focus mostly on the aggregated mean group differences and thus ignore within-group variations (Chiu & Hong, 2006). (b)  Individualism-collectivism is too broad a construct; it often conflates domain-specific similarities or differences across cultures. For instance, in Oyserman, Coon, & Kemmelmeier’s (2002) meta-analysis of studies on individualism-collectivism, Japanese were not necessarily less individualistic than North Americans and Chinese were more collectivistic than North Americans only on the in-group loyalty dimension of collectivism. (c) There are no internally coherent links among the various “cultural characteristics” within a given cultural group. That is, characteristics found to differ across North American and Asian cultural groups, such as self-construals and information-processing styles are not correlated within each cultural group (Na et  al., 2010). For instance, a Japanese who has an interdependent self-construal is not necessarily also more holistic in information processing. The association between independent versus interdependent self-construal and analytic versus holistic information processing only appears when cross-cultural aggregates are used or when the accessibility of one of the self-construals is activated using the experimental priming method (Oyserman & Lee, 2008a; which will be discussed later). (d) Finally, the comparison of Eastern cultures with Western cultures is seen by some as a manifestation of Orientalism—a perpetrated ethnocentric bias of the West from the colonial era and motivated by Imperialism of the West (Said, 1979; see also Mateo, Cabanis, Stenmanns, & Krach, 2013). To these critics, cross-cultural studies essentialize (i.e., attribute unalterable core essences to) Eastern and Western people and legitimize the continuous oppression of Western power upon Eastern nations/cultures. In an attempt to resolve these debates, we conceptualize cultural processes as the operation of shared cultural knowledge systems (see Figure 2.3). To elaborate, our framework postulates that people facing the same environment (may it be physical, socio-political, and so forth) come up with lay theories to understand the world, akin to the notion of lay people as naïve scientists who generate and test lay theories in order to make sense of the world (Heider, 1958; Kelly, 1955; Medin, 1989; Murphy & Medin, 1985), and that these theories are often

Shared lay theories, values, norms, collective representations Group (ethnicity/race/ gender)

Cognitive and neural activation

Behavior

Associative, probabilistic Causal Figure 2.3  Cultural processes.

shared, communicated, and transmitted among group members. For example, Nisbett and colleagues (Uskul, Kitayama, & Nisbett, 2008) have shown that the methods of subsistence (herding, fishing, and farming) of three Turkish communities have systematically afforded more analytic versus holistic cognitive tendencies (in attention, categorization, and reasoning). Members of the farming and fishing communities, which emphasize harmonious social interdependence, exhibited greater holistic cognitive tendencies than members of the herding communities, which emphasize individual decision making and social independence. Aside from methods of subsistence, threats in the environment (e.g., risk of epidemics, scarcity of resources, invasion by outgroups) can instill pressure to implement in-group norms and punish deviants (akin to Gelfand et al.’s, 2011, notion of tight cultures). Conversely, groups that face relatively fewer threats in the environment may not pressure their members to conform to a limited set of in-group norms as much (loose culture) (see review by Cheon & Hong, in press). Moreover, within each group, members who have a high need for cognitive closure (NFCC) (i.e., close-minded, low tolerance for ambiguity, Kruglanski & Webster, 1996; Webster & Kruglanski, 1994) are more likely to adhere to the cultural norms than those who have a lower NFCC (Chiu, Morris, Hong, & Menon, 2000). People form mental representations of the cultural knowledge shared within groups (akin to Kashima’s (2009) notion of distributed representations) that are typically demarcated by race, ethnicity, religion, gender, and socioeconomic classes. However, to the extent that each member has a unique personal history, set of experiences, and personality, the cultural knowledge is hardly shared uniformly or completely by every single member of the group. Therefore,

the link between shared cultural knowledge and a certain (racial, ethnic, religious, gender) group is probabilistic and should not be conceptualized as a deep core essence of the group (see the dotted line between the group and its shared cultural knowledge in Figure 2.3). Indeed, it has been shown that some well-established cross-cultural differences between Chinese and Americans appeared or disappeared as a function of the NFCC of the members in the two cultures (Chiu et  al., 2000). This is because, as we noted earlier, members who have high NFCC (as a personality trait or a temporary state induced by situation such as time pressure) are more likely to adhere to cultural norms than those who have low NFCC. Therefore, cross-cultural differences are more likely to be evident when comparing group members experiencing chronic or temporary heightened levels of NFCC. Second, our framework further postulates that the activation of certain shared cultural knowledge can bring about specific cognitive and neural consequences, which, in turn, can result in corresponding behavioral manifestations (if the situation permits it). These pathways function as causal links (see the solid lines between shared cultural knowledge and cognitive and neural consequences and neural consequences and behaviors in Figure 2.3). There is ample empirical evidence that supports these postulations, which we will review throughout the rest of this chapter. Finally, there is mounting evidence supporting racial/ethnic differences in cognition and neurological responses (e.g., a special issue on cultural neuroscience of Progress in Brain Research, Vol. 178, 2009, edited by Joan Y.  Chiao). Our framework sees these cross-cultural differences as resulting from lay theories that are shared among cultural-group members rather than a reflection of differences in Hong, Khei

15

Family obligation

Mexican group

Greater cognitive control

Lower risktalking

Associative, probabilistic Causal Figure 2.4  Cultural processes as illustrated by Telzer, Fuligni, Lieberman, & Galvan (2013).

the core essence or unalterable dispositions of these racial/ethnic groups. That is, we see cross-cultural cognitive and neural differences as emerging from the probabilistic association between the racial/ ethnic groups and its resulting shared lay theories. Therefore, the cross-cultural evidence should be taken as probabilistic as well. This point is important because it helps to avoid essentializing race, ethnicity, gender, and so forth. Research has shown that essentializing race has negative ramifications for both majority and minority racial/ethnic group members. We will discuss research on lay theory of racial essentialism later in this chapter. To further illustrate our framework, we use research by Telzer and colleagues (Telzer, Masten, Berkman, Lieberman, & Fuligni, 2011; see Figure 2.4). Evidence from psychology, anthropology, history, and literature has consistently shown that Mexican culture values family and emphasizes family obligations. Given these shared cultural values and norms, Telzer, Fuligni, Lieberman, & Galvan (2013) examined how the activation of family obligations would bring about greater cognitive control and its associated neurological correlates among Mexican teens. In their experiments, Telzer et al. (2013) asked Latino adolescents to complete a risk-taking and cognitive control task while their brains were scanned. Results suggested that adolescents with greater family-obligation values showed decreased activation in the ventral striatum when receiving monetary rewards and increased dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation during behavioral inhibition. Reduced ventral striatum activation was correlated with less real-life risk-taking behavior and enhanced dorsolateral PFC activation was correlated with better decision-making skills. Thus, it appears family obligation may decrease reward sensitivity and enhance cognitive control, thereby reducing risk-taking behaviors, such as drug 16

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and alcohol abuse and stealing, among Mexican teens. Although Telzer and colleagues have focused on Mexican participants, their research arguably can be extended to other cultures that value family obligations as well, such as Chinese and Korean cultures. Note that, if activation of family obligations can stimulate greater cognitive control, then any individual (regardless of his/her cultural heritage) who is effectively reminded of his/her family obligations should also show increases in cognitive control. In sum, these results provide good illustrations of how shared cultural values can stimulate certain neural activation patterns, which, in turn, can lead to certain behavioral manifestations. On the one hand, members of more than one cultural group may share similar values; on the other hand, not all members in the same cultural group would endorse similar values to the same extent. As a result, the association between cultural group memberships and neural activation patterns (and their resulting behavioral manifestations) is probabilistic in nature. Importantly, our framework can be extended to understand multicultural influences. Because the core of culture—shared cultural knowledge system—is not a core essence, it is possible for individuals to acquire and internalize multiple shared cultural knowledge systems associated with multiple groups (e.g., acquiring both American and Chinese cultural knowledge systems at the same time). We call them bicultural or multicultural individuals. The cultural knowledge systems acquired can be conceptualized as tools for these individuals to understand their social world. As a result, bicultural or multicultural individuals are equipped with multiple sets of tools in their toolbox (cf. DiMaggio, 1997). To understand the psychology underlying biculturalism or multiculturalism is to understand the mechanism through which people with multiple cultural knowledge systems navigate

their acquired systems. This was the main goal of the dynamic-constructivist approach (proposed by Hong, Morris, Chiu, & Benet-Martínez, 2000). The dynamic-constructivist approach posits that culture is internalized within individuals in the form of a loose network of domain-specific knowledge structures, such as categories and lay theories (Bruner, 1990; D’Andrade, 1984; Shore, 1996; Strauss, 1992). Individuals can acquire more than one such cultural knowledge system, even if these systems contain conflicting theories. That is, it is possible for bicultural individuals to possess contradictory or conflicting culture-based constructs, even though these conflicting constructs may not simultaneously guide the individuals’ affect, cognition, or behavior in a context. The key is that having a particular construct does not entail relying on it continuously; only a small subset of a bicultural individual’s cultural knowledge comes to the fore (becomes salient) and guides responses in a situation. The context and the environment can cue one set of cultural knowledge and render it more salient (or accessible) than the other set of cultural knowledge that the bicultural individuals have acquired. If the aforementioned postulations are true, there should be evidence showing bicultural individuals’ acquisition, activation, and application of cultural knowledge systems. In our framework, we conceptualize these mechanisms under the rubric of Multicultural Mind with the assumption that the human mind is flexible in making use of the multiple cultural knowledge systems as tools to navigate the social world. However, at the same time, a smooth navigation between cultural frames is not inevitable. Numerous studies have shown that bicultural or multicultural individuals face difficulties (e.g., discrimination and identity denial) when adjusting to multiple cultures, which can undermine their integration of both identities (e.g., Cheng et al.’s, this volume, discussion of variations in Bicultural Identity Integration and their effects; see also Sam & Berry, this volume). We conceptualize the mechanisms involved here under the rubric of multicultural self with the assumption that people make sense of their multicultural experiences and reflect on how the experiences have implications for their identity. The multicultural mind and multicultural self can mutually influence each other to give rise to dynamic responses toward multicultural influences (see reviews by Hong, 2011, Hong, Chao, & No, 2009; Tadmor, Hong, Chiu, & No, 2010). We elaborate these concepts next.

The Multicultural Mind

To understand how bicultural individuals can adjust their thoughts, affect, and behaviors spontaneously and appropriately in different cultural contexts, Hong and colleagues (Hong & Chiu, 2001; Hong, Chiu, & Kung, 1997; Hong et  al., 2000) have examined the social and cognitive underpinnings of navigating between cultural frames, a process we term “cultural frame switching.”

Cultural Frame Switching and Cultural Priming

Since cultural beliefs, norms, and practices are knowledge systems, they should operate according to the principles of knowledge activation (Higgins, 1996; Wyer & Srull, 1986): availability, accessibility, and applicability. After individuals have been exposed to multiple cultures and have acquired the different knowledge systems, these systems will become available in their cognitive inventory. With this availability, priming (prompting the culture imperceptibly by exposing individuals to the respective cultural icons) can activate the associated cultural knowledge system, which in turn becomes accessible temporarily. Hence, individuals who are being primed can possibly have thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that correspond to the most accessible cultural knowledge system at that point in time. The final factor is whether the most accessible cultural knowledge system is seen as applicable in the context. The accessible cultural knowledge system will affect subsequent responses if it is seen as applicable, but not if it is seen as not applicable. Hong and colleagues (1997; 2000) developed an experimental method called cultural priming to validate these ideas. Usually, it involves three experimental conditions in cultural priming. Take a Chinese-American bicultural as an example. In that case, the three conditions would include a Chinese culture prime condition, an American culture prime condition, and a control condition. The Chinese-American bicultural participants would be randomly assigned to one of the three conditions. Those in the Chinese culture priming condition would be exposed to Chinese cultural icons (e.g., Confucius, Chinese Opera, The Great Wall of China), whereas those in the American culture priming condition would be exposed to American cultural icons (e.g., Abraham Lincoln, Statue of Liberty, Western opera). Participants in the control condition would be exposed to pictographic stimuli that are neutral in culture (e.g., geometric figures, landscapes, or clouds). After the priming conditions, Hong, Khei

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participants’ responses on some relevant dependent (e.g., attribution, cognitive, affective, or behavioral) measures would be assessed. Their responses from this task would then be compared with those typically found among Chinese versus American samples. In various experiments conducted by Hong and colleagues (see reviews in Hong, 2009; 2011), participants in the Chinese-culture priming condition have been shown to respond in ways that are typical of Chinese people and participants in the American-culture priming conditions respond in ways that are typical of the Americans. For example, in the original cultural-priming study (Hong et al., 1997; 2000), bicultural Chinese Americans were asked to interpret an ambiguous event (e.g., a picture of a fish swimming in front of a school of fish or a story about an obese boy eating cake while on a diet) after being exposed to the Chinese, American, or neutral primes. This ambiguous “event” could either be explained in terms of the target actor’s internal attributes (e.g., the fish in front is a leader or the obese boy lacks self-control) or the attributes of the target’s external environment, such as the group in which the target is embedded (e.g., the fish is being chased by the group of fish behind him or the obese boy is influenced and persuaded by friends to eat the cake). Results revealed that participants who were primed with Chinese icons made more external or group attributions (typical of Chinese) and fewer internal attributions (typical of Americans) than participants who were primed with American icons. Participants who were primed with neutral pictures made attribution patterns that lay in between those of the Chinese and American cultural prime conditions. A study conducted by No et al (2008) similarly showed that cultural priming can elicit different outcomes in individuals, this time in their affect. No and colleagues made use of Cohen and Gunz’s (2002) emotional projection research. Cohen and Gunz (2002) found that European-Canadians tend to display a more egocentric projection, projecting the emotion they themselves felt onto others (e.g., feeling anger and projecting anger onto others), whereas Asian-Canadians tend to display a more relational projection, perceiving others as experiencing the complementary emotion felt by themselves (e.g., feeling anger and projecting fear onto others). As such, in accordance with the cultural frame-switching paradigm, Korean American bicultural participants should show more egocentric projection when primed with American icons and more relational projection when primed with Asian 18

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(Korean) icons. Indeed, No et  al. (2008) found that Korean Americans primed with Korean icons exhibited more relational projection than egocentric projection relative to those who were primed with American icons. Cultural priming has also been used to understand consumer behavior. For example, Chen, Ng, and Rao (2005) used cultural priming to examine the Western versus East Asian cultural influences on consumer’s willingness to pay more for faster consumption (e.g., pay additional fee for express shipping) than to wait longer (e.g., pay regular shipping). Previous study has shown that, because of the Confucian teaching, many East Asian cultures value perseverance and long-term (versus short-term) orientation more than Western cultures (Hofstede, 2001; Hofstede & Bond, 1988). Based on these findings, Chen et al. (2005) predicted that Singaporean bicultural participants would show more patience, and thus would be less willing to pay more to obtain immediate consumption after being primed with Asian cultural icons (using similar procedures as those in Hong et al. 2000 study). Indeed, the researchers found that compared with participants in the Western prime condition, participants in the Asian prime condition were less likely to opt for the faster shipping when they purchased a new novel. It is crucial to understand that the activation of cultural knowledge is not a “kneejerk” reaction in response to any situational cues, although the response may seem spontaneous. The accessible cultural construct will only be able to impact one’s judgments and behaviors if it is applicable to the current task. Indeed, Hong and colleagues have demonstrated that the cultural priming effects on Chinese-American biculturals only occur when the group (versus individual) causality perspective is pertinent to the situation, that is, when one needs to make a judgment in a context in which the intergroup dimension is salient (Hong, Benet-Martínez, Chiu, & Morris, 2003). Likewise, in a Prisoner’s Dilemma game, individuals can either choose to behave cooperatively or competitively. Interestingly, when being primed with Chinese cultural icons, the cooperative script only becomes applicable when the interaction partners are friends, but not strangers. Specifically, in Wong and Hong’s (2005) study, before playing the Prisoner’s Dilemma game, the Chinese-American bicultural participants were either being primed with American or Chinese culture icons to make the respective competitive or cooperative knowledge system more available.

When playing the game with friends, participants who were primed with Chinese cultural icons were more cooperative than the participants who were primed with American cultural icons. However, when playing with strangers, the cultural priming effects did not occur; the participants in the Chinese prime condition did not cooperate more with the strangers than their counterparts in the American prime condition. To the extent that the Chinese group believes that they can only count on friends to reciprocate favors, the cultural primes will only have the expected effects in the friend condition. Taken as a whole, these findings suggest that accessibility of a particular cultural knowledge system is essential, but not sufficient, as the sole condition in which cultural priming can have any effect. The applicability of the accessible cultural knowledge respective to its immediate context is also important. Cultural priming effects have been shown on a multitude of domains, ranging from personality self-views and evaluations, ethnic identity, emotional experience, self-construals, acculturation, values, cooperation, autobiographical memory, decision making, and word-meaning associations, among others. Detailed citations of these studies can be found in Cheng et al.’s chapter (this volume). Not only have cultural priming effects been shown along a large range of domains, the effects can be obtained in various bicultural samples using various methods. For example, the studies showing cultural priming effects on spontaneous self-construals (Ross, Xun, & Wilson, 2002), representations about work and family (Verkuyten & Pouliasi, 2002), and managerial decisions (Friedman, Liu, Chi, Hong, & Sung, 2012) using different bicultural samples (Chinese-Canadians, Dutch-Greek biculturals, and managers from Taiwan who had studied or worked abroad, respectively) and a variety of cultural primes (language, experimenter’s cultural identity, and “environmental” primes, such as decoration, music, and general room ambiance, respectively). Moreover, the cultural-priming effects can be shown when the cultural cues were presented explicitly (i.e., above participants’ level of conscious awareness, Pouliasi & Verkuyten, 2007) and implicitly (i.e., below participants’ level of conscious awareness, Devos, 2006). In conclusion, the cultural-priming effects are robust. Taken as a whole, the cultural frame switching and cultural priming results have illustrated the dynamic constructivist approach (Hong et al. 2000), which claims that the use of cultural knowledge

among bicultural individuals is a dynamic process contingent upon the individual’s cultural experiences, the unfolding cultural milieu, and how appropriate the knowledge is for the situation. As demonstrated, culture does not rigidly determine human behaviors, nor are individuals passive recipients of their cultural environment. Instead, individuals flexibly shift their responses and use culture as a cognitive resource for grappling with their experiences. In particular, cultural knowledge can provide a good heuristic of how, why, what, and to whom certain social events occur. Although traditional cross-cultural psychology focuses on similarities and differences between groups of individuals demarcated by race, ethnicity, or nationality, the dynamic constructivist approach views cultural systems as experiential, open, and ever changing. Individuals are not limited by their racial, ethnic, or national identities in making their responses. Moreover, the cultural priming procedures we developed make it possible to study the causal effects of culture, as bicultural participants are randomly assigned into different cultural priming conditions, making it possible to infer culture as a cause of the subsequent responses.2

Situated Cognition Approach

Aside from the dynamic-constructivist approach, the situated-cognition approach (e.g., Oyserman & Lee, 2008a) also uses priming methods to activate cultures. The basic postulation of the situated-cognitive approach is that there are two main cultural syndromes:  individualism and collectivism. These two cultural syndromes underlie the cross-cultural differences typically found between Western and Eastern cultures. However, instead of emphasizing variations across different national or cultural groups, the situated cognition approach posits that individuals from any cultural background can be primed to display the individualist or collectivist behaviors, including the corresponding cultural values, self-construals, and cognitive styles. It assumes that each individual can be experimentally induced to think about oneself in an independent manner, disjoint from others, or to think about oneself in an interdependent manner, conjoint with others. Consequently, it can create, at least temporarily, a psychological state that resembles that of people who live in the individualist and collectivist cultures. Although this approach shares some commonalities with the dynamic constructivist approach, the two approaches differ on how they understand and study multiculturalism. Before Hong, Khei

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we discuss the differences, we will next first review three categories of commonly used priming methods:  group-level priming, relational-level priming, and both relational and group-level priming (see review by Oyserman & Lee, 2008b). Group-level priming entails inducing a group or individual focus by putting the participants in a group or lone situation (e.g., Briley & Wyer, 2002). Specifically, in the collectivist priming condition, the participants would be usually assigned to a group in the lab or asked to imagine that they are part of a collective. They would be seated at a five-person table working together as a group or working as a team against another five-person group. In the individualist priming condition, participants usually would be seated alone, partitioned, and asked to imagine competing with other lone participants. Relational-level priming entails inducing individuals to construe the self as independent and disjoint from close others or interdependent and conjoint with close others (i.e., independent versus interdependent self-construal; Markus & Kitayama, 1991). There are two common methods. One method is Trafimow, Triandis, and Goto’s (1991, Study 1)  similarities and differences with family and friends task (SDFF), in which participants are instructed to “think of what makes you different from your family and friends” in order to prime independent self-construal or “think of what you have in common with your family and friends” to prime interdependent self-construal. Another widely used relational-priming method is Brewer and Gardner’s (1996) pronoun circling task. In this task, participants are given a paragraph, usually a fictitious travel log, and are asked to circle the I, me, and my pronouns in the independent self-construal condition or the we, us, and ours pronouns in the interdependent self-construal condition. For both relational and group-level priming, usually one of these three tasks is used:  the scrambled-sentence task (Srull & Wyer, 1979), subliminal priming, or the Sumerian-warrior story. The scrambled-sentence task involves asking participants to arrange some scrambled words into meaningful sentences. To prime individualism/ independent self-construal, the sentences usually convey independent self-views and typically contain words such as I, me, mine, distinct, different, competitive, own, free, and unique. To prime collectivism/interdependent self-construal, the sentences usually convey interdependent self- views and typically contain words such as we, us, ours, join, similar, alike, share, cooperative, agreeable, and help. For 20

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subliminal priming, similar words are used, but instead of asking participants to arrange scrambled words into meaningful sentences, they are exposed to the prime words on a computer screen at a very fast speed (e.g., 35 ms.). Because of the fast presentation speed, participants should not be consciously aware of the words, but the words can still activate the respective cultural syndrome. Lastly, in the Sumerian-warrior story developed by Trafimow et al. (1991), participants were asked to read a story about a warrior being chosen to lead an army to war. The warrior was chosen on the basis of either individual talent and achievement (in the individualism/independent self-construal condition) or tribe membership and family honor (in the collectivism/ interdependent self-construal condition). These priming methods have been applied mainly to monocultural samples (in contrast to bicultural individuals in the dynamic-constructivist approach); the results, in general, showed the predicted priming effects on values, self-concept, relationality (social obligation, perceived social support from others, social sensitivity, and prosocial orientation), well-being, and cognitive style (e.g., inclusion/exclusion, assimilation/contrast, connect/pull apart, and prevention/promotion) in a meta-analysis (Oyserman & Lee, 2008b). Furthermore, the meta-analysis also found that the priming effects were largest and most homogeneous (i.e., consistent across studies) using the SDFF task and the Sumerian-warrior story, and the priming effects were strongest on the relationality and cognitive-style outcome measures. It is noteworthy that the priming effects were significantly stronger on European-American and European monoculturals than Asian monoculturals, and the priming effects using language were heterogeneous (i.e., the effects were in the predicted direction in some studies but in the opposite direction in other studies).

Similarities and Differences between Situated-Cognition Approach and Dynamic-Constructivist Approach

Thus far, we have introduced a number of methods to prime different multicultural orientations, and they were categorized mainly under the situated-cognition approach (the group-level and relational-level priming methods we just reviewed) or under the dynamic-constructivist approach (using mainly cultural icons/symbols). However, these categorizations should not be seen as rigid or mutually exclusive. That is, it does not mean that researchers endorsing the dynamic-constructivist

approach would not use, for instance, the SDFF task or the Sumerian-warrior story to prime cultural knowledge, given that the priming methods commonly used by either approach have been found to be effective. Indeed, both approaches agree that shared cultural representations are the key active ingredients in causing cultural differences and using either of the aforementioned empirical methods is a valid way to prime shared cultural representations. That said, the two approaches differ on some fundamental views of multicultural influences (see also Hong, 2009). The dynamic-constructivist approach emphasizes the importance of studying the effects of cultural priming on bicultural and multicultural individuals. By contrast, the situated-cognition approach assumes that both individualistic and collectivistic cultural syndromes can be primed among monocultural individuals. In fact, the situated-cognitive approach argues against using bicultural participants: As Oyserman and Lee write, “when comparisons focus on distinct subgroups, those who are bilingual and/or bicultural, they do not allow clear generalization about the fluidity of culture as a situated process; rather, they subtly reinforce the focus on culture as an “in-the-head” within-person variable like other traits or personality factors.” (Oyserman & Lee, 2008a, p.  248). That is, Oyserman and Lee argued that because bicultural individuals are a distinct subgroup, they do not allow as clear a generalization of the priming effects as monocultural individuals (who are often the majority group). The dynamic-constructivist approach holds a different view—First, it contends that priming bicultural individuals is crucial to understand the dynamics and fluidity of culture because the key ingredients of culture are more than construing oneself in an independent manner, disjoint from others, or in an interdependent manner, conjoint with others. Cultural representations also contain many other facets, such as the collective historical memory, cultural identification, and intergroup dynamics (see Chiu & Hong, 2006). Therefore, studying bicultural participants who have a fair amount of direct or indirect experiences with the respective cultures is necessary (e.g., Fu et al., 2007). Moreover, given its focus on priming independent or interdependent self-construal (or individual or relational/collective self ) of monocultural individuals, the situated-cognitive approach is studying the effects of the tripartite self (individual, relational, and collective self; Brewer & Gardner, 1996) as individual difference, rather than studying the effects of culture.

Second, the SCA postulates only assimilative responses (i.e., responses that are typical of the culture primed, for instance, higher conformity when primed with we than I), but not contrastive responses (i.e., responses that are in the opposite direction of the culture primed, such as lower conformity when primed with we than I). It is important to note, however, that there is ample evidence of contrastive effects. For example, Bond and Yang (1982; Yang & Bond, 1980) have shown that Hong Kong Chinese participants endorsed more Western (versus Chinese) cultural values when they filled out a questionnaire in Chinese language conducted by a mainland Chinese investigator than when they filled out a questionnaire in English language conducted by a Western investigator. The situated-cognitive would have predicted the opposite pattern of findings. Similarly, using cultural icons as primes, other studies have shown contrastive priming effects among bicultural participants who have low bicultural identity integration (Benet-Martínez, Leu, Lee, & Morris, 2002; Cheng, Lee, & Benet-Martínez, 2006) and those who believe in racial essentialism (No et al., 2008, Study 4). In these studies, the cultural primes (cultural icons and symbols and language) could activate identity concerns (e.g., seeing American icons could make an Asian-American aware that he or she is not a full-fledged American), and as a result, individuals may display contrastive (i.e., responses that are opposite to the culture primed) responses. As such, although the situated cognitive approach may explain influences in independent/interdependent self-construal (or individual versus relational/collective self ), it does not fully account for processes underlying multicultural influences. Importantly, the dynamic-constructivist approach maintains that multicultural influences are not deterministic and switching between cultural frames smoothly is not inevitable. In fact, as stated earlier, identity and identification concerns can often derail the cultural frame-switching process. In fact, even neural activation can be affected by identity and identification concerns. Next, we will first review recent findings in cultural neuroscience, and then discuss how culture priming can elicit cultural frame switching in neural activities and how identity concerns can derail such processes.

Cultural Neuroscience

In our framework (as shown in Figure 2.3), we propose that activation of shared cultural knowledge systems can affect neural responses. Indeed, recent Hong, Khei

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exciting advancements in cultural neuroscience (Goh et  al., 2007; Gutchess, Welsh, Boduroglu, & Park, 2006; Han and Northoff, 2008; Hedden, Ketay, Aron, Markus, & Gabrieli, 2008; also see review by Chiao, Cheon, Bebko, Livingston, & Hong, 2012) support this premise. To give an example, Nisbett and colleagues (Chua, Boland, & Nisbett, 2005; Masuda, & Nisbett, 2001) consistently have shown that Westerners tend to engage in context-independent and analytical perceptual processes by focusing on a salient object independent of its context, whereas Asians tend to engage in context-dependent and holistic perceptual processes by attending to the relationship between the object and the context in which the object is located. Goh et  al. (2007) further examined the neurological basis of these cross-cultural differences. Specifically, they used an fMR-adaptation paradigm in which participants were exposed to quartets of pictures quickly (i.e., sets of four pictures one at a time) while their brain activities were scanned. The participants were instructed only to view the picture quartets and were not required to respond. In general, brain activity will habituate (quiet down) when processing identical images in rapid repetition, so by systematically changing the focal objects and/or background images in the picture quartets, the researchers can discern the brain areas in which the participants process the focal objects and background. Indeed, Goh et  al. (2007) were able to identify the lateral occipital complex (LOC) regions for object processing, and the parahippocampal place area (PPA) for background processing. Importantly, they also found that elderly Caucasian American participants showed significantly more adaptation than did elderly Singaporean Chinese participants in the LOC regions, suggesting that elderly Caucasian Americans process object information more extensively than elderly Singaporean Chinese. However, no significant difference was found between the young Caucasian American and young Singaporean Chinese samples. To examine the lack of differences between the young cohorts, Jenkins and associates (Jenkins, Yang, Goh, Hong, & Park, 2010) modified the task to focus on the relation between the focal object and the background context. That is, Chinese and Caucasian American young adults were shown picture quartets in which the focal objects and the background contexts were either congruent (e.g., a camel in the desert or a deer in the jungle) or incongruent (e.g., a cow in the elevator lobby or a ram in a concert hall). Because Chinese participants have 22

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been shown to focus more on the thematic relations between objects than Americans (Ji, Zhang, & Nisbett, 2004), Jenkins et al. predicted that the Chinese participants would take significantly longer to habituate when seeing incongruent picture quartets than Caucasian American participants. Nevertheless, the two groups were not expected to differ significantly in their habituation rate toward the congruent pictures. Indeed, researchers found that Chinese participants showed significantly more adaptation in the LOC areas toward incongruent picture quartets than Caucasian American participants, but no significant differences were found toward congruent pictures quartets. Taken as a whole, these results suggest that, on the one hand, there is no constitutional difference because the same LOC regions were recruited during the tasks for both Chinese and Caucasian Americans. On the other hand, cultural experiences can modulate neural activity. In other words, cultural experiences affect the strategies and focus employed in information processing, thereby giving rise to different patterns of neural activation. Can cultural priming methods prime neural activation as well? Indeed, they can. For example, Chiao et al. (2010) have shown that Asian American biculturals’ neural activations toward different types of self-judgments were modulated by cultural primes (the differences versus similarities with friends and family and the Sumerian warrior story). Specifically, prior research has shown that medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) plays a critical role in self-relevant judgments and cognitions (Amodio & Frith, 2006). In addition, Chiao et al. (2009) also found that independent self-construal is associated with a greater recruitment of the MPFC during self-judgment in general (e.g., “I am talkative in general,”), whereas interdependent self-construal is associated with a greater recruitment of the MPFC during self-judgment in specific contexts (e.g., “I am polite when talking to my professor”). Given these findings, Chiao et  al. (2010) further found that Asian American biculturals showed more activation in the MPFC during general self-judgment tasks in the independent self-construal priming condition than during the contextual self-judgment tasks. The reverse was shown in the interdependent self-construal priming condition. Similarly, some recent studies (Ng & Han, 2009; Ng & Lai, 2009; Sui, Hong, Liu, Humphreys, & Han, 2013) have shown that cultural priming modulates neural substrates of self-referencing. In one study, after activating participants’ Chinese

or Western cultural knowledge using pictures of cultural icons, Ng and Lai (2009) asked Hong Kong Chinese college students to judge whether certain adjectives could be used to describe themselves (self-referencing), their mother (mother-referencing), or a person with whom they are familiar but do not identify (not-identify-person (NIP)-referencing). As a control, in some trials, the participants were asked about the font type in which the adjectives were printed. Later, participants were given a surprise recall and recognition test of the adjectives they had seen earlier. Participants in the Western priming condition remembered more of the adjectives that appeared in the self-referencing questions than those in the other three question types, which suggests a relatively distinctive self-construal (typical of Western culture). By contrast, participants in the Chinese priming condition remembered adjectives in the mother—and NIP-referencing questions equally well as those in the self-referencing questions, suggesting a relatively socially connected self-construal (typical of Chinese culture). Importantly, because these two patterns of recall have been linked with distinct neurological activation (Zhu, Zhang, Fan, & Han, 2007), some researchers have suggested that cultural priming may have led to the corresponding neurological activations. Indeed, Ng, Han, Mao, & Lai (2010) have reported evidence supporting this argument. Specifically, these researchers found that Hong Kong bicultural participants in the Western priming condition showed greater ventral medial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) activity when processing information referencing the self than referencing mother or NIP. By contrast, participants in the Chinese priming condition showed no significant differences in VMPFC activity when processing information referencing the self, mother, or NIP. Furthermore, a recent study (Huff, Yoon, Lee, Mandadi, & Gutchess, 2013) has shown that the bicultural identity integration of Asian American participants modulates their self-versus-mother referencing patterns. Specifically, the researchers measured the Asian American participants’ neural activity while they judged whether some trait adjectives were applicable to the self, mother, and Gandhi, as a familiar person who was not personally known. Subsequently, the participants were tested on whether they could remember the adjectives via a surprise recognition task. Participants with high bicultural identity integration showed a stronger mother-referencing effect than those with low bicultural identity integration. In particular,

participants with high bicultural identity integration showed greater activation in the dorsal MPFC for the mother-relevant adjectives that were later remembered (versus forgotten) relative to the self-referenced items. The pattern was reversed for participants who were low in bicultural identity integration, such that they engaged the dorsal MPEC more for the self-relevant adjectives that were later remembered (versus forgotten) compared with mother-relevant items. These results show that identity concerns (e.g., bicultural identity integration) can moderate bicultural individuals’ neural underpinning of culturally typical responses (e.g., mother-referencing effect among Asians). The emergent evidence that cultural priming modulates neural activities is exciting. Again, these results suggest that the neurological correlates are skin deep rather than essentialist dispositions of any particular racial/ethnic groups. Importantly, “even though the same brain region might be recruited by different cultural groups during the same cognitive task, two cultures might have different meanings for the concepts involved in a task” (Han & Northoff, 2008, p.  652). Indeed, recent research has shown that the magnitude of neural activation varies as a function of individuals’ cultural identification. For instance, as mentioned earlier, Huff et  al. (2013) showed that Asian Americans with high bicultural identity integration showed stronger neural activity related to mother referencing than their low bicultural identity integration counterparts. Also, Hedden et  al.’s (2008) study of cultural influences on neural substrates of attentional control showed that the more acculturated East Asian participants were to American culture, the stronger their American pattern of neural activation. These results suggest that an individual’s experience in and identification with a cultural context may shape brain responses. Identity processes appear to play an important role in linking the mind and body. In the next section on multicultural self, we will further discuss how identity processes underlie people’s inclusionary and exclusionary responses toward multicultural exposure (see also Schwartz, Vignoles, Brown, & Zagefka’s chapter on identity processes in this volume).

The Multicultural Self

Aside from leading to culture-related knowledge acquisition and use, multicultural interactions can also impel identity-relevant reflection and evaluations, leading to queries such as “Who am I?” and Hong, Khei

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“Who are we?” In a situation like this, individuals might use the new culture as a reference to appraise their selves (or their collective selves). Their minds may become clouded with questions such as, “am I  qualified to be a member of this new cultural group?” “Will this new cultural group question my membership?” “Can I  meaningfully define myself in terms of the new culture?” and “Can I find comfort or a safe haven in this new culture?” Previous research has revealed that for immigrants and their progeny, constructing a “secure” identity in the host culture is often a challenge (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005; Deaux, 2006; Ward, Bochner, & Furnham, 2001; see review by Sam & Berry, this volume). Hong and colleagues (Hong, Roisman, & Chen, 2006) have contended that individuals’ attachment to a culture is analogous to children’s attachment to their mothers/caregivers. In this model, a secure (versus insecure) attachment would help individuals to cope with stress and threat better. Indeed, among a group of Indonesian undergraduate students studying in Singapore, those who showed greater secure attachment (i.e., showing secure-based schema in a subliminal priming task) also showed less perceived discrimination and acculturation stress in the host country and greater subjective well-being (Hong, Fang, Yang, & Phua, 2013; see also Bakker, van Oudenhoven, & van der Zee, 2004). The experiences of negotiating multicultural identities and the possibility of experiencing bicultural or multicultural identity confusion and conflict have been widely expressed in literary and artistic productions. There are numerous well-known examples, such as Eric Liu’s (1998) The Accidental Asian, and Amin Maalouf ’s (2000) In the Name of Identity. In art, Frida Kahlo’s (1932) “Self Portrait on the Borderline between Mexico and the United States” (1932) is a case in point (http://www.fridakahlofans.com/c0110.html). After living in the United States for nearly three years, Frida was growing homesick for Mexico. In this painting, Frida expresses her ambivalent feelings toward the United States and her emotional tie to Mexican culture. In an elegant pink dress and white gloves, she stands like a statue on a pedestal at the center of the painting with a Mexican flag in one hand and a cigarette in the other. The background is split into two halves that symbolize the two worlds that she was living in: In one section, there is an ancient Mexican landscape, its exotic plants and pieces of Aztec sculpture are portrayed in rich, warm earthy colors; in the other section, Ford’s factory chimneys and other 24

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technology-dominated landscapes of the United State are portrayed in dull grey and blue colors. This painting is a vivid testimony of a sojourner’s multicultural experiences, and the complex feelings and attitudes often associated to them. Another good example is Pacita Abad’s (1992) “A Racial Identity Crisis” (http://www.postcolonialweb.org/singapore/arts/painters/philippines/ pacitaabad/1.html). This painting expresses Pacita’s identity conflict about being both a Spanish colonial and a Filipina native. The canvas is split into two halves, with a different self-portrait of Pacita on each half. One self-portrait shows her wearing an elegant western dress, and the other shows her wearing indigenous clothing. The painting uses bright and contrastive colors, conveying a clash in identities. As portrayed in these artistic productions, there are often two opposing forces in multicultural exposures—a tendency to include and make creative usage of the new/foreign/host cultural influences and a tendency to exclude and reject the new/ foreign/host cultural influences. Incidentally, the movie director of Life of Pi, Ang Lee, is exemplary of an inclusionary response toward multicultural influences. Lee grew up in Tainan, a traditional Chinese town in southern Taiwan, and later pursued higher education at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and New York University. He is famous for both his portrayal of Chinese culture in movies such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Pushing Hands, and The Wedding Banquet and his portrayal of Western culture in movies such as Brokeback Mountain and Sense & Sensibility. He is someone who has successfully made creative usage of both Asian and Western cultural knowledge and reaped the benefits of multiple cultural experiences. But Ang Lee is not typical. Exclusionary responses toward the new/foreign/host cultural influences are not uncommon in multicultural encounters. Sometimes the exclusionary response can contribute to violent, devastating outcomes. Sheikh Omar Saeed, a British-born terrorist of Pakistani descent, masterminded the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. In his youth, Sheikh attended Forest School, a prestigious institution in North-East London, and later matriculated at the London School of Economics, where he studied applied mathematics and economics. Although Sheikh was undeniably steeped in Western culture, he did not seem to have embraced Western culture, nor had he built a secure identity

around it. The clash between his native identity and mainstream British culture may have made him susceptible to radical terrorist ideologies. Understanding the factors underlying inclusionary and exclusionary responses in multicultural encounters is vital. Several chapters in this volume discuss these possible factors through the perspective of globalization (see Leung, Qiu, and Chiu, this volume) and bicultural identity integration (see Benet-Martínez, 2012; Cheng et al., this volume). We will not repeat the contents of these chapters here. Instead, we will focus on the lay theory of race as a moderator of inclusionary and exclusionary responses.

Lay Theory of Race

In many societies around the globe, existing social disparities are linked with groups of people with distinct outer physical characteristics (e.g., skin tone, hair and eye colors, body type, and so forth), social categories (e.g., gender, age), behavioral tendencies, performance outcomes, and personality traits. To understand these disparities and make sense of the social world in general, people, as naïve scientists (Heider, 1958), come up with folk explanations, or personal theories for why certain racial groups are behaving in certain ways. This is a basic cognitive process through which humans learn, acquire knowledge, and make predictions about future events. For example, we learn that natural categories such as animals or elements (e.g., “tiger” and “gold”) are defined by some core essence or collection of properties that are independent of human perception (see also Gelman, & Hirschfeld, 1999; Haslam, Rothschild, & Ernst, 2000; Medin, & Ortony, 1989). Conversely, human artifacts, such as a “chair” or a “table,” are categories that do not possess unalterable, inherent properties (e.g., an overturned crate can be considered a chair), but are created by human perceivers for ease of utility (e.g., to find a place to sit). Lay theory of race refers to people’s folk beliefs about the nature of race and racial categories (see Hong, Chao, & No, 2009, for a review). These theories provide a framework within which individuals interpret and organize information related to race, ethnicity, and culture. In general, there are two opposing beliefs of race that are often contested in social discourse and scientific debates (Celious & Oyserman, 2001; Gossett, 1997; Ossorio & Duster, 2005; Tate & Audette, 2001). One theory contends that race is determined by some nonmalleable, deep-seated essence, defined as something

genetic or otherwise biological, or by other “essence placeholders” such as ancestry or normative cultural practices. According to this theory, termed the essentialist theory of race, racial essence gives rise to personality traits and abilities that are stable over time and across situations such that race is not only “real” and not only has a material basis, but is also diagnostic of a multitude of human characteristics. The opposing theory, discussed in our work under the rubric of social-constructionist theory of race, denies the “real” existence of a racial essence. In fact, scientists have not found genetic markers for race in the human genome (Bonham, Warshauer-Baker, & Collins, 2005). For people endorsing the social-constructivist theory, racial taxonomies are either socially constructed (often by members of the dominant group) to justify and rationalize existing inequalities between groups, or just convenient labels people use in certain societies or cultures. As such, a person may be categorized differently depending on where he or she goes in the world (e.g., in the United States versus Brazil), and the meaning of the racial categories to which he or she belongs can be altered when social circumstances change (Fairchild, Yee, Wyatt, & Weizmann, 1995; Zuckerman, 1990). In both cases, race is a social construction that is arbitrarily created for social and political reasons and in a particular historical context. Because racial categorization from this perspective is conceptualized as fluid, differences observed between racial groups do not reflect deep-seated differences. Which of the aforementioned two lay theories holds more truth? That is, which one is better supported by objective evidence? This question is hard, if not impossible, to answer because all human behaviors are arguably results of the dynamic interaction of nature and nurture (i.e., environment). Despite this, people tend to subscribe to one of these lay theories over the other. More importantly, individual differences in the extent to which one buys into the theory of essentialist theory of race or the social-constructivist theory of race can give rise to a wide range of outcomes, including race-based categorization and cognition, identification with the mainstream culture, switching between cultural frames, and creativity. We review the evidence for these effects after we briefly discuss how to measure and prime the lay theory of race first.

Measuring and priming lay theory of race

To assess an individual’s endorsement of the two different race-related beliefs (racial essentialist or Hong, Khei

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social constructionist), Hong and colleagues (No et al., 2008) developed an eight-item questionnaire. This questionnaire requires participants to rate their degree of agreement with statements such as, “To a large extent, a person’s race biologically determines his or her abilities and traits”; “How a person is like (e.g., his or her abilities, traits) is deeply ingrained in his or her race. It cannot be changed much”; and “Races are just arbitrary categories and can be changed if necessary” (reverse item). Using this questionnaire, the researchers have surveyed a large number of undergraduate Caucasian American and Asian American college students. In general, the scale shows a single factor, with higher score indicating stronger endorsement of essentialist theory. Also, the scale has high internal reliability and appropriate nomological properties (i.e., see report in No et  al., 2008, Study 1). Moreover, the scale scores of over a thousand American college students were normally distributed, that is, nearly equal proportions of participants endorsed the essentialist theory and the social-constructionist theory (see review in Hong, Chao, & No, 2009), respectively. Besides examining people’s own endorsement of the lay theory of race as an individual difference, Hong and colleagues (Chao, Hong, Chiu, 2013; No et  al. 2008) have also manipulated this construct using a bogus essay (a scientific essay ostensibly published in Time magazine) as a prime. That is, by asking the participants to read an essay that supports an essentialist theory of race (with a heading such as, “There is essence underlying racial groups. The concept of race has divided humankind into meaningful social groups based on differences in their innate qualities”) or social constructionist theory of race (with a heading such as, “The meaning of race is socially constructed. It is used to characterize different social groups”), the corresponding theory will become temporarily more accessible in the mind of the participants, overriding the participants’ own prior endorsement of the theory. Using this priming method, researchers were able to discern the causal effects of the lay theory of race (see review of evidence next).

Race-based categorization and cognition

Individuals holding the essentialist theory of race are more likely to use race to categorize others than those holding the social-constructionist theory of race. For example, in Chao, Hong, & Chiu (2013, Studies 1 & 2), American undergraduate students were asked to pick two out of three things that they think are closely related, such as 26

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“Jimmy Carter,” “Martin Luther King,” “Barrack Obama.” The stronger the participants endorse the essentialist theory of race, the more likely they were to pick “Martin Luther King” and “Barrack Obama,” suggesting that they focus on race rather than the alternative, president, to categorize (Chao et al, 2013, Study 2). These results were replicated by priming participants’ lay theory of race (Chao et  al, 2013, Study 1). In Studies 3 through 5 of Chao et al. (2013), participants who held the essentialist theory of race also showed higher efficiency in learning race-related categories (in an implicit learning task), greater sensitivity to discerning phenotypic racial differences when performing racial categorization, and greater tendency to adhere to the hypodescent principle in perceiving racial groups (i.e., excluding targets from the White category when they show any, even minimal, features associated with the Black category) than their social constructionist counterparts. Interestingly, similar findings were found among Black, Caucasian, and Asian American participants, suggesting that the lay theory of race is a framework used by people to process social information regardless of the person’s own race.

Identification with mainstream culture

Holding the essentialist theory of race orients racial minority members (Asian Americans) to perceive a more rigid, impermeable interracial boundary than holding the social-constructionist theory of race. Under the essentialist theory framework, racial-minority members feel that they can never become full-fledged members of the mainstream, host cultural group (American), and thus would show a lower identification with the mainstream culture. Indeed, No et  al., (2008, Study 2)  have shown that Asian-American participants who were primed with the essentialist theory of race showed lower identification with mainstream American culture than those who were primed with the social-constructivist theory of race. What is interesting is that both groups of participants were not significantly different from each other in identifying with their Asian identity. As such, the essentialist theory of race seems to have created a cognitive barrier that prevented the racial minority participants from passing into the mainstream American culture.3

Switching between cultural frames

To the extent that individuals holding an essentialist theory of race may also think of different

cultures as separate entities with impermeable interracial and intercultural boundaries, it should follow that these individuals would also find it hard to switch between multiple cultural frames. This perception should make it difficult for minority group members to switch to the mainstream cultural frame, and would eventually affect real-life outcomes, such as immigrants’ adaptation to their adopted culture and cross-cultural management, in which bicultural managers adjust their management practices in different cultural contexts. Chao, Chen, Roisman, and Hong’s (2007) work shows that essentialist theory of race moderates the ability to culturally frame switch. In Chao et  al.’s (2007) first study, Chinese-American participants were presented with a sequential priming task in which they were shown a prime (a Chinese cultural prime, American cultural primes, and neutral prime) followed by a string of letters and then asked to judge if those letters were real words or not (Fazio, Jackson, Dunton, & Williams, 1995). Basically, the primes were paired with either cultural words (Chinese target words or American target words) or nonwords. Participants were required to answer as quickly as possible. Results showed that the stronger the participants’ endorsement of an essentialist theory of race, the longer they took to answer trials that require them to switch between cultural frames (i.e., American prime/Chinese word and Chinese prime/American word), suggesting more difficulty in switching between cultural frames. Likewise, in their second study, Chao et al. (2007) found heightened electro-dermal activity (skin conductance) during an interview focused on Chinese American bicultural individuals’ experiences in their two cultures. Both these studies showed that racial essentialism influenced individuals’ cognition (study 1), and emotional reactivity (study 2), making it cognitively harder and more stressful to switch between cultural frames. This is consistent with our contention that an essentialist race theory sets up a framework within which the Chinese and American cultures are seen as discrete and nonoverlapping, which in turn leads to more difficulty in switching between cultural frames. Immigrants’ adaptation can also be modulated by their lay theory of race. Many expatriates not only face the challenge of living and working in a new culture, but they also might become a racial minority in the host country. Therefore, these individuals’ lay theory of race should also affect their tendency to approach or avoid the new host culture. To understand these processes, Chao, Takeuchi,

Farh, Zhang, & Hong (2013) conducted a survey in Beijing, China, to examine the acculturative tendencies of Caucasian expatriates from Western countries (America, Europe, and Australia). The participants were asked to respond to the lay theories of race measure, together with a measure of Chinese language proficiency, length of stay in China, and their extent of engagement in Chinese cultural practices and activities in the past 6 months (e.g., “When I  listened to music, _____% of the time I listened to Chinese music”; “During the past 6  months, _____% of the films I  watched were in Chinese”; “When I  ate at home, _____% of the time the food was prepared in Chinese style”; “Now, _____% of my friends are Chinese”). The results revealed that the stronger the expatriates held an essentialist theory of race, the less likely they were to engage in Chinese cultural practices and activities. This correlation remained significant even when proficiency in the Chinese language and length of residence in China were statistically controlled. These findings suggest that the essentialist theory of race also hinders Caucasian expatriates’ acculturation into Chinese (the host) culture. More importantly, these results suggest that the effects of endorsing an essentialist theory of race not only apply to Asian Americans, who typically possess less sociopolitical power and status than Caucasian Americans, but also to Western expatriates, a racial minority group that enjoys relatively high status in China. As such, the essentialist theory of race appears to set up an impermeable interracial boundary for groups regardless of their relative power.

Essentialist theory of race dampens creativity

Since individuals holding an essentialist theory of race tend to rely on rigid categorization processes (e.g., reliance on race-based categorization and viewing different racial/cultural groups as nonoverlapping), they could be less likely to combine seemingly unrelated concepts to form novel ideas or products. To test this prediction, in Tadmor, Chao, Hong, and Polzer (2012, Study 1), Jewish Israeli participants were randomly assigned to one of the two lay theories of race priming conditions (essentialist theory or social-constructionist theory) or a no-prime control condition. Subsequently, participants’ creativity was measured using the Remote Association Test (RAT; Mednick, 1962), in which participants were asked to identify a single target word that was strongly associated with three distinct stimuli words (e.g., given the words manner, Hong, Khei

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round, and tennis, the correct answer would be table). As predicted, participants primed with the essentialist theory of race solved fewer RATs than did participants in the social constructionist theory or no-prime condition. Tadmor, Chao et  al.’s (2012) Study 2 replicated the same pattern of findings using a different creativity task (i.e., Duncker’s candle problem, 1945)  and also showed that the dampening effect of an essentialist theory of race on creativity was mediated through close-mindedness (a subscale of need for cognitive closure, Webster & Kruglanski, 1994). This mediation is consistent with previous findings showing that multicultural exposure enhances creativity only for participants who are high in openness to experience (Leung & Chiu, 2008; see also Leung et al., this volume). Taken as a whole, the research reviewed here has shown, across a wide range of methods, that people’s lay theory of race can impact their experiences in navigating among multiple cultures. Results consistently show that an essentialist theory of race is associated with close-mindedness and rigid social categorization, which, in turn, make it more difficult to navigate between cultural frames, thereby dampening creativity and causing other potential negative intergroup consequences (e.g., avoiding intergroup contacts, Goff, Eberhardt, Williams, & Jackson, 2008; more stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination, e.g., Haslam, Rothschild, & Ernst, 2002). It is important to note that people also can hold an essentialist theory of other social categories, such as gender. Previous research has shown that the more strongly a female holds an essentialist theory of gender, the more likely she is to buy into (benign) gender stereotypes and self-stereotype with those traits (Coleman & Hong, 2008). By the same token, the more Israelis and Palestinians believe that the nature of social group is fixed (versus malleable), the less likely they believe that the long standing Israeli-Palestinian conflicts can ever be resolved, and thus less likely to compromise for peace (Halperin, Russell, Trzesniewski, Gross, & Dweck, 2011). In short, the lay theory of race, gender, or social group set up a framework within which people perceive the social world and their own relations with the social groups around them.

Emergent New Research Directions

How might the human mind and self co-evolve with the exponential prevalence of multicultural contacts and mixing? Could multicultural contacts and mixing affect the cognitive and neurological underpinnings of people? If yes, could the changes 28

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in people’s cognitive and neurological underpinnings affect their identity and responses toward cultural influences? At first glance, these questions seem farfetched. However, next we review some recent findings that seem to suggest that such dynamic processes are plausible. There is burgeoning research showing multicultural exposure effects on cognitive styles. For example, Tadmor and colleagues (Tadmor, Hong, Chao, Wiruchnipawan, & Wang, 2012) have conducted six studies to systematically explore the ameliorative effects of multicultural experience on cognitive dimensions of intergroup bias. The researchers used different types of manipulation of multicultural exposure, including exposing participants to video clips that depict two cultures (Chinese and American) versus a single culture (Chinese or American culture as control conditions) and asking participants to recall experiences when interacting with foreign cultures versus spending time at a local beach (control condition). Across different studies, participants who were in the multicultural exposure condition consistently showed lower stereotype endorsement, symbolic racism, and discriminatory hiring decisions than participants in the control conditions. Furthermore, these studies showed that experimental exposure to multicultural experience causes a reduction in the need for cognitive closure (Webster & Kruglanski, 1994), and that the ameliorative effects of multicultural experience on intergroup bias are fully mediated by lower levels of need for cognitive closure. The beneficial effects of multicultural exposure were found regardless of the targeted stereotype group (African-Americans, Ethiopians, homosexuals, native Israelis), regardless of whether multicultural experience was measured or manipulated, and regardless of the population sampled (Caucasian-Americans, Asian-Americans, Jewish-Israelis), demonstrating the robustness of this phenomenon. Overall, these results demonstrate that multicultural experience plays a critical role in increasing social tolerance by increasing open-mindedness and cognitive flexibility. Research in neuroscience has revealed that the human brain is malleable, as its structure and function can be reorganized following environmental demands—an attribute termed brain plasticity. In a groundbreaking study, Maguire et al. (1999) showed that the volume of the hippocampus (a brain area responsibility for spatial reasoning) of a London taxi driver is positively correlated with the driver’s tenure on the job, suggesting that the brain changes in response to practices and learning. Likewise,

Draganski et  al. (2004) have shown that regular jugglers have denser grey matter than individuals who do not juggle. To the extent that multicultural exposure brings about new practices and learning, the experience can also contribute to cultural brain plasticity, that is, functional and structural changes in the human brain, due to exposure to different cultures. A case in point is the well-documented “bilingual advantage,” whereby proficiency in two or more languages is associated with better executive control functioning in the medial prefrontal lobe (see review by Ramirez-Esparza and Garcia-Sierra, this volume). Multicultural exposure also brings about other cognitive benefits. As noted, multicultural exposure also leads to greater creativity (see Leung et al., this volume; Cheng, Sanchez-Burks, & Lee, 2008). That said, it is important to note that the beneficial effects are not inevitable. Participants’ personal beliefs, such as bicultural identity integration or lay theory of race, also moderate the outcomes (Cheng, Darling, et  al., 2008; Saad, Damian, Benet-Martínez, Moons, & Robins, 2013; Tadmor, Chao, et al., 2012). In addition, bicultural individuals who endorse an integrative acculturation strategy show greater integrative complexity than bicultural individuals who endorse a separation or assimilation strategy (Tadmor, Galinsky, & Maddux, 2012). In short, the individual is not a passive recipient of multicultural influences, as we have emphasized throughout this chapter. This also highlights the possibility that a person’s own predispositions (e.g., genetic predispositions) interacts with his or her sociocultural environment to affect the outcomes of multicultural exposure.

Gene X Environment Interaction

Previous research has shown that some individuals are more emotionally reactive to and affected by social experiences than others, and that such individual differences are associated with individuals’ genetic variations (e.g., Champagne & Curley, 2005). Specifically, individuals with certain variants of the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene are more sensitive to social influences (e.g., Bakermans-Kranenburg, van Ijzendoorn, Pijlman, Mesman, & Juffer, 2008). People with the sensitive variant of the gene show more reactivity to prosocial behavior cues (Sasaki, et al., 2011), peers’ influence on their own political ideology (Settle, Dawes, Christakis, & Fowler, 2010) and smoking cues (McClernon, Hutchison, Rose, & Kozink, 2007). Second, in addition to the DRD4, single nucleotide polymorphism of the oxytocin receptor gene

(OXTR rs53576) has also been implicated in one’s degree of social sensitivity. Relative to their counterparts with the A allele, individuals with the G allele of this gene behaved more normatively in their emotional support seeking (Kim, et al., 2010) and emotional regulation behaviors (Kim, et al., 2011). Third, the short allele (versus long allele) of the serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) gene is commonly associated with emotional reactivity to stresses and stronger negative impact of childhood maltreatment on persistent depression (Uher, et al., 2011), current life events on neuroticism (Pluess, Belsky, Way, & Taylor, 2010), and depression (Caspi, et al., 2003). In short, these candidate genetic polymorphisms seem to predict negative responses in stressful, threatening environments. Therefore, to the extent that intercultural encounters are stressful and threatening, individuals who possess these genetic predispositions could display maladaptive adjustments in the new culture. In addition to individuals’ genetic predispositions, actual experience in the new cultures is also a crucial factor in determining adjustment outcomes. However, actual experience is not determined solely by the external sociocultural environment; rather, as we have illustrated throughout this chapter, lay theories and beliefs set up expectations and determine the meanings of social situations (e.g., regardless of whether a situation is race related). Since much information in our social environment is ambiguous and subject to diverse interpretations, individuals’ responses are often driven by how they think and feel about the social stimuli. Therefore, the outcomes of intercultural encounters would be a result of the interaction of the individuals’ genetic dispositions and their perceptions of the sociocultural environment. These ideas are consistent with some recent findings. For example, Cheon, Livingston, Hong, & Chiao (in press) examined how 5-HTTLPR and environmental factors signaling potential out-group threat dynamically interact to shape intergroup bias. Across two studies, the researchers found evidence for a gene-environment interaction on intergroup bias and prejudice. Specifically, Study 1 revealed that greater signals of out-group threat, such as negative prior contacts with the out-group or a belief in a dangerous world (Altemeyer, 1988), were associated with stronger intergroup bias among participants possessing at least one short allele (S/S or S/L) of 5-HTTLPR. However, the association between perceived out-group threat and intergroup bias was not significant among participants possessing two Hong, Khei

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long alleles (L/L) of 5-HTTLPR. In Study 2, participants played a behavioral game with two novel outgroups—one threatening and the other not. Participants possessing at least one short allele (but not those with L/L alleles) were affected by the intergroup situation such that the stronger the participants’ beliefs in a dangerous world, the less reward they allocated to a new member of the threatening out-group, suggesting that the short allele of 5-HTTLPR predispose individuals to be sensitive and reactive toward threatening cues in multicultural contacts and mixing. These findings attest to the possibility that genes (e.g., 5-HTTLPR) and environment (e.g., external:  negative intergroup contacts or a threatening out-group; internal:  a belief in a dangerous world) interact to affect the outcomes of multicultural exposure. Interestingly, Cheon et al.’s (in press) study also found that those short-allele carriers of 5-HTTLPR who had positive intergroup contacts or believed that the social world was relatively safe showed less intergroup bias and prejudice than those possessing L/L alleles of 5-HTTLPR. That is, participants who possess short alleles of the serotonin transporter genes displayed more negative outcomes in an unfavorable, threatening environment than their counterparts with long-alleles. However, the short-allele carriers also showed more positive outcomes in a favorable, secure environment. This pattern is called differential plasticity. These findings show that one’s genetic predisposition does not determine one’s outcomes. Rather, the processes involved are of high complexity. People are not passive recipients of the environment; they can also choose and/or modify their socio-cultural environment. But how might people’s genetic predispositions affect these processes? Moreover, since the gene-environment interaction may bring about certain outcomes, including behavioral tendency, which then can feedback to affect genetic expression (epigenetics, Meaney, 2010), how might these processes address the co-evolution of culture and human biological underpinnings (genes and brain)? These questions open up some exciting new directions in future research.

Concluding Remarks

We have moved a long way from early beliefs that multicultural individuals are marginalized people with a divided self, that individuals should ideally have a single cultural identity, and that involvement with more than one culture is psychologically undesirable because it leads to identity confusion (Park, 30

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1928). With the exponential rate of intercultural contacts and mixing via mass media and the World Wide Web, among other means, being or becoming multicultural seems more normative than being monocultural. Monoculturalism may soon be a rare case and, as such, described as a thing of the past. It is ever more pressing to understand how people navigate among cultures, form bi- or multicultural identities, and adapt to new cultural environments cognitively and biologically.

Author note

The preparation of this manuscript was partially supported by an Academic Research Fund Tier 2 grant (MOE2012-T2-1-051) from the Singapore Ministry of Education awarded to Ying-yi Hong. We would like to thank Bobby Cheon, Verónica Benet-Martínez, Ben Zalkind, and an anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments.

Notes

1. The main purpose of the painting is two-fold. First, by juxtaposition, an American iconic figure (Marilynn Moore) and a Chinese iconic figure (Goddess of Mercy), the painting invites viewers to experience switching between American and Chinese cultures when they focus on one figure at a time; second, it represents the juxtaposition of two contentious female figures. On the one hand, Marilynn Moore is a controversial sexual symbol in American culture; on the other hand, the gender of the Goddess of Mercy is ambiguous, as she is sometimes portrayed as a male figure in Chinese culture. 2. Would cultural icons activate people’s stereotypes of a culture? Yes, because stereotypes are generalized schemas of certain groups of people and they are often widely shared within a society. Therefore, priming monocultural individuals with icons of a foreign country/culture can activate their stereotypes of that country/culture, thereby affecting the individuals’ behaviors if the stereotypes are seen as relevant and applicable to the self (cf. DeMarree, Wheeler, & Petty, 2005). 3. At the end of the survey, participants were debriefed properly and it was ensured that the study did not jeopardize their identification with the American culture.

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Said, E. (1979). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books. Sasaki, J. Y., Kim, H. S., Mojaverian, T., Kelley, L. D. S., Park, I. Y., & Janušonis, S. (2011). Religion priming differentially increases prosocial behavior among variants of the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsr089 Schwartz, S. H. (2009). Culture matters:  National value cultures, sources, and consequences. In Wyer, R. S., In Wyer, R. S. Jr., Chiu, C., & Hong, Y. (Eds.) Understanding culture:  theory, research and application. (pp. 127–150). New York: Psychology Press. Settle, J. E., Dawes, C. T., Christakis, N. A., & Fowler, J. H. (2010). Friendships moderate an association between a dopamine gene variant and political ideology. The Journal of Politics, 72(04), 1189–1198. doi:  doi:10.1017/ S0022381610000617 Shore, B. (1996). Culture in mind:  Cognition, culture, and the problem of meaning. New York: Oxford University Press. Strauss, C. (1992). Models and motives. In R. G. D’Andrade & C. Strauss (Eds.), Human motives and cultural models (pp. 1–20). New York: Cambridge University Press. Sui, J., Hong, Y., Liu, C. H., Humphreys, G. W., & Han, S. (2013). Dynamic cultural modulation of neural responses to self-face recognition. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 8(3), 326–332. Srull, T. K., & Wyer, R. S. (1979). The role of category accessibility in the interpretation of information about persons: Some determinants and implications. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37(10), 1660–1672. doi: 10.1037/0022-3 514.37.10.1660 Tadmor, C. T., Chao, M. M., Hong, Y., & Polzer, J. T. (2012). Not just for stereotyping anymore:  Racial essentialism reduces domain-general creativity. Psychological Science, 24, 99–105. Tadmor, C. T., Galinsky, A. D., & Maddux, W. W. (2012). Getting the most out of living abroad:  Biculturalism and integrative complexity as key drivers of creative and professional success. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Advance online publication. doi:10.1037/a0029360 Tadmor, C. T., Hong, Y., Chao, M. M., Wiruchnipawan, F., & Wang, W. (2012). Multicultural experiences reduce intergroup bias through epistemic unfreezing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103, 750–772. Tadmor, C. T., Hong, Y., Chiu, C., & No, S. (2010). What I Know in My Mind and Where My Heart Belongs:  Multicultural Identity Negotiation and Their Cognitive Consequences. In Richard Crisp (Ed.). The Psychology of Social and Cultural Diversity. Blackwell. Tate, C., & Audette, D. (2001). Theory and research on “race” as a natural kind variable in psychology. Theory and Psychology, 11, 495–520.

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Telzer, E. H., Fuligni, A. J., Lieberman, M. D., & Galvan, A. (2013). Meaningful family relationships:  Neurocognitive buffers of adolescent risk taking. Cognitive Neuroscience, 25(3), 374–387. Telzer, E. H., Masten, C. L., Berkman, E. T., Lieberman, M. D., & Fuligni, A. J. (2011). Neural regions associated with self control and mentalizing are recruited during prosocial behaviors towards the family. Neuroimage, 58(1), 242–249. Tov, W., & Diener, E. (2007). Culture and subjective well-being. In S. Kitayama, & D. Cohen (Eds.). Handbook of cultural psychology. New York: Guilford. Trafimow, D., Triandis, H., & Goto, S. (1991). Some tests of the distinction between the private and collective self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 649–655. Triandis, H. C. (1989). The self and social behavior in differing cultural contexts. Psychological Review, 96, 506–520. Triandis, H. C., & Gelfand, M. J. (1998). Converging measurement of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 118–128. Uher, R., Caspi, A., Houts, R., Sugden, K., Williams, B., Poulton, R., & Moffitt, T. E. (2011). Serotonin transporter gene moderates childhood maltreatment’s effects on persistent but not single-episode depression: Replications and implications for resolving inconsistent results. Journal of Affective Disorders, 135(1–3), 56–65. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2011.03.010. Uskul, A. K., Kitayama, S., & Nisbett, R. E. (2008). Ecocultural basis of cognition: Farmers and fishermen are more holistic than herders. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105, 8552–8556. Verkuyten, M., & Pouliasi, K. (2002). Biculturalism among older children:  Cultural frame switching, attributions, self-identification and attitudes. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 33, 596–608. Ward, C., Bochner, S., & Furnham, A. (2001). The psychology of culture shock (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. Webster, D. M., & Kruglanski, A. W. (1994). Individual differences in need for cognitive closure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 1049–1062. Wong, R. Y-M., & Hong, Y. (2005). Dynamic Influences of Culture on Cooperation in the Prisoner’s Dilemma. Psychological Science, 16, 429–434. Wyer, R. S., & Srull, T. K. (1986) Human cognition in its social context. Psychological Review, 93, 322–359. Yang, K. S., & Bond, M. H. (1980). Ethnic affirmation by Chinese bilinguals. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 11, 411–425. Zhu, Y., Zhang, L., Fan, J., & Han, S. (2007). Neural basis of cultural influence on self representation. Neuroimage, 34, 1310–1317. Zuckerman, M. (1990). Some dubious premises in research and theory on racial differences:  Scientific, social, and ethical issues. American Psychologist, 45, 1297–1303.

CH A PT E R

3

The Bilingual Brain: Language, Culture, and Identity

Nairán Ramírez-Esparza and Adrián García-Sierra

Abstract This chapter reviews studies of the bilingual brain from a variety of disciplines, employing multiple theoretical approaches and methodologies. For example, developmental psychologists and speech and hearing scientists focus on the development of the bilingual brain in infants and children using cognitive tasks, brain measurements, and observational techniques. Linguists and educational psychologists study the impact of bilingualism on language development and in the society at large with in-depth interviews, longitudinal-observational studies, and parental reports. Social psychologists and cultural scientists investigate the effects of switching languages on thoughts and feelings utilizing self-reports, observational techniques, priming, and laboratory studies. The goal of this chapter is to provide an in-depth analysis of the fascinating world of the bilingual brain, from infancy to adulthood. Key Words:  bilingualism, biculturals, cultural identity, language development, speech perception, ­executive control, personality, emotion, LENA

Young Henry Lee stopped talking to his parents when he was twelve years old. Not because of some silly childhood tantrum, but because they asked him to. That was how it felt anyway. They asked—no, told—him to stop speaking their native Chinese. It was 1942, and they were desperate for him to learn English. “No more. Only speak your American.” The words came out in Chinglish. “I don’t understand” Henry said in English. “Hah?” his father asked. Since Henry couldn’t ask in Cantonese and his parents barely understood English, he dropped the matter, grabbed his lunch and book bag and headed down the stairs and out into the salty fishy air of Seattle’s Chinatown. Excerpt from the book Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (pp-12–13)

Although the United States has been historically populated by immigrants from all over the world, parents taught their children to speak only English as soon as they arrived in the United States. Parents believed one must speak English to be an American, and that English is the gateway to becoming a part of American society (Fillmore, 2000). However,

this trend has changed in recent years. As parents who are raising two bilingual children in the United States, we see that the advantages of bilingualism are beginning to be recognized by the larger society. For example, many of our friends and neighbors mention that they wished their children could become bilingual; and bilingual day care, 35

immersion schools, and bilingual nannies are very popular among monolingual parents. Not only is this trend apparent in everyday life, there has been increasing scientific interest in understanding the bilingual brain. In this chapter, we discuss three characteristics of bilingualism:  age of second language acquisition, competence in first and second languages, and cultural identity. We first review research on infant bilingualism. This research provides information about the bilingual brain early in development as well as implications for raising a bilingual child. Then, we concentrate on research that has attempted to understand the effects of language mode on perception, personality and emotion in bilinguals. Specifically we discuss the role of culture and cultural identity in the relationship between thoughts and feelings in bilinguals as they alternate between their two languages. This is particularly relevant to the goals of this handbook demonstrating the close coupling of language, culture, and cultural identity, which together influence thought and emotion. Please note that the experience of bilingualism can be different across cultures, and in this chapter we focus on bilingualism from an American perspective. However, we also consider international research, which provides information about the bilingual brain and insight into raising a bilingual child.

Bilingualism and Biculturalism

Bilingualism is the ability of an individual to speak two languages. This broad definition is difficult to operationalize, and researchers have specified a variety of definitions. For example Hamers and Blanc (1989) identify different dimensions of bilingualism, including competence, cognitive organization, age of acquisition, the usage of the second language in the community, social status of the two languages and group membership. In this chapter we ask the question: How does an individual become bilingual? We attempt to answer this question by considering three characteristics of second language acquisition: Age of acquisition, language competence, and cultural identity. Some bilinguals learn two languages simultaneously from birth and are described as simultaneous bilinguals (Genesee, Paradis, & Grago, 2004). For example, our children have been exposed to both English and Spanish from birth: They listen to English from their nanny and Spanish from their parents. In this case Spanish would be considered the children’s mother tongue because that is the family language. 36

The Bilingual Brain

The mother tongue is the first language and, in the case of our children, English is considered their second language. Simultaneous bilinguals are the focus of many developmental studies since they provide an opportunity to study the effects of exposure to two languages on the representation of language in the brain. Defining simultaneous bilingualism has been a challenge for researchers, which we will discuss later in this chapter. Second language learners are bilinguals who learn a second language after the mother tongue has been established. We are second language learners. We learned English as a second language in a bilingual school in Mexico after our first language was very well established, around 5  years of age. Although second language learners can become bilinguals at any point in development, there is some consensus that second language learners are those who learn the second language after 3  years of age (Genesee et al., 2004). Language competency also has various definitions. McNamara (1967), for example, proposes that a bilingual possesses a minimal competence in one of four language skills (i.e., listening comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing) and in a language other than the mother tongue. Simultaneous bilinguals and second language learners may or may not be fully competent in each of their languages. Many bilinguals can speak two languages fluently but have difficulty writing in their second language. For some researchers, the most important characteristic of bilingualism is language competency regardless of age of acquisition. For example, many bilingual studies discussed in this chapter required reading proficiency in both languages from bilingual participants. Other studies required bilingual participants to be competent speaking two languages, focusing on social interactions in which spoken language confidence was required. Cultural identity is a third characteristic of bilingualism. Bilingualism can also be associated with multiculturalism (LaFromboise, Coleman, & Gerton, 1993). Many simultaneous bilinguals learn two languages while also learning about the cultures associated with the languages. These two cultures may be internalized as part of their identity. Individuals who have been exposed to, and have internalized, two cultures are referred to as bicultural (Benet-Martínez, Leu, Lee, & Morris, 2002, Chapter 13 in this volume). For example, we expect our children to be bilingual (Spanish-English), and also bicultural (Mexican-American). However, not all bilinguals necessarily internalize two cultures.

For instance, in Europe many individuals become second language learners of English and are highly proficient in that language, yet they do not necessarily identify consciously with an English dominant culture. Therefore, they are considered monocultural. Here in the United States, however, many bilinguals are bicultural, and each language is associated with a culture. This is the case in the excerpt Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Young Henry Lee is bicultural: English is associated with the American culture, Cantonese with the Chinese culture. Relative ability to speak two languages can be related to the degree that bilinguals “perceive their mainstream and ethnic cultural identities as compatible and integrated vs. oppositional and difficult to integrate” (Benet-Martínez, Leu, Li, & Morris, 2002, p. 9). Bilinguals who have high bicultural identity integration (BII; i.e., they are able to integrate their two cultures and see them as compatible, Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005) are more likely to use the languages of their two cultures in their everyday lives. In contrast, bilinguals who have low BII (i.e., they see their two cultures in opposition and in conflict, Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005) are less likely to maintain the languages of both cultures. In many instances, the integration of two languages and two cultures is related to the degree that the mother tongue is associated with low or high social status. In the United States, English would be the high status language and it is associated with socioeconomic power, whereas Spanish would be the low status language and it is associated with less or no socioeconomic power (Genesee et al., 2004). Thus, language fluency in bilinguals is

associated with assimilation of their two cultures, and the social status of first and second languages. This linkage between culture and language is crucial to investigations of the bilingual/bicultural brain from the perspective of social and psychological phenomena including studies of language as a cultural identity capable of affecting personality and emotion. For example, Hong and colleagues (Hong, Morris, Chiu, & Benet-Martínez, 2000, see also c­ hapter 2 in this volume) showed that biculturals are able to switch their perceptions in response to cultural cues: Chinese-American biculturals display more internal attributions when primed with American icons (e.g., American flag, Superman), and more external attributions when primed with Chinese icons (e.g., Chinese dragon, Great Wall). In this study culture and identity interacted affecting the attributions of bicultural individuals. In many of the studies that will be addressed in this chapter, the bilingual brain is investigated from the perspective of language as a cultural identity. How language influences personality switch in bilinguals and how that switch matches personality differences across cultures. Or how emotions change when using two languages and how those emotions are an expression of their two internalized cultures. Conclusion. The characteristics of bilingualism just outlined are relevant to the research reported in this chapter (Table 3.1). Bilinguals may learn their two languages concurrently from birth (simultaneous bilinguals), or later in their life (second language learners). They vary in proficiency in each of their languages and may be considered monocultural or bicultural.

Table 3.1  Bilinguals and biculturals: Characteristics and terms used in this chapter. Characteristics

Types of Bilinguals

Terms Used in this Chapter

Age of Acquisition Genesee et al. (2004)

Both languages were acquired simultaneously from birth.

Simultaneous bilinguals

Second language is acquired after the first language (or mother tongue) is established.

Second language learners

Competence McNamara (1967)

Individuals who possess a minimal competence in one of four language skills and in a language other than the mother tongue.

Bilinguals who are competent in writing in both languages Bilinguals who are competent in speaking both languages

Cultural Identity Benet-Martínez and Haritatos (2005)

Individuals who identify themselves with one culture and speak two languages.

Monocultural bilinguals

Individuals who identify themselves to two cultures and speak two languages.

Bicultural bilinguals

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37

Bilingualism in Infancy: Language Development and Cognitive Advantages

In many countries, bilingualism is the norm. For instance, in 2006 the European commission reported that more than 50% of individuals living in the European Union are able to hold a conversation in a second language, and close to 30% are able to use a third language. In contrast, according to the U.S. census 80% of the U.S. population speaks only English at home. Although there has been a steady increase in the number of individuals that speak a second language at home in the past three decades, the United States is a generally monolingual culture. This is surprising since the United States population is largely multicultural. For instance, a recent report from the United States census shows that 50.4% of the population under one year of age were minorities as of July 1, 2011 (Bernstein, 2012). What accounts for this combination of monolingualism and multiculturalism? One reason, discussed earlier, is the relatively lower status of a non-English mother tongue, which may cause families and institutions to suppress the lower status language (Genesee et  al., 2004; Hamers & Blanc, 1989). However, the most salient reason may be the prevalent misconception that learning two languages will cause speech and cognitive delay (King & Fogle, 2006). For example, until recently switching back and forth between their two languages in simultaneous bilinguals, sometimes called code-switching, was interpreted as a sign of confusion (Werker & Byers-Heinlein, 2008). Parents, therefore, instructed their children to speak only the dominant language, even when communication was disrupted within the family, as was the case with young Henry Lee. Although simultaneous bilinguals effortlessly acquire two or more languages early in life, some parents and educators still view bilingualism as an impediment in language development. Petitto and colleagues called this phenomenon “the bilingual paradox” (Petitto, 2009; Petitto, Katerelos, Levi, Gauna, Tetreault, & Ferraro, 2001). This idea of “language contamination” (i.e., exposure to another language before the first language is fully established) is reflected in contemporary educational practice (Crawford, 1999). For instance, in the United States, many children start formal instruction in another language in high school, after they have already established their first language (Petitto, 2009). Because opportunities to learn second languages in schools are limited for young children in the United States, it is more difficult for parents of bilingual children to 38

The Bilingual Brain

support their cultural traditions by maintaining and expanding their children’s proficiency in the mother tongue. As a result, most children become English dominant or English monolingual when they start their school years (Fillmore, 2000). In this section, we discuss research that has emerged in recent years questioning the notion that bilinguals experience difficulties due to early exposure to two languages. Specifically, we review investigations that compared monolingual and bilingual infants and children at different stages in their language development—from the perception of speech sounds to the production of words. Do bilinguals perceive speech sounds differently than monolinguals? Is vocabulary growth faster in monolinguals than bilinguals? Although the answers to these questions are not simple and straightforward, they have provided insight into similarities and differences in monolingual and bilingual speech and language development. Furthermore, we also review research that showed some cognitive advantages for simultaneous bilinguals and second-language learners.

Speech production in monolingual and bilingual children

The idea that learning two languages will affect developmental milestones of speech and language in the bilingual child is a misconception that persists among parents and educators (De Houwer, 1990). Empirical studies carried out in recent years examined the effects of learning two languages on language development in the bilingual child. The results from these studies have shown that monolinguals and bilinguals do not differ in the achievement of developmental milestones in a variety of areas, from babbling (Oller, Eilers, Urbano & Cobo-Lewis, 1997) to word production (e.g., Holowka, Brosseau-Lapré, & Petitto, 2002; Pearson, Fernández & Oller, 1993; Petitto et al., 2001). Oller and colleagues (1997) carried out a longitudinal study of the effects of early bilingual experience on early babbling, known to be related to later speech development (e.g., Oller, Eilers, Neal, & Schwartz, 1999). Monolinguals and simultaneous bilinguals were recruited at four months and followed until they were one-and-half years old. Monolinguals and bilinguals did not differ in canonical babbling (or production of well-formed syllables). Other studies have reached similar conclusions when comparing vocabulary in monolingual and simultaneous bilingual children. Researchers often use the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI)

old. The monolingual families filled out the English version of the CDI, and the bilingual families filled out both the English and Spanish versions of the CDI. The number of words produced was based on the vocabulary checklist section of the CDI in English and in Spanish. The results showed that monolinguals produced significantly more words in English than the bilinguals across the five ages measured (see F ­ igure 3.1, Graph A), but if words produced in English and in Spanish are summed for the bilinguals, then both groups show similar patterns of language development (see ­Figure  3.1, Graph B). These results are consistent with previous work demonstrating that linguistic milestones are comparable in monolinguals and bilinguals when both languages are included (Holowka et  al., 2002; Pearson et  al., 1995, Petitto et  al, 2001). Please note that there are multiple approaches to creating combined language measures in bilinguals. The data reported in ­Figure 3.1 summed the words produced in English and Spanish. Other investigators have employed word quantification from video-recorded interactions among parents and their infants (e.g., Holowka et al., 2002; Petitto et al., 2001). Another approach utilizes translations equivalents—words in each language that refer to the same concept (e.g, water in English and agua in Spanish). The average percentage of translation equivalents at the first-50-word milestone in bilingual infants is approximately 30% (Pearson et  al., 1995; Petitto et  al., 2001). Researchers argue that the fact that

700

700

600

600 Mean words produced

Mean words produced

(Fenson et  al., 2007) to assess language development. This survey has been proven to be reliable and valid for children between the ages of 8–36 months. Parents report the number of words the child produces based on the vocabulary checklist section of the CDI. The CDI also measures other communication skills in different sections such as First Communicative Gestures and Sentence Complexity. The CDI has been translated to other languages and current research has shown that if both languages are included when comparing the vocabulary to monolingual norms, then bilinguals show the same developmental pattern as monolinguals. For example, vocabulary size in Spanish-English bilinguals’ is comparable to monolinguals when words in both Spanish and English are combined to assess total vocabulary (e.g., Pearson et  al.,1993). More recent studies show that the first-word milestone and first-50-word milestone are commensurate to the monolingual norms in simultaneous bilinguals if first and second language vocabularies are combined (Holowka et al., 2002; Petitto et al., 2001). We also replicate the preceding findings in CDI data we collected as part of an ongoing large-scale study at the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (e.g., García-Sierra, Ramírez-Esparza, & Kuhl, 2010; Ramírez-Esparza, García-Sierra, & Kuhl, 2010; in press). Specifically, we collected CDI Words and Sentences surveys from English monolingual infants (N = 26) and Spanish-English bilingual infants (N = 21), at five different points: when the participants were 18, 21, 24, 27, and 30 months

500 400 300 200

500 400 300

100

200

0

100 18

21 24 27 Age in months Graph A

30

18

27 21 24 Age in months Graph B

30

Group Monolingual

Bilingual

Figure 3.1  Word count for monolingual and bilingual infants across time.

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39

bilinguals are able to use different words for the same concept demonstrates that bilinguals are able to separate their two language systems and do not confuse them (Holowka et al., 2002; Pearson et al., 1995, Petitto et  al, 2001). The research on word production in bilingual children has been pivotal in the ongoing slow improvement of negative attitudes toward bilingualism in early childhood; however, there are still some concerns about bilingualism in children with disabilities in speech and language. It has been argued that children with language impairments are not capable of learning two languages. However, Paradis, Crago, Genesee, and Rice (2003) find that monolingual and bilingual children with language impairments do not differ in their acquisition of language morphology at 7 years of age. This suggests that children with language disabilities who are learning two languages may not be disadvantaged in comparison to those with similar language disabilities who are exposed to only one language. Conclusion. Studies of speech production in bilingual infants and children demonstrate that they are similar to their monolingual counterparts in the achievement of developmental milestones. Language acquisition, however, begins with speech perception long before the production of the first word. Thus, there is strong interest in speech perception of preverbal simultaneous bilinguals, especially the representation of speech sounds in bilingual infants and its relationship to later word production. We focus on the studies in this area that employ electrophysiological methods; however, there is a substantial body of work using behavioral methods (see Werker & Byers-Heinlein, 2008 for review).

Speech perception and speech production in monolingual and bilingual infants

Research has shown that exposure to a particular language reduces infants’ abilities to discriminate speech sounds foreign to that language. Infants around 6-months of age are able to discern differences among the phonetic units used in the worlds’ languages (Eimas, Siqueland, Jusczyk, & Vigorito, 1971). For example, American and Japanese infants are equally good at discriminating the acoustic properties that distinguish the sound “ra” from “la” when they are 6 months, but Japanese infants lose this ability as they grow older because “la” is not part of their native language. Researchers interpret this as evidence of neural commitment during the first year of life, with infants showing increasing sensitivity to native speech sounds and 40

The Bilingual Brain

decreasing sensitivity to non-native speech sounds (Best & McRoberts, 2003; Kuhl, Stevens, Hayashi, Deguchi, Kiritani, & Iverson 2006; Werker & Tees, 1984; for reviews see Kuhl et al., 2008 and Werker & Curtin, 2005). Neural commitment depends on language exposure:  The more infants are exposed to their native language, the faster they will lose their ability to perceive non-native sounds. This view leads to the prediction that infants whose early discrimination abilities are better for native as opposed to non-native contrasts will initially show more rapid language development than infants who continue to show sensitivity to contrasts that do not occur in the native language. Researchers first tested this hypothesis using a behavioral method, the well-established conditioned head-turn procedure, in which the infant is conditioned to turn his head in response to a change in speech sounds (see Kuhl, 1985; Werker, Polka, & Pegg, 1997). Infants who show commitment to their native language at 6  months produce more words when they are two years of age (Kuhl, et al., 2008; Tsao, Liu, & Kuhl, 2004). The association between neural commitment and word production was confirmed in follow-up studies in which event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were used (Kuhl et al., 2008; Rivera-Gaxiola, Klarman, García-Sierra, & Kuhl, 2005). Event-related brain potentials provide some advantages over behavioral methods; it controls for potential contribution of cognitive factors, such as attention, to experimental results. Discriminatory abilities in ERPs are measured by means of phonetic changes in the form of the mismatch negativity (MMN) in both infants and adults (e.g., Näätänen et  al., 1997; Cheour et al., 1998; Rivera-Gaxiola, Silva-Pereyra, & Kuhl, 2005; Rivera-Gaxiola et  al., 2007). The MMN is elicited by presenting a repetitive sound that establishes an auditory memory trace for that sound. Then, a new sound that differs from the memory trace (in frequency, localization, duration, intensity, etc.) is presented. The degree of deviance between the memory trace and the new sound is reflected by the ERP amplitude, so that the MMN response increases as the acoustic differences between standard (memory trace) and deviant increase (Tiitinen, May, Reinikainen, & Näätänen, 1994). The ERP studies showed that the ability to discriminate native speech sounds in infancy was related to later word production. Interestingly the ability to discriminate non-native speech sounds was related negatively to later word production (Kuhl et al., 2008; Rivera-Gaxiola, Klarman et al., 2005).

That is, if infants are still uncommitted and “open,” as evidenced by better non-native speech sound discrimination, then language advancement is slower. This pattern of perceptual change raises questions regarding the development of speech perception in infants who are exposed to two languages. Do bilinguals follow the same pattern as the monolinguals? García-Sierra et al. (2011) carried out an electrophysiological study of neural commitment to both native languages in simultaneous bilingual infants and compared them to a monolingual group. They recruited Spanish-English bilingual families from the San Antonio, TX area and assessed bilingualism using a questionnaire administered during in-home interviews. The questionnaire included questions about the amount of exposure to English and Spanish the infant received from the nuclear family, extended family and other adults living in the home. Infants’ brain responses were assessed using electrophysiology while they listened to native and non-native speech sounds. Discriminatory abilities were assessed by means of the MMN (mismatch negativity). The results revealed that bilingual infants do not show the same pattern of commitment to the speech sounds of their native languages (i.e., Spanish and English) seen in monolinguals (Rivera-Gaxiola, Silva Pereyra et al., 2005; Rivera-Gaxiola, Klarman et  al., 2005). This suggests that bilinguals remain more “open”—that is, less neurally committed— compared to monolingual infants at the same time in development. This investigation also replicated the relationship between neural commitment and later word production. That is, bilingual infants who showed more commitment to English speech sounds produced more words in English as toddlers. Likewise, infants who showed more commitment to Spanish speech sounds produced more words in Spanish as toddlers. One interesting finding of this investigation was the relationship between language exposure and neural commitment. Infants who had high exposure to English were better able to discriminate native English sounds, whereas infants who had high exposure to Spanish were better able to discriminate native Spanish sounds. In a recently published study, Petitto and colleagues (2012) also found that bilingual and monolingual infants show a different developmental pattern in a neuroimaging study. Petitto et  al. recruited monolingual and bilingual infants from different age groups:  younger (i.e., approximately 4  months of age) and older (i.e., approximately 12  months of age). Bilingual infants were defined by rigorous assessment and validation

of parental language input. Parents completed an on-line screening questionnaire, an extensive bilingual background questionnaire and were also assessed by experimenters in the lab. All participants listened to either native or non-native speech sounds, whereas their neural activity was assessed using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The fNIRS is similar to its well-known cousin, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), but with some key advantages. The fNIRS is portable and virtually silent; it is also more comfortable for participant families—the infant can sit on their parent’s lap as their brain activity is being measured. The results of this investigation showed that there was robust neural activation in the left superior temporal gyrus across language group and age, which Petitto and colleagues describe as the area attuned to the basic units of language. On the other hand, the left inferior frontal cortex (which includes Broca’s area) showed a difference for age and group. Specifically there was an increase in neural activation in the left inferior frontal cortex in the older, compared to younger, monolingual and bilingual infants. Furthermore, for the older bilingual infants, this area of the brain showed activation for both native and non-native speech sounds, whereas the monolingual infants showed robust activation only for the native speech sound, and not for the non-native speech sound. This latter finding provides evidence that bilingual infants remain uncommitted to their native speech sounds and open to language input for a longer period of time than monolingual infants. We propose here that in order to better understand the bilingual brain in simultaneous bilinguals, other variables must be taken into account, such as socioeconomic status and the amount and characteristics of language input to infants. For example, in a recent study we found a relationship between language input to infants in everyday natural social interactions and language development (Ramírez-Esparza et  al., in press). Our results show that increased exposure to “parentese” (i.e., higher pitch, slower tempo, and exaggerated intonation contours, Grieser & Kuhl, 1988) and increased interaction in a one-on-one context (i.e., infant is alone with the parent) in infancy results in larger productive vocabulary when children are toddlers. On the other hand, increased exposure to adult-directed speech (i.e., normal, everyday voice) and increased interaction in a group environment (i.e., the infant and the parent are with other people) results in a smaller productive vocabulary. Ramíre z-Espar z a, García-Sierra

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Previous work by García-Sierra et  al. (2011) described earlier is, to our knowledge, one of the few studies that has attempted to understand the bilingual brain in infancy by combining contextual variables (e.g., language exposure at home) with brain measures. However, in order to investigate speech perception and speech production in bilinguals, it is important to assess language exposure in a systematic way in order to capture broader contextual variables (Werker & Byers-Heinlein, 2008). In our lab, we implemented LENA technology (LENA foundation, Boulder Colorado) to assess language exposure in monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual families. The LENA system includes a digital language processor (DLP) that can store up to 16 hours of digitally recorded sound. The DLP weighs 3 ounces and can be snapped into a chest pocket in children’s clothing, allowing the recorder to be “out of sight, out of mind.” The audio recordings are downloaded to a computer and analyzed by LENA software to characterize the acoustic environment over time, allowing efficient identification of segments with language activity, which are then coded for social behaviors. We can quantify the numbers of words that the infants heard in both English and Spanish, yielding a more accurate assessment of language exposure as well as other social variables (Ramírez-Esparza et al., 2010, in press). The goal is to understand the bilingual brain in infants by combining language input, brain measurement of speech perception, and later word production (Box 3.1). This will permit investigation of the relationship between language exposure and neural commitment to non-native speech sounds in bilingual infants. The overall approach will allow comparison of speech and language development in monolingual and bilingual infants, identifying similarities and differences. Conclusion. In this section we discussed attempts to understand the bilingual brain by investigating the perception of speech sounds in preverbal infants. These studies suggest that the bilingual brain remains more open (not neurally committed) for a longer period of time than the monolingual brain. Importantly, the terms open and uncommitted do not suggest that bilinguals show delayed language development; rather they indicate that bilingual and monolingual infants differ in the pattern of early commitment to the sounds of their native language(s). In this section, we also propose that by using advanced technologies, such as LENA, we can capture more information about the bilingual environment, which will shed some light about the bilingual brain. 42

The Bilingual Brain

Advantages of bilingualism: Executive Control

Although research has shown that bilinguals do not have an advantage or disadvantage in language development compared to monolinguals, studies over the last four decades have shown cognitive advantages in bilinguals. Specifically, studies since the early 1960s have reported that bilinguals have increased mental flexibility compared to monolinguals (e.g., Peal & Lambert, 1962). Bialystok and colleagues called this cognitive advantage executive control and they define it as “the set of cognitive skills based on limited cognitive resources for such functions as inhibition, switching attention and working memory” (Bialystok, Craik, & Luk, 2012, p. 241). In a classic study, Bialystok (1999) finds that bilingual children show an advantage in solving problems that require construction of complex representations of rules. She recruited Mandarin/ Cantonese-English bilingual preschoolers who were as competent in English as a group of monolinguals who also participated in the study. The task consisted of sorting cards into two different containers according to different criteria using a target stimulus. For instance, one container would have the target stimulus of a red circle, and another container the target stimulus of a blue square. The children are given a set of cards with red circles or blue squares and they are asked to sort the cards according to color (e.g., to sort all the red cards in the container with the red stimulus or all the blue cards in the container with the blue stimulus). After completing this task children are asked to sort according to shape (e.g., to sort all the circles in the container with the stimulus circle or all the squares in the container with the stimulus square). The sorting tasks are counterbalanced so that half of the participants sort according to shape first, and half of the participants sort according to color first. The challenge of the task is to follow the second instruction. Typically it is extremely difficult for children to sort the cards according to the second criterion; they use the first criterion to sort the cards even after the instructions have been changed. The results of this study showed that bilinguals performed better on this task than the monolinguals. In another classic study, Bialystok (1988) finds that bilinguals outperform monolinguals in an arbitrariness of language task. Children of approximately 7 years of age were tested on their ability to understand the arbitrary connection between linguistic form and reference in the world. The task consisted of telling the children “suppose

Box 3.1  Understanding the Bilingual Brain: Assessing Infants’ Language Development Using Multiple Techniques

you were making up names for things, could you then call the sun ‘the moon’ and the moon ‘the sun’ (p.  562). The children were persuaded that this was possible and then they were told, “Now suppose that happened and everybody decided to call the sun ‘the moon’ and the moon ‘the sun’ ” (p. 562). Then the participants were given points if they correctly gave the answer “sun” when they were asked:  What would you call the thing in the sky when you go to bed at night? And the answer “dark” when they were asked what would

the sky look like when you are going to bed? Bilinguals outperformed monolinguals in this activity. Bilingual children are constantly alternating between their two languages systems that label the same conceptual system, providing a cognitive advantage when they interchange labels to name the same concept (Bialystok, 1988). A recently published study Barac and Bialystok (2012) demonstrated that the advantages of bilingualism in executive control were not related to other variables that may themselves influence Ramíre z-Espar z a, García-Sierra

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performance. For example, it has been suggested that Asian children may have an advantage on tests of executive control (Sabbagh, Xu, Carlson, Moses, & Lee, 2006). The authors recruited bilingual 6-year-olds (English plus Chinese, Spanish, or French) and compared them with an English-speaking monolingual group. The comparison of the Chinese-English bilingual group with the other bilingual groups allowed testing the idea that cultural background could have an effect on performance. Likewise all groups were matched for socioeconomic status to control for the possibility that this variable influenced executive control. The results showed that all bilingual groups performed better at a color-shape switching task than the monolinguals. Furthermore, there were no differences among the bilingual groups. Most studies of executive control have studied children; however, Sebastián-Gallés and colleagues (Sebastián-Gallés, Albareda-Castellot, Weikum, & Werker, 2012) recently published a study demonstrating cognitive advantages in bilinguals over monolinguals as early as 8  months of age. The authors assessed the capacity of Spanish-Catalan bilinguals and Catalan monolinguals to discriminate French and English by watching silent video-clips of speakers’ faces. The results showed that bilinguals are able to discriminate change in language much better than monolinguals. Moreover, Spanish-Catalan bilinguals and French-English bilinguals (a sample assessed in a previous study by Weikum et al., 2007) are equally good at the discrimination task. The authors interpreted the fact that Spanish-Catalan bilinguals are good at discriminating non-native languages as evidence of a perceptual attentiveness advantage of bilinguals over monolinguals. They also concluded that their results show that bilingual infants are not at risk for confusing their two languages, and are better prepared than monolinguals to discriminate two unknown languages. Conclusion. In this section we discussed the advantages of speaking two languages. We provided examples of studies that have shown that bilinguals have the ability to resolve tasks that require them to manage attention, to understand concepts such as the difference between form and meaning, and to resolve problems requiring attention to the task while ignoring misleading information. Indeed, the advantages of executive control among bilinguals are now well established in the literature. Adesope and colleagues, for example, show medium to large effect sizes in a recent meta-analysis (Adesope, Lavin, Thompson, & Ungerleider, 2010). Why is 44

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bilingualism related to executive control? Bialystok et al. (2012) reviewed studies using various methodologies (e.g., EEG, fMRI, magnetoencephalography or MEG) to understand the neural correlates that may help explain the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive control. They conclude that “lifelong experience in managing attention to two languages reorganizes specific brain networks, creating a more effective basis for executive control and sustaining better cognitive performance throughout the life span (p.  241).” Research investigating the effects of bilingualism on the onset of dementia and other age-related diseases is consistent with this interpretation of the neural correlates of bilingualism. Bialystok, Craik, and Morris (2007) collected data from monolingual and bilingual people with dementia. The results were staggering:  Symptoms started to appear in the bilingual people 4 years later than their monolingual peers. These findings were replicated on a sample of people with Alzheimer’s disease—bilinguals had a 5-year delay in the onset of symptoms (Craik, Bialystok, & Morris, 2010). Although early research on executive control in bilinguals was published three decades ago, media interest has just begun. Bialystok was interviewed by Catherine de Lange, a reporter for the New Scientist, in May of 2012 and said “For 30  years I’ve been sitting in my little dark room doing my thing and suddenly in the last five years it’s like the doors have swung open.” Indeed de Lange’s report titled One brain, two minds: The Surprising Impact of Speaking Another Language was featured in the cover of the New Scientist magazine (de Lange, 2012). In the same month, the cover story in the Observer was Speaking Your Mind:  Bilingual Language, Culture, and Emotion (Fields, 2012). As Americans are learning about the benefits of bilingualism they are beginning to show an interest in raising their children bilingually. If raising bilingual children becomes a laudable family goal in the United States, it is possible that opportunities for early instruction in a second language will become more available in schools and negative stigmas about non-English languages will change in the near future.

Bilingualism in adulthood: Language context and the bilingual brain

Although there is evidence that fluent bilinguals show activation of both languages and some interaction between their languages at all times, there are contexts that activate one language more than the other. Grosjean (2001) proposes that bilinguals function along a continuum that reflects the state of

activation of a given language at a given point in time during their everyday activities. At one end of the continuum, bilinguals are in monolingual mode and at the other end of the continuum, bilinguals are in bilingual mode. In the monolingual mode, bilinguals use one language while deactivating the other language to the greatest extent possible. In the bilingual mode, bilinguals choose a base language and activate the other language as needed. However, and importantly, Grosjean hypothesizes that bilinguals are governed by a “base language” that controls language processing at any given time. Therefore, in Grosjean’s view, bilinguals must be immersed in a specific language to establish the “base language.” In this section, we discuss studies of language-mode activation in bilinguals by immersing them in the language of interest, investigating the influence of language mode on speech perception, as well as more advanced constructs such as personality and emotions.

Speech Perception Switch in Bilinguals

Studies assessing bilingualism and speech perception seek to understand whether bilinguals have two language systems or a single language system. Perceptions of speech sounds are used to investigate this complex idea because they are typically perceived categorically (Liberman, Harris, Kinney, & Lane, 1961). The acoustic information in speech sounds is perceptually grouped into phonetic categories. For example, Abramson and Lisker (1967) demonstrated that the interval between the release of the articulation and the onset of voicing (voice onset time or VOT) differentiates /b-p/, /d-t/, and /g-k/. They also showed that speakers of different languages categorize these speech sounds differently. Accordingly, Abramson and Lisker (1967) synthesized a total of 37 speech sounds, varying in physically equal VOT steps, and presented the speech sounds to monolingual speakers of different languages. The results showed that listeners grouped the speech sounds into no more than three phoneme categories. Interestingly, the listeners’ native language influenced category boundaries. These findings suggested two things: First, the ability to discriminate a set of stimuli varying along one dimension is limited to the ability to identify them as different sounds (Liberman et  al., 1961). Second, native language influences the way speech sounds are categorized in individuals. Later research has supported the finding that native language deeply influences the way speech sounds are perceived (Best, McRoberts, & Sithole, 1988; Kuhl, Williams, Lacerda, Stevens, & Lindblom, 1992). If

native language influences the perception of speech sounds, then how do bilinguals with two language systems perceive speech sounds? Research assessing bilingualism and speech perception began in the seventies studying the effects of language context on perception across a continuum of speech sounds in bilinguals. Researchers hypothesized that the perceptual boundary dividing a voiced-voiceless continuum would be consistent with the language a bilingual subject was using at the moment. That is, researchers asked if bilinguals show a double phonetic representation. Caramazza, Yeni-Komshian, Zurif, and Carbone (1973) asked bilingual speakers of French and English to identify the same set of speech sounds in two conditions. In one experimental session, English was emphasized by having a brief conversation in English before the experiment, whereas, in the second session, the conversation occurred in French. Monolinguals, on the other hand, were only exposed to English conversations before the identification task. The results showed no differences in bilinguals’ perceptual boundaries across language contexts; however, bilinguals’ phonetic boundaries were at intermediate VOT values compared to those of monolingual speakers of English and French. Williams (1977) showed a similar result; that is, bilinguals differed from the monolinguals, but their phonetic boundaries did not change across language contexts. However, follow-up studies suggested that the double phonetic boundary might emerge if bilinguals are focused on the language of interest throughout the entire experiment. In order to accomplish this focus, researchers used precursor sentences in the language of interest (e.g., Which sound do you hear? see Elman, Diehl, & Buchwald, 1977). Indeed, phonetic boundaries do shift depending on the language context established by precursor sentences (Flege & Eefting, 1987; García-Sierra, Diehl, & Champlin, 2009; Hazan & Boulakia, 1993). However, Bohn and Flege (1993) found that language context shifted the voicing boundary in a similar way for both bilinguals and monolinguals. These results suggested that the shift in the voicing boundary might be the consequence of biases caused by precursor sentences. In order to control for biases that may be caused by precursor sentences, researchers investigated bilingual’s access to their language systems using ERPs. Specifically García-Sierra and colleagues examined whether the relationship between language mode and speech perception observed in behavioral tests persisted during ERP testing, when bilinguals do Ramíre z-Espar z a, García-Sierra

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not attend to the speech sounds (García-Sierra, Ramírez-Esparza, Silva-Pereyra, Siard, & Champlin, 2012). Speech perception was assessed in the form of the mismatch negativity or MMN. The results showed that the MMN changed as a function of the language context. For example, when bilinguals were reading Spanish, the new sound was perceived as belonging to a different category (i.e., there was an MMN response); but when bilinguals were reading English, the same new sound was not perceived as belonging to a different category (i.e., there was no MMN response). These results provide evidence that the basic sounds of a language can be processed differently by the bilinguals depending on language mode. Peltola and colleagues (Peltola, Tamminen, Toivonen, Kujala, & Näätänen, 2012) also tested the idea that the perception of speech sounds in bilinguals depends on the language context. However, in this investigation, different types of bilinguals were assessed:  Simultaneous bilinguals and second language learners. The authors hypothesized that simultaneous bilinguals have a single system and, therefore, their perception of sounds would not be influenced by the language context, whereas second language learners would be more strongly influenced by the context, and their perception of speech sounds would change accordingly. They collected ERPs from Finnish-Swedish simultaneous bilinguals and Finnish second language learners of Swedish while they listened to a standard and a deviant speech sound in an oddball paradigm (i.e., the standard is presented repetitively and the deviant is presented infrequently). The speech sounds were members of the same category in Swedish, but members of different categories in Finnish. As in García-Sierra and colleagues’ study (2012), an MMN indicated the two sounds were perceived as belonging to different categories (in this case in the Finnish language context, because the two sounds are in different categories in Finnish); in contrast, the MMN would be absent if the two sounds were perceived as belonging to the same category (in this case in the Swedish language context because the two sounds are in the same category in Swedish). The results confirmed the authors’ hypotheses: the MMN was stronger in the the second language learners of Swedish in the Finnish language context. Conclusion. Researchers in the area of speech perception and bilingualism are attempting to understand how bilinguals access their language systems. The basic idea is that bilinguals alternate between their languages, depending on the language mode. The original and later studies that tested this idea 46

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using behavioral techniques showed contradictory findings. However, recent studies, using electrophysiological measures, show that bilinguals do, indeed, alternate between their languages according to the language mode. That is, bilinguals’ brain responses are more like a Spanish-speaker when they are inmersed in a Spanish language context and more like an English-speaker when they are inmersed in a English language context (García-Sierra et  al., 2012). However, Peltola and colleagues (2012) provide an intriguing theory, that simultaneous bilinguals have merged their two language systems so that they no longer switch between language modes. It is as if they are always in bilingual mode (Grosjean, 2001). Research in this area is just beginning, and more important questions remain. For example, what is the effect of immersing monolinguals in two language modes? Do their brain responses also switch? Recall that, in a behavioral study, monolinguals also showed a switch associated with language context (Bohn & Flege, 1993). Therefore, more studies establishing language modes in monolinguals are also important in the understanding of the bilingual brain.

Personality Switch in Bilinguals

When we moved from Mexico to Austin, TX to start our PhD programs, we had the opportunity to interact for the first time with people who were simultaneous Spanish-English bilinguals. It was striking to observe students shift between their languages with ease. It was even more interesting to observe how their behaviors changed when they were speaking English or Spanish. I asked simultaneous bilinguals if they felt differently when they spoke English and when they spoke Spanish. Virtually all said that they felt their personality changed as they switched between languages. Dewaele and Pavlenko (2001– 2003) asked this question in a systematic way. They conducted an online study in which 1039 informants responded the question “Do you feel like a different person sometimes when you use your different languages?” Of those questioned, 65% gave affirmative answers. Likewise, Ozanska-Ponikwia (2012) provided some interesting examples from writers who describe being a different person while using different languages: Green (1993) and Tzvetan Todorov (1994) show that the same story takes a very different shape when writing in two languages. Green (1993, [p]‌. 62) writes that there was so little resemblance between the texts describing the same thing in English and French that

it might be doubted that the same person wrote those two pieces of work. (p. 218)

Although the experience of feeling like a different person when switching languages is commonly reported in bilinguals, this idea has been empirically tested only in the last decade. In fact, when I began studying this topic, I  found only two studies that specifically addressed the question:  Do bilinguals change personality when they alternate languages? Ervin (1964) examined whether French-English bilinguals showed different personalities when responding to the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) in English versus French. Her results showed that bilinguals use different themes when responding to the TAT, depending on language. For example, bilinguals use more verbal aggression toward peers in French stories than in English stories. She suggested that was a reflection of French educational practices, which emphasize the use of oral argument in defense of insults from others. Hull (1996) evaluated personality changes in Spanish-English bilinguals responding to the California Psychological Inventory (CPI). The results demonstrated a relationship between personality switch and language use. For example, bilinguals’ scores in the Good Impression factor were higher in Spanish than in English. Hull speculated that this is due to greater concern about interpersonal harmony and pleasing others in the Spanish-speaking culture, as in other collectivist cultures (Marín & Marín, 1991). Although these two studies provided results indicating that bilinguals do change personality with different language modes, they also suffered from a number of limitations. First, as Hull himself points out, the CPI has been criticized as lacking a factorial foundation (see Domino, 1985; Eysenk, 1985; Goldberg, 1972). In addition, no clear comparative evidence is provided regarding CPI and TAT differences in monolinguals (i.e., French-speaking monolinguals response to the TAT in French or English-speaking monolinguals response to the TAT in English). Finally, the findings have not been replicated in multiple samples. In a series of investigations, Ramírez-Esparza and colleagues (Ramírez-Esparza, Gosling, BenetMartínez, Potter, & Pennebaker, 2006) attempted to address these limitations by testing personality change in several samples of bilinguals and by including personality differences among English speaking and Spanish speaking monolinguals. The authors asked the questions: Do bilinguals change personality depending on the language they are

using at the moment? Are any observed personality differences consistent with personality differences associated with their two languages and cultures? Spanish-English bilinguals of Mexican descent were asked to participate in two language sessions. In the Spanish session, the participants were interviewed in Spanish and then completed the Big Five Inventory in Spanish (Benet-Martínez & John, 1998). The same procedure was repeated in the English session and the participants responded to the Big Five Inventory in English (John & Srivastava, 1999). Ramírez-Esparza et al. (2006) found that responses on the personality questionnaire depended on the language mode. Specifically, bilinguals were more extraverted, agreeable, and conscientious in English than in Spanish and these differences were consistent with the personality displayed in each culture. That is, Americans also scored higher in extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness than the Mexicans. These findings were robust since replicated across three different samples of bilinguals. The results from this study were in agreement with the Cultural Frame Switching effect (Hong, Chiu, & Kung, 1997; Hong et al., 2000, ­chapter 2 in this volume), where bicultural individuals shift values and attributions in the presence of culture-relevant stimuli. By using the language of the questionnaire as a cultural prime, it was possible to switch bilinguals’ own standing in a trait. However, it is important to note that the correlations between the Spanish and English versions of the questionnaire are very strong (mean r  =  0.80, also see Benet-Martínez & John, 1998). This suggests that individuals tend to retain their rank ordering within a group but the group as a whole shifts. Thus, an extrovert does not suddenly become an introvert as she switches languages; instead a bilingual becomes more extraverted when she speaks English rather than Spanish but retains her rank ordering within each of the groups. Ramírez-Esparza et  al. (2006) demonstrated that personality changes, depending on the language mode; however, the personality differences between Americans and Mexicans were inconsistent with well-known stereotypes about these cultures. Mexicans are polite and kind; they show respect toward others, avoid conflict, emphasize positive behaviors and deemphasize negative behaviors. Cultural scientists have used the cultural script Simpatía to label this kind of social interaction among Mexicans and Latinos (Díaz-Loving & Draguns, 1999; Holloway, Waldrip, & Ickes, 2009; Triandis, Marín, Lisansky, & Betancourt, 1984). However, on self-reports, Mexicans and bilinguals Ramíre z-Espar z a, García-Sierra

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(when responding to the questionnaire in Spanish) saw themselves as less agreeable than Americans and bilinguals (when responding to the questionnaire in English). What could account for this paradoxical finding? Ramírez-Esparza, Gosling, & Pennebaker (2008) observed behavior in bilinguals when they switch languages in order to resolve the paradox. Spanish-English bilinguals of Mexican descent were recruited to participate in two language sessions, in one session they provided answers to a personality questionnaire in Spanish and participated in a social interview task in Spanish. During a second session, the same tasks were completed in English. In order to control for the possibility that bilingual interviewers might themselves change their behavior as they spoke different languages, a “videotaped interview” was created in which a fluent Spanish-English bilingual was videotaped giving instructions and outlining the questions in both English and Spanish. The recorded bilingual interviewer had a neutral face and position when doing the interviews in both English and Spanish. This “videotaped interview” was presented to the bilinguals while they were in a room alone, and they responded to the questions while looking into a video camera. Judges rated the participants’ behavioral agreeableness by observing the videotaped interview with the volume off. Five judges coded the videotaped interview when the participants were speaking in Spanish and a different group of five judges coded the same participants speaking in English. The results replicated previous findings on self-reports:  bilinguals saw themselves as less agreeable when responding to the questionnaire in Spanish than when responding to the questionnaire in English. However, bilinguals’ behavior was rated as more agreeable during the interview in Spanish than during the interview in English. Ramírez-Esparza and colleagues proposed that an underlying characteristic of the cultural script Simpatía is modesty. In other words response to self-reports interacts with cultural values in bilinguals. When bilinguals read a question in Spanish, the modesty cultural value is activated and they show modesty by diminishing their standing on this trait. This set of findings suggests that language and culture interact in bilinguals—cultural values are activated along with language mode. Two more recent studies test personality change in bilinguals by taking into consideration cultural norms. Chen and Bond (2010) recruited 76 female Chinese-English bilinguals to participate in a social 48

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interaction task. To avoid for possible gender effects these participants were interviewed by 4 males, 2 Caucasians, and 2 Hong Kong Chinese. Using interviewers with different ethnic background allowed observation of the interplay between cultural norms and behavioral personality. The participants provided self-reports of personality in both languages with a 2- or 3-week delay between reports (counterbalanced). They were then interviewed in English and in Chinese by one Chinese interviewer, and in English and in Chinese by a one Caucasian interviewer (each interview lasted 10 minutes). Observers rated the participants’ personality in terms of extroversion and openness. The results showed some interesting interactions between behavioral personality and the interviewer’s ethnic background. Specifically, participants were rated as significantly more extroverted, and open to experience when talking with Caucasian interviewers than when talking with Chinese interviewers, independent of language. When talking with a Chinese interviewer, they were perceived as more extroverted and open to experience in English than in Chinese. Interestingly, there were not significant differences on self-rated personality across languages for these dimensions. The personality differences across languages and interviewers were in accordance to expected cultural differences. For example, native English speakers whose cultural norms are from more individualistic cultures are expected to behave as more extroverted and open to experience than Chinese speakers whose cultural norms are from more collectivistic cultures. Chen and Bond’s study is noteworthy because it provides evidence that personality switch in bilinguals is dependent not only on language, but also on cultural norms. However, this study has a limitation that is difficult to address. Since the interviewers were also bilingual, it is possible that their personality switched with interview language, which in turn influenced the personality of the bilingual participants. Likewise the Caucasian interviewer may have acted more extroverted and open to experience than the Chinese interviewer, influencing the participants’ personality. Thus, it is especially difficult to separate the effects of culture and language in this study, since both variables have potential effects in both the interviewers and the participants. Ramírez-Esparza et  al. (2008) controlled for these effects by engaging the bilingual participants in a social interaction task using a prerecorded interview. This approach made it possible to observe the effects of language rather than cultural norms.

Although researchers attempt to control for cultural and language effects in investigations of personality switching, there is no doubt that these two variables are interrelated. The effects of culture on personality can be observed by using cultural primes other than immersion in a language mode. Mok and Morris (2009) investigated changes in self-perceived personality as a function of cultural primes in biculturals. The authors also observed the effects of bicultural identity. In a previous study, Benet-Martínez and colleagues (Benet-Martínez et al., 2002, see c­ hapter 13 in this volume) provided evidence that the degree of integration of two cultural identities within the individual (BII) moderates the effects of attributional bias. For example, attributions in Asian-Americans with an integrated identity (high BII) change in the expected direction after being exposed to a cultural prime: They make external attributions in response to American primes and internal attributions in response to Chinese primes. In contrast, biculturals with conflicting identities (low BII) show the opposite pattern:  They make internal attributions in response to American primes and external attributions in response to Chinese primes. Mok and Morris tested the role of cultural identity in the context of personality in two studies. In Study 1, Asian American students completed self-reports on the Need for Uniqueness after they were randomly assigned to view four book covers from American or East Asian culture. In Study 2 Asian-American students completed self-reports on extroversion after a more subtle priming manipulation:  Participants were asked to play the role of a manager in North America or East Asia. Students in the American condition saw employees with Western names, whereas participants in the Asian condition saw employees with Asian names. In both studies, the participants were measured in terms of their bicultural identity. The results showed that highly integrated Asian Americans perceived themselves as more uniqueness seeking and extroverted following the American prime than the Chinese prime. In contrast, the opposite pattern was found in individuals with low integration: that is, the participants perceived themselves as less uniqueness seeking and extroverted following the American prime than the Chinese prime. In other words, those participants with strong and integrated cultural identities changed their personality in response to American primes to be more congruent to the stereotyped “American personality”—they saw themselves as more unique and extroverted. However,

those participants who felt a disassociation between their two cultural identities changed their personality in opposition to the “American personality.” The authors concluded “Thus, integrated biculturals can follow the lead of cultural cues without feeling that they are leaving part of themselves behind. Conversely, conflicted biculturals are more likely to experience a cultural cue as threatening to their other cultural identity, spurring a need to retreat, or affirm that other identity to restore equilibrium in the bicultural identities” (p. 888). Conclusion. In general, research suggests that bilinguals switch personality when they switch languages in a way that is consistent with the cultures associated with each language. However the relationship is not simple. When bilinguals are immersed in a language, cultural values associated with that language are activated which influences response to self-reports (Ramírez-Esparza et al., 2008). Studies of personality shift in bilinguals that combine self-reports and measurements of social behaviors also indicate that bilinguals do change personality when they switch languages (Chen & Bond, 2010; Ramírez-Esparza et al., 2008). Furthermore, personality shift is also associated with cultural identity and can be observed by activating culture using subtle primes other than language in biculturals (Mok & Morris, 2009). These studies reveal the association between personality, cultural norms, and language, as well as the difficulty in separating language and culture. Overall personality in bilinguals is dependent on both language and culture. How can we separate the role of language and culture in bilinguals? One possible approach is to ask bilinguals to describe their personality in Spanish and in English, and identify the most salient themes in each of their languages. Ramirez-Esparza and colleagues (Ramírez-Esparza, Chung, Sierra-Otero, & Pennebaker, 2012) demonstrated that Mexicans and Americans differ in the themes they use when describing their personality. For example, Mexicans use words about being nice and agreeable (i.e, affectionate, responsible, help, honest, sensible), whereas Americans use words related to being outgoing and sociable (i.e., outgoing, shy, open, meet, laugh, friendly). If bilinguals living in the United States are similar to Mexicans when describing their personality in Spanish, and are similar to Americans when describing their personality in English, we can infer that personality in bilinguals is more language dependent: Even if the bilinguals are living in the United States, just by switching languages they switch their personality. On the other Ramíre z-Espar z a, García-Sierra

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hand, if bilinguals are similar to Americans when describing their personality in both languages, we can infer that personality in bilinguals is more culture dependent:  The American cultural context influences the way they describe their personality in both languages. Such studies could be informative in this regard (see Ross, Xun, & Wilson, 2002 for a relevant study), and much work remains to be done in this area.

Emotion Switch in Bilinguals

Another area of research that has been increasingly popular in the past years is emotional response to language in bilinguals. For example, most bilinguals indicate that they experience more emotional weight in response to the phrase “I love you” in their first language (Dewaele, 2008). Cursing or taboo words generally produce more emotional intensity in the first language (Dewaele, 2004). This area of research, however, is also limited by the methodological issues discussed in the previous section, and other weaknesses such as the definition of emotional experience. Caldwell-Harris and colleagues at Boston University employ an interesting definition of emotional weight:  skin conductance (for a review see Harris, Gleason, & Ayҫiҫegi, 2006). This approach overcomes the methodological concerns related to self-report in bilinguals: The method is not subject to translation concerns and response-style biases. Furthermore, it has been well established that emotionally charged words, such as taboo words, produce higher skin conductance than neutral words in monolingual participants (e.g., Mathews, Richards, & Eysenck, 1989). The association of skin conductance and emotion makes it a good tool for studying language mode in bilingual participants, allowing the evaluation of relationships between language and emotion. Caldwell-Harris and colleagues recorded skin conductance activity in bilinguals associated with taboo words, reprimands, aversive words, positive words, and neutral words in their first and second language (Caldwell-Harris & Ayҫiҫegi-Dinn, 2009; Harris, 2004; Harris, Ayҫiҫegi & Gleason, 2003). In one of the earliest studies, Turkish learners of English showed higher electrodermal activity in the first language than the second language, but only to childhood reprimands (e.g., “Don’t do that!” or “Shame on you” or “Go to your room”) (Harris et al., 2003). The authors argued that these findings were congruent with the idea that bilinguals can categorize autobiographical memories as occurring in their first or their second languages. The phrases 50

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in Turkish were associated with memories from their childhood, whereas the phrases in English were not associated with any childhood memories. In a follow-up study Harris (2004) recruited Spanish-English bilinguals who acquired both languages in early childhood and compared them to Spanish-English bilinguals who learned English later in their life. Interestingly, only the late learners of English showed significant skin conductance differences to reprimand phrases. That is, the reprimand phrases in Spanish elicited significantly higher skin conductance than reprimand phrases in English in late learners of English—differences were not significant in the early learners of English. These finding suggest that reprimands do not necessarily have more emotional weight in one language or the other. The early English learners almost certainly grew up listening to reprimands in both languages, and, therefore, autobiographical memory was not associated with a specific language. In a series of follow-up studies, the authors investigated the linkage between memory and emotions (Ayҫiҫegi & Harris, 2004; Ayҫiҫegi-Dinn & Caldwell-Harris, 2009). They used a standard emotion-memory measure, in which emotionally charged words are better remembered than neutral words, that has been successfully tested in monolinguals. In the first study, they recruited Turkish-English bilinguals who arrived in the United States after age 17 to test emotion-memory effects in first and second languages (Ayҫiҫegi & Harris, 2004). The task consisted of reading words on a computer screen, including childhood reprimands, taboo words, negative words, positive words and neutral words in both English and Turkish. Each word was rated for emotional intensity and a surprise recall task was performed at the end. The authors expected bilinguals to remember more words in Turkish because reading the word in their first language would have more emotional effect. The results were in the opposite direction! Participants’ percentage recall was higher in their second language than in their first language, especially for reprimand and taboo words. Furthermore, their findings were not consistent with the results of their earlier studies using skin conductance (Harris et al., 2003). The authors attempted to disambiguate these conflicting findings in a more recently published study (Ayҫiҫegi-Dinn & Caldwell-Harris, 2009). Specifically they made two methodological changes to the 2004 study. First, bilingual participants living in Turkey were recruited. The authors hypothesized

that residing in an English-speaking context affected emotional recall. Second, they performed different incidental memory tasks:  The authors argued that perhaps the English words were more amusing or novel and, therefore, the English words were processed more deeply. The incidental memory tasks now varied on the degree of emotional processing. For example a shallow task such as counting the number of letters that are contained in a closed circle was compared to tasks with deeper emotional processing such as translating a word into the other language or associating as many words as possible with a target word. The bilinguals living in Turkey remembered significantly more reprimand words in English than in Turkish. Other word categories did not show significant differences across languages and/or did not show a consistent pattern across tasks. The authors concluded that the memory-emotion effect for reprimand words cannot be attributed to the language context of the current environment in bilinguals, nor can they be attributed to the depth of emotional processing. What could account for these paradoxical findings? A  group of researchers in Spain suggested that the differences could be the result of methodological issues and the type of bilinguals (Ferre et al., 2010). Ferre and colleagues (2010) tested the ­emotionalmemory effects of positive, negative, and neutral words in Spanish-Catalan bilinguals who acquired their second language (i.e., Catalan) early in their lives and Spanish-English bilinguals who acquired their second language (i.e., English) later in their lives. They implemented a new selection of words based on a well-validated inventory that categorizes English words according to emotional dimensions, which has been translated into Spanish. In this study, one group of bilinguals performed the emotion-memory task in Spanish and another group of bilinguals performed the task in Catalan. Both groups recalled emotion category words better than neutral words. However when the task was completed across languages in early bilinguals (i.e., Spanish-Catalan bilinguals) and late bilinguals (Spanish-English bilinguals), there were no differences in recall of word categories for the first and second language. Thus, there were no relationships between remembering emotionally charged words and language in either early or late bilinguals. Unfortunately, childhood reprimands were not included in the inventory, limiting the use of this study in the interpretation of earlier work. Do bilinguals switch emotion with language? Well, yes and no, it all depends on measurement. In

Dewaele’s studies, hundreds of bilinguals responded to his online questionnaire, and most reported that emotionally charged words produce an stronger emotional impact in their first language, however this difference disappears in bilinguals who acquired two languages early in life (Dewaele 2004; 2008). The studies of Caldwell-Harris and colleagues using skin conductance are consistent with this finding:  bilinguals who acquire their second language later in life show higher skin conductance for some emotionally charged words (i.e., childhood reprimand phrases) (Harris et al., 2003). This difference in electrodermal activity disappears in late bilinguals (Harris, 2004), and no consistent differences are found in other emotionally charged word categories (Harris et  al., 2003; Harris, 2004). Furthermore, other methodologies, like the emotion-memory task, produce differences in the unexpected direction:  bilinguals have better recall of reprimand phrases in their second language than in their first language (Ayҫiҫegi & Harris, 2004; Ayҫiҫegi-Dinn & Caldwell-Harris, 2009), and no clear differences are found for the other word categories (Ayҫiҫegi & Harris, 2004; Ayҫiҫegi-Dinn & Caldwell-Harris, 2009; Ferre et al., 2010) even in simultaneous bilinguals (Ferre et al., 2010). Here we argue that in order to capture real emotional differences across languages in bilinguals, it is important to immerse the person in the language of interest, allowing the bilingual to “switch on” a language by “turning off” the other language (Grosjean, 2001). In other words, in order to activate the emotions associated with a language it is important that the participant is in a monolingual mode for that language; feeling and thinking in one language so that memories associated with that language will be more accessible along with associated emotional response. We know of two studies that took this approach in different ways. Marian and Kaushanskaya (2004) recruited Russian-English bilinguals who immigrated to the United States when they were about 14 years old to participate in a recorded interview. The interviews were divided in two parts: The first part was done in Russian and the second part in English (counterbalanced). The interview was done with the cue word technique to access autobiographical memories by using key words (e.g., summer, neighbors, cat). The key words were used once and different words were used in each language. After all memories were recorded, participants had to indicate in which language the memory occurred (i.e., in Russian, English or both). Finally raters coded Ramíre z-Espar z a, García-Sierra

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all narratives as a function of emotion defined by two variables:  Emotional intensity (i.e., from no emotion to extremely high intensity), and by the valence of the emotion (i.e., from narratives that expressed completely negative affect to narratives that expressed completely positive affect). The results showed that autobiographical memories were scored higher in emotional intensity when the language in which the memory occurred and the language used in the interview matched than when they did not match. Furthermore, memories that occurred in the Russian language were rated as less positive that memories that occurred in English. The authors explained the results in terms of cultural differences associated with each language. For example, individualistic cultures such as the United States tend to be more positive in their emotions than collectivist cultures such as Russia. Perunovic and colleagues (Perunovic, Heller, & Rafaeli, 2007) tested emotion switch in East-Asian Canadian biculturals living in Canada using a diary approach. The participants completed a self-report emotional experience questionnaire (PANAS, Watson, Clark & Tellegen, 1988) 3 times a day over 10 days. The questionnaire asked the participants to rate the extent to which each item described mood in the specific moment (items include positive emotions, such as excited, strong, and negative emotions such as, upset, strong, guilty). Then the participants answered questions about cultural identification and language use. For example, they were asked “during the past 2 hr, which specific cultural group did you most identify with?” (p. 609), and “during the past 2 hr think of the person or group you spent most of the time with. What language did you speak most of that time” (p. 609). The authors hypothesized that when the participants were immersed in a Western context, they would respond the PANAS as westerners do, whereas, when the participants were immersed in an Asian context, they would respond the questionnaire as the Asians do. Previous studies have shown that East Asians are more dialectical in their emotional experience than westerns (Bagozzi, Wong, & Yi, 1999). This means that East Asians are able to experience both positive and negative emotions in any given moment, which suggests that the correlation between positive and negative affect should be less negative, or even positive, whereas Westerners tend to experience either positive emotions or negative emotions, which results in negative correlations between positive and negative affect. The results supported the hypotheses; when 52

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the biculturals were immersed in a Western context a negative correlation between positive and negative affect was found, but when they were immersed in an Asian context the correlation disappeared. Conclusion. In this section we reviewed literature about the association between language and emotion. The literature is complex, employing a variety of research questions and methodologies including large-scale online single-question studies, physiological measures, memory tasks, and social-interaction tasks. The involvement of memory increases the complexity. Since there are strong associations between emotions and memory, it follows that emotions associated with language are most likely linked to autobiographical memories. We believe that the methodological approach used by Marian and Kaushanskaya (2004) is the most productive approach. By using an extensive interview task it is possible to immerse bilinguals in the language of interest and affect their emotions in different ways. If the participants are thinking in Russian and they are remembering aspects of their lives that occurred in a Russian-speaking context, then the autobiographical memory has more emotional intensity. This finding is consistent with the idea that bilinguals change their emotions across languages and that emotions are experienced more strongly in the first language. A pivotal follow-up study would use the approach of Marian and Kaushanskaya to evaluate simultaneous bilinguals. For example, do bilinguals who grew up in the United States listening to both languages simultaneously also change their emotions as function of language? It is possible that the differences will disappear, but it is also possible that memories will be associated with a context (e.g., Spanish with the family context, and English with the school context) and a similar pattern of differences will emerge. On the other hand, Perunovic and colleagues (2007) observed language immersion using a diary technique. This approach allowed assessment of the cultural contexts that bicultural individuals encounter in their everyday life. Although this study is not related to memory, it does provide support for the idea that bilinguals do change their emotions depending on the language.

General Conclusion

Being born in an English-speaking culture is advantageous in many ways. As the editorial in the New Scientist write in their piece Oh, to Be Bilingual: “There are many reasons to be grateful for being part of the ‘Angloshpere’. English is the world’s lingua franca, the language of science, technology,

business, diplomacy and popular culture” (May 2012, p. 3). For these reasons and others, English is a door to opportunities. Since our children are growing up in an English-dominant culture, why would we want to raise them bilingually? As we reviewed in this chapter, being bilingual has powerful advantages in cognitive function across various domains such as attention, working memory, and multitasking. This is the kind of “brain work” that may protect them from age-related cognitive problems (such as dementia and Alzheimer). Furthermore, research shows that our children will reach language milestones at the same rate as the monolinguals. Although misconceptions about bilingualism are still prevalent in the United States, bilingualism has been increasingly valued in recent years. As more parents want to raise bilingual children, bilingual education will become more available in the United States school system. These changes in attitudes toward bilingualism will help our children to embrace their mother tongue even if it is associated with a low-status culture. The bilingual brain is indeed fascinating and research focused on the mechanisms associated with the way bilinguals function in the world is just beginning. Here we reviewed studies that have attempted to understand integration of two languages in bilinguals using the basic units of language. We also reviewed studies of the bilingual brain from the perspective of more complex psychological phenomena such as personality and emotion. A reporter once asked me: “Do you think bilinguals have greater emotional/behavioral flexibility and, therefore, they have better ability to adapt to different social situations?” I had to acknowledge that I  did not know of any research that could answer this question, but I  wanted to say yes. I  like to imagine that bilingualism will be a tool that will help our children walk strong in this increasingly multicultural-multilingual world. As the editorial from the New Scientist ends “In a fiercely competitive world, being born into an Anglophone culture is not quite the blessing it may first appear.”

Author note

Some of the work reported in this chapter was supported by a National Science Foundation Science of Learning Program grant to the LIFE Center (SBE-0354453, Patricia K.  Kuhl, PI). The authors are grateful to Patricia Kuhl and Yasmin Wisecarver for their assistance and special thanks to Denise Padden for her valuable input regarding the chapter.

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CH A PT E R

4

The Identity Dynamics of Acculturation and Multiculturalism: Situating Acculturation in Context 1

Seth J. Schwartz,Vivian L. Vignoles, Rupert Brown, and Hanna Zagefka

Abstract This chapter discusses the identity processes involved in acculturation and multiculturalism, drawing on insights from various social psychological theories of identity. According to self-categorization theory, people are especially likely to view their cultural values and practices as self-defining in situations of intercultural contact. Social identity theory suggests that members of cultural majorities and minorities will find various ways of maintaining the positive distinctiveness of their cultural identities: for example, migrants may compete directly with receiving-society individuals (e.g., Asian Americans in science and mathematics), or they may find creative ways of affirming cultural differences (e.g., opening restaurants specializing in heritage-culture cuisine). However, multicultural national contexts can be understood not only in terms of intergroup relations, but also in terms of intragroup dynamics by which members of different cultural groups negotiate and defend competing definitions of a superordinate national identity. Drawing on integrated threat theory and on motivated identity construction theory, the authors suggest that these intergroup and intragroup dynamics will bring a wider range of identity motives and processes into play. Moreover, the elaborated social identity model emphasizes the importance of viewing majority and minority groups’ identity processes as reciprocally related over time, rather than treating them separately. This analysis helps to explain why migrants and receiving-society members often behave in ways that seemingly contradict the predictions of earlier theories of acculturation and of intergroup relations. Key Words:  acculturation, international migration, social identity, intergroup relations, cultural identity

International migration is at an all-time high, with more than 200  million people now residing in countries other than the ones in which they were born (United Nations, 2009). Many of these international migrants have left developing countries to settle in postindustrial nations (Steiner, 2009), where the prevailing cultural values, beliefs, and practices may be very different from what they were previously accustomed to. As a result of these differences, not only migrants (who are usually, but not always, smaller and less dominant groups), but also members of the receiving society (who are usually, but not always, the larger and more dominant group), will need to adapt to life in a changed

(multi)cultural context—a process known as acculturation (for reviews, see Berry, 1980, 1997; Brown & Zagefka, 2011; Sam & Berry, 2010; Schwartz, Unger, Zamboanga, & Szapocznik, 2010). Our chapter is guided by an intergroup perspective on acculturation, seeking to understand the acculturation processes among minority and majority members with the help of theories of social identity and intergroup relations (see also Bourhis, Moïse, Perreault, & Senécal, 1997; Rohmann, Florack, & Piontkowski, 2006; Ward, 2001). We begin with a brief historical review of mainstream perspectives on acculturation. We trace the evolution of acculturation as a target for scholarly 57

attention and illustrate some key trends in the acculturation literature on which we attempt to expand in the current chapter. In particular, we review what we regard as the content of acculturation: changes in the domains of cultural practices, values, and identifications. Although these three domains have been discussed in the literature, only recently have they begun to be integrated under the umbrella of acculturation (e.g., Costigan, 2010; Schwartz, Unger, Zamboanga, & Szapocznik, 2010). We then discuss the value of adopting a social identity perspective (see Spears, 2011) to examine acculturation processes. Briefly, our argument is as follows:  Acculturation contexts are, by definition, contexts of intergroup relations, and are typically characterized by substantial differences in size and status between the groups involved (Berry, 2006). In such contexts, perceived differences in cultural practices and values are likely to become salient, creating a basis for people to categorize themselves as members of “cultural groups” (Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987). Thus, aspects of culture that previously may have been largely taken for granted are transformed into the components of “cultural identities,” infused with symbolic meaning and affective significance for their members, and subject to motivational dynamics of identity threat and maintenance (Breakwell, 1988; Tajfel & Turner, 1986; Vignoles, 2011). This suggests that a crucial determinant of acculturation processes and outcomes will be the extent to which members of the groups involved perceive their cultural identities to be threatened by the presence or the actions of other groups (Licata, Sanchez-Mazas, & Green, 2011; Stephan, Ybarra, & Bachman, 1999). We review various strategies that migrants and receiving-culture individuals use to maintain their identities against perceived threats in the intergroup space in which acculturation occurs, including cases in which individuals in certain social positions may not categorize themselves neatly into “majority group members” and “migrants.” Majority group members may feel threatened by migrants whom they perceive as either “diluting” or potentially “taking over” the national ingroup (Caldwell, 2008). Members of smaller or less dominant cultural groups in a given context often have to negotiate multiple cultural identities, based on their membership and participation in both their heritage-cultural group and the receiving society (Huynh, Nguyen, & Benet-Martínez, 2011). Finally, we emphasize that all these processes occur within the context of the evolving historical 58

relations between the groups involved, and thus the identity maintenance strategies of one group may often be perceived as undermining the cultural identities of another group. As emphasized by Drury and Reicher (2009), people do not just categorize and position themselves into groups; they also categorize and position each other. These processes may potentially lead to escalating cycles of identity threat and defense in the interactive relations between the groups (Licata, Sanchez-Mazas, & Green, 2011).

Dimensionality of Acculturation Unidimensional and Bidimensional models

One of the earliest research programs on acculturation began in Chicago in the 1920s as scholars at the University of Chicago attempted to understand how Southern and Eastern European migrants were adjusting to their new lives in the United States (Park, 1928; Thomas & Znaniecki, 1927). Redfield, Linton, and Hershkovits (1936), in their call for more acculturation research based on the Chicago studies, suggested that immigrants might adapt to contact with the receiving culture in a number of ways, including adopting the receiving culture, integrating the receiving culture with their cultural heritage, or rejecting the receiving culture and maintaining their cultural heritage. Gordon (1964), working almost 30 years later, cast acculturation as a process of assimilation, or “culture shedding,” in which migrants acquired receiving-cultural orientations and discarded those from their country or region of origin. More or less, Gordon acknowledged only the “receiving-culture adoption” alternative put forth by Redfield et  al. (1936). Gordon’s theoretical approach was guided—at least implicitly—by American assimilationist policies that effectively stripped European migrants of their cultural heritage and pushed them to “become American” (Stepick, Dutton Stepick, & Vanderkooy, 2011). Other countries (e.g., Australia; Taft, 1953) also adopted similar policies designed to encourage or enforce rapid assimilation of migrants and of indigenous minorities. However, assimilationist policies in the United States and elsewhere decreased during the second half of the 20th century, largely in response to the American civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King, Jr. (Caldwell, 2008; Huntington, 2004). More or less, the acceptance of people of color within the existing American social system also led the United States to open its borders to immigrants of color (e.g., Mexicans and Chinese)

The Identit y Dynamics of Acculturation and Multiculturalism

who had previously been denied entry. Around this same time, many European countries opened their borders to labor migration from former colonies as well as from nations in the Middle East and North Africa. The “melting pot” metaphor, in which migrant cultures were largely discarded or absorbed into the dominant national culture, was replaced with a “salad bowl” or “mosaic” metaphor, where a plethora of cultural streams could coexist within a given context (Caldwell, 2008; Stepick, et  al., 2011). The stage was thus set for policies to emerge that emphasized pluralism and respect for cultural diversity, which came to be subsumed under the general term multiculturalism. Indeed, the term multiculturalism entered the common parlance of many Western nations in the 1980s and 1990s, once the new waves of ethnic minority migrants had begun to assert their desires for full recognition and incorporation into the societies in which they had settled (Day, 2000; Takaki, 1993; Werbner, 2005). The last decades of the 20th century witnessed a number of attempts to conceptualize and measure the process of acculturation (see Berry & Sam, this volume, for an in-depth review). Berry (1980, 1997), for example, proposed that desiring contact with the majority culture and wishing to maintain aspects of the heritage culture should be considered as separate dimensions of acculturation. He developed a four-category scheme in which desire for contact with the receiving culture and heritage-culture retention were crossed to form four categories:  “assimilation” (desires contact with the receiving culture and discards the heritage culture), “separation” (rejects contact with the receiving culture and retains the heritage culture), “integration” (desires contact with the receiving culture and retains the heritage culture), and “marginalization” (rejects both the heritage and receiving cultures). Subsequent approaches have suggested that the “desire for contact” dimension in Berry’s scheme might usefully be replaced by a “desire for majority culture adoption” (Bourhis et al., 1997; Ward & Kennedy, 1994), and there has been some discussion about whether these two conceptualizations should be regarded as synonymous (Berry & Sabatier, 2010; Liebkind, 2001; Snauwaert, Soenens, Vanbeselaere, & Boen, 2003). A  great deal of research has been conducted using these models of acculturation (see Sam & Berry, 2010, for a review). A critical difference between unidimensional and bidimensional acculturation models lies in how biculturalism is framed. Within unidimensional models (e.g., Gordon, 1964),

biculturalism—labeled as “integration” within Berry’s (1980, 1997) model—represents an intermediate step between being completely attached to one’s cultural heritage and being completely assimilated to the receiving cultural context. Compared to biculturalism, assimilation is, therefore, viewed as a “more advanced” form of acculturation, and biculturalism is not viewed as beneficial to individual migrants. Within bidimensional models, however, biculturalism represents the highest degrees of endorsement of both one’s heritage and receiving cultural streams—in other words, living in both worlds. Within bidimensional models of acculturation, rather than serving as an intermediate point on the route to assimilation, biculturalism is usually regarded as the most adaptive approach to acculturation. Berry (1997) does, however, qualify this conclusion by noting that the adaptiveness of any given acculturation approach may depend on the prevailing cultural climate in question. Berry and Sam (this volume) provide a more in-depth review of the conditions under which biculturalism is most adaptive. According to Berry (1980, 1997; Sam & Berry, 2010), biculturalism is likely to be adaptive because it permits individuals to interact successfully both with their heritage-cultural community (e.g., family, neighborhood) and with the larger society in which their ethnic group is embedded. Although research suggests that biculturalism is usually adaptive (Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2013), Rudmin (2003) has argued that biculturalism may be a precarious condition in which the person is “caught between two worlds”—pressured against acquiring the receiving culture by the heritage-cultural community, and against retaining the heritage culture by the receiving-cultural community. Such a portrayal is consistent with some anecdotal evidence about the lives of bicultural individuals such as Richard Rodriguez (1982), a Mexican American man who struggled to reconcile his Mexican roots with his American experiences. The men who perpetrated the July 7, 2005 suicide-bombing attacks on the London Underground were born and raised in Britain, and anecdotal evidence suggests that they may have experienced difficulty reconciling their Pakistani Muslim heritage with the secular British context in which they grew up (cf. Bolognani, 2007). Although these men appeared to function well in British society prior to the attacks, conflicts between their British and Muslim identities may have been troubling to them. These two examples—one from the United States and one from

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Europe—suggest that biculturalism is not always easy (or possible) to achieve. Therefore, there seems to be some degree of confusion regarding the extent to which biculturalism involves trying to reconcile incompatible identities versus integrating one’s heritage and receiving identities into an adaptive and coherent whole (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005). We will return to the question of bicultural identity integration later in this chapter. Although the bidimensional models of acculturation introduced by Berry and others were taken as a clear advance over the unidimensional models formulated in the 1920s and synthesized by Gordon (1964), the focus was still on the experiences of the individual migrant. Berry (1997) has referred to his categories as “acculturation strategies,” which implies that migrants choose how they will acculturate, and that individual differences in acculturation have their roots in individual-level determinants (e.g., age at the time of migration, length of time spent in the receiving country; Cheung, Chudek, & Heine, 2011). Although Berry (1974) had already discussed the importance of public policies and attitudes in the larger society, most early iterations of bidimensional acculturation models paid relatively little consideration to the role of intergroup relations generally, and of the interface between the migrant group and the receiving society specifically. More recently, these dynamics are beginning to receive more attention (Berry, 1997; Brown & Zagefka, 2011; Montreuil & Bourhis, 2001). Interactionist acculturation models increased in prominence during the late 20th century (e.g., Berry, 1997; Bourhis, Moïse, Perreault, & Senécal, 1997; Piontkowski, Rohmann, & Florack, 2002). These models considered the extent of match versus mismatch between the acculturation orientations of migrants and the receiving society’s expectations for how migrants “should” acculturate. For example, Piontkowski et al. (2000) studied members of the dominant cultural group and migrant group members in Germany, Switzerland, and Slovakia, and they found that each of these countries was characterized by different types of attitudes toward migrants. German respondents were generally most insistent that former Yugoslavians, and especially Turks, conform to the German way of life and discard their cultural heritage. Swiss respondents appeared to be more supportive of former Yugoslavian migrants maintaining their cultural heritage, as did Slovak respondents regarding Hungarian migrants. However, one consistent pattern emerged across the three receiving countries—the extent of perceived 60

cultural similarity between the immigrant group and the receiving society emerged as a consistent predictor of favorable attitudes toward migrants, and the extent to which migrants were perceived as a threat to the receiving country emerged as a consistent predictor of unfavorable attitudes (see Berry & Sam, this volume; Pfafferott & Brown, 2006). As a result of these interactionist models, some writers began to understand acculturation processes through the lens provided by theories of social identity and intergroup relations (e.g., Liebkind & Kosonen, 1998; Ward, 2001). For example, Jasinskaja-Lahti, Mähönen, and Liebkind (2012) found that, among Russian migrants to Finland, quality of contact with Finns predicted endorsement of Finnish national identity and attitudes toward Finns indirectly through experiences of discrimination and rejection from Finnish people. From the receiving-society perspective, Leong and Ward (2011) found that it is essential to consider the specific receiving group in question (e.g., Whites versus Maoris in New Zealand) when determining receiving-society members’ attitudes toward migrants. In this chapter, we extend the consideration of acculturation as an instance of intergroup relations. The next section reviews some of the domains of acculturation that have been introduced.

Domains of Acculturation

As we noted earlier in this chapter, the term acculturation has been used as an umbrella for many adjustment-related processes following migration. The majority of acculturation research has focused on public and private cultural behaviors such as language use, choice of friends, ways of celebrating holidays and special occasions, and culinary preferences (e.g., Arends-Tóth & van de Vijver, 2007). Indeed, a great deal of research (e.g., Allen et  al., 2008; Caetano, Ramisetty-Mikler, Wallisch, McGrath, & Spence, 2008; Epstein, Botvin, & Diaz, 1998, 2000) has utilized language preference as the only marker of acculturation. Certainly, language is an essential component of a cultural stream, and studies (e.g., Guo, Suarez-Morales, Schwartz, & Szapocznik, 2009; Kang, 2006) have found that language use is empirically separate from other types of cultural behaviors. Language is an important dimension of national identity (Schildkraut, 2011) in that it unifies members of a region or nation. In terms of intergroup relations, migrants who cannot speak the language of the country or region in which they have settled often meet with hostility from established residents of that country or region (e.g.,

The Identit y Dynamics of Acculturation and Multiculturalism

Barker et al., 2001; Cornelius, 2002). Nonetheless, language use alone is not sufficient for measuring acculturation, as we discuss in more detail below. Acculturation is multidimensional not only in the separation of heritage and receiving cultural orientations, but also in the domains in which acculturation occurs. As Sam and Berry (2010) suggest, echoing some early conceptualizations of the phenomenon (Redfield et al., 1936), acculturation represents a change process that occurs following migration. However, what it is that changes as a result of acculturation has rarely been clearly specified. Recent work has begun to move in the direction of greater specificity, and we outline some of this emerging knowledge here. Broadly speaking, acculturation occurs in three general domains, sometimes labeled as the “ABC’s” of acculturation (Ward, 2001)—affective, behavioral, and cognitive. However, these terms have been used somewhat differently by different groups of authors. For example, Ward (2001) labels “affective” acculturation in terms of stress and coping, “behavioral” acculturation in terms of learning the practices (including language) associated with a given receiving cultural context, and “cognitive” acculturation in terms of intergroup dynamics and attachments to one’s cultural heritage and to the new receiving culture. Castillo and Caver (2009) have used these same labels to index somewhat different domains of acculturation:  affective acculturation refers to social identity processes and attachments to one’s heritage and receiving cultural groups; behavioral acculturation refers to acquiring the practices of the culture of settlement and/or retaining the practices of one’s heritage culture; and cognitive acculturation refers to specific values and beliefs (e.g., individualism, collectivism, familism) associated with one’s heritage and receiving cultural contexts. Costigan (2010) and Schwartz et al. (2010) have followed Castillo and Caver’s demarcation and have proposed that acculturation is comprised of three general domains—practices, values, and identifications. Cultural Practices. As we stated earlier, the vast majority of acculturation research has focused on cultural practices—language use, culinary preferences, media use, and choice of friends and romantic partners. Research suggests that, among migrants in the United States and elsewhere, endorsement of both heritage and receiving cultural practices is associated with donating to charitable causes, stopping to help others in need, and other prosocial behavioral tendencies (Schwartz, Zamboanga, &

Jarvis, 2007), affiliation with friends from both the heritage and receiving cultural communities (Mok, Morris, Benet-Martínez, & Karakitapoğlu-Aygün, 2007), and fewer mental health problems (Bhui et  al., 2005). Moreover, among first- and second-generation migrants, continued engagement in heritage practices (including use of the heritage language and association with heritage-culture friends) has been shown to protect against a number of problematic and health-compromising outcomes, including depressive symptoms (Yoon, Langrehr, & Ong, 2011), drug and alcohol use (Allen et al., 2008), cigarette smoking (Epstein et  al., 1998, 2000), physical inactivity (Unger et al., 2004), and poor diet (Corral & Landrine, 2008). Language may serve as an especially powerful transmitter of cultural lineage and traditions. Indeed, research has identified language as a prime that cues specific cultural mindsets. For example, Lee, Oyserman, and Bond (2010) found that Hong Kong Chinese participants who were assessed in English emphasized competition, whereas those who were assessed in Chinese emphasized harmony and cooperation. Lechuga (2008), in a sample of Mexican Americans, found that those assessed in Spanish scored higher in collectivism compared to those assessed in English. Ramirez-Esparza, Gosling, Benet-Martínez, Potter, and Pennebaker (2006) found that bilingual individuals’ personality configurations (using the Big Five traits) were different in Spanish than in English. Language may, therefore, provide an important index of cultural orientation and may be conceptually and empirically distinct from other types of cultural practices (Guo, Suárez-Morales, Schwartz, & Szapocznik, 2009; Kang, 2006). Indeed, commentators (e.g., Huntington, 2004) and empirical studies (e.g., Barker et  al., 2001) have emphasized the importance of a shared language in maintaining the cultural integrity of a nation or cultural group. Cultural Values. A  largely separate literature has focused on cultural values—including transcultural values such as individualism and collectivism (Triandis, 1995) as well as group-specific values such as filial piety, saving face, humility, conformity, and self-control in East Asians (Bedford, 2004; Kim, Atkinson, & Yang, 1999; Yeh & Bedford, 2003); familism, machismo, respect, and simpatía (emotional warmth) in Latin Americans (Arciniega, Anderson, Tovar-Blank, & Tracey, 2008; Galanti, 2003; Sabogal, Marin, Otero-Sabogal, Marin, & Perez-Stable, 1987); and communalism (orientation toward social ties over individual achievements) in

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the African Diaspora (Boykin et al., 2005). A number of studies (e.g., Schwartz, Weisskirch, et al., 2010; Unger et al., 2002) have suggested that some of the values from these various non-European-descent groups—such as communalism, familism, and filial piety—are strongly related to one another under the heading of collectivism and interdependence. Dwairy (2002, 2004) has also characterized Middle Eastern cultural streams as collectivistic—and indeed, in Islam, the umma, or community, takes precedence over the individual person. It should be noted, however, that the specific types of collectivism expressed in different parts of the world are often quite distinct from one another (Kim, 1994), and that generalities between and among cultures should be drawn with extreme caution. Although few published longitudinal studies have examined change in cultural values over time, a number of studies have found reliable individual differences in cultural values. For example, supporting the contention that minority ethnic groups in the United States are more collectivistic and less individualistic than White Americans, Schwartz, Weisskirch, et  al. (2010) found that Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians scored significantly higher than Whites on measures of communalism, familism, and filial piety. Collectivistic value systems deemphasize individual goals and achievements and place emphasis on the well-being, desires, and needs of family members and friends (Triandis, 1995). In contrast, among cultural majority groups in the United States, and in many European countries, “getting ahead” is framed in terms of individual successes and achievements. Individualism and collectivism are relevant to the intergroup dynamics surrounding acculturation because the majority of the world’s migrants have origins in largely collectivistic cultures, whereas many of the societies in which these migrants are settling are mainly individualistic. As detailed in a report by the United Nations (2009), regions from which individuals are most likely to migrate include Latin America, Southern and Eastern Asia, the Middle East, North and sub-Saharan Africa, and the Caribbean—areas that have been characterized primarily by collectivist and interdependent value orientations. It stands to reason that migrant adjustment includes incorporating at least some of the values of the country or region of settlement—and yet one of the fears expressed by commentators and in public opinion polls both in the United States (Buchanan, 2006; Cornelius, 2002) and in Europe (Bawer, 2004; Bleich, 2009) is that migrants will 62

not integrate themselves into the local culture, but will rather create their own subcultures and eventually “take over” whole regions of the receiving nation or region (Caldwell, 2008; Huntington, 2004). Buchanan (2006) derisively refers to “Eurabia” and “Mexifornia” as examples of such potentially “conquered” territories. Thus, claims about a clash of values, as well as behaviors and identifications, between migrants and the communities that are receiving them, represent an important component of the immigration debates on both sides of the Atlantic. Cultural Identifications. A  somewhat separate literature has emerged for cultural identifications— with the majority of this literature focusing on ethnic or heritage-cultural identity. In this context, heritage-cultural identity refers to one’s identification with one’s (or one’s family’s) culture of origin, whereas ethnic identity refers to identifying with a socially constructed group within the receiving society (Helms, Jernigan, & Mascher, 2005; Zagefka, 2009). For example, many Hispanic individuals in the United States identify with their countries of familial origin (e.g., Cuban, Mexican, Colombian), whereas others identify with pan-ethnic terms that have meaning largely in the United States (e.g., Hispanic or Latino; Portes & Rumbaut, 2006). Terms such as “Hispanic” or “Latino” are rarely used in Latin America—indeed, some of the countries grouped together under these headings have engaged in feuds or wars with one another (e.g., Colombia and Venezuela, Peru and Ecuador, Chile and Argentina). We deliberately do not use the term “race”, because the use of this term to describe different groups of people arises from the commonly held, but scientifically unfounded, assumption that a majority of differences observed between ethnic and cultural groups have a genetic basis (Hirschman, 2004). The prevailing perspective on ethnic identity is a blend between social-identity and neo-Eriksonian perspectives (Phinney & Ong, 2007; UmañaTaylor, Yazedjian, & Bámaca-Gómez, 2004), in which ethnic identity is assumed to represent a confluence of having considered the subjective meaning of one’s ethnic group (ethnic identity exploration), deciding on the subjective importance of one’s ethnic group (ethnic identity commitment), and feeling attached to and proud of that ethnic group (ethnic identity affirmation:  Phinney & Ong, 2007). Ethnic identity is important for migrants and their immediate descendants because it keeps them psychologically

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attached to their heritage cultures and communities (Umaña-Taylor, 2011). Ethnic identity has been studied in a wide variety of ethnic groups and receiving societies (Phinney, Berry, Vedder, & Liebkind, 2006), and stronger ethnic identity among migrants is generally linked to adaptive and health-promoting outcomes (e.g., self-esteem, life satisfaction; see Smith & Silva, 2011, for a recent meta-analytic review). However, the links between ethnic identity and psychosocial outcomes tend to be rather modest—in a study of more than 7,000 migrant adolescents in 13 countries of settlement, Sam, Vedder, Ward, and Horenczyk (2006) found Pearson correlations below |.20| between ethnic identity and a number of adjustment variables, including self-esteem, life satisfaction, distress, school adjustment, and behavior problems. Indeed, the association between ethnic identity and adjustment reported by Sam et al. (2006) is similar to the association between biculturalism and adjustment reported by Phinney et al. (2006) using the same dataset. Ethnic identity is also the dimension of acculturation that has most often been examined longitudinally. In a sample of Black and Hispanic early-to-middle adolescents in New York City, Pahl and Way (2006) found that ethnic identity exploration tended to level off in middle adolescence— unless adolescents perceived discrimination from their peers (in which case ethnic identity exploration remained high). Ethnic identity affirmation remained high throughout the study period. Syed and Azmitia (2009) found that ethnic identity exploration and affirmation both increased during the college years. Knight et  al. (2009) found that ethnic identity affirmation, but not exploration, increased over time in their sample of Mexican American juvenile offenders. In those studies that included majority group members (Whites) as well as migrant and ethnic minority groups, Whites’ ethnic identity scores were significantly lower at all timepoints compared to those of immigrant or minority participants. In any case, ethnic identity tends to be highly endorsed, and to increase over time, for many migrant and ethnic-minority adolescents. In terms of bidimensional models of acculturation, national identity is the counterpart to ethnic or heritage-cultural identity. In other words, migrants may identify to a greater or a lesser extent with their ethnic or cultural group, and they may also identify to a greater or lesser extent with the nation in which they reside (Phinney et al., 2006).

National identity has been somewhat less well studied in migrants and minority group members (for exceptions, see Schildkraut, 2010, 2011). More commonly, national identification has been studied among cultural majority groups, and one finding that has been replicated in several countries is that majority group members who are highly identified with their nation tend to be the least tolerant of migrants (e.g., Barrette, Bourhis, Personnaz, & Personnaz, 2004; González, Verkuyten, Weesie, & Poppe, 2008; Leong, 2008; Morrison, Plaut, & Ybarra, 2010). However, as we discuss later, this appears to be more true of some nations than of others, depending on how the national ingroup is defined (Pehrson, Vignoles, & Brown, 2009). Differences across Domains. Given our contention (cf. Costigan, 2010; Schwartz, Unger, et al., 2010) that acculturation consists of heritage and receiving cultural practices, values, and identifications, it stands to reason that biculturalism can emerge in any of the three domains. Moreover, the fact that a migrant is bicultural in one domain, such as cultural practices, does not necessarily signify that she or he is also bicultural in terms of values and identifications. A Hispanic migrant in the United States may learn English out of necessity, for example, and associate with some American friends—but still not identify as American or adopt individualistic values. Similarly, as Schildkraut (2011) has found in her national polls of U.S. residents, many Hispanics who cannot speak English nonetheless identify with the United States as well as with their countries of origin. Data collected in the United States, for example, suggest a moderate correlation (between .15 and .40) between cultural values and identifications (Schwartz, Weisskirch, et  al., 2011). Practices and identifications were more strongly related (.56 for U.S.  acculturation and .47 for heritage acculturation) but were not related strongly enough to suggest a unitary construct. Moreover, each of the three domains was differentially related to health risks such as illicit drug use, unsafe sexual behavior, and drunken driving. So, in our view, acculturation should be regarded as a multidimensional phenomenon—although some domains of acculturation may prompt the consideration of others, as we discuss below (see also Navas et al., 2005).

Processes of Acculturation: An Identity-Based Perspective

The literature reviewed earlier has demonstrated ways in which conceptions of acculturation have

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become increasingly sophisticated over the past 50  years, moving away from a single dimension of cultural assimilation to a more nuanced current view that allows for separate dimensions of heritage-culture maintenance and receiving-culture acquisition. Moreover, it is now recognized that there may be several different variants of biculturalism—which may be manifested differently across the multiple domains of cultural practices, values and identifications. Furthermore, some individuals will display different cultural profiles in public situations than in their private lives (see Arends-Tóth & van de Vijver, 2007; Navas et al., 2005). Despite the increasingly complex and sophisticated differentiation of dimensions and domains of acculturation, we contend that an understanding of the social and psychological processes and antecedents underlying acculturation has lagged behind (Tip, Zagefka, González, Brown, & Cinnirella, 2012; Zagefka, Brown, Broquard, & Leventoglu Martin, 2007). In other words, we believe that a better understanding is needed regarding the social and psychological processes that lead individuals or groups to occupy particular positions on the various acculturation dimensions that have been identified, as well as regarding the processes linking these different forms of acculturation to favorable or unfavorable individual and societal outcomes (Brown & Zagefka, 2011). Like several previous reviewers of the acculturation literature (e.g., Liebkind, 2001; Ward, 2001), we believe that a valuable a first step toward addressing this knowledge gap is to interpret existing findings from the acculturation literature through the lens of theoretical perspectives on social identity and intergroup relations (e.g., Tajfel & Turner, 1986; Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987; see Spears, 2011, for a recent review). Acculturation situations are, by definition, cases of intergroup relations (Berry, 2006; Brown & Zagefka, 2011). The social psychological literature on intergroup relations has much to say about the impact of particular kinds of intergroup contexts on identity construction, and about the complex interplay of identity threat and maintenance processes with intergroup relations. Our discussion of identity construction within intergroup contexts will draw initially on self-categorization theory (Turner et al., 1987), and we will then consider the issue of identity threat and maintenance from the perspective of social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1986). Going beyond previous identity-based accounts of acculturation, we will also draw on several more recent perspectives 64

within the identity literature, including motivated identity construction theory (Vignoles, 2011), and the elaborated social identity model (Drury & Reicher, 2000, 2009). We briefly introduce each of these perspectives as they become relevant to our identity-based account of acculturation processes.

From “Cultures” to “Cultural Identities”

As a starting point for an identity-based analysis of acculturation, we draw on the insight from self-categorization theory (Turner et  al., 1987) that people are especially likely to see themselves as members of particular social groups when they find themselves in situations in which their group is compared with other relevant groups—such as when groups come into contact. In such situations, the salience of one’s group identity is predicted to depend on a combination of three factors:  perceiver readiness (including one’s preexisting level of identification with the specific ingroup in question), comparative fit (the extent to which perceived between-group differences are greater than perceived within-group differences), and normative fit (the extent to which observed differences between groups are consistent with prior expectations about the groups concerned) (e.g., Oakes, Turner, & Haslam, 1991; for a recent discussion, see Spears, 2011). Notably, situations of acculturation commonly involve contact between members of groups that differ markedly in observable practices (e.g., language, food, clothing, music, etc.) as well as in their social values and identifications— although values and identifications may be harder to observe directly. Because differences in cultural practices are often very noticeable when members of different cultural groups come into contact, based on the principle of comparative fit, these differences can be expected to form a basis for members of each cultural group to self-categorize. Moreover, to the extent that these differences are elaborated in social discourse and that they are associated with further real or imagined differences in underlying beliefs and values, the distinction among the groups will also come to represent normative fit—further enhancing the salience of these differences as a basis for self-categorization. These propositions carry a number of important implications for the acculturation literature. Firstly, they provide a basis for theorizing about relationships among the three domains of acculturation discussed earlier:  practices, values, and identifications. Self-categorization theory suggests that the relationships among these three domains will be

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fluid and dynamic, but that they will function in a predictable way. When people observe differences in practices and values between their cultural group and others in a given context, they will be more likely to categorize themselves in terms of their cultural group memberships. For example, when coming into contact with North African migrants and observing the migrants’ behavior, French people may strongly classify themselves as “French” and “not North African.” If this intercultural context is maintained over a period of time—as will typically be the case when “migrant” groups and “dominant” groups live together in a shared national context— then individuals will probably come to see themselves more chronically in terms of their cultural group memberships: in other words, they will evidence an increase in cultural identification. Thus, cultural practices and values—to the extent that these are observably contrasted with those of one or more relevant outgroups—will be used to define the content of cultural identities that individuals will use to define themselves. An important implication of this depiction of the acculturation process is that not only will people’s levels of cultural identification be somewhat fluid and context dependent, but the meanings that people give to their cultural identities—their self-stereotypes as cultural members—will be fluid and contextually dependent as well. In particular, self-categorization theory predicts that people’s stereotypes of their own and of others’ social groups will be influenced by the comparative frame of reference (Spears, Doosje, & Ellemers, 1997). Thus, when defining the meaning of their Indian cultural identity, Indian migrants in Great Britain are likely to give greater emphasis to those aspects of Indian culture that they perceive differ from British culture, and Indian migrants in the United Arab Emirates are likely to emphasize those aspects of Indian culture that they perceive differ from Emirati culture. This principle may help to explain why cross-cultural researchers have often found differences in cultural orientation when studying migrant groups within a single nation, whereas the same differences do not necessarily emerge when participants of the same nationalities are studied in their countries of origin (e.g. Heine, Lehman, Peng, & Greenholz, 2002). It may also help to explain why dominant group members and social commentators often perceive the existence of a “clash of values” between themselves and members of migrant groups (e.g., Huntington, 2004), even when the absolute size of differences in value endorsement among cultural groups may be

relatively small (cross-cultural studies typically show much greater variance within groups than between groups, e.g., Fischer & Schwartz, 2011). Understanding the dynamic nature of self-­ categorization may also help to explain the surprising emergence of novel cultural identities in highly diverse contexts. An example of this is the emergence of a “pan-Hispanic” cultural identity in the United States that draws together individuals from many highly diverse national origins (Portes & Rumbaut, 2006). Indeed, the U.S. Census Bureau originally coined the term Hispanic to refer to individuals of Spanish-speaking descent—and this term is rarely (if ever) used in Latin America. In their countries of origin, groups such as Mexicans, Colombians, Argentines, Peruvians, and Cubans would be less apt to see themselves as sharing a common identity. Such a categorization only makes sense within the context of ethnic relations in the United States, because these groups share some common differences from the dominant White American culture, and because they are often treated similarly by majority group members. Perhaps most important of all, self-categorization theory helps to explain why people often display so much investment in defending their cultural practices, values, and identifications. A crucial outcome of the self-categorization process is that what previously may have been taken-for-granted aspects of one’s “cultural background” (i.e., what one does) take on an added symbolic and motivational significance as salient and self-defining properties of one’s “identity” (who one is). This has the important implication that acquiring new cultural practices or shedding old ones is not just a practical question—instead, changes that superficially might seem quite trivial may carry enormous motivational significance because they are perceived as threatening or undermining people’s identities as members of particular cultural communities. Hence, members of both cultural minorities and majorities will often vigorously defend their cultural practices, values, and identifications against change or “contamination,” because they see such defense as the only way to maintain their cultural identities—to protect their sense of who they are. It is possible, then, that people’s endorsement of cultural practices, values, and identifications may become more strongly correlated under conditions of perceived identity threats from other cultural groups. We now focus on these processes of identity threat and maintenance, drawing on social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1986), as well as subsequent extensions

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(e.g., Breakwell, 1988; Drury & Reicher, 2000, 2009; Vignoles, 2011).

Identity Management in Multicultural Situations: Symbolic Threats and Defense Strategies

Central to social identity theory is the claim that people typically strive for social identities that are characterized by a sense of positive group distinctiveness (Tajfel & Turner, 1986), a process that has subsequently been understood to be driven by identity motives for self-esteem, distinctiveness, and/or meaning (e.g., Abrams & Hogg, 1988; Hogg, 2007; Spears, 2011). According to Tajfel and Turner, when people experience their social identity as lacking in positive distinctiveness—for example, belonging to a socially devalued minority group—they may respond by using a number of identity management strategies. Depending on specific features of the intergroup context, such as the permeability of the group boundaries, and the perceived stability and legitimacy of the status differences between the groups, they might attempt to move to a more positively distinctive group (individual mobility) or try to improve the positive distinctiveness of their own group, either by engaging in direct competition with the outgroup (social competition), or by seeking to reframe the comparison between the groups in a more positive light (social creativity) (Mummendey, Klink, Mielke, Wenzel, & Blanz, 1999; Tajfel & Turner, 1986). As an example of individual mobility, some migrants—especially those who arrived in the country of settlement at an early age (or who were born in the country of settlement and raised by foreign-born parents)—may try to “blend in” with receiving-society individuals to whom they are phenotypically similar. For instance, some young Haitian migrants in Miami attempt to pass themselves as African American, believing that African Americans hold a higher social position than Haitians do (e.g., Stepick, Dutton Stepick, Eugene, Teed, & Labissiere, 2001). As an example of social competition, many East Asian migrants in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe outperform their host-national peers in math and science (e.g., Lowell, 2010). As an example of social creativity, many Italian and Greek migrants to other countries open restaurants specializing in their native cuisine, rather than competing with majority group members for other types of work. At the same time, other ethnic groups—such as Afro-Caribbeans in the United Kingdom and Turks in Belgium— choose to highlight, rather than disguise or reframe, 66

their cultural identities. It is not clear precisely why different groups use different social-creativity strategies. Subsequent research and theorizing has extended the range of motives that are thought to underlie social-identity processes. Based on a review of multiple perspectives in the identity literature, motivated identity construction theory proposes that, in addition to motives for self-esteem, distinctiveness, and meaning, people are also motivated to establish and maintain feelings of continuity, efficacy, and belonging within their personal and social identities (Vignoles, 2011; see also Easterbrook & Vignoles, 2012; Vignoles, Regalia, Manzi, Golledge, & Scabini, 2006). Researchers have also suggested a wider range of identity management strategies (or “coping strategies”) that people may employ when their ability to satisfy their identity motives is threatened or undermined (see, e.g., Blanz, Mummendey, Mielke, & Klink, 1998; Breakwell, 1986, 1988; Carr & Vignoles, 2011; Gregg, Sedikides, & Gebauer, 2011). Hence, a full understanding of the identity dynamics underlying acculturation processes would need to consider a variety of identity threats that might be experienced by migrants, majority group members, and members of other migrant groups (e.g., in many situations, some migrant groups are favored over others; Steiner, 2009), as well as a variety of possible strategies that members of these groups might invoke in response to such threats. However, as a precursor to such an analysis, we should also emphasize an important feature of the intergroup context in most situations of multicultural contact that differs from how intergroup contexts are more commonly represented within the social identity literature. Classic theorizing and research within the social-identity perspective has tended to focus on relations between mutually exclusive social categories defined in terms of some “equivalent” but different characteristics. Such categories include memberships within different nations, ethnicities, genders, or university majors, as well as artificially created “minimal groups” based on letters of the alphabet, colors, et cetera. These categories may be nested within larger, superordinate categories, such as different nations within the European Union or psychology and business students within the same university (see, e.g., Hornsey & Hogg, 2000), but the prevailing theoretical models tend to assume—at least implicitly—that these nested group or category memberships fit within a neat, logical, and hierarchical structure.

The Identit y Dynamics of Acculturation and Multiculturalism

In principle, the categories involved in multicultural societies also can be represented in this way:  for example, one might think of British Whites and British Indians as subordinate groups (“cultural groups”) within the superordinate group of British people (“national group”). Crucially, however, this neat theoretical model may not be an accurate reflection of how these identities are typically conceptualized in everyday life by the groups concerned. For example, apart from a few members of far-right political groups, most members of the White majority in Britain probably spend very little time thinking of themselves as “British Whites”; more likely, they will label themselves as “British,” because it is common for members of majority ethnic groups more generally to label themselves with national rather than ethnic identities (Devos & Banaji, 2005; Devos & Heng, 2009). Moreover, the use of a common label may hide substantial differences in how “Britishness” is defined—and this may be done in such a way as to include or to exclude members of migrant groups (Pehrson, Brown, & Zagefka, 2009). A more exclusive definition of Britishness, based on shared genetic ancestry, would create an ingroup (those people whose families have been in Britain for centuries) and an outgroup (migrants, or those whose parents or grandparents were born outside of Britain). A more inclusive definition of Britishness, referring to anyone who resides in Britain, would create a superordinate ingroup (cf. the ingroup projection model; Wenzel, Mummendey, & Waldzus, 2007). Thus, what is at stake here is not simply the social comparison between majority and minority ethnic groups, but also the relationship between the minority ethnic identities (e.g., British Indian) and the superordinate national identity (here, British). In other words, the most salient identity threat posed by a multicultural society for British White majority members may lie not in seeing British Indians as a competing ethnic outgroup (although this may sometimes be a concern), but in the implications for their sense of British identity of including British Indians (and other migrants) within a shared national ingroup. Similarly, although members of cultural minorities may be somewhat more aware than majority members of the status and power differentials between and among cultural groups, they also have to face the task of reconciling their dual identities as ethnic and national members—identities that may often be portrayed as conflicting, or even mutually exclusive, in popular discourse.

We now discuss these issues in greater depth. Although not all of the ideas we propose have been tested explicitly, we aim to illustrate our arguments with findings from the acculturation literature where such findings are available. First, we consider the perspective of cultural majorities; second, we examine the perspective of cultural minorities; and finally, we attempt to create an integrative perspective that considers the dynamic relationships between cultural majorities and minorities, both of whom may potentially be experiencing identity threats and attempting to manage their identities, as these processes unfold over time (for a similar approach, see Licata et al., 2011).

Identity Processes among Cultural Majorities

Hostility toward cultural minorities. In the United States, which has been receiving large migrant flows since its inception, nearly every migrant group has been persecuted—starting with the Irish and Germans in the 19th century (Galenson, 1997) and continuing through the Southern and Eastern Europeans in the early 20th century (Sterba, 2003) and the current wave of largely non-European migrants (Stepick et  al., 2011). All these groups were viewed as fundamentally different from the American cultural mainstream and were marginalized, likely as a result of this “otherness.” In Europe, although many non-European migrants in the 1960 and 1970s were from former colonies or had been invited as guest workers, as the migrant populations have increased dramatically in the decades since, many Europeans began to perceive that the migrants pose a threat to the identity and solidarity of the receiving nations (cf. Coenders, Lubbers, Scheepers, & Verkuyten, 2008). Reactions in Europe are, at times, similar to those of Americans, with some elites and liberal-leaning individuals celebrating the growing diversity, but with a substantial proportion of the general public feeling threatened and overrun by the ever-growing presence of “foreigners.” There is evidence that one’s political ideology moderates the extent to which migrants are viewed as enriching or invading the receiving society: compared to individuals with conservative political beliefs, individuals with liberal beliefs are more likely to welcome culturally dissimilar migrants and to advocate for them (Bierbrauer & Klinger, 2002). Yet, notably, hostility does not extend indiscriminately to all migrants. In the United States, individuals of European descent—whether they arrive directly from Europe or from a third country

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such as Canada, Australia, or Israel—are implicitly regarded as the “highest-status” group because they can blend in with the dominant White American mainstream (Devos & Banaji, 2005; Devos & Heng, 2009). Hispanics, especially Mexicans and Central Americans, are regarded as the most “unwanted” group because they are overwhelmingly poor, often enter the country illegally, and send a large portion of their earnings back to their countries of origin (Cornelius, 2002; Hondagneu-Sotelo, 2007). In Europe, migration within the European Union generally meets with less resistance (Licata et al., 2011), but migration from outside the European Union— especially from Muslim countries—is viewed as a considerable threat to the cultural and religious hegemony of Europe (e.g., Adida, Laitin, & Valfort, 2010; Bawer, 2004). In one Dutch study, approximately half the adolescents surveyed reported negative feelings toward Muslim migrants (González, Verkuyten, Weesie, & Poppe, 2008), and evidence suggests that many Germans view Turkish Muslims unfavorably (Piontkowski, Rohmann, & Florack, 2002). Further, Brüβ (2008) surveyed large samples of Bangladeshi Muslims in London, Turkish Muslims in Berlin, and Moroccan Muslims in Madrid—and he found that many of these individuals reported being verbally harassed or otherwise disrespected on a regular basis. How can we understand the incidence of hostility toward cultural minorities? A  full account is beyond the scope of this chapter (for a more comprehensive treatment, see Brown, 2010). However, we focus here on a subset of identity processes that we believe are especially important antecedents of intergroup hostility. In particular, research suggests that hostility very often occurs as a defensive reaction to the perceived presence of symbolic threats to the identity of the majority group (e.g., González et al., 2008; Stephan et al., 1999). Realistic and symbolic threats. In their integrated threat theory, Stephan et  al. (1999) have argued for the importance of considering both realistic and symbolic threats together in studies of intergroup relations. By “realistic threats,” Stephan and his colleagues refer to perceived or actual competition for limited jobs, housing, or political influence that are available within a given national or local context (see also Sherif, 1966). In many cases, perceived realistic threats do not reflect objective reality—for example, undocumented migrants are essential for a number of industries, including meat packing, farming, landscaping, and housekeeping (Hondagneu-Sotelo, 2007; Ramirez 68

& Hondagneu-Sotelo, 2009). “Symbolic threats,” on the other hand, refer to perceived threats to the ingroup identity, largely attributable to beliefs that the ingroup’s core cultural beliefs and values are endangered by those of the outgroup (e.g., the belief that prototypical components of American culture—such as the English language and the country’s Anglo-Protestant heritage—are “under attack” by the mass migration of Hispanics). Some studies (e.g., González et  al., 2008) have found that realistic threats do not predict intergroup hostility, after accounting for the influence of symbolic threats (which we discuss below); others find both to be reliable correlates of anti-outgroup sentiment (e.g., Curşeu, Schoop, & Stalk, 2007; McLaren & Johnson, 2007). Realistic threats may be more potent in some contexts than in others. For example, undocumented migrants might pose the most realistic threat—in terms of competition for jobs—to lower-income majority group members (Stoll, Melendez, & Valenzuela, 2002). In contrast, higher-income majority group members might actually be the employers who are hiring undocumented workers, and thus, far from their interests being threatened, they stand to benefit in material terms from the availability of this cheaper source of labor. As one can probably deduce, realistic threats differ from symbolic threats in that they are focused on the potential loss of material resources rather than on the potential loss of a positive and satisfactory group identity. However, we should emphasize that realistic threats are nonetheless grounded in identity processes, because they focus on the distribution of resources between socially defined ingroups and outgroups. In other words, irrespective of the objective economic circumstances, people will perceive that “they” are coming and taking “our” jobs only if they categorize themselves and the incoming workers as members of different—and competing—social groups (“them” versus “us”). Thus, the groups around which judgments of realistic threat are based are subjectively defined, and these definitions change over time. Irish, Jewish, and Italian migrants to the United States in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries were considered as separate “races” from mainstream White Americans. However, by the middle of the 20th century, all these migrants and their descendants were considered as White Americans (Huntington, 2004). However, a distinction is still made between members of White and non-White ethnic groups, where these categories are social constructs rather than

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objective realities—for example, in the United States, even Spanish speakers who are phenotypically White are classified as Hispanic and are differentiated from White Americans. In a public opinion poll conducted in the late 1990s, Simon and Lynch (1999) found that, across several Western nations, White migrants were preferred over migrants from non-White ethnic groups. Thus, even if realistic threats often stem from the existence of objective conflicts of interest, identity processes still determine whose interests are taken into account, and on which side of the “us versus them” balance sheet they appear. Depending on which identity categories are important and salient, the same immigrant workers might be represented as “taking jobs away from members of the cultural majority” (i.e., realistic threat) or they might be represented as “helping our country to run more efficiently and compete internationally” (i.e., realistic gain). Identity Threat. Without denying that realistic threats drive hostility against cultural minorities in some circumstances, we believe that it is especially important to focus on the symbolic threats that the presence of cultural minorities can pose to cultural majority members. In particular, there are several ways in which the mere presence of cultural minorities in a nation may potentially be perceived to undermine the cultural or national identity of the majority group. (As we have discussed earlier, for majority groups, national and cultural identities may be experienced as more or less interchangeable.) Notably, however, different theoretical perspectives provide conflicting views about what exactly constitutes a threat to the majority identity; and these differences lead to diverging predictions about which types of minority groups and which types of minority behaviors will be experienced as most threatening, as well as how the cultural majorities are, therefore, likely to react. As discussed earlier, social identity theory predicts that people will experience identity threat—and thus engage in identity maintenance strategies—to the extent that the positive distinctiveness of their social identities is undermined by a given situation (Tajfel & Turner, 1986). This suggests that people will feel threatened if the image of their group is insufficiently positive and/or insufficiently distinctive in relation to relevant comparison groups. Thus, people would be expected to engage in identity maintenance strategies in situations in which their group is compared with a higher-status outgroup (undermining self-esteem), or with a group that is highly similar to their own (undermining

distinctiveness—but see later). Thus, members of higher-status cultural groups should be motivated to avoid such comparisons by preserving the lower status of cultural minority groups in their society and by maintaining clear boundaries between and among the different groups. This seems to entail that powerful majority groups will typically be most comfortable with a segregationist political stance, encouraging a separationist acculturation strategy among minority groups, and thus maintaining the distinctiveness (through the impermeability of boundaries) and the positive evaluation (through the differential social status) of their group identity. Some salient examples of this include events during the segregationist era in the United States, and the apartheid era in South Africa. In direct contrast with social identity theory, integrated threat theory proposes that people will feel threatened especially by groups that are different rather than similar to their own group (e.g., Stephan et al., 1999). Indeed, in most contemporary multicultural societies, the behavior of cultural majorities does not seem to match the pattern predicted by social identity theory. Seemingly against the interests of preserving positive group distinctiveness, cultural majorities typically seem to be more comfortable with the presence of relatively high-status minority groups, especially those that are similar to themselves in their practices and values. For example, some Slovakian and Romanian communities near the Hungarian border are comprised heavily of Hungarian migrants. Through the end of the 20th century, the Irish were the largest migrant group in Great Britain. However, most of these migrant-majority interactions are characterized by relatively low degrees of threat and animosity (e.g., Piontkowski et al., 2000). In contrast, cultural majorities tend to reserve the greatest hostility for those minorities that they perceive as dissimilar to themselves, and they sometimes even require these groups to adopt an assimilationist acculturation strategy that will make them more similar to the mainstream culture. Examples of these differing perceptions on the part of receiving-society members are evident in a number of countries. In many European nations, migration by other Europeans is not viewed as a threat, but migration by individuals from outside the European Union—especially from Muslim nations—is viewed negatively by many Europeans (Licata & Klein, 2002; Licata et  al., 2011). In France, the influx of North African migrants prompted the French Parliament to ban Muslim headscarves in schools

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(BBC News, 2004), and in the UK, immigrants are now required to take a “citizenship test” in order to demonstrate their acquisition of what the government judges to be important aspects of British culture (BBC News, 2010). These observations and findings seem very difficult to reconcile with the “classic” version of social identity theory. If members of cultural majorities were primarily concerned with maintaining the positive distinctiveness of their ethnic/cultural groups, then one might expect a much wider incidence of segregationist social policies, in which cultural minorities would be allowed or even encouraged to maintain their different (and supposedly “backward” or “inferior”) cultural practices and values in order to highlight the distinctiveness and superiority of the cultural majority. So why does this not happen? As we have suggested earlier, we believe that the crucial point making the difference is that, from the perspective of cultural majority members, immigrant minorities are not simply members of a cultural outgroup but they are also members of the national ingroup. Thus, what is at stake here is not just the competitive intergroup relations between ethno-cultural groups, but also the intragroup processes of negotiating the meaning and boundaries of membership in a common national group (cf. ingroup projection theory; Wenzel et  al., 2007). Viewed from a purely interethnic perspective, immigrant minorities might simply be viewed as outgroup members—different and perhaps inferior, but certainly not threatening. However, viewed within the context of national identity, cultural minorities have the status of ingroup members. Research into subjective group dynamics (e.g., Marques, Abrams, & Serodio, 2001) has shown very clearly that ingroup members who deviate from the norms of the group tend to be evaluated much more harshly than are outgroup members who display the same characteristics or behaviors—the so-called “black sheep effect.” The black sheep effect is understood to occur because the opinions or behavior of the deviant individual threaten to undermine the perceived definition or meaning of the group identity in question. Thus, once immigrant minorities are viewed in terms of their status as national ingroup members rather than as cultural outgroup members, it is much easier to understand why minorities who are more different should be perceived by majorities as threatening (undermining the meaning of the national identity) rather than affirming (supporting the positive distinctiveness of the majority ethnic 70

group), as well as why majority members might seek to restore the clarity of their national identity by pressuring minority members to conform with national group norms—an assimilationist policy. In this respect, beyond the focus on self-esteem and distinctiveness in social identity theory, we believe that another identity motive—the need for continuity—plays an especially important role in these processes. Various perspectives on identity processes suggest that people typically need, and are motivated to maintain, a sense of connection between past, present, and future in their personal and group identities (e.g., Breakwell, 1986; Chandler, Lalonde, Sokol, & Hallett, 2003; Sani, 2008; Vignoles, 2011). This shifts the motivational emphasis away from social comparison of one’s group with other competing groups toward a focus on temporal comparison among past, present, and possible future identities of one’s own group (see also Brown & Zagefka, 2006). In this case, perceived threat will depend on the extent to which the inclusion of cultural minorities changes (or threatens to change) the perceived meaning of national group membership: Can such changes be reconciled with the historical roots of the national identity in question, or is the identity “changed beyond recognition”? This suggests that cultural groups will feel most threatened to the extent that they feel that the existence of their ingroup per se is endangered, for example following large waves of migration or in situations in which there is a perceived danger of a “hostile takeover,” resulting in the ingroup as they know it ceasing to exist (González et al., 2008; Wohl, Branscombe, & Reysen, 2010). If the motivational focus is on protecting continuity of one’s national identity rather than positive distinctiveness of one’s ethnic identity, then the perceived size of the cultural minority becomes at least as important as their perceived difference from the majority. Thus, hostility toward Hispanics in the U.S. may be exacerbated by well-publicized census projections estimating that, by 2050, White Americans will represent only half of the U.S. population, and that Hispanics will comprise a quarter of the population (Bernstein & Edwards, 2008). These changing demographics represent a symbolic threat to a country that has long celebrated its Anglo-European roots (Schildkraut, 2007). Notably, both popular anti-immigrant discourse and research findings suggest that this is a salient concern for those who are hostile toward cultural minorities. The presence of migrants is often characterized as resulting in a “cultural clash” that carries

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risks of transforming the national identity beyond recognition in the future. In the United States, the “cultural clash” between mainstream American culture and the current wave of migrants centers on ethnicity and language (Buchanan, 2006; Huntington, 2004). Thus, the spread of Spanish is taken as a threat to American national identity, which is closely tied to the English language (Barker et  al., 2001; Citrin, Lerman, Murakami, & Pearson, 2007). Indeed, empirical evidence suggests that Hispanic migrants and their descendants are more likely than other U.S.  migrant groups to retain their heritage language into the second and even third generation (Kasinitz, Mollenkopf, Waters, & Holdaway, 2008; Portes & Rumbaut, 2006; Suárez-Orozco, Suárez-Orozco, & Todorova, 2008). However, in contrast to the concerns expressed by social commentators, Spanish-language retention does not appear to interfere with the acquisition and use of English (Tran, 2010). In Europe, the perceived “cultural clash” centers largely on religion and cultural history. The influx of migrants who do not share the cultural history of a given nation—or of Europe as a whole—can represent a threat to the distinctiveness and to the continuity of the majority group members’ sense of identity (Licata & Klein, 2002). Moreover, increases in the size of Muslim immigrant groups pose both symbolic and realistic threats in the minds of some Europeans, especially those who identify strongly with their countries of residence or with Europe as a whole (Verkuyten, 2009), or who perceive their nation to be defined by its Christian heritage (Smeekes, Verkuyten, & Poppe, 2011). These perceived threats can lead to real consequences for migrants from Muslim groups. For example, Adida et al. (2010) demonstrated empirically that, in France, Muslims are less than half as likely as non-Muslims to receive a callback for a job interview. Following recent terrorist attacks committed by Muslim individuals, many Europeans worry that the influx of Muslim migrant groups into their countries will lead to an increased risk of terrorism (Pargeter, 2008). In turn, the ambivalent reception that these migrant groups have encountered may be responsible for their relatively low levels of identification with their countries of settlement (e.g., Brüβ, 2008; Verkuyten & Yildiz, 2007). The intergroup dynamics that surround acculturation may also be a function of the size of the migrant flow at any given time. Coenders et  al. (2008), reviewing Dutch attitudes toward international migration between 1979 and 2002, noted that

perceptions of migrants were most negative and hostile during times of heavy migration. Similar trends have occurred in the United States:  Huntington (2004) noted that native-born Americans were most hostile toward migrants during years and decades when large numbers of migrants were arriving— most notably the early 20th century, when millions of Southern and Eastern Europeans came through Ellis Island, and the late 20th and early 21st centuries, which have been characterized by mass migration of Hispanic, Asian, and Caribbean individuals to the United States. The degree of perceived threat appears to increase when the migrant flow is seen to be dominated by a single ethnic group. Zolberg and Woon (1999) exemplify this principle by drawing parallels between Hispanics in the United States and Muslims in Europe. Although, in reality, the migrants who are classed in each group may come from very disparate cultural origins, both migrant groups are perceived as representing a cohesive “invasion” in the eyes of many native-born residents of these countries or regions. Indeed, Huntington (2004) warns of the dangers to English as the official language of the United States when he notes that “never before in American history has close to a majority of immigrants spoken a single non-English language” (p.  18). Buchanan (2006) warns of the Mexican “invasion” of the United States and claims that the United States is “headed toward its death” if the invasion is not stopped. In his book While Europe Slept, Bawer (2006) describes the threat of radical Islam in Europe and claims that European cultures could be eradicated if the “Islamic invasion” is allowed to continue. These are all clear examples of perceived threats to collective continuity emanating from mass immigration of individuals from what are perceived to be single ethnic groups. Are higher identifiers more hostile? Clearly, not every majority cultural group member reacts in the same way toward immigrant groups. One likely predictor of reaction to immigrants is the strength of national identification. If an individual does not identify strongly with her nation, then she is likely to feel much less threatened by changes to the meaning of the national identity than would someone who identified more highly. Some research supports this, suggesting that identity threats may be experienced more strongly by majority group members who are most strongly attached to their country’s identity, history, and culture—which they view as “under attack” by migrant cultural streams (e.g., Morrison et al., 2010). Nevertheless, recent research

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suggests that the link between national identification and anti-immigrant prejudice is far from inevitable. Instead, the presence of cultural diversity may be perceived as more or less threatening, depending on how the relevant national identity and the boundaries of national membership are defined (Pehrson & Green, 2010). Knowing the strength of someone’s national identification may not be informative about their likely attitudes toward immigrants unless we know also something about the subjective meaning that they give to their national identity, that is, the content that they are identifying with. Pehrson, Brown, and Zagefka (2009) reported two studies conducted in England into the interplay of national identification with national definitions as predictors of attitudes toward asylum seekers. In both studies, they found that identification was linked to more negative attitudes toward asylum seekers only among those individuals who adopted an essentialist definition of Englishness—those who felt that Englishness depended primarily on ancestry. This suggests that even people who identify strongly with their nation will only feel threatened by the presence of immigrants from diverse cultural backgrounds if they define their nation in a way that would be undermined by increasing diversity. Among those who disagreed with an essentialist definition of Englishness, there was no link between identification and negative attitudes, presumably because their view of Englishness would not be undermined by the idea of people of different ancestries and cultural origins being part of the English nation. Extending this line of research, Pehrson, Vignoles, and Brown (2009) analyzed international survey data from 31 nations, including measures of national identification, prejudice toward immigrants, and endorsement of three different criteria for being a “true” national member:  national ancestry (ethnic definition), speaking the national language (cultural definition), and having national citizenship (civic definition). They found that the relationship between national identification and prejudice varied significantly across nations:  in many countries, such as Venezuela, Canada, Israel, New Zealand, and the Czech Republic, identification and prejudice were completely unrelated, whereas in other countries, such as Denmark, West Germany, Switzerland, Norway, and Spain, identification was moderately correlated with prejudice. Crucially, these differences could be explained by variation in the criteria typically endorsed for being a “true” national member:  For nations in which 72

people assigned greater importance to a common language, the link between identification and prejudice was stronger, whereas for nations in which people gave greater importance to legal citizenship, the link between identification and prejudice was weaker. Notably, in contrast to the previous studies conducted in England, here the key moderating variables were not individuals’ personal endorsement of the different criteria for membership, but the average endorsement in each nation (although personal endorsement of ancestry as a basis for national membership was also directly related to greater prejudice, irrespective of national identification). This pattern suggests that the meanings and boundaries of national identity are constructed socially, presumably through processes of social discourse, although this is not to deny that individuals will take up different positions within the discursive contexts that are available to them. Understanding the socially shared meanings of national identities may also help to explain why some groups are considered more acceptable than others—typically those groups that are not perceived to undermine this shared meaning. National identity in the United States, for example, tends to be defined in terms of European heritage, the English language, and the Anglo-Protestant values brought by the Pilgrims who founded the original British colonies (Huntington, 2004; Schildkraut, 2007). Perhaps for this reason, migrants from Europe, Canada, or other parts of the world where European heritage and Judeo-Christian values are prominent—with the exception of Latin America—tend to be regarded as nonthreatening (Steiner, 2009). Similarly, in many European countries, migrants from elsewhere in Europe—excluding Muslim countries in the Balkans—are often accepted as “one of us” (Caldwell, 2008; Licata et  al., 2011). On the other hand, groups who are seen as potentially altering the cultural fabric of a country are labeled as outgroups and as threatening. Differences in the meaning of national identities are likely to be closely linked to national policies toward cultural diversity. Countries vary in the extent to which they are oriented toward multiculturalism (encouraging migrants to celebrate and remain faithful to their cultural heritage) versus assimilationism (encouraging migrants to adopt the ways and means of the country of settlement). For example, within North America, Canada has adopted an explicitly multicultural policy in which (most) migrants are viewed as enriching the country’s diversity (Soroka &

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Roberton, 2010). The United States, on the other hand, is home to opposing factions—a liberal group that believes in celebrating diversity and a conservative group that views the country in terms of its European roots and sees the current wave of largely Hispanic, Asian, and Caribbean migrants as a threat to, and a drain on, American cultural traditions and economic power (see Schildkraut, 2011, and Huntington, 2004, for reviews of the positions taken by these two factions). Although, to our knowledge, this proposition has not been empirically tested, it stands to reason that intergroup processes between migrants and majority group members will be guided—at least to some extent—by the policies adopted by the country in which these intergroup processes are occurring. This principle may be at least somewhat responsible for the low levels of hostility and discrimination reported by migrants to New Zealand, which is highly welcoming to migrants (Ward, Masgoret, & Vauclair, 2011). Notably, people in positions of leadership or social influence may be able to harness these identity dynamics in order to influence attitudes and behaviors toward immigrants for better or worse. Reicher and Hopkins (1996; Reicher, Haslam, & Hopkins, 2005) describe leaders who use such techniques as “entrepreneurs of identity,” manipulating the meanings of identity categories in such a way as to place themselves in a favorable position within the group and/or to selectively include or exclude different others from group membership. Although we are unaware of any formal research into identity entrepreneurship in the sphere of multiculturalism, anecdotal examples abound, including conservative politicians and writers such as Patrick Buchanan and Samuel Huntington in the United States; and Pim Fortuyn, Jean-Marie Le Pen, and Enoch Powell in Europe. Similarly, The Danish People’s Party, the French National Front, the British National Party, and the Vlaams Blok in Belgium have all campaigned on “protecting” Europe against the Muslim “invasion” and have led efforts to draw sharp distinctions between who is eligible for inclusion in the national ingroup and who is not. As applied to international migration, the concept of identity threats may also convey the impression that majority group members will automatically display a defensive response toward the minority group that is perceived as the source of threat. However, there may be other—and perhaps more constructive—ways of responding to perceived threats. One such possibility is identifying with a

superordinate group that encompasses both the host-national and minority groups (Wenzel et  al., 2007), and where migrants are treated as individual people, rather than as group members (Bourhis et  al., 1997). Such an individualistic approach to intergroup relations helps to move away from the stereotyping that often occurs when migrants and majority group members come into contact with one another. For example, an American might believe that not all Mexican migrants are “freeloaders,” or a French person might believe that not all Muslim migrants are intent on turning France into an Islamic state. Research suggests that personal interaction with someone from an outgroup results in decreased hostility and stereotyping toward that group (e.g., Hammack, 2006). Indeed, such personal contact may result in “humanity” being designated as the ingroup—where there is no corresponding outgroup. However, the intergroup context can also backfire if it leads to heightened anxiety. For instance, when contact conditions are suboptimal (unequal status, noncooperative), they may not result in reduced intergroup anxiety (for an extensive discussion of intergroup contact, see Brown & Hewstone, 2005). It is also worth noting that contact seems to be more effective in changing the attitudes of majorities than those of minorities (Binder et al., 2009; Tropp & Pettigrew, 2005).

Acculturation and Intergroup Dynamics from the Perspective of Cultural Minorities

Thus far, we have focused on the identity dynamics taking place within the receiving society—such as threats posed by migrants, self-protective strategies enacted by majority group members, and ways in which these intergroup dynamics can be exacerbated or reduced. We now consider the acculturation process from the migrant’s (or migrant group’s) perspective. The identity dynamics that operate for majority group members interact with those that operate for migrants, and in many cases, these dynamics may be different for lower-status or “unwanted” migrants than for higher-status, “desirable” migrants (Montreuil & Bourhis, 2001). Because large migrant groups tend to occupy lower-status positions (e.g., Mexicans in the United States, North Africans in France, Turks in Germany, Pakistanis in Great Britain), we will focus primarily on identity processes that take place among lower-status migrants. Clearly, lower-status migrants are typically faced with a number of realistic threats in their everyday lives, as a result of the demands of living in societies

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that often do not offer them the same recognition as majority group members in economic, political, or legal spheres (Licata et  al., 2011). Realistic threats—such as lack of access to jobs—are often part of everyday reality for migrant groups. For example, in the United States in November 2011, 11.4% of Hispanics, compared to 7.6% of Whites, were unemployed (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2011). The situation in the UK is similar. In February 2011, 7.0% of all White Britons were unemployed, compared to a 13.3% rate for all ethnic minorities combined (UK Office for National Statistics, 2011; http://www.ons.gov.uk/ ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=t cm%3A77-222445). However, our focus here will be on the symbolic threats faced by these groups. We argue that members of these minority groups are typically faced with threats to their identities on a number of different levels. Members of these groups very commonly face situations that threaten to undermine the positive distinctiveness and continuity of their cultural identities, as well as their feelings of personal self-continuity and belonging. These identity threats typically lead to the employment of adaptive or maladaptive identity management strategies, and cultural minority group members may engage in a variety of such strategies while attempting to resolve the identity threats that they face. Threats to cultural identity. Adding to the realistic threats posed by their lesser access to material resources, the situation faced by cultural minority members is likely to frustrate a number of identity motives that have been proposed in the literature. As we discussed earlier, motivated identity construction theory (Vignoles, 2011) proposes that people typically strive to construct and maintain identities that are characterized by feelings of self-esteem, continuity, distinctiveness, meaning, belonging, and efficacy. Identity threat occurs when one or more of these motives is at risk of not being satisfied (after Breakwell, 1988). Such threats typically lead to some kind of coping strategy designed to establish or restore satisfaction of the relevant motive(s). We suggest that the low-status position of many migrant groups in their nations of residence is likely to be threatening to several of the identity motives listed earlier. Self-esteem is threatened among migrants by the low status they typically occupy in their respective host cultures (e.g., Major & Eliezer, 2011). This may be especially problematic for migrants from collectivist cultural backgrounds, given the high value and emphasis placed 74

on hierarchy and social status in traditionally collectivist cultures (e.g., Hofstede, 1980). Feelings of efficacy are also likely to be undermined by occupying a low-status position, which may lead to feelings of helplessness or incompetence, perhaps especially among migrant men, who often find it harder to find employment than migrant women, thus failing to fulfill their expected gender role as family breadwinner (e.g., Hondagneu-Sotelo, 2007). Lower-status groups are often unwanted and derogated in the receiving society (Kosic & Phalet, 2006), and this experience of social rejection is likely to frustrate the identity motive for belonging. However, additional pressure is placed on many acculturating minority groups by assimilationist ideologies and policies in their receiving nations, which typically ask them to shed or change important aspects of their ethnocultural identities in order to gain acceptance by the majority group. Such policies and ideologies have become increasingly prevalent in Western Europe (and to a lesser extent in North America) in recent years, fueled in part by recent terrorist attacks by radical Islamic groups. Assimilationist policies and pressures from the majority, even when these are well intentioned, aim, by definition, to reduce the distinctiveness of the minority group’s identity (see Berry, 1997; Hornsey & Hogg, 2000). These policies and pressures require significant—and often unwanted— cultural change on the part of the minority group, potentially undermining feelings of collective continuity (see Chandler et al., 2003). As a result of these changes, members of minority groups may often end up uncertain of what it means to be members of their groups in the larger national or regional context in which they reside, and this uncertainty may undermine the sense of meaning that minority group members might otherwise derive from their cultural-group identity. Thus, Licata et  al. (2011) characterize the situation of cultural minorities as a “struggle for recognition.” In addition to a need for recognition in terms of material resources and social status, Licata et al. argue that minority group members need to have their cultural identities acknowledged and supported by the cultural majority if successful integration into mainstream society is to be possible. Paradoxically, assimilationist policies and pressures often have the opposite effect to that which was intended—minority groups may resist identifying with the majority cultural group. This paradoxical pattern has been labeled as reactive ethnicity (Rumbaut, 2008), and we will return to this concept in the forthcoming sections.

The Identit y Dynamics of Acculturation and Multiculturalism

Coping with cultural identity threat. As discussed earlier, a key concern of social identity theory is the implications of membership in a disadvantaged or socially devalued group (Tajfel & Turner, 1986). The theory specifies a number of strategies that people can use to establish or restore a satisfactory social identity when such an identity is seen to be lacking:  individual mobility, social competition, and various forms of social creativity. Although social identity theory focuses on positive group distinctiveness (i.e., self-esteem and distinctiveness motives), these strategies may also help with reestablishing satisfaction of the other identity motives mentioned earlier, namely, efficacy, belonging, continuity, and meaning (Vignoles, 2011)—as well as for the more general goal of gaining “recognition” of one’s cultural identity within a multicultural context (Licata et  al., 2011). As we discuss next, viewing the acculturation styles of migrants as strategies for coping with identity threats helps to explain which styles they adopt, as well as the emergence of more complex and diverse strategies than the four possibilities initially identified by Berry (1980) and others. Individual mobility, where a person attempts to become or to be accepted as a member of the higher-status group, is analogous to assimilation within Berry’s (1980) typology. For example, to the extent to which their physical features and foreign accents will allow, migrants may try to behave like majority group members. This option is available to individuals who can “pass as White” in European countries or in countries in which the majority ethnic group is of European descent; but it is less available to visible-minority individuals. This is similar to the situation facing some stigmatized groups, especially those for whom the stigmatizing attributes are “hidden”—for example, one’s sexual orientation and HIV status. As Jones and colleagues (1984) and Crocker and Major (1989) have noted, such “invisible” stigmata can offer advantages to their members, because they can choose whether or not to reveal these stigmata. However, there are also psychological costs associated with such a strategy, given that one is then deprived of potentially valuable sources of ingroup support (Major & Gramzow, 1999). In contrast, among visible-minority individuals, even those who were born in the society of settlement may be treated as foreigners, a phenomenon that Wu (2001) refers to as perpetual foreigner syndrome (see also Huynh, Devos, & Smalarz, 2011). In his book, Wu relates some of his personal experiences of being asked where he was from and what life in

China was like—even though he was born in the United States and had never set foot in China. Perpetual foreigner syndrome is a subtle, and often unintentional, form of discrimination, but it reminds the person that she or he is not considered as a member of the larger society (Lee, 2005). This suggests that the mobility strategy may rarely be an option for individuals who can be visually classified into migrant or minority groups. A variation on perpetual foreigner syndrome is the situation in which migrants are mistaken for native minorities whom they physically resemble. An instance of this phenomenon is the case of Haitian, West Indian, and African immigrants to the United States, who are “Black upon arrival” (Waldinger & Feliciano, 2004) and treated as though they were African American. Waters (1999), for example, in her ethnographic research on West Indian migrants in New York, notes how these migrants are viewed with suspicion, followed closely in stores, and assumed to be lazy and illiterate. Stepick et al., (2001) have found similar trends among Haitian migrants in Miami. More or less, many Black migrants to the United States are marginalized and treated as part of the “underclass,” which may decrease the likelihood that a given migrant will identify strongly with mainstream American culture as well as with her or his culture of origin. As a result of this stereotyping and stigma process, the “American culture” to which these migrants are most often exposed is most likely to be African American culture rather than mainstream White American culture. This can lead to a phenomenon known as segmented assimilation (Alba & Nee, 2006; Stepick & Dutton Stepick, 2010), whereby migrants adopt the practices, values, and identifications of the native ethnic groups to whom they are most similar or with whom they have the most contact, rather than engaging in acculturation processes and strategies in relation to the “dominant culture,” as is typically assumed in classic assimilation and acculturation literature (including both unidimensional and bi-dimensional models:  e.g., Berry, 1980, 1997; Berry & Kim, 1988; Gordon, 1964). Many migrants, especially those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, settle in inner-city neighborhoods (Beiser, Hou, Hyman, & Tousignant, 2002; Musterd & Deurloo, 2003). In many urban neighborhoods in the United States and Europe, migrants are more likely to encounter other migrants, and members of ethnic minority groups, than they are to encounter ethnic majority

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group members. In the United States, for example, a number of ethnic minority groups—such as African Americans—have been established for decades and even centuries. Many migrants are more likely to interact with African Americans and other minorities (e.g., Mexican Americans who have lived in the Southwestern United States for many generations) than they are with White Americans. As a result, many migrants may acculturate to African American culture rather than to White American culture. For example, many inner-city Hispanics use what linguists call “African American vernacular English” (e.g., Dunstan, 2010) rather than standard American English. Similarly, West Indian and Haitian immigrants tend to acculturate to an African American, rather than White American, behavioral and value system (Stepick et  al., 2001; Waters, 1999). Segmented assimilation signifies that there are multiple receiving cultural streams—not just one— to which migrants can acculturate. However, acculturating toward a given native ethnic group implies that one will be treated and regarded similarly to members of that ethnic group. African American culture has become popular in terms of music and other forms of entertainment, but the use of African American vernacular English is generally considered uneducated, and individuals who use it may be viewed as members of an underclass (Labov, 2010). Nevertheless, assimilation to an ethnic culture that is more established and more prevalent than one’s culture of origin may provide a greater opportunity to use additional identity maintenance strategies, which we discuss next. When individual mobility is not a viable option, social identity theory predicts that members of disadvantaged groups will be more likely to use group-based strategies to establish positive distinctiveness, either engaging directly in social competition with the majority group or using social creativity to reframe the social comparison in a more positive light. In terms of Berry’s (1980) model, both strategies involve maintaining identification with one’s culture of origin:  hence, they will typically be linked to acculturation styles of integration or separation. However, from a social identity perspective, it can be predicted that those migrants whose identities are under threat—and who are unable to engage in individual mobility—may not just maintain but actually increase identification with their cultural groups. This is the reactive ethnicity phenomenon that Rumbaut (2008) has discussed, in which migrants show heightened attachment to 76

their cultural groups as a consequence of actual or perceived rejection by the dominant ethnic group. In a similar vein, Branscombe, Schmitt, and Harvey (1999) found that perceptions of discrimination led to heightened ethnic identification among African Americans, and that this ethnic identification in turn led to greater well-being—thereby buffering the otherwise negative implications of perceiving oneself to be a victim of discrimination (see also Jetten, Branscombe, Schmitt, & Spears, 2001; Schmitt, Spears, & Branscombe, 2003). Hence, a separated approach to acculturation may be adopted not necessarily because the person does not “want” to be a member of the larger society, but because that alternative is not available to her or him (Schwartz, Unger, et  al., 2010). The most reasonable course of action in this case might be to align oneself strongly with one’s ethnic group and to function outside the mainstream culture. Given that migrant groups are typically in a disadvantaged position in material as well as symbolic terms, direct competition with the majority group is often very difficult, especially if “success” is measured in terms of reestablishing positive distinctiveness. Nevertheless, salient examples of disadvantaged cultural or ethnic groups engaging in collective action to improve their social status include the Civil Rights movement in the United States and the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa. Such actions may serve to reduce negative distinctiveness, thereby increasing equality, even if they do not necessarily lead to an inversion of the previous status differential (positive distinctiveness). On a less political note, the increasing academic achievement of Asian Americans provides an example of a minority group competing successfully to achieve positive distinctiveness even in terms of the values of the majority—and this positive distinctiveness seems to be increasingly emphasized in Asian Americans’ discourse about the meaning of their own cultural identity (i.e., the “model minority” stereotype; Chua, 2011). As an alternative to direct competition, members of minority groups may reestablish their cultural identities through various forms of “social creativity,” that is, essentially reinterpreting the situation so that their group is no longer perceived in negative terms. Social identity theory suggests a number of ways in which people may change the frame of social comparisons with other groups, so that their group comes out as positively distinct. One approach is to change the frame of reference for social comparison: thus, if one belongs to a low status group, one

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might compare one’s group with other low-status minorities, rather than comparing with the majority group, or one might isolate one’s group in order to avoid intergroup comparison entirely and focus on intragroup comparisons. One way of avoiding social comparisons with the majority group is to adopt a separationist acculturation strategy—or perhaps even to live in ethnic enclaves, where the migrant group has a greater amount of social and political power. Although there is a great deal of variability in the extent to which these enclaves can realistically compete with the host-national group for important resources, the enclave provides residents with a context in which they can function, at least to some extent, as though they never left their countries of origin. For example, in some European cities such as Bradford (England), Marseille (France), and Duisburg (Germany), migrants and their immediate descendants comprise considerable proportions of the population, and these cities are home to large ethnic enclaves dominated by migrant cultures. Similar cities in the United States include Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Houston. Adult migrants settling in these enclaves can go about their daily business without learning the language of the larger country to which they have migrated (Caldwell, 2008; Portes & Rumbaut, 2006; Schwartz, Pantin, Prado, Sullivan, & Szapocznik, 2006). Ethnic enclaves in these (and other) cities are large enough such that minority groups can challenge policies and decisions enacted by the larger nation in which the enclave is located. For example, in Los Angeles, Mexican migrants held demonstrations to protest Proposition 187, which would have denied health care and education to undocumented migrants and their children; Cuban Americans in Miami staged violent protests against the U.S. government’s decision to send Elián Gonzalez, a Cuban boy rescued at sea, back to his father in Cuba (Stepick et al., 2011). A number of factors besides minority group size or density have been identified as influencing whether such collective action can be expected (for more on this, see e.g., van Zomeren, Postmes, & Spears, 2008). Migrants also might engage in group-based identity management strategies from the position of their new ethnic group, following segmented assimilation. Especially for members of the smallest groups, identifying with a larger “pan-ethnic” group (e.g., Hispanics in the United States, Muslims in Europe) may provide greater opportunities for collective action or “voice” than would otherwise be possible from the position of one’s group of origin.

For example, French Muslims in Islamic enclaves in or near Paris have protested, sometimes violently, against various laws and policies that have been adopted by the local and national governments (Caldwell, 2008). It is important to recognize that intragroup dynamics within migrant communities play an important role here, not just intergroup relations with the majority. As we discussed earlier, group leaders may sometimes act as “identity entrepreneurs,” advocating a particular version of social reality that makes particular social categories salient, or that emphasizes particular intergroup contrasts and thus defines the ingroup in a way that suits their personal goals or interests (Reicher & Hopkins, 1996; Reicher et  al., 2005). Just as leaders within the majority community may attempt to sway public opinion by portraying migrants as a threat to the larger society, leaders within the migrant community may also seek to gain favorable social position by portraying the majority ethnic group as the enemy. For example, after Elián Gonzalez was sent back to Cuba against the wishes of the Miami Cuban community, leaders in the Miami Cuban enclave orchestrated a number of rallies against the United States government. Ultimately, these rallies influenced public opinion to the point where they helped to propel George W. Bush to the U.S. presidency in 2000. So, for cases in which migrants have built up sufficient power through the formation of ethnic enclaves, they can exert a powerful influence on the course of events in the larger country. The distinction between individual (i.e., mobility) and collective (i.e., social competition and creativity) identity management strategies in social identity theory is somewhat reminiscent of the early, unidimensional view of acculturation as a straightforward choice between assimilation and separation. Yet, several decades of acculturation research have shown that this is not the case:  It is equally possible—and Berry (2006) and other theorists have argued that it is more desirable—to adopt an integrated (or bicultural) approach to acculturation, that is, participating fully in the majority society while identifying with one’s culture of origin and maintaining its values and practices. On the surface, biculturalism may seem to be an obviously preferable strategy, offering the “best of both worlds” to the acculturating migrant. Yet, as we have noted earlier, Rudmin, (2003) has put forth the opposite suggestion: that bicultural migrants may often find themselves “caught between two worlds.” Although social identity theory itself has little to say about

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these issues, subsequent research within the social identity tradition may be helpful in understanding some of the barriers to adopting a bicultural or integrated acculturation style, as well as some of the pitfalls for those who do adopt such an approach. Although biculturalism (integration) is often considered the acculturation strategy with the most favorable outcomes in Berry’s model (Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2013; Phinney et  al., 2006; Schwartz & Zamboanga, 2008), perceived rejection by the majority group will often interfere with the development of biculturalism. It is difficult for a person to identify with a society that discriminates against him or against the group to which he belongs, or with a society that simply does not view him as “one of us,” as is the case with visible-minority individuals experiencing perpetual foreigner syndrome. Equally, especially where migrant groups have adopted a largely separationist or a segmented assimilationist approach, migrant group members who exhibit values, practices, or identifications of the majority group may be viewed with suspicion—as impostors or deviants. As we have discussed earlier, a substantial body of research in the social identity tradition has documented how ingroup members who are perceived as impostors or who deviate from group norms are often derogated or excluded by other group members, and they are frequently treated more harshly than outgroup members who exhibit the same behaviors, because their actions are seen as undermining the distinctiveness or the continuity of the group’s identity (see, e.g., Hornsey & Jetten, 2004; Marques et al., 2001). Thus, for many people, integrating their heritage and receiving cultures into an individualized mosaic may simply not be a realistic option. Biculturalism may be especially unlikely to occur in situations in which migrants are expected to assimilate, that is, to “leave their cultural baggage at the door.” When assimilationist expectations are present, the distinctiveness and continuity of the migrant group’s cultural identity are threatened (cf. Sam & Berry, 2010; Vignoles, 2011). Hence, not only will the majority group be sensitive to behaviors by an individual migrants that might suggest that they are “not one of us,” but the minority group will also be especially sensitized to behaviors that deviate from their cultural norms and may potentially reject or punish individuals who exhibit signs of biculturalism in order to protect the continuity, distinctiveness, and meaning of their group membership. For example, U.S. Hispanics who “act American” may be labeled with the derisive 78

term “Oreo”:  brown on the outside but white on the inside. Thus, the “melting pot,” in which various migrant cultural streams are incorporated into the larger receiving culture, can become a “pressure cooker” (Berry, 2006, p.  36). Migrants may react to such stressful receiving contexts by withdrawing from the larger society altogether and interacting largely with other members of their ethnic group, or with members of other minority groups (see Roysircar-Sodowsky & Maestas, 2000). For example, as detailed in Caldwell (2008), many minority groups in Europe identify with the oppressed plight of African Americans—and some have created rap songs (an African American cultural invention) about their experiences with discrimination. In another sense, however, almost every migrant is forced to be bicultural at least to some extent. In most cases, majority group members expect migrants to adopt at least some of the ways and means of the receiving culture (Piontkowski et al., 2002; Rohmann et al., 2006). Moreover, in many cases, migrants elect to preserve their cultural heritage in their homes and to transmit this heritage to their children (e.g., Juang & Syed, 2010; Umaña-Taylor, Bhanot, & Shin, 2006). In some cases, majority group members may even want migrants to continue their cultural heritage, as long as heritage-culture retention is accompanied by a desire for contact with the majority group (Matera, Stefanile, & Brown, 2011). Thus, most migrants and their children must straddle two cultures—their heritage culture in the home (and perhaps in the community), and the receiving culture outside the home (Arends-Tóth & van de Vijver, 2007). Of course, the extent to which migrants must interact with the receiving culture depends on the extent to which they reside in ethnic enclaves that insulate them from the larger society, and adults who settle in ethnic enclaves and who do not attend formal schooling in the society of settlement may have little or no involvement with the receiving culture (Schwartz, Pantin, et  al., 2006). Nevertheless, in most cases—and in almost all cases involving children, adolescents, and young adults— migrants must reconcile, or at least balance, their heritage and receiving cultures. Bicultural identity integration. Although the term bicultural indicates that people endorse aspects of both their heritage and receiving cultural contexts, the term does not speak to the extent to which they are able to reconcile these contexts and to live successfully “in two worlds.” Clearly, some bicultural individuals are better able than others to

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reconcile and integrate their two cultural streams (e.g., Benet-Martínez, Leu, Lee, & Morris, 2002). Perhaps in response to criticisms of the construct of biculturalism (e.g., Rudmin, 2003), as well as to the observed heterogeneity within the bicultural category, a number of researchers have theorized and empirically identified multiple forms of biculturalism (e.g., Chia & Costigan, 2006; LaFromboise, Coleman, & Gerton, 1993; Schwartz & Zamboanga, 2008; Simon & Ruhs, 2008). Generally speaking, these forms of biculturalism can be distinguished based on people’s ability to integrate the various cultural streams to which they are exposed. Benet-Martínez and colleagues (e.g., BenetMartínez & Haritatos, 2005; Haritatos & Benet-Martínez, 2005; Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2007) have gone a step further, proposing the construct of bicultural identity integration (BII). Bicultural identity integration has two facets, representing distinct dimensions of individual variation. Even within the same migrant group, individuals differ in the extent to which they perceive their heritage and receiving cultures as harmonious or conflicting (BII harmony), and they may also differ in the extent to which they attempt to blend their cultural identities into an integrated whole or try to keep the two identities in separate “compartments” (BII blendedness; for recent reviews, see Benet-Martínez, this volume; Huynh, Nguyen, & Benet-Martínez, 2011). Individuals low in BII harmony tend to see their two cultural streams as opposing and irreconcilable. For example, a Chinese American individual may feel that the family-oriented and collectivist orientation underlying Chinese culture is incompatible with the individualism and self-determination underlying American culture. In contrast, individuals high in BII harmony may find it easier to integrate aspects of their two cultural backgrounds into a unique, individualized mosaic. A  biculturally integrated person might, for instance, combine the interdependent orientation from Chinese culture with the ingenuity and creativity from American culture. Empirical evidence suggests that high-BII-­ harmony individuals report more favorable adjustment (e.g., higher self-esteem, fewer depressive symptoms) compared to their low-BII-harmony counterparts (Chen, Benet-Martínez, & Bond, 2008). Moreover, experimental studies suggest that individuals high in BII harmony are better able than those low in BII harmony to respond appropriately to contextual stimuli, for example, providing

characteristically Chinese cultural responses to Chinese primes, and characteristically American cultural responses to American primes (e.g., Benet-Martínez et al., 2002). In low-BII-harmony individuals, there appears to be some confusion regarding which cultural stream to activate in a given situation, whereas high-BII-harmony individuals do not appear to manifest such confusion. In some cases, then, biculturalism is “greater than the sum of its parts.” Rather than simply representing additive effects of endorsing the heritage and receiving cultural streams, biculturalism—at least in the case of high BII harmony—represents creating an individualized culture using elements from one’s heritage and receiving cultural streams. The BII construct has also been extended to situations in which more than two cultural streams are available (i.e., multicultural identity integration; Downie, Koestner, ElGeledi, & Cree, 2004; Downie, Mageau, Koestner, & Liodden, 2006). Examples of such contexts include multi-ethnic countries and regions such as Quebec, Belgium, Switzerland, South Africa, and Singapore. For example, migrants to Montreal must reconcile their cultural heritage with both Francophone and Anglophone Canadian cultural streams. Although this task may be more difficult than integrating only two cultural streams, the principles and processes through which this integration is achieved—and the consequences of successfully versus unsuccessfully navigating this integration—are thought to be similar to those espoused within the BII model. Migrants who are high in BII typically seem to fare more favorably on indices of self-esteem and well-being compared to migrants who are low in BII or who do not adopt bicultural approaches at all (Chen et al., 2008; Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2007). However, the mechanisms responsible for the link between integrated biculturalism and well-being are not well understood. Vignoles, Ashforth, and Stubbs (2013) conducted two studies among multicultural individuals to try to understand better the motivational dynamics underlying the link between BII and well-being. They were particularly interested in comparing two alternative accounts of why low BII might be problematic for individuals. On the one hand, living with compartmentalized and conflicting cultural identities might result in a lack of self-continuity or unity in one’s sense of identity (see Amiot, de la Sablonnière, Terry, & Smith, 2007). On the other hand, individuals may be relatively comfortable with shifting identities across contexts (e.g. Arends-Tóth &

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van de Vijver, 2007; Turner et al., 1987), but those experiencing greater conflict between their cultural identities may experience social difficulties, because they risk being perceived as an impostor or a deviant by both cultural groups involved. Replicating the previous studies, in a correlational study conducted among individuals who had lived in more than three cultures, participants lower in BII reported lower psychological well-being across a range of indices and, in an experimental study conducted among individuals of mixed ethnicity, participants who had been asked to recall an instance of cultural identity conflict—when their cultural identities “pulled them in opposite directions”—reported more negative and less positive affect compared to a control group. Crucially, in both studies, Vignoles et  al. measured two potential mediating variables: perceptions of self-continuity and the sense of belonging. In both studies, effects of perceived identity conflict on well-being were mediated by a lower sense of belonging, and not by lower self-continuity.

Putting the Pieces Together: Acculturation as a Dynamic Intergroup Process

In the preceding sections, we have discussed the identity processes operating in multicultural societies—first from the perspective of majority group members, and then from the perspective of cultural minorities. From this discussion, it should already be apparent that the two sets of processes are very closely interwoven, and that, in reality, it is somewhat artificial to attempt to separate them—despite the fact that doing so may be necessary for the purpose of empirical study. We now attempt to put the pieces together and frame acculturation as a dynamic, historically evolving, intergroup process. In doing so, we believe that it is useful to draw some theoretical insights from another extension of social identity theory: the elaborated social identity model (Drury & Reicher, 1999, 2000, 2009). Although developed and tested mainly in the context of crowd events, especially political demonstrations, we believe that this model can be useful for understanding the emergence and transformation of identities in other intergroup settings, including relations between cultural groups. Unlike traditional theories of identity and intergroup relations, which tend to focus separately on the perspective of each group, this model conceptualizes the intergroup relationship as a dynamically evolving “whole,” with its own internal logic and emerging properties. Crucially, this involves re-thinking the nature and 80

role of “context” in social identity processes, as well as the processes by which identity categories emerge and are transformed. In the following paragraphs, we expand on these two key insights, illustrating their relevance to the understanding of acculturation processes. Reconceptualizing “context.” Social-psychological theories have often tended to view context in rather static terms: as an “independent variable” constraining and shaping identity dynamics. Thus, the analysis of identity processes begins with the individual or group responding to a particular context that is seen as preexisting or external to the identity dynamics that are going on. In contrast, the elaborated social identity model views context as an emerging—and dynamically changing—­property of the intergroup relationship itself. Thus, the identity management strategies of the majority provide the context for the identity processes of cultural minorities, and, in turn, the identity management strategies of cultural minorities create the context for the identity processes in the majority group. The process of intergroup negotiation is iterative rather than static. Specifically, there are certain group processes that place migrants and majority group members “at odds” with one another and prevent migrants from entering (or being perceived as part of ) the receiving culture, and these processes are based on identity threats as perceived by both parties. Earlier in this chapter, we reviewed interactive acculturation models that focus on the match versus mismatch between migrants’ approaches to acculturation and the ways in which majority group members would like to see migrants acculturate (e.g., Berry, 2006; Bourhis et  al., 1997; Piontkowski et  al., 2002). However, intergroup relations are not a static phenomenon. They change with world events, over generations, and across historical epochs (Licata et  al., 2011; Stepick et  al., 2011). The ways in which majority group members perceive threats posed by minorities, and the actions that majority group members take based on these perceived threats, serve to establish the context in which minorities live their lives. In many cases, when majority group members perceive threats from migrants or other minority groups, they put into place policies to reduce these threats, but often these policies wind up creating identity threats for migrant or minority groups. In turn, the ways in which minority groups respond to identity threats influence how the minority groups are perceived by majority group members. So the process is iterative, where threatened majorities impose laws and policies to distance themselves from migrant

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and minority groups or cultures, and where minority groups respond in ways that either increase or decrease the extent of threat perceived by the majority group. A reactive ethnicity response is likely to inflame tensions between groups, whereas a more peaceful and measured response (such as Nelson Mandela’s nonviolent campaign against apartheid in South Africa) may lead to permanent changes in the dynamics between minority and majority group members. Reactive ethnicity can be understood as a migrant group’s defensive response to defensive policies or behaviors initiated by the majority ethnic group in response to perceived identity threats. For example, Proposition 187 in California was designed to deny any public services to illegal immigrants or their children. The law was proposed as a way of limiting the “invasion” of undocumented and unwanted immigrants, who were seen as posing both realistic and symbolic threats to the local population (Lee, Ottati, & Hussain, 2001). In response, Mexicans and Mexican Americans in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and other California cities engaged in demonstrations in which they waved the Mexican flag—the flag of a country that they or their ancestors had voluntarily left (Stepick et al., 2011). Both Proposition 187 and the reaction from the Mexican American community represent clear instances of identity defense. White and Black Americans, who were largely behind the crafting and passage of the law, sought to protect the identity of their country as well as to ensure that illegal immigrants would not bring down wages for—and take jobs from—low-income Americans. Mexican Americans, on the other hand, sought to protect the right for their compatriots to enter the United States and to maintain access to education, health care, and other social services. It can be understood, then, that the goal of each group (White/ Black Americans and Mexican Americans) was to protect its own interests, rather than to deliberately harm the other group. Brewer’s (1999) argument that groups seek primarily to reward and protect their own members, rather than to harm other groups, applies here. For White and Black Americans, keeping “them” (illegal Mexican immigrants) out of the United States would serve as a way of protecting the interests of the ingroup (native-born White and Black Americans). That illegal immigrants already residing in California would be denied any and all social services was simply “collateral damage.” The French ban on Muslim headscarves serves as another example of this iterative process of

interacting perceptions of threat. Many Europeans view Islam, and the Muslim “invasion” of Europe, as a threat to their national and pan-European identities (Licata et al., 2011; Pehrson & Green, 2010). To the French parliament, and to many other French people, Muslim headscarves were symbolic of the culture that was threatening to overtake their country without their consent (van der Noll, 2010). In contrast, many French Muslims perceive themselves as targets for discrimination (Adida, Laitan, & Valfort, 2010). Although there have been few, if any, reports of mass demonstrations in Europe regarding bans on Muslim religious attire, Muslims in Europe have, in some instances, reacted angrily— sometimes violently—to what they perceive as an “unwelcome reception” and overt hostility toward them and their faith (Bleich, 2009). At least some of this anger is rooted in a perceived lack of recognition (Licata et al., 2011)—that is, the dominant society’s unwillingness to legitimize the migrant group and to acknowledge and grant its desires. We must, however, return to Brewer’s (1999) point that the intent of majority group members is to protect themselves from threat, and not to intentionally harm Muslim migrants. From the perspective of the majority group, the headscarf ban represents an attempt by the French majority to decrease the symbolic presence of Muslim cultures in public spaces. Forcing Muslim women to take off their veils means that French people do not have to look at veiled women, but it does not decrease the women’s religious faith. What is important, from the majority group’s perspective, is not the extent to which Muslim women value or endorse their faith, but rather that the veil—as a symbolic threat—is no longer present in public intergroup space. It is through this iterative process that the boundaries between “French identity” and “Muslim identity” are negotiated and renegotiated over time. Indeed, as the number of Muslims in France continues to grow, the balance of power between Muslims and non-Muslims may change, and the country’s ability to impose anti-Muslim policies like the headscarf ban may decrease. The construct of reactive ethnicity contraindicates biculturalism and integration with the majority group. Specifically, rejection by the dominant society may lead members of the rejected group to dis-identify with that society. The “failure” of Muslims to integrate into European societies—at least as perceived by many Europeans—may be perceived by Muslims as a lack of opportunity to integrate themselves into the societies to which they

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have migrated (Hargreaves, 2007). So BII is more than simply an individual-difference construct, as posited by Benet-Martínez and colleagues (e.g., Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005; Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2007). Beyond the individual differences that undoubtedly exist between and among members of a given ethnic group within a given receiving society, BII can be facilitated or inhibited by dynamics between migrant groups and the societies that are receiving them—especially when these dynamics are highly politicized (as is the case for Mexican Americans in the United States and for many Muslim groups in European countries). As long as perceived threats to the national ingroup persist, migrants who are seen as posing such threats are likely to be viewed with suspicion— even if the migrants identify with the national ingroup (Portes & Rumbaut, 2001) or if their motives are benevolent (e.g., seeking recognition for their needs and desires; Licata et al., 2011). In fact, migrants who attempt to assimilate, but who are still viewed as threatening, are likely to be viewed with even more suspicion compared to migrants who hold onto their cultural heritage (Guimond, De Oliveira, Kamiesjki, & Sidanius, 2010). Portes and Rumbaut (2001) cite the example of a young Korean American woman who states that she “identifies with Americans, but Americans do not identify with me” (p. 191). Similarly, migrants seeking to become citizens of the countries in which they have settled may have their motives questioned: Are they just looking to bring their family members here, or are they looking to gain access to our social services? Such mistrust is likely to lead to grievances on both sides. Take, for instance, the 2009 law passed in Arizona that permits police officers to request legal immigration documentation from individuals whom they suspect to have violated laws. Many White Americans view the law as enforcing U.S. immigration policies and keeping illegal immigrants out of the country (Pew Research Center, 2010a). On the other hand, many Hispanics view the law as “racial profiling” and as unfairly targeting individuals of Hispanic descent (Pew Research Center, 2010b). Regardless of which perspective a given individual adopts, it can be agreed that the law has served to exacerbate tensions—and identity threats—in both White and Hispanic Americans. In turn, identity threats from the larger society may lead migrant groups to feel threatened themselves—and to become defensive toward ­ the dominant/receiving society. Among Turkish Muslims interviewed in the Netherlands by 82

Verkuyten and Yildiz (2007), perceived rejection by majority Dutch people was associated with rejection of Dutch identity, and with stronger identification with participants’ Turkish heritage and with Islam. Likewise, the immigration debate in the United States, which largely centers on Hispanics, has led some Hispanic individuals to become more ethnically identified (Roehling, Jarvis, Sprik, & Campbell, 2010). Similarly, experiences of discrimination may lead Mexican American adolescents to more strongly endorse Mexican cultural values such as familism and religiosity (Berkel et  al., 2010). Simply put, migrants may defensively identify with their cultures of origin when they perceive themselves as unwanted or threatened by majority group members. In essence, the intergroup dynamics that underlie acculturation are guided by (a)  the extent of cultural differences between migrants and majority group members (i.e., the larger the cultural divide, the greater the threats that are experienced on both sides); (b)  the size and continuity of the migrant flow (the more migrants who are arriving, and the greater their presence, the more threat that is experienced on both sides); (c) the extent to which a given migrant group is phenotypically different from the host-national group (phenotypic differences tend to exacerbate threats on both sides); (d) actions taken by majority group members that increase threats to migrant groups, as well as the migrant groups’ responses to these threats; and (e) changing demographics and historical currents that may influence who is regarded as being within the national ingroup and who is not. Identities as emergent phenomena. In addition to reconceptualizing context, the elaborated social identity model also views identity categories as emerging from the intergroup relationship. Thus, self-categories are not simply generated autonomously and in a bottom-up manner by the groups concerned, as is suggested by self-categorization theory; it is also the case that groups can position each other into certain social categories, and that the meanings of the social categories are negotiated both within and between the groups concerned. Perhaps the most obvious instance of this is the emergence of new cultural identities through segmented assimilation processes, as we discussed earlier. To the extent that majority group members view and treat cultural minorities from diverse origins as a homogeneous group, members of these cultural minorities will come to experience a sense of common fate, and this common fate may lead them to

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see themselves in terms of a superordinate group membership—such as Hispanic Americans—that did not previously exist. Thus, initially erroneous perceptions by the majority group can result in a self-fulfilling prophecy whereby a new social category is created (see Drury & Reicher, 2000, for a discussion of similar processes occurring between police and protestors). Ironically, this very process may be expected to exacerbate the identity threat experienced by majority group members, because members of small, diverse, and relatively powerless immigrant groups are seen—and will thus come to see themselves—as members of a much larger and thus more powerful pan-ethnic group. As we have discussed earlier, this is precisely the kind of group that is likely to be maximally threatening to the cultural majority, because it presents the possibility of a “hostile takeover” of the national identity. Moreover, the elaborated social identity model suggests that the sense of solidarity arising from the newly emerging identity may be experienced by the minority members themselves as empowering, giving them a greater voice in national debates and greater opportunities to effect genuine transformations of the national context in which they find themselves (see Drury & Reicher, 2009). So how will segmented assimilation affect a country’s cultural profile over time? In the United States, for example, the majority (about 85%) of the current migrant stream is from non-European countries (Hernandez, Denton, & Macartney, 2007). According to the principle of segmented assimilation, many of these migrants are acculturating to something other than White America. White Americans are reproducing just above the replenishment rate (2.1 children per family) needed to sustain a population over generational time. In many European countries, however, Whites are reproducing far below the replenishment rate, suggesting that not only will the proportion of Whites decrease in future generations, but their absolute numbers will also decrease (United Nations, 2009). Combined with mass migration and high fertility rates among ethnic minority groups, these trends suggest that Whites will represent only about half the population in the United States and many European countries by the middle of the 21st century. The majority-minority balance, at least in terms of population shares, is rapidly changing. White Americans, especially those who define the United States in terms of its ethnic heritage, may consider themselves an “endangered species” (e.g.,

Buchanan, 2006) and may seek to enact official and unofficial policies to curb immigration and to force those migrants already in the country to assimilate to White American culture. Similar dynamics are occurring in Europe (e.g., Licata et  al., 2011). As discussed earlier, however, such efforts are likely to backfire—and will likely produce even more division between native and migrant groups. Biculturalism is an important part of acculturation, especially given competing pressures from the receiving-cultural community (to endorse receiving-cultural orientations) and from the heritage-cultural community (to retain heritage-cultural orientations). In migrant families, differential endorsement of the heritage or receiving cultural streams between parents and children or adolescents can lead to family conflict and to behavior problems and substance abuse among the youth (Smokowski, Rose, & Bacallao, 2008; Unger, Ritt-Olson, Wagner, Soto, & Baezconde-Garbanati, 2009). As a result, it is often essential for youth to be bicultural, so that they can relate both to traditionally oriented family members and to receiving-culture individuals. It may, therefore, not be a reasonable expectation for migrant youth to fully assimilate and discard their cultural heritage. Although individuals with bicultural identifications (e.g., Cuban American, Pakistani Briton) are more likely to be accepted by majority group members than are individuals who identify only with their cultures of origin (Verkuyten & Thijs, 2010), hard-line conservatives are likely to insist that migrants identify only with the country of settlement. In the United States, for example, Buchanan (2006) and others have labeled biculturalism as a problem. Their argument is that prior waves of immigrants to the United States did not insist on labeling themselves as Irish American, Italian American, or Jewish American— and, consequently, contemporary migrants should also discard their heritage-cultural identities. The missing piece in this argument, however, is that earlier waves of migrants to the United States— especially the Southern and Eastern Europeans who arrived between 1880 and 1924—were subjected to intense Americanization programs at school and in the community, where their cultural heritage was denigrated as inferior, and becoming fully American was the only available option (Huntington, 2004). Moreover, at the time when those migrants were arriving, ships were the primary mode of crossing the Atlantic, and visiting the homeland was difficult, if not impossible. Today’s migrants can communicate with their friends and relatives in their

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home countries by e-mail, through social media and online chatting, and during frequent visits. The “transnational” nature of migration, where many families move back and forth between the heritage and receiving countries and where migrants can remain involved with their countries of origin, has facilitated the rise of biculturalism (e.g., Kasinitz et al., 2008). For example, a recent Dominican election was decided largely by voters in New York City, and the economies of many Mexican and Central American villages are supported almost completely by remittances sent from the United States (Portes & Rumbaut, 2006). Comparing past and present waves of migration is problematic because the circumstances in which migrants live have changed exponentially. The challenge for biculturalism, in any of its forms, then, is the development of an integrated bicultural self. Rudmin (2003) and others (Knight et al., 2009) have portrayed biculturalism as a difficult condition in which the contrasting demands and expectations of the heritage and receiving cultural communities are impossible to reconcile. This depiction of biculturalism calls to mind the classic fairy tale, in which the bat is rejected by the beasts because they think he is a bird, and rejected by the birds because they think he is a beast. Although the contrasting expectations of the heritage and receiving cultural communities are likely to be the same for individuals low and high on bicultural identity integration, the difference is the stress (or lack thereof ) that the individual perceives as a result of these incompatible expectations (cf. Schwartz & Zamboanga, 2008). Indeed, an integrated bicultural identity is likely to strengthen both the heritage and receiving cultural identities—for example, in the United States, migrants who identify strongly with their heritage cultures are more likely than other migrants to participate in American civic activities (Stepick & Dutton Stepick, 2010). Further, Schwartz and Zamboanga (2008) found that, among a sample of Hispanic young adults in Miami, participants classified as “full bicultural” according to latent class analytic procedures were more strongly ethnically identified, were more strongly individualistic and collectivistic, and perceived less acculturative stress compared to participants classified as “partial bicultural.” So biculturalism, in its fullest and most integrated form, suggests more comfort with both cultural streams, as well as less perceived pressures from the heritage and receiving cultural groups. As a case in point, Matera et al. (2011) found that Italian majority group members 84

were more favorably predisposed toward highly bicultural migrants than toward those who were less bicultural. Migrants cannot be fully integrated into the receiving culture until these threats are reduced or eliminated—as the American and European cases have illustrated (see Caldwell, 2008; Huntington, 2004; Schildkraut, 2007, for further discussion). For example, in the United States during the early 20th century, Jewish and Italian migrants were labeled as “foreigners,” “unassimilable,” and the like (Sterba, 2003). These groups were perceived as racially separate from White Americans until the mass Southern and Eastern European migration had stopped, and until the perceived threats to the United States population had passed (Stepick et al., 2011). Indeed, mass migration of individuals from a given country or region is probably one of the strongest predictors of the extent to which dominant group members will label that group as a threat (Coenders et al., 2008). In the past, migrant groups have been “absorbed” into the national ingroup over time, as the threats posed by the migrant groups declined and, in some cases, eventually disappeared. However, in most of these prior cases, cultural and phenotypic differences between migrants and majority group members were seen as far smaller in past generations than is the case currently in most countries and regions that are receiving large numbers of migrants. Jewish and Italian migrants to the United States were phenotypically White and shared the Judeo-Christian cultural background underlying American culture. The majority of today’s immigrants are much more phenotypically, religiously, and culturally different from the societies in which they are settling. Can Mexican migrants in the United States, Pakistani migrants in Britain, Algerian migrants in France, or Turkish migrants in Germany ever fully integrate into the larger national societies? Although this remains an open empirical question—these migrant flows are still ongoing, and at least in the European cases, most migrants are first or second generation—the “perpetual foreigner” syndrome suggests that full incorporation of these migrant groups will be more difficult and problematic than was the case with European migrants to the United States. Will the majority of British people ever look at a Pakistani Briton and see just another Briton? Research in the United States suggests that the label “American” is reserved primarily for Whites (e.g., Devos & Banaji, 2005; Devos & Heng, 2009). Even Japanese Americans whose families have

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been in the United States for four generations are nonetheless perceived as foreigners. These patterns suggest that, for visible-minority migrant groups, intergroup threats will continue long after the migrants and their descendants have incorporated themselves into the receiving society. It remains to be determined whether today’s Mexicans become tomorrow’s Americans, whether today’s Pakistanis become tomorrow’s Britons, and whether today’s Turks become tomorrow’s Germans. Will these intergroup threats become stronger or weaker as minority groups represent progressively larger shares of the American and European populations? Will the growing numbers of cultural and ethnic minorities in Western societies lead to the acceptance of minorities as equals, or will they cause the shrinking White populations to feel even more threatened? Although the answer to this question is not yet known, it may lie in how the national ingroup is defined. If a country’s national identity is defined in terms of shared cultural history or ancestry, then individuals who do not share that history or ancestry are unlikely to be fully accepted into the national ingroup (Pehrson et al., 2009). On the other hand, if a country’s national identity is defined in terms of current endorsement of a given set of cultural practices, values, and identifications with the nation, then later-generation minority group members are likely to be accepted into the national ingroup (Flannery, Reise, & Yu, 2001). Of course, the national ingroup is characterized by multiple definitions, and there often are disagreements regarding who is a member of that ingroup and who is not (e.g., Rodriguez, Schwartz, & Whitbourne, 2010). However, as long as a group of migrants represent threats to the distinctiveness and continuity of the national ingroup’s identity— in terms of how that identity is consensually defined (i.e., what the majority of majority group members, or at least those in leadership positions, believe that the national ingroup is)—that migrant group will remain outside the national ingroup.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we have argued here that acculturation among migrants is, in fact, a special case of intergroup relations, and that larger social-psychological forces work to guide the specific acculturation approaches that migrants adopt (and that majority group members expect). Although migrants have a choice regarding some aspects of their acculturation, the reception afforded to them by majority group members, as well as the threats

that they perceived as a result of this reception, determine much of how migrants will acculturate (Schwartz, Unger, et al., 2010; Zagefka, González, & Brown, 2011). Individual-level perspectives on acculturation, which focus primarily (or exclusively) on the experiences of the individual migrant, do not capture the richness and complexity of the intergroup relations between migrants and the societies that are receiving them. Even interactional views of acculturation, which focus on the degree of match versus mismatch between migrants’ approaches to acculturation and majority group members’ expectations, assume that these preferences are largely static. We contend that what is needed is a dynamic model of intergroup relations that considers the changing nature of the extent of power held by majority group members, inroads made by the migrant group in establishing a foothold within the receiving society, and the ways in which migrants and majority group members respond to perceived threats from one another. Will migrants comply with the defensive policies enacted by majority group members, such as Muslim women taking off their veils in France, or will they “fight back,” as in the case of Mexican migrants staging marches and rallies to protest the withdrawal of social services from children of unauthorized migrants in the United States? The specific intergroup dynamics between migrants and majority group members differ between and among countries (Pehrson & Green, 2010; Staerklé, Sidanius, Green, & Molina, 2010), so migrants’ and majority group members’ reactions to perceived threats may not be the same across contexts. Nonetheless, the broader set of principles that we have articulated here may hold in most situations. Most notably, the casting of acculturation as an intergroup process suggests that group outcomes, as well as adjustment outcomes in individual migrants, should be considered in acculturation research (Brown & Zagefka, 2011). Thus, collective self-esteem may be as important as individual self-esteem, intergroup anxiety as important as personal well-being, and the quality of intergroup relationships as important as one’s interpersonal relationships, when considering the consequences of acculturation orientations, identity threats, discriminatory laws and policies, and other interactions between migrant and host-national groups. Majority group members who support defensive policies vis-à-vis migrants are not only acting to preserve their own individual self-interests, but they are also acting to preserve the interests of their ingroup.

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Similarly, migrants who protest against policies enacted by majority group members, or who engage in violent behavior toward them, are acting on behalf of their ethnic, cultural, or national group as a whole, not simply on their own behalf. Surely Mohammad Siddique Khan, the leader of the terrorist group that perpetrated the July 2005 bombings in London, was not acting out of self-interest when he blew himself up on a train. Rather, he was probably seeking to defend his cultural and religious group against perceived threats from the non-Muslim British community (see Moshman, 2011; and Post, 2005, for further discussion of group motives in terrorist activities). In summary, in this chapter we have situated acculturation within the context of intergroup relations. Following Berry (2006), Bourhis et  al. (1997), Rohmann et  al. (2006), and others, we view the acculturation orientations of migrant groups as interacting with those of the receiving society. However, we take this principle several steps further. First, we have reviewed evidence that this interaction between migrants’ acculturation orientations and the expectations of receiving-society individuals is further moderated by the migrant group and receiving society in question. Second, we have cast acculturation as a social identity process marked by realistic and symbolic threats and by attempts by migrants to manage their identities in relation to the receiving society. The emergence of new groupings, such as “Hispanic” or “Latino,” within the receiving society is one example of this kind of identity management. Third, we have drawn on a wide range of identity theories to illustrate the cultural dynamics between migrants and receiving-society individuals. In particular, we have argued that receiving-society individuals are more likely to perceive migrants as a threat to the extent that they are perceived to undermine the continuity and distinctiveness of the national ingroup—rather than because they represent a competing ethnic outgroup. These perceptions will depend crucially on how the receiving-society defines itself (e.g., in ethnic terms or in civic terms). When national identity is defined in more ethnic terms, it may be especially difficult for migrants and their descendants to gain acceptance; in contrast, when the national identity is defined in more civic terms, it may be more possible for migrants and their descendants to be accepted as members of the nation. Finally, our perspective views migrant-majority relations as constantly evolving. Today’s migrants are not acculturating to the same society that existed 100 years 86

ago. Perhaps the clearest indication of this dynamic process is the shift in the groups who are migrating. Whereas much of the world’s migration in the 19th and early 20th centuries involved Europeans moving to the United States, Canada, and Australia, most of today’s migrants are coming from primarily collectivist regions such as Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Southern and Eastern Asia, and the Middle East. Further, the receiving societies in migrant-receiving countries or regions include the descendants of earlier migrants, and many of these societies have adopted more multicultural policies than were in place 100  years ago. Acculturation is a dynamic interplay between migrant and receiving groups, and in some cases the boundaries between these groups are not completely clear. We hope that the perspective that we have introduced here will inspire more research on acculturation as a special case of intergroup relations.

Note

1. We are extremely grateful to David Sam, Ron Fischer, and an anonymous reviewer for their valuable comments on a previous version of this chapter.

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The Social-Psychological Context

CH A PT E R

5

Multicultural Societies

John W. Berry and David L. Sam

Abstract Multiculturalism is first discussed as the basic presence of cultural diversity in a society. It is then presented as an orientation (in public policy) toward this diversity. It is distinguished from pluralism (where there is only diversity) by noting that multiculturalism policy and practice has two core features: in addition to the presence of cultural diversity, multiculturalism also requires intercultural contact and equitable participation of all cultural elements in the life of the larger society (sometimes referred to as interculturalism). The concept of intercultural strategies is presented as a guide to understanding variations in public policy and public attitudes toward multiculturalism. Selected psychological studies of multiculturalism are then reviewed, including those on multicultural attitudes, and as well as studies examining three hypotheses derived from multiculturalism policies. Conclusions are then advanced, including the challenges and impediments in achieving full multiculturalism, and a discussion of the psychological benefits (and costs) of accepting multiculturalism, both by the society and by cultural groups and individual members. Key Words:  acculturation, contact, diversity, equity, interculturalism, intercultural strategies, ­multiculturalism, multicultural policy, participation

Introduction

In the grand sweep of human history, from China and India, through the Hellenic, Roman, Ottoman, and European empires, there has been a persistent question of how cultural communities and their individual members should live together in culturally diverse societies. There are obvious political, economic, and cultural dimensions to this question; these aspects have been examined by social scientists over the decades (e.g., Fleras, 2009; Huntington, 2005; Ryan, 2010). They have also been addressed by social philosophers (Barry, 2001; Fowers & Richardson 1996; Kymlicka, 1995, 2001, 2012; Taylor, 1992) who pose basic questions about the moral underpinnings and logical contradictions inherent in multiculturalism. However, there are also fundamental psychological dimensions, ones

that are situated in the views and characteristics of individuals (Berry, 1997a; Lott, 2010; Moghaddam, 2008a). Among these are the attitudes, identities, and behaviors of persons who are involved in the daily interactions within and across cultural borders (Ward & Leong, 2006), as well as the the process of acculturation (Sam & Berry, 2006). In this chapter, we focus on these psychological aspects. However, as is for all cultural and cross-cultural psychology, the sociocultural contexts of these behaviors, and the international scope of these phenomena, demand our attention (Berry, Poortinga, Breugelmans, Chasiotis, & Sam, 2011). The notion of societies and their populations as multicultural has at least three aspects. The first is that virtually all contemporary societies/countries are culturally diverse, in the sense that there are no 97

societies/countries that have only one cultural or ethnic group in their population, none with only one language spoken by all members, and none in which all members share a single cultural or civic identity (UNESCO, 2009). This presence of many cultural groups within a society/country may be referred to as “multiculturalism as fact,” or “multiculturalism as cultural pluralism” in a society. The second aspect is the presence (or absence) of a policy to deal with this cultural diversity. Some societies seek to reduce (or even to eliminate) cultural diversity, such as France  (Sabatier & Boutry, 2006), whereas others have official policies and practices to promote the continuation of such diversity, such as Canada (Noels & Berry, 2006). This may be termed “multiculturalism as policy.” The third aspect is the degree to which individuals hold positive or negative attitudes toward cultural diversity and intercultural contact as fact and as policy. These attitudes can be directed toward their own cultural and ethnic group, or toward those of other groups. Here, the psychological dimensions of multiculturalism come into play. These aspects may be termed the “psychology of multiculturalism.” These three ways of conceptualizing multiculturalism will form the bulk of the present chapter. Research findings regarding the different positions will also be presented. At the end of the chapter, we will discuss the benefits of multiculturalism in light of the different conceptualizations.

Multiculturalism as pluralism

Cultural pluralism refers to the presence, within a single nation state, of multiple cultural communities (Brooks, 2002). Plural societies are made up of various kinds of cultural groups. These groups have been identified in Western societies by He and Kymlicka (2005) as:  indigenous peoples (such as Aboriginal peoples in Australia and Canada); Mobility

national minorities (such as Basque in Spain and France); and immigrant groups/ethnic groups (such as Chinese and Indian peoples in Malaysia and Singapore). However, other kinds of groups may be needed to adequately describe the composition of plural societies in other regions, such as Asia and Africa. These include cultural groups that transcend national borders (such as Kurds in Turkey, Iraq, and Iran); and those cultural groups that became incorporated into new nation states in Africa as a result of colonialism (such as Nigeria).

Types of cultural groups in plural societies

One approach to expanding this set of cultural groups is to note that groups of people and their individual members find themselves living in plural societies for a variety of reasons. Some people actually migrate themselves; some groups are the result of earlier generations of new settlements; and some have stayed where they are but have come to be dominated by the new settlement of others. Some migrate and are in contact voluntarily, whereas others are involuntarily in such situations. All of these result in the establishment of culturally plural societies, in which peoples of differing cultural backgrounds rub shoulders with each other on a daily basis. The contact situations that result in plural societies differ from each other because of these variations in reasons for new settlement. These differences have psychological implications, because they involve different motives, attitudes, coping strategies, and stress reactions. These variations are presented in Figure 5.1, arranged along three dimensions. The mobility dimension contrasts those peoples who move to another society (as migrants) with those who stay where they are; the voluntariness dimension contrasts those peoples who want to be in contact with those who do not; and the permanence dimension Voluntariness of contact

Voluntary

Involuntary

Sedentary

Ethnocultural groups

Indigenous peoples

Migrant Permanent temporary

Immigrants sojourners

Figure 5.1  Types of cultural groups in plural societies (From, Berry, 2006a).

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Refugees Asylum seekers

contrasts those who are likely to remain in contact with those who may move away from contact. The types of contact situations generated by crossing these three dimensions reveal a number of well-known kinds of groups. Immigrants are those who (usually) move voluntarily to another society and who are there relatively permanently. In contrast, while sojourners have the same mobility and voluntary qualities as immigrants, they are only temporarily away from home (such as international students, diplomats, and guest workers). Ethnocultural groups are the descendents of earlier new settlements who have maintained a sense of their cultural origins and who form communities in their diasporas. They can derive from voluntary migrants (such as French-Canadians, Greek-Australians, and Chinese-Americans). They can also be derived from involuntary migrants (such as African communities of former slaves in the Caribbean and the United States), who now are generally in contact with others on a voluntary basis. Indigenous peoples are those who are already on their home territories, but are engaged in intercultural contact with those who have migrated there to colonize or dominate them. These contacts are often involuntary because they neither invited colonization, nor did they seek their incorporation into larger nation states with a subsequent presence in their lives by with potentially more political and economic power than themselves. In some societies (e.g., China, India), these groups are referred to as national minorities. Finally, nonvoluntary migrants are made up of refugees (who have been forced to migrate, but who have obtained the right to permanent settlement in a new society) and asylum seekers (who await a decision, often in camps, about their possible repatriation). In this chapter, those groups that have migrated (immigrants, sojourners, and refugees) are the main focus. These distinctions are neither exhaustive nor mutually exclusive. For example, many sojourners (such as international students or domestic caregivers) are able to become immigrants after a period of time, and increasingly, there are transnational migrants who move from country to country, sometimes gaining citizenship in many countries. However, such distinctions serve to draw our attention to some psychological qualities that differentiate among types of groups. Most important among these psychological factors are the motivations to be in (or to avoid) intercultural contact. Among nondominant peoples, the attitudes toward contact will vary according to the degree of voluntariness: those

who have been imposed upon or those who have been uprooted are likely to have a negative orientation toward contact and change. Those who are only temporarily in contact may also have minimal interest in engaging in serious intercultural contact and change. Among members of the socially dominant people in the larger society, attitudes are also likely to vary. The reasons to colonize or enslave are likely to be rooted in negative attitudes toward those so treated. With respect to immigrants, there are large variations in dominant groups’ attitudes:  some view immigrants as an economic necessity to societal growth and as a source of cultural enrichment, whereas others see them as an economic and cultural threat to their society. Similarly, with respect to refugees, some view them as a threat, whereas others see them as an opportunity to put into practice their humanitarian values. See Berry (2006a) for an overview of these types of groups and their differential demographic, social and psychological characteristics.

Intercultural strategies in plural societies

There are two contrasting positions with respect to the continuation of such cultural diversity in plural societies. These are captured in the following two quotes: The whole continent of North America appears to be destined by Divine Providence to be peopled by one nation, speaking one language, professing one general system of religious and political principles, and accustomed to one general tenor of social usages and customs. (Quincy Adams; 1811; quoted in Sidney Lens, The Forging of the American Empire (Lens, 1974, p. 3.) We can easily conceive of a time when there will be only one culture and one civilization on the entire surface of the entire earth . . . I don’t believe that this will happen, because there are contradictory tendencies always at work—on the one hand toward homogenization and on the other toward new distinctions. (Levi-Strauss, 1978, p. 20)

These views represent a stark contrast between a vision of cultural (and possibly psychological) homogenization, and that of continuing diversification of societies and individuals. So, whose expectation has come to pass? It is clear that cultural homogenization has not taken place, at least to any deep extent. At a superficial level, such as the availability and adoption of mass cultural elements (e.g., films, food, and music) there is evidence of widespread acceptance. However, at a deeper level (such Berry, Sam

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as basic values, identities, and religious beliefs and practices), it is difficult to accept that much homogenization has taken place (Berry, 2008); diversity seems to have remained very much intact in most societies. For example, after 500 years of colonization and domination, most indigenous peoples in the Western hemisphere continue to value and to practice their heritage cultures. Many researchers have come to the same conclusion. For example Legrain (2002) has argued that “globalisation is shorthand for how our lives are becoming increasingly intertwined with those of distant people and places around the world—­ economically, politically and culturally . . .[However] globalisation is a process, not a destination” (pp. 4 and 9). That is, there is no one end point (such as cultural homogeneity) to these increasing interconnections, and, as Knight (2000, p. 242) has pointed out, “the technologies that make global culture possible also facilitate the dissemination and hence revival of distinctive local cultures.” This return to one’s roots has been termed localization (in contrast to globalization). Second, the process of globalization may lead to the fragmentation of extant societies into more culturally specific nation states, rather than into larger more uniform cultural entities (e.g., the breakup of the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia into smaller, more culturally defined, nation states). Finally, there is now substantial psychological evidence (e.g., Branscombe, Schmitt, & Harvey, 1999; Schmitt & Branscombe, 2002) that one of the consequences of intercultural contact, particularly when it is negative or discriminatory,

is to react against it, to reject cultural domination, and to increase one’s identification with one’s own cultural community. If intercultural contact does not lead inevitably to a linear change from one’s heritage culture to a more dominant one, then multidimensional conceptions are required. One way to examine these various possible outcomes of intercultural contact in plural societies is to consider the intercultural strategies framework first developed by Berry over four decades ago (Berry, 1974, 1980 & 2003). The framework, developed in 1974, had three dimensions. The first is the relative preference for maintaining one’s heritage culture and identity. The second is the relative preference for having intercultural contact with, and participating in, the larger society along with other ethnocultural groups. The third is the role played by the larger society (its policies and institutions) in allowing or constraining these first two preferences. In the original (1974) framework these three dimensions produced eight ways of engaging in intercultural relations. These issues can be responded to as attitudinal dimensions, ranging from generally positive or negative orientations to these issues; their intersection defines eight strategies, portrayed in Figure 5.2. On the left are the four orientations from the point of view of nondominant peoples (both individuals and groups); on the right are the four views held by the dominant larger society. Among nondominant cultural groups, when they do not wish (or are not allowed) to maintain their cultural identity and do seek daily interaction

Issue 1: Maintenance of heritage culture and identity Issue 2: Relationships sought among groups

+

–

+

–

+ Integration

Assimilation

Separation

Marginalization

Multiculturalism

Segregation

Melting pot Exclusion

– Strategies of ethnocultural groups

Strategies of larger society

Figure 5.2  Varieties of intercultural strategies in cultural groups and in the larger society (modified from Berry, 1980, 2003).

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Multicultural societies

with other cultures, the assimilation strategy is defined. In contrast, when individuals place a value on holding on to their original culture, and at the same time wish to avoid interaction with others, then the separation alternative is defined. When there is an interest in both maintaining one’s original culture, while in daily interactions with other groups, integration is the option. This strategy is called integration because there is some degree of cultural integrity maintained, while preferring (as a member of an ethnocultural group) to participate as an integral part of the larger social network. Finally, when there is little possibility or interest in cultural maintenance (often for reasons of exclusion or discrimination by policies or practices in the larger society) then marginalization is defined. As noted earlier, these strategies are not just a matter of choice on the part of the nondominant individuals and groups. They are often constrained by the policies and attitudes in the larger society, including the multicultural ideology in the society (Berry, Kalin, & Taylor, 1977) and the acculturation expectations (Berry, 2003) in the general population (see later discussion on these interactive approaches). These three basic issues are sometimes approached only from the point of view of the nondominant cultural groups. However (as noted earlier), there is a powerful role played by the dominant group in influencing the way in which nondominant cultural groups would engage in intercultural relations (Berry, 1974). The inclusion of the views of the larger society (on the right side of Figure 5.2) reveals the complex, and interactive nature of these intercultural preferences. From the point of view of the larger society, assimilation, when sought by the dominant group, is termed the melting pot. When separation is forced by the dominant group it is called segregation. Marginalization, when imposed by the dominant group, is termed exclusion. Finally, when diversity maintenance and equitable participation are widely accepted features of the society as a whole, integration is called multiculturalism. Note that, in this framework, the concepts of integration and multiculturalism are mutually consistent (rather than opposed to each other). Extensions and empirical examinations of this framework have been carried out by numerous research groups (e.g., Bourhis, Moise, Perreault, & Senecal, 1997; Horenczyk & Munayer, 2007; Piontkowski, Rohmann, & Florack, 2002; Navas, Rojas, Garcia, and Pumares, 2007). Bourhis et  al (1997) developed an interactive acculturation model (IAM) that made more explicit the complex

relationships that exist when the acculturation attitudes and expectations of both the nondominant and dominant groups are examined together. They built on the observations of Berry (1974, 1980) that acculturating individuals and groups pursue acculturation in a larger sociopolitical context, in which their own preferences may match (or not) those of public policies and attitudes in the larger society. They also proposed a fifth orientation to acculturation, which they termed “individualism” (an orientation that considers culture to be unimportant, and emphasizes the individuals’ own personal preferences, separate from culture). This is typically found among young people who prefer to avoid connections to any particular cultural community. In Spain, the IAM was expanded by Navas et al (2007) to a relative acculturation extended model (RAEM). This framework further differentiated acculturation into the ideal and the real (preferences and actual acculturation practices), as well as into the various daily domains in which acculturation takes place (political, economic, work, family, and social relations). In Germany, Rohmann, Florack, and Piontkowski (2006) and Piontkowski et al. (2002) developed the concordance model of acculturation (CAM) to compare the acculturation attitudes of nondominant and dominant groups, within which they created four types of concordance/discordance (matching or mismatching) attitudes. They found that the greater the degree of mismatch, the greater will be the degree of threat and the less will be the possibility of the intercultural encounters being viewed as enriching. In Israel, Horenczyk and Munayer (2007) expanded the Berry framework in another way: they took into account the very complex character of intercultural relations in Israeli society in their study of the acculturation attitudes of Palestinian Arab Christians (whom they term a “double minority”) who must deal with two majorities (Israeli Jews and Muslim Arabs). In addition, they examined their perception of the acculturation expectations held by these two kinds of majority peers. This approach allows for the elaboration of the basic framework to take such special acculturative relations into account. These further elaborations all accept the basic features of the original acculturation framework. First is the assertion that there are differing ways in which individuals and groups pursue their acculturation. Second is the view that there may be inconsistencies in these psychological features:  between attitudes and behavior; between different domains Berry, Sam

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of daily life; and between the nondominant and dominant communities in any acculturation arena. When these four strategies are assessed in nondominant groups, integration is usually found to be the most preferred by the nondominant groups and individuals. The integration/multiculturalism strategy (as an expectation) is also often preferred by members of the larger society. However, there are usually variations in these intercultural preferences among both nondominant groups and the larger society (see Berry, 2005, for a review of the evidence). These relative preferences for intercultural strategies are related to a number of psychological and social factors. The most important is the discrimination experienced by an individual; less discrimination is usually reported by nondominant individuals opting for integration and assimilation, whereas more is experienced by those opting for separation or marginalization (see Berry, Phinney, Sam, & Vedder’s, 2006, study of immigrant youth reviewed later). This is an example of the reciprocity of intercultural attitudes found in research (reviewed by Berry, 2006b); if persons (such as immigrants) feel rejected by others in the larger society, they reciprocate this rejection by choosing a strategy that avoids contact with others outside their own group. For example, immigrants who report experiencing high levels of discrimination often opt for the separation strategy (see Berry et al, 2006, discussed later). In the same immigrant youth study, the reasons for migration also played a role; refugees who flee their society tend to adopt a positive orientation to the society of settlement (through assimilation), whereas guest workers, who are often only in a new place temporarily, tend to adopt a separation strategy (Berry, 2010). Similarly, many develop a reactive identity, in which the experience of discrimination leads to a stronger identification with their own cultural community (Branscombe et al., 1999; Kruusvall, Vetik, & Berry, 2009).

Multiculturalism as policy

The issue of how to manage intercultural relations in culturally diverse societies has been at the forefront of public and private discussions in plural societies for centuries. In the contemporary world, this question took on some urgency following the massive population upheavals during and following the World War II (Borrie, 1959), and it has continued unabated in the period since as further upheavals appear with great frequency due to natural and man-made disasters and conflicts, as well as to economic development and globalization. 102

Multicultural societies

For a long time, in many plural societies, the general and common orientation to this question was to pursue the absorption of indigenous peoples, national minorities, and newcomers (e.g., immigrants and refugees) through a policy of assimilation, with the goal of creating a society with one language, one identity, and one shared set of values. However, in the UNESCO conference in 1956 in Havana, on “The Cultural Integration of Immigrants” (Borrie, 1959), there was a beginning shift away from assimilation to integration (as distinguished earlier in Figure 5.2). For example, the presentation to the conference by the Canadian government (1956) argued that their policy toward immigrants should reflect the political and cultural patterns of Canadian society. This pattern includes “ . . . a society built on the ideas of individual worth and cultural differences . . . The pressure of one dominant group to assimilate, that is to absorb others, is therefore impracticable as a general theory” (quoted in Borrie, 1959, p. 51). Although many other societies continued with the general goal of assimilation (e.g., France, Israel, United States), others (including Australia, Canada, and New Zealand) began to consider alternatives, most notably that of multiculturalism as a vehicle to achieve integration (and as a way to avoid the alternatives of assimilation/melting pot, separation/segregation, and marginalization/ exclusion). Three international overviews of immigration and incorporation have been published recently where comparisons are made regarding levels of integration or multiculturalism in various countries (see Bloemraad, 2011; Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX), 2012; and Vigdor, 2011). These surveys reveal a number of commonalities across societies (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, a number of European countries, and the United States), despite their focus on different aspects of immigration. The first survey by the Migration Information Source (see Bloemraad, 2011) examines the policies of multiculturalism in various countries, and it tracks changes over the years from 1980 to 2010. It uses the Multiculturalism Policy Index, which is a project to evaluate the multicultural policies and practices in many contemporary democracies. This index was developed by Banting and Kymlicka (2006; see Multiculturalism Policy Index, http:// www.queensu.ca/mcp/). It includes a set of criteria to assess the degree of promotion of multiculturalism (by policy and practice) in a plural society. They proposed nine criteria with which to place

societies on a dimension of acceptance of multiculturalism. Among these is the existence of:  a government policy promoting multiculturalism, a multicultural ministry or secretariat, adoption of multiculturalism in the school curriculum, ethnic representation in the media, exemptions of cultural groups from codes that are rooted in the dominant society (e.g., Sunday closing), allowance of dual citizenship, funding of cultural organizations, and funding of bilingual or heritage language instruction. The rankings put Australia and Canada in first place, followed by Sweden, New Zealand, Belgium, and the United Kingdom. Toward the middle are Spain, Portugal and the United States. Lowest placed are France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and Denmark. Of particular interest is the Netherlands, which was rather high in 2000, but dropped to a low score in 2010. The Dutch case may be a reflection of changes in their approach to multiculturalism, beginning from their traditional openness and liberal democratic values, through “pillarization,” in which groups were allowed to exist with little interaction with others, to frustration over parallel lives created with no demands on any form of integration (Fleras, 2009). The second survey is the “Migrant Integration Policy Index” (see MIPEX, 2012). This survey includes indicators of migrant integration in a number of domains: labor mobility, family reunion, education, political participation, long-term residence, access to nationality and anti-discrimination laws; it also presents an overall score. The overall rankings place Sweden in first place, followed by Portugal, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Spain,the United States, Italy, Luxembourg, Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and France. The third survey by the Manhattan Institute (see Vigdor, 2011) is concerned with immigrant assimilation in North America and Europe. The use of the term assimilation in the title is rather misleading, since it does not assess the giving up (or loss) of heritage culture, which is part of our conception of assimilation; it assesses only involvement in civic, cultural, and economic domains of the larger society (and also provides a composite index). The comparison of immigration countries on overall immigrant incorporation provides the following ranking: Canada, Portugal, United States, Greece, Austria, France, Spain, Switzerland and Italy. With respect to naturalization rates, the ranking is Canada, Portugal, Netherlands, United States, Greece, Austria, France, Spain, Switzerland, and

Italy. When these indicators of incorporation are examined by immigrant origin, the rankings remain much the same: for Muslim immigrants, the ranking is: Canada, the United States, Portugal, Spain; for Chinese immigrants, the ranking is Canada, United States, Portugal, Austria, Spain . . .; and for Southeast Asian immigrants, the ranking is Canada, United States, Austria, Spain, Greece. Not all countries are represented in all three surveys. However, we may conclude that there are rather consistent variations across these countries in the extent to which they incorporate immigrants from various origins. At the top are Canada, Australia, Sweden, New Zealand and Portugal; toward the middle are Finland, Belgium, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States; toward the bottom are France, Germany, and Italy

Framework for understanding multiculturalism

A framework to understand the goals, components and relationships of multiculturalism policies is presented in Figure 5.3. The fundamental goal of most multiculturalism policies is to enhance mutual acceptance among all ethnocultural groups (upper right) in order to achieve more harmonious (and less conflicted) intercultural relations. This goal can be approached through three program components: On the upper left is the cultural component, which is to be achieved by providing support and encouragement for cultural maintenance and development among all ethnocultural groups. The second component is the social/ intercultural component (lower left), which seeks the sharing of cultural expressions, by providing opportunities for intergroup contact, and the removal barriers to full and equitable participation in the daily life of the larger society. Antidiscrimination laws, policies advocating employment and educational equity, and standards for showing intercultural activities in the media, are all examples of the promotion of this intercultural component. The third feature is the intercultural communication component (which also promotes interculturalism), in the lower right corner of ­Figure  5.3. This represents the linguistic reality of most plural societies, and promotes the learning of one or more official languages as a means for all ethnocultural groups to engage in intercultural interactions with each other, and to participate in the national life of the larger society. It is essential to note that this basic concept of multiculturalism, and of multiculturalism policies, Berry, Sam

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Policy goal Multiculturalism hypothesis Confidence/Security

ct nta s C o thesi po y H

Communication component

Social component Intergroup contact and participation

Mutual acceptance among all ethnocultural groups

Mutual

Integration hypothesis Maintenance and participation

Ethnocultural group maintenance and development

Understanding

Cultural component

Communicative Competence

Learning official languages

Figure 5.3  Goals, components, and relationships in multiculturalism policies (modified from Berry, 1984).

requires that both the cultural and intercultural aspects are legislated and acted upon. The maintenance of heritage cultures and identities (the cultural component) and the full and equitable participation of all ethnocultural groups in the life of the larger society (the intercultural component) are both necessary. Together, and in balance with each other, it should be possible to achieve the multicultural vision. That is, multiculturalism involves not only promoting the maintenance and development of cultural communities within a plural society, but also the promotion of intercultural contact (sometimes referred to as interculturalism). However, in some societies (particularly in Europe and the United States; see later) there is a common misunderstanding that multiculturalism means only the presence of many independent cultural communities in a society (only cultural maintenance), without their equitable participation and incorporation into a larger society. This latter view seems to have been the basis of recent assertions in some European societies (e.g., in Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) that “multiculturalism has failed.” For example, the British Prime Minister David Cameron, in response to the riots occurring in London between August 6–10, 2011 (see Wikipedia, 2011) reiterated his position in a speech he gave during the Munich Security Conference 104

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that stated that multiculturalism in “Britain had encouraged different cultures to live separate lives” . . . and that, “the United Kingdom needed a stronger national identity to prevent people turning to all kinds of extremism” (BBC News, 2011; Number 10, 2011). From the perspective outlined earlier, multiculturalism has not failed because it was not really attempted in these societies. If multiculturalism is viewed and accepted only as the tolerated presence of different cultures in a society, without the simultaneous promotion of inclusion through programs to reduce barriers to equitable participation, then a form of segregation is the correct name for such policies and practices. This view seems to have been recognized by Cameron. However, the solution proposed by Cameron (Number 10, 2011) to the problem of segregation is more homogeneity (“stronger national identity”) rather than the pursuit of the double-engagement option articulated in the vision of multiculturalism. The extreme form of the view proposed by Cameron may be the one by the Norwegian nationalist, Anders Breivik in his manifesto to rid Western Europe of multiculturalism (see Breivik, 2011), and followed up on his manifest by killing over 70 people in July 2011. The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI, 2011) recently concluded that

their “ . . . investigations in all European countries are showing a worrying pattern of rising racism. Governments need to be aware of the threat, work to strengthen laws and institutions against discrimination and give a clear message that xenophobia can never be tolerated in modern society.” The report warns that attacks on multiculturalism (as articulated by national political leaders) could lead to fragmented societies and calls on Governments to up their efforts to promote intercultural dialogue: “The answer to the current debate on multiculturalism is strict adherence to a common set of principles, including non-discrimination and tolerance” (ECRI, 2011). In addition to the four aforementioned components (positive mutual attitudes, cultural maintenance, intercultural contact, and language learning) there are links among them. The first, is termed the multiculturalism hypothesis, and is expressed in the Canadian policy statement as the belief that confidence in one’s cultural identity will lead to sharing, respect for others, and to the reduction of discriminatory attitudes. Berry et al. (1977) identified this belief as an assumption with psychological roots, and as being amenable to empirical evaluation. A second link in Figure 5.3 is the hypothesis that when individuals and groups are “doubly engaged” (in both their heritage cultures and in the larger society) they will be more successful in their lives. This success is essentially a higher level of well-being, in both psychological and social domains. This proposal is the integration hypothesis, in which involvement with, competence in, and confidence in both cultural communities provides the social capital that is essential for success in intercultural living. The integration hypothesis has been largely supported by a recent meta-analysis (Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2013; see details later). A third link portrayed in Figure 5.3 is the contact hypothesis, by which contact and sharing is considered to promote mutual acceptance under certain conditions, especially that of equality (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2011). Some empirical evidence related to each of these three hypotheses will be presented in a later section. In the rest of this section, we will present some of the central tenets in multiculturalism as policy in some specific countries (Canada, Australia, the United States and France) and in the European Union. These represent the range of countries that are grappling with multicultural issues, from the most explicitly multicultural (Canada) to the least multicultural (France). The policy of the European

Union is also presented because it represents a communal policy that is explicitly multicultural, but is largely at odds with the views and practices of many member states.

Canada

Canada has high scores on the three international surveys reviewed earlier. As early as 1971, the Canadian government announced a “Policy of Multiculturalism within a Bilingual Framework.” In a comprehensive overview of the evolution of human rights in Canada, Yalden, (2009, p.  33) noted that this was the very first use of this term in a public document. Since then, other countries (e.g., Australia and the European Union) have developed multiculturalism and integration policies to deal with their own specific features of cultural pluralism. The multicultural vision was enunciated in Canada in 1971, with an announcement by the Federal government of a “Policy of Multiculturalism.” This is a key section of the policy, with implications for intercultural relations: A policy of multiculturalism within a bilingual framework . . .. (is) the most suitable means of assuring the cultural freedom of all Canadians. Such a policy should help to break down discriminatory attitudes and cultural jealousies. National unity, if it is to mean anything in the deeply personal sense, must be founded on confidence on one’s own individual identity; out of this can grow respect for that of others, and a willingness to share ideas, attitudes and assumptions . . .. The Government will support and encourage the various cultural and ethnic groups that give structure and vitality to our society. They will be encouraged to share their cultural expression and values with other Canadians and so contribute to a richer life for all. (Government of Canada, 1971, pp. 8545–8546)

Note that the concern with a “willingness to share ideas, attitudes and assumptions” is the interculturalism part of the policy. From this statement, we discerned a number of ideas that were ripe for social psychological examination (from Berry, 1984). As with most multiculturalism policies, the clear and fundamental goal of the policy is to enhance mutual acceptance among all cultural groups (Berry, 1997a). This goal has been approached through two main program components:  a cultural component, by providing support and encouragement for cultural maintenance and development among all cultural groups Berry, Sam

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(including dominant and nondominant ethnocultural groups); and a social/intercultural component that seeks the sharing of cultural expressions by providing opportunities for intergroup contact and the removal of barriers to full and equitable participation in the daily life of the larger society. Together, and in balance with each other, it should be possible to achieve the multicultural vision. There is a clear similarity between the two components of the Canadian multiculturalism policy and the two dimensions underlying the intercultural strategies framework (Figure 5.2): both cultural maintenance and equitable participation are required for multiculturalism (and integration) to be achieved. These initiatives were consolidated in 1988 with the passing of the Canadian Multiculturalism Act. Among its provisions are to: (a) recognize and promote the understanding that multiculturalism reflects the cultural and racial diversity of Canadian society and acknowledges the freedom of all members of Canadian society to preserve, enhance and share their cultural heritage; (b) recognize and promote the understanding that multiculturalism is a fundamental characteristic of the Canadian heritage and identity and that it provides an invaluable resource in the shaping of Canada’s future; (c) promote the full and equitable participation of individuals and communities of all origins in the continuing evolution and shaping of all aspects of Canadian society and assist them in the elimination of any barrier to that participation; and (d) recognize the existence of communities whose members share a common origin and their historic contribution to Canadian society, and enhance their development. (p. 2)

An overview of the 1971 policy and the1988 Act, and of research on their implementation and consequences can be found in Berry and Laponce (1994).

Australia

Australia also has high scores on the three international surveys reviewed earlier. However, until the 1960s, Australian public policy was essentially assimilationist. This earlier policy was “  .  .  .  that migrants should shed their cultures and languages and rapidly become indistinguishable from the host population” (Commonwealth of Australia, 2003). In 1973, the Commonwealth government issued a policy statement called “A Multi-Cultural Society for the Future” in which it recommended a public 106

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policy of multiculturalism, and in 1977, it issued a report called “Australia as a Multicultural Society.” These statements offer a multicultural vision that is reflected in four principles: 1. Responsibilities of all—all Australians have a civic duty to support those basic structures and principles of Australian society which guarantee us our freedom and equality and enable diversity in our society to flourish; 2. Respect for each person—subject to the law, all Australians have the right to express their own culture and beliefs and have a reciprocal obligation to respect the right of others to do the same. 3. Fairness for each person—all Australians are entitled to equality of treatment and opportunity. Social equity allows us all to contribute to the social, political and economic life of Australia. 4. Benefits for all—all Australians benefit from the significant cultural, social and economic dividends arising from the diversity of our population. Diversity works for all Australians. (p. 8)

These statements emphasize and affirm the same core components that are the basis of the Canadian policy. The cultural component is articulated by:  “Australian multiculturalism recognises, accepts, respects and celebrates cultural diversity. It embraces the heritage of Indigenous Australians, early European settlement, our Australian-grown customs and those of the diverse range of migrants now coming to this country.” The social component is articulated by: “the Government is committed to ensuring that all Australians have the opportunity to be active and equal participants in Australian society, free to live their lives and maintain their cultural traditions.”

United States of America

In the United States, there is no apparent official policy on these issues. Scores for the United States on the three international surveys were medium to low, possibly reflecting this lack of a policy to promote multiculturalism. This reflects the public debate, which has generally come down more on the side of advocating cultural uniformity (starting with Adams, as noted in the earlier quotation ). This early orientation was further supported by John Jay ( First American Supreme Court chief justice) who judged that “Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people— a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very

similar in their manners and customs . . ..” However, later, William James (1909) promoted a plural vision for the United States, in which he considered pluralism as “crucial to the formation of philosophical and social humanism to help build a better, more egalitarian society.” The debate has moved back and forth in recent years. The swing toward the acceptance of multiculturalism was examined by Glazer (1997), who provocatively announced that “we are all multiculturalists now.” He reviewed the major changes in the United States toward the promotion and acceptance of cultural diversity in society and its institutions, especially in public education. The main contemporary proponent of the earlier view of homogeneity is Huntington (2004), who has predicted that the United States will wane if its founding Anglo-Protestant character is diminished any further. He argues that current immigration, from Latin America and elsewhere, brings other cultural values and languages that undermine this core United States culture. His solution is clearly on the side of the pursuit of a return to the unitary view of society, where cultural diversity is to be restricted in the search for a common identity. In the United States, even in the absence of a formal multiculturalism policy, cultural diversity is recognized and tolerated to some extent (even promoted in public institutions such as schools and universities); however, substantial variation remains in the status (education, health, employment, overall wealth) of the main social and cultural communities.

France

Unlike Australia and Canada, France has rather low scores on the three surveys, and it has exhibited (both historically, and at the present time) an orientation toward ethnic and cultural diversity that limits the public expression of other cultural traditions. Such an orientation has been referred to as the “Republican model” (see Sabatier & Boutry, 2006 for an overview of this policy orientation). This goal of cultural homogeneity (which is the opposite of the cultural component of multiculturalism, as defined in Figure 5.2) is accompanied by support for participation and equality (which is the social/ intercultural component of multiculturalism policy). This combination is essentially one that seeks a melting pot, in which cultural communities and their individual members are expected to become French like all others in France. However, substantial discrimination has largely limited the attainment of this goal (see Berry & Sabatier, 2010), leading less to

assimilation and more to marginalization, especially among youth of North African origin.

European Union

In the European Union (2005), a set of Common Basic Principles for Immigrant Integration Policy in the EU was adopted in 2005. This is the first of these principles: Integration is a dynamic, two-way process of mutual accommodation by all immigrants and residents of Member States. Integration is a dynamic, long-term, and continuous two-way process of mutual accommodation, not a static outcome. It demands the participation not only of immigrants and their descendants but of every resident. The integration process involves adaptation by immigrants, both men and women, who all have rights and responsibilities in relation to their new country of residence. It also involves the receiving society, which should create the opportunities for the immigrants’ full economic, social, cultural, and political participation. Accordingly, Member States are encouraged to consider and involve both immigrants and national citizens in integration policy, and to communicate clearly their mutual rights and responsibilities. (p. 1).

In these EU principles, the three cornerstones of multiculturalism are evident: the right of all peoples to maintain their cultures; the right to participate fully in the life of the larger society; and the obligation for all groups (both the dominant and nondominant) to engage in a process of mutual change. However, as noted for France, and in recent pronouncements in the United Kingdom, such multicultural principles are far from evident in practice.

Psychology of multiculturalism

In this section, we present a selective review of empirical psychological studies of multiculturalism. The first is a portrayal of attitudes and ideologies pertaining to the main components of multiculturalism policies (as illustrated in the boxes of Figure  5.3):  the pursuit of intercultural acceptance through the promotion of diversity and of intercultural engagement. Then we examine evidence for the validity of the three main links in Figure 5.3: the multiculturalism hypothesis; the integration hypothesis; and the contact hypothesis.

Multicultural attitudes

Research on the public acceptance of multiculturalism as a concept and policy began with the Berry, Sam

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research by Berry et al. (1977) in Canada, and has continued in a number of countries (e.g., in the Netherlands by Breugelmans & van de Vijver, 2004, and van de Vijver, Breugelmans & Schalk-Soekar, 2008; in New Zealand by Ward & Masgoret, 2009; and in Australia by Dandy & Pe-Pua, 2010). The attitudes examined include multicultural ideology, the perceived consequences of multiculturalism, and attitudes toward multicultural programs (all developed by Berry et al., 1977). The initial studies in Canada revealed a generally positive view of multiculturalism. The most basic concept is that of multicultural ideology; this refers to the general acceptance of a multicultural way of living together in a plural society (Berry, et  al., 1977, pp. 131-134). There are three elements to this ideology. The first two elements have been already discussed with respect to the strategies framework (cultural maintenance and equitable participation by all ethnocultural groups); there is a third feature to multicultural ideology—the acceptance by the dominant group that they also need to change in order to achieve some mutual accommodation. In these studies, these three components combined to become a broad ideological orientation toward how respondents believe individuals and groups should accommodate each other in the larger society. Items were developed that assessed these views, phrased both positively and negatively. Positive items included:  “Canada would be a better place if members of ethnic groups would keep their own way of life alive” (cultural maintenance); “There is a lot that Canadians can gain from friendly relations with immigrants” (intercultural contact); and “We should all do more to learn about the customs and heritage of different ethnic and cultural groups in this country” (expressing intercultural engagement, for both dominant and nondominant groups). Negative items included “If members of ethnic groups want to keep their own culture, they should keep it to themselves, and not bother the rest of us” (expressing segregation, and negative with respect to contact). Items also expressed the basic ideas that cultural diversity is a public resource and is something to be valued by a society. Results generally supported its construct validity (e.g., Berry et al., 1977; Berry & Kalin, 1995); and it forms part of a complex set of relationships with other conceptually similar scales (negatively with ethnocentrism, and positively with ethnic tolerance and attitudes toward immigration). However, conceptually it is explicitly related more to the idea that diversity is a resource for a society, and that all 108

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groups, including the dominant ones, need to share and adapt to each other in order for there to be harmonious intercultural relations among culturally diverse groups in the larger society. Results also showed that a large majority of Canadians endorsed multicultural ideology as the way for groups to relate to each other. In the first national survey, 63.9% of respondents were on the positive side of the scale, and this rose to 69.3 % in the second survey. Overall, we can say that Canadians support this way of living together by a large and growing margin; we can also say that there is a rather happy coinciding of public opinion with public policy (Adams, 2007). Multicultural ideology has also been assessed in New Zealand by Ward and Masgoret (2009) and in Australia by Dandy and Pe-Pua (2010). In both countries, they found a generally positive orientation to multicultural ideology. With respect to the perceived consequences of multiculturalism (Berry et al, 1977), the scale included items such as: “If Canada pursues a policy of multiculturalism, Canada will be richer in culture.” The overall level of agreement was 61.0% in the 1977 survey; this increased to 78.8% in the 1995 survey. For attitudes toward multicultural programs (e.g., support for funding “Community centres where people from various cultural backgrounds can meet each other and share their heritage,” there was 68% overall agreement in 1977, increasing to 93.8 % in 1995. This shows an increasing level of support for the intercultural aspects of the policy. Overall, there is a clearly positive view about pursuing multiculturalism; there is a high level of support for the policy, and this rose between the two surveys. However, these attitudes vary according to the ethnic origin of respondents, with those of British origin being more positive that those of French origin; those of other origins are the most positive. Jedwab (2002) has reviewed surveys of public attitudes toward multiculturalism in Canada over a 30-year period (1971 to 2001). He notes that responses to items such as “the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians is an objective that the government should support” is agreed to by 82% of respondents, and that it “enhances the value of Canadian citizenship” has the support of 80%. It is evident that there continues to be widespread support for the multicultural way of arranging the various cultural lives in Canada (Adams, 2007). In New Zealand, Ward and Masgoret (2009) surveyed over 2,000 adults, mostly of European

background (70%) and New Zealand born (76%). The issues addressed included attitudes toward multiculturalism, immigrants, acculturation expectations, contact, and perceived threat. In general, there was widespread support for multiculturalism. Indicators of support were over 80% for most items in the survey. In a comparative perspective (based on data from Eurobarometer, 2000), the New Zealand sample had the highest level of support (89%), more than in Australia (85%) and in European countries (Sweden at 77% through to Greece at 26%) In Australia (Dandy & Pe-Pua, 2010; Liu, 2007), research has shown an overall positive orientation to multiculturalism, with mean scores on a variety of measures (e.g., perceived consequence of immigration) being well above the scale midpoints. Dandy and Pe-Pua (2010) sampled 248 overseas-born and 483 Australian-born respondents. They found a generally positive attitude toward multiculturalism, but they found no significant differences between those born outside Australia than those born in Australia. An examination of multicultural attitudes has been carried out in the Netherlands by Van de Vijver et  al. (2008).They defined the concept as “the acceptance of and support for the plural nature of a society among mainstreamers and immigrant groups.” Using a scale to assess multicultural attitudes (based on the earlier multicultural ideology scale), they found that multiculturalism is “a multifaceted, unifactorial attitude with a good cross-cultural equivalence” (p.  93). As in much social attitude research, an individual’s level of education was positively related to support for multiculturalism. They also provided evidence of stability over time in these attitudes in the Netherlands; this is in contrast to a gradual increase in support found in Canada (Adams, 2007; Kymlicka, 2007) over the years since its inception. As noted earlier (van de Vijver et al., 2008), one feature of research findings in the Netherlands is that there is a difference between the public and private domains of life in which an individual or cultural community can express its cultural maintenance. In much of this research, it was found that it is acceptable to express one’s heritage culture in the family and in the community, but that it should not be expressed in public domains, such as in educational or work institutions. This view is opposed to the basic principles outlined by the European Union, where the process is identified as one of mutual accommodation. If such a distinction

between the acceptance of heritage cultural maintenance in family and community, versus its rejection in public life and institutions becomes even more widespread, it is likely that there will be more segregation and less integration, possibly leading to more claims that “multiculturalism has failed.” However, as argued earlier, this limited acceptance of diversity is not multiculturalism at all. An international comparison of attitudes toward multiculturalism (Leong & Ward, 2006) used information from the Eurobarometer (2000) survey of 15 countries. Scales assessed seven attitudes, including blaming minorities, multicultural optimism, and cultural assimilation. They used an average of these scale scores, and related them to a number of other variables (including socioeconomic indicators, and the values of Hofstede (2001) and Schwartz’(2006); see ­chapter 4). Higher socioeconomic levels were associated with greater support for multiculturalism, and some values (e.g., Schwartz’s humanitarianism/egalitarianism) were also positively related. In contrast, other values (e.g., Schwartz’s conservatism, and Hofstede’s collectivism) were negatively related to the acceptance of multiculturalism. These findings are in keeping with the relationship commonly found between status (education, SES) and more open and liberal attitudes.

Multiculturalism hypothesis

Following from the Canadian policy, Berry et al. (1977, p. 192) proposed the multiculturalism hypothesis. This is expressed in the policy statement that confidence in one’s identity will lead to sharing, respect for others, and to the reduction of discriminatory attitudes. This form of confidence is the one identified as achieved identity by Phinney (see Phinney, 1990), and as secure attachment by van Oudenhoven (Bakker, van van Oudenhoven, & van der Zee, 2004; van Oudenhoven, 2006). This hypothesis is illustrated by the link along the top of Figure 5.3 between heritage cultural maintenance and the attainment of positive mutual attitudes. In addition to the initial proposal in the 1971 policy statement regarding a sense of confidence allowing individuals to accept those who are culturally different, the Canadian policy (Heritage Canada, 1999) further asserts that “Multiculturalism ensures that all citizens can keep their identities, can take pride in their ancestry and have a sense of belonging. Acceptance gives Canadians a feeling of security and self-confidence making them open to and accepting of diverse cultures.” Berry, Sam

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Three varieties of the multiculturalism hypothesis have been distinguished by Moghaddam (2008b). The first, as just discussed, refers to the relationship between in-group confidence/security, and the acceptance of other groups. The second concerns the relationship between in-group affiliation and out-group rejection. Here, the hypothesis is that there is no necessary relationship between the strength of in-group associations and rejection of out-groups. As Brewer (1999) noted, “in-group love is not a precursor of out-group hate.” The third variety of the multiculturalism hypothesis concerns differential endorsement of multiculturalism by dominant and nondominant cultural groups. For example, “when minority groups endorse assimilation rather than multiculturalism, they are supporting their own ‘melting away’.” “When majority groups endorse assimilation, they are more likely endorsing their own survival” (Moghaddam, 2008b, p.  153). Hence, the multiculturalism hypothesis needs to distinguish between the views of dominant and nondominant groups. The multiculturalism hypothesis has been examined empirically in a number of studies in different countries (Berry et al., 1977; Berry, 2006b: Phinney, Jacoby & Silva, 2007; Verkuyten, 2005). In Canada, Berry et al. (1977) considered that this confidence involves a sense of security; conversely it is manifested as a sense of threat to one’s cultural group. The multiculturalism hypothesis, as indicated earlier, is that a sense of security in one’s identity is a psychological precondition for the acceptance of those who are culturally different. Conversely, when one’s identity is threatened, people will reject others, whether they are members of other cultural groups or immigrants to the society (see Schwartz, Vignoles, Brown, & Zagefka, this volume). In two national surveys in Canada (Berry et al. 1977; Berry & Kalin, 2000; reviewed by Berry, 2006b), the concept of security was developed to capture the notion of confidence contained in the Canadian multiculturalism policy. Measures of cultural security and economic security were created with respect to extant diversity, and the continuing flow of immigration. In more recent studies (Berry, 2006b) in Canada, we used three measures of security (cultural, economic, and personal):  “ I am concerned about losing my cultural identity”; “This country is prosperous and wealthy enough for everyone to feel secure”; “A person’s chances of living a safe, untroubled life are better today than ever before.” These three aspects of security are positively related to each other, and to the acceptance of 110

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multiculturalism, of immigrants, and of a number of specific ethnocultural and immigrant groups. We thus conclude that the multiculturalism hypothesis has received support from research in Canada. In Australia, Dandy and Pe-Pua (2010) found support for the hypothesis. In the total sample, correlations between security and multicultural ideology was +0.30, and + 0.41 with the perceived consequences of multiculturalism. Research in New Zealand by Ward and Masgoret (2008) employed a large national sample to examine relationships among intercultural contacts, perceived threat (symbolic and realistic), multicultural ideology, and attitudes toward immigrants. Using structural equation modeling, the authors revealed significant relationships among these variables:  “ . . . a strong Multicultural Ideology, high levels of Contact, and low levels of Intergroup Threat relate directly to positive Attitudes toward Immigrants, and these attitudes in turn strongly relate to the endorsement of immigration policies concerning migrant numbers and source” (p. 234). In the United States, Phinney et al., (2007) carried out two studies to examine the relationship between ethnic identities and attitudes toward cultural groups in a large sample of university students from different ethnocultural groups. The first study showed that Asian and Latino Americans who had an achieved (i.e., a secure) identity reported significantly more positive intergroup attitudes than those with a diffuse (i.e., unsecured) cultural identity. In their second study, using qualitative methods with adolescents from five ethnic groups, they assessed ethnic identity and attitudes. Again, results “showed that ethnic identity achieved adolescents, compared to diffuse adolescents, gave responses indicating greater awareness and understanding of intergroup relations. Overall, the results provide evidence that a secure ethnic identity is associated with positive intergroup attitudes and mature intercultural thinking” (p. 478). Parallel research on the relationship between security (i.e., the lack of realistic and symbolic threats) and out-group acceptance has been carried out using the integrated threat hypothesis (see e.g., Riek, Mania, & Gaertner, 2006; Stephan, Renfro, Esses, Stephan, & Martin, 2005). This hypothesis argues that a sense of threat to a person’s identity (the converse of a secure cultural identity) will lead to rejection of the group that is the source of threat, and, in some cases, to an enhanced ethnic identity (called reactive identity). Much of this research on threat has been examined in a meta-analysis by

Riek et  al., (2006). Different types of threat have been studied, including realistic threat (e.g., due to real group conflict over resources), symbolic threat (e.g., conflicting values and beliefs), and intergroup anxiety (e.g., uncertainty about how to relate to the out-group). Using a sample of 95 published studies, they found significant correlations (ranging from 0.42 to 0.46 for the various forms of threat) between threat and out-group attitudes. They also found that the status of the group moderated these relationships:  for out-groups with low status (e.g., ethnic minorities) anxiety had a stronger relationship with negative out-group attitudes than when out-groups were of relatively high status. In general, they concluded that: “the results of the meta-analysis indicate that intergroup threat has an important relationship with out-group attitudes. As people perceive more intergroup competition, more value violations, higher levels of intergroup anxiety, more group esteem threats, and endorse more negative stereotypes, negative attitudes toward out-groups increase” (p. 345). Research by Verkuyten (2005) in the Netherlands was also intended to examine the multiculturalism hypothesis, using samples of Turkish-Dutch and Dutch university students. However, in seeking to evaluate the multiculturalism hypothesis, Verkuyten did not assess identity security. Instead he assessed the strength of in-group identity and own-group evaluation. These were assessed by scales seeking how much an individual identified with their in-group, and how positively they evaluated it. This confusion between security of identity and strength of identity, and positive in-group evaluation, was addressed by Berry (1984) who argued that they are not at all the same concepts. In ethnocentrism theory, a strong ethnic identity and positive evaluation of the in-group are known to be related to out-group rejection, whereas the multiculturalism hypothesis proposes that a high level of identity security is related to out-group acceptance. As argued by Berry (1984, pp. 363–364): “ . . . we need to distinguish between two forms of ‘confidence’. If we mean simply ‘own group glorification’, or ‘strongly positive ingroup attitudes’, then ethnocentrism theory . . . predicts an opposite relationship.” Indeed, in the national survey conducted by Berry et  al., (1977) “the more positively one rated one’s own group, the more negatively they rated all other groups . . . However, multiculturalism policy and programs do not intend to develop confidence by enhancing own-group glorification. If we render the notion of confidence as a ‘sense of security’ . . . then

there is evidence of a positive relation with ethnic tolerance”. We conclude that since first being introduced, the multiculturalism hypothesis has largely been supported. Various feelings of security and threat appear to be part of the psychological underpinnings of the acceptance of multiculturalism. Whether phrased in positive terms (security is a prerequisite for tolerance of others and the acceptance of diversity), or in negative terms (threats to, or anxiety about, one’s cultural identity and cultural rights underpins prejudice), there is little doubt that there are intimate links between being accepted by others and accepting others. However, when the hypothesis is examined using other feelings (such as positive in-group evaluation or strength of ethnic identity) rather than identity security or confidence, the opposite (ethnocentric) relationship is found.

Integration Hypothesis

This hypothesis is that individuals who both maintain their heritage cultures and identities, and who also engage with the larger society (that is, those who pursue the integration strategy) are likely to be more successful than those who pursue only one of these (that is, those who pursue assimilation or separation) or who pursue neither (that is, who are marginal). This hypothesis is illustrated down the left side of Figure 5.3, where there is a joint pursuit of the cultural and social components of multiculturalism policy. The advantage of being integrated was proposed in a literature review by Berry (1997b, p.  27:  “Psychological acculturation is influenced by many individual-level factors. In particular, the integrationist or bi-cultural acculturation strategy appears to be a consistent predictor of more positive outcomes than the three alternatives of assimilation, separation or marginalisation.” To illustrate the positive link between acculturation strategy and adaptation, in the study of immigrant youth (Berry et  al, 2006), we asked the question; “is it the case that how an adolescent acculturates relates to how well they adapt?” The pattern in our findings was very clear: Those in the integration profile had the best psychological and sociocultural adaptation outcomes, whereas those in the a marginalization/diffuse profile had the worst; in between, those with a separation/ethnic profile had moderately good psychological adaptation but poorer sociocultural adaptation, whereas those with an assimilation/national profile had moderately poor psychological adaptation, and slightly negative Berry, Sam

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sociocultural adaptation. This pattern of results was largely replicated using structural equation modeling with the same data set. We also examined relationships between the two forms of adaptation and perceived discrimination: we found that discrimination was negatively and significantly related to both psychological and sociocultural adaptation. A further illustration of the link between acculturation strategy and adaptation has been shown in the study of Turkish migrants in Germany (Schmitz & Berry, 2009). There are many correlations supporting the expected relationships between the integration strategy and adaptation. Integration was negatively related to anxiety and depression; a new finding was that it is also negatively related to anger. On the positive side, a preference for integration was related to high life satisfaction; a new finding was that it is also positively related to curiosity. This pattern replicates earlier patterns and adds the role of curiosity in promoting integration and of anger in limiting it. The opposite pattern is found for marginalization:  these immigrants have high anxiety, depression, and anger; and they have low life satisfaction (but no relationship with curiosity). For those preferring assimilation, the pattern is similar to that for marginalization, except that there was no relationship with life satisfaction (but there was a negative one with curiosity). Finally, the separation preference is similar to that for assimilation (high anxiety and anger), but there was low life satisfaction and no relationship with depression. Some other studies have examined the relationship using contrasts between societies that have different immigration and settlement policies. In one study, second generation immigrant youth in Canada and France were compared (Berry & Sabatier, 2010). The national public policy and attitude context was found to influence the young immigrants’ acculturation strategies and the relationship with their adaptation. In France, there was more discrimination, less orientation to their heritage culture (identity, behavior), and poorer adaptation (lower self-esteem and higher deviance). Within both samples, integration was found to be associated with better adaptation, and marginalization was found to be associated with poorer adaptation. However the magnitude of this relationship was less pronounced in France than in Canada. This difference was interpreted as a result of it being more psychologically costly to express one’s ethnicity in France than in Canada, and to be related to differences in national policy and practices. 112

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In a study of Russian migrants in Finland and Israel, Jasinskaja-Lahti, Horenczyk, and Kinunen (2011) assessed each of three acculturation attitudes (separation, assimilation, and integration). They were all positively related to immigrant adaptation, either directly or moderated by the length of residence or by the country of residence. In support of the integration hypothesis, a main effect was obtained only for the integration attitude, which positively predicted psychological adaptation. Overall, we conclude that there is substantial evidence to support the integration hypothesis. This generalization seems to apply to various forms of adaptation, and remains supported when various ways of conceptualizing (biculturalism or integration) are used, and when assessing acculturation by various types of scales. The integration hypothesis has recently been confirmed by a meta-analysis by Nguyen and Benet-Martínez (2013). Although the strength of the relationship between acculturation strategy and adaptation to living interculturally varies according to how acculturation strategies are assessed, the overall finding supports the integration hypothesis. More specifically, they examined the relationship across 83 studies and 23,197 participants. They found a significant relationship between biculturalism (integration) and both psychological adaptation (including life satisfaction, positive affect, and self-esteem) and sociocultural adaptation (including academic achievement, career success, social skills, and lack of behavioral problems). Of particular importance for this hypothesis was their finding that the association with biculturalism (cf., integration) was stronger than with either single cultural orientation (to their own group; cf. separation), or to the dominant group (cf., assimilation). They further found that the strength of the biculturalism-adaptation relationship was moderated by the way in which the strategies were assessed.

Contact hypothesis

A third link portrayed in Figure 5.3 is the contact hypothesis, by which contact and sharing is considered to promote mutual acceptance under certain conditions, especially that of equality (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2011). This hypothesis focuses on the intercultural aspects of multiculturalism (participation and language acquisition). The promotion of intercultural engagement and learning is usually achieved by enacting antidiscrimination laws, policies advocating employment and educational equity,

and standards for showing intercultural activities in the media. In the national surveys in Canada (Berry et  al, 1977; Berry & Kalin, 1995), we found substantial support for this relationship, especially when status is controlled. For example, overall ratings of mutual familiarity (a rating of how much contact and interaction an individual had with members of a specific ethnocultural group) were positively correlated with positive attitudes toward members of that group. In analyses at the level of neighborhoods (Kalin & Berry, 1982), we found that with the proportion of a particular group being greater, the attitudes toward that group by non-members were more positive. There was no evidence of a “tipping point,” where a higher presence of a particular group in one’s neighbourhood became associated with lesser acceptance of that group. Longitudinal studies are very important to the disentangling of the direction of the relationship between intercultural contact and attitudes. One study (Binder, et. al., 2009) has shown an interactive effect of contact and intercultural attitudes. They conducted a longitudinal field survey in Germany, Belgium, and England with school student samples of members of both ethnic minorities and ethnic majorities. They assessed both intercultural contact and attitudes at two points in time. Contact was assessed by both the quality and quantity of contact. Attitudes were assessed by social distance and negative feelings. The pattern of intercorrelations, at both times, supported the positive relationship between contact and attitudes. Beyond this correlational analysis, path analyses yielded evidence for the relationship working in both directions:  contact reduced prejudice, but prejudice also reduced contact. Thus, in this study, support for the contact hypothesis is partial: contact can lead to more positive attitudes, but initial positive attitudes can lead people into contact with each other. A key element in the contact hypothesis is the set of conditions that may be necessary in order for contact to lead to more positive intercultural relations. The three hypotheses are linked because the first two hypotheses speak to some of these conditions under which contact can have positive outcomes. First, for the multiculturalism hypothesis, we saw that when the cultural identities of individuals and groups are threatened, and their place in the plural society is questioned, more negative attitudes are likely to characterize their relationships. This consequence applies to all ethnocultural groups, both dominant and nondominant. For example,

when members of the larger society feel threatened by immigration, and when members of particular groups have their rights to maintain their heritage cultures and/or to participate in the larger society are questioned or denied, a mutual hostility is likely to ensue. Under these conditions, increased contact is not likely to lead to more positive intercultural attitudes. Pettigrew and Tropp (2011) carried out meta-analyses of numerous studies of the contact hypothesis, which came from many countries and many diverse settings (schools, work, and experiments). Their findings provide general support for the contact hypothesis:  intergroup contact does generally relate negatively to prejudice in both dominant and nondominant samples. The evidence is now widespread across cultures that greater intercultural contact is associated with more positive intercultural attitudes, and lower levels of prejudice. This generalization has to be qualified by two cautions. First, the appropriate conditions need to be present in order for contact to lead to positive intercultural attitudes. Second, there are many examples of the opposite effect, where increased contact is associated with greater conflict. The conditions (cultural, political, and economic) under which these opposite outcomes arise are in urgent need of examination.

Conclusions: Psychological benefits and costs of multiculturalism

What are the possible benefits and costs to a plural society and its members when the multicultural option is pursued? Some of these have been proposed by Berry (1998), and are summarized here. First, the public declaration that all cultural groups are valued members of and equal participants in a plural society sends a positive message that may provide the foundation for harmonious intercultural relations. As we saw in the discussion of the multiculturalism hypothesis, the sense of security intended by such a declaration is associated with positive multicultural ideology and related attitudes. The opposite message (that different cultural groups are neither a welcome component nor a participating community) is likely to be interpreted as a threat, and it is associated with negative and even hostile intercultural attitudes. At the societal level, when multiculturalism is declared to be a public resource, rather than a problem for a plural society, more specific benefits follow. In diplomatic and trade relationships, having linguistic competencies nurtured, and transmitting Berry, Sam

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knowledge of the values and practices of other cultures in the plural society, can have clear advantages when working outside the national borders. In international affairs, obligations with respect to human rights generally, and to cultural rights more specifically, are monitored by various international organizations (e.g., UN Human Rights Council, International Labour Organisation, UNESCO), and countries that meet these various standards are applauded, whereas those that do not, are criticized. With respect to the social integration of cultural groups and their members, there is evidence of reciprocity in intercultural relations (Berry, 2006b; Berry et al, 2006). When acculturating groups and individuals are discriminated against in their new society, they tend to reciprocate this negative treatment by seeking the separation or marginalization way of acculturating (Berry et al., 2006). These two strategies have negative consequences for all; there is also usually lower sociocultural adaptation, and lesser economic and educational achievement. At the individual level, the evidence reviewed in the section on the integration hypothesis supports the positive association between being engaged in two (and sometimes more) cultural communities and psychological well-being. For sociocultural adaptation, having more than one language and culture available for acquisition and mastering during a person’s development provides options for how to live, and enhances access to more cultural resources (literature, film, personal relationships) than in a society with only one language and culture. An obvious cost at the societal level is that there are usually programs and institutions required to operate such a policy. The mere articulation of multiculturalism costs little; but its operationalization takes financial resources. Whether in multicultural education, health, justice, or broadcasting, public resources need to be allocated. A second possible cost is a reduction in national unity, and increased divisiveness within the plural society. That is, there is a question of whether multiculturalism challenges the possibility of attaining social cohesion among the various cultural groups (Koopmans, 2005; Jopke, 2007; Reitz, Breton, Dion, & Dion, 2009). This question has not yet been resolved. However, there is some evidence that identification with one’s heritage cultural group and with the national society need not be negatively correlated, or mutually exclusive. In the study of immigrant youth (Berry et  al., 2006) overall there was a small negative correlation between these two 114

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identities. However, the correlation was positive in all settler societies (such as Australia, Canada and the United States; but also in the United Kingdom), and negative in societies that are new to the processes involved in immigration and settlement (such as Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden). Indeed, cultural differences can be exploited to achieve a variety of domestic and international political goals (as in the divide-and-conquer strategy). This is most likely to happen when groups become official categories (as in census groupings) where they can be exploited for votes or other reasons. Moreover, existing inequalities in socioeconomic status can become entwined with ethnic status, resulting in a double jeopardy. Such exploitation is always possible, but the reverse is also possible. The designation of particular ethnic groups as disadvantaged can lead to (and indeed has led to) public programs to reduce inequity through employment and educational initiatives.

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Phinney, J. S. (1990). Ethnic identity in adolescents and adults: A review of research. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 499–514. Phinney, J., Jacoby, B., & Silva, C. (2007). Positive intergroup attitudes: The role of ethnic identity. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 31, 478–490. Piontkowski, U., Rohmann, A., & Florack, A. (2002). Concordance of acculturation attitudes and perceived threat. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 5, 221–232. Reitz, J., Breton, R, Dion, K.  K. & Dion, K. L. (2009). Multiculturalism and social cohesion: Potentials and challenges of diversity. Toronto, Canada: Springer. Riek, B., Mania, E., & Gaertner, S. (2006) Intergroup threat and outgroup attitudes:  A  meta-analytic review. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10, 336–353. Rohmann, A., Florack, A. & Piontkowski, U. (2006). The role of discordant acculturation attitudes in perceived threat: An analysis of host and immigrant attitudes in Germany. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 30, 683–702. Ryan, P. (2010). Multicultiphobia. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press. Sabatier, C. & Boutry, V. (2006). Acculturation in Francophone European societies. In D. L.  Sam & J. W.  Berry (Eds). Cambridge handbook of acculturation psychology (pp. 349– 367). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Sam, D. L., & Berry, J. W. (Eds). (2006). The Cambridge handbook of acculturation psychology. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Schmitt, M. T., & Branscombe, N. R. (2002). The meaning and consequences of perceived discrimination in disadvantaged and privileged social groups. In W. Stroebe & M. Hewstone (Eds.), European review of social psychology (Vol. 12, pp. 167– 199). Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons. Schmitz, P. & Berry, J. W. (2009). Structure of acculturation attitudes and their relationships with personality and psychological adaptation: A study with immigrant and national samples in Germany. In F. Deutsch, M. Boehnke, U. Kuhnen & K. Boehnke (Eds). Rendering borders obsolete. (pp. 52– 70). Bremen:  International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (available on line at www.iaccp.org) Schwartz, S. H. (2006). A theory of cultural value orientations:  Explication and applications. Comparative Sociology, 5, 136-182. Stephan, W., Renfro, C. L., Esses, V., Stephan, C. & Martin, T. (2005). The effects of feeling threatened on attitudes toward immigrants. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29, 1–19. Taylor, C. (1992). Multiculturalism and the politics of recognition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. UNESCO (2009). Investing in cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue. Paris: UNESCO. Van de Vijver, F., Seger M., Breugelmans, S., & Schalk-Soekar, S. (2008). Multiculturalism:  Construct validity and stability. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 32, 93–104. Van Oudenhoven, J.-P. (2006). Immigrants. In D. L.  Sam & J. W.  Berry (Eds). Cambridge handbook of acculturation psychology (pp. 163–180). Cambridge, UK:  Cambridge University Press. Verkuyten, M. (2005). Ethnic group identification and group evaluation among minority and majority groups: Testing the multiculturalism hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 121–138.

Vigdor, J. L. (2011). Comparing immigrant assimilation in North America and Europe. Civic Report. Retrieved from http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_64.htm Ward, C. & Masgoret, A.-M. (2008). Attitudes toward immigrants, immigration, and multiculturalism in New Zealand:  A  Social Psychological Analysis. International Migration Review, 42, 227–248.

Ward, C. & Leong, C.-H. (2006) Intercultural relations in plural societies. In D. Sam & J. W. Berry (Eds), Cambridge handbook of acculturation psychology (pp. 484–503). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Yalden M. (2009). Transforming rights. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.

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CH A PT E R

6

The Social Psychology of Multiculturalism: Identity and Intergroup Relations

Kay Deaux and Maykel Verkuyten1

Abstract This chapter addresses the social psychology of multiculturalism from two perspectives: (a) that of the individual migrant, who participates in two (or more) intersecting cultural communities and typically has multiple identifications; and (b) that of the majority culture, which formulates expectations and prescriptions for dealing with diversity. The chapter frames this analysis with a discussion of the distinction between ethnicity, identity and culture. From the perspective of the immigrant, multiple identifications can include not only ethnicity and nationality of both homeland and country of migration, but also other categories of group membership such as religion, class, and gender. These complicated intersections are not only structural in nature, but have implications for behavioral choices as well. Majority cultures can support or resist cultural diversity, and intergroup relations vary as a function of the potential threats seen by the majority. The chapter concludes with consideration of the implications of our analysis for social policy. Key Words:  culture, dual identity, ethnicity, gender, identity, immigrants, multiculturalism, multicultural recognition, multiple identities, religion

Multiculturalism is a term that is used in many different ways and for many different purposes. At a purely descriptive level, multiculturalism denotes the reality of cultural diversity within schools, organizations, institutions, neighborhoods, and countries. Beyond this general description, however, we can look to more specific phenomena that are often encompassed in the broader meanings of the term. Our analysis, emerging from a social psychological perspective, considers two distinct aspects of the concept. Multiculturalism can be conceptualized at the level of the individual, encompassing not only the term multiple identities but the related concepts of bicultural or dual identity as well. Here, the focus is on the psychological experience of the individual who participates to some degree in two (or more) intersecting cultural communities that can 118

complement or challenge each other. Typically, these multiple identifications will implicate different histories and memories, social networks, meanings, and implications for action. Used in this way, the term multiculturalism draws attention to the fact that individuals are faced with the task of living with diversity and having to incorporate different cultural orientations and group identifications in their sense of self. Alternatively, multiculturalism can refer to a set of expectations or prescriptions for dealing with diversity. Depending on the speaker and the context, multiculturalism can be considered an ideology, a lay theory, a set of normative beliefs, a framework for policies, and a guideline for education and educational activities. Although the diversity of multicultural ideas, initiatives, and practices is substantial, the notion multicultural recognition

signals some common arguments underlying these differences. In general, multicultural recognition tries to foster understanding and appreciation of ethnic diversity by offering a positive view of cultural maintenance by ethnic minority groups and, as such, a concomitant need to accommodate diversity in an equitable way. Although each of these domains is of considerable interest and significance in its own right, their conjunction is not always smooth and indeed, creates a set of conditions that invite a closer analysis of the intergroup processes that operate between the multiple identity individual and the multicultural belief system. Further, because these processes are played out, not in a neutral zone of analytic parsing but rather in an increasingly charged social and political environment evident in many countries today, strong beliefs about the “right” course can exist quite independently from both experience and data. Multiculturalism is an attractive ideology for immigrants and minorities because its emphasis on differences allows them to maintain their own cultural identity within the larger societal context. The acceptance and recognition of cultural diversity would contribute to the development of a multiple or dual identity, and would be crucial for self-feelings because of its service to one’s minority identity (Burnet, 1995). Furthermore, proponents of multiculturalism argue that the acknowledgment of diversity stimulates the integration of immigrants and minorities into mainstream society and contributes to positive intergroup relations. Multiculturalism, however, has also been criticized by political philosophers and social scientists (e.g. Barry, 2001; Joppke, 2004) as well as by the public at large; some social psychologists have also expressed their concerns (e.g. Brewer, 1997; Haidt, Rosenberg & Hom, 2003). It has been suggested, for example, that the focus on cultural differences leads immigrants and minorities to embrace a distinctive minority identity separate from the majority society, which impedes the development of a sense of national commitment and loyalty. Furthermore, the majority group might consider multiculturalism irrelevant or threatening for themselves, thereby creating a backlash in the form of decreased support for diversity and social equality. The result would be a fragmented and fractured society in which immigrants self-segregate in their minority identity and culture, and majority populations reject and exclude immigrants and minorities. In this chapter we focus on both these aspects of multiculturalism: multiple identities of immigrants

and multicultural attitudes of the majority group. First, however, we offer a brief discussion of the distinction between ethnicity, identity, and culture that establishes a framework for our analysis. We then turn to a detailed discussion of the two perspectives on multiculturalism, beginning with an analysis of multiple identities and then turning to the intergroup context defined by beliefs about multiculturalism. Immigrant populations offer a clear case of the need to consider at least two identities, namely, that based in the country of origin and that presented by the country of migration. Often, however, as we will discuss, the identity structure is more complicated than a simple binary, as other categories of group membership, such as religion, class, or gender, come into play as well. Further, attention to structure is only part of the story. Additionally, we need to consider how definitions of identity play out in behavior, both in the choices that individuals make for presenting themselves to an audience and in the reactions that they receive to their performance actions. In the next part of the chapter, we discuss research on the endorsement of multicultural recognition among majority members and examine the conditions that lead these members to either support or resist cultural diversity and group-based equality. Several studies find positive effects of multicultural recognition on intergroup relations, but there is also research that indicates that majority members see multiculturalism as a threat to their group’s identity and respond to this threat by asserting their dominant position in society. Following our analysis of the two separate aspects of multiculturalism, we then examine some of the ways in which multiple identity and multicultural recognition are related. In particular, we focus on the relationships between multicultural recognition and dual identity, and between multiculturalism and self-feelings. Finally, in a concluding section, we consider some of the implications of our analysis for social policy in societies that are currently grappling with the realities of increased cultural diversity.

Ethnicity, Identity and Culture

The concepts of ethnicity, identity, and culture are often used interchangeably. This is rather confusing and can hamper our understanding of social and psychological processes and realities. As Lamont and Small (2008, p.  76) write, “Literature on inequality, race and ethnicity often lacks sophistication in the way culture is conceptualized. This is illustrated in many practices such Deaux, Verkuy ten

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as the use of culture and ethnicity as interchangeable.” Minority and integration research is often embedded in an ontology of the social world that assumes that ethnic groups are cultural groups and that people who belong to an ethnic group “have” the culture of that group. However, anthropologists have convincingly shown that culture is not a very useful basis for the definition of ethnicity (Barth, 1969). An important reason is that such a definition leads to a static and reified notion of culture. For example, the notion of “multicultural society” quickly leads to the idea that cultures are bounded entities, clear-cut wholes, clearly distinguishable from other entities that are linked to other groups. As social psychologists would predict, the consequence of this is that the differences and contrasts between groups are emphasized and that similarities and commonalities are neglected. Moreover, the similarities within groups are easily exaggerated and differences are forgotten. If people belong to the same group and each group has its own culture, then little attention is typically paid to in-group differences and to the possibilities and realities of cultural change, mixture, and renewal. In addition, a sense of ethnic identity can remain strong, although from a cultural point of view numerous changes take place. Acculturation as the process of becoming more similar culturally does not have to imply a change of group membership and self-definition (Hutnik, 1991). People often hold on to their ethnic identity, to what they feel is a continuity with the past and a loyalty toward their community, although their culture becomes intermingled with that of others. For example, in Trinidad the distinction between African and Indian is regarded as a critical one, despite the fact that few cultural differences remain (Miller, 1994). Immigrants can adapt to the society of settlement culturally, but not in an ethnic sense. They can remain proud of their ethnic background and strongly define themselves as, for example, Mexican (in the U.S.  context), Pakistani (in Britain) or Turkish (in Germany). Contacts between ethnic groups almost always lead to exchange of cultural characteristics and mutual adjustments, but at the same time, the contact can result in distinctiveness threat, which leads to enhanced ethnic consciousness and stronger group differentiation (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). Cultural content and ethnic identity are to an important degree functionally independent. Cultural adaptation also does not necessarily imply that one’s ethnic identity is accepted and recognized by the broader society. Social psychologists 120

tend to characterize ethnicity, and other categories, like religion, as social groups; ethnic (or religious) people are those who identify with the group and adhere to its normative beliefs and practices. For social psychologists, collective identities have to do with people’s sense of their group memberships. The emphasis is on the subjective aspects that are conceptualized in terms of, for example, cognitive centrality, importance, and satisfaction (see Ashmore, Deaux, & McLaughlin-Volpe, 2004). However, collective identities are not like private beliefs or convictions that, in principle, can be sustained without expression and social recognition. Social identities refer to “who people are to each other” and depend crucially on acknowledgment and verification by others (Burke & Stets, 2009; Klein, Spears & Reicher, 2007). Social identities are sustainable to the extent that they are expressed and affirmed in acceptable practices. Anthropologists, for example, have shown how people use particular behaviors to form and negotiate their ethnic identity in everyday interactions, and discourse analysts have shown how social identities are accomplished in the ongoing exchange of talk (Verkuyten, 2005a). This understanding of ethnicity, identity, and culture, as well as the dynamic and interactive processes that are implied, underlies the analysis of multiple identities and multicultural recognition that follows.

Multiple Identities

From the perspective of the individual, the most immediate sense of multiculturalism is expressed in self-definition, as the different cultural groups in which one participates are combined in some sense of self. We will primarily use the term multiple identities to describe the generic case, though other terms such as dual identity and bicultural identity might also be possible when the focus is on two particular elements. Instantiation of the generic case can include many different identity categories; here we consider those that have garnered the most attention. We begin by looking at the combination of ethnic and national identity, followed by a consideration of religious identity, an identity that often covaries with ethnic identity for both actors and perceivers. With somewhat less detail, we also consider the ways in which social class, education, and gender combine with ethnic and national identities to shape self-definition.

Combinations of Ethnic and National Identity

The juxtaposition of ethnic and national identities, particularly as the challenge is addressed by

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immigrants who enter a new country with typically different cultural and political norms, is a topic of considerable relevance in a world in which international migration continues to increase and diversity within nations becomes more evident. An early and influential conceptualization proposed by John Berry (1980) offered a model in which high versus low levels of identification with the home country and with the host country are combined to create four categories, labeled separation, assimilation, integration and marginalization. This model has generated considerable research and ample criticism as well. Although generally the research suggests that a majority of immigrants prefer the integrated strategy, in which there is a relatively high level of identification with both origin and host countries, the conditions under which these preferences are most likely to evolve and the consequences of various combinations are still unsettled. Other limitations of the model, including its static quality and the oversimplified focus on a four-category typology, have lead many investigators to probe further into the nature of dual identity. How do ethnic and national identities combine? The answer to this question depends to a large extent on local context. Research from European countries, such as France, Germany, and the Netherlands, often finds a negative correlation between the two; in historically immigrant countries such as Canada and the United States, the two identities are more often statistically independent or, in the case of New Zealand, even positively correlated (Phinney, Berry, Vedder, & Liebkind, 2006). Exemplifying this point, combined terms such as Mexican-American or Chinese-Canadian are more common than the possible European equivalents of Turkish-German or Moroccan-Dutch.2 The difference between immigrant countries and many European countries might have to do with the fact that the former are founded more on the idea of immigration and civic integration, whereas the latter are “older” nations with an established indigenous majority population. In these older nations there often is an implicit ethnic representation of the nation that emphasises genealogical grounds and defines “group ownership” whereby the linguistic representations of nationhood and of the native population correspond: Dutch typically means ethnic Dutch, and German means ethnic German. For German or Dutch people, their ethnic and national identities are one and the same. An ethnic representation also implies a static cultural view in which native traditions and symbols need to be protected

against change. In such a representation, the legitimacy of national membership is more often denied to non-native members, making it difficult for immigrants to feel included and to develop a sense of national belonging. Further understanding of the relationship between national and ethnic identification is gained by looking at subgroups within a country. In a majority of countries studied, ethnic minorities are less strongly identified with the nation than are majority groups (Elkins & Sides, 2007). Correspondingly, minority groups tend to have stronger ethnic identification than do majority groups (which, in most of the research to date, has been specified as a white majority). Data from the Los Angeles, California area show how these patterns vary among ethnic groups and also highlight the importance of how questions about identification are presented (Sears & Savalei, 2006). When asked how strongly they identified with their ethnic group, Black respondents were most likely to say “very strongly” (59%) and Whites were least likely to do so (25%). Latino respondents were similar to Blacks, though the frequency of their endorsement varied depending on whether they were foreign-born (60%) or U.S. born (44%); Asians more closely resembled Whites, with only 37% claiming that they were very identified with their ethnic group. Another question in the same survey focused more sharply on the issue of dual identity:  respondents were asked whether they thought of themselves mainly as ethnic, just as American, or as both American and ethnic. In this case, duality was the majority choice of Blacks, Latinos, and Asians (at 55%, 57%, and 71%, respectively), with only Whites showing a preponderance of “just American” replies (75%). These kinds of ethnic group differences in identification patterns have also been found in European countries (e.g., De Vroome, Martinovic, & Verkuyten, 2012; Modood et  al., 1997). Clearly, any consideration of multiple identities within a society must give careful consideration to variations between the subgroups in a society, for whom the possibilities and the impediments to claiming dual identity may vary considerably.

Religious Identity

Religion has proved to be a potent influence on identity definitions as well as in reactions to immigrants who enter a country as a religious minority. Indeed, in many countries, especially in contemporary Europe, questions about immigration and the integration of new residents in the society are Deaux, Verkuy ten

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inextricably linked to the religious group identification of the immigrants. In the Netherlands, high concentrations of immigrants from Turkey and Morocco are predominantly Muslim. Similarly, in Belgium, the second-largest group of immigrants is Turkish; in Germany, immigrants from Turkey, who began arriving in the early 1960s through a guest worker program, remain the largest immigrant group; and in France, immigrants from Algeria and Morocco, both predominantly Muslim countries, account for 30% of the country’s immigrants (Migration Policy Institute, 2011). Verkuyten and Yildiz (2007) explored the compatibility of national identification with religious and ethnic identity in the Netherlands. Among their Turkish immigrant participants, they found, as would be expected, strong positive correlations between Turkish and Muslim identities but negative correlations of each with Dutch identification. In both studies, the degree to which these immigrants identified as Dutch was predicted directly by perceived discrimination against their group and this relationship was partially mediated by Turkish and by Muslim identification, that is, perceptions of discrimination strengthened their immigrant identity, which, in turn, weakened their endorsement of a Dutch identity. In every case, Dutch identification was substantially lower than either Muslim or Turkish identification. Muslim identification was particularly strong in their samples, with more than half the participants using the highest possible score on a multiple-item measure of Muslim identification. The relationship between religious identification and national identification is quite different in the United States, where Muslims are, to a much greater extent, integrated into the mainstream society and often have high incomes and educational credentials (Sirin & Fine, 2008). As Foner and Alba comment with reference to the United States, “Participation in almost any sort of religion is depicted as a pathway into the mainstream” (2008, p. 362). As they further observe, religious belief and behavior tends to be much higher in the United States than in other economically advanced countries; in fact, some argue that Americans accept religious diversity more readily than ethnic diversity. Moreover, the claim has been made that immigrants become American through their religious activities (Hirschman, 2004). Certainly, some of that religious activity takes the form of conversion to Christian religions, thus acculturating to the main religious tradition in the United States. Yet, for many others it is a 122

maintenance of the religion of origin, albeit often with some modifications that reflect the influence of the host society, that characterizes their practices (Foner & Alba, 2008). The contrast between viewing religious practice as a positive pathway to citizenship versus considering it an obstacle to successful acculturation (the latter more often the case in Western Europe), highlights the role that local context plays in defining the nature and the viability of multiple identities. Contexts can, of course, change. In the United States, for example, the events of 9/11 and the concern for terrorism by Muslim extremists has precipitated some highly publicized incidents, including the burning of a Quran by a Florida minister and protests about the development of an Islamic Center near the site of the World Trade Center bombings. At the same time, some researchers have argued that the basic structure of attitudes toward Muslims has not noticeably changed, and that these attitudes are more closely associated with other negatively viewed cultural groups than with religious bias (Kalkan, Layman & Uslaner, 2009). To the extent that the local norms appear nonreceptive or even hostile to the expression of religious identities, the possibility exists that observant immigrants will develop an oppositional identity and reject the mainstream of the nation in which they reside (Foner & Alba, 2008). Indeed, Verkuyten and Yildiz (2007, Study 3), when focusing specifically on a concept of disidentification (using items such as “I certainly do not want to see myself as Dutch”), which can be empirically distinguished from identification, found that participants who were more involved in actions and practices relevant to their Muslim identity were also more likely to express a rejection of being Dutch. Such a rejection is also more likely for immigrants who perceive a strong association and overlap among their ethnic and religious identities. The concept of social identity complexity refers to individual differences in the way in which different in-group memberships are subjectively combined (Roccas & Brewer, 2002). A complex identity structure implies that an individual accepts and acknowledges the distinctive memberships of his or her various in-groups. Alternatively, individuals with a relatively simplified structure perceive a strong overlap and interrelation among their identities. Research (Roccas & Brewer, 2002) suggests that a more complex identity structure is associated with out-group openness and tolerance, whereas lower complexity, or a more monolithic identity

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structure, would be related to less openness. In agreement with this, three studies among Turkish Muslims in the Netherlands found that a stronger overlap between ethnic and Muslim identification was associated with a more negative attitude toward the native Dutch, lower endorsement of liberal values, and lower Dutch identification (Verkuyten & Martinovic, 2012). Although certain combinations and meanings make national identification more difficult, evidence also suggests that members of minority groups are able to formulate meanings of both national and ethnic identity that make compatibility possible. Muslims in the UK interviewed by Hopkins (2011), for example, expressed a general belief that there is no single way to be British. Operating from this assumption of heterogeneity, they were able to describe ways in which a combination of British and Muslim identities would be a positive-sum, rather than zero-sum, situation. For some of these minority-group members, to be British in a Muslim way was seen as a path to improve societal mores, for example, by reducing teenage pregnancies and drug problems. Others saw the inclusion of Muslims as a way to highlight the value of multiculturalism for British identity. Looking in the other direction and describing how one might be Muslim in a British way, respondents talked about the empowerment that could result from adopting democratic values and the stage that Britain provided for displaying the universalism of Islam religion. The dual identities of religion—most often Muslim, in both research and public debate—and national identity is the most prominent case of multiple identification. Not only is it one that immigrants themselves must deal with, but it is also the case that most often, particularly in contemporary Europe, frames the debates of multicultural recognition versus rejection (see later section of this chapter). In addition, however, there are other positioning categories that also can be analyzed in terms of multiple identity. Here we consider the influence of social class and education, and then of gender as elements of immigrant identification.

Social Class and Education

Socioeconomic status frequently shapes the expression and the interpretation of immigrant identity, although its influence has been infrequently considered by psychologists. In the United States, for example, immigrants from Mexico are most often poor and with limited education. These limitations in human capital are often accompanied

by undocumented status, which reduces their ability to easily take on a national American identity. Variations in resources, when coupled with the differential discrimination patterns experienced by, for example, black immigrants versus white immigrants, form the basis for what has come to be known as the theory of segmented assimilation (see Zhou, 1999). In brief, this theory points to different patterns of immigrant adaptation to U. S. society, varying from the classical pattern of upward mobility and identification of some groups with the broad American citizenry to the downward mobility of other groups and their joining the ranks of the underclass; yet a third path identified by the theory includes those groups who become economically successful but who remain primarily identified with their ethnic group rather than with the more encompassing American identity. It is debated whether segmented assimilation is a phenomenon specific to the U.S. context or whether it also occurs in Europe (Vermeulen, 2010). From the perspective of the immigrants themselves, these different paths present different opportunities, with class in some respects determining both their ethnic and their national identification. As a point of contrast, Canada has an immigration policy that emphasizes professional skills as criteria for entrance results in an immigrant population that is far more ready to enter the professional work force than are other immigrant groups. When coupled with a federal policy that affirms diversity along with national civic commitment, the opportunity for developing a stable multiple identity are much greater. However, in Canada there are also indications that more highly educated immigrants face more (institutional) discrimination than do those with less education (e.g. Boyd & Derrick, 2002; Reitz, 2001). Further, experiences and perceptions of being discriminated against or belonging to a minority group that is the target of discrimination hamper national identification (Jasinskaja-Lahti, Liebkind, & Solheim, 2009). The “integration paradox” argues that it is precisely those immigrants who are most strongly focused on educational achievements who will be more sensitive to ethnic acceptance and equality. Experiences and perceptions of nonacceptance and discrimination, despite their efforts and successful integration in the host society, would make immigrants turn toward their own minority community and away from society. Thus, the more successful ones would be more sensitive to ethnic acceptance and equality, which, in turn, would Deaux, Verkuy ten

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drive their sense of commitment and belonging to the host society. In short, the “integration paradox” implies that higher-educated minorities can have a weaker sense of national belonging because of ethnic discrimination. Evidence for this educational effect was found among representative samples of the four numerically largest migrant groups living in the Netherlands (Ten Teije, Coenders, & Verkuyten, 2013).

Gender

Like social class, gender can define the parameters of one’s experience, creating obstacles and opportunities that differ between women and men. These differing experiences can constitute the meanings that a male or female identity invokes; they can also combine with, for example, an ethnic identity to create gender-specific conceptions of the ethnic identity. Particularly in the years following 9/11, for example, the image of Arabs and Muslims as dangerous and violent was defined primarily in terms of men; records of arrests of Arabs and Muslims in the United States show an overwhelming number of these “suspicious persons” were men (Cainkar, 2009). In contrast, recent debates in France about the presence of nonsecular elements in public sites has centered almost entirely on the scarf or hijab by Muslim women. In each case, although the general climate may affect both women and men, their specific experiences and self-conceptions can differ substantially. Although the pattern is far from universal, women often gain status when they move to a new country, particularly when they were less involved in the public domain in their home country. Men, in contrast, often experience a loss of status, again contingent on what their position was in the country of origin. As Itzigsohn and his colleagues (Itzigsohn, 2009; Itzigsohn & Giorguli-Saucedo, 2005) have shown, differences in economic conditions influence the relationships that immigrants have with white Americans and the social distance that they experience. If these measures of social distance are interpreted as indices of identification with the new country (in this case the United States), as Itzigsohn and Giorguli-Saucedo do, then the conjunction of ethnic and national identity can be shown to be moderated by gender. These investigators found that for women, their increased status created a stronger desire to stay in the United States and to be American (while affording them the resources to make contributions to the welfare of people in the home country). For men, in contrast, 124

the U.S. experience was more likely to show a pattern of reactive identification, as experiences with discrimination and fewer economic opportunities increased their transnational involvement and ethnic identification. As we discussed with respect to religion, how an identity is defined—in this case, how gender, ethnic and national identity are defined—determines whether multiple identities are seen as compatible or not. To the extent that gender roles shaped by ethnic norms are significantly different than those associated with the new national identity, conflicts between ethnic and national identities are likely to be more common, causing strains in both sexes as they try to deal with the changed dynamics. An example is the machismo in many Hispanic contexts and among Caribbean immigrants in Europe. A  comparable example is the gender roles among Muslim immigrants. In their cross-national research, Norris and Inglehart (2004, p. 155) conclude that “The most basic cultural fault line between the West and Islam does not concern democracy—it involves issues of gender equality and sexuality.”

Generational Differences in Identity Endorsement

In its purest sense, the term “immigrant” refers to people who were born in one country and then emigrate to another. In the terms used by demographers, these are first-generation immigrants, to be distinguished from their children, typically referred to as second-generation immigrants, and to successive descendants who can be labeled third generation, fourth generation, and so on. In some countries, the latter usage is common; in other countries, the term immigrant is reserved for the initial movers, and later generations are either not specifically marked or are collectively referred to by the same ethnic label (e.g., Turks in Germany), whatever the number of steps from the original settlers might be. Underlying these varying terminologies, however, are potentially significant differences in ethnic and national identity that are important to consider in discussions of multiculturalism. Traditional models of assimilation and acculturation assume changes in identification over time. Thus, it is expected that the children and grandchildren of immigrants will be more strongly identified with the host nation and less strongly identified with the ethnic origin of their parents, even if the original immigrants themselves do not show such assimilative tendencies within their lifetime. Longitudinal research that could support these assumptions is

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rare, in large part because psychological variables such as identification have not been a staple of past immigration studies. However, one exhaustive analysis of four generations of Mexican Americans, comparing samples obtained in 1965 and 2000 (Telles & Ortiz, 2008), shows that identification patterns are much more complex and varied than simple assimilation models would predict. When respondents in this study were asked to pick a single label for identification, “American” was chosen by only a small minority of even fourth-generation immigrants, an allegiance to ethnic category that persisted even though the use of Spanish language and the practice of Catholicism, both traditional attributes of a Mexican identity, had disappeared (another example of the importance for making a distinction between identity and culture, as argued earlier). In a second question, respondents were asked how often they thought of themselves as Mexican, American, both, or neither. Although exclusive use of Mexican diminished across generations and identification as American increased, it is interesting to note that the percentage of U.S.-born Mexican Americans who thought of themselves as both American and Mexican remained constant at approximately 20% through the fourth generation, indicating the continuing presence of multiple identification. An alternative way to consider generational differences in identification is to use cross-sectional samples in which age is held constant. An example of this strategy is seen in a study of Afro-Caribbean immigrants in New York City (Deaux et al., 2007), in which first- and second-generation immigrant students were asked to indicate their ethnic identity on a 5-point bi-dimensional scale that was anchored by the terms “definitely West Indian” at one end and “definitely African American” at the other end, with a mid-point of “equally West Indian and African American.”3 Second-generation students were significantly higher on the scale, i.e., the mean was more toward the African American end of the scale. At the same time, however, it is notable that both generational groups scored below the midpoint, indicating that the ethnic identity of origin is not so readily abandoned for the more encompassing ethnic-national category available to them. Additional data in this same study showed a drop in the belonging subscale of Phinney’s multi-ethnic identity measure (Phinney, 1998) for the second generation, though, in absolute terms, the identity index was still quite strong. Although these data do not speak directly to the issue of the dual reality of

ethnic plus host national identity, they do point to shifts that are possible in identity definitions; similar generation differences have been found in other countries (e.g., Maliepaard, Lubbers,  & Gijsberts, 2010). In another study that explored issues of dual identity, this time in samples of Dominican and Mexican immigrants in the United States, Wiley (2013) considered the potential conflicts that immigrants face as they attempt to relate to two distinct audiences, one a group that shares their ethnic background (in this case, Latino) and the other a group representing the majority host country (in this case, American). Both first- and second-generation immigrants responded to two questions, one that dealt with being “Too Latino for Americans” and the other that asked about being “Too American for Latinos.” Of particular interest in the results is the significant increase in agreement with being “too Latino for Americans” for second-generation immigrants compared to first, suggesting that the challenge of combining ethnic and national identities does not get easier for the second generation, even though they were born Americans because of federal policy of birthright citizenship.4

Dual Identity Performance

The findings of Wiley (2013) point to the variable audiences that immigrants must negotiate in a diverse society. Identity is not just “inside the head” but, as discussed earlier, is grounded in social interaction and depends on verification by others. Clay (2003), for example, shows how African American youth use hip-hop culture, particularly rap music, to form and negotiate their black identity in everyday interactions with other African Americans. In-group acceptance as authentically black depends on one’s ability to master the tools of hip hop performance, that is, the right language, clothes, pasture, attitude and bodily gestures. Speaking and reading a particular language is often an important criterion for successful identity claims. Several studies have shown that a lack of ethnic language proficiency makes it difficult to feel fully accepted by co-ethnics. Chinese-Canadian and Chinese-Dutch youth, for example, emphasize the lack of Chinese literacy as an important shortcoming, from not being able to carry on a conversation to not being able to understand the news as “real” Chinese people would (Belanger & Verkuyten, 2010). These youth argue that they are and feel Chinese, but at the same time are not Chinese “enough,” or not “really” Deaux, Verkuy ten

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Chinese because they lack critical attributes of Chinese culture and, therefore, are not fully able to “do” Chinese. Similarly, among South Moluccan youngsters living in the Netherlands the ability to speak the Malay language is used to authenticate a Moluccan identity (“If you can’t speak Malay, you’re not a real Moluccan”) (Verkuyten, 2005a), as is the ability to speak Spanish among Latinos in the United State (Deaux & Ethier, 1998). Wiley and Deaux (2011) invoke group identification as a key component in their model of dual identity performance and go on to develop an analysis of the situational context and characteristics of particular audiences that can influence the identity choices that individuals make. In this respect, they build on earlier work by Verkuyten and de Wolf (2002) who, through the analysis of a sample of discourse from Chinese immigrants living in the Netherlands, pinpointed ways in which these people “did Chinese” within their own ethnic group. In their accounts, the Chinese participants demonstrated elements of personal agency and choice in their construction of a dual identity, actively selecting among possible aspects of both Chinese and Dutch culture as they found it useful to do. In their presentation of a dual identity performance model, Wiley and Deaux (2011) highlight the motivational aspects of performance as well as the influence that a specific audience can exert on that performance, drawing on the theorizing of Klein et  al. (2007). The Wiley-Deaux model emphasizes the dynamic aspects of dual identities, with a specific focus on the combination of ethnic and national identities, and the variability in the ways that people choose to express one or another aspect of self. Attention to the audience also recognizes the fact that, although the individual may easily incorporate two or more categories of self-definition, audiences may be unable or unwilling to recognize a particular group membership. Thus, the second-generation Latina may see herself as “too Latino for Americans” (Wiley, 2013); the British Muslim can face discrimination by those who believe people must be British first (Hopkins, 2011); and Chinese Canadians often believe that both Chinese and other Canadians regard them as more Chinese than they feel themselves (Noels, Leavitt, & Clément, 2010). Audiences not only are able to accept or reject an identity that a person opts to present, but they also can assign an identity that the person does not him/herself claim (see Barreto & Ellemers, 2003). As one example, Afro-Caribbean immigrants to the 126

United States are often regarded as indiscriminable members of the category Black Americans, an identity that they did not have before they migrated and one that they are often unwilling to accept because of the greater possibilities of discrimination that it brings (Waters, 1999). The context of reception is critically important in any analysis of multiple identity and thus we now turn to an analysis of multiculturalism from the perspective of majority members

Majority Members and Multiculturalism

In recent years in many European countries, there has been a retreat from multiculturalism in favor of assimilationist notions (see Joppke, 2004; Vertovec & Wessendorf, 2010).5 Leading politicians and policy makers in France, Germany, and Great Britain have explicitly rejected the idea of multiculturalism and defined it as being “dead,” a “mistake,” and a “drama.” European discussions of citizenship have tried to reinvigorate theories of assimilation by emphasizing the importance of the adoption of the national culture (Joppke, 1999). In addition, some social scientists have argued that it is necessary to seriously rethink and rehabilitate assimilation theory as an alternative to multiculturalism (e.g., Alba & Nee, 2003; Brubaker, 2001). From this vantage point, multiculturalism is considered a barrier to upward mobility and the economic success of minority groups, and any emphasis on ethnic group differences is thought likely to endanger social unity and cohesion.

The Endorsement of Multiculturalism

One reason for the negative evaluation of multiculturalism is that it is seen as an ideology that is irrelevant to the majority population. European multiculturalism, for example, has always been targeted at immigrants and minorities (Joppke, 2004), and a similar tendency is found in the United States (Unzueta & Binning, 2010). Majority members may believe that multiculturalism is not applicable to them and may even make them feel excluded, expressed in the “what about me?” question (Plaut, Garnett, Buffardi, & Sanchez-Burks, 2011). Multiculturalism is typically seen as identity supporting for minority groups and consequently leads to some resistance on the part of the majority. Consistent with this analysis, general support for multiculturalism is not very strong among majority groups in many Western countries. Most of the studies on the endorsement of multicultural recognition have used items that are adapted from Berry and Kalin’s (1995) Multicultural Ideology

The Social Psychology of Multiculturalism

Scale. Research examining the factorial structure of multiculturalism in majority members has typically found multiculturalism to be a unifactorial construct (see Breugelmans & Van de Vijver, 2004) with support for minority-group cultural maintenance (e.g., “Migrants should be supported in their attempts to preserve their own cultural heritage,” “Cultural diversity should be encouraged”) on one end of the dimension and assimilation (“Ethnic minorities should try to forget their culture as much as possible,” “Our country should have its core values and reduce the cultural diversity”) on the other. In addition, studies found support for the factorial similarity of the scale across majority and ethnic minority groups (Arends-Tóth & Van de Vijver, 2003; Verkuyten & Brug, 2004). Apart from Canada, where majority members generally tend to favor multiculturalism (e.g., Berry & Kalin, 1995), studies in other countries have found only moderate support (i.e., slightly above the neutral midpoint of scales), as in Australia (e.g., Ho, 1990) and the United States (e.g., Citrin, Sears, Muste & Wong, 2001), or low support (below or at the neutral midpoint of scales), as exemplified by Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Slovakia (e.g., Pionkowski, Florack, Hoelker, & Obdrzáek, 2000; Verkuyten, 2006; Zick, Wagner, van Dick, & Petzel, 2001). Furthermore, research consistently finds significantly stronger support for multiculturalism among ethnic minorities than among the majority group (e.g., Verkuyten, 2006; Wolsko, Park, & Judd, 2006). The results of these studies support intergroup theories, such as social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) and social dominance theory (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999), that emphasize the importance of status differences and group interests. However, it does not follow from these theories that multiculturalism is, by definition, less relevant for majorities than minorities. Majority members can be expected to endorse multiculturalism more strongly when it serves their group interest. Morrison and Chung (2011) focused on multiculturalism in relation to the way that majority members think about themselves. They asked majority members to mark their race/ethnicity as either “white” or “European American” before answering questions about their interethnic attitudes. Multiculturalism tends to be framed as pertaining to minority groups and the “White” label suggests that the majority lacks a meaningful ethnic identity. Therefore, self-identifying as White compared to European American may cause majority members

to feel more distant from ethnic minorities and less supportive of multiculturalism. The findings of their two studies supported this reasoning. In another study, the question was whether seeing multiculturalism as self-relevant makes majority-group members more supportive of cultural diversity (Stevens, Plaut, & Sanchez-Burke, 2008). As predicted, majority members were less favorable toward multiculturalism after being presented with an ideology of acknowledgment and respect for minority identities than after being told that diversity is relevant to majorities as well as minorities (see also Plaut et  al., 2011). Thus, making multiculturalism relevant to the majority increases their support for diversity policies. The fact that multiculturalism is not by definition less relevant for the group interests of majorities than of minorities can also be illustrated by looking at different societies. Take the example of Mauritius, which is viewed as a strong candidate for “truly successful polyethnic societies” (Eriksen, 2004, p.79). Mauritius is a small island in the south-western Indian Ocean with a population of 1.26  million (Republic of Mauritius, 2007). The cultural complexity of Mauritius is substantial. On 1,860 square kilometers, various ethnic groups live together (e.g. Hindus, Tamils, Telegus, Marathis, Muslims, Creoles, Whites, and Chinese), around 15 languages are said to be spoken, and the four world religions rub shoulders (Eriksen, 2004). Despite the representation of the nation as a complex multicultural mosaic, clear status differences exist between the ethnic groups. However, in contrast to studies in Europe and North America, the dominant group of Hindus does not endorse multiculturalism less strongly than the minority group of Creoles (Ng-Tseung & Verkuyten, 2010). This counterexample is explained by the official image of Mauritius as being a diasporic nation and the related multicultural politics of the state that encourage the cultivation of “ancestral cultures.” Diversity is based on the recognition of the culture of groups that have clear ancestral origins, like the Hindus, who are powerful in politics and the public sector. In contrast, the term Creoles is used for a rather diverse population of descendants of African and Malagasy slaves. They do not have a recognized claim on a legitimizing ancestral culture and ancestral language with an origin outside Mauritius (Laville, 2000). As a consequence, the diasporic ancestral culture policy justifies the position of the Hindus and has exclusionist implications for the low status Creoles (Eisenlohr, 2006). Deaux, Verkuy ten

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Another divergent case is the autonomous titular states and titular republics within the Russian Federation (Fleischmann, Verkuyten, & Poppe, 2011). The term titular refers to the population groups after which the republics/states are named, such as Tatars in Tatarstan. The dominant position of titulars in their republics is based on the idea of their cultural distinctiveness. Codagnone and Filippov (2000) have pointed out that the titular elites frequently use a discourse of multiculturalism and minority rights to secure their dominant position in the titular republics in relation to the Russian minority and the Russian state. This discourse tends to serve as a legitimization of the cultural distinctiveness and territorial autonomy of the titulars who, in turn, do not promote the rights of nontitular minorities. Hence, in the autonomous titular republics, multiculturalism functions as a hierarchy-enhancing ideology that legitimizes the position of the titulars in contrast to non-titulars, and the Russians in particular. Yet another example is Japan. Some researchers have argued that the Japanese maintain their privileged position by essentializing cultural differences in the name of multiculturalism. The endorsement of multiculturalism would be compatible with a strong ethnic-national identity because it enables the dominant majority to draw strict boundaries between ethnic minorities and themselves. In a large-scale research project, Nagayoshi (2011) found a positive association between ethno-national identity and the endorsement of multiculturalism. Those who demand cultural homogeneity within Japan tend to approve of multiculturalism because it emphasizes the “otherness” of ethnic minorities and justifies the right to maintain the original Japanese culture. This is quite similar to some of the arguments that extreme right-wing groups in Europe make. For example, Alain de Benoist of the French National Front has said that they feel a strong bond with Taylor’s (1992) multicultural politics of recognition and he has claimed their “droit de difference” (“the right to be different”). These examples show that multiculturalism can serve the interest of majority members and, therefore, can be highly relevant to them. As a result, majorities can endorse multiculturalism more strongly than minority groups and this endorsement can lead to more negative intergroup relations. Negative relations can also result when multiculturalism is seen as threatening to the identity and position of the majority group. 128

Multiculturalism as a Threat

In North American and European societies, multicultural recognition typically offers a positive view of cultural maintenance by ethnic minority groups. Majority group members, on the other hand, may see multiculturalism as a threat to their cultural dominance and group identity. An interview study among native Dutch participants tried to identify the social thought or the main arguments used for justifying or criticizing the idea of multiculturalism (Verkuyten, 2004). Issues of threat and anxiety were mentioned most often when arguing against a multicultural society and in favor of assimilation. Respondents suggested that a multicultural society could pose a threat to people and that the assimilation of minorities brings a sense of security and control. Majority members sometimes see multicultural recognition as threatening to their in-group because it requires them to relinquish some of their power and status (e.g., Correll, Park, & Smith, 2008; Verkuyten, 2006). As a result, multiculturalism can contribute to a backlash against minority groups. Several studies have found that multicultural ideologies can increase intergroup biases, including stronger outgroup stereotyping (Ryan et al., 2010; Ryan, Hunt, Weible, Peterson, & Casas, 2007; Wolsko, Park, Judd, & Wittenbrink, 2000). For example, a stereotypic minority member is liked more than a counterstereotypic member when participants are exposed to multiculturalism (Gutiérrez & Unzueta, 2010). This finding suggests that multiculturalism creates a preference for minority members who remain within the boundaries of their ethnicity. These negative effects are particularly likely to occur in conflict situations (Corell et al., 2008) and among high majority-group identifiers who respond to threats with prejudice and discrimination. Morrison, Plaut, and Ybarra (2010), for example, found that White Americans who were primed with multicultural recognition showed greater prejudice, especially when they identified strongly with their ethnicity and perceived threats to their in-group values. Similarly, Lowery, Unzueta, Knowles, and Goff (2006) showed that when the focus is on losses that the majority in-group will incur, the ethnic identification of White Americans is negatively related to their support for affirmative action. In three studies, Vorauer and Sasaki (2011) demonstrated that a salient multicultural ideology increases hostile treatment of threatening out-group interaction partners. It is also likely that the more strongly majority members believe that immigrants and minorities

The Social Psychology of Multiculturalism

want to maintain their original culture, the more threatened they feel, and that this threat in turn will reduce support for multiculturalism (Verkuyten, 2009a). In contrast, when majority group members believe that immigrants and minority members want to adopt the mainstream culture, they feel less threatened and are more likely to support multiculturalism. In the context of Great Britain, Tip and colleagues (2012) found supporting evidence for these predictions in three studies. Their findings suggest that the majority group supports multiculturalism as long as they believe that minority members do not wish to segregate and maintain their original culture.6 These findings do not necessarily mean, however, that immigrants and minorities who want to assimilate to the mainstream are fully accepted. Those in the majority who support group-based dominance and inequality (i.e., high social-dominance orientation) can become more prejudiced and politically right-wing oriented in a context of assimilation than in one of integration (Guimond, De Oliveira, Kamiesjki, & Sidanius, 2010; Thomsen, Green, & Sidanius, 2008). When immigrants lose their cultural heritage and try to become similar to the rest of “us” (assimilation), the blurring of intergroup boundaries poses a threat to the existing group-based social hierarchies. In contrast, immigrants who adopt the mainstream culture but without giving up their home culture (integration) are in a sense confirming the existing social hierarchy.

Positive Implications of Multicultural Recognition

Multiculturalism is a difficult and controversial issue that can be interpreted in different ways. Ginges and Cairns (2000) found that Australian citizens saw the multicultural policy as beneficial for the country and as an impetus to greater social equality; at the same time, people also mentioned disadvantages such as a threat to the status quo and to the unity and stability of the country. Among Dutch majority members, Breugelmans and Van de Vijver (2004) found a positive social norm involving support for multiculturalism and a negative social norm referring to multiculturalism as a threat. Both social norms were predictors of multicultural attitudes. Similarly, in the context of an interview (Verkuyten, 2004), Dutch majority members not only argued that multiculturalism can be threatening to their in-group, but they also said that a multicultural society is a good thing because it enriches society and allows one to learn

about other ways of life and to improve and develop oneself (“it is important for your general development”). Multiculturalism was thought to “open up your eyes,” help one to develop an “open attitude toward what you do not know,” and to lead to a growing awareness of and sensitivity to the existence of different points of view and, consequently, of the relativity of one’s own worldview (“knowing that one’s own culture is neither the only one nor the best one”). In addition, multiculturalism was believed to prevent discrimination and racism by stressing equality and stimulating people to be more tolerant and respectful toward others. In line with this, social psychological research has found positive implications of multicultural recognition for intergroup relations. Majority group members who endorse multicultural recognition tend to evaluate ethnic minorities more positively (e.g., Ryan et al., 2007; Verkuyten, 2005b; Wolsko et al., 2006) and when experimentally primed with multiculturalism, majority members exhibit lower levels of explicit and implicit prejudice against minority groups (e.g., Richeson & Nussbaum, 2004; Verkuyten, 2005b; Wolsko et  al., 2000). The endorsement of multicultural recognition also predicts more positive attitudes toward controversial social policies such as immigration and affirmative action, as well as citizenship engagement (Plaut, 2010). Multicultural recognition appears to have positive effects on intergroup relations for at least three reasons. First, and in contrast to assimilation, multiculturalism prompts an outward focus away from the in-group and toward learning about and accepting ethnic outgroups. Vorauer, Gagnon, and Sasaki (2009), for example, found that, within a multicultural experimental context, White Canadians were more other-focused and made more positive other-directed remarks during an intergroup exchange. Priming multiculturalism also tends to increase perspective taking with a more outward and responsive focus (see Plaut, 2010). In addition, Plaut, Thomas, and Goren (2009) found in a health-care organization that Whites’ multiculturalism is associated with higher minority engagement. The endorsement of multicultural recognition also has been found to be associated with lower levels of perceived outgroup threat among majority members (e.g., Velasco González, Verkuyten, Weesie, & Poppe, 2008; Ward & Masgoret, 2006). These findings support Berry’s (2006) argument that multicultural recognition can provide confidence, trust, and security Deaux, Verkuy ten

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among everyone living in plural societies. These positive associations and effects have been found independently of the level of in-group identification (Verkuyten, 2005b; Wolsko et  al., 2006). Furthermore, Lowery and colleagues (2006) found that when the focus is on the gains for the Black outgroup, the in-group identification of Whites does not predict the attitudes toward affirmative action. Group identification was related to lower support for affirmative action only when the focus was on losses for the White in-group. Second, multicultural recognition can have positive effects on the outgroup attitudes of majority members because it implies tolerance of diversity and respect for outgroup values and norms. Multiculturalism highlights the importance of appreciating differences and the benefits of cultural diversity. In a study among mainland Chinese residents, it was found that their negative attitude toward Hong Kong Chinese was related to perceived value incongruence (Guan et  al., 2011). The higher the value incongruence between mainland Chinese and Hong Kong Chinese, the more negatively the latter were evaluated. However, value incongruence was much less strongly related to negative out-group evaluations among participants who endorsed multiculturalism (e.g., “Cultural diversity should be encouraged”; “China should have its core values and reduce the cultural diversity”) compared to those who did not. People with higher multiculturalism appreciate diversity and support tolerance, making value incongruence less relevant for their out-group attitudes. Rather, for them, diversity offers the possibilities of learning about and from members of other groups. Third, multiculturalism can have positive consequences for the evaluation of immigrants and ethnic minority groups because it involves a common, superordinate identity representation (Dovidio, Gaertner, & Saguy, 2009). Assimilation emphasizes the identity of the majority group by requiring minorities to conform to dominant values and ideas and to abandon their minority group identity. Segregation stresses group differences and focuses on distinctive ethnic identities. In contrast, multiculturalism posits a need to cultivate commonalities and shared commitments across and in addition to group difference (Hartmann & Gerteis, 2005). Those who favor multiculturalism tend to emphasize the importance of being inclusive by recognizing ethnic differences. The emphasis is on the recognition 130

of diversity within a common society. This superordinate representation corresponds to the values that people who endorse multiculturalism tend to have for society (Modood, 2007; Parekh, 2000). In addition, a dual identity reflects and communicates the possibility of multicultural individuals that is favored by people who endorse multiculturalism (Benet-Martínez, 2012). Thus, people endorsing multiculturalism might react more favorably to dual identifiers because they represent and embody cultural pluralism. Labels such as Mexican American or Turkish German emphasize that people are at the same time part of their ethnic minority group and of the superordinate national category. Dual labels define ethnic minority members as part of the national in-group. Thus, the use of these labels can be expected to lead to more positive attitudes than do single ethnic labels like Mexican and Turk, which emphasize that one does not feel part of the host national community. This is especially likely for majority people who endorse multiculturalism. A label like Turkish German communicates the possibility of multicultural individuals who combine an involvement and identification with both cultures. Ethnic labeling can be expected to have less effect on the attitudes of low multiculturalists who tend to endorse an assimilationist one-group-majority perspective that rejects minority identities, whether they are single or dual labeled. These expectations were confirmed in a study on the attitudes toward four ethnic-minority groups in the Netherlands (Verkuyten & Thijs, 2010). Attitudes toward each of these groups were more positive when they were identified with dual labels (i.e., Turkish Dutch) than with single labels (Turks), and this was especially the case for participants who endorsed multiculturalism.

Multiculturalism and Minority Identity

In the previous sections we have discussed research on multiple identities among immigrants and on multicultural recognition as a critical context of reception. In this section we link these two positions by focusing on the ways in which multicultural recognition relates to dual identity and to the self-feelings, motivations, and actions of immigrants and minorities.

Multicultural Recognition and Dual Identity

A dual identity affirms the distinctiveness of ethnic minority identity in the context of a shared sense of belonging with the broader society. Therefore, it

The Social Psychology of Multiculturalism

can be expected that multiculturalism is positively related to immigrants’ ethnic and national identification. Survey and experimental research has shown that multicultural recognition is indeed associated with stronger ethnic identification. For example, in a multicultural experimental context, Turkish-Dutch participants had higher ethnic identification compared to a neutral or an assimilation context (Verkuyten, 2005b). Less directly, the affirmation of one’s ethnic identity by an out-group, implying a multicultural endorsement, has been shown to increase identification with the national group (van Laar, Derks, & Ellemers, 2011). Endorsement or rejection of multiculturalism can be expressed in the broad context of public opinion and public policy, as well as in the more immediate context of interpersonal and intergroup exchanges. As examples of the broader level, one can point to long-standing policies of cultural diversity, as illustrated by the governments of Canada, which endorse and encourage the expression of multiple identities. In contrast, when social policy, at either explicit or implicit levels, stresses assimilation and immigrants are urged to “become like us,” it is not easy for the immigrant to maintain a dual identity and feel like a proper member of the national community. Single events can also alter the national discourse and make it more difficult to maintain identification with both ethnic group and country. A case in point is the United States after the 9/11 terrorists’ attacks. The inclusion of citizens who were identified as Arab and/or as Muslim came into question, and ethnicity was often seen to be in a zero-sum relationship with national identification. Spillover effects were even seen with Sikh men, who were viewed by some with suspicion because of their beards and turbans and were frequently confused with Muslim Arabs. As a result, their “Americanness” was increasingly interrogated, and they “moved from a comfortable sense of belonging to an uneasy state of being an outsider and a threatening one at that” (Bhatia & Ram, 2009, p. 146). Dual identity is not only about a sense of belonging to two groups but also involves identity performances (Wiley & Deaux, 2011). These performances are typically carried out in smaller-scale interpersonal and intergroup contexts and shape immigrants’ feelings of dual identity. Social identities are communicated and negotiated in interactions and the outcomes of this can affect people’s self-understandings. These interactions are typically with both members of the ethnic in-group and

with the national “outgroup,” two audiences that may hold different expectations and require different performances (see also Badea, Jetten, Iyeer, & Er-Rafiy, 2011). With the national outgroup, an immigrant’s stake in belonging to the national group can be questioned or rejected, and this lack of confirmation makes it difficult to maintain a secure sense of identity. Research has shown that when the “Americanness” of Asian Americans is questioned, for example, these dual-identity people react with behaviours that assert and reinforce “American” practices, like advertising an American lifestyle (Cheryan & Monin, 2005), as a way of staking their claim on the national identity. In a more political example, following 9/11, Sikh males who experienced hostility in public places sought to educate the public about how Sikhism is different from Islam; many Sikh groups in New York and around the United States waged a public relations campaign as a form of identity presentation (Bhatia & Ram, 2009). The dual identity performance of immigrants involves more than presentation to the national audience, because immigrants need to speak to their own ethnic community as well. Here the implications of multiculturalism may be different, because the ethnic audience can view adoption of a national identity as a potential threat to maintenance of the cultural heritage. Frequently, conflicts between immigrant parents and their children reflect these differing positions on the constitution of dual identification and the meaning of multiculturalism. For example, predominantly speaking the national language can be regarded as a form of disloyalty to one’s ethnic community (e.g., Belangér & Verkuyten, 2010), and adopting majority group values and practices can be seen as nationalizing too much. Within migrant communities there are often normative pressures to maintain their culture of origin and not to assimilate, and the ideology of multiculturalism can be used to justify these pressures (e.g., Okin, 1999). In a study of daily acculturative hassles among Vietnamese-Canadians, Lay and Nguyen (1998) found evidence that in-group hassles (e.g., being perceived as too White by in-group members) have a significant negative impact on the acculturation process (see also Abouguendia & Noels, 2001; Badea et  al., 2011; Wiley, 2013). And in a study among Turkish immigrants in Germany and The Netherlands, it was found that this kind of in-group pressure was negatively associated with host national identification, via increased religious group identification (Martinovic & Verkuyten, 2012). Deaux, Verkuy ten

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The Effects of Multicultural Recognition on Feelings and Actions

Arguments for the multicultural position point to a variety of positive effects that are assumed to follow from the adoption of this position, effects that include both positive self-regard among members of minority groups and their enhanced motivation to participate in the larger civic community. Many of these arguments have been made in the popular discourse; some of them have been tested empirically by social scientists. The self-esteem argument for multiculturalism relates to the “politics of recognition” and stresses the value of cultural diversity and cultural recognition for self-feelings. The public acceptance and recognition of one’s group and culture are valuable, it is argued, as conditions of a clear and secure group identity that sustains personal feelings of self-respect and self-esteem (Burnet, 1995). Developmental research has shown that positive multicultural interactions can result in a secure and strong ethnic identity and high self-esteem (e.g. Seaton, Scottham & Sellers, 2006; Yip, Seaton & Sellers, 2006). Further, in acculturation research, there is evidence that the public denial or rejection of one’s group and culture facilitates an insecure group identity that undermines feelings of self-worth (see Phinney et al., 2006). In two experimental studies, the situational impact of multicultural recognition on self-feelings of ethnic minority members in the Netherlands was examined (Verkuyten, 2009b). In line with the self-esteem argument it was expected that multiculturalism would have a positive influence on self-esteem, particularly among high group identifiers. A multicultural perspective provides the social recognition and justification for affirming one’s ethnic identity and for valuing ethnic differentiation positively. Such a perspective is particularly important for individuals who have a strong ethnic identity that manifests itself in a generalized readiness to be concerned about society’s recognition of cultural differences and the value of ethnic groups. However, the group thinking inherent in multiculturalism might be threatening for those individuals who do not identify strongly with their ethnic group but, rather, stress their own personal qualities and characteristics. For them, multiculturalism might lead to lower self-esteem. Individuals who do not identify strongly with their ethnic group want to be accepted and recognized by other group memberships or in terms of their personal identity and unique individual characteristics. Hence, it 132

was hypothesized that the effect of multicultural recognition on self-esteem is moderated by ethnic in-group identification. It was found that multiculturalism does indeed provide a context in which minorities with a strong ethnic identity can feel good about themselves. However, and as expected, multiculturalism also appeared to be a context in which minority members with a low level of group identification felt less positive about themselves. Thus, a multicultural context provides a favorable condition for personal self-esteem of high ethnic-minority identifiers but not for low identifiers. Field studies have reported similar findings. For example, using an event-contingent daily recording strategy, Downie, Mageau, Koestner and Liodden (2006) found that people feel more positively about themselves in daily interactions in which their heritage culture is being positively evaluated. Further, studying Chinese Americans, Yip (2005) found that the salience of ethnic identity fluctuates across daily situations and that ethnic salience bolstered positive self-feelings and reduced negative feelings (see also Yip & Fuligni, 2002). However, and in agreement with the experimental findings, these positive situational effects were found only for Chinese Americans who considered ethnicity to be important to their self-concept. Endorsement of the value of one’s ethnic group in a multicultural context can have positive effects on motivation and performance as well. A program of research by van Laar and her colleagues (Derks, van Laar, & Ellemers, 2007; van Laar et al., 2011), focusing particularly on Islamic women in the Netherlands, has looked at the consequences of positive valuation of one’s ethnic group by members of the Dutch majority. Not only are these conditions associated with better health and stronger identification with the Dutch nation, but they also increase the motivation to work for a company that endorses these values. Performance in a laboratory setting is also enhanced when these conditions are present. In contrast, negative valuation of one’s ethnic group can undermine motivation and performance, particularly among dual identifiers. For example, members of ethnic minority groups can respond to identity threat in ways that are detrimental to their school career, whereas others persist despite experiences of discrimination in school. Among Turkish Belgian youth, Baysu, Phalet, and Brown (2011) showed that dual identifiers were most successful at school when perceived threat was low, whereas those with a more exclusive Turkish (“separated”) or Belgian (“assimilated”) identity were less likely

The Social Psychology of Multiculturalism

than dual identifiers to disengage from school when perceived threat was high. For dual identifiers, experiences of discrimination can signal the failure of bridging ethnic and national identities, making it a stressful strategy in an achievement context. This finding indicates that a dual identity can have psychological disadvantages in an unwelcoming environment. Dual identity can make minorities more susceptible and vulnerable to rejection from majority members.

Implications of Multiculturalism for Social Policy

We close this chapter with some suggestions for policies and practices that might take advantage of the potential gains of a multicultural stance but also recognize and consider the possible pitfalls. Ethnic-group membership provides a meaningful identity that many immigrants will try to maintain and protect. At the same time, most immigrants are in the process of developing a commitment to the national community. An important policy implication of the research is that there is not necessarily a trade-off between ethnic and national identification and that both can co-exist in the form of a dual identity. Politics of ethnic difference and politics of assimilation both share the assumption that there is a trade-off. Advocates of the former tend to argue that any kind of commonality or shared identity dilutes ethnic minority identities, whereas proponents of the latter argue that any kind of ethnic identity undermines national solidarity. The research evidence indicates not only that a dual identity is likely but also that it often, but not always, has favorable social and psychological consequences. It is important to note, however, that the possibilities of a dual identity depend on the particular social context and the prevalent identity meanings. A dual identity is more likely in a country like Canada that considers multiculturalism self-defining, compared to many European countries that have an indigenous majority group. In these countries, the native population does not have a dual identity, and only immigrants and ethnic minority members can be defined in these terms. One implication is that, for the majority group, a focus on dual identities can be seen as emphasizing the position of immigrants and minorities rather than contributing to the unity and cohesion of the society as a whole. Consequently, policy makers dealing with questions of cultural diversity need to consider the perspective of the majority group. Majority members may be relatively resistant to diversity policies because they

believe that it is inapplicable to them and it may even make them feel excluded. To the extent that these policies are seen as identity supporting only for minority groups, they can lead to resistance on the part of the majority. Therefore, it is important to make diversity policies relevant to the majority by emphasizing the potential benefits for all groups in society. “Multiculturalism” needs to be clarified and specified in order to be effective as a diversity model. In particular, those who make policy need to make as clear as possible what the multicultural or diversity policies actually imply, why exactly they are considered necessary, and for whom they are intended. The emphasis on inclusion of all groups further implies acceptance and recognition of ethnic minority identities. A feeling of being rejected and discriminated against is one important reason why minority members turn away from the society in which they live. For example, the pattern of discrimination and identity denial in many European countries makes it difficult to be a Muslim and a national at the same time. Therefore, antidiscrimination policies are immensely important, not only because they improve people’s opportunities but also because they tell immigrants and minorities that they are equal members of society and that society is fair and has trustworthy institutions. The symbolic value of these policies should not be underestimated. Second-generation as well as more highly educated immigrants can feel more rejected and, therefore, maintain a greater distance toward society than do the first generation and the less successful ones. Thus, policies that assume that the lack of integration is responsible for many of the problems that immigrants face and present are one-sided, insofar as they ignore the causal force of unfavourable circumstances. The “paradox of integration” indicates that the most successful immigrants tend to be the ones who are more negative toward the host society because they are more concerned about the existing group-based rejection, exclusion and inequality. For example, Moroccan-Dutch youngsters who are in custody awaiting trial nonetheless appear to be much better integrated into Dutch society than do their non-criminal Moroccan-Dutch peers (Stevens, Veen, & Vollebergh, 2009). Members of the former group, relative to the latter, more often speak the Dutch language fluently, have more contacts with Dutch people and self-identify more often as Dutch. Their relatively strong orientation to Dutch society makes them especially sensitive to inequalities and negative stereotypes. Similarly, several Deaux, Verkuy ten

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studies in the United States have found relatively high levels of delinquency among ethnic-minority youth who have a strong orientation in American society (Samaniego & Gonzales, 1999; Vega, Gil, Warheit, Zimmerman, & Apospori, 1993). In addition to perceptions and experiences with exclusion and discrimination, immigrants encounter in-group hassles and normative pressures. Identification processes have important implications for the relations within groups and involve issues of in-group acceptance, obligations, and loyalties. Multicultural policies should be sensitive to these processes because these policies can legitimize in-group norms that distance people from society and that reinforce power dynamics, thus rendering the most disadvantaged group members (i.e., children and women) even more vulnerable. This “paradox of multicultural vulnerability” (Sachar, 2000) raises difficult policy questions because it can mean that the integrity of ethnic minority groups is placed above the freedom and equality of the individuals within. For example, granting rights to separate schooling or exemptions from state regulations can imply in some circumstances the implicit support of children’s oppression and their distancing from the host society (Reich, 2002). Furthermore, the emphasis on cultural maintenance and equality of cultures and the recognition of cultural diversity can legitimise the inequality of women (e.g., Okin, 1999). Often multiculturalism has been criticized for supporting and justifying conservatism and repressive in-group practices (e.g., Barry, 2001). Multicultural policies should emphasize cultural liberty, which requires that individuals be as free to maintain their identities as they are to change them (UNDP, 2004). Immigrants are not a homogeneous group, and important differences by class, gender, and generation need to be taken into consideration. These different identities can intersect and combine in various ways, resulting in less or more complex identity structures that not only have implications for well-being but for intergroup relations as well (Roccas & Brewer, 2002). In addition, meaningful differences exist between immigrant groups in their migration history, country of origin, culture and religion, and their acceptance in the country of settlement. In most of these countries, an ethnic hierarchy is present such that some groups are more accepted than others (Hagendoorn, 1995). Blacks in the United States, for example, generally have lower status than Asians and Muslims. In contrast, Muslim groups are at the bottom of the hierarchy 134

in the Netherlands, whereas groups of Blacks have a much better social position. These kind of differences can have important implications for the ways in which immigrants and minorities define and understand themselves and for developing positive multiple identities.

Conclusion

Multiculturalism is concerned with complex issues that involve many questions and dilemmas. There are promises and there are pitfalls. Considering the psychological and social importance of ethnic and religious (minority) identities, a focus on groups and group differences is understandable and, to a certain extent, useful, for example for improving intergroup relations. This focus can, however, also lead to a situation in which these identities can capture too much attention, while both superordinate identities (e.g. national and community commitments) and individual choices are ignored. Multiculturalism thus calls for a delicate balance between recognizing differences and developing meaningful communalities, between differential treatment and equality, between group identities and individual liberties. The debate about multiculturalism and the best ways to manage cultural diversity continues, and social psychologists increasingly try to make a contribution to these debates. As they do so, the terms of the debate will necessarily broaden. Not only is it important to interrogate ethnic and national identities, but both scientists and policy makers will also need to consider the ways in which religious, social class, and gender identities are understood and intersect with ethnic and national identities; the differences between societies and contexts, as well as the many differences between immigrant groups themselves; the perceptions and experiences of both majority and minority members; and differences within groups and intragroup processes—factors that both define and predict the success or failure of multicultural efforts.

Notes

1. Contributions of the authors to this chapter were equivalent and the order of authorship is alphabetical. 2. The independence of ethnic and national identification on the part of the immigrant is not necessarily reflected in the view of others in the society. Societal debates in the United States, for example, often assume that the immigrant must give up his or her ethnic attachment in order to become American (see Huntington, 2004) and White Americans are seen as being more American than Asian-Americans or African Americans (Devos & Banaji, 2005). This position is

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3. 4. 5.

6.

less characteristic of Canada, however, where the co-existence of cultural identity and civic commitment is part of official policy. The problems inherent in using a single bi-dimensional scale to address issues of biculturalism are recognized. In both first- and second-generation groups, Latino (either Dominican or Mexican) and American identities were uncorrelated with each other. It has been argued, however, that this is more of a symbolic than actual retreat from multiculturalism. In Europe the term multiculturalism is avoided and the discourse has changed, but many of the indices continue to exist under the label “diversity policy” (Vertovec & Wessendorf, 2010). Results of one recent report, however, suggest that majority members may be less favorable to second-generation immigrants who reject their heritage culture, to the extent that they believe this rejection might reflect unfavorably on their own image of tolerance (Matera, Stefanile, & Brown, 2011).

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Vorauer, J. D., & Sasaki, S. J. (2011). In the worst rather than the best of times:  Effects of salient intergroup ideology in threatening intergroup interactions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 307–320. Vorauer, J. D., Gagnon, A., & Sasaki, S. J. (2009). Salient intergroup ideology and intergroup interaction. Psychological Science, 20, 838–845. Ward, C., & Masgoret, A. (2006). An integrative model of attitudes toward immigrants. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 30, 671–682. Waters, M. C. (1999). Black identities. New  York:  Russell Sage Foundation and Cambridge, MA/London:  Harvard University Press. Wiley, S. (2013). Rejection-identification among Latino immigrants in the United States, International Journal of Intercultural Relations 37, 375–384. Wiley, S. & Deaux, K. (2011). The bicultural identity performance of immigrants. In A. E.  Azzi, X. Chryssochoou, B. Klandermans, & B. Simon (Eds.), Identity and participation in culturally diverse societies:  A  multidisciplinary perspective (pp. 49–68). Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. Wolsko, C., Park, B., Judd, C. M., & Wittenbrink, B. (2000). Framing interethnic ideology:  Effects of multicultural and color-blind perspectives on judgements of groups and individuals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 635–654. Wolsko, C., Park, B., & Judd, C. M. (2006). Considering the tower of Babel:  Correlates of assimilation and multiculturalism among ethnic minority and majority groups in the United States. Social Justice Research, 19, 277–305). Yip, T. (2005). Sources of situational variation in ethnic identity and psychological well-being: A palm pilot study of Chinese American students. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 1603–1616. Yip, T., & Fuligni, A.J. (2002). Daily variation in ethnic identity, ethnic behaviors, and psychological well-being among American adolescents of Chinese descent. Child Development, 73, 1557–1572. Yip, T., Seaton, E. K., & Sellers, R. M. (2006). African American racial identity across the lifespan:  Identity status, identity content and depressive symptoms. Child Development, 77, 1504–1517. Zhou, M. (1999). Segmented assimilation:  Issues, controversies, and recent research on the new second generation. In C. Hirschman, P. Kasinitz, & J. DeWind (Eds)., The handbook of international migration:  The American experience (pp. 196–211). New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Zick, A., Wagner, U., van Dick, R., & Petzel, T. (2001). Acculturation and prejudice in Germany:  Majority and minority perspectives. Journal of Social Issues, 57, 541–557

The Social Psychology of Multicu lturalism

CH A PT E R

7

Exploring the Identity Autonomy Perspective (IAP): An Integrative Theoretical Approach to Multicultural and Multiracial Identity

Diana T. Sanchez, Margaret J. Shih, and Leigh S. Wilton

Abstract Multiracial Americans, people who belong to more than one racial group in the United States, also belong to more than one culture, yet multiracial and multicultural research and theory has not been adequately integrated. The present chapter will provide an overview of the multiracial and multicultural research on self and identity that addresses the points of overlap, distinction, and places for synthesis and integration that could advance both areas of research. For example, this chapter will examine the relationship among different strategies that utilize multiple identities and health outcomes (e.g., identity integration, identity adaptiveness, identity shifting, dialecticalism). In addition, this chapter will explore the common questions of authenticity and forced-choice encounters that those from multiple races and cultures face (e.g., “Are you American or Asian?”). Integrating multicultural and multiracial research, the authors propose the identity autonomy perspective (IAP) wherein the antecedents and outcomes of identity denial are discussed for both multicultural and multiracial populations. Specifically, we will examine how societal essentialism and personal attributes (e.g., physical appearance, cultural practices, social status) promote identity-denial experiences that thwart autonomy for both multicultural and multiracial populations. Key Words:  multiculturalism, multiracial, essentialism, social categorization, social identity, multiple identities

Introduction

Multiracial Americans, people who belong to more than one racial group in the U.S., also belong to more than one culture, yet multiracial and multicultural research and theory have not been adequately integrated. According to the most recent U.S. Census in 2010, the multiracial population has risen to over 9 million U.S. residents, a population increase of 32% in the past 10 years (Humes, Jones & Ramirez, 2011). This dramatic population growth confirms that multiracial populations are one of the fastest growing minority populations in the United States Moreover, estimates project that by the year 2050, 1 in 5 people will identify as multiracial, suggesting that the racial landscape of the United States is undergoing a transition (Farley, 2001). Likewise,

U. S. Census data (2002) suggests that 1 of 4 people living in the United States has lived in another country, revealing that a large proportion of the population has been exposed to multiple cultures. Furthermore, the number of first-generation immigrants has risen to over 38 million Americans, representing over 12% of the U.S. population (Segal, Elliot, & Mayadas, 2010). Thus, many Americans living in the U.S. have multicultural backgrounds. Although these population estimates likely underestimate the true multiracial and multicultural make-up of the United States, these numbers highlight the timeliness of multiracial and multicultural research and theory. The increasingly multicultural and multiracial landscape of the United States portends shifts in the meaning of race and culture that 139

will influence the psychology of self and intergroup relations. The current chapter will review and integrate multiracial and multicultural research to propose a model that will help illuminate the unique experiences of populations who have multiple identities in a singular social category (race or culture). Multiracial theory has largely built its foundation in multicultural theory because multiculturalism theorists were among the first to provide well-developed theories for how individuals navigate multiple identities, as well as the constituent practices and behaviors (e.g., language, cognition, and customs) that influence such identities. For example, multiculturalism researchers were some of the first to demonstrate that the social context could influence the accessibility of cultural knowledge networks for those with multiple cultural identities and thus, shape cognition, affect, and behavior to be consistent with the accessed cultural orientation (Hong, Morris, Chiu, & Benet-Martínez, 2000; LaFromboise, Coleman, &Gerton, 1993). This social psychological approach to managing multiple cultural identities has been a very influential guide to much of the work that followed on multiple identities (e.g., Amiot, de la Sablonnière, Terry, & Smith, 2007). As a result, researchers addressing multiracial theory borrow from and extend multicultural theory to grapple with how individuals manage multiple races (e.g., Sanchez, Shih, & Garcia, 2009). Not surprisingly, multiracial and multicultural populations experience similar issues with regard to identity development, integration, and malleability. Moreover, they experience similar difficulties with how they are perceived by others, including the struggles of having a hybrid identity in an essentialist societal belief system (i.e., belief system that views social categories as distinct and unchangeable). At the same time, both multiracial and multicultural populations represent the changing demography of American society and, therefore, may serve as catalysts for changing essentialist, singular thinking about race, ethnicity, and culture. The present chapter will provide an overview of multiracial and multicultural research from both the target’s perspective (e.g., the experience through the eyes of the multiracial and multicultural person) and the perceivers’ perspective (e.g., the beliefs that others hold about multiracial and multicultural people) that addresses the points of overlap, distinction, and places for synthesis that could advance both areas of research. This essay will attempt to integrate multicultural and multiracial theory to better understand 140

both perceptions and experiences of multiracial and multicultural individuals.

Key Concepts in the Discourse

To begin the essay, it is important to define a few key concepts: race, ethnicity, and culture. Great confusion exists about the definition of race because race is socially constructed and thus, definitions of race and racial groups vary at the individual, historical, and national levels (Markus, 2008). For example, racial categories that societies use to define groups of people vary from one country to the next, from one historical time point to the next, and from one person to the next person. A  very light-skinned person of African descent would most likely be considered Black in the United States and White in Argentina today, but it is unclear whether this will still be the case in 2050 when multiracial populations are projected to comprise 20% of the population (Farley, 2001). Moreover there is now substantial genetic evidence that there is no “race gene.” In other words, the racial categories themselves have no biological or genetic basis (Goodman, 2000; Zack, 1995). In fact, there is more genetic variation within racial groups than between them (Graves, 2001; Hirschfield, 1996; Marks, 1995; Tooby & Cosmides, 1990). Because the boundaries between racial groups and categories do not rest on biological or genetic variation, race is largely understood among scholars to be a social construction that is malleable. The social construction of race relies heavily on social structural relations that afford differential status to groups of people often connected to phenotype and ancestry. Thus, it is not surprising that psychologists, sociologists, demographers, and public policy advocates often disagree about what constitutes race. Nowhere is this debate more heated than it is around Latino/Hispanic populations who are befuddled by current race definitions such as those represented on the Census survey. The U.S. Census currently does not treat Latino/Hispanic as a racial category causing many Latinos to be confused about which racial category to choose (e.g., Rodriguez, 2000; Scott, 2001; Swarns, 2004). This confusion has led many Latino Americans to protest by choosing “Other” when picking a racial category on the Census (Navarro, 2003). For the purposes of this chapter, we will define race as the broader society-level definitions of race that are drawn from factors such as geographical ancestry and phenotype, which have been recognized in a given nation. Given that the focus of this

Exploring the Identit y Autonomy Perspective (IAP)

essay is on the United States, we will use the U.S. Census racial categories in which the racial groups in the United States are defined as membership in one or more of the following groups: White, Black/ African American, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. Thus, people who belong to more than one of the following groups are typically considered by others to be multiracial. Using this definition, Latinos who have one parent who is White/European and one parent who is Puerto Rican (like the first and third authors of this essay) would not be considered multiracial as they are of one race (e.g., White) and one ethnicity (e.g., Puerto Rican). We fully recognize that these categories are problematic (as is the concept of race) but we also recognize that such racial categories represent the current construction of racial categories in American society. Thus, despite our own self-definition as biracial White/Latinas, Latinos in the United States appear to be denied multiracial identity unless they belong to other multiple racial categories. Ethnicity refers to people who share the same race but also share a set of traditions and customs that distinguish their ethnic group from others in their racial group (Benet-Martínez & Oishi, 2008; Markus, 2008; Senior & Bhopal, 1994). Ethnicity is often determined by sharing a specific geographic location, religious identity, language, style of speech and/or style of dress. For an illustrative example, South Koreans and Taiwanese are both considered part of the Asian racial category, but they practice different languages and customs and have distinct geographic origins that distinguish them from each other to form separate ethnic groups. In general, the constructs of racial and ethnic identities are largely overlapping (Phinney & Ong, 2007). Many have argued that race and ethnicity terms should be merged into a race-ethnicity construct (e.g., Cross & Cross, 2007) because most research on race and ethnic identity finds similar psychological effects for well-being, belonging, behavior, and identity exploration. For example, both racial identity and ethnic identities vary, depending on the context, and can serve as sources of belonging with other in-group members and rejection in the face of discrimination; however, the literatures on race and ethnicity have been distinct and not yet integrated (see Phinney & Ong, 2007). For the purposes of this chapter, we use the term multiracial identities (e.g., Asian/White biracial populations) and examine people who belong to more than one racial group instead of multiethnic identities

(those who belong to more than one ethnic group) because there is insufficient existing research on multiethnic identities that are not also multiracial. In other words, very little research has been done on people who have one race and multiple ethnicities (e.g., Chinese/Thai), whereas there is a growing literature on Asian/White populations. The recent upswing of multiracial research (and multicultural work) allows us to have a stronger foundation of empirical research to draw from. By focusing on multiracial populations, they are all multiethnic by definition because they cross both racial and ethnic definitions. However, we cannot identify those processes that may be unique to crossing ethnicity boundaries versus racial boundaries without a larger literature on multiethnic populations who share the same race. Racial identities and ethnic identities are also connected to a unique set of customs, beliefs, practices, traditions, historical narratives, and cognitive styles that create the culture surrounding race/ethnic identities. These collections of traditions represent the “network of knowledge” that is shared and disseminated by generations of people that come to represent the meanings of ethnic, racial, and national identities (Benet-Martínez & Oishi, 2008; Chiu & Hong, 2007). Given the broad definition of culture, it is very difficult to imagine a person who is of one cultural mind because every individual is nested within both a national, racial, and ethnic context. Instead, cultural minds vary in salience and the extent to which they are overlapping with each other. For example, an Irish American navigates an American cultural identity, a White racial identity, and an Irish ethnic identity. In the case of an Irish American person, they are likely to experience a great deal of overlap among these identities because Irish is currently considered White in the United States (see Ignatiev, 1995) unless they are a first-generation immigrant who does not believe that Ireland and American cultures overlap. Most later-generation Americans hold an implicit belief that American and White are cognitively overlapping categories (e.g., Devos & Banaji, 2005). On the contrary, multiracial and multicultural Americans with minority ancestry (e.g., Asian/White biracial Americans, Asian/Black biracial Americans, Asian Americans, Black Caribbean Americans) may experience less overlap between their identities because of the perceived boundaries between their racial and cultural identities. The present paper takes an integrated approach to understanding multicultural and multiracial Sanche z, Shih, Wilton

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identities. We contend that similar processes govern multicultural and multiracial identities because both groups of individuals uniquely contend with identity denial, being denied an important aspect of their identity by others. Because of the divide between racial and cultural categories, society does not typically view members of two racial categories or two cultural identities as members of two racial categories or two cultural identities. Multiracial and multicultural people of minority descent often experience situations in which they are asked to define themselves in singular terms. This likely occurs because their multiple identities are not perceived as overlapping and as a culture; we believe that racial and cultural categories are exclusive (i.e., you cannot be Black and White, Asian and American). Therefore, the path of identity development for multicultural and multiracial populations is more complicated than it is for those who have singular cultural or singular racial identities. Thus, this essay focuses on the predictors and outcomes of identity denial by proposing an identity autonomy perspective (IAP), which emphasizes the need for freedom of expression with regard to identity for both multicultural and multiracial populations.We begin with a review of theories describing multiracial and multicultural identity development because developmental models shed light on the psychological processes (e.g., social and developmental) that inform racial self-identification. We then propose the IAP as an extension of prior identity models that incorporates both perceiver (e.g., essentialist beliefs) and target (e.g., distance from category prototypes) characteristics that combine to influence identity autonomy. In this essay, we describe possible antecedents, moderators, and outcomes of identity autonomy and explore methods of coping with identity denial.

With Multiple Identities Comes Multiple Identity Choices: A Review of Identity Development Models

Researchers have tried to model multiracial and cultural identity development in several different ways. The first multiple-identity development models suggested that people who have multiple cultural or racial identities are inevitably caught between them, which causes a fragmented and marginalized sense of self. These early theories suggested that marginalized people such as those of multicultural or multiracial backgrounds suffered from fragmented self-concepts (Gordon, 1964; Hauser, 1972; McRoy & Freeman, 1986; Park, 1928; 1931; 142

Piskacek & Golub, 1973; Stonequist, 1937; Tizard & Phoenix, 2002). Park (1928) defined this marginal man as, a cultural hybrid, a man living and sharing intimately in the cultural life and traditions of two distinct peoples; never quite willing to break, even if he were permitted to do so, with his past and his traditions, and not quite accepted because of racial prejudice, in the new society in which he now sought to find a place. He was a man on the margin of two societies which never completely interpenetrated or fused (p., 892).

In other words, Park’s marginal man hypothesis suggested that people who possess multiple racial or cultural identities struggle with identity confusion and acceptance from others. This model proposed that biracial individuals were trapped between social worlds and not a full member of either (Stonequist, 1937). Although the marginal-man perspective has long been refuted and replaced with theories that do not take the problem approach to multiracial and multicultural identities (e.g. Bagley & Young, 1979; Goldberg, 1941; Green, 1947; Tizard & Phoenix, 2002; for review see Shih & Sanchez, 2005), the problem-approach perspective to multicultural and racial identity development was the first to speculate about the developmental struggles of dual identities and cultures. The main criticism of these early models of identity development was that they proposed a singular gloomy fate for multicultural and multiracial people (e.g., severe psychological problems, social isolation, etc.) without, for example, taking into account the extent to which bicultural and biracial individuals themselves view their identities as conflicting or perceive themselves as accepted by others (LaFromboise, et  al., 1993). As we will review later, acceptance from other in-group members (i.e., intragroup acceptance) and identity conflict are salient issues for those with dual group membership but certainly not inevitable, insurpassable, or universal issues among multicultural and multiracial individuals. When scholars refuted the marginal-man theory, they then turned to general racial-identitydevelopment models for monoracial individuals to describe the multiracial experience of identity development (e.g. Cross, 1987; Morten & Atkinson, 1983). For example, these approaches would describe identity-development processes for multiracial individuals as similar to those of

Exploring the Identit y Autonomy Perspective (IAP)

singular identities (Thornton & Wason, 1995). This approach was described as the equivalence approach (see Shih & Sanchez, 2005) and drew its inspiration from Erikson’s (1968) emphasis on achieving stability in adolescence. However, it was soon apparent that these theories were inadequate for describing ethnic identity development in individuals with mixed backgrounds (Herring, 1995; Poston, 1990). The main criticisms of these models were that they did not allow individuals to identify with multiple groups (Poston, 1990) and that even for biracial individuals who may self-identify with only one of their component races, these models did not address the unique experiences of individuals with dual membership (Gillem, Kohn & Throne, 2001). In response to the critiques of the equivalence approach, researchers proposed racial-identitydevelopment models specific to individuals with multiracial background (e.g. Collins, 2000; Gordon, 1964; Jacobs, 1992; Johnston, 1976; Kerwin & Ponterotto, 1995; Kich, 1992; Poston, 1990; Sung, 1985). Although these models differ in terms of their descriptions of the identity-development process, there are a number of common elements among the models. Common to all the theories of multiracial identity development is a stage through which multiracial individuals feel great tension and conflict about their racial identity. At this stage, multiracial individuals were described as feeling forced to choose among their different component identities. Ultimately, in all these models, multiracial individuals reach a stage in which they are able to accept, appreciate, integrate their multiracial identity, and value all parts of their identity. Many of the early multicultural-identity models emphasized the processes of assimilation into the dominant culture. Much like the early multiracial-identity models that took the equivalence approach, multicultural people were expected to evolve toward a singular cultural identification with the dominant host culture. Specifically, these models suggested that the multicultural people adopt a new, dominant cultural identity and lose their original cultural identity through complete immersion (Johnston, 1976; Sung, 1985). The assimilation models were discarded because complete loss of one’s original cultural identity was often plagued with psychological problems. Moreover, full immersion into the dominant culture was often impossible for immigrants who were never given full membership in the dominant culture due to prejudices and social structural barriers (see LaFromboise

et  al., 1993). The acculturation models that followed also suggested that the multicultural person emphasized competence in the dominant culture but they also emphasized that the multicultural person would preserve and identify with their original cultural identity (see LaFromboise et  al., 1993). Notably, neither of the aforementioned approaches fully recognized the possibility of dual identification nor did the models that followed (e.g., alternation approach, multiculturalism approach, see LaFromboise et. al., 1993). Instead, the alternation and multiculturalism approaches suggested that multicultural populations experience both identities as distinct yet important (e.g., Berry, 1986; Cross, Smith, & Payne, 2002; Cross & Strauss, 1998; Gumperz, 1982; Ogbu, &Matute-Bianchi, 1986; Rashid, 1984; Strauss & Cross, 2005). Thus, they recognized identification with both groups, but identities were not fully integrated. The model of multicultural identity development that took the most integrated view of multicultural identity development was the fusion approach. The fusion approach proposed by LaFromboise and her colleagues emphasized amalgamation whereby both cultures combine to create a new cultural identity that contained aspects of both cultural identities. Exemplifying the fusion approach, these models suggested a period of a lack of awareness about culture or race followed by a stage of self-examination and a final stage of acceptance and integration (Atkinson, Morten, & Sue, 1989; Lee, Blando, Mizelle, & Orozco, 2007). One of the difficulties in applying a single model to describe identity development for all multiracial or multicultural individuals is the great variance among multiracial and multicultural individuals themselves in how they define their own identities (Gillem et al., 2001; LaFromboise et al., 1993; Rockquemore & Brunsma, 2002). Because multiracial people belong to multiple racial groups and multicultural people have multiple cultural identities, they can identify in a multitude of different ways. This makes the process of self-identification complicated and, thus, there seems to be no single outcome that could be applied to everyone. For example, some multiracial Asian/White descent choose to identify as Asian, White, or a combination of their multiracial heritages (e.g. multiracial, Asian/White, Hapa). Some multiracial populations choose to identify with no race at all because they are hyperaware of the social construction of race and racial categories (Rockquemore & Brunsma, 2002; Shih, Bonam, Sanchez, & Peck, 2007). The racial Sanche z, Shih, Wilton

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identification process for multiracial people may be a dynamic process including fluctuations and fluidity among racial identity choices over time (Hitlin, Brown, & Elders, 2006). Similarly, multicultural identities vary; namely, multicultural people could identify with one culture, both cultures (in an integrated or nonintegrated fashion), or neither culture. Again, the process of cultural identification may be fluid and context bound. The most recent approaches involve the ecological approach to identity development. The ecological approach takes into account the myriad identification options that multicultural and multiracial populations face. The ecological approach suggests that the process of identity development is not predictable, linear, or aimed at one specific end goal. Instead, the ecological approach suggests that identities are socially constructed and contextually dependent (Rockquemore, 1999; Rockquemore, Brunsma, & Delgado, 2009; Rockquemore & Lazloffy, 2003). Focusing on multiracial populations, Rockquemore, and colleagues (2009) propose four patterns of empirically based assumptions of the ecological approach: (1) racial identification varies from person to person, (2)  racial identity changes over the life course, (3) racial identification is not amenable to a specific predictable stage model, and (4)  the social and cultural context is crucial. Moreover, they suggested that identity-development models should critically examine race by deconstructing its components. Rockquemore and her colleagues proposed that race has at least three components such as (1) self-definition (i.e., how an individual sees him or herself racially), (2) other definition (i.e., how others view an individual racially), and (3) contextual identification (i.e., how the context shapes identification). This tri-level approach to understanding the construction of race and its relation to identity development may also be useful in understanding multicultural identities because it recognizes that cultural identities are embedded in a social context and influenced by both self-views and other-views. The ecological approach appears to have garnered the least criticism and the most support in the last decade. However, none of these prior development models consider the problem that occurs when, for example, self-definition and other definition fail to overlap, namely, the issue of autonomy that arises when self-identification becomes constrained by others and social situations. Thus, prior identity models are insufficient to understanding the psychological well-being of multiracial and multicultural populations. 144

An Autonomy Perspective on Identity Development

Although no singular identity-development model or outcome applies to all multiracial and multicultural populations, and one model does not consistently lead to better psychological outcomes compared to another (Rockquemore et al., 2009), we propose that an identity autonomy perspective (IAP) may offer universal applicability and uniquely address the issue of identity denial and inconsistency that often occurs when multiracial and multicultural populations self-identify in ways that are inconsistent with others’ views. We propose that autonomy serves as a key piece in understanding the consequences of multiple identities and their development on psychological well-being. Autonomy refers to the feeling that one’s actions, behaviors, and thoughts are freely chosen, authentic expressions of the self (Deci & Ryan, 1995). We contend, like scholars before us, that autonomy is paramount to healthy identity development (e.g., Frank, Pirsch, & Wright, 1990; Root, 1996). Empirical evidence confirms that perceiving autonomy with one’s racial self-definition predicts lower depressive symptoms among multiracial populations (Sanchez, 2010). Self-determination theorists have long extolled the virtues of autonomy in many valuable domains of life such as intellectual performance and creativity, physical health, psychological well-being, and quality of relationships (see Deci & Ryan, 2000; Ryan & Deci, 2000 for reviews). Moreover, autonomy has been proven beneficial cross-culturally in, for example, both the United States and China (e.g., Chirkov, Ryan, Kim & Kaplan, 2003; Lynch, LaGuardia, & Ryan, 2009) despite early claims to the contrary (see Iyengar & Lepper, 1999). It is important to qualify here that the IAP refers to the psychological feeling of autonomy and choice, and it does not, for example, refer simply having many or few options (e.g., Iyengar & Lepper, 2000). The prior conflation of these two concepts has led to some conflicting interpretations. For example, an individual may feel that they have a great deal of autonomy in what they eat for dinner even if they only have two meal options. The IAP proposes that the important mechanism that underlies links between identity and well-being such as feelings of belonging and psychological health (e.g., fewer depressive symptoms, higher self-esteem, etc.) for multicultural and multiracial populations may be the extent to which one’s self

Exploring the Identit y Autonomy Perspective (IAP)

Prototype inconsistency

Belonging Identity denial

Essentialist cultural ideologies

Identity autonomy

Psychological health

Claiming dual identities Figure 7.1  Identity autonomy perspective (IAP) model.

identification is perceived as a choice. Having identity choices (within a single social category domain) is unique to multicultural and multiracial individuals. Thus, identity autonomy may be uniquely important to those who have multiple identities in the domain of race and culture. For example, monoracial Asian people do not choose whether they self-define as Asian though they may differ in terms of the extent to which they value this identity. Moreover, although multiracial people have many identity options, not all multiracial people perceive choice in those options. Specifically, when multicultural and multiracial populations experience forced-choice situations or other encounters in which they are denied important parts of their racial and cultural identities, these experiences thwart their identity autonomy (Sanchez, 2010). This is the central proposal of Figure 7.1, which displays the IAP model.

Identity Denials and Thwarted Autonomy

Multiracial and multicultural populations of minority descent are often asked to choose one race or one culture. “Are you American or Asian?” “Are you Black or White?” Identity denial can be experienced in either more blatant or subtle ways. Identity denial can occur when others ask or otherwise pressure multiracial people to choose between their multiple racial identities, often termed, forced choice dilemmas (Standen, 1996). In these cases, others deny them an important identity by telling them that they cannot belong to two groups. The question, “What are you?” implicitly sends the message to multiracial individuals that they must define themselves when some multiracial people choose not to define themselves with any race at all (Williams, 1996). Whether the identity denial is blatant or subtle, multiracial and multicultural individuals in identity-denial situations feel compelled

to identify in ways that are socially desirable and, therefore, reflect singular racial definitions rather than multiracial identities (Hall, 1992; Nakashima, 1992; Standen, 1996). These experiences can thwart identity autonomy because multicultural and multiracial people feel pressure to conform to the pressures of the social context, which may not mirror self-definitions. On Census forms prior to 2000, individuals were asked to choose only one racial identity. This is an example of identity denial at the institutional level. One young woman of European/Asian descent writes, “I have trouble deciding whether to check the ‘White’ or the ‘Asian’ box, because I don’t want to deny either side of my heritage. But I  have even more of a conflict when I  check the box marked ‘Other.’ I  am not an Other and have never been an Other” (Gaskins, 1999, pg. 52). As this quote confirms, identity denial is a salient issue in both multiracial and multicultural populations with important consequences for belonging and self-esteem (Cheryan & Monin, 2005; Sanchez, 2010; Townsend, Markus, & Bergsieker, 2009; see also Shih & Sanchez, 2005). For multiracial individuals, identity denial is often in the form of forced choice scenarios wherein they are asked to choose between their racial identities or otherwise categorize themselves in a way that is inconsistent with their own self-definition (Sanchez, 2010; Townsend et al., 2009). Multiracial individuals perceive forced choice situations as denying them access or claim of an important part of their racial identity (Townsend et  al., 2009). Multicultural minorities experience identity denial when they are not perceived as part of one of their cultural identities (Cheryan & Monin, 2005). Identity denial can cause problems for the self-concept and relatedness to others. Generally, people want others to perceive them as they Sanche z, Shih, Wilton

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perceive themselves, especially when perceptions are relevant to important social identities (Barreto & Ellemers, 2002; Cheryan & Monin, 2005; Lemay & Ashmore, 2004). People strive to maintain congruence between how they see themselves and how others perceive them as a way of fostering interpersonal relationships (Swann, Rentfrow, & Guinn, 2002).When people are misclassified into social groups to which they do not belong, they experience great psychological discomfort and anxiety (Bosson, Prewitt-Freilino, & Taylor, 2005; Bosson, Taylor, & Prewitt-Freilino, 2006). Thus, identity denial can have negative effects on multiracial and multicultural populations. A young woman of mixed race ancestry writes, “Being biracial isn’t hard because we’re confused about our racial identity. It’s hard because everyone else is confused. The problem isn’t us—it’s everyone else.” (Gaskins, 1999, p. 15) In a series of studies on multicultural populations, Cheryan and Monin (2005) found that Asian Americans who were presumed to be non-U.S.  citizens by a White American experimenter reported greater negative affect, decreased liking of the experimenter, and, when given the opportunity, displayed greater commitment to their American identity than those Asian Americans whose American identity was not denied. Similarly, multiracial individuals who were denied their identities via forced choice scenarios tended to report greater negative mood, guilt, lower self-esteem, lower identity autonomy, lower motivation and lower public regard for their identity (Sanchez, 2010; Sebring, 1985; Townsend et  al., 2009). When denied important identities or aspects of the self, people feel less authentic in their interactions with close others (Swann, De La Rone, & Hixon, 1994; Swann & Pelham, 2002) and thus, identity denial may undermine belonging and autonomy. Therefore, it is not surprising that multicultural and multiracial people alike experience identity denial as aversive. This is not to say that all people who experience identity denial or thwarted autonomy equally experience negative psychological outcomes. For example, importance of race, the source of identity denial (e.g., family member or stranger), or the importance of autonomy may play a moderating role in determining the psychological impact of identity denial. The IAP model examines the generalized outcomes of identity denial and thwarted autonomy, but future extensions are likely to include these important moderators. 146

Predictors Of Identity Denial

Though there may be many factors that increase the likelihood that multicultural and multiracial people will experience identity denial, the IAP highlights two prominent factors that address aspects of the target and perceiver. The first focuses on prototype consistency (whether targets have prototypical characteristics) that matches their self-definition; the second focuses on whether perceivers hold essentialist ideologies (belief systems that view social categories as distinct and impermeable).

Prototype Inconsistency as Cause of Identity Denial

Categorization plays an important role in how people respond to others (Fiske & Neuberg, 1990; Hugenberg & Saaco, 2008). Many argue that people make relatively quick and automatic categorizations of targets (e.g., Black or not, American or not). Subsequently, people attend to other attributes to assess category fit with the prototypes to consider whether their initial judgments are correct (Brewer, 1988; Fiske & Neuberg, 1990; Higgins, 1996; Neuberg & Fiske, 1987; Oakes, 1987). Perceivers who ask, “What are you?” and “Where are you from” questions of multiracial and multicultural people are likely in the process of calculating assessments of category fit. When a person self-identifies with a social category that contradicts their category fit (i.e., prototype inconsistency), perceivers experience difficulty reconciling targets’ self-identification with their own category-fit judgments. Identity denial, therefore, is most likely to occur for individuals whose self-identification is inconsistent with their stereotype-relevant characteristics (e.g., skin color, accent, socioeconomic class, their social networks, their cultural behaviors). For example, identity denial is likely pronounced for multiracial individuals with racially ambiguous physical appearances, because physical appearance is a prominent indicator of racial categorization and, thus, those who are racially ambiguous challenge racial prototypes (Fiske & Neuberg, 1990; McArthur & Baron, 1983; Trope, 1986). Racial ambiguity increases the likelihood that one’s race is called into question by others. Evidence suggests that perceivers take more time categorizing racially ambiguous faces (slowed reaction times) compared to categorization of prototypical monoracial faces (Chen & Hamilton, 2012). Because perceivers are unable to quickly categorize racially ambiguous people using visual cues, multiracial people with ambiguous appearances may cause confusion

Exploring the Identit y Autonomy Perspective (IAP)

in others due to unclear category fit. Similar issues beset multicultural minority group members who challenge the ease with which others can identify them as Americans. They may often experience the questions, “Where are you from?” especially if they are atypical to the American prototype. For example, if their appearance, religion, or accent makes it difficult for others to easily categorize them as Americans, they will likely encounter the same curiosity from others (Schildkraut, 2001; 2007; Takaki, 1999). Some research, which we will discuss in greater detail later, has now demonstrated that cultural practices serve as markers of category fit for ethnic minorities (Sanchez & Chavez, 2010).

Essentialist Ideologies as Sources of Dual Identity Denial

Multiracial and multicultural minority individuals straddle multiple identities nested in different social categories. In one case, multiracial individuals straddle different racial group memberships. In the other, multicultural individuals straddle multiple cultural group memberships. In both cases, the straddling of multiple social worlds is difficult because of the discomfort others have regarding the growth in racial and ethnic diversity and, thus, the threat of blurring racial categories and cultural divides. As one blatant example, there is obvious growing resistance and discomfort with immigration in the United States, as can be gleaned by the Arizona laws forcing all individuals in the state to carry proof of citizenship and immigration documents or else be detained (Archibold, 2010). Gallup Polls indicated that more Americans favored than opposed Arizona’s unconstitutional immigration law (Jones, 2010), suggesting that resistance to immigration is not limited to Arizona but is, instead, a widespread bias among Americans. Multicultural minorities represent the consequences of immigration and the American melting pot ideology that some Americans (perhaps the majority of Americans) resist. In fact, White is considered American (Devos & Banaji, 2005) and, therefore, many perceive minorities as less loyal to the nation and ultimately “less American” even if they have lived in the United States their entire lives (Yogeeswaran & Dasgupta, 2010). This suggests that non-White bicultural individuals may experience greater resistance than other white bicultural individuals who migrate to the United States. In addition to immigration opposition and resistance to multiculturalism, racial tension still persists in the United States, as evidenced by the continued

racial segregation that maintains racial and class divides between Whites and other racial minorities such as African Americans and Latino Americans (Massey & Denton, 1993; Massey & Fischer, 2000). Moreover, the geography of race mirrors people’s social networks. That is, an individual’s friends and romantic partners are largely comprised of those of the same race (see Fisman, Iyengar, Kamenica, & Simonson, 2008; McPherson, Smith-Lovin & Cook, 2001; Simmons & O’Connell, 2003). The geographical and social segregation of racial groups maintains the perception that people who belong to different racial categories are different, which then makes crossing racial boundaries both psychological difficult and practically unlikely. Multicultural minorities and multiracial populations blend cultures and races and, thus, are living challenges to essentialist ideologies that categories are easily distinctive, an ideology that may serve self-enhancement motives. A long history of research in psychology suggests that people strive to maintain distinctiveness between groups as a basic tenet of having a positive and strong personal identity (Brewer, 1991; 1999). In general, people tend to believe that ethnic and racial groups are distinct from each other as a means of achieving a group identity (Brewer, 2003; Grieve & Hogg, 1999; Reid & Hogg, 2005). In other words, Asian culture, identity, and racial groups are perceived as distinct from Black culture, identity, and racial groups, and the members within each racial group are viewed as more similar to one another than to others outside the group. In other words, people tend to essentialize categories such as race, nationality, and ethnicity, viewing them as stable, discrete, and distinct categories (Haslam & Whelan, 2008; Whelan, 2008) as part of an overall process of holding a strong, positive group identity. As a result of essentialist beliefs, perceivers take longer periods of time during racial categorization tasks that involve racially ambiguous or multiracial faces, especially if they are highly racially identified or have greater essentialist beliefs (Chen & Hamilton, 2012; Knowles & Peng, 2005). Because highly identified perceivers derive comfort from clear outgroup/in-group distinctions to determine who is friend or foe (Brewer, 2003; Grieve & Hogg, 1999; Reid & Hogg, 2005), disruptions may cause perceivers to refuse categorizing multiracial and multicultural people into their in-group. Thus, multiracial people and multicultural minorities may often be denied identities due to others’ Sanche z, Shih, Wilton

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discomfort with categorization ambiguity and self-enhancement motives. People with essentialist beliefs have the greatest difficulty with people who are multiracial and multicultural, especially if those individuals choose to claim multiple identities. Therefore, the IAP proposes that essentialist ideologies among perceivers is likely to increase experiences of identity denial for multicultural and multiracial populations. Because of the essentialist beliefs that many perceivers hold about social categories, it is effortful for people to imagine the experience of those who bridge perceptually distinct categories such as Black/White biracial people or American and Asian. Because perceivers are generally cognitive misers (Fiske & Taylor, 1984), essentialists may use the most salient component identity in impression formation often connected to visual appearance (i.e., skin color, style of dress). However, those individuals who hold less concrete and narrow views of race and culture may be less likely to categorize a biracial Black/White person as Black or to view a Mexican American as less American than Mexican. People who hold less essentialist views about race may find it easier to think of a person as having multiple identities across social categories because they perceive less distance between the social categories (No et  al., 2008). In general, lower levels of essentialist beliefs and higher levels of social constructivist attitudes foster an interest in crossing racial boundaries (No et  al., 2008; Williams & Eberhardt, 2008). Moreover, people who hold less essentialist views about social categories are less likely to use social categories (e.g., race and gender) to make judgments about others because the categories themselves are less meaningful (Bastian & Haslam, 2006; Haslam, Rothschild, & Ernst, 2000; Levy, Stroessner, & Dweck, 1998; Prentice & Miller, 2007). As a result, less essentialist and more social constructionist perceivers are more likely to categorize ambiguous faces as multiracial (Chen & Hamilton, 2012). Similarly, those with less essentialist views about culture may be more inclusive in their definitions of American and, therefore, have more multicultural ideologies of American society that promote diversity as opposed to assimilation. In other words, people who are more likely to assume that social categories (such as culture and race) are distinct, stable, unchangeable will be more resistant to multiculturalism and more likely to endorse beliefs that immigrants must assimilate into the American culture (e.g., learn English, stop speaking Spanish, become Christian). Indeed, some 148

evidence suggests that majority group members who endorse essentialist views of race are less likely to endorse multiculturalism values (Verkuyten & Brug, 2004). In addition to self-enhancement motives, essentialist ideologies held by perceivers may partly be a product of the sociopolitical history of society and treatment of racial minorities with mixed ancestry. For example, multiracial Black populations historically have been viewed as Black no matter how much they physically resemble members of the White/European group nor how many White ancestors they have in their familial line (i.e., the rule of hypodescent). The rule of hypodescent has been shown to influence categorization of multiracial African Americans in the United States today (Ho, Sidanius, Levin & Banaji, 2011). Historically, many racial groups have been divided along blood lines. In American Indian cultures, people are recognized as American Indian based on blood quantum, attempts to demonstrate through racial ancestry the extent to which an individual’s racial heritage is American Indian (Wilson, 1992). Moreover, the United States has several rules in place about how to earn citizenship and, thus, be considered American (e.g., years living in the United States, passing citizenship tests). These rules serve to maintain distinctiveness between groups. Moreover, these rules represent an essentialist ideological understanding of group members that establishes biological rules of category membership. Perceivers and cultures that uphold essentialist beliefs thwart identity autonomy of people who hold hybrid identities. Moreover, such essentialist ideology typically results in multiracial and multicultural people most often being denied access to valued identities that confer resources. Multiracial and multicultural minority populations are most often denied access to the dominant, higher status identity. For example, multiracial populations of White and minority descent are often denied their White ancestry (Ho et  al., 2011, Peery & Bodenhausen, 2008), whereas Asian Americans are most often denied their American identity (Cheryan & Monin, 2005; Wu, 2002). This may be particularly true for multiracial people of Black descent because of the long history of enforcing rules of hypodescent (Harris, 1964; Omi & Winant, 1986). Perceivers and institutions that hold essentialist ideologies often stand in stark contrast to the targets’ themselves who hold less essentialist ideologies.

Exploring the Identit y Autonomy Perspective (IAP)

Essentialism among Targets

The confusion surrounding racial identity and frequent experience of racial discrimination force multiracial individuals to grapple with issues surrounding race. During this process, many multiracial individuals come to realize that racial categories are arbitrary, subjective, and ultimately meaningless. In other words, multiracial individuals come to the realization that race is a social construction (Nakashima, 1992; No et al., 2008; Spickard, 1992; Weisman, 1996). Although race has a great impact on the social world, it has no impact on the biological world. In other words, racial categories have no biological basis (Zack, 1995). Many multiracial individuals are very aware of the meaningless foundation on which our social order rests. Growing empirical evidence suggests that people who are themselves a product of the crossing of cultural and racial boundaries may be less likely to believe in rigid categories and more likely to believe in the mutability of human traits in general (Bonam & Shih, 2009; Pauker & Ambady, 2009; Shih et  al., 2007). For example, multiracial people tend to believe in fluid racial categories and self-categorization, which makes them less susceptible to stereotypes, more willing than monoracial people to cross other racial boundaries such as dating people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds (Bonam & Shih, 2009; Shih et al., 2007). In order for multiracial and multicultural people to have identity autonomy (i.e., the freedom to choose their self-identification how and when they want to) requires adopting a less essentialist view of race and culture. Generally, holding less essentialist views is associated with greater psychological well-being for multiracial people because it helps race become less of a barrier to belonging in interracial contexts (Sanchez & Garcia, 2009). Multicultural minorities may also have less essentialist views about culture, which allow them to move between different cultural systems and define themselves and their self-concept in dynamic, contextualized ways (Chao, Chen, Roisman, & Hong, 2007). Essentialist ideologies that promote identity denial serve to undermine belonging and psychological health for multicultural and multiracial populations.

Identity Denial as Intragroup Rejection

Identity denial can be understood as a form of intragroup rejection that may uniquely occur for those who hold hybrid identities. In general, intragroup rejection (e.g., perceived rejection from in-group members) and double discrimination (i.e.,

being discriminated against or rejected by multiple in-groups) may be salient issues for multiracial and multicultural populations. Multiracial individuals struggle for inclusion in monoracial ethnic communities that is thwarted in situations of identity denial (Nakashima, 1992). Membership in ethnic communities has rarely been questioned for monoracial individuals. For example, monoracial Asians are rarely questioned about whether they are really Asian. However, multiracial individuals are often confronted with this question. One young woman of Black/Asian/White descent writes, when I’m in a room full of white people and I think, “Gosh, I’m the only black person in here.” Or when I’m in a room full of black people and I think, ‘Gosh, I’m the only white person in here.’ ” (Gaskins, 1999, p. 15)

Similarly, another woman of Black/White descent writes, There are negative experiences for all people. As a biracial person, it’s struggling to make people believe that I fit in, or even knowing where I fit in . . . Black people don’t completely accept me because I’m light, or because my mom is white. And white people don’t accept me because I’m not white. So where do I fit in? (Gaskins, 1999, p. 187)

Past research suggests that feelings of intragroup rejection have negative consequences for the self and promote group disidentification, though most of this work has been conducted with populations who are members of a singular group from which they perceive rejection. Research suggests that rejection from in-group members promotes less loyalty and identification with the group (e.g., Branscombe, Spears, Ellemers, & Doosje, 2002), whereas feeling respected and valued by other group members strengthens group identification and promotes positive self-esteem (e.g. Smith, Tyler, Huo, Ortiz, & Lind, 1998; Tyler & Blader, 2000; 2001; 2002. Perceived intragroup rejection among Black Americans, for example, predicts less Black self-categorization and identification, which, in turn, has negative downstream consequences for both personal and race-based collective self-esteem (Postmes & Branscombe, 2002). Similar effects have been found in the handful of studies that examine perceived intragroup rejection among bicultural populations. This research outlines how bicultural individuals are likely to encounter pressure from both the dominant culture to assimilate and pressure to resist assimilation Sanche z, Shih, Wilton

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from other in-group members often of earlier generations (Castillo, Conoley, Brossart, & Quiros, 2007). Some bicultural Latinos may fear being “too White” or “too American” by doing well in academics, not speaking Spanish, or not having enough Latino friends (Castillo, 2009; Castillo et al., 2007). Perceived intragroup rejection from peers and family members has been linked to low social support, greater conflicts from family as well as greater acculturative stress, and less identification and categorization with the rejected group (Castillo, Cano, Chen, Blucker, & Olds, 2008; Castillo, et al., 2007; Castillo, 2009; Sanchez, Chavez, Good, & Wilton, 2012). For example, Latinos who do not speak Spanish proficiently experience their lack of cultural knowledge as an intragroup acceptance threat, and they become less likely to categorize themselves as Latino when their lack of Spanish proficiency is made salient (Sanchez et al., in press). Very little empirical research has specifically addressed the issue of intragroup rejection and its implication for the self and identification among multiracial populations though prior work suggests that peripheral, atypical group members such as those individuals with biracial ancestry may be vulnerable to disapproval and rejection from others (Eidelman & Biernat, 2003; Marques, 1990; Marques & Paez, 1994; Marques, Robalo, & Rocha, 1992; Marques & Yzerbyt, 1988). Yet, many have proposed that perceived intragroup rejection may be responsible for multiracial adolescents’ higher patterns of substance use and depression (e.g., Chavez & Sanchez, 2010; Choi, Harachi, Gillmore, & Catalano, 2005).

Coping with Identity Denial

To cope with the aversive experience of identity denial, prior research has found that Asian Americans subsequently attempted to “prove” their American identity by displaying their American loyalty and fluency (Cheryan & Monin, 2005). As outline earlier, however, not all people respond to identity threatening situations by showing greater loyalty to their denied identity (e.g., Postmes & Branscombe, 2002; Sanchez et  al., in press). On the contrary, some research on bicultural populations specifically shows the opposite pattern such that bicultural people show cultural reactance when denied mainstream identities and embrace their minority identity instead of their denied identity (Ogbu, 1993; O’Hearn, 1998). Some research has attempted to reconcile these conflicting findings by examining the role of identity integration, the extent 150

to which people view their identities as overlapping and harmonious (e.g., Benet-Martínez, Leu, Lee, & Morris, 2002; Cheng, Lee, & Benet-Martínez, 2006; Sacharin, Lee, & Gonzalez, 2009). In sum, this research on identity integration suggests that people who have higher levels of identity integration show assimilation to positively primed cultural identities and distancing from negatively primed cultural identities, whereas the opposite pattern is found for those with low levels of integration (Cheng et  al.,. 2006). This suggests that identity denial (a negative social context) may cause people with low levels of integration to assimilate or prove their loyalty. This prediction is further complicated by research suggesting that negative events can shift levels of identity integration, and, thus, identity integration is not a stable construct but, rather, a socially influenced self-view of one’s identities and the relationship between them (Cheng & Lee, 2009). The experience of identity denial itself may reduce the extent to which people experience their identities as integrated and, therefore, promote assimilation behaviors like those found by Cheryan and Monin (2005). Until we know more about the mechanisms driving loyalty behaviors and empirically examine them in identity-denials situations, it is unclear whether to expect loyalty or distancing gestures as a means of coping with denied identities. Consistent with the IAP model, we propose an alternative perspective that identity denial may cause multiracial and multicultural people to display cultural behaviors that are consistent with their own self-identifications to reassert autonomy in the social context. In other words, self-perception of identity may moderate the cultural strategies used to reassert autonomy in the face of denial. Nonetheless, cultural strategies (whether they be assimilative or contrastive) may be effective in manipulating others’ perceptions of the self. Cultural knowledge and behavioral loyalty effectively operate as tools to create a shared social reality wherein perceivers may use cultural practices to determine the identities of those they are interacting with. In other words, categorization by others is influenced by cultural practices cues (Sanchez & Chavez, 2010). For example, Latino Americans may discuss their inability to speak Spanish or their dislike for Spanish foods if trying to display loyalty to their American identity. Prior research suggests that Latinos who do not speak the language associated with their ethnicity (i.e., Spanish) were less likely to be categorized as Latino and less likely to be afforded

Exploring the Identit y Autonomy Perspective (IAP)

minority resources (e.g., affirmative action), whereas those who spoke Spanish were readily categorized as Latino and viewed as affirmative-action worthy (Sanchez & Chavez, 2010). Having more prototypical hairstyles and names influences categorization into ethnic and racial groups because they cue perceptions of similarity to ethnic group members, perhaps as markers of cultural practices (Levin & Banaji, 2006; MacLin & Malpass, 2001). People may assume that Diana Sanchez speaks Spanish and Leigh Wilton does not when in fact, both authors have equivalent levels of Spanish-speaking ability. These cultural practices may serve as guides to categorization because they imply self-identification with the category. Perceivers assume that Latinos who speak Spanish are more identified with their Latino identity (Sanchez & Chavez, 2010) much as they assume that African Americans who have darker phenotypes are more racially identified with their African American identity (Kaiser & Pratt-Hyatt, 2009). Thus, actions to prove in-group loyalty (or prove loyalty to an alternative group) via cultural practices may be successful in shaping others’ perceptions. Even when intragroup group perception is achieved at the individual level, it is important to note that acceptance into mainstream groups may make bicultural and biracial people alike vulnerable to overhearing the prejudices that other mainstream group members hold. For example, many multiracial individuals look racially ambiguous and thus, easily “pass” and are accepted into White communities. As a result, others around them may feel more comfortable voicing prejudice because they forget that, for example, multiracial individuals are also members of the racial minority community. One young woman of Taiwanese/English descent describes her experiences: When I was younger, I was very Caucasianlooking . . . they [friends] didn’t acknowledge that I was part Asian. So people felt comfortable making racial jokes and offensive remarks in front of me because it was not so obvious that I was part Asian. (Gaskins, 1999, p. 190)

Being accepted in racial minority communities increases the frequency and salience of discrimination and racism because multiracial people are privy to the blatant anti-interracial racism in racial inner circles. A  young man of West Indian/European descent describes his experiences as a member in the Black Student Union (BSU) at his university. He writes “They’re [BSU] very exclusive. The girls

will say, ‘We don’t like seeing our guys getting snagged up by all of those white women.’ Can you image what it’s like for mixed people to hear that? That’s like us—our families are who they despise. (Gaskins, 1999, p. 196) Thus, it is important for future research to examine the effects of intragroup rejection at both the group and individual level. Biracial/White people whose social network is largely White might feel that they themselves are accepted in the community but their exposure to racist remarks makes them feel as though their minority identity and group is not accepted in the White community. Both group- and individual-level acceptance may play an important and independent role in feelings of belonging. To minimize the negative psychological consequences of identity denial and the likelihood of overhearing prejudice remarks from others, those with hybrid identities may create a unique, less inclusive definition of one’s in-group. For example, multicultural and multiracial people could exclusively consider those who similarly have multiple cultural and multiple racial identities as in-group members. This strategy may be particularly likely for those who experience double rejection, in which individuals feel rejected by more than one group (see Shih & Sanchez, 2005). Double rejection offers little opportunity for preservation of self-worth unless one seeks an alternative in-group. Identity denial and intragroup rejection may be less aversive if people exclusively consider themselves as multiracial people and use other multiracial people as their in-group. People who share their multiracial and multicultural backgrounds are unlikely to restrict identity choices because they are less likely to hold essentialist viewpoints. Thus, other multiracial people may provide a context that fosters identity autonomy. One drawback of this approach is the difficulty accessing other multicultural or multiracial people in certain geographic regions in which the multicultural or multiracial populations are typically low. Many multiracial people struggle to find multiracial role models and communities during adolescence (Shih & Sanchez, 2005). For example, their parents are often monoracial, so the typical familial role model is unavailable. Similar issues may beset first-generation multicultural youth whose parents cannot provide sufficient role models on how to navigate dual cultural identities. Access to similar others may improve with age when individuals have greater control over their geographical environments (Collins, 2000) suggesting that Sanche z, Shih, Wilton

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intragroup acceptance and identity autonomy may be more easily achieved in later adulthood.

Clarifying Identity Autonomy

Thus far, the chapter has focused on outlining the identity autonomy perspective by outlining possible antecedents and outcomes of autonomy. Moreover, the discussion of the IAP has generated some unique perspectives on the ways in which multiracial and multicultural people may cope with identity denial to regain autonomy. In this last section, we explain how identity autonomy is separable from other known constructs (identity integration and identity switching) in the multicultural and multiracial identity literature.

Identity Shifting and Identity Autonomy

Both multiracial and multicultural populations demonstrate the ability to shift between identities and cultural systems. That is, social situations and cues (e.g., symbols that represent the culture, the presence of others that share one’s ethnic identity) activate one or more racial identities, which in turn, activate a set of cultural meanings that shape cognition, affect, and behavior (Benet-Martínez et al., 2002; Geertz, 1973; Hong, Chiu, & Kung, 1997; Kashima, 2000; Mendoza-Denton, Shoda, Ayduk, & Mischel, 1999). Research on multicultural populations finds that cultural priming can elicit changes in the self-concept, behavior, memory, and attributional processes that reflect the primed culture (Chiu & Hong, 2007; Fu, Chiu, Morris & Young, 2007; Hong et al., 2000; Hong, Ip, Chiu, Morris, & Menon, 2001; Sui, Zhu, & Chiu, 2007; Trafimow, Silverman, Fan, & Law, 1997; Trafimow, Triandis, & Goto, 1991; Verkuyten & Pouliasi, 2006). For example, Chinese Americans who were primed with Chinese cultural cues (e.g., Chinese dragon) made more external attributions characteristic of Eastern culture, whereas Chinese Americans primed with American cultural cues (e.g., American flag) tended to make more dispositional attributions characteristic of Western culture (Hong et al., 2000). Moreover, Chinese Americans who are engaged in Chinese cultural activities (e.g., speaking Chinese, reading in Chinese, being in the presence of other Chinese people) tend to experience their ethnic identities as a prominent aspect of their self-concept in the moment, suggesting, also, that cultural cues make one’s racial identity salient (Yip, 2005). Notably, bicultural individuals with stronger essentialist beliefs shift between cultural frames more slowly than those with lower essentialist 152

beliefs (Chao et al, 2007). Because essentialists perceive social categories as less permeable and more distinct, more cognitive effort is needed to switch between them. Multiracial people show patterns of fluidity among their multiple identities as well. Many qualitative studies suggest that multiracial individuals move between their racial identities in a fashion that is consistent with research on cultural framing. For example, multiracial people indicate that they change their racial identification depending on the social context (Basu, 2004; Collins, 2000; Gibbs & Hines, 1992; Newsome, 2001; Renn, 2000). Empirical data also demonstrates that the presence of others that share one of their racial identities increases identification with the shared identity (Wilton, Sanchez, & Garcia, 2013). In fact, empirical data suggests that multiracial adolescents shift their racial identities more often than they keep a constant racial self-definition (Harris & Sim, 2002; Hitlin et al., 2006). Consistent with cultural priming work, priming biracial people’s racial identity can shift cognitive processes in a fashion that is congruent with the primed racial identity. For example, priming biracial Black-White Americans with their Black identity elicits a similar pattern of race-related visual search to other Black respondents, whereas White identity priming elicits a similar pattern of response to White respondents (Chiao, Heck, Nakayama, & Ambady, 2006). Thus, priming race for biracial people can cause a pattern of behavior that is consistent with the primed racial group. The context-bound nature of social identity and cultural mindsets are now widely accepted among scholars though scholars recognize that individuals may vary in their tendency to shift between culture frameworks or racial identities. For example, some multiracial populations have shown stability across racial categorization over time and across social contexts, though the majority of multiracial people demonstrate fluidity (Harris & Sim, 2002; Hitlin et  al., 2006). Bicultural people vary in the stability of cultural identity and, thus, their tendency to shift cultural frames in different social contexts (Downie, Koestner, ElGeledi, & Cree, 2004; Downie, Mageau, Koestner, & Liodden, 2006), but the consequences of high levels of malleability among cultural identities and racial identities may be similar. Prior work on multiple identities and contextual shifts suggests that chameleon-like cultural self-concepts among bicultural populations and shifting racial identification among multiracial

Exploring the Identit y Autonomy Perspective (IAP)

populations predict lower self-esteem and lower psychological well-being (Downie et  al., 2004; 2006; Hitlin et al., 2006; Sanchez et al., 2009). Hitlin and colleagues’ work (2006) shows that identity shifting across long periods of time predicts lower self-esteem among adolescents. Moreover, multiracial people who report frequently switching between identities in different social contexts also report greater symptoms of depression and more negative attitudes about being multiracial (Sanchez et al., 2009). However, the negative link between identity shifting and well-being was largely for those multiracial people who showed evidence of longstanding identity shifting and who had little tolerance for ambiguity and contradiction (low in dialectical self-views; see Spencer-Rodgers, Williams, & Peng, 2010). In this case, their own identity shifting contradicted their beliefs about how they should be. At first, this may seem inconsistent with the IAP because showing fluidity among identities may be wrongfully construed as evidence of felt autonomy, when, in fact, autonomy and identity shifting are separable constructs. If identity shifting occurs among those with little tolerance for it, identity shifting may reflect outside pressures and need for approval by others rather than an autonomous approach to racial self-definition. Thus, an important factor that needs to be addressed in future research is whether identity shifting is autonomous or nonautonomous. Identity shifting can be adaptive when it is accompanied by a well-integrated identity (Benet-Martínez et al., 2002; Sacharin et al., 2009) and, therefore, likely a sign of an autonomous act of shifting in the context. Those who have highly integrated identities, for example, are likely to exhibit identity congruent behaviors in response to social contexts. Identity shifting in a congruent fashion may promote experiences of belonging by forging similarity with others with the relevant identity (Cheng, et  al., 2006). On the contrary, those with low levels of integration tend to show identity incongruent behaviors, which may undermine belonging. In general, research on navigating multiple cultural or racial identities suggests that having highly integrated identities tends to be associated with more positive outcomes because people feel as though their identities are compatible and, thus, do not serve as sources of psychological tension. For example, having an integrated bicultural identity is associated with less interpersonal isolation, less acculturative stress, greater well-being, and less perceived discrimination (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005; Chen, Benet-Martínez & Bond, 2008). Those

who report less bicultural identity integration tend to have dueling dual identities. That is, they report having more difficulty achieving a cohesive and coherent self-concept and, thus, feel restricted and pressured to choose a singular cultural identity (Gil, Vega, & Dimas, 1994; Phinney & Devich-Navarro, 1997; Vivero & Jenkins, 1999). Among multiracial populations, integration of multiple racial identities has been found to predict greater pride in their multiracial background (Cheng & Lee, 2009), suggesting that similar processes may be at work for the integration of multiple racial identities. However, it is unclear, based on prior research, whether the positive outcomes of identity integration (and the largely negative outcomes of identity switching) are largely driven by felt autonomy. Testing the IAP may reconcile these seemingly contradictory results. Thus, there is a pressing need for future research that more explicitly examines the role of autonomy in identity integration and identity fluidity.

Conclusions

Throughout this chapter, we have outlined the overlap between multiracial and multicultural research from theories of identity development to double discrimination. In doing so, we have proposed the IAP, which outlines the antecedents and consequences of identity denial and thwarted autonomy for multicultural and multiracial populations. The IAP elaborates on the societal, perceiver, and target characteristics that promote identity denial experiences. Specifically, the IAP outlines the impact of essentialist ideologies and prototype consistency on the autonomy of multiracial and multicultural individuals. Lastly, this essay has outlined theories in the multicultural and multiracial literature that would benefit from greater empirical integration in future research (i.e., identity integration, fluidity, and autonomy). In sum, the IAP provides an integrative, theoretically driven model regarding how the common experiences of identity hybridity may similarly affect multicultural and multiracial populations.

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CH A PT E R

8

Multiple Groups, Multiple Identities, and Intersectionality

Isis H. Settles and Nicole T. Buchanan

Abstract This chapter reviews the construct of intersectionality in relation to multiple social-group memberships and multiple social identities. Intersectionality theory stresses the importance of considering an individual’s combination of group memberships and identities to more thoroughly understand the individual’s unique social experiences and worldview. We apply intersectionality to multiple group memberships, noting how membership in multiple marginalized groups places individuals at risk for negative experiences and well-being (multiple jeopardy), whereas membership in multiple privileged groups increases the likelihood of positive experiences (multiple advantage). Next, we discuss intersectionality theory in relation to multiple social identities as they are associated with psychological well-being, processes of identity conflict, and models of identity integration. We conclude with questions and issues informed by intersectionality theory related to multiculturalism, multiple group memberships, and multiple identities. Key Words:  intersectionality theory, social identities, social groups, identity integration, psychological well-being, race, gender, multiple jeopardy, multiple advantage, identity conflict

Introduction

In this chapter we discuss intersectionality theory, which emphasizes how combinations of social-group memberships and social-group identifications create unique social positions for individuals, which influence their perceptions of the world, experiences, and outcomes (Cole, 2009; Crenshaw, 1989/1993). We begin by describing the processes of categorization and stereotyping related to social-group memberships. We then describe the history and tenets of intersectionality, and how intersectionality can be applied to the processes of categorization and stereotyping. Specifically, we discuss how individuals are categorized and stereotyped based on their intersectional positions, as well as how individuals self-identify with intersected categories. Next we discuss how intersectionality theory is relevant to group memberships, particularly for devalued social-group members. We further 160

describe processes involved in social-group identifications in relation to psychological well-being and the integration and organization of multiple identities. We end by raising questions that an intersectionality lens brings to thinking about multiple group memberships and multiple group identifications. Intersectionality theory has a great deal to offer the literature on multiculturalism and multiple identities because of its emphasis on the social context and historical factors that influence how cultures, racial groups, and individuals with various identities are perceived and situated in society.

Social-Group Memberships and Identifications

Individuals belong to a number of different social groups simultaneously, based on a variety of characteristics they posses. For example, a woman may be Asian-American, working-class,

and heterosexual. Individuals categorize themselves and others based on salient characteristics (Fiske & Neuberg, 1990), such as gender and race, forming social groups around these shared factors. The process of categorization is a means of reducing a large amount of information into a more manageable size. Individuals can then apply their “knowledge” about the social category (e.g., Asian-Americans or Asian-American women) when they encounter new people who fit into the group (Brewer, 1988; Fiske & Neuberg, 1990). However, an individual’s knowledge about social category members is not necessarily neutral or accurate. Rather, group memberships (and knowledge about individuals in those groups) are typically based on historical experiences and the social context (Williams, Lavizzo-Mourey, & Warren, 1994). Thus, social groups may be stereotyped in ways that reflect the current social system that provides status to some groups and marginalizes others; further, stereotypes often act to maintain the relative social status of groups (Williams et al., 1994). For example, Diekman and Eagly (2000) asked participants to provide stereotypes of women from past, present, and future generations, and they found that stereotypes of women of the past were less masculine than stereotypes of women of the present, and these changes corresponded with perceived changes in women’s social roles. Because stereotypes are believed to be valid by those who hold them (Haslam, Oakes, Reynolds, & Turner, 1999), they also impact how individuals in social groups are treated (Fiske & Neuberg, 1990). Thus, because women are stereotyped as nice but not competent (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002; White & Gardner, 2009), women may be treated as though they are incompetent and unable to hold positions requiring skill and ability, with potential consequences for their academic, occupational, and social experiences. Although group memberships vary in their salience, some tend to consistently form the basis of categorization over other possible categorizations. Race/ethnicity, gender, and age are some such social categories, and they have been described as primary, natural, or superordinate (Brewer, 1988; Brewer & Lui, 1989; Heilman, 1995). Part of the primacy of these social categories is due to their visibility and stability. Categories like race, gender, and age are usually visible such that one’s membership in a particular racial/ethnic, gender, or age group can be ascribed to the individual based on the perception of others, regardless of how the individual would

choose to classify herself or himself. Additionally, for race and gender, few individuals move between categories within the group (e.g. from one racial group to another). This is in contrast to social categories like social class and sexual orientation, which are typically less visible and may be somewhat fluid over the life course. We distinguish group memberships and categorizations from group identification. Identification with a social group occurs when individuals see themselves in terms of a group they belong to and accept the group membership as a part of their self-concept and self-definition (Ashmore, Deaux, & McLaughlin-Volpe, 2004; Hogg, 2006; Thoits, 1995). Through identification with groups, individuals derive a sense of meaning (Demerath, 2006; Thoits, 1995) and guidelines for understanding the world and interacting with others (Hogg & Abrams, 1990). Identities provide perspective, or a particular way in which to view the world (Sacharin, Lee, & Gonzalez, 2009). Once identities are formed, a prototype is developed. Prototypes are cognitive representations of an ideal group member (Hogg, 2006). Often, identified individuals will engage in self-stereotyping, which involves taking on characteristics of the group prototype (Hogg, 2006). In sum, identification reflects the extent to which individuals place importance on their group memberships. In contrast, others may categorize individuals into different groups than individuals would categorize themselves. For example, a Middle Eastern-American man may categorize himself as White (rather than Middle Eastern), whereas others categorize him as an ethnic minority and treat him according to the stereotypes of Middle Easterners. Additionally, he may not place importance on being Middle Eastern in how he defines himself. Thus, he would describe and categorize himself as White, and he would not identify with being Middle Eastern although others view him this way. We feel that the distinction between group memberships and group identifications is important, although both are relevant to intersectionality. Whereas group memberships often influence how individuals are treated by others (through the processes of categorization and stereotyping), group identification reflects one’s sense of self (through the process of self-categorization). As a result, for individuals who belong to marginalized groups, group memberships and the occupation of particular intersectional positions may lead to stress and mistreatment. Alternatively, occupation in advantaged groups may provide individuals with Set tles, Buchanan

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resources and privileges. In both cases, however, the treatment of individuals is somewhat independent of their self-identification (although we note that individuals engage in various processes and behaviors to create particular images and representations of themselves). However, individuals have greater control over their identifications—the groups by which they choose to define themselves. Thus, even for marginalized group members, identities may provide psychological benefits and protections for individuals.

Intersectionality Theory

Intersectionality theory posits that it is important to consider the multiple social groups individuals occupy because the combination of groups creates a unique space with a unique social meaning (Cole, 2009; Crenshaw, 1989/1993). That is, the meaning of one social group (e.g., gender) depends on the other groups the individual belongs to (e.g., race, social class; Shields, 2008). For example, being a Black middle-class woman is different from being a White middle-class woman. Yet research on middle-class women might focus primarily on the experiences of those who are White. An intersectional perspective would notice that such research did not reflect the experiences of all middle-class women, and it would try to examine areas of similarity and difference for other types of middle-class women. Thus, intersectionality pays attention to the fact that the combination of social-group memberships changes individuals’ life experiences (Shields, 2008). The ideas inherent in intersectionality theory gained prominence in the 1970s when members of the U.S. Black feminist movement expressed that they experienced multiple forms of oppression simultaneously and thus were unable to separate oppression based on single identities (Combahee River Collective, 1977/1995). The term intersectionality was coined by Crenshaw (1989/1993); she highlighted the fact that the oppression of Black women was not equivalent to oppression experienced by White women or Black men. Despite the initial and continued focus on how intersecting social-group memberships may lead to unique forms of oppression and marginalization, many psychologists find it useful to consider how intersecting social positions can also lead to privilege and opportunity (Cole, 2009; Shields, 2008). For example, White men, particularly those who are heterosexual and middle-class, occupy a privileged position on the basis of their intersecting group memberships. 162

In other cases, one might be marginalized on the basis of one group membership but privileged on the basis of another membership that together create one’s intersectional social position (Cole, 2009; Shields, 2008). This would be the case for White women who are privileged because of their race but oppressed because of their gender. There are a number of strengths offered by intersectionality theory. First, it is consistent with individuals’ lived experiences. All individuals simultaneously belong to a number of social groups and hold multiple social identities. Yet, most psychological research has examined single categories of group membership or identity. By doing so, such research may oversimplify relationships or tend to focus on the experiences of only the most privileged subgroup (Cole, 2009). Second, an intersectional approach, by asking who is included and who is omitted in a category, can also work toward deconstructing who is perceived to be the normative subgroup within a broader social category (Cole, 2009; Jordan-Zachery, 2007). For example, an intersectional lens would allow us to notice that most research on women is really research on White women. Third, we can use intersectionality to understand similarities and differences between groups (e.g., men and women) and within groups (e.g., different types of women; Cole, 2009; Crenshaw, 1991; Jordan-Zachery, 2007). By focusing on both differences and similarities, an intersectional perspective may limit individuals’ tendency to essentialize differences (Crenshaw, 1991; Jordan-Zachery, 2007). A focus on similarities among groups can also lead group members to find areas of overlapping concerns, which can be a useful tool for mobilizing multiple groups around political causes (Cole, 2009). Researchers have suggested that there are many approaches to using intersectionality theory. First, it can be used as a theoretical perspective that guides the types of questions researchers ask (Shields, 2008). For example, using an intersectional lens, Hurtado and Sinha (2008) asked how self-identified feminist Latino men defined what it means to be a man. Because of their use of intersectionality theory, Hurtado and Sinha (2008) noted that masculinity is defined as being White, rich, and heterosexual; as a result, Latino men do not have full access to the privileges of manhood. Among their results, the researchers found that Latino feminist men frequently discussed gender and gender-related issues in terms of multiple social-group identifications (i.e., race, ethnicity, social class, sexuality) and many participants rejected the notion of manhood

Multiple Groups, Multiple Identities, and Intersectionalit y

as requiring the objectification of women (Hurtado & Sinha, 2008). Second, intersectionality can be used analytically, to describe underlying relationships and processes (Jordan-Zachery, 2007). Analytically, an intersectional perspective does not need to test for and find differences between groups (e.g., White women versus Black women). Rather, the goal is to explain the process by which membership in one or more social groups changes, shapes, and defines membership in another social group (Shields, 2008) and, by extension, how outcomes differ based upon these intersecting groups. Qualitative research by Settles, Pratt-Hyatt, and Buchanan (2008) found that some aspects of womanhood differed for Black and White women. For example, struggles about merging work and family roles emerged for White women but not Black women, perhaps because Black women have historically always combined these roles. In a quantitative study, Buchanan, Settles, and Woods (2008) found that White women in the U.S. military received more sexual harassment that expressed that they were unwelcome, whereas Black women received more sexualized forms of sexual harassment, such as unwanted touching. These differences were theorized to exist because White women are expected to hold social roles as mother and caretaker, rather than soldier, and thus are violating stereotyped norms; harassment that emphasized White women’s unsuitability in the military may have served to remind them of their “place.” In contrast, sexualized stereotypes of Black women as promiscuous may have made sexual-advance types of harassment seem more permissible when directed toward women in that group. Third, intersectionality can be used as a political tool (Jordan-Zachery, 2007). Politically, intersectionality can highlight areas of inequality based on an individual’s intersectional position and how these inequalities relate to the larger political system (Jordan-Zachery, 2007). For example, Crenshaw (1991) wrote about the invisibility of Black women in the legal system because they could file lawsuits based on racial discrimination in the workplace or gender discrimination in the workplace, but not both forms of oppression, despite feeling discriminated against on the basis of this intersected position. An intersectional approach can also shed light on the goals and needs of subgroups within a political movement or political group (Cole, 2008). Cole (2008) highlights from her research that activists often try to forge alliances based on “shared interests rather than shared identities” (p. 447).

Intersectionality and Social-Identity Processes

The processes that apply to individual social categories, group memberships, and social identities may also apply to intersecting categories, memberships, and identities. In fact, Goff, Thomas, and Jackson (2008) suggested that there is no theoretical reason to expect race, gender, or age to be more basic or primary categories than a combination of these group memberships. Accordingly, the stereotypes of intersectional positions sometimes differ from those of the categories that comprise the intersection. For example, “women” are stereotyped as being nurturing, kind, helpful and concerned with others (Heilman, 1995, 2001). However, research that examines stereotypes of women of different racial groups finds that the stereotype of a woman is actually the stereotype of a White woman. In contrast, African-American women are described as loud, talkative, and antagonistic; Asian-American women are described as quiet, shy, well-mannered, and achievement oriented; and Mexican women are described as loud, promiscuous, and family oriented (Niemann, Jennings, Rozelle, Baxter, & Sullivan, 1994). Niemann et al. (1994) also found some commonalities across race-gender groups, such as all females being described as intelligent and pleasant. Nevertheless, many of the stereotypes differed for women of different racial/ethnic groups, suggesting that participants in the study considered the intersection of race and gender when recalling stereotypes. Other research on group evaluations supports the idea that individuals may categorize others based on intersecting group memberships, like race and gender. For example, in a scenario study, African-American female professors were rated lower on legitimacy and competence than African-American male professors, and Caucasian and Asian professors of both genders (Bavishi, Madera, & Hebl, 2010). In a study of teaching evaluations of actual college professors, Reid (2010) found that racial-minority faculty members were rated more negatively than White faculty, and that Black male instructors were rated especially poorly. Thus, participants are rating hypothetical and real professors based on both their race and gender, although the reason for the different findings between these studies is unclear. Categorizing on the basis of intersections does not apply only to combinations of race and gender. Again referring to the earlier stereotype of a white woman, we note that this is largely the stereotype Set tles, Buchanan

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of a middle-class (White) woman. Compared to a hypothetical middle-class woman, Lott and Saxon (2002) found that a hypothetical working-class woman was described more as crude, irresponsible, and meek. These results are similar to those of an earlier study by Landrine (1985); she found that middle-class women were rated as more intelligent, ambitious, and warm, whereas lower-class women were described more as dirty, hostile, impulsive, and irresponsible. Additionally, the stereotype of a “woman” does not apply to lesbian women who are rated more as masculine than heterosexual women (Kite & Deaux, 1987). Thus, individuals may be categorized by others on the basis of their intersecting identities, stereotyped according to these intersections, and treated correspondingly. There is also some evidence that individuals—at least some individuals in some contexts—see themselves in terms of intersecting identities. Research in this area is limited because quantitative research typically asks people to report on single identities (e.g., race, sexual orientation) rather than intersections (e.g., being an Asian-American lesbian). However, research by Settles (2006) found that Black women rated their “Black woman” identity as more important than either their “Black” or “woman” identities. Additionally, Bowleg’s (2008) qualitative research on Black lesbian women found that they often thought of themselves in terms of intersecting identities such as Black female lesbian or Black lesbian.

Intersectionality and Multiple Group Memberships

According to intersectionality theory, membership in various social groups (e.g., gender, race, class, sexual orientation) are interconnected and their meaning is fully understood only when all identities are considered in relationship to one another (Cole, 2009). In this section, we discuss how memberships in multiple marginalized or privileged groups lead individuals to have more negative or positive experiences, respectively. We also describe intersectional invisibility, a theory detailing how multiple marginalized group memberships can sometimes render individuals to be invisible and overlooked (Purdie-Vaughns & Eibach, 2008). Double-jeopardy theory (Beal, 1970; D. K. King, 1988) applies an intersectional framework to propose that individuals in two disadvantaged or marginalized groups will be at increased risk for negative experiences, such as poverty, victimization, and mental and physical health disparities. Jeffries 164

and Ransford’s (1980) multiple-jeopardy-advantage hypothesis extended the double-jeopardy model to specifically address belonging to three or more groups and to account for the fact that individuals can belong to multiple marginalized or multiple privileged groups, which affords individuals in those groups differential power, status, and resources. Both of these hypotheses (double jeopardy and multiple jeopardy-advantage) posit that each identity (gender, race, social class, sexual orientation) represents a status dimension and that individuals’ experiences are determined by their unique placement on these intersecting dimensions. As such, examining a single status dimension will not adequately account for one’s life circumstances and outcomes. Thus, these theories reflect intersectionality theory in at least two ways: (1) they stress that one must consider individuals’ multiple group memberships, because intersecting positions create unique experiences; and (2)  they share a focus on experiences of those with multiple devalued and disadvantaged group memberships seen in early intersectionality theory and research. Landrine, Klonoff, Alcaraz, Scott, and Wilkins (1995) tested the multiple-jeopardy-advantage hypothesis by examining a variety of factors including pay, interpersonal discrimination, and helping behaviors. For the multiple-jeopardy-advantage hypothesis to hold, individuals occupying lower status on multiple groups (e.g., Black, women, poor) should demonstrate the worst outcomes and those belonging to multiple high status groups (e.g., White, male, upper class) should report the best outcomes/advantages. By extension, the multiple-jeopardy-advantage hypothesis would also imply that those with mixed status (high status on one and low on another, e.g., White women or Black men) would fall between the first two groups. In their research, Landrine et al. (1995) found that women of color earned less than all other groups— supporting double jeopardy based on race and gender, and indicating that women of color were more likely to also be poor (another low-status group). Their findings also support multiple advantages because White men, regardless of age, earned more than members of any gender-race-age comparison group. It is important to note that recent studies find that this pattern of results continues to the present (Browne & Misra, 2003; Kim, 2006). Across studies of discrimination and attributions for success, the results were conclusive for multiple advantage privileging White men, but the evidence for multiple jeopardy was varied.

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Given the mixed evidence, the authors concluded that the multiple jeopardy-advantage hypothesis was too simplistic to explain the multiple jeopardy experienced by those occupying intersecting marginalized social groups (Landrine et al., 1995). They note several limitations that may explain why multiple jeopardy, as opposed to multiple advantage, is more complicated than the linear interaction effect proposed by the multiple-jeopardy-advantage hypothesis. First, the marginalized position of low-status groups is not equivalent. Thus, considering the specific low-status dimensions is essential in understanding phenomena like discrimination. For example, the nature, frequency, and severity of discrimination will vary if a woman is Black and gay versus if a woman is Black and disabled. Although each holds membership in three low-status groups, the unique intersection of these dimensions creates a social space that may differ considerably. Second, the multiple-jeopardy-advantage hypothesis does not account for the ways in which contextual differences influence discrimination. Using the same two women described earlier, the nature, severity, and frequency of the discrimination they face will differ if they are looking for employment, applying for public assistance, asking strangers for directions, or going on a blind date. Despite these limitations, double jeopardy and the multiple-jeopardy-advantage hypothesis can provide useful heuristics for conceptualizing how intersecting identities deny or convey privilege to some and disadvantage to others. In the following sections, we review the literature related to the ways in which double and multiple jeopardy—occupation in multiple devalued social groups—increase the likelihood that one will encounter a variety of stressful life events (Benson, Wooldredge, Thistlethwaite & Fox, 2004; Frias & Angel, 2007). In particular, we examine how intersections of gender, race, social class, and sexual orientation lead to differences in poverty levels, mental health, and violence and victimization.

Multiple Social-Group Memberships and Poverty

There have been long-standing differences in the rates of pay across gender and ethnicity that persist to the present (Gaeddert, 2011). Differences in income are further exacerbated when the lowest economic strata are examined. Specifically, women are concentrated in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic’s three lowest wage occupations (Lichtenwalter, 2005), which translates into substantial gender inequality in poverty. The magnitude of the poverty

gap is widened substantially when ethnicity is considered in conjunction with gender, leaving many more Black and Puerto Rican women living below the poverty line than other race-gender groups (Elmelech & Lu, 2004). Further, lesbian women of color typically earn less and are more likely to live in poverty than heterosexual men and women, White lesbian women, and gay men of color (Dang & Frazier, 2004). Given that rates of poverty are unequally distributed across the population, the host of negative outcomes associated with living in poverty will also be distributed inequitably across groups. For example, women living in poverty, particularly poor women of color, report higher rates of general stress (American Psychological Association Task Force on Socioeconomic Status, 2007) and increased victimization, such as interpersonal violence (Stith, Smith, Penn, Ward & Tritt, 2004), sexual coercion, and assault by landlords (Reed, Collinsworth, & Fitzgerald, 2005; Short, 2008; Tester, 2008).

Multiple Social-Group Memberships and Mental Health Disparities

Being a member of a socioculturally marginalized group is associated with mental-health disparities thought to be the result of their increased incidence of stressful events and discrimination (Klonoff, Landrine, & Campbell, 2000). Namely, epidemiological studies have shown that women have higher rates of several psychological disorders (e.g., depression, posttraumatic stress, anxiety) than men (Dambrun, 2007, Kessler, 2003; Sachs-Ericsson & Ciarlo, 2000). Gay men and lesbian women also report increased rates of such disorders, compared to heterosexual men and women (APA, 2007; Mays & Cochran, 2001); when they experience stress and victimization based on their sexual orientation, they report even greater distress and impairment (Dunbar, 2006). Findings on racial disparities in mental health have varied, with some finding lower rates of some disorders, such as depression, among Hispanics and Blacks as compared to Whites, and other longitudinal studies demonstrating that once developed, mood and anxiety disorders are more persistent and debilitating among these ethnic minority groups (Breslau, Kendler, Su, Gaxiola-Aguilar, & Kessler, 2005). Similarly, those living in poverty not only have higher rates of diagnosable conditions including schizophrenia, depression, and posttraumatic stress, but they are also more likely to have multiple conditions simultaneously, which increases their severity and complicates treatment (APA, Set tles, Buchanan

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2007; Gilman, Kawachi, Fitzmaurice, & Buka, 2002; Smith, 2005). When examined via an intersecting lens of multiple group memberships, additional disparities emerge. For example, studies comparing differences across race often overlook differences across both gender and race. Baker, Buchanan, and Spencer (2010) noted that most studies on race and depression fail to note that Black women often report higher rates of depression compared to White women and men of any race because they do not analyze across race-gender groups. Stress-related psychological disorders are higher among gay and lesbian people of color, particularly if they live in poverty (APA, 2007; Bowleg, Huang, Brooks, Black & Burkholder, 2003; Mays & Cochran, 2001). Similarly, victimization targeting both gender and race is associated with more severe psychological and physical health concerns (Berdahl & Moore, 2006; Buchanan, Bergman, Bruce, Woods, & Lichty, 2009; Buchanan & Fitzgerald, 2008; Moradi & Subich, 2003). In sum, the available body of research indicates that marginalized social-group membership is associated with more stressful life events and more negative mental-health outcomes, and that those with multiple intersecting marginalized group memberships are at greater risk overall.

Social-Group Memberships and Violence and Victimization

Violence and victimization also vary as a result of the relative marginalization across social groups and can be compounded for those belonging to multiple marginalized social groups. For example, women experience higher rates of interpersonal trauma (e.g., domestic violence, rape) than do men (Tjaden & Thoennes, (2000), which is associated with increased rates of posttraumatic stress, depression, and anxiety (Green et  al., 2000; Kilpatrick et al., 2003; Krupnick et al., 2004). Similarly, ethnic minorities report greater numbers of traumatic events compared to Whites (Kalof, 2000), and sexual minorities are victimized at higher rates than are heterosexuals (Herek, 2009). Any traumatic event has the potential to impair one’s well-being, but more frequent traumatic events and experiencing a greater variety of traumatic interpersonal events is associated with increased harm (Green et al., 2000; Krupnick et al., 2004). Research also supports that those who belong to intersecting marginalized groups are at increased risk of experiencing trauma and the trauma is more likely to target more than one marginalized identity, which 166

may be particularly destructive (K. R. King, 2003, Settles, 2006). For example, lesbian women of color are targeted for severe forms of physical and sexual assault compared to other race-gender-sexual orientation groups (Dunbar, 2006). Further, greater functional impairment has been found among lesbians of color, potentially as a consequence of the more severe and violent forms of physical and sexual assault they often experience (Dunbar, 2006).

Multiple Social Groups and Intersectional Invisibility

The Black women’s studies anthology, All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, but Some of Us Are Brave (Hull, Scott, & Smith, 1982) articulated the invisibility experienced by those who are located at the intersections of multiple marginalized social identities. Intersectional invisibility (Purdie-Vaughns & Eibach, 2008) is an additional model for considering the ways in which intersecting identities influence one’s experiences and social position. This theory suggests that systems of oppression are sustained not only by elevating the status of certain social groups, but also by rendering members of other groups invisible. Defining the standard person as male (androcentrism), White (ethnocentrism), and heterosexual (heterocentrism) renders those that do not fit these categories less powerful than those that do. Moreover, subordinate groups are typically defined by their category of difference (from the norm or standard person) and then assumed to belong to normative groups across the remaining categories. Thus, Blacks (who differ from Whites) are assumed to be heterosexual men, and women (who differ from men) are assumed to be White hetereosexuals. As a result, those who belong to multiple subordinate social groups (Black women, gay men of color, lesbian women) fail to meet the prototypes of either the dominant groups or their respective marginalized groups, resulting in them typically being overlooked in popular discourse and rendered invisible. Because this invisibility is related to the absence of prototypes for either of the groups comprising their intersected identities, it is termed intersectional invisibility (Purdie-Vaughns & Eibach, 2008). Intersectional invisibility is associated with disadvantages and advantages (Purdie-Vaughns & Eibach, 2008). Invisibility silences the voices and needs of those with intersecting marginalized identities across broad historical, cultural, political, and legal domains. This is manifested in historical invisibility when the experiences of group members

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with intersecting marginalized identities are absent from or distorted in historical narratives (Crenshaw, 1992). For example, Young and Spencer (2007) find that historical accounts of punishments inflicted on slaves in the United States reflect the punishments inflicted on Black male slaves, but rarely describe the ways in which punishments were both raced and gendered (such as raping or mutilating the breasts of Black female slaves). Cultural invisibility reflects the fact that those with intersecting marginalized identities also find that cultural schemas and archetypes unfairly characterize and misrepresent them. For example, models of adolescent development and well-being are based on prototypes of heterosexual teens and fail to address the development of gay and lesbian young adults (Hunter & Mallon, 2000; Meyer, 2003). Similarly, models of development for sexual minorities are based on a White, male prototype; thus gay adolescents of color are poorly represented (Jamil, Harper, & Fernandez, 2009; Rosario, Schrimshaw, & Hunter, 2004), and the development of teen lesbians of color is altogether absent. Disadvantages related to invisibility are also evident in political advocacy and legal jurisprudence (Purdie-Vaughns & Eibach, 2008). Political invisibility refers to the tendency of advocacy groups that serve marginalized people to focus on their prototypical constituents (e.g., women’s movement focusing on White women’s needs) and overlook unique needs of those with intersecting low-status identities (e.g., the needs of women of color). Advocacy groups may justify these oversights by rationalizing that they need to focus efforts on issues that affect the entire group, gains to the entire group will eventually improve the life circumstances of multiply marginalized group members, or assume other specialty advocacy groups are already addressing their needs (Strolovitch, 2007). These rationalizations result in little or no advocacy specific to the needs of multiply marginalized group members, despite claims that the advocacy group is serving all members of the larger subordinate group (Purdie-Vaughns & Eibach, 2008). Legal invisibility refers to the variety of ways in which multiply marginalized people are poorly protected under the law. This includes assumptions about who can be victimized, the appropriate behavior of crime victims, discrimination statues that are ill-equipped to address claims based on more than one low-status category (compound discrimination; Carbado, 2000), and the fact that those who belong to multiple low-status groups are more likely to

experience discrimination. Crenshaw (1991) found vast disparities in the prosecution and conviction of rape trials based on the race of the assaulted woman. Specifically, sexual crimes against Black women were investigated less rigorously, were less likely to be prosecuted and/or convicted, and, if convicted, the perpetrators were sentenced less severely than similar crimes against White women (Campbell, Wasco, Ahrens, Sefl, & Barnes, 2001; Donovan & Williams, 2002; Neville & Hamer, 2001). Looking at sexual-harassment legal jurisprudence, Black women have been overrepresented as plaintiffs in sexual-harassment lawsuits, yet they continue to experience legal invisibility. Many of the first cases used to argue that sexual harassment constituted a form of gender discrimination, which was protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (1964, 1991) were brought forward by Black women (e.g., Barnes v. Costle, 1977; Meritor Savings Bank v.  Vinson, 1986). Nevertheless, evidence for race-gender bias continues at multiple levels including the informal and formal reporting process (Hernández, 2006), the types of discrimination charges that are considered admissible, and the outcome of cases, with women of color receiving less satisfactory legal redress compared to White women (Carbado, 2000). Taken together, this implies that the marginalization of all women increases the likelihood that women of color will be ignored rather than overtly oppressed, providing some limited protection. In sum, occupation in multiple disadvantaged groups makes individuals vulnerable to negative experiences including those related to poverty, mental health, violence, and invisibility. Next, we discuss the research on group identifications.

Group Identifications

Intersectionality theory stresses the importance of considering individuals’ multiple group memberships and multiple identities. The literature to date on individual and multiple social identities has focused on the benefits of identification as well as the potential for multiple identities to be in conflict with each other. In order to lay the groundwork for the more limited research on multiple identities, we begin with a discussion of the theory and research on single group identifications. Next, we describe how these theories and others have been extended in research on multiple identities and the development of models of multiple group identifications. We draw on and integrate research that examines individuals’ simultaneous identification with groups Set tles, Buchanan

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based on different social-category memberships (e.g., gender and profession; race and gender) with research that examines their identification with multiple groups within the same social category (e.g., Asian and American cultural identities; White and Black racial identities).

Social-Group Identifications and Psychological Well-Being

Theorists in the area of social identity have suggested that one key motivational factor that leads individuals to identify with social groups is that doing so enhances their self-esteem (Hogg, 2006). Part of the reason that social-group identification is thought to be associated with higher self-esteem is that identity formation produces a feeling of commitment and attachment to other members of the social group (Stets & Burke, 2000). Research generally supports the theorized positive association between social-group identification and psychological well-being (although there are some exceptions) for various types of identities. For example, studies have found that Black women and Latinas who were more identified with their racial or ethnic group report lower levels of depression and higher self-esteem (French & Chavez, 2010; Iturbide, Raffaelli & Carlo, 2009; Settles, Navarrete, Pagano, Abdou, & Sidanius, 2010). Similarly, women who were more identified with their gender reported more satisfaction with life and higher self-esteem (Schmitt, Branscombe, Kobrynowicz, & Owen, 2002; Settles, 2004). Women with a stronger lesbian identity reported more satisfaction with life (Fingerhut, Peplau, & Ghavami, 2005), and lesbian women, gay men, and bisexual individuals who felt more positively about their sexual minority identity reported higher self-esteem and life satisfaction as well as less depression (Mohr & Kendra, 2011). In addition to social-group identification being directly associated with positive psychological outcomes, researchers have theorized that identifications can benefit psychological well-being through mediating and moderating roles. In particular, identity has been proposed to mitigate individuals’ experiences of mistreatment, including prejudice, discrimination, and other forms of group-based devaluation and stress. The rejection identification model (Branscombe et  al., 1999; Schmitt et  al., 2002) proposes that increased group identification is a consequence of experiences of group-based discrimination. In turn, group identification is associated with greater psychological well-being; because identification often leads individuals to emphasize 168

the positive features of their group, self-esteem and self-worth are increased (Branscombe, Schmitt, & Harvey, 1999; Tajfel & Turner, 1986). There is research that supports the relationships proposed by the rejection identification model. Studies have found that gender identification mediates relationship between psychological well-being and both group discrimination (Schmitt et al., 2002) and personal discrimination (Bourguignon, Seron, Yzerbyt, & Herman, 2006). Similarly, Branscombe and colleagues (1999) found that for African-Americans, perceived prejudice toward African-Americans was related to higher racial identification, which was related to positive psychological outcomes. These studies suggest that group identification may be a means of coping with the negative effects of experiencing discrimination and prejudice. The buffering hypothesis (e.g., Sellers, Copeland-Linder, Martin, & Lewis, 2006; Yip, Gee, & Takeuchi, 2008) suggests that group identification buffers individuals from the negative impacts of discrimination and prejudice. Specifically, the theory proposes that the experience of group-based mistreatment will be related to more negative psychological outcomes for those individuals with low group identification (i.e., those who do not place importance on their group membership). In contrast, group-based mistreatment will not impact the outcomes of highly identified individuals. This theory views group identifications as providing members with resources to cope with various types of group-based stressors (Sellers & Shelton, 2003). In support of this theory, Sellers, Caldwell, Schmeelk-Cone, and Zimmerman (2003) found that discrimination was related to higher psychological distress for African-American adolescents with low or moderate racial identification. However, discrimination and distress were unrelated for individuals who were highly identified with their racial group. Similarly, Neblett, Shelton, and Sellers (2004) found that discrimination was linked to depression, stress, and anxiety for weakly identified African-Americans, but discrimination was unrelated to psychological outcomes for highly identified individuals. Focusing on gender, Sabik and Tylka (2006) found that the relationship between experiences of sexism and women’s disordered eating was weakened only for those women with greater feminist identification. Rederstorff, Buchanan, and Settles (2007) also found that for White women with more feminist attitudes (i.e., greater feminist identification), the relationship

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between sexual harassment and psychological distress was buffered compared to White women with more traditional gender attitudes (i.e., lower feminist identification). Despite the evidence of the protective buffering role of identity, some studies find that group identification exacerbates the relationship between negative experiences and subsequent psychological outcomes. Thoits (1991) suggested that negative events related to important identities are more threatening to one’s sense of self compared to negative events associated with less-important identities. Thus, disruptions in important identities may intensify negative outcomes because they threaten the individual’s self-concept. McCoy and Major (2003) found that women low in gender identification experienced less depressed emotion and higher self-esteem if they were able to attribute a negative performance evaluation to a male evaluator’s sexism than when they could not do so. However, for women high in gender identification, depressed mood and self-esteem were not buffered by attributions to sexism. Similarly, Iturbide and colleagues (2009) found that for Mexican-American college females, greater acculturative stress was related to more depressive symptoms only for women with a more central ethnic identity. In addition, Yip and colleagues (2008) found that for U.S.-born Asian individuals, whether ethnic identity was a buffering or exacerbating factor depended on the age of the individuals. Specifically, for those between 31 and 40 years or between 51 and 75 years, ethnic identity increased the negative effect of discrimination on mental health, perhaps because these are times of identity renegotiation. However, for those between 41 and 50, when life is relatively stable, ethnic identity buffered the impact of discrimination on mental health. Thus, group identification may act as a protective factor or a vulnerability factor in the relationship between negative group-based experiences and psychological outcomes; however, it is unclear when identification will play either role. The discounting hypothesis (Crocker & Major, 1989) proposes that group identification is related to attributing negative events to discrimination or prejudice in specific situations. In this way, individuals who are highly identified with their group can discount negative treatment they experience as being a result of the prejudice of others rather than resulting from a negative or undesirable aspect of the self. Thus, the discounting hypothesis suggests that being able to view one’s mistreatment as being a function of one’s group membership may

have positive outcomes for psychological well-being because the individual is able to make an external (rather than internal) attribution for mistreatment. In support of this model, research finds that when women attribute negative outcomes or feedback to sexism rather than to some internal cause (e.g., their own lack of ability), they report higher self-esteem and less depression (Major, Kaiser, & McCoy, 2003; Major, Quinton, & Schmader, 2003). Additionally, Major and colleagues (2003) found that women who are more identified with their gender are more likely to make attributions to sexism. Together, these studies offer support for the pattern of relationships proposed by the discounting hypothesis. Thus, although membership in certain marginalized social groups and holding certain intersectional positions can lead women to experience more mistreatment and negative outcomes, group identification may sometimes protect individuals against the negative effects that can come with these marginalizing experiences. Researchers have offered various explanations for the protective effects of group identification, most of which may operate simultaneously. For example, Bourguignon et  al. (2006) proposed that identification with other marginalized group members may help individuals to feel less isolated, particularly with respect to negative group-related experiences, like discrimination (Bourguignon et al., 2006). Others have suggested that group identification may facilitate information sharing and provide role models who assist individuals in developing a wider range of coping mechanisms to use when dealing with group-based mistreatment (Frable, Platt, & Hoey, 1998; Sellers et  al., 2003). Further, because identification provides individuals with a sense of connection to others, it may permit group members to focus on positive aspects of the group in the face of prejudice (Sellers & Shelton, 2003). Finally, identification with marginalized groups may increase the likelihood that individuals will attribute negative experiences to the bias of others rather than to an internal, personal characteristic (Crocker & Major, 1989).

Applying Social Identity Research to Multiple Social-Group Identifications

Despite the abundant research on single identities, individuals simultaneously hold multiple identities that interact and intersect with each other to influence outcomes. In recognition of this fact, the rejection-identification model and the buffering hypothesis, which were developed to explain identification with single social groups, Set tles, Buchanan

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have been expanded in research on identification with multiple social groups. Jasinskaja-Lahti, Liebkind, and Solheim (2009) proposed the rejection-disidentification model, building on the rejection-identification model (Branscombe et  al., 1999). The rejection-disidentification model proposes an identification process for individuals who have multiple groups with which they identify, such as biracial individuals (who identify with two racial groups) or immigrants (who identify with two national/cultural groups). The model suggests that when individuals are discriminated against by one of their in-groups, they may respond by disidentifying with that group and maintaining or increasing their identification with an alternate in-group. In their longitudinal research, Jasinskaja-Lahti et  al. (2009) found that immigrants who experienced discrimination in their new country disidentified with that national identity but maintained their ethnic (i.e., country of origin) identity. Consistent with these results, other correlational research has found that immigrants in a multinational study who reported more ethnic discrimination reported a combination of characteristics that included high ethnic identification and low national identification (Berry, Phinney, Sam, & Velder, 2006). Other research has examined the buffering hypothesis in relation to the dual identities of women scientists. In a sample of female-scientists, Settles, Jellison, and Pratt-Hyatt (2009) examined the protective role of the woman and scientist identities following experiences of interference between their woman and scientist identities, a multiple-group-related stressor. They found that interference was related to greater depression for women who decreased their level of gender identification over a two-year period of time; in contrast, interference was unrelated to depression two years later for women who increased their gender identification over time. They found a similar buffering pattern for change in scientist identification. Specifically, although interference was related to lower self-esteem for women who became less identified as scientists two years later, interference and self-esteem were unrelated for women who became more identified as scientists over time. Thus, increased identification with either group played a protective psychological role against conflict between the two identities. Other work by Shih and colleagues illustrates that outcomes may depend on which of one’s multiple identities are salient in a particular situation. In a study of Asian-American women, Shih, 170

Pittinsky and Ambady (1999) found that those who had their Asian identity made salient performed best on a math test, whereas those who had their woman identity made salient performed worst (and those with no identity made salient performed in-between). Yet, when the study was performed in Canada, where the stereotype that Asians are good at math is weaker than in the United States, results indicated that although Asian Canadian women who had their woman identity made salient still performed the worst, those who had their Asian identity made salient also performed worse than the control group. These results and others suggest that making an identity associated with a positive stereotype salient may be an adaptive strategy that leads to positive outcomes (Shih, Sanchez, & Ho, 2010).

Multiple Social-Group Identifications: Conflict versus Harmony

In the past two decades, researchers have begun to attend seriously to the complexity of multiplegroup identifications and to acknowledge the importance of individuals’ multiple social positions. Yet, rather than focusing on how these multiple group memberships create unique social experiences, these theories and models have focused on how multiple identities may be organized and integrated by the individual. For example, Settles, Sellers, and Damas (2002) distinguished between whether student-athletes organized their two identities as separate (e.g., student and athlete) versus integrated (e.g., student-athletes). A  component of these theories and models typically includes the extent to which the multiple identities conflict with each other or are integrated in a more positive manner (in terms of individuals’ psychological outcomes). Identity conflict, or interference, occurs when individuals have difficulty enacting or meeting the expectation of two identities (Settles, 2004; Settles et al., 2002). When identities are in conflict, the individual perceives them as incompatible or in opposition to each other (Sacharin et al., 2009). In contrast, when identities facilitate each other—that is, enactment of one identity makes enactment of the other identity easier, then identity harmony (Brook, Garcia, & Fleming, 2008) or identity integration (Sacharin et al., 2009) occurs. Integrated identities, those that are in harmony with each other, are perceived to be compatible (Sacharin et al., 2009). Research has consistently found that identity conflict/interference is associated with negative outcomes for a variety of identity combinations. For example, Settles and colleagues (2002) found that

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interference between the student and athlete identities was related to greater stress and depression. In a study of Black women, Settles (2006) found that interference in the Black identity from the woman identity was related to lower self-esteem and greater depression. Interference between the woman and scientist identity has also been associated with negative outcomes, including higher depression, lower self-esteem, and lower science performance perceptions, concurrently (Settles, 2004) and two years later (Settles et al., 2009). Research of individuals’ constellation of multiple identities, rather than specific combinations of identities, Brook et al. (2008) found that greater identity harmony was related to greater psychological well-being. In another study of identity constellations, Settles, Jellison, and Poulsen (2013) found that individuals’ evaluations of their identities as providing them with more resources than costs was related to greater psychological well-being. Various explanations have been offered to account for the negative association between conflict/interference between identities and negative psychological outcomes. Identity conflict/interference may threaten an individual’s sense of self if multiple aspects of the self create a sense of disorganization (Thoits, 1991). Interference/conflict may also reduce the use of effective coping strategies (Cooke & Rousseau, 1984) in part because it overtaxes individuals’ cognitive resources (Fried, Ben-David, Tiegs, Avital, & Yeverechyahu, 1998). Others have expanded this idea to theorize that conflicting identities make cognitive frame switching more difficult (e.g., Sacharin et al., 2009). Cognitive frame switching is the process of switching lenses through which the world is viewed; depending on the situational context, different identities comprising the self-concept may become more salient (Sacharin et al., 2009).

Multiple Social-Group Identifications: Integrative Theories and Models

Models have been offered to explain different ways that individuals might cognitively and psychologically organize multiple identities. Roccas and Brewer (2002) proposed a model of multiple identity complexity that includes four possible ways in which two social identities might be organized for an individual. Two identities may be intersected such that they create a unique compound group (e.g., middle-class lesbian). Alternatively, two identities may be merged in an additive manner (e.g.,

middle-class and lesbian). A third possibility is that one of the identities may dominate the other, such that only one of the identities is considered primary (e.g., lesbian). With compartmentalization, both of the identities are important components of the self but are separate from each other so that only one is activated at a time, depending on the social context (e.g., middle-class or lesbian depending on the situation). Roccas and Brewer (2002) note that these four types of multiple identity organization can be placed on a continuum in terms of their cognitive complexity or the extent to which potentially conflicting beliefs and values of identities are differentiated (i.e., recognized) and integrated (i.e., resolved). According to Roccas and Brewer (2002), intersecting identities are the least complex because differentiation is absent. At the other end, merged identities are the most complex because there is both differentiation and integration of potential conflicts between identities. Domination is the second least cognitively complex because any conflict between identities is suppressed and only the primary identity is acknowledged. Compartmentalized identities are the second most cognitively complex, because they permit differentiation but not integration of the identities. Roccas and Brewer (2002) note that these types of organization are not fixed; rather individuals may use different types of multiple identity organization at different times in their lives. Amiot, de la Sablonnière, Terry, and Smith (2007) proposed a model to explain how individuals come to integrate multiple identities into the self. Following the process of categorizing multiple groups, the identities will become compartmentalized within the self; that is, individuals perceive themselves as belonging to both groups. At this stage, differences and distinctions between the groups are highly salient and the identities are not yet activated simultaneously. After compartmentalization, identities will become integrated in the final stage of multiple identity development. At this stage, individuals are aware of conflicts between identities but also can see links and similarities between identities. For positive psychological outcomes to result, individuals must be able to differentiate their identities while also integrating them into a coherent sense of self. Conflicts between identities can be resolved in one of two ways:  the individual could develop a superordinate identity that reconciles the conflicts or the individual could recognize that the “conflicting” components of each identity contribute positively to her sense of self. Set tles, Buchanan

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The process proposed by Amiot et  al. (2007) overlaps somewhat with that proposed by Roccas and Brewer (2002). In both models, compartmentalization involves differentiation between two identities that are both felt to be important aspects of the self but that are not activated simultaneously. Their theories regarding the integration of identities differ somewhat because Amiot et  al. (2007) view integrated identities as those in which both differentiation and resolution have taken place. Conversely, although Roccas and Brewer (2002) share this view of merged identities, they do not believe that intersected identities have these properties. However, Amiot et al. (2007) break integration into two types—restrictive integration and additive integration—which map onto Roccas and Brewer’s (2002) conceptualization of intersection and merger, respectively. In both models, restrictive integration and intersection represent intersection as conceptualized by the feminist and sociologist literature. That is, the multiple identities are combined such that a unique identity is created. This produces a smaller in-group (e.g., only middle-class lesbians) than do additive integration or merger in which the in-group is comprised of everyone who belongs to both identities (e.g., all middle-class people and all lesbians). Both models view intersected or restrictively integrated identities as creating more in-group favoritism and out-group discrimination and prejudice than merged or additively integrated identities. Although several models include the possibility of identities being intersected (Amiot et al., 2007; Roccas & Brewer, 2002), these theories have not considered intersecting identities in the way suggested by intersectionality theory (e.g. Cole, 2009). For example, Roccas and Brewer (2002) focus on how various forms of identity organization, including intersection, lead to attitudes about the out-group. Those with intersecting identities are theorized to be the least cognitively complex and engage in the most out-group bias. An intersectional perspective, however, would also emphasize how individuals see themselves in terms of their multiple identities as well as focusing on how intersected positions lead individuals to be treated in particular ways depending on the devaluation or privilege of their group memberships. In addition, existing models do not consider that some social-group memberships are more likely to become identities than others. Specifically, marginalized groups are more likely to be targets of discrimination and prejudice; as a result, these group memberships may become identities because of their heightened and 172

repeated salience. Supporting this idea, qualitative research has found that individuals who hold multiple marginalized group memberships thought of themselves in terms of their marginalized identities before those that are privileged (Jones, 2009). Thus, it may be that multiple marginalized group memberships may become multiple identities that form the basis of intersected position (e.g., Black woman) more so than multiple privileged group memberships (e.g., White man). These models also propose that individuals with intersected identities have a smaller in-group than individuals who integrate their identities in another way, such as with additive integration of identities (Amiot et  al., 2007) or with merger (Roccas & Brewer, 2002). This assumes that individuals who see themselves in terms of an intersected position cannot simultaneously identify with the groups that comprise the intersection. For example, an Asian-American immigrant who sees herself as a “hyphenated” (i.e., intersected) individual may also identify as Asian and as American. Thus, although she may have a special affinity for other Asian-Americans, she may consider all Asian and Americans as in-group members. Such a conceptualization is consistent with a hierarchical model of identity that assumes some identities are more important than others but that many different identities may comprise the self-concept (Hogg, 2003). Whereas the models proposed by Roccas and Brewer (2002) and Amiot et al. (2007) focus on the organization and integration of multiple identities related to different types of group memberships (e.g., gender and work identities; racial and gender identities), other models explain how individuals integrate identities of the same type (e.g., multiple racial or multiple cultural identities). Benet-Martínez and colleagues have proposed a model of bicultural identity integration to explain the acculturation experiences of immigrants (e.g., Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005; Chen, Benet-Martínez, & Bond, 2008). This model explains biculturalism, the perceived compatibility and internalization of two cultural groups, as resulting from two cultural factors (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005). Cultural conflict refers to the degree to which the two identities are perceived by the individual to be in conflict versus in harmony. Cultural distance refers to the degree to which the individual compartmentalizes versus integrates (“hyphenates”) their two cultural identities. Individuals with high bicultural identity integration are those with low cultural conflict and low cultural distance. That is, they view their

Multiple Groups, Multiple Identities, and Intersectionalit y

cultural identities as integrated and in harmony. Cheng and Lee (2009), drawing upon the bicultural identity integration model, created the multiracial identity integration model to explain the experiences of biracial and multiracial individuals. The multiracial identity integration model has the same two components—conflict and distance—as the bicultural identity integration model. Whereas high identity integration is most like Roccas and Brewer’s (2002) merger, low identity integration is most like compartmentalization. Research has found that biracial individuals (Asian/White and Black/White) with higher identity integration report greater self-concept clarity (Lou, Lalonde, & Wilson, 2011). Other studies have found that bicultural individuals with higher identity integration display more creativity in tasks related to their multiple cultures, such as Asian-American’s creation of dishes using both Asian and American ingredients (Cheng, Sanchez-Burks, & Lee, 2008). Additionally, when individuals integrate their identities, they “assimilate” better (Sacharin et  al., 2009), that is they can more easily switch between the identities. However, when identities are cognitively separate, there is greater difficulty in cultural frame switching. Further, research by Chao, Chen, Roisman, and Hong (2007) found that bicultural individuals with more essentialist beliefs about race (i.e., beliefs that race is a meaningful category based on biological differences that confer specific properties) had more difficulty engaging in cultural frame switching. Other research, however, highlights the positive aspects of having low bicultural identity integration. Specifically, those lower in bicultural identity integration were more likely to resist group consensus in a judgment task, especially when the group judgment is incorrect (Mok & Morris, 2010). This is attributed to the tendency of those low in identity integration to engage in contrast responses to cultural norms. Support has also been found for the proposed two dimensions of identity integration. For example, in a study of Chinese Americans, greater (bi) cultural conflict was found to be predicted by experiences of discrimination and difficult social interactions related to language and cultural expectations (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2006). Greater (bi) cultural distance was related to feelings of cultural isolation and less competence in both cultures (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2006). Additionally, greater multiracial pride has been associated with less distance between one’s racial groups (Cheng & Lee, 2009). In sum, single and multiple

identities often have a positive effect on psychological well-being. As discussed by various models and theories, perceiving one’s multiple identities as having less conflict and greater integration makes positive outcomes especially likely. Following, we discuss additional ways in which an intersectional perspective can be applied to multicultural identities and considerations raised by intersectionality regarding multicultural identities.

Future Directions, Considerations, and Applications of an Intersectional Approach to Multiple Group Memberships and Identities

Some questions are listed in this section that we feel remain with respect to multiculturalism, multiple group memberships, and multiple identities. Our questions are informed by intersectionality theory and reflect ways in which this theory can contribute to the current thinking on multiculturalism, multiple group memberships, and multiple identity integration. 1. How are processes related to multiple group memberships and multiple group identifications similar and different for specific combinations of groups/identities? One important issue for theorists to consider is whether processes related to group memberships, identity integration, and intersections are the same or similar for different combinations of identities. Research has noted that biracial individuals are perceived and stereotyped differently than monoracial individuals. Research by Sanchez and Bonam (2009) examined perceptions of hypothetical college applicants who were Black/White and Asian/ White biracial individuals as compared to the corresponding monoracial groups. They found that Black/White individuals were perceived as less warm than Black individuals and White individuals, and Asian/White individuals were perceived as less warm and less competent than Asian individuals and White individuals. For both groups, the biracial individuals were viewed as less worthy of a minority scholarship than the corresponding monoracial minority. Further, although Sanchez and Bonam (2009) found that biracial individuals responded to negative feedback with decreased self-esteem when they disclosed their race, Shih, Bonam, Sanchez, and Peck (2007) found that biracial Asian/White individuals were less susceptible to racial stereotypes and more likely to believe that race is a social construction than monoracial individuals. Further, biracial Set tles, Buchanan

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women of various compositions are perceived to be exotic and sexually promiscuous (Root, 2004). There is also some theory to suggest that individuals with different biracial compositions are also viewed differently from each other. Wu (2002) notes that the pattern of interracial marriages is such that more Black men marry White women than the opposite, and more White men marry Asian women than the opposite. He suggests that these patterns reflect a racial hierarchy in which Whites are at the top, Asians are below them, and Blacks are below both groups. Thus, one might expect White/Asians to be perceived more positively than White/Blacks, and both groups viewed more positively that non-White biracial combinations. Thus, research in this area might investigate similarities and differences in identity processes, not only for multiracial individuals with different racial compositions, but also for individuals with different combinations of cultural backgrounds and those with different identity combinations unrelated to race and culture. 2. How are multicultural, multiracial, and multiple identity individuals categorized? What are the implications of problems with their categorization by perceivers? Perceptions of bicultural and multicultural individuals, as well as individuals with other combinations of multiple identities, depend on how they are categorized. For multiracial individuals, categorization depends on how well their phenotypic characteristics (e.g., hair type, skin coloring) and behavior (e.g., language) fit the prototype of an individual from one or more racial groups. Researchers have noted that multiracial individuals challenge perceiver’s ideas about race and the extent to which it is biologically based or socially constructed (e.g., Shih et al., 2007; Wu, 2002). To the extent that multiracial individuals are difficult to categorize, they may cause discomfort in perceivers, which may, in turn, lead perceivers to distance themselves from the multiracial individuals. This may account for the social isolation that monoracial individuals perceive to be characteristic of multiracial children (Jackman, Wagner, & Johnson, 2001). For multicultural but monoracial individuals, such as Asian immigrants to the United States or American-born Asian individuals, the difficulty in categorization by perceivers may be whether the Asian-American person is “American.” Perceivers may experience discomfort because they are uncertain whether the Asian-American individual will speak English well, will hold Asian or American 174

values, and so on. Cheryan and Monin (2005) observed that this “identity denial” applies to any non-White person who does not fit the prototype of American. Specifically, they found that Asian Americans, African Americans, and Hispanic Americans were all perceived by White participants to be less American than White Americans. Follow-up studies of Asian-Americans indicated that they responded to identity denial with attempts to reassert their American identity through displays of American cultural knowledge and practices. Finally, for individuals with multiple identities of different types (e.g., Black women, female scientists, gay Latinos), the difficulty others have in categorizing them may depend largely on the visibility of their identities and the accessibility of stereotypes regarding intersecting identities. Consistent with the first idea, Jones (2009) found that individuals with visible and invisible marginalized identities realize they are “different” from the mainstream, but do so in different ways. Specifically, those with visible marginalized group memberships (e.g., racial minorities) felt different because of their different treatment by others, presumably based on how they are categorized. In contrast, those with invisible marginalized group memberships (e.g., sexual minorities) felt different internally rather than having their difference reflected by outsiders. In terms of stereotype accessibility, Goff et al. (2008) found that individuals were less accurate in guessing the gender of Black female faces than they were in guessing the gender of Black male faces and White female faces. The researchers attribute this to the fact that individuals associate Black with male, such that it is more difficult for them to correctly identify the gender of Black females. Thus, how identities, cultures, and racial group memberships appear to others may impact how individuals are categorized, stereotyped and treated, and the extent to which others avoid social interactions with these individuals. 3. What is the impact of multiple disadvantaged identities/groups versus combinations with both privileged and devalued identities/groups? Researchers should also consider whether identity intersections are comprised of multiple disadvantaged identities versus a mix of advantaged and marginalized identities (versus multiple privileged identities; Cole, 2009; Shields, 2008). We note that much of the research on biculturalism and biracial identities has examined processes for individuals with one valued identity and one devalued identity (e.g., Asian-American bicultural individuals; Black/White

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biracial individuals). In contrast, the work on multiple identities and identity conflict has examined multiple devalued identities (e.g., Black women) and combinations in which some identities are valued (e.g., women scientists). When one’s identities differ in status, this status inconsistency may lead individuals to employ different types of integration strategies than when one’s identities share a devalued status. For example, when multiple identities are devalued (e.g., Black lesbian, Black/Mexican) the individual may be likely to embrace both in an intersected manner, particularly because awareness of issues of inequality related to one marginalized group membership may lead to an awareness of inequality related to other marginalized groups and their intersections. This double consciousness (or multiple consciousnesses; Gay & Tate, 1998; Rederstorff et al., 2007) may be greater for those with multiple devalued group memberships and identities. However, when one or more group membership has higher status than others, individuals may be motivated to identify more strongly with some groups than others. Interestingly, the processes in this case seem to differ depending on whether one is considering multiple racial groups, multiple cultural groups, or multiple identities of different types. Because of the historical and cultural meaning of race, as well as its visibility, there is pressure of multiracial individuals to identify with their minority group—the group with the lowest social status, or more recently as multiracial (Root, 2004). For multicultural individuals, there are a range of possible integration processes that have been discussed at length within the acculturation literature (e.g., Berry et al., 2006), including identifying more with one identity than the other or integrating both into one’s sense of self. A range of options may also exist for individuals with multiple identities from different categories. For individuals who want to be seen as legitimate members of a valued group, downplaying or disidentifying with the devalued group may achieve this aim. However, for individuals more identified with their devalued group, they may instead choose to maintain both identifications, either by intersecting them or embracing them in a compartmentalized manner. Clearly this is a complicated issue that needs further elucidation. 4. What are the situational influences on the salience and expression of group memberships and identities? Another consideration is whether individuals’ organization of their identities is static. Most

conceptualizations make allowances for the possibility that the organization of identities may change over time or under certain conditions. For example, Nguyen and Benet-Martínez (2007) argue that individuals with bicultural identity integration may employ different aspects of each identity in different contexts, such as a Mexican-American choosing to speak English in most situations but holding Mexican values and preferences at the same time. We extend such arguments to suggest that individuals might use their intersected identity as the lens through which they view the world in some situations, but in other situations they might be more strongly influenced by the individual identities comprising the intersection. An example would be a Black woman who frequently sees the world as a Black-woman, but at times employs the specific lens associated with being Black and other times sees the world in terms of gender. Similarly, we note that individuals typically hold more than two identities; thus, they may have different intersections activated in different contexts. This would be reflected in an individual moving between different constellations of identities, such as Black woman, female scientist, Black scientist, upper-class mother, and so on. Alternatively, certain identity intersections may be core to the self-concept such that they are always activated but additional identities may also become salient in different situations. Finally, the different patterns described earlier may vary at the level of the individual. Clearly this is an area in which research could be very productive and informative. 5. How can the consideration of social contextual and historical factors inform our understanding of multiple groups and multiple identities? More generally, research on multiple groups, multiple identities, and multiculturalism should incorporate a greater consideration of social contextual and historical factors that impact perceptions of individuals with multiple identities, races, or cultures, their societal status and power, and how these things influence their treatment and opportunities. For example, we can consider the fact that attitudes about Black/White biracial individuals are related, in part, to the rape of Black female slaves by White slave owners. This resulted in Black individuals who varied in skin tone and also in the privileges they were afforded during slavery (Hunter, 2005). This history persists today in favoritism toward Blacks with lighter-skin tone (and other less phenotypically Black characteristics), such as their being less stereotyped Set tles, Buchanan

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with the negative characteristics assigned to Black people (e.g., lazy, unintelligent; Maddox & Gray, 2002), and receiving less discrimination (Klonoff & Landrine, 2000). However, although lighter-skinned Black women are perceived as more attractive than darker-skinned Black women (Hill, 2002), they are also more likely to be socially ostracized by other Black people (Hunter, 2005). These types of differences within the group of biracial Black/White individuals, and between biracial men and women, are important aspects of an intersectional perspective that should be considered, because they impact stereotyping, categorization, treatment, self-identification, behavior, and psychological outcomes.

Conclusion

Intersectionality theory can help researchers and theorists to expand their ideas about social-group memberships and social-group identifications. Intersectionality notes that we can only understand how belonging to a particular group shapes individuals’ life experiences by considering their other group memberships simultaneously. As described earlier, some devalued group memberships tend to co-occur, resulting in cumulative disadvantage for individuals with those intersecting identities. In contrast, because identification with groups—even those that are devalued—often has a positive impact on psychological well-being, multiple identifications may promote positive psychological outcomes for individuals. At the same time, some identity combinations create conflict and subsequent negative psychological well-being, often because the identities have different stereotypes, norms, and expectations associated with them. This is true for multiple identities of the same type (e.g., Asian and American are both cultural identities) and multiple identities of different types (e.g., woman and scientist). Thus, intersectionality theory speaks to multiculturalism and cultural conflict. To date, models seeking to describe how identities are organized have focused on how intersecting identities might influence intergroup relations rather than how intersecting identities might influence self-conceptions and individual meaning making. There are numerous questions that remain to be addressed in this area, and, thus, there are tremendous opportunities for scholars to further consider how power, social position, and social hierarchies influence multiple social-group memberships and multiple social-group identifications. 176

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CH A PT E R

9

Psychological Science of Globalization

Angela K.-Y. Leung, Lin Qiu, and Chi-Yue Chiu

Abstract Globalization refers to the global integration of regional economies, societies, and cultures through international trade, capital flows, advanced communication technology, and migration. Globalization’s rapid increases in interdependencies among regional economies, societies, and cultures have resulted in unprecedented opportunities for multicultural interactions. This chapter proposes an integrated theoretical framework and research agenda for a psychological science of globalization that focuses on individuals’ understanding of globalization and how they relate to the cultural implications of globalization. The chapter examines individuals’ lay theories of and attitudes toward globalization and possible psychological reactions to global culture, ranging from appreciative integrative responses to foreign culture to nationalistic exclusionary responses. An in-depth analysis is provided of conditions that mitigate and facilitate these reactions, as well as a review of areas of further study, such as the emerging notions of cosmopolitan and global identities, and ramifications relating to the media, international relations, and social health. Key Words:  lay theories of globalization, integrative responses, exclusionary responses, cosmopolitanism

In most parts of the world, globalization, broadly defined as a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, has become an unstoppable and potent force that impacts everyday life and international relations (Chiu, Gries, Torelli, & Cheng, 2011). As a multifaceted, dynamic, and highly complex concept (Appadurai, 1996; Croucher, 2004; Fiss & Hirsch, 2005; Kellner, 2002; Robertson & White, 2007), globalization embodies a contradictory and ambiguous set of institutions and social relations, involving global flows of goods, services, ideas, technologies, cultural forms, and people (Kellner, 2002). Aside from speeding up the transnational circulation of ideas, languages, and popular cultures, globalization also increases the inflow of capitalist values, neo-liberal economic thoughts, and

instrumental rationality into many regional economies. These ideas and their attendant practices have transformed individuals’ relations to their nations and their cultural traditions, work, and families. Successes and failures in global competition for foreign investments, capital flows, and talents between world cities have become a major source of national pride and shame, respectively. A favorite topic in globalization scholarship concerns the cultural consequences of globalization. An unsettled debate in globalization studies, for example, relates to whether globalization would lead to homogenization or diversification of cultures. Although some writers hold that the hegemonic dominance of global culture will eventually lead to erosion of local cultures, others argue that globalization tends to spur local reactions (e.g., contestation/

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competition, differentiation, glocalization) directed toward maintaining heritage cultures and/or creating new fusion cultures (see Chiu & Cheng, 2007, 2010; Chiu & Hong, 2006, Kecmanovic, 1996; Kelman, 1997; Marsella, 2008). Against this context, we propose a research agenda for a psychological science of globalization, one that focuses on individuals’ understanding of globalization and how they relate to the cultural implications of globalization. Despite the centrality of globalization in contemporary social science discourse, until recently, with few exceptions (Hermans & Kempen, 1998), psychologists have remained impassive toward globalization as a topic of psychological inquiry (Bandura, 2001; Chiu, Gries et al., 2011). In this chapter, drawing on the results of several recent research programs on the psychology of globalization, we seek to provide a behavioral science perspective on the cultural dimension of globalization. Globalization is a complex phenomenon that includes many aspects (e.g., cultural, economic, and political) and has important implications for intercultural contacts (cultural implications), global exchange of goods and services (economic implications), and global governance (political implications). We choose to focus our discussion on the cultural aspects of globalization largely due to the focus of this volume. Specifically, we build on the analysis that globalization has, on the one hand, increased the frequency of intercultural encounters; raised the intensity of intercultural contacts; magnified the interconnectedness of world cultures; enlarged the volume of international flow of cultural ideas and practices; inspired innovative ideas, practices, technology and products; and created new forms of culture by combining ideas and practices of several existing cultures. On the other hand, however, globalization has also elevated concerns about cultural colonization of the economically less developed cultures by the economic powers, and, in some societies, such concerns have resulted in xenophobic anxiety, as well as fear of cultural contamination and erosion resulting from inflow of materialistic, capitalist culture. Here, we will review recent research findings on five major research topics in the psychological science of globalization. First, how do people understand the concept of globalization? Second, what are people’s attitudes toward globalization? Third, what are the cognitive consequences of living in global, multicultural cities? Fourth, how do people respond to the inflow of foreign and global cultures? Finally, 182

what are the broader implications of globalization, such as those for identity construction, international relations, and mental health? The relevance of globalization to culture and psychology cannot be overstated. Multicultural psychology, with its focus on the psychology of belonging to multiple cultures, has drawn research attention from static psychological differences among cultures to the dynamic processes of how an individual acquires, organizes, and reacts to two or more cultures (Leung, Chiu, & Hong, 2010). The psychological science of globalization further advances this research agenda by offering nuanced analysis of the psychological consequences of living in the multicultural space of globalized communities, where individuals are exposed to and often find themselves deliberating how they would relate to their own as well as foreign cultures.

Lay Psychology of Globalization Lay Understanding of Globalization

A major topic in the psychological science of globalization concerns how lay people understand the meaning of globalization. Can lay people differentiate among related concepts such as globalization, modernization, Westernization, and Americanization? Recent research (Fu & Chiu, 2007) showed that, in Hong Kong, people treat Westernization and modernization as distinct concepts. They see Westernization as a process of assimilating popular Western social-moral ideals, such as individual freedom, human rights, and democracy, into local cultural value systems. In contrast, they view modernization as a process that integrates evidence-based, scientific, instrumental knowledge and practices into extant educational, knowledge production, and management practices. Hong Kong people also expect Westernization to result in the replacement of local social-moral values with Western ones and modernization to increase the global competitiveness of the local political economy through scientific research and development, as well as through the creation, dissemination, and application of objective, instrumental knowledge. In general, Hong Kong people are more receptive to modernization than to Westernization, probably because they view Westernization as a potential source of cultural erosion or contamination that may threaten the continuity and integrity of the local culture. Other studies (Yang et  al., 2011) showed that in the United States and Greater China (consisting of Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and

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Taiwan), people tend to associate Americanization with Westernization probably because the United States is a major exporter of Western social-moral values and practices. In addition, people from both the United States and Greater China perceive globalization to be connected to but different from modernization, Americanization, and Westernization. In one study (Yang et  al., 2011, study 1), participants from the United States and the three regions in Greater China (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan) were presented with a representative list of fifty-three globalization-related items (e.g., American Express, computer, Disneyland, eBay, Facebook, global warming, HIV/AIDS, and YouTube) and asked to freely generate additional related items. Next, participants rated each item on how strongly it is associated with each of the following four concepts:  globalization, modernization, Americanization, and Westernization. In all four regions, the ratings of the items on Westernization corresponded closely with those on Americanization, indicating that the participants perceived Americanization and Westernization to have similar meanings. Despite this, the ratings of the items on globalization were only moderately correlated with the items’ ratings on modernization, Westernization, and Americanization, indicating that the participants considered globalization to be related to but different from modernization, Westernization, or Americanization. Some interesting regional differences emerged. For example, participants from the Greater China regions perceived a relatively stronger association between globalization and modernization than did participants from the United States. This pattern of results may reflect the different experiences with globalization in Greater China and the United States. In Greater China, the wheels of globalization and modernization rolled in at about the same time. In contrast, the United States was already a highly modernized country before it began to experience rapid globalization. The onset asynchrony of modernization and globalization in the United States allows perceptual separation of modernization and globalization among Americans. Another study (Yang et al., 2011, study 2) found that lay people in the United States and Greater China agreed that globalization-related items can be classified into five major groups:  (a)  information technology that promotes global connectivity (e.g., the Internet, Apple computer), (b) global consumer brands (e.g., Hollywood, Coke), (c)  global trade and international regulatory institutions

(e.g., the World Trade Organization [WTO], Wall Street), (d)  geographic mobility (e.g., passport, air travel), and (e)  global calamities (e.g., global warming, HIV/AIDS). Based on the results of the first study, Yang and colleagues (2011, study 2) selected twenty-six items that had the strongest associations with globalization. Next, the investigators had participants from the United States and the three Greater China regions categorize these twenty-six globalization-related items into self-generated categories. Multidimensional scaling results revealed that participants in all four regions grouped the twenty-six items into five major clusters:  global consumer brands, information technology, geographic mobility, global calamities, and international trade and regulatory bodies. Furthermore, in all four regions, participants used a two-dimensional structure to organize the five clusters of globalization-related items. The first dimension pits global consumer brands against global calamities and geographic mobility. This dimension highlights the tension between rapid expansion of global businesses and its global consequences (e.g., increased geographic mobility and more frequent world calamities). The second dimension pits international trade and international institutions against information technology; it separates the economic aspects of globalization (e.g., world trade) from its technological aspects (e.g., the Internet). Finally, participants from all four regions evaluated most globalization-related items favorably on the dimensions of competence and warmth, and particularly on the dimension of competence. However, two items that fall in the category of global calamities— global warming and HIV/AIDS—were evaluated negatively.

Attitudes Toward Globalization

A related question concerns how people evaluate the societal consequences of globalization. In Yang et al.’s (2011, study 2) multidimensional scaling study, the participants from all four regions perceived most globalization-related items to have more positive impact on people’s competence than on their warmth. This result is consistent with the past finding that people generally believe that economic development has positive effects on people’s competence and negative effects on people’s warmth (Kashima et al., 2009, 2011). That is, although economic development increases the society’s effectiveness and efficiency in attaining material goals, economic development also tends to break up communities, creating colder and more dehumanized Leung, Qiu, Chiu

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social milieus (Cheng et al., 2010; Kashima et al., 2009, 2011). For example, in a study conducted during the 2008 Olympics (Cheng et  al., 2010), Chinese participants were asked to compare contemporary China with China in 1988, when China had just started its economic modernization. The Chinese rated China in 1988 as more moral and warmer. This is referred to as the good old days effect. In contrast, when asked to compare contemporary China with China 20 years from now, the Chinese rated China in 2018 as more competent. This is referred to as the better tomorrow effect. The good old days and better tomorrow effects were observed in Japan and Australia as well (Kashima et  al., 2009, 2011). Taken together, these initial results show that lay people can distinguish globalization from modernization, Westernization, and Americanization. Furthermore, they feel that globalization can promote economic development. Because people share the assumption that economic development will break down communities and lead to erosion of traditional values, they expect globalization to have similar negative social and moral effects on the society. In addition, people share the assumption that economic development will raise the level of global competitiveness and associate globalization with increased competence.

Perceptual Consequences of Minimal Multicultural Exposure

People in both developed and developing countries seem to have similar subjective understandings and evaluations of globalization. However, what are the objective psychological consequences of living in a culturally mixed globalized environment? Some globalization scholars (Giddens, 1985; Robertson, 1992) have used the expression “experiential compression of time and space” to characterize the experience of living in a globalized community. In a globalized environment, individuals often experience traditional and modern cultures at the same time, as well as local and foreign cultures in the same space. Encountering dissimilar cultures at the same time in the same space activates learned representations of the dissimilar cultures concurrently (Chiu, Mallorie, Keh, & Law, 2009). The concurrent co-activation of dissimilar cultural representations places these representations in cognitive juxtaposition. As a consequence, the individuals become more aware of the contrast between cultures. The perceptual salience of cultural differences renders culture a prominent mental construct for 184

interpreting current experiences. As explained later, this perceptual effect, which we refer to as the joint culture activation effect, could have important downstream consequences in the individual’s reactions to the inflow of foreign cultures and culture mixing. Globalization can, through various means, increase intercultural contacts, including through the increased geographic mobility of people; more people now have the experience of traveling and living abroad. In addition, cultures also travel across space through different media; many global cities are now outposts of globalization where their residents can easily encounter elements of diverse cultures in the same space. Regardless of whether intercultural contacts result from living abroad (cultural immersion) or from mere exposure to symbols or images of different cultures at the same time (minimal intercultural contacts), such contacts are expected to have the hypothesized joint culture activation effects described in the previous paragraph. To demonstrate that the joint culture activation effect can occur even with minimal intercultural contacts, several experiments have examined this effect using different joint culture activation experimental paradigms. In one study (Chiu et al., 2009, study 1), Mainland Chinese participants saw (a)  two McDonald’s hamburger print advertisements placed next to each other (single culture activation condition), or (b) a McDonald’s hamburger print advertisement and a Chinese moon cake print advertisement placed side-by-side (joint culture activation condition). Following this manipulation, in an allegedly unrelated study, the participants read two commercial messages for Timex, one appealing to individualist values and one to collectivist values. The individualist message was: “The Timex watch. It embodies so much. It’s like a person. It has an impressive personality, very individualistic, and with a strong focus and concern for oneself—in a positive way.” The collectivist message was: “The Timex watch. It embodies so much. It’s like a person. It’s an impressive social being, very concerned with others, and with a strong focus and concern for others—in a positive way.” The participants’ task was to estimate how favorably the two advertisements would be received in China. Past studies have shown that the individualist message is more popular in the United States than in China and vice versa for the collectivist message (Aaker & Schmitt, 2001). Consistent with the idea that even minimal intercultural contact would increase the perceptual salience of cultures and the corresponding cultural differences, the Chinese participants in the joint

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culture activation condition expected the collectivist (vs. individualist) message to be more warmly received in China than did those in the single culture activation condition. In a conceptual replication of this study (Torelli, Chiu, Tam, Au, & Keh, 2011, study 1), American participants were asked to evaluate (a) products that are iconic to the United States (e.g., jeans, breakfast cereals) with Chinese brand names (joint culture activation condition) or (b)  products that are not icons of any culture (e.g., bread toaster, umbrella) with Chinese brand names (single culture activation condition). Following this manipulation, the participants in the joint culture activation condition estimated the individualist (vs. collectivist) Timex advertising message to be more popular among Americans, compared to the participants in the single culture activation condition. In another conceptual replication of this study (Chiu et al., 2009, study 2), American participants were incidentally exposed to two individualist print advertisements (single culture activation condition) or to one individualist and one collectivist print advertisement (joint culture activation condition). Compared to those in the single culture activation condition, those in the joint culture activation condition subsequently believed more strongly that (a)  Americans would possess the cognitive styles (e.g., dispositional attribution) that are common in the United States, (b)  cultural boundaries are not permeable, and (c) American values and beliefs are organized into a coherent meaning system. A fourth study (Torelli et al., 2011, study 2) further confirms that joint culture activation can increase the perceived distance between cultures. In this study, American participants were exposed to (a)  products that are symbols of Mexico (e.g., tequila, tacos, corn tortilla) but had English brand names (“Jones,” “Williams”; joint culture activation condition) or (b) products that are not symbols of any culture (e.g., backpacks, toasters) and that had English brand names (single culture activation condition). Following this manipulation, in an allegedly unrelated study, the participants were asked to draw on a half sheet of paper in any way they deemed appropriate a bubble to represent each of the following cultures: Mexican, Puerto Rican, Canadian, and British. The distance, in millimeters, between each pair of cultures, was used to represent the degree of perceived similarity or difference between the culture pair. Participants in the joint culture activation condition drew the bubbles representing dissimilar cultures (e.g., Puerto Rica and Canada)

farther apart than did the participants in the single culture activation condition. In addition, the experimental manipulation did not affect the distances between the bubbles representing similar cultures (e.g., Canada and the United Kingdom), and the effect of joint culture activation was equally strong in the perception of the distance between British and Mexican cultures (the two cultures involved in the product evaluation task) and of that between Canadian and Puerto-Rican cultures (the two cultures not involved in the product evaluation task). Furthermore, in this study, to ensure that the joint culture activation effect is a perceptual effect instead of a cultural identity effect, the American participants were not exposed to symbols of US culture, and the dependent measure did not include perceived distances between American and out-group cultures. The robust joint culture activation effect observed in this study indicates that this effect can occur without involving self-categorization or perceived competition with or without threat to in-group culture. Indeed, past research has shown an analogous perceptual effect of joint presentation of dissimilar concepts when consumers evaluate two dissimilar products simultaneously versus sequentially (Hsee, 1996; Hsee & Leclerc, 1998; Hsee, Loewenstein, Blount, & Bazerman, 1999; Hsee & Zhang, 2004). Experiential compression of time and space is a common experience in a globalized space. This experience can be operationalized by the joint culture activation manipulations in the studies just reviewed. Findings from these studies show that even minimal intercultural contacts (seeing symbols or images from two seemingly dissimilar cultures simultaneously) can increase individuals’ sensitivity to the prototypic characteristics of a cultural group and the tendency to use culture as a schema to organize perceptions. As a consequence, individuals tend to enlarge the perceived incompatibility between cultures and expect members of a culture to possess the characteristic psychological attributes of the culture. The joint culture activation effect may account for urban-rural variations in the perception of cultural differences. In most countries, compared to rural residents, urban dwellers encounter co-presence of images and symbols from dissimilar national cultures more frequently. Thus, urban dwellers, more influenced by the joint culture activation effect than are rural residents, should perceive greater differences between cultures. Consistent with this idea, a study conducted in China (Chen & Chiu, Leung, Qiu, Chiu

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2010) showed that, compared to rural residents, urban dwellers tend to anticipate greater cultural differences in values; they expect Chinese people to adhere more strongly to Chinese values (filial piety, modesty) and Western people to adhere more strongly to Western values (individuality, freedom).

A Dual Model of Psychological Responses to Globalization Exclusionary and Integrative Responses

In the face of rapid globalization, people may react favorably or unfavorably to the inflow of global or foreign cultures. As mentioned in the previous section, encountering local and foreign cultures simultaneously in the same globalized space can sharpen the perceived cultural contours, making apparent the contrast between cultures (Chiu & Cheng, 2007). Furthermore, people’s heightened attention to cultural differences may lead to two different psychological reactions—exclusionary and integrative responses—to the inflow of global or foreign cultures (Chiu & Cheng, 2007; Chiu, Gries et al., 2011).

Exclusionary Responses

Table  9.1 summarizes the characteristics of exclusionary and integrative responses. Exclusionary responses are generally reflexive, emotion-laden responses triggered by the fear that the inflow of global or foreign culture will cause cultural

contamination or erosion, thus compromising the integrity and vitality of the local heritage culture. The activation threshold of exclusionary responses to inflow of global or foreign cultures is lower in non-Western than Western cultures (Cheng, 2010). In non-Western countries, people are fearful of Western countries’ hegemonic cultural influence. Most Western countries, being global economic powers, have been major exporters of global capitalism. The economic and military superiority of the Western powers and the largely unidirectional flow of cultural influence, when interpreted in the context of many non-Western countries’ past colonial experiences, may evoke strong exclusionary reactions toward foreign, global cultures among people in non-Western countries. Recently, in an edition of the Communist Party periodical Seeking the Truth, Chinese President Hu Jintao had warned the country that, “hostile international powers are strengthening their efforts to Westernize and divide us,” and, as he sees it, these hostile forces are particularly targeting the ideological and cultural domains of the Chinese community (Straits Times, 2012). Such blatant expression of cultural contamination anxiety is not new in China. In 2007, Rui, a television show anchor, started an online campaign attacking a Starbucks coffee shop inside the Forbidden City in Beijing. Rui maintained that Starbucks coffee is an icon of globalization and Western middle-class culture. Its presence in the Forbidden City—a sacred

Table 9.1  Exclusionary and integrative reactions to global culture. Exclusionary Reactions

Integrative Reactions

Emotional reactions to fear of cultural contamination/ erosion

Goal-oriented reactions geared toward problem solving

Quick, spontaneous, reflexive

Slow, deliberate, effortful

Perceptions of global/foreign cultures: Cultural threats

Perceptions of global/foreign cultures: Cultural resources

High identity salience

Low identity salience

Negative intercultural affect: Envy, fear, anger, disgust, pity

Positive intercultural affect: admiration

Exclusionary behavioral reactions: isolation, rejection, aggression

Inclusionary behavioral reactions: acceptance, integration, synthesis

Accentuated by the need to defend the integrity and vitality of the heritage culture

Accentuated by a cultural learning mindset

Attenuated by the need for cognition

Attenuated by the need for firm answers and cultural consensus

From Chiu, C. -.Y., Gries, P., Torelli, C. J., & Cheng, S. Y. -Y. (2011). Toward a social psychology of globalization. Journal of Social Issues, 67, 663–676.

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cultural space in China—is an act of cultural contamination. This attack, which had received support from tens of thousands of Chinese netizens, ended six months later with the removal of the Starbucks coffee shop from the Forbidden City. Despite the relatively higher threshold of exclusionary reactions in Western countries, similar culturally motivated exclusionary reactions to global, foreign cultures have also been observed in Western countries. An example is the protest in France against the plan to open a McDonald’s Café at the Louvre in 2009 (Schofield, 2009). From the perspective of the French protestors, the opening of a McDonald’s at the Louvre is a blatant expression of “coca-colonialism.”

Integrative Responses

In contrast, integrative responses toward global and foreign cultures are generally relatively effortful, goal-oriented cognitive responses deliberated for problem solving. Instead of perceiving the inflow of foreign or global cultures as a threat, individuals displaying integrative responses recognize that foreign cultures can be versatile intellectual resources. They appreciate the complementary strengths of dissimilar cultures and aspire to learn from other cultures (Chiu & Cheng, 2007). Such integrative reactions toward foreign or global cultures may broaden one’s intellectual horizons. Individuals exhibiting the integrative responses may synthesize ideas from foreign and global cultures to generate novel ideas, leading to creative innovations (Leung, Maddux, Galinsky, & Chiu, 2008). Thus, integrative responses toward global and foreign cultures have been most extensively studied in the context of intercultural contacts and creativity. Globalization has increased the amount of opportunities for intercultural learning and for novel synthesis of foreign and local ideas to generate creative ideas (Leung & Chiu, 2008, 2010; Leung et  al., 2008; Maddux & Galinsky, 2009). As individuals navigate between diverse cultures, they learn about different cultural frames of mind and acquire multicultural experiences. The effect of increased intercultural contacts via globalization on creative idea generation is consonant with the basic tenet in the creative cognition approach, which theorizes that the acquisition of different knowledge systems is precursory to the generation of creative ideas (Finke, Ward, & Smith, 1992; Ward, Smith, & Vaid, 1997). Enduring creative advantages could emerge from the integrative responses toward foreign and global

cultures through at least four mechanisms (Leung et  al., 2008; Leung, Chen, & Chiu, 2010). First, globalization brings together disparate ideas originated from different cultural sources and facilitates development of a broad knowledge base about different cultural experiences (Cheng, Sanchez-Burks, & Lee, 2008; Leung et al., 2008). As a result, individuals have more ideas at their disposal to experiment with in their creative pursuits. Second, multicultural interactions increase awareness of the different functions of the same social behavior (Maddux, Adam, & Galinsky, 2010). For example, having food left over at a host’s house symbolizes appreciation for the host in some cultures but is an insult to the host’s hospitality in others. Exposure to these different conceptions and meanings of the same surface behavior helps to destabilize people’s structured and routinized mindsets. It also enhances individuals’ capability to appreciate and consider seemingly incompatible perspectives when exercising their creative muscle. Third, the benefit of multicultural exposure can strengthen the generalized ability to think creatively (Leung & Chiu, 2010). For example, multicultural exposure can increase receptiveness to ideas from cultures that individuals have not yet encountered personally. Accordingly, multicultural exposure can also benefit performance in creativity tasks that do not require acquisition of knowledge from the cultures one has been exposed to. Finally, globalization inevitably brings conflicting ideas, values, and beliefs from different cultures together. Multicultural navigators exhibiting integrative responses toward foreign cultures are prepared to explore and exploit the interrelations of these incongruent concepts. Placing these discrepant ideas in cognitive juxtaposition promotes cognitive or integrative complexity (Tadmor & Tetlock, 2006), which in turn enhances two important creativity-supporting capacities:  (a)  differentiation, or the willingness to acknowledge competing perspectives on the same issue, and (b)  integration, or the ability to forge conceptual links between these perspectives (Suedfeld, Tetlock, & Streufert, 1992). The capacities to differentiate and integrate facilitate creative conceptual expansion, the process of expanding the conceptual boundaries of an existing concept by combining it with other seemingly irrelevant concepts. From the creative cognition perspective, creative conceptual expansion is an ordinary cognitive process responsible for producing extraordinary results (Ward et al., 1997). Leung, Qiu, Chiu

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There is clear evidence for the proposed link from frequent intercultural contacts to creative outcomes and processes. There is both correlational evidence for the creative benefits of foreign living experience and experimental evidence for the creative benefits of joint culture activation (or minimal intercultural contacts). Specifically, there is correlational evidence that individuals with more extensive exposure to foreign cultures perform better in creative idea generation or creative insight tasks (Leung & Chiu, 2008, 2010; Maddux & Galinsky, 2009). For example, spending longer time living in a foreign country predicts success in solving creative insight problems (e.g., the Duncker candle problem) and in generating creative deal-making solutions (Maddux & Galinsky, 2009). Experimental support for the causal link between intercultural contacts and creativity was reported in a recent study (Leung & Chiu, 2010) in which different types of multicultural exposure were created in an experimental session. In this experiment, American students with little exposure to Chinese culture took part in a cultural induction session, which involved watching a forty-five-minute slideshow depicting different representative elements of (a)  American culture only, (b)  Chinese culture only, (c)  both American and Chinese cultures, or (d)  a hybrid culture that fuses together American and Chinese characteristics (e.g., an art piece made of a ceramic-coated Coca-Cola bottle with a lively dragon figure attached to the side). Control participants did not experience any cultural induction. Next, all participants performed a creative writing task, rewriting the Cinderella fairytale for Turkish children by adding as many creative elements as they wished. This task was chosen to ensure that the specific Chinese knowledge that participants acquired from the cultural induction session would not directly benefit their performance. To examine if the expected creative advantage of multicultural exposure would persist after a delay, the same group of participants were invited back about a week later to complete another creative task, generating analogies of time. Again, in this creativity task, the specific cultural knowledge acquired from exposure to Chinese culture would not directly benefit the participants’ creative performance. In both creativity tasks, participants who were exposed to American and Chinese cultures jointly or in a hybrid manner were more creative than those in the single culture activation condition or the control group. This research provided the first experimental evidence that joint culture activation or 188

exposure to two cultures simultaneously can facilitate integrative responses toward foreign culture. Research has also shown that individuals with richer intercultural experiences are more inclined to sample ideas from foreign cultures for creative idea expansion and to spontaneously retrieve unconventional knowledge from memory, which are cognitive processes implicated in creative thinking (Leung & Chiu, 2010). In one study, American students with different degrees of multicultural exposure were given a pool of happiness-related sayings written by local and foreign scholars and were asked to select a limited number of sayings to creatively expand an improvised idea about happiness. Participants with more multicultural experiences were more receptive to foreign ideas; they appropriated more foreign (vs. local) sayings for the task (Leung & Chiu, 2010; study 3). In another study, when American students brainstormed creative gift ideas for their friends, those with more multicultural experiences retrieved more normatively infrequent but still appropriate gift ideas (Leung & Chiu, 2010; study 2). In addition to cognitive mechanisms, emotion may also play an important role in the link between multicultural experience and creativity (Cheng, Leung, & Wu, 2011). According to some researchers (Cheng et  al., 2011), multicultural experience may evoke unpleasant emotions, which in turn promote creative performance. This hypothesis is based on two premises. First, being cognizant of the dissonance that accompanies the juxtaposition of seemingly conflicting ideas from dissimilar cultures may induce a negative mood. Second, negative mood facilitates cognitive complexity, as shown in past studies (e.g., Forgas, 2007; Isen, Means, Patrick, & Nowicki, 1982). To elaborate, experiencing a culturally complex or diverse environment may motivate people to make sense of, reconcile, and synthesize discrepancies between ideas and practices from dissimilar cultures. However, when having to move away from their familiar comfort zone and being confronted with apparent contradictions among seemingly incompatible ideas from different cultures, individuals may feel emotionally challenged as they compare and cognitively juxtapose these ideas. Such negative emotional states have been shown to facilitate cognitive complexity, with individuals under a negative mood being more likely to devise more persuasive messages (Forgas, 2007), perform more exhaustive information processing (Isen et  al., 1982), and acquire information more thoroughly (Sinclair, 1988). Together, the

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experience of unpleasant emotions might motivate deeper cognitive processing or higher integrative complexity, thereby benefiting creativity (Tadmor, Tetlock, & Peng, 2009). The mediating role of negative emotions in the relationship between multicultural experience and creativity was tested in two studies (Cheng et  al., 2011, Study 1). In the first study, Singaporean Chinese students, randomly selected, either watched a ten-minute slideshow depicting both Chinese and American cultures (dual cultural exposure condition) or depicting one of the two cultures only (single cultural exposure condition). Next, the participants completed an emotion measure that captures three distinct sets of emotions:  negative emotions (e.g., bothered), negative self-reflections (e.g., uncomfortable), and positive emotions (e.g., content). Finally, the participants completed the Unusual Uses Test of a garbage bag. Results confirmed the previous finding that joint culture activation improves creativity and offered partial support for the proposed meditation model:  dual (vs. single) cultural exposure reduced the amount of positive emotions, and reduced positive emotion was accompanied by greater flexibility in generating creative uses of a garbage bag. Although the first study provided some support to the hypothesized mediating role of emotions, it was a less pleasant emotional state, not a more unpleasant emotional state that mediated the relationship between dual cultural exposure and creativity. This result can be explained by the fact that Singaporeans have rich multicultural exposure and are fairly experienced in coping with cultural ambivalence. Thus, they may not perceive simultaneous encounters with two cultures as very cognitively challenging and may therefore have fewer positive emotions rather than more negative emotions. Evidence from the second study (Cheng et  al., 2011, Study 2)  is consistent with this interpretation. The participants in the second study were Taiwan Chinese who had relatively fewer multicultural experiences compared to Singaporeans. To these Taiwanese participants, dual cultural exposure should evoke a stronger degree of cultural ambivalence and thus a more negative emotional state, which was hypothesized to facilitate creative performance. Furthermore, to explore whether individuals would benefit more from encountering a self-relevant local culture and a foreign culture, as opposed to encountering two foreign cultures, in

this study, participants watched either a slideshow that depicted either a local culture and a foreign culture (Taiwanese and American cultures) or two foreign cultures (Indian and American cultures). Following the manipulation, participants responded to the same emotion measure and the Unusual Uses Test as the first study. The results showed that exposure to the local and foreign cultures (vs. exposure to two foreign cultures) promoted fluency and flexibility in generating unusual uses. More importantly, both negative self-reflections and negative emotions significantly mediated the link between local-foreign cultural exposure and fluency. In other words, exposure to a foreign culture together with a self-relevant local culture was accompanied by a more negative emotional state, which in turn predicted higher levels of creative performance. Aside from the link between intercultural contacts and creativity, a recent study also explored for the first time the ameliorative effects of intercultural contacts on intergroup bias (Tadmor, Hong, Chao, Wiruchnipawan, & Wang, 2012). In one study, following Leung and Chiu (2010), the researchers randomly assigned participants to one of four conditions. Three experimental conditions included a twenty-minute multimedia PowerPoint presentation that depicted culturally representative aspects of American culture, Chinese culture, or American and Chinese cultures in multiple domains; the control condition included a presentation of geometrical figures. Consistent with prediction, planned contrasts showed that participants in the American-Chinese culture condition were significantly less likely to endorse negative stereotypes of African Americans (e.g., uneducated, violent, irresponsible) than were participants in other conditions. Similar findings were obtained for other dependent measures of intergroup bias, such as symbolic racism and discriminatory hiring decisions. Of particular import, such ameliorative effects of multicultural experience on intergroup bias were fully mediated by lower levels of need for cognitive closure. Together, this research demonstrates the critical role of intercultural contacts in promoting the integrative reactions toward foreign cultures through reducing interracial or intergroup bias. Specifically, the process of epistemic unfreezing via adopting lower levels of need for cognitive closure was identified as the mechanism that encourages individuals to show higher social tolerance and mutual acceptance of their out-groups. Leung, Qiu, Chiu

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Conditions That Facilitate Exclusionary Responses Perception of Cultural Intrusion

If people may display exclusionary and integrative responses toward global or foreign cultures, under what circumstances would exclusionary versus integrative responses more likely to occur? Figure  9.1 illustrates a theoretical model that was developed to answer this question. According to this model, joint culture activation would enable both exclusionary and integrative responses by increasing the perceptual salience of cultural differences. Enlarged perceived cultural differences increase both the potential threat of cultural contamination and the potential gain of learning from a dissimilar culture. However, joint culture activation by itself does not determine whether an individual would exhibit exclusionary or integrative responses in specific contexts. To predict when an individual would exhibit which type of responses in a certain situation, we need to consider other factors. A major facilitative condition for the evocation of exclusionary reactions following joint culture activation is the perception of cultural intrusion. People in a local community would perceive an intercultural encounter as a cultural intrusion when elements of a foreign culture are perceived (vs. not) to be representative of the foreign culture entering (vs. staying away from) the sacred space of the local community (Yang, 2011). According to this definition, two conditions need to be fulfilled for an intercultural encounter to be construed

as an act of cultural intrusion. The first condition is the attribution of cultural significance to the intercultural encounter. For example, the Chinese netizens viewed Starbucks as a symbol of Western middle-class culture instead of a coffee shop, and the French viewed McDonald’s as a symbol of corporate capitalism rather than a fast food restaurant. In addition, the foreign cultural element is seen to have entered the sacred space of the heritage culture. This process was illustrated in a recent study (see Chiu, Wan, Cheng, Kim, & Yang, 2010). In this study, Chinese participants saw a McDonald’s print advertisement in which the logo of McDonald’s (the Golden Arch) was placed outside or on the top of a picture of the Great Wall (a sacred cultural space in Chinese culture). In addition, the tag line of the advertisement framed McDonald’s either as a symbol of American culture (Freedom, Independence, American Culture:  All in McDonald’s) or a fast food restaurant (Fast, Convenient, Delicious:  All in McDonald’s). The Chinese participants evaluated the advertisement negatively only when McDonald’s was framed as a symbol of American culture and when its logo was placed on top of the Great Wall, thus intruding the sacred space of the Chinese culture. Analogous exclusionary reactions toward the Chinese culture were found in other studies in which Americans exhibited exclusionary reactions to China when a portrait of Mao Zedong was superimposed on (vs. placed outside) a picture of the Statue of Liberty (Yang, 2011, study 2), and when the participants perceived Mao to be a

Joint culture activation

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Perception of cultural intrusion Salience of cultural threat Need for epistemic security Need for existential security

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Deculturation Thinking complexely about culture Intercultural learning orientation Openness to experience

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Exclusionary responses Figure 9.1  A dual model of psychological responses to foreign and global cultures.

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Integrative responses

symbol of Chinese political culture. Americans also exhibited exclusionary reactions toward Islamic culture when they learned that a mosque would be built near (vs. farther away from) Ground Zero in New  York and when the participants perceived Ground Zero to be a scared space in American culture (Yang, 2011, study 3). In these studies, placing a portrait of a Communist leader on the Statue of Liberty or building a mosque near Ground Zero was construed as intrusions of a foreign cultural element into the sacred space of mainstream American culture.

Salience of Cultural Threat

Exclusionary reactions are also likely to occur when cultural contrast is perceptually salient and when the threat of cultural erosion is prominent. Results from a series of experiments showed that for both Chinese and Americans, following a joint culture activation manipulation, the participants were more likely to exhibit exclusionary reactions to inflow of foreign culture when they were (vs. not) reminded of the erosive effect of globalization on the core values in the heritage culture (Cheng, 2010).

Need for Epistemic Security

Exclusionary responses embody a commitment to protect the continuity and integrity of one’s heritage culture. Thus, to predict when exclusionary versus integrative responses would follow joint cultural activation, it is important to understand when individuals tend to value and feel obliged to adhere to the norms of their heritage culture. The defining properties of culture as a knowledge tradition are its sharedness and historicity (Chiu, Leung, & Hong, 2010). The property of sharedness separates a cultural tradition from personal beliefs and values, which may not be shared by others in the community. The property of historicity separates a cultural tradition from transient popular trends and fads that do not survive the test of time. These two distinctive properties confer several important psychological functions to members of a culture. Shared cultural norms provide conventionalized interpretive frames for sense making. Such conventionalized norms, due to their consensual validity, afford firm answers to important issues in one’s life space, particularly those issues involved in coordination of social actions. When members of a culture come to an agreement on which behavioral scripts are normatively proscribed and prescribed, they can anticipate the social consequences of their behavioral decisions. In other words, culture confers

epistemic security (Chiu, Morris, Hong, Menon, 2000; Fu et al., 2007). Consistent with this hypothesized function of culture, recent research showed that individuals who have a chronic need for firm answer (as measured by the Need for Cognitive Closure Scale) are particularly likely to follow cultural norms when rendering judgments or making decisions (Chao, Zhang, & Chiu, 2010; Fu et al., 2007; Leung, Kim, Zhang, Tam, & Chiu, 2012). Stronger adherence to cultural norms has also been observed when individuals are pressured to make quick judgments or decisions (a situation when individuals would experience an acute need for closure; Chiu et al., 2000). For example, in one study (Chao et al., 2010, Study 1), European-American students assumed the role of a drug store manager who was responsible for managing a conflict between a pharmacist and a customer. The conflict happened in the United States or in China, and the manager was either a citizen of or had recently relocated to the country where the store was located. A  pretest established that Americans were aware that different cultural norms of conflict resolution prevailed in the United States and China: whereas American norms emphasize taking an investigative stance and identifying the wrongdoer in the conflict, the Chinese norms emphasize seeking relational information that could help to minimize the relational strain in the conflict. As expected, participants with a higher need for cognitive closure or epistemic security adhered more strongly to the prevailing norms in the local culture; they were more inclined to take an investigative stance if the conflict took place in the United States and adopt a relationship management strategy in information search if the conflict occurred in China. Analogous results were obtained in a study conducted in China (Chao et al., 2010, Study 2), where Chinese participants were asked to resolve a conflict that happened in China or the United States. These results, together with the convergent evidence from many other studies, illustrate the epistemic function of culture. One implication of these results is that when the need for epistemic security is heightened, people would be more invested in protecting the consensual validity of the established conventions in their cultural community. That is, they would be more likely to display exclusionary versus integrative responses to foreign cultures in globalized communities. There is general support for this contention. First, one study showed that when the need for epistemic security is heightened (as when the individuals need Leung, Qiu, Chiu

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to perform a task under time pressure), more exposure to foreign culture tends to decrease an individual’s willingness to appropriate intellectual resources from other cultures to generate creative solutions to a problem. Recall that among American students, when given a creative expansion task (when asked to develop an improvised idea about happiness into a creative one), more extensive exposure to foreign cultures is generally accompanied by greater willingness to appropriate ideas from unfamiliar cultures for the task (Leung & Chiu, 2010). In a follow-up study (Leung & Chiu, 2010), the investigators manipulated the amount of time pressure that participants would experience when performing the creative expansion task, assuming that participants in the high time pressure condition would feel a greater need for cognitive closure than those in the low time pressure condition. When the participants did not feel pressured to hurry through the task, replicating previous results, a higher level of multicultural experience was accompanied by greater willingness to appropriate ideas from unfamiliar cultures and incorporate them in the creatively expanded idea. However, when time pressure heightened the need for epistemic security, higher levels of multicultural experience were not accompanied by greater willingness to appropriate ideas from foreign cultural sources. If there was any relationship, participants in the high time pressure (high need for epistemic security) condition were less willing to sample and use ideas from foreign cultures. In summary, time pressure or the need for epistemic security attenuates the likelihood of exhibiting integrative responses even among individuals who have extensive exposure to foreign culture.

Need for Existential Security

One of the most established findings in social psychology is that people are particularly committed to defending their cultural tradition when they are reminded of their mortality. According to the Terror Management Theory (Pyszczynski, Greenberg, & Koole, 2004; Pyszczynski, Greenberg, Solomon, Arndt, & Schimel, 2004), individuals would experience existential terror (lose faith in the meaning of their existence) when they become aware of their eventual mortality. They would question whether their personal strivings are meaningful if they would eventually die. Recall that another defining property of culture is its historicity. Culture, with its continuity, helps to assuage existential anxiety: if people feel that they are accomplished members of their culture, they would experience immorality vicariously 192

through the continuity of the culture they belong to. Individuals who feel that they are good members of their culture—those who have protected the vitality and integrity of their culture—would also experience symbolic immortality through the continuity of their cultural tradition. There is ample evidence for the theory of terror management (Pyszczynski, Greenberg, & Koole, 2004; Pyszczynski, Greenberg, Solomon, Arndt, & Schimel, 2004). For example, when Italian participants were reminded of their mortality (vs. not), their level of Italian identification went up (Castano, Yzerbyt, Paladino, & Sacchi, 2002). Mortality reminders also lead people to display a more favorable attitude toward someone who upholds shared values and worldviews in his or her culture, but a less favorable attitude toward someone who shuns these culturally endorsed ideals. For example, after writing about their death, American students rated an author with pro-American views more favorably than another one with anti-American views (Greenberg, Pyszczynski, Solomon, Simon, & Breus, 1994). American students also had reduced feelings of commitment to their romantic partner after having been instructed to ponder worldview differences between themselves and their partner (Strachman & Schimel, 2006). These findings suggest that when mortality thoughts are made salient, people who are aware of the core value differences between their own and global cultures are particularly likely to exhibit exclusionary responses toward the inflow of global or foreign culture, fearing that mixing local and other cultures would undermine the vitality and integrity of the local culture. Likewise, when mortality thoughts are rendered salient, individuals who are aware of the core value differences between their own and global cultures would be less likely to exhibit integrative responses toward the inflow of global culture and would tend not to exhibit enhanced creative performance, despite having been exposed extensively to global culture. In line with these predictions, a heightened need for existential security has also been found to increase the likelihood of exclusionary responses. In one study conducted with American participants (Torelli et al., 2011), half of the participants were asked to vividly imagine what would happen to their body as they died and after they died (mortality salience condition), and the remaining half were asked to describe an anxiety-provoking dental work experience (control condition). This is an established technique to increase accessibility of death-related

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thoughts (Arndt, Greenberg, Soloman, Pyszczynski, & Simon, 1997). Following this manipulation, half of the participants in the mortality salience condition and half in the control condition were asked to evaluate Chinese brands of iconic American products (joint culture activation condition) or Chinese brands of culture-neutral products (single culture activation condition). This manipulation was introduced to increase the salience of cultural differences in the joint culture activation condition. Next, in an allegedly unrelated study, the participants evaluated “an out of box” marketing approach adopted by Nike (an iconic American brand) to increase its market share in the Middle East. In this approach, elements of Islamic and Middle Eastern cultures were mixed with Nike’s American brand image. As expected, participants’ evaluation of Nike’s new marketing strategy was most negative following joint culture activation and mortality salience induction. In this condition, participants disliked Nike, expected the campaign to fail in the Middle East, anticipated the stock price of Nike to drop on the New York Stock Exchange, and were reluctant to buy sports apparels from Nike. Apparently, after joint culture activation had enlarged the perceived differences between cultures, mortality salient participants who encountered a case of culture mixing (incorporation of Islamic and Middle Eastern cultural elements into an iconic American brand) would be fearful of its cultural contamination effect and be particularly vigilant in protecting the vitality of their heritage culture. Hence, they tended to resist inflow of foreign culture. To show that the effect obtained in the mortality salience experiment just described is driven by the motive to protect the heritage culture, in a follow-up experiment (Torelli et  al., 2011), the investigators manipulated the cultural representativeness of the target brand. Half the participants responded to the Nike Middle East marketing plan, and half responded to a similar plan that Proctor-Silex launched to increase its bread toaster market share in the Middle East. The same joint effect of joint culture activation and mortality salience was obtained when the target brand was Nike, an iconic American brand. However, this effect disappeared when the target brand was Proctor-Silex, a non-iconic American brand. An analogous effect of mortality salience on exclusionary reaction was obtained in China. In this study (Chen, 2011), participants received either the mortality salience manipulation or the dental work manipulation. Before the manipulation,

participants completed a self-report measure that assessed the extent to which they believed that globalization would lead to erosion of local cultures. After the manipulation, the participants completed a set of measures that captured their level of liking of Western culture, their evaluation of the warmth of Americans, and their willingness to learn from accomplished Americans. In the control (dental work) condition, the participants’ globalization belief was not associated with any of the three dependent measures. In contrast, in the mortality salience condition, the more strongly the participants believed that globalization would lead to erosion of local cultures, the more they disliked Western culture, the more they perceived Americans to be cold, and the less willing they were to learn from accomplished Americans. These results showed that when the cultural erosive effect of globalization is a chronic concern, heightening the need for existential security would increase the likelihood of exhibiting exclusionary reactions and evaluating foreign cultures negatively. The Chen (2011) study also showed that mortality salience may also attenuate such integrative responses as learning from accomplished foreign individuals. This conclusion is further fortified in another study (Leung & Chiu, 2010), in which participants were given the opportunity to consult ideas from local and foreign experts to expand an impoverished idea. After selecting ideas from local and foreign experts, the participants rated the persuasiveness, helpfulness, inspiringness, and creativity of each selected idea. Prior to the creative expansion task, the participants received either the morality salience manipulation or the dental work manipulation. In the dental work condition, the more exposure the participants had to foreign culture, the more favorably they rated the ideas from foreign experts. However, in the mortality salience condition, extent of exposure to foreign cultures was unrelated to how favorably they evaluated ideas from foreign cultures. In summary, participants who were just confronted with thoughts of their own death did not exhibit more integrative reactions toward foreign cultures even if they had more extensive multicultural exposure.

Factors That Attenuate Exclusionary Responses and Promote Integrative Responses Deculturation

The needs for epistemic and existential security increase the likelihood of exclusionary reactions and Leung, Qiu, Chiu

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attenuate that of integrative reactions. In this and the next few sections, we will discuss the psychological factors that would attenuate the likelihood of exclusionary responses and promote integrative responses. Recall that, in one study, the logo of McDonald’s was superimposed on or placed next to a picture of the Great Wall (Yang, 2011). In this study, the Chinese participants displayed very strong exclusionary responses toward McDonald’s when McDonald’s was framed as a symbol of American culture. This result suggests that cultural intrusion could evoke strong exclusionary reactions. In the same experiment, framing McDonald’s as a fast food restaurant chain mitigated the exclusionary reactions toward McDonald’s. This result shows that not highlighting the cultural significance of intercultural encounters can reduce exclusionary responses. This idea received further support from a series of studies (Tong, Hui, Kwan, & Peng, 2011, Study 1)  in which participants were asked to respond to an international acquisition. For example, in one study, Singaporean participants learned about McDonald’s plan to acquire Ya Kun Kaya Toast, an iconic, locally grown breakfast chain famous for toast and local-style coffee in Singapore. After reading this plan, participants rated how similar or dissimilar McDonald’s and Ya Kun Kaya Toast were. Prior to reading this business case, half of the participants answered questions such as:  “Alvin wears t-shirts and jeans to work everyday. What occupation do you think he is in? (a)  Marketing executive, or (b)  Software engineer.” These questions were included to prime the tendency to think categorically. The remaining participants responded to a set of questions designed to activate a transactional mindset or the tendency to analyze the costs and benefits of alternative actions. A sample question used in this condition was:  “Mrs. Lim earns $12/hour sewing at home. Today she will go to the wet market to buy fish. For each five minutes she bargains with the vendor she can save $1.25. Which is a better deal for her? (a) Bargain for five minutes, or (b) No bargain and work for extra five minutes.” The results showed that following categorical mindset priming, the more dissimilar the two companies were perceived to be, the more the participants felt fearful about the acquisition. Apparently, when two cultures are perceived to be different, acquisition of an iconic business of the heritage culture by an iconic global business would evoke more intense fear of cultural erosion, but only among 194

those who had been led to think of cultures as categories with defining essence. Perceived differences between two companies were not related to fear of the acquisition when a transactional mindset was primed. Analogous patterns of results were found in the United States when American participants were instructed to respond to the potential acquisition of General Motors (an iconic American brand) by Tata Motors (an iconic Indian brand) following categorical thinking or transactional mindset priming (Tong et al., 2011, Study 2).

Complex Thinking About Culture

Exclusionary responses are attenuated when individuals do not think categorically about cultural differences, as the Tong et  al. (2011) studies have shown. In a similar vein, thinking complexly rather than categorically about cultural similarities and differences would also attenuate the tendency to exhibit exclusionary reactions. This idea was tested in three studies. In one study (Torelli et al., 2011) conducted with Hong Kong Chinese participants, one group of participants was exposed to Western cultural primes only (two print advertisements of McDonald’s hamburgers), another group was exposed to Chinese cultural primes only (two print advertisements of Chinese moon cakes), and a third group was exposed to both Chinese and Western cultural primes (a print advertisement of McDonald’s hamburgers and one of Chinese moon cakes). Following this manipulation, the participants were asked to estimate the extent to which European Americans in general and Hong Kong Chinese in general would agree more with the idea that personality dispositions determine behavior (a characteristic belief in American culture) and the idea that situational factors determine behaviors (a characteristic belief in Chinese culture). The participants also completed the Need for Cognition Scale, which measures individual differences in the likelihood of and enjoyment in engaging in effortful cognitive activities (Cacioppo, Petty, & Kao, 1984). Replicating past results (Chiu et al., 2009), joint cultural activation enlarged the perceived differences between American and Chinese cultures. Compared to those in the single culture activation conditions, those in the joint culture activation condition expected Americans to believe more strongly in disposition determinism and the Chinese to believe more strongly in situation determinism. Further analysis revealed that this pattern of results was found only among individuals with relatively low levels of need for cognition. Apparently,

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participants with a high need for cognition, a stable motivational factor that drives complex thinking in general, did not think about cultural differences categorically even after having been primed with both Chinese and Western cultures simultaneously. In the second study (Torelli et al., 2011), which was conducted in the United States, participants received either the single culture activation manipulation or the joint culture activation manipulation. Next, they were asked to draw four bubbles on a piece of paper to represent four cultures: Mexican, Puerto Rican, Canadian, and British. Perceived differences between cultures were measured by the physical distance between each pair of cultures in the drawing. Prior to the drawing task, half of the participants were prompted to think about the complexity of intercultural relationships carefully— an experimental manipulation to induce complex thinking about culture (complex thinking condition), whereas the remaining half completed the drawing task without further instructions (control condition). Replicating previous findings, in the no instructions (control) condition, participants perceived cultures (particularly dissimilar ones) to be more different after joint culture activation than after single culture activation. However, in the complex thinking condition, participants in both single and joint culture activation conditions perceived cultures to be relatively similar to each other. In a third study (Torelli et  al., 2011), European-American participants received either the mortality salience manipulation or the dental work manipulation. Next, they evaluated Nike’s plan to incorporate elements of Islamic and Middle Eastern cultures into their marketing strategy in the Middle East. The investigators also measured the participants’ need for cognition. When the participants were put under the influence of mortality salience and joint culture activation, those with a relatively low need for cognition displayed the typical exclusionary reactions toward Nike’s marketing plan, whereas those with a relatively high need for cognition did not. Taken together, the findings indicate that thinking complexly about cultures can attenuate exclusionary reactions to culture mixing (see also Tam, Au, & Leung, 2008).

Intercultural Learning Orientation

Another factor that increases the relative likelihood of displaying integrative versus exclusionary responses is the individuals’ motivation orientation (Chiu & Cheng, 2007). Individuals who are

motivated to adapt to new cultural environments and to learn from others are more likely to exhibit integrative responses. Several studies (Maddux & Galinsky, 2009; Studies 4 and 5)  provided evidence for this idea. In one study, individual differences in the extent to which sojourners had adapted themselves to the culture in a foreign country were measured. In another study, half of the participants were instructed to imagine adapting themselves to a foreign culture and to anticipate what their adaptation experiences would be. The remaining participants did not receive these instructions. In the first study, participants who reported a higher degree of cultural adaptation performed better in creative insight or creative idea generation tasks. In the second study, participants who were induced to imagine cultural adaptation experiences had better performance on creativity tasks compared to those in the control condition. These results illustrate that the motivation to adapt to new cultures can increase integrative responses and creative performance. Furthermore, there is evidence that among those who have foreign living experiences, recalling an experience of intercultural learning, particularly those experiences that enhance understanding of cross-cultural differences in behaviors, promotes flexibility in problem solving and increases creative performance. In these studies (Maddux et al., 2010), participants were asked to recall an experience of learning something new from a different culture or learning something new from one’s own culture. Whereas recalling an intercultural learning experience enhanced subsequent creative performance, recalling an experience of learning from one’s own culture did not. In summary, globalization increases the opportunities for intercultural contacts. Individuals can benefit from their intercultural experiences and become more creative thinkers and problem solvers if these individuals are motivated to change themselves to adapt to the new multicultural environment and to learn from different cultures.

Openness to Experience

Openness to experience, as a chronic personal quality, supports intercultural learning and promotes integrative responses in intercultural settings (Leung et  al., 2010). As one of the Big Five personality traits, openness to experience refers to one’s predisposition to seek out and appreciate new experiences and ideas, to take risks, and to entertain alternatives (Costa & McCrae, 1992; McCrae & Costa, 1997). Intuitively, individuals who are open Leung, Qiu, Chiu

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to experience should be more receptive to new ideas and practices from different cultures and to associate positive attitudes and affect with novel cultural experiences. Close-minded individuals, in contrast, are more likely to resist an inflow of foreign and global cultures, fearing that new ideas and practices from unfamiliar cultures will create contradictions, uncertainty, and ambiguity in sense making and thus destabilize established social norms and cognitive structures in the local communities. Consistent with this contention, a recent study (Leung & Chiu, 2010) showed that individuals with richer intercultural contacts perform better in creativity tasks only if they are open to experience. In this study, European-American participants completed an Unusual Uses Test, which required them to generate novel uses of a garbage bag, and an Exemplar Generation Task, which required them to retrieve exemplars in the conceptual domain of “occupation.” Individual differences in the amount of intercultural experience the participants had, as well as in openness to experience, were measured. Among participants who were relatively open to new experience, those who reported more extensive intercultural experiences generated more unusual uses of a garbage bag (both in terms of number and strategy), as well as more normatively inaccessible occupation exemplars than did their close-minded counterparts. Apart from promoting integrative responses in intercultural experiences, openness to experience could attenuate exclusionary reactions even in the face of cultural threats. On the one hand, globalization increases the frequency of intercultural contacts; on the other hand, it intensifies global competition among cultures. In some intercultural situations, people may interpret the inflow of foreign and global culture into their own cultural space as a threat to the integrity of their heritage culture. As mentioned earlier, when a symbol of foreign and global culture enters the sacred space of their culture, people may interpret the intrusion as a cultural threat and resist inflow of ideas and practices from other cultures, which, in turn, limits the development of creative thinking. This situation, according to our previous discussion, is likely to fuel exclusionary responses toward foreign cultures. The critical question here is: can being open to experience cool down these exclusionary responses? To answer this question, in one study (Chen, Leung, Yang, & Chiu, 2012), Chinese participants completed the Openness to Experience measure and rated the extent to which McDonald’s is a symbol 196

of American culture. Next, half of the participants were shown a picture with the logo of McDonald’s (the Golden Arch) superimposed on a picture of the Great Wall (a sacred space in Chinese culture). Among those who perceived McDonald’s to be a symbol of American culture, this advertisement would evoke the perception of cultural intrusion, incite exclusionary responses (Chiu, Wan et  al., 2010), and inhibit integrative responses. This did happen among participants with a relatively low level of openness to experience. Following the manipulation, participants completed a creativity task that required them to generate three analogies of happiness. The dependent variable was creative performance, as measured by the level of creativity of the analogies generated by the participants after viewing the advertisement. Participants with lower levels of openness performed most poorly on the creativity task when they perceived McDonald’s to be a symbol of American culture and witnessed the intrusion of a McDonald’s logo into the Great Wall. In contrast, participants with relatively high levels of openness performed well regardless of the extent to which McDonald’s was seen as a symbol of American culture and whether the McDonald’s logo was placed over or next to the Great Wall. In the control condition, the McDonald’s logo was placed outside the picture of the Great Wall. In this condition, the openness of the participants, the perceived cultural significance of McDonald’s, and the placement of the McDonald’s logo in the picture did not affect the participants’ creative performance. In a second study (Chen et  al., 2012), which was also conducted in China, participants either read an article about how the inflow of Western culture has caused erosion of the essence and vitality of Chinese culture (cultural threat condition) or an article about how Western and Chinese cultures could co-exist harmoniously (no threat condition). Next, participants watched a slideshow that presented either some American cultural icons (e.g., “Abraham Lincoln”; single culture activation condition) or both Chinese and American cultural icons (e.g., “Abraham Lincoln” and “Mao Zedong” side-by-side; joint culture activation condition). As discussed earlier, joint culture activation would increase the perceived differences between cultures. This perception, when coupled with an impending cultural threat, is likely to evoke exclusionary responses and suppress integrative responses. Indeed, this was the case for participants with a relatively low level of openness to experience. Again, the dependent variable was the level of creativity

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exhibited by the analogies of happiness the participants generated after the manipulation. In the joint culture activation condition, participants who were relatively close-minded performed much more poorly on the creativity task following exposure to the cultural threat (vs. cultural continuity) message, suggesting that these participants were primarily concerned with preserving conventional ideas instead of generating new ones. In the joint cultural activation condition, among participants who were open to experience, exposure to the cultural threat (vs. cultural continuity) message had no effects on creative performance. In fact, when participants who were open to experience encountered symbols of Chinese and American cultures simultaneously, they became more aware of differences between cultures and were more motivated to learn from dissimilar cultures. This explains their high levels of creative performance in the joint culture activation condition. Finally, in the single culture activation condition, neither the cultural threat versus continuity message and openness to experience affected creative performance. This result once more affirms the importance of joint cultural activation as an enabling condition for both exclusionary and integrative responses. In summary, these results show that openness to experience can cool down exclusionary reactions and elicit integrative responses even in the presence of facilitative conditions for exclusionary responses.

Future Directions

Thus far, we have discussed the lay psychology of globalization, as well as people’s psychological reactions to foreign and global cultures in intercultural encounters. Globalization, being a multifaceted process, has many other implications. In this final section, we introduce several broader implications of globalization. We intend this brief introduction to be an invitation to broaden the research agenda of a psychological science of globalization.

Cosmopolitan and Global Identities

Globalization may initially generate discomfort due to cultural shock or disorientation (Chiu et al., 2011). Through increased intercultural contacts, people will come to recognize both the diversity of cultures and their interconnectedness. Awareness of cultural diversity and the connectedness of human cultures may inspire the construction of new

identities, such as global identity and cosmopolitan identity. Although the terms global identity and cosmopolitan identity are often used interchangeably, they are distinct theoretical constructs. Individuals with a cosmopolitan identity appreciate and embrace the manifestations of cultures in their many forms (Beck, 2006; Hall, 2002; Hannerz, 1990, 1996; Szerszynski & Urry, 2002, 2006). They support preservation of the authenticity of native cultures and resist colonization of indigenous cultures by global, capitalist culture. These individuals are often consumers of authentic cultures who patronize native arts and lobby for the protection of heritage sites. They embrace opportunities to explore beyond what is familiar: experience ethnic food, try foreign sports, travel outside the home country, and meet people from culturally different backgrounds (Kleingeld & Brown, 2011). In addition to personal consumption choices, individuals who identify with cosmopolitanism promote sensitivity and tolerance to cultural differences and support cultural diversity (Woodward, Skrbis, & Bean, 2008). In contrast, individuals with a global identity perceive cultural borders to be arbitrary and may even view them as obstacles to the development of universal ethics. They romanticize what a global village would be like, hold a set of beliefs and attitudes that emphasize an open mindset to foreign cultures, and have a vision of participating in a global community. Individuals who identify themselves as global citizens advocate global governance that is transnational and independent from specific nations. In the economic realm, they favor free trade of goods and services and less tariff or related trade barriers between nations. In the domain of ethics, they give the same rights and privileges to all human beings regardless of their citizenship and ethnicity (Kleingeld & Brown, 2011). In short, whereas the cosmopolitan identity embraces the value of respecting global heterogeneity, the global identity emphasizes the connectedness of human communities and privileges removing unnecessary political, economic, and ethical boundaries between local communities. An important future research question concerns how cosmopolitan and global identities may play a role in people’s exclusionary and integrative responses to intercultural influence. A recent study (Morris, Mok, & Mor, 2011) showed that, in Hong Kong, many people would react negatively to culture mixing:  reviewing books on Asian cultures written in English or books on Western cultures Leung, Qiu, Chiu

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written in Asian languages would increase their close-mindedness. However, having a global identity would attenuate such exclusionary responses to culture mixing. Future research can follow-up on this finding to explicate the role of cosmopolitan and global identities in people’s behaviors in intercultural contacts.

Media Impact and International Relations Implications

As illustrated in the Yang et  al. (2011) multidimensional scaling study of globalization, many people consider the Internet to be a major aspect of globalization. The widespread use of the Internet and other online technologies has dramatically reduced the geographical distance between nations. Emerging social media (e.g., Facebook) and three-dimensional (3D) virtual worlds (e.g., Second Life) allow individuals to easily experience foreign cultures without having to move to the physical locations where these cultures originated. Social media are different from traditional media such as newspapers or movies in that they enable individuals to actively participate in interpersonal cultural exchanges rather than passively receiving information. Through the Internet and 3D technology, virtual worlds such as Second Life provide users ample opportunities to engage in real-time immersive social interactions. Users can personalize their avatar to represent their own self or cultural identity and to communicate with people from other cultures using texts and body gestures. Social media platforms such as Facebook produce billions bytes of social content every day, reflecting users’ everyday behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. By joining foreign online communities and consuming social contents produced by people from other cultures, one can easily learn about the social norms and practices in these foreign cultures. Furthermore, online communities often reflect an epitome of the culture of their hosting countries. In recent research, Qiu, Lin, and Leung (2013) compared two technically similar online platforms, Renren (a Chinese social networking site) and Facebook (an American social networking site) and found that the Renren culture is more collectivist than the Facebook culture, in that it is more hierarchical, sharing-oriented, and conformity-oriented. More interestingly, users performed more benevolent in-group sharing (e.g., sharing information about graduate school applications) on Renren than on Facebook, and the same users displayed flexible switching of online sharing behaviors in response 198

to the online culture they participated in. These findings offer preliminary evidence of how users learn and adopt cultural practices in foreign online communities. Social media, either traditional or online, could have significant impacts on people’s attitudes’ toward foreign countries. A recent study (Gries, Crowson, & Cai, 2011) showed that Americans with more interpersonal contact and knowledge about China have less prejudice toward the Chinese people, and attitude toward the Chinese people is a stronger predictor of foreign policy preference than is the attitude toward the Chinese government. Exposure to media news coverage of China has a mixed impact on policy preference. Increased media exposure is associated with a preference for a friendlier foreign policy but is also associated with increased knowledge about China, which is, in turn, associated with more negative attitudes toward the Chinese government. These results suggest that cultural exchange may lead to profound attitude change toward foreign people and governments, with these attitudes not necessarily aligning with each other.

Health and Social Implications

The implications on health and societal problems brought about by globalization tend to receive relatively scant research attention. Globalization is an important source of societal changes. If these changes occur too rapidly, they can breed societal problems. For example, the Japanese employment system is known for granting senior employees in large corporations with job security and stable social connections. Obtaining a permanent position in a large company is considered a typical means to becoming a respected member of the society. However, with globalization exporting Western cultural values of independence, competition, and egalitarianism into Japanese society, the Japanese labor market is pressured to change. For example, companies are no longer expected to provide many long-term employment opportunities to fresh college graduates. Unable to secure a position in the traditional long-term employment system, many youth might have chosen to completely withdraw from employment, education, or training opportunities and become a Neet (Not in Employment, Education, or Training). Some of them even isolate themselves from any social interactions with their friends and family and stay within their own bedrooms for months and even years. Sociostructural changes could energize value changes. One study (Norasakkunkit & Uchida,

Psychological Science of Globaliz ation

2011) found that Japanese students with a high risk of becoming a Neet hold a more independent self-construal than do low-risk students. Furthermore, they tend to be more persistent in response to positive feedback, although the typical Japanese individual has a tendency to be more persistent in response to negative feedbacks (Heine et al., 2001). These findings suggest that as the society undergoes the globalization process, some individuals who endorse values or adopt a psychological reality that is different from the dominant ones might be marginalized and bear the costs of societal change. If not handled properly, these structural and values changes may catalyze serious health and societal problems.

Conclusion

Until recently, psychological perspectives have lacked a strong voice in the multidisciplinary discourse surrounding globalization (Gelfand, Lyons, & Lun, 2011). However, this should not be taken to mean that psychologists have little to offer in this discourse. In 2001, Albert Bandura (2001) noted that societies today are undergoing drastic social, informational, and technological changes. He further commented that “revolutionary advances in electronic technologies and globalization are transforming the nature, reach, speed, and loci of human influence” (p. 12). He invited psychologists to examine the psychological processes that shape personal destinies and the national life of societies in rapidly globalized environments. We agree with Bandura that a psychological science of globalization is both an important and promising new field of psychology. We have identified several major research questions in this new field and reviewed the initial empirical attempts to answer these questions. Although the findings reviewed in this chapter are preliminary, and the conclusions we draw from these findings are tentative, we hope to convince readers that psychology has the theoretical tools and empirical methods to offer new insights into and a refreshing behavioral science perspective on the psychological effects of globalization.

References

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Assessment of Psychological Acculturation and Multiculturalism: An Overview of Measures in the Public Domain

Ozgur Celenk and Fons J. R. van de Vijver

Abstract This chapter presents an overview and content analysis of measures of psychological acculturation (referring to the psychological consequences of prolonged exposure to another culture) and psychological multiculturalism (referring to acceptance and support of the culturally plural composition of institutions such a class or society at large) available in the public domain. This chapter’s presentation deals with the conceptual background (notably the dimensionality of the underlying conceptualization) and formal and psychometric properties of the measures, such as number of items, response anchors, and internal consistencies. A content analysis revealed that measures of acculturation tend to focus on sociocultural acculturation outcomes, followed by acculturation orientations and acculturation conditions. It is uncommon to assess the cultural context in which acculturation takes place. Multiculturalism is usually assumed to be a (conceptually) unidimensional, bipolar construct, although measures have pointed to differential endorsement across domains of multiculturalism. Multiculturalism measures target education, counseling, or society at large. Authors provide an Internet site with an overview of the measures and their characteristics; the measures can be downloaded from the site. This chapter formulates guidelines for choosing or developing measures of psychological acculturation and multiculturalism in the final section. Key Words:  assessment, biculturalism, domains, psychological acculturation, psychological multiculturalism

Assessment of Psychological Acculturation and Multiculturalism: An Overview of Measures in the Public Domain

Acculturation and multiculturalism are important concepts in culturally heterogeneous societies. The former refers to psychological changes that accompany prolonged intercultural contact, frequently as a consequence of migration, whereas the latter refers to individuals’ recognition of and support for the plural composition of institutions like schools or society. The increased interest in migration and intergroup relations in psychology and related disciplines has led to a need to establish measures of these topics. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of measures of both

constructs that are available in the public domain so as to enable researchers and policy makers who plan to use these measures to make an informed choice. To our knowledge, this is the first overview that systematically reviews both the instrument characteristics and theoretical aspects of psychological acculturation and multiculturalism instruments that are available in the public domain. All measures in our overview can be downloaded free of charge from http://www.tilburguniversity.edu/ccis. More extensive overviews, not restricted to public domain measures, can be found in Rudmin (2009, 2011) and Taras (2007). Measures of acculturation are described in the first section. The main characteristics of current 205

models of acculturation are explained, followed by a systematic overview of the main characteristics of the instruments; these involve substantive aspects such as the theoretical background, as well as formal scale characteristics such as the number of items, response formats, and internal consistencies. The second part of the chapter follows the same format for multiculturalism. We present general conclusions and recommendations in the final part.

Acculturation Theory

Plural societies include distinct cultural groups, and contact among these groups can result in different individual and group processes. Acculturation is defined as “the process of cultural change that occurs when individuals from different cultural backgrounds come into prolonged, continuous, first-hand contact with each other” (Redfield, Linton, & Herskovits, 1936, p.  146). This definition is old yet still widely used. Acculturation affects individuals at behavioral, affective, and cognitive levels of functioning (Cuellar, Arnold, & Maldonado, 1995). A conceptual model is adopted here in which the process of acculturation is viewed as the interplay of three components:  acculturation conditions, orientations, and outcomes (see Figure 10.1; Arends-Toth & Van de Vijver, 2006b). Acculturation conditions, the first component of the model, refer to the context and resources behind the acculturation process. Examples are group-level Acculturation conditions Characteristics of the receiving society (objective, perceived) Characteristics of the society of origin (objective, perceived)

factors, including characteristics of the receiving society (e.g., perceived or objective discrimination and integration policies in a country; Bourhis, Moise, Perrault, & Senecal, 1997; Huddlestone & Niessen, 2011), society of origin (e.g., political context), and the immigrant group (e.g., ethnic vitality, referring to institutions that cater to an ethnic group such as places of worship and social and material support networks; Giles, Bourhis, & Taylor, 1977). Personality factors can also be viewed as pertaining to acculturation conditions; for example, extraversion and openness have been shown to facilitate adjustment to a new cultural context (Matsumoto, Le Roux, Robles, & Campos, 2007; Van der Zee & Van Oudenhoven, 2000, 2001). Acculturation orientations (also labeled acculturation strategies and styles), the second component of the model, refer to the way immigrants want to deal with the ethnic and mainstream culture (alternative names used in the literature for ethnic culture are heritage culture/country and culture/country of origin, whereas the mainstream culture is also referred to as receiving society, host society, and the dominant or majority culture). There are two theoretical perspectives on the relationships between the ethnic and mainstream culture. The original view holds that acculturation involves a single underlying dimension (e.g., Gordon, 1964). In this view, immigrants follow the same path that starts from being completely immersed in the ethnic culture at

Acculturation orientations

Acculturation outcomes

Adopting the ‘mainstream’ culture

Psychological well-being (psychological distress, mood states, feelings of acceptance, and satisfaction) Sociocultural competence in ethnic culture (interaction with co-nationals, maintenance of ‘ethnic’ skills and behaviors)

Characteristics of the immigrant group (objective, perceived) Perceived inter-group relations Personal characteristics (changes over time, position in the society, personality, and individual situational and social context)

Maintaining the ‘heritage/ethnic’ culture

Sociocultural competence in mainstream culture (interaction with hosts, acquisition of skills and behaviors of the majority culture, academic and job performances)

Figure 10.1  Model of acculturation (Arends-Toth & Van de Vijver, 2006b, p.36).

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Assessment of Psychological Acculturation and Multiculturalism

the time of arrival in the host country. They then embark on a process of adjustment. This dimension is bipolar with full immersion in the culture of origin at one end and full immersion in the mainstream culture at the other end. The main assumption of the unidimensional model, that the acculturation process always ends with a state of full immersion in the new cultural context, has been criticized (for a recent critique, see Benet-Martínez, 2012). An alternative framework was developed by Berry (1984). This approach abandons the assumption of unidimensionality and holds that orientation toward or involvement with each culture (ethnic and host) are conceptually independent constructs in the acculturation process and that immersion in the ethnic and mainstream culture can be compatible. Based on this two-dimensional approach, Berry’s (1984, 1997) model of acculturation identifies four possible types of acculturation orientations, based on whether the immigrant wants to adopt the mainstream culture and whether he or she wants to maintain the ethnic culture.1 Integration amounts to a preference of both maintenance and adoption (biculturalism); assimilation refers to the desire to adopt the mainstream culture while losing the ethnic culture. Separation is the opposite of assimilation. The final type is marginalization, which applies when an immigrant does not want to relate to either culture. Marginalization is usually not a deliberate choice but rather a consequence of being unable to relate to one culture (e.g., the ethnic culture is viewed as backward by the immigrant) and being rejected by the other culture (e.g., the mainstream group discriminates against immigrants). Marginalization is a fairly uncommon orientation; the studies that reported relatively high frequencies involved adolescents and young adults (Eldering & Knorth, 1998). An international study involving more than 7,000 adolescents from 13 different societies found immigrant youth to display four different types of acculturation strategies (labeled integration, diffuse, national, and ethnic), which varied with the immigration policy and history of the country (Berry, Phinney, Sam, & Vedder, 2006). Based on the same study, Benet-Martínez (2012) suggests that the correlation between mainstream and ethnic orientation depends somewhat on the immigration policy and history of a country; slightly positive correlations have been reported in countries with a long immigration history such as the United States and Canada, whereas slightly negative correlations have been found in European countries that have a

much shorter history of immigration (and in most cases a more restrictive immigration legislation; Huddlestone & Niessen, 2011). Another aspect of acculturation orientations is their domain specificity, notably the distinction between private and public domains. There is evidence that the preference for adopting the mainstream culture or maintaining the original culture varies across life domains. For instance, Gungor (2007) suggested that maintaining values of the culture of origin may have a positive adaptive value in private domains such as family and marriage, but supporting adoption to the mainstream culture may predict positive outcomes in public domains such as school or work settings. Also, Arends-Toth and Van de Vijver (2003) found evidence among Turkish-Dutch immigrants for more ethnic cultural maintenance in the private domain and more endorsement of both cultures in the public domain. Two types of acculturation outcomes are commonly discerned, labeled psychological outcomes (internal adjustment, that is,“being well”) and behavioral adaptation (external adjustment, that is, “doing well”) (Ward, Bochner, & Furnham, 2001; Ward & Kennedy, 1999; Ward, Leong, & Low, 2004). Internal adjustment, usually referred to as psychological adjustment, includes the emotional and affective acculturation outcomes that are identified as psychological well-being and satisfaction in the new cultural context. The second acculturation outcome, external adjustment, refers to life skills needed to function in a specific cultural context. We make a distinction in Figure 10.1 between competencies in the ethnic and mainstream culture. Traditionally, external adjustment has focused on life skills in the host domain, such as speaking the mainstream language, having mainstream friends and acquaintances, being schooled in the mainstream country, or having a job. These outcomes are usually referred to as sociocultural adjustment (e.g., Ward & Kennedy, 1999). However, we argue that life skills in the ethnic domain, such as maintaining the ability to speak the ethnic language and maintaining a support network in that group, are also outcomes of the acculturation process. So, we propose that “doing well” has two components for the immigrant, namely survival skills in the mainstream culture (such as speaking the host language) and in the ethnic culture (such as speaking the ethnic language). It is unfortunate and indeed counterproductive to associate acculturation outcomes only with adjustment to the mainstream culture. Celenk, van de Vijver

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Furthermore, the neglect of outcomes in the ethnic domain creates a biased view of acculturation outcomes. It is very common in the literature nowadays to consider both the ethnic and host culture when assessing acculturation orientations. However, when assessing outcomes, it is easy to lose sight of the dual nature of acculturation and to focus only on adjustment. We would like to note that the emphasis on adaptation in acculturation outcomes and the lack of attention for outcomes in the ethnic domain is characteristic for the social and behavioral sciences; sociolinguists have been better at striking a balance between ethnic and mainstream outcomes. They study both language acquisition of the mainstream language and maintenance (or loss) of the ethnic language after immigration (e.g., Clyne, 1991). We think it is important to follow the same path.

Two caveats about terminology

One important point to mention while assessing acculturation is the interpretation of the concept of unidimensionality. In the context of the present chapter, the term refers to the theoretical framework undergirding the assessment of acculturation orientations (e.g., Franco, 1983; Gordon, 1964). Thus, in a unidimensional framework, an individual identifies himself/herself as either belonging to the mainstream culture or the culture of origin and his or her acculturation can be represented on a continuum (line) that goes from complete maintenance to complete adoption. Another interpretation of unidimensionality does not address the relationship between belonging to the mainstream culture and the culture of origin but refers to the number of factors (in an exploratory or confirmatory factor analysis) identified either for the maintenance or adoption dimension (e.g., Leung & Chiu, 2010). In this chapter, we refer to the use of the unidimensional framework (either theoretical or methodological) and we refer to (or imply) unifactorial solutions of the scales in exploratory or confirmatory factor analyses. Another caveat involves the use of the term adaptation. Despite its frequent usage in the literature, we argue here that adaptation is a problematic concept to use in acculturation for two reasons. Firstly, the concept can be questioned in the same way as it has been criticized in the domain of evolutionary biology (e.g., Lewontin, 1977). Lewontin argues, among other things, that the concept of adaptation is ambiguous, because it can refer to the process of an organism adapting to its environment 208

as well as the end state of this process in which the organism is fully adapted to the context. This ambiguity has a linguistic origin. The Merriam-Webster defines adaptation as “the act or process of adapting:  the state of being adapted” (http://www. merriam-webster.com/dictionary/adaptation). So, applied to acculturation, adaptation can refer to the process of the immigrant adjusting to the new culture and to the end state of this process. However, the distinction between process and endpoint is usually important in acculturation research; therefore, using a single term for both meanings can be misleading. Secondly, adaptation refers to a process in which the organism eventually becomes fully adjusted to the new context. Such a term may well be adequate in a unidimensional view of acculturation, in which all immigrants lose their ethnic identity to become fully immersed in the mainstream culture, but is inadequate in a bidimensional model in which more outcomes are possible. There are two ways to avoid the terminological confusion. The first is to refer to outcomes instead, as done in the present chapter. The word outcome is intentionally more ambiguous than adaptation to refer to the endpoint of the acculturation process, because the latter term only refers to the processes of adopting the host culture and does not refer to maintenance of the heritage culture. The second way to avoid the terminological confusion is to be more precise in what is meant:  Is the process or the final state meant? Similarly, if sociocultural outcomes are discussed, it is important to mention the cultural context of the outcome (i.e., ethnic or mainstream).

Content Analysis of Acculturation Measures

Zane and Mak (2003) conducted a content analysis of the acculturation scales most commonly used among Asian, Hispanic, and African Americans. We update their overview and broaden it to measures used outside the United States. The criterion for inclusion in our review was the public availability2 of the instrument.

Retrieval of instruments

Self-report acculturation measures were searched via various English peer-reviewed journals’ electronic databases such as PsycINFO and PsycArticles. In order to identify the acculturation measures, several keywords were used such as assessment of acculturation, acculturation, measurement, and meta-analysis. Moreover, a message was posted on a listserv for cross-cultural psychologists to obtain additional measures. The search yielded 111 acculturation

Assessment of Psychological Acculturation and Multiculturalism

measures. An important inclusion criterion was the availability of the original items. Items of only 59 measures were available. The measures were coded according to a scheme that was created by the authors. Each instrument was reviewed based on that coding scheme. The coding scheme consisted of two main sections. The first included theoretical issues including which aspects of the acculturation process were measured (conditions, orientations, and/or outcomes), which conceptual model was used (unidimensional or bidimensional), and which life domains were represented in the measure. The second involved formal item/instrument characteristics including name of the scale, authors, publication year, target group, age group, reliabilities, background questions, subscales, number of items, question format, and response format. Only 50 measures could be systematically reviewed based on all these criteria; these were used in further analyses (the final list of the instruments can be seen in Table 10.1). An extended version of the table that has all codings of each instrument on all categories can be accessed from http://www. tilburguniversity.edu/ccis. In the following section, each criterion is discussed in detail; the first part deals with the theoretical issues and the second part deals with formal item/instrument characteristics.

Theoretical issues Acculturation conditions

Acculturation conditions are defined as the background settings including the characteristics of the receiving society, characteristics of the society of origin, characteristics of the immigrant group, perceived intergroup relations (discrimination versus acceptance) and personal characteristics that capture both the individual and group level acculturation processes (see Arends-Toth & Van de Vijver, 2006a). Statements such as “I think that Canadian society discriminates against me just because I  am Pakistani” (Multidimensional Acculturative Stress Scale; Jibeen & Khalid, 2010), and “You saw another Russian student treated badly or discriminated against” (Acculturative Hassles; Vinokurov, Trickett, & Birman, 2002) assess acculturation conditions. Half the measures (50%) do not include any statements measuring acculturation conditions. It is argued that it is critical to examine acculturation conditions in order to determine the context-specific aspect of acculturation processes (Arends-Toth & Van de Vijver, 2006b). Measures of acculturation conditions can help to provide an insight in the general context of acculturation.

For example, there is evidence that ethnic vitality can play an important role in acculturation (e.g., Yagmur & Van de Vijver, 2012).

Acculturation orientations

The second component of the acculturation process is called acculturation orientations, which are conceptualized in our mediation model of acculturation as the links between acculturation conditions and acculturation outcomes. Acculturation orientations refer to ways to deal with both the ethnic culture and the mainstream culture (adopting the mainstream culture and/or maintaining the ethnic culture) (Te Lindert, Korzilius, Van de Vijver, Kroon, & Arends-Toth, 2008). Examples of items assessing acculturation orientations include “I believe in the values of my heritage culture” (Vancouver Index of Acculturation; Ryder, Alden, & Paulhus, 2000) and “I enjoy going to American gatherings or parties” (Acculturation Scale for Vietnamese Adolescents (ASVA); Nguyen & von Eye, 2002). Although often considered to be the core of acculturation (Arends-Toth & Van de Vijver, 2006b), only 50% of the measures included statements to measure either dimensional (maintaining ethic culture and/or adopting the mainstream culture) or categorical (assimilation, marginalization, separation, integration) acculturation orientations. Acculturation orientations are mostly assessed by asking about attitudes. Acculturation attitudes are preferences (likes and dislikes) of the immigrant group or the mainstreamers toward the acculturation process (Arends-Toth, Van de Vijver, & Poortinga, 2006). Items such as “I like to have Mexican food better than the other food” (A Children’s Hispanic Background Scale; Martinez, Norman, & Delaney, 1984) and “What language do you prefer?” (Native American Acculturation Scale; Garrett & Pichette, 2000) are aimed to measure acculturation attitudes. Acculturation attitudes are assessed in 66% of the measures.

Acculturation outcomes

The third aspect of the acculturation process is related to the consequences of acculturation conditions and orientations. It involves both psychological outcomes such as well-being (presence of positive outcomes and absence of negative outcomes involving stress) and sociocultural outcomes such as achievement of effective and appropriate behaviors, culturally appropriate skills, language, and cultural knowledge (Te Lindert et  al., 2008; Ward et  al., 2001). Additionally, Arends-Toth and Van de Vijver Celenk, van de Vijver

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Table 10.1  Alphabetic listing of acculturation measures in the public domain (More extensive version of the table, including review of the each instrument based on each criterion separately can be accessed from http://www.tilburguniversity.edu/ccis). Name

Author(s)

Year

Strengths

Weaknesses

Abbreviated Multidimensional Acculturation Scale

Zea, Asner-Self, Birman, & Buki

2003

High internal consistency, multiple domains covered

Only measures host domain outcomes

Acculturation Attitudes Scale

Sam & Berry

1995

Measures each orientation separately

Psychometric properties not available

Acculturation Attitudes Scale-Revised

Berry

2010

Uses bidimensional framework

Psychometric properties not available, double-barreled questions

Acculturation Index

Ward & Rana-Deuba

1999

Multiple domains, good psychometric properties

Only measures behaviors

Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans

Cuellar, Harris, & Jasso

1980

Frequently used, multiple domains

Only measures host domain outcomes

Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican-Americans— Short Form

Dawson, Crano, & Burgoon

1996

Multiple domains

Psychometric properties not available

Acculturation Scale

Ghuman

1997

Multiple domains

Only measures host domain outcomes

Acculturation Scale for Mexican-American

Deyo, Diehl, Hazuda, & Stern

1985

Frequently used

Psychometric properties not available, only measures host language knowledge

Acculturation Scale for Mexican-AmericanII

Cuellar, Arnold, & Maldonado

1995

Multiple domains, good psychometric properties

Covers only sociocultural outcomes

Acculturation Scale for Vietnamese Adolescents

Nguyen & von Eye 2002

Multiple domains, good psychometric properties

Only measures host domain outcomes

Acculturation, Habits and Interests Multicultural Scale for Adolescents

Unger et al.

2002

Covers conditions, orientations and outcomes, good psychometric properties

Covers few domains

Acculturative Hassles

Vinokurov et al.

2002

Multiple domains

Only measures host domain outcomes

Acculturative Stress Inventory for Children

Suarez-Morales et al.

2007

One of the few scales that measure conditions

Covers few domains

Acculturative Stress Scale

Salgado de Snyder

1987

Multiple domains

Poor psychometric properties

Adopt and Keep Scale

Swaidan, Vitell, Rose, & Gilbert

2006

Clear measure of orientations, uses bidimensional framework

Few items per subscale

African American Acculturation Scale

Landrine & Klonoff 1994

Multiple domains, good psychometric properties, covers both attitudes and behaviors

Uses unidimensional framework, some items are unique for maintaining African-American culture (continued)

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Table 10.1  (continued) Name

Author(s)

Year

Strengths

Weaknesses

American Puerto Rican Acculturation Scale

Cortes et al.

2003

Multiple domains

Covers only sociocultural outcomes

Asian American Multidimen­ sional Acculturation Scale

Gim Chung, Kim, & Abreu

2004

Multiple domains, good psychometric properties

Does not cover orientations

Bicultural Identity Integration Scale (BIIS-1)

Benet-Martínez & Haritatos

2005

Detailed measure of integration

Few items per subscale

Bicultural Identity Integration Scale (BIIS-2)

Huynh & BenetMartínez

2009

Detailed measure of integration

Psychometric properties not yet available

Bicultural Involvement Questionnaire

Szapocznik et al.

1980

Multiple domains, frequently used, good psychometric properties

Only measures outcomes

Bidimensional Acculturation Scale for Hispanics

Marin & Gamba

1996

Adequate number of items in subscales

Only measures outcomes, some subscales low reliability, no information on question format and response options

Brief Acculturation Scale

Meredith et al.

2000

Good psychometric properties

Few items, covers few domains

Brief Acculturation Scale for Hispanics

Norris et al.

1996

Good psychometric properties

Few items, covers few domains

Children’s Hispanic Background Scale

Martinez et al.

1984

Good psychometric properties, adequate number of items in scale

Only measures outcomes

Children’s Acculturation Scale

Franco

1983

Good psychometric properties, covers multiple domains

Uses unidimensional framework

Cultural Life Style Inventory

Mendoza

1989

Good psychometric properties, adequate number of items in scale

Uses unidimensional framework

Cultural Readjustment Rating Questionnaire

Spradley & Phillips

1972

Covers multiple domains, adequate number of items in scale

Psychometric properties not available

Culture Shock Questionnaire

Mumford

1998

Covers psychological outcomes

One subscale with poor psychometric properties, uses unidimensional framework

General Ethnicity Questionnaire

Tsai et al.

2000

Good psychometric properties, covers multiple domains, covers conditions/ orientations/outcomes

Covers only sociocultural outcomes

Homesickness and Contentment Scale

Shin & Abell

1999

Good psychometric properties, adequate measure of outcomes, infrequently studied concept

Uses unidimensional framework

(continued)

Celenk, van de Vijver

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Table 10.1  (continued) Name

Author(s)

Year

Strengths

Weaknesses

Internal-External Ethnic Identity Measure

Kwan & Sodowsky

1997

Good psychometric properties, covers multiple domains

Uses unidimensional framework

Italian Ethnic Identity Measure

Laroche, Kim, Tomiuk, & Belisle

2005

Covers both attitudes and behaviors

Few items per subscale, uses unidimensional framework

Media Acculturation Scale

Ramirez, Cousins, Santos, & Supik

1986

Multicultural Experience Survey

Leung & Chiu

2010

Good psychometric properties, covers multiple domains

Uses unidimensional framework

Multidimensional Acculturative Stress Inventory

Rodriguez et al.

2002

Good psychometric properties, covers multiple domains, covers conditions/ orientations/outcomes

Covers only sociocultural outcomes

Multidimensional Acculturative Stress Scale

Jibeen & Khalid

2010

Covers multiple domains, covers conditions/ orientations/outcomes

Psychometric properties poor for two subscales

Na Mea Hawai’i Scale

Rezentes

1993

Covers multiple domains

Psychometric properties not available, only covers outcomes, uses unidimensional framework

Native American Acculturation Scale

Garrett & Pichette

2000

Covers multiple domains, covers conditions and outcomes

Uses unidimensional framework

Perceived Discrimination

Berry

2010

Measures acculturation conditions

Psychometric properties not available, uses unidimensional framework

Psychological Acculturation Scale

Tropp, Erkut, Coll, 1999 Alarcon, & Garcia

Good psychometric properties, covers multiple domains, covers conditions/ orientations/outcomes

Uses unidimensional framework, few items

Riverside Acculturation Stress Inventory

Benet-Martínez

2003

Covers multiple domains, covers conditions and outcomes

Covers only sociocultural outcomes

Scale of Acculturation

Rissel

1997

Good psychometric properties, covers multiple domains

Uses unidimensional framework, covers only sociocultural outcomes, few items

Psychometric properties not available, only one domain covered, few items, uses unidimensional framework, only covers outcomes

(continued)

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Table 10.1  (continued) Name

Author(s)

Year

Short Acculturation Scale

Wallen et al.

2002

Short Acculturation Scale for Hispanic Youth

Barona & Miller

1994

Good psychometric properties, covers multiple domains

Covers only sociocultural outcomes, uses unidi­ mensional framework

Short Acculturation Scale for Hispanics

Marin et al.

1987

Frequently used, good psychometric properties, covers multiple domains

Uses unidimensional framework

Sociocultural Adaptation Scale

Ward & Kennedy

1999

Good psychometric properties, covers multiple domains

Covers only socio­ cultural outcomes, uses unidimensional framework

Stephenson Multigroup Acculturation Scale

Stephenson

2000

Good psychometric properties, covers multiple domains

Covers only sociocultural outcomes

Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Suinn, Ahuna, Acculturation Scale & Khoo

1992

Good psychometric properties, covers multiple domains

Uses unidimensional framework

Vancouver Index of Acculturation

2000

Frequently used, good psychometric properties, covers multiple domains, covers orientations and outcomes

Covers only sociocultural outcomes

Ryder et al.

(2006a) argued that sociocultural competence in ethnic culture as well as sociocultural adaptation to the mainstream culture are essential to study and need to be addressed in acculturation measures. Statements in order to measure psychological acculturation outcomes include “I feel sad when I do not see my cultural roots in this society” (Multidimensional Acculturative Stress Scale; Jibeen & Khalid, 2010). Sociocultural outcomes are measured by using statements such as “I am familiar with important people in American history” (Stephenson Multigrain Acculturation Scale; SMAS, Stephenson, 2000) and “I have a hard time understanding others when they speak English” (Multidimensional Acculturative Stress Inventory; Rodriguez, Myers, Mira, Flores, & Garcia-Hernandez, 2002). Most measures deal with outcomes, notably sociocultural skills in the mainstream culture (65.3 %) and psychological outcomes (11.6 %); 23.1% do not include any statements to assess acculturation outcomes. Sociocultural outcomes with regard to the host culture are the most common acculturation measure. Such items measure how far the immigrant has progressed in acquiring

Strengths

Weaknesses Psychometric properties not available, uses unidimensional framework, few items

the new culture (and language). This preponderance is presumably the explanation of why adaptation is such a popular term in acculturation. Acculturation outcomes are mostly measured by asking about usually overt, explicit behaviors or competencies of the immigrant or mainstream groups (Arends-Toth & Van de Vijver, 2006b). Items such as “I often participate in my heritage cultural traditions” (Vancouver Index of Acculturation; Ryder et al., 2000) and “What language do you usually speak at home?” (Brief Acculturation Scale for Hispanics; Norris, Ford, & Bova, 1996) are examples of acculturation behaviors. A  vast majority of 86.3% of the subscales include items to measure behaviors. We should emphasize that percentages of acculturation outcomes and acculturation behaviors do not overlap (similar to percentages of acculturation orientations and acculturation attitudes). This difference between the percentages can be explained in terms of certain measures using acculturation attitudes to measure acculturation outcomes (e.g., Culture Shock Questionnaire; Mumford, 1998), Celenk, van de Vijver

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or assessing acculturation orientations by using acculturation behaviors (e.g., Vancouver Index of Acculturation; Ryder et al., 2000). In terms of the distinction between conditions, orientations, and outcomes, we have analyzed how many measures assessed each of these components separately or in combination. Just over half the instruments (54.2 %) addressed one aspect only (conditions, orientations, or outcomes), 31.2% involved two aspects, and 14.6% measured all three aspects (e.g., General Ethnicity Questionnaire; Tsai, Ying, & Lee, 2000). It can be concluded that there is an emphasis in the literature on assessing the level of adjustment to the host society, even though, from a conceptual point of view, adjustment to the host society constitutes just one aspect of acculturation and leaves out all maintenance-related aspects as well as an analysis of the acculturation context.

Life domains

It has been found that cultural adoption and maintenance by immigrants vary across life domains. According to Arends-Toth and Van de Vijver (2003), the private domain involves more personal spheres (e.g., family), whereas the public domain involves social life (e.g., professional life and educational life). Multiple domains are mentioned in most scales (90.4%). The most frequently mentioned domains are language, food, media, friends, romantic relationships, and family. Interestingly, 70.6% of the measures include various statements for language, followed by food (35.3 %) and media (music, television, books, newspapers, and radio; 27.4 %). Examples of public domain items are “I understand English, but I  am not fluent in English” (Stephenson Multigrain Acculturation Scale (SMAS); Stephenson, 2000), “I like to eat American food” (Acculturation Scale for Vietnamese Adolescents (ASVA); Nguyen & von Eye, 2002) and “How often do you watch television programs in English?” (Bidimensional Acculturation Scale for Hispanics (BAS); Marin & Gamba, 1996). Acculturation in the private domain has been measured by items such as “How important would it be to you for your children to have all American friends?” (American Puerto Rican Acculturation Scale; Cortes et  al., 2003s) and “Not being able to be a good Mexican wife because of unfamiliarity with new environment” (Acculturative Stress Scale; Salgado de Snyder, 1987). As the acculturation process can be domain specific, both public and private components need to be taken 214

into consideration in measures of acculturation (Cabassa, 2003). Moreover, some domains are age dependent (e.g., Perceived Discrimination in School Domain; Acculturative Stress Inventory for Children; Suarez-Morales, Dillon, & Szapocznik, 2007, Marriage Domain; Acculturative Stress Scale; Salgado de Snyder, 1987). It can be concluded that many scales cover multiple domains. The choice-oflife domains depend on age and ethnic and target culture; clearly, local knowledge is essential in selecting the domains and specific items in acculturation instruments.

Conceptual model

The conceptual model refers to the implicitly or explicitly mentioned (conceptual) dimensionality of measures. The most commonly employed measures are based on either a unidimensional or bidimensional (multidimensional) model. The former refers to measuring immersion in the ethnic culture and immersion in the host culture as polar opposites, whereas the latter treats adopting the mainstream culture and maintenance as two independent dimensions (Berry, 1984, 1992). Unidimensional measures include items such as “In what language do you usually think?” with response options ranging from “Only Arabic” to “Only English” (Scale of Acculturation; Rissel, 1997) or “How do you identify yourself?” with the options “Mexican-Chicano-Mexican American-Spanish American, Latin American, Hispanic American, American-Anglo American or other” (Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans (ARSMA); Cuellar, Harris, & Jasso, 1980). Bidimensional acculturation can be assessed by items such as “How often do you speak Spanish?” (The Bidimensional Acculturation Scale for Hispanics (BAS); Marin & Gamba, 1996) or “How much do you enjoy American music?” (Bicultural Involvement and Adjustment Scale for Hispanic-American Youths; Szapocznik, Kurtines, & Fernandez, 1980). A majority of 59% have a bidimensional structure, whereas 41% measure the acculturation process as unidimensional. It seems fair to conclude that the bidimensional model dominates the literature in the last decades (LaFromboise, Coleman, & Gerton, 1993). It has been argued that unidimensional measures cannot fully identify how individuals balance both the culture of origin and the host culture during the acculturation process (Marin & Gamba, 1996). Bicultural individuals will usually get a score close to the scale midpoint, because they are neither fully

Assessment of Psychological Accu lturation and Multiculturalism

assimilated nor fully separated. However, such a midpoint score does not adequately capture their bicultural nature. A fully bicultural person would need a high score on both endpoints of the scale (cultural maintenance and cultural adoption). In some cases, it might be possible to compute biculturalism scores on the basis of a unidimensional measure by score conversion. A  midpoint score would then be converted to a maximum score, and the other scores are transformed to measures of the distance to the midpoint. For example, suppose that we have a response scale with anchors ranging from 1 to 5. Scores of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, would then be converted to 1, 2, 3, 2, and 1, respectively. This scoring has a potential problem in the sense that it confounds integration and marginalization; a person with a score on the midpoint could be either integrated (as experiencing to be part of both cultures) or marginalized (as not experiencing to be part of either culture). This problem can be solved by adding a question on marginalization or including a separate category pointing to marginalization as a response anchor (e.g., not belonging to either culture). However, even this solution may yield less information than using a bidimensional measure in which cultural adoption and maintenance are independently assessed.

Formal item/instrument characteristics Target group

It has been argued that a universal measure of acculturation that can be applied across different ethnic groups does not exist and that only group-specific instruments can be developed (Clark & Hofsess, 1998). This view seems to prevail among instrument developers. Our overview of the publicly available measures indicated that 54.9% of the measures are directed to a specific group and refer to this group in the items. The vast majority of the target groups include ethnic groups in the United States, such as Mexican-Americans, Hispanics, Cubans, Southeast Asians, Vietnamese, Puerto Ricans, Hawaiians, and Native Americans (e.g., A  Short Acculturation Scale for Hispanics; Marin, Sabogal, Marin, Otero-Sabogal, & Perez-Stable, 1987; An Acculturation Scale for Mexican Americans; Deyo, Diehl, Hazuda, & Stern, 1985). Other groups are Russian, Pakistani, Soviet Jewish, and Arabic immigrants (e.g., Multidimensional Acculturative Stress Scale by Jibeen & Khalid, 2010; Scale of Acculturation by Rissel, 1997). Scales that have been developed for a specific group may not show adequate validity in other groups and may need to be adapted, even if the

underlying themes of the questionnaire are applicable in the other groups. Such test adaptations have two stages. The first involves a conceptual stage including an analysis of the target immigrant group and its cultural context. In some cases, the adaptation of the original instrument may be restricted to implementing new labels to other groups. However, such adaptations may not be adequate for items that refer to group-specific practices, such as celebrations, foods, or religious practices. The second involves a psychometric evaluation of the new instrument, addressing among other things, the internal consistency and factorial composition in the new group. Our literature review did not produce examples of tests of the equivalence of instruments across different groups. Yet, with the advent of comparative acculturation studies (Sam & Berry, 2006), the equivalence of the scales becomes an important issue to address.

Age group

A sizeable minority of the measures, 33.3%, are directed to a specific age group. More specifically, 13.3% are developed for adults (e.g., Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican-Americans; Cuellar, Harris, & Jasso, 1980), 12% are targeted at youth and adolescents (e.g., Acculturation Scale for Vietnamese Adolescents; Nguyen & Von Eye, 2002), and 8% are for children (e.g., A Children’s Hispanic Background Scale; Martinez et al., 1984). It can be concluded that most measures are not developed for a specific age group, which does not imply their adequacy for all age groups. Some items and life domains may be applicable to all age groups (such as wanting or having friends from ethnic and mainstream groups), but others are age specific (such as preferred ethnicity of marriage partner).

Reliabilities

It has been argued that, despite the fact that theoretical perspective is meticulously covered in the acculturation measure, low internal consistencies and misinterpretation of the reliabilities may result in misinterpretation of the results that are expected to affect the validity of the measures (Huynh, Howell, & Benet-Martínez, 2009). Reliabilities are reported for most measures; only 20% do not report any measure of internal consistency (e.g., Acculturation Attitudes Scale; Sam & Berry, 1995). Internal consistencies lower than 0.70 for one or more subscales are reported for 10.5% of the scales (where acculturation is measured in a single scale) and 13.1% of the subscales (where acculturation is Celenk, van de Vijver

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measured in subscales) (e.g., reliability is reported as 0.64 for the language barrier subscale and 0.56 for the homesickness subscale of the Multidimensional Acculturative Stress Scale; Jibeen & Khalid, 2010). It can be concluded that internal consistencies are usually reported and that the reported reliabilities tend to be higher than 0.70, which is sufficient by common standards (e.g., Cicchetti, 1994).

Proxy measures of acculturation

Proxies of acculturation refer to indirect measures that are presumably related to the process of acculturation. We refer here in particular to background variables as proxies for acculturation. The most commonly used proxies are place of birth, parental country of origin, length of stay, and generational status. Proxies are believed to yield reliable and valid information that is correlated with “softer” measures of the acculturation process such as preferences (Cruz, Marshall, Bowling, & Villaveces, 2008); yet, it is often neither well specified nor justified how the soft and hard measures can be combined. Several studies use one-item measures of acculturation, such as generation status (with a common distinction between the first generation that is foreign born and the second generation that is born in the host country, and infrequently a “1.5 generation” that is foreign born and followed education in the host country). A minority of 19.6% of the reviewed measures include items about the background of the participants (e.g., language use items in Short Acculturation Scale; Wallen, Feldman, & Anliker, 2002). The use of proxy measures has some advantages in the sense that they are simple to assess. In conclusion, proxies often provide “quick and dirty” measures that can be valuable when complemented by other measures to yield a full-fledged picture of acculturation. However, when used in isolation, such measures lack detail and do not make any distinction between the process of acquiring a new culture (such as language acquisition) and the effects/outcomes of acculturation (e.g., acculturative stress) (Alegria, 2009; Cuellar, Arnold, & Maldonado, 1995).

Subscales

We discuss both scales and subscales: When we mention single scales, we refer to instruments in which there is one scale measuring acculturation and when we mention multiple scales (subscales), we refer to instruments with two or more subscales measuring different components of acculturation in Figure 10.1 and we review each of them separately.3 216

Some examples of the subscales are language competence, cultural identity, ethnic orientation, involvement in the country of origin and host culture, acculturative stress, and use of electronic media. A  more elaborate description of the life domains covered in the measures (either as separate subscales or as part of a single scale) is given in the next section. Most measures of acculturation (52.9%) consist of a single scale (e.g., Acculturation Attitudes Scale; Sam & Berry, 1995), whereas 47.1% include two or more subscales (e.g., language use, linguistic proficiency, and use of electronic media subscales of Bidimensional Acculturation Scale for Hispanics; Marin & Gamba, 1996).

Number of items

The minimum number of items in the measures is 2 and the maximum number of items is 39 (M = 10.4, SD = 8.4). The distribution is fairly skewed, with many relatively short scales; only 34.8% of the measures (either single scale or multiple scale measures) are longer than the mean of 10.4 items, whereas the remaining 65.2% are shorter. More than half (52.4%) of the measures (either a single scale or multiple scale measures) have fewer than 10 items (e.g., Brief Acculturation Scale; Meredith, Wenger, Liu, Harada, & Kahn, 2000). Short measures of acculturation (in our overview, measures with less than 10 items are considered short as they are below the mean of 10.4 items) can face validity problems (Bayer, Brisbane, Ramirez, & Epstein, 1998). It is difficult to see how the complexities and subtleties of the acculturation process can be assessed in just a handful of items. Even though there is not a widely accepted definition of when an instrument is too short, construct underrepresentation of acculturation is unavoidable in these measures.

Question format

Open-ended questions are almost never used; almost all questionnaires employ only a forced-choice format. Two types of item formats are used: questions and statements. An example of the statement format is “My mother talks to her parents in Spanish” (A Children’s Hispanic Background Scale; Martinez et al., 1984) and an example of the question format is “What is your food preference?” (Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans; Cuellar et  al., 1980). These formats are typically used for all items of a scale; however, some scales combine both formats (e.g., Acculturation Scale for Vietnamese Adolescents; Nguyen, & von Eye, 2002. The statement format is used in 59.2% of the scales;

Assessment of Psychological Acculturation and Multiculturalism

the question format is used slightly less (36.7%), whereas the combined format is very infrequently used (4.1%). The use of a combined question format may be complex for both the participant (because it requires a mental switch in answering items) and the researcher (because different response formats have to be combined in a single score).

Response format

Endorsement ratings ranging from “Strongly disagree” to “Strongly agree” or from “No difficulty” to “Extreme difficulty” are the most commonly used response format (30.9%). Forced choice format is the second most common format (27.2% of the scales). Examples of the response format of forced choice questions are “Only ”– “Only ,” “Yes-No,” “True-False” and “Totally ”– “Totally .” The third, most common response format is a combination of various formats including endorsement, frequency, proficiency, and forced choice format in a single scale/ subscale (22.2%); the final one is the frequency format ranging from “Not Very Much–Very Much” and “Not At All–Almost Always” (17.3%).

Conclusion

Researchers who want to select an existing instrument or to adapt an instrument for a specific group may be interested in an overview of measures, but they may be interested even more in an evaluation of the quality of the measures. In order to guide the search, we compiled a list of strengths and weaknesses of the instruments (see Table 10.1; an extended version can be found at http://www.tilburguniversity.edu/ccis). The first and most important conclusion of our overview is that various measures are adequate, but there is no clearly superior inventory in the sense that, from Table 10.1, there is no scale without any weaknesses. This is hardly surprising, considering the diversity of the field and complexity of the construct to be covered. An inspection of the scales suggests that several authors seem to have worked from an implicit template in their design of acculturation measures. Various formal instrument characteristics are shared; thus, most instruments are targeted at a specific cultural group (though not at a specific age group), infrequently use proxy measures, comprise single scales including short and few items, use a Likert scale format and endorsement or forced choice response format, and show relatively high internal consistencies.

The question of whether an existing scale can be used in another cultural context with other groups than originally intended has both conceptual and empirical aspects. The main conceptual issue involves the adequacy of the instrument in the new context. Are the life domains that are covered in the instrument also relevant in the new cultural context? Should additional domains be covered? Are the question and response formats adequate in the target group? So, a choice of instrument should relate the instrument to an analysis of the context in which the group will be administered. In addition to the conceptual aspects, data-analytic aspects of the new instrument have to be addressed. Psychometric properties of the scales should be established in the new cultural context. An important issue in future studies is validity evidence for the use of scale and subscale scores. Relatively few studies have addressed the statistical dimensionality of acculturation measures by using (exploratory or confirmatory) factor analyses or other techniques. Analyses that go beyond the mere reporting of internal consistencies are needed to support the use of scale and subscale scores. Recent theoretical developments in acculturation research have not yet been translated into established assessment procedures. A first example is the lack of measures of fusion models (Hermans & Kempen, 1998; see also Arends-Toth & Van de Vijver, 2006a). These models apply to immigrants who create a new culture by creatively mixing elements from the heritage and ethnic culture and possibly other cultures. This acculturation orientation has been found in qualitative studies, but few quantitative measures have been developed yet (e.g., Bicultural Identity Integration Scale; Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005). The second example is the absence of measures of individual differences in types of bicultural identity integration (for an exception, see Benet-Martínez, 2012). These models make a more detailed analysis of the integration orientation by examining how biculturals combine, blend, or alternate between cultures. Given the prevalence of integration as the preferred acculturation orientation, the development and validation of more detailed measures of integration are an obvious next step in the assessment of acculturation.

Psychological Multiculturalism Theory

It has been argued that there are three distinct features of multiculturalism that can be named: the demographic, policy, and psychological aspects Celenk, van de Vijver

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(Tiryakian, 2003; Van de Vijver, Breugelmans, & Schalk-Soekar, 2008). The demographic aspect refers to the plural composition of a population, usually in a nation state. The policy aspect is usually defined in terms of its goals: (1) stimulating the participation of immigrants to mainstream society including the support of cultural maintenance by minorities, (2)  improving their social and economic position, (3)  establishing equal rights, and (4) preventing and eliminating discrimination (Van de Vijver et  al., 2008). Finally, the psychological aspects involve individuals’ acceptance and support of the plural composition as well as appreciation of diversity and fairness by all groups. The psychological aspects can be seen as prerequisites for the establishment of multicultural policies. The concept of multiculturalism has also been used to describe approaches to deal with cultural pluralism in schools and counseling. Psychological multiculturalism, the focus of this overview, can be conceptualized in different ways. In its most common conceptualization, multiculturalism involves positive attitudes toward a culturally plural institution (such as society, education, or counseling practice) in which members (professionals) accept and support diversity. Multiculturalism can also be taken to include behaviors and practices with regard to diversity, such as catering for religious diversity in classrooms. Furthermore, multiculturalism measures often target specific institutions in society where services are rendered to clients from various ethnic groups, notably education and counseling. In the last years, the concept of multiculturalism is also used in a slightly different context and with a different meaning than discussed here. In the literature on individuals with multiple cultural backgrounds (such as biculturals), the concept of multiculturalism has been used as a generic term for the cultural background of these individuals (Benet-Martínez, 2012). The concept refers to individuals who move between cultures by alternating, blending, or using other forms of combination of cultures. Therefore, it is a refinement of the concept of integration (the acculturation orientation is characterized by a combination of adoption of the mainstream culture and maintenance of the ethnic culture). Multiculturalism in this meaning is not discussed here. Studying multiculturalism in cross-cultural psychology is essential as multiculturalism is known to contribute to favorable intergroup relations. Additionally, there is an association between acculturation and multiculturalism, in that 218

multiculturalism is often related to positive acculturation outcomes such as psychological adjustment (e.g., general life satisfaction and self-esteem) and sociocultural adjustment (e.g., academic and career success and lack of behavioral problems) (Benet-Martínez, 2012). The attitudes of mainstreamers toward multiculturalism constitute an important antecedent condition in the acculturation process. The psychological aspects of multiculturalism can be viewed as involving multiple domains when measures are targeted at the society at large. Breugelmans and Van de Vijver (2004) distinguished between four domains in their measure of multiculturalism:  (1)  (dis)approval of cultural diversity; (2)  maintenance of the ethnic culture and adoption of the mainstream culture, which refers to the preferred orientations by the mainstream members; (3) adjustment orientations by the mainstream group to the multicultural society; and (4)  anti-discrimination, societal participation, and interaction between the mainstream and immigrant groups. Several factor analytic studies using the scale have confirmed that all these domains load on a single factor (see Van de Vijver et  al., 2008). Arends-Toth and Van de Vijver (2003) also factor analyzed another scale that was used in the Netherlands, a Dutch adaptation of Berry and Kalin’s (1995) Canadian scale, which also yielded a unifactorial solution. These studies strongly suggest that the psychological aspects of multiculturalism that deal with the acceptance of and support for the plural composition of the population in a nation state can be conceptually split up in strongly interrelated domains. Support for multiculturalism differs across these domains. Thus, Dutch mainstream samples show much support for multiculturalism in the domain of antidiscrimination and the need for equal opportunities, but they show much less support for cultural maintenance and are, on average, of the opinion that immigrants are insufficiently adjusted to the Dutch society (Van de Vijver et al., 2008). So, psychological aspects of multiculturalism in society are statistically unifactorial and show different endorsement rates across domains. The role of differential support for multiculturalism in different societal domains is important in choosing or designing instruments. Studies on multiculturalism have shown neutral or indifferent attitudes (i.e., means that were close to the midpoint of the response scale) in Germany (Zick, Wagner, Van Dick, & Petzel, 2001), the United States (Citrin,

Assessment of Psychological Accu lturation and Multiculturalism

Sears, Muste, & Wong, 2001), Australia (Ho, 1990), and the Netherlands (e.g., Breugelmans & Van de Vijver, 2004; Schalk-Soekar, 2007). Slightly more positive attitudes were found in Canada (Berry & Kalin, 1995) and New Zealand (Ward & Masgoret, 2008), whereas slightly more negative attitudes were observed in Spain (Medrano, 2005) and the United Kingdom (Heath & Tilley, 2005). The lower scores of the latter two countries were unexpected (in that there would not be a priori reason to expect lower scores in these countries, in particular because Spain has a fairly permissive immigration policy compared to most European countries; Huddlestone & Niessen, 2011). These cross-national differences in support for multiculturalism may well be valid, but these could also be related to the domains that were chosen in the various countries. The instruments used in Spain and the United Kingdom paid relatively much attention to adaptation by immigrants. We know from our own studies that instruments that have many items about adaptation of immigrants are likely to result in low levels of support for multiculturalism. Support for multiculturalism varies among majority and minority members. Verkuyten (2007) argued that multiculturalism is two sided in the sense that the minority group needs to be accepted and recognized by the majority group and that minority groups should accept and recognize the majority group and each other. Moreover, multiculturalism has different dynamics for majority and minority members. For instance, Berry and Kalin (1995) indicated that, when groups benefit more from multiculturalism, they are more in favor of it. In line with this reasoning, it has been found that immigrant groups are more in favor of multiculturalism compared to the majority groups (Van de Vijver et al., 2008). In the Netherlands, there was a positive relationship between the support for multiculturalism and positive evaluation of the in-group among immigrant members and a positive relationship between the endorsement of multiculturalism and positive evaluation of the out-group among the majority members (Verkuyten, 2005).

Content Analysis of Multiculturalism Measures Retrieval of instruments

Similar to the acculturation measures, publicly available multiculturalism measures were systematically reviewed. Self-report multiculturalism measures were searched via a range of English peer-reviewed journals’ electronic databases, such

as PsycINFO and PsycArticles. In order to access the multiculturalism measures, different keywords have been used such as assessing multiculturalism, multiculturalism, instruments, and meta-analysis. In addition, a message was posted on a listserv for cross-cultural psychologists to obtain additional measures. The search resulted in 20 different multiculturalism measures. The items of 12 of those measures were not publicly available; so they were excluded, and the remaining eight measures were included. Compared to our search of acculturation instruments, we were less successful and identified a much smaller number of measures. In order to systematically overview each instrument, we created a coding scheme, and each instrument was reviewed using that coding scheme (a list of the instruments can be found in Table 10.2; an extended version of the table with codings for each instrument on all categories can be found at http://www.tilburguniversity.edu/ccis). Similar to the acculturation measures, the coding scheme to overview multiculturalism instruments can be divided into two main sections: namely theoretical issues (including multiculturalism attitudes and behaviors, conceptual models, and life domains) and formal item/ instrument characteristics (including the name of the scale, authors, publication year, target group, age group, reliabilities, background questions, subscales, number of items, question format, and response format). The categories are discussed in detail in the following section. An extended version of the codings can be accessed from http://www.tilburguniversity.edu/ccis. The majority of the multiculturalism measures reviewed in the present chapter focus on a specific context; more specifically, they are designed to measure multiculturalism in the school or counseling settings. An inspection of items on the website at http://www.tilburguniversity.edu/ccis reveals that this focus on contexts has major consequences for the item contents.

Theoretical issues Multiculturalism attitudes

Multiculturalism attitudes refer to the preferences (likes and dislikes) of the immigrant group or the mainstreamers toward the process. Statements such as “I think that Dutch schools should think more about the cultural background of their pupils” (Multicultural Attitude Scale; Breugelmans & Van de Vijver, 2004) and “Ethnic minorities should be helped to preserve their cultural heritages in Canada” (Multicultural Ideology Scale; Berry & Celenk, van de Vijver

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Table 10.2  Alphabetic Listing of Multiculturalism Measures in the Public Domain (More extensive version of the table, including review of the each instrument based on each criterion separately can be accessed from http://www. tilburguniversity.edu/ccis). Name

Author(s)

Year

Strengths

Multicultural Attitude Scale

Breugelmans, & Van de Vijver

2004

Good psychometric properties, covers multiple domains

Multicultural Awareness to School Environment

Morote & Tatum

2010

Good psychometric properties

Multicultural Awareness, Knowledge, Skills Survey

D’Andrea et al.

1991

Frequently used, good psychometric properties, covers multiple domains

Multicultural Competency scale

Holcomb-McCoy & Day Vines

2004

Covers multiple domains

Multicultural Counseling Knowledge and Awareness Scale

Ponterotto, Gretchen, 2002 Utsey, Rieger, & Austin 2005

Good psychometric properties, covers multiple domains

Multicultural Ideology Scale

1995

Good psychometric properties, covers multiple domains

2006

Covers multiple domains

Munroe Multicultural Munroe & Pearson Attitude Scale Questionnaire

Kalin, 1995) are aimed to identify multicultural attitudes of the individuals. Almost half the scales (41.2 %) have various statements to measure multiculturalism preferences.

Multiculturalism behaviors

Multiculturalism behaviors refer to explicit acts of individuals regarding diversity. Statements such as “I do not act to stop racism” (Munroe Multicultural Attitude Scale Questionnaire; Munroe & Pearson, 2006) and “As a child, I played with people different from me” (Multicultural Efficacy Scale; Guyton & Wesche, 2005) are examples of behavioral items. Almost all subscales (88.2%) include items that measure behaviors. Additionally, we were interested to what extent both multiculturalism attitudes and behaviors are assessed in the instruments. We found that 220

Psychometric properties not available

Good psychometric properties, covers multiple domains

Multicultural Efficacy Guyton & Wesche Scale Berry & Kalin

Weaknesses

Low internal consistency in one subscale

a small number of measures combine both attitudes and behaviors (29.4%), whereas 65.0% of the subscales either measure attitudes (11.8%) or behaviors (58.8%). It can be concluded that, as in the case of acculturation, there is a dominance of behavioral items, and that the combination of behavioral and attitudinal items is less common.

Conceptual model

All the instruments assume that multiculturalism has a (conceptually) unidimensional structure that is (statistically) unifactorial. The few studies that have tested this assumption report support for it.

Formal item/instrument characteristics Target group

Our overview of the publicly available measures pointed out that none of the measures are directed

Assessment of Psychological Acculturation and Multiculturalism

to a specific cultural group, unlike the acculturation measures. However, 62.5% of the measures are directed to a specific professional group, notably teachers and counselors (e.g., Multicultural Efficacy Scale; Guyton & Wesche, 2005; Multicultural Awareness, Knowledge, Skills Survey; D’Andrea, Daniels, & Heck, 1991). The choice of target groups is particularly relevant in items of support for multiculturalism in society; those items are to be administered in both the dominant and immigrant groups. It is our experience that if a multiculturalism instrument is to be administered in both groups, care is needed to ensure that either the same formulation applies to both groups or slight item adaptations are implemented.

stand-alone measures because they cannot capture multiculturalism in any comprehensive way.

Age group

Life domains

None of the multiculturalism measures are specifically designed for a certain age group. They all target, usually tacitly, adolescent and adult subjects.

Reliabilities

Internal consistencies are available for almost all measures (87.5%). Reliability is not reported for the Multicultural Competency Scale (Holcomb-McCoy & Day Vines, 2004). Similar to the acculturation measures, reliabilities are reported for each subscale separately (unless the questionnaire does not include any subscales), and only one of the scales had internal consistencies lower than 0.70 for either one or more subscales (e.g., reliability was reported as 0.58 for the act domain subscale of the Munroe Multicultural Attitude Scale Questionnaire; Munroe & Pearson, 2006). Despite the limited number of publicly available multiculturalism measures, the ones that are available are found to be highly internally consistent (indeed, higher than the available acculturation instruments in our data set).

Proxy measures of multiculturalism

A minority of 25% of the measures include items to measure background information of the participants (e.g., ethnic/cultural background in the Multicultural Awareness, Knowledge, Skills Survey; D’Andrea et  al., 1991). Yet, this proportion is higher than in acculturation instruments. Country of birth and ethnicity are known to be related to multiculturalism; immigrants are, on average, more supportive of multiculturalism (e.g., Van de Vijver et al., 2008; Verkuyten, 2005). However, concerns about the use of short proxies in acculturation measures also apply here. Such proxies are insufficient as

Subscales

Our classification of instruments as having a single scale or different subscales was again based on the authors’ way of presenting the scale. A total of 37.5% of the multiculturalism measures consist of a single scale (e.g., Multicultural Ideology Scale; Berry & Kalin, 1995), whereas 62.5% have different subscales (e.g., experience with diversity, attitude, and efficacy subscales of The Multicultural Efficacy Scale; Guyton & Wesche, 2005). Some examples of the subscales were multicultural awareness, skills, act domain, care domain, and knowledge domain. Life domains that are covered in multiculturalism measures include school, work, food, social activities, friends, music, family, and religion; 37.5% include statements dealing with counseling and 25% with education.

Number of items

Multiculturalism measures tend to be short. The minimum number of items in the measures is 5 and the maximum number is 51 (M  =  15.4, SD  =  11.4), with 58.8% of the measures including fewer than the mean of 15.4 items (e.g., Act Domain, The Munroe Multicultural Attitude Scale Questionnaire; Munroe & Pearson, 2006).

Question format

No scales use open-end questions, only instruments with forced-choice questions have been used. All scales employ questions in the form of statements. An example is “I think non-natives and Dutch should cooperate more to solve problems in the Netherlands” (Multicultural Attitude Scale; Breugelmans & Van de Vijver, 2004).

Response format

The same classification criteria were used as for the acculturation measures. The most popular response format includes graded options for endorsement such as “Strongly Disagree-Strongly Agree,” “Very limited-Very good” (58.8%), followed by forced choice response options such as “Yes-No,” and “Competence met-Competence unmet” (23.5%), and frequency format such as “Never-Rarely-Occasionally-Frequently” (5.9%); a mixed format is used in 11.8% of the scales. Celenk, van de Vijver

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Conclusion

One of the main conclusions of the present multiculturalism overview is that the majority of the available measures target a specific context. These measures either aim at assessing multiculturalism in school settings (among students and teachers) or in counseling. Only few measures target the society at large. We mentioned strengths and weaknesses of each multiculturalism instrument, which can be seen in Table 10.2. It is clear that both positive and negative sides of each measure are related to instrument characteristics; more specifically to either psychometric properties (good psychometric properties as strength and low internal consistencies or absence of reporting them as weakness) or covering multiple domains to ensure the generalizability of the findings. Again, it is difficult to suggest a particular scale as better than the others. The first reason is that measures often relate to different domains (education, counseling, and society at large). The second is that conceptually, the field of multiculturalism is not very advanced; we do not have theories on how psychological multiculturalism relates to other aspects of functioning in multicultural societies such as ethnic identity (for an exception, see Verkuyten, 2007). There are no well-tried-and-tested models of multiculturalism that can guide the search for instruments. Clearly, more conceptual work is needed in this area.

General Conclusions

We have compiled an overview of public-domain measures of psychological acculturation and multiculturalism. A  content analysis of these measures revealed that several measures have a well-specified theoretical background and show adequate psychometric properties. Still, there is no single measure that has been tried and tested in multiple groups and contexts. We do not yet have well-established measures of acculturation and multiculturalism; in other words, we do not have measures that have emerged as widely accepted procedures for assessing psychological acculturation and multiculturalism. Given the paucity of measures that have shown good reliability and validity in multiple contexts, the desire to adapt instruments or design new ones is easy to justify. An inspection of the existing scales reveals that designing new scales or adapting existing scales is relatively simple. Researchers working in contexts involving new cultural groups may want to argue that existing measures are not optimally suited for their purposes. 222

Recommendations for choosing or developing instruments

Our review leads us to five recommendations for choosing or designing new measures:  1. The measure should have a clear conceptual basis (bidimensional in the case of acculturation assessment and unidimensional in the case of multiculturalism assessment). 2. The measure should refer to multiple domains. The choice of domains should start with an analysis of the cultural context of the study. 3. A deliberate decision has to be made about whether attitudes and/or behaviors are to be assessed. In the case of assessment of acculturation, there is an additional decision needed, involving which aspect(s) of the acculturation process is (are) to be measured: conditions, orientations, and/or outcomes. In addition, if proxies like generation status are going to be used, it should be specified how proxies are to be integrated in the final measure, both conceptually and statistically. 4. Multiple items and response formats have been employed. All have shown, or at least have the potential to show, adequate psychometric properties. No superior item or response format emerges from our overview. 5. The acculturation and multiculturalism literature is replete with studies in which internal consistencies are the only statistics used to evaluate the psychometric properties of an instrument. It is important in our view to provide further support for the validity of measures by describing nomological networks or conducting multivariate analyses (e.g., factor analysis) of the items or subscales.

Challenges

In our view, the assessment of acculturation and multiculturalism faces three assessment challenges:  1. Many measures of acculturation and some measures of multiculturalism give an impoverished rendering of the underlying construct. For example, some acculturation measures only deal with language mastery, incorrectly assuming that this variable gives a complete picture of the acculturation process. Acculturation is a complex process in which immigrants interact with their environment in a number of different ways. A good mastery of the target language is important for functioning in the host society; yet, a measure of mastery of the target language does not address the skill in the ethnic language, psychological outcomes

Assessment of Psychological Acculturation and Multiculturalism

(perceived stress and satisfaction with life), or the context in which acculturation takes place. So, when choosing or designing an acculturation measure, it is important to start from an analysis of the purpose of the information to be collected. It may well be that, after ample considerations, it is decided that host-language proficiency is sufficient for the purpose of the study. However, such information will often be insufficient. More generally, the field of acculturation and multiculturalism is not well served by “quick and dirty,” under inclusive measures. 2. Comparative acculturation studies will become increasingly important. In addition, in the future we expect that more existing measures will be “exported” to new groups and countries. In these cases, structural equivalence (i.e., does the instrument measure the same in the groups studied?) will be addressed because it will help to gain insight into what makes a measure a good instrument in comparative studies. 3. We need to work toward a more unified form of assessment of acculturation and multiculturalism. Currently, the field is still small and fractionated. More studies are needed to build up a database of instruments and their properties. Such a database should be so rich and detailed that we can employ meta-analytic techniques to decide which forms of assessment are better for which groups. Although our chapter has noted both strengths and in some cases considerable weaknesses of extant measures of acculturation and multiculturalism, we would like to conclude that these considerations are not meant to discourage the use of these measures. Quite to the contrary, we hope that our chapter will help to disseminate knowledge about the instruments, will increase the quality of decisions when adopting or adapting measures, and will increase the perceived need to use these instruments.

Notes

1. It is important to note that the original formulation by Berry is about preferences for maintaining the original and for establishing contacts with the host culture. 2. We refer to online resources in which items of the instruments are available. It is important to acknowledge that there may be additional acculturation instruments that were not mentioned in our chapter. They might be excluded if they did not match our overview criteria or they may be commonly used in other disciplines but not that frequently cited in psychological research and did not come up in our search. 3. In our overview, we adopt the decision of the authors of the scales. In other words, if authors refer to the entire measure as a single scale, even though it measures multiple components of acculturation, we referred to it as a single scale.

For instance, Acculturative Stress Scale (Salgado de Snyder, 1987) is identified as a single scale despite the fact that it measures various components of acculturation. 4. References beginning with a single asterisk involve acculturation measures; references with a double asterisk involve multiculturalism measures.

References4

Alegria, M. (2009). The challenge of acculturation measures: what are we missing? A commentary on Thomson & Hoffman-Goetz. Social Science & Medicine, 69, 996–998. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.07.006 Arends-Toth, J. V., & Van de Vijver, F. J.  R. (2003). Multiculturalism and acculturation:  Views of Dutch and Turkish-Dutch. European Journal of Social Psychology, 33, 249–266. doi:10.1002/ejsp.143 Arends-Toth, J. V., & Van de Vijver, F. J. R. (2006a). Assessment of psychological acculturation: Choices in designing an instrument. In D. L. Sam & J. W. Berry (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of acculturation psychology (pp. 142–160). Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Arends-Toth, J. V., & Van de Vijver, F. J.  R. (2006b). Issues in conceptualization and assessment of acculturation. In M. H.  Bornstein & L. R.  Cote (Eds.), Acculturation and parent-child relationships: Measurement and development (pp. 33–62). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Arends-Toth, J. V., Van de Vijver, F. J. R., & Poortinga, Y. H. (2006). The influence of method factors on the relation between attitudes and self-reported behaviors in the assessment of acculturation. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 22, 4–12. doi:10.1027/1015–5759.22.1.4 *Barona, A., & Miller, J. A. (1994). Short Acculturation Scale for Hispanic Youth (SASH-Y):  A  preliminary report. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 16, 155–162. doi:10.1177/07399863940162005 Bayer, A. H., Brisbane, F. L. & Ramirez, A., & Epstein, L. G. (1998). Advanced methodological issues in culturally competent evaluation for substance abuse prevention, Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. *Benet-Martínez, V. (2003). The Riverside Acculturation Stress Inventory (RASI):  Development and psychometric properties. Technical Report, Department of Psychology, University of California at Riverside. Benet-Martínez, V. (2012). Multiculturalism: Cultural, personality, and social processes. In K. Deaux & M. Snyder (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of personality and social psychology (pp. 623– 648). Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. *Benet-Martínez, V., & Haritatos, J. (2005). Bicultural identity integration (BII):  Components and psychosocial antecedents. Journal of Personality, 73, 1015–1050. http://dx.doi. org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2005.00337.x Berry, J. W. (1984). Multicultural policy in Canada: A social psychological analysis. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 16, 353–370. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0080859 Berry, J. W. (1992). Costs and benefits of multiculturalism:  A  social-psychological analysis. In S. Hryniuk (Ed.). Twenty years of multiculturalism:  Successes and failures, (pp. 183–199). Winnipeg, Canada: St. John’s College Press. Berry, J. W. (1997). Immigration, acculturation and adaptation. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 46, 5–34. *Berry, J.W. (2010). Mutual Intercultural Relations in Plural Societies (MIRIPS) questionnaire. Retrieved from http://cacr. victoria.ac.nz/projects/research-projects/mirips

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CH A PT E R

11

Implicit Multicultural Identities

Thierry Devos and ThuyLoan Vu

Abstract In this chapter, we explore the relevance of the implicit social cognition framework to research on multicultural identities. We posit that self-related mental processes underlying multicultural identities often operate at a largely automatic or nonconscious level. We propose a conceptualization of implicit multicultural identities as associative knowledge structures. We describe techniques that can be adapted to assess implicit multicultural identities. The chapter includes sections devoted to the relations between implicit and explicit self-concepts, the interconnections among various components of the self-system, the context-sensitivity of implicit self-definitions, and the cultural foundations of implicit knowledge. In sum, the chapter lays the foundations for a more systematic program of research on implicit multicultural identities. Key Words:  multicultural identity, implicit social cognition, automatic, nonconscious, identity, self-concept, attitude, dissociation, affective-cognitive consistency, implicit measures, biculturalism, ­multiculturalism, culture

Without a doubt, the topic of multicultural identities elicits a growing interest in psychology (Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2010). In a world characterized by a globalized economy, movements of populations, and new communication technologies, individuals are increasingly immersed in multicultural environments. These societal changes not only influence the frequency and nature of intercultural contacts, they also shape people’s understanding of who they are. Notably, more and more individuals are likely to define themselves along multiple ethnic or cultural lines. Recent research on multicultural identities emphasizes that individuals can successfully internalize or identify with more than one culture (e.g., Bender & Ng, 2009; Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005; LaFromboise, Coleman, & Gerton, 1993). The present chapter explores the relevance of the implicit social cognition framework to research on multicultural identities.

Previous work on multicultural identities has relied to a large extent on self-report measures. However, advances in the study of implicit social cognition stress that psychological processes related to self and identity and contributing to thoughts, feelings, or behaviors (i.e., self-related mental processes) often operate outside of conscious control or awareness (for reviews, see Devos, Huynh, & Banaji, 2012; Schnabel & Asendorpf, 2010). Drawing from this literature, the aim of the present chapter is to lay the foundations for a more systematic program of research on implicit multicultural identities. The past two decades have been marked by an enthusiasm for the study of implicit social cognition (Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2007; Payne & Gawronski, 2010). We have witnessed the emergence of new paradigms and techniques allowing investigators to study thoughts, feelings, and behaviors operating outside of conscious control or 227

awareness. These developments have renewed and expanded research conducted on several core psychological constructs (for reviews, see Devos, 2008; Gawronski & Payne, 2010; Petty, Fazio, & Briñol, 2008; Wittenbrink & Schwarz, 2007). Traditionally, research on self and identity examines the role that the self plays in consciously ascribing meaning, setting goals, and initiating behavior. As such, the emphasis is on experiences of reflexive consciousness and the primary window to the self is through introspection. Here, in contrast, the accent will be put on largely automatic and nonconscious psychological processes. The assumption is that a myriad of mental acts arise without introspective access or deliberative thought. In highlighting the contribution of automatic and nonconscious processes, our goal is not to argue that this level of analysis should replace approaches focusing on more deliberative or conscious processes. Our intention is not to suggest that the study of implicit aspects of self and identity captures something more essential than investigations relying on more traditional methods. Instead, we think that the implicit social cognition framework can easily complement more established perspectives in that it can both reveal aspects of self and identity that have been neglected and provide converging evidence for core assumptions in the literature on multicultural identities. In this chapter, we capitalize on research on the implicit social cognition of self and identity as it applies to issues of multicultural identities. In contrast to many chapters included in this volume, we are in no position to provide a synthesis of a large body of research. To put it simply, research on implicit multicultural identities is scant. Thus, we selected issues covered in the implicit social cognition literature that shed light on aspects of self and identity particularly relevant to multicultural or bicultural individuals. In doing so, we hope to stimulate further research that would integrate this level of analysis more systematically. In sum, the bulk of this chapter provides the foundations for a programmatic line of research on implicit multicultural identities. We begin with an outline of a conceptualization of implicit multicultural identities. We address issues of both automaticity and awareness and develop the idea that implicit multicultural identities can be conceptualized as associative knowledge structures. Next, we describe several techniques that are particularly well-suited to assess implicit multicultural identities. We explain succinctly how these techniques can be implemented and we cover their respective advantages and 228

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limitations. We then devote several sections to important conceptual issues relevant to the study of implicit self and identity. We summarize empirical evidence for the feasibility of research on implicit bicultural identity. We devote a section on the relations between implicit and explicit self-concepts. We discuss approaches aimed at testing predictions regarding the interconnections among various components of the self-system. Our coverage also includes evidence for the context-sensitivity of implicit self-definitions. Finally, we attend to the cultural foundations of implicit knowledge.

Conceptualizing Implicit Multicultural Identities

In a span of a few years, the term implicit has become a buzz word in psychology. Yet, the concept remains fuzzy and polysemic (Moors & De Houwer, 2006). Without getting into all the nuances and debates, it is useful to make a distinction between issues of automaticity and awareness. In essence, the term implicit has a dual meaning that parallels the two reasons that are commonly provided to justify the use of implicit measures. To some extent, research on multicultural identities relying on self-reports is based on the following double assumption: Individuals are able and willing to report thoughts and feelings pertaining to their identity. Without a doubt, valuable insights can be gained by asking, for example, bicultural individuals to reflect on themselves, their experiences, or their attachment to different cultures. What is being reported and assessed then are portions of self-knowledge that are based on introspection and are accessible to consciousness. In addition, responses provided on self-report measures are relatively controllable. Individuals have the opportunity to tailor or edit their self-image fairly easily and in response to a variety of forces. Thus, what is being captured is the output of relatively deliberative processes. This double assumption is not only inherent to the tools used by researchers; it also transpires from influent theoretical models or perspectives. The self is an agent that takes on an active role in ascribing meaning, expressing attitudes, implementing choices, pursuing goals, or initiating actions. To do so, individuals reflect on themselves, introspect about what is important to them, and deliberately manufacture a sense of who they are within a given social environment. Without denying the relevance of work based on this assumption, research stemming from the implicit social cognition framework calls attention to other aspects of self and identity.

Automaticity

Social desirability, impression management, or demand characteristics can affect self-report of beliefs and attitudes. To use an example relevant to the topic at hand, it has been argued that self-reports of acculturation strategies are susceptible to demand characteristics (Rudmin, 2003). Often, a multicultural background is a source of self-worth. Individuals take pride in their ethnic and cultural heritages. Only under specific circumstances are multicultural individuals motivated to conceal or downplay the richness and complexity of their self-concepts. This being said, it is conceivable that members of ethnic or cultural minorities may sometimes feel pressured to minimize their attachment to their culture of origin or to the dominant culture. Implicit measures allow investigators to bypass self-presentational concerns. In this sense, the term implicit characterizes responses that occur without conscious control (Payne, 2005). Here, the circumstances are such that one may be unable to change or reverse the direction of the thought, feeling, or action. To give a concrete example, a Latina pursuing a graduate education may deliberately distance herself from gendered aspirations prevalent in her culture of origin and, at the same time, be unable to control her automatic endorsement of relatively traditional expectations. Here, control refers to self-regulatory processes aimed at inhibiting an unwanted response. In contrast, automaticity characterizes responses that are not under volitional control.

Outside of Conscious Awareness

Knowledge, beliefs, or attitudes are not necessarily available to introspection. For instance, under some circumstances, individuals may not be fully aware of the strength of their identification with their ethnic or cultural heritages. Thus, measures tapping self-knowledge that do not require introspection may reveal the extent to which a given culture is incorporated into the self-concept. Self-knowledge, for example, may be influenced by group membership, even though individuals are not aware of such an influence. A  Turkish immigrant may unknowingly incorporate principles cherished in his or her community, while consciously subscribing to values promoted in the society he or she lives in. When the term implicit is used to imply lack of awareness or unconsciousness, it can refer to a lack of conscious awareness of the origin of a thought (source awareness), the thought itself (content awareness), or the influence of the thought on

other psychological processes (impact awareness) (Gawronski, Hofmann, & Wilbur, 2006). In the case of multicultural individuals, they may not be cognizant that some of their thoughts (even those that do enter consciousness) are the product of the multiple cultural references they have internalized. They may also not be fully aware of affective, cognitive, or behavioral reactions that are rooted in their multicultural background. Finally, there might be circumstances under which individuals are perfectly aware of specific cultural references, but they do not register their impact on how they present themselves.

Multicultural Identities as Associative Knowledge Structures

Although these distinctions are important, the term implicit is used in this chapter to encompass processes that occur without conscious control and outside of conscious awareness. The relevance of these issues for assessments of multicultural identities has not been systematically evaluated yet, but it is clear that implicit measures may be useful in the sense that they allow investigators to capture aspects of self and identity that individuals are either unwilling or unable to report. The value of implicit measures to study multicultural identities is not limited to the possibility of bypassing demand characteristics or accessing knowledge that does not fully enter consciousness. More importantly, advances in the study of implicit social cognition provide concepts and paradigms to document the far-reaching cultural and contextual influences on the self. Being a multicultural individual is an aspect of one’s self-concept that exists in a myriad of cognitive, affective, or behavioral reactions marked by a lack of conscious control, awareness, intention, or self-reflection. Psychological processes related to acculturation and multicultural identities largely occur at an automatic or nonconscious level in the sense that individuals might not be able to control or are not necessarily aware of the impact that cultural worldviews and experiences have on their sense of self, values, attitudes, and behaviors. The implicit social cognition framework has the potential to highlight the subtle but crucial ways in which socio-cultural realities influence self-related mental processes. Repeated experiences within a specific social or cultural context shape associative knowledge that is a key component of cultural identities. From this theoretical vantage point, multicultural identities can be conceptualized as networks of associations Devos, Vu

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that can be activated, strengthened, or undermined through experiences and interactions. This conceptualization has strong affinities with the dynamic constructivist approach of multicultural identities (Hong, Morris, Chiu, & Benet-Martínez, 2000). Indeed, it shares the assumption that cultural identities can be thought of as specific meaning systems. Multicultural individuals hold multiple cultural systems that can be accessed either separately or in conjunction with one another depending on the context. The grouping of different systems makes up a meaningful network of knowledge that is relevant and useful to individuals. Dual cultural identities often imply an ability to engage in cultural frame switching, that is, to move between different cultural meaning systems in response to situational cues. For example, bicultural individuals can be primed to use meaning systems from any one of the two cultures they have internalized (Hong et al., 2000). A Chinese American person who is primed with East Asian cues will exhibit characteristically East Asian behaviors such as favoring external attributions to explain an ambiguous social event. When primed with Western cues, the same person will be more likely to display the fundamental attribution error, a characteristically Western behavior. Culture is not monolithic, and people can access multiple cultural meaning systems and switch between different culturally appropriate responses depending on the context. Focusing on issues of self and identity, research stemming from the implicit social cognition framework and the dynamic constructivist approach of multicultural identities both share the view that the self can be conceptualized as a network of associations between a central concept or referent (the self ) and a number of features, characteristics, or traits. Our current understanding of implicit associations is that they are reflections of repeated experiences (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995; Rudman, 2004). The daily lives of multicultural individuals ensure repeated exposures to symbols, ideas, and practices related to their different background across a wide range of situations. The repetitiveness and accessibility of these experiences should foster associations between the concept of self and these cultures. This being said, these associations may differ in strength and accessibility. At this level, the only demarcation between these approaches is that the implicit social cognition framework puts an emphasis on portions of self-knowledge that may operate at an automatic level or may not be accessible through introspection. This demarcation should not be overemphasized 230

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because proponents of the dynamic constructivist approach would probably subscribe to the idea that processes underlying multicultural minds often become automatic in that they operate effortlessly and do not require deliberative thinking.

Measuring Implicit Multicultural Identities

Research on implicit social cognition has been greatly facilitated by the introduction of new techniques such as the Implicit Association Test (IAT), the Go/No-go Association Task (GNAT), the Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (EAST), or sequential priming procedures (for reviews, see De Houwer, Teige-Mocigemba, Spruyt, & Moors, 2009; Fazio & Olson, 2003). These innovative techniques have been applied to a wide range of content domains across psychology and related fields. Directly relevant to the aims of the present chapter, several programs of research document that some of these techniques are suitable to investigate processes related to self and identity (Devos et  al., 2012; Schnabel & Asendorpf, 2010). A systematic coverage of available techniques is beyond the scope of this chapter. Here we will limit ourselves to a brief overview of several techniques that allow researchers to assess the direction and strength of implicit associations. In line with points made in the previous section, we focus on associative knowledge that may not necessarily be under volitional control or consciously accessible. Recently, Nosek, Hawkins, and Frazier (2011) compiled a list of 20 measurement procedures to which the label implicit is routinely ascribed. Among these techniques, the IAT (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) and sequential priming procedures (Fazio, Sanbonmatsu, Powell, & Kardes, 1986) account for the bulk of empirical studies on implicit social cognition. Because applications of sequential priming procedures tend to focus on automatic evaluative (good-bad) responses and rarely on constructs such as identity or self-concept, we will omit this measure from our coverage. (For overviews of this technique, see Wentura & Degner, 2010; Wittenbrink, 2007.) Before we describe specific techniques, it is important to note that they are to a large extent based on a common principle. The construct of interest is inferred based on the ease or difficulty with which individuals can perform a task. Typically, the task is set up so that performances on two within-subject conditions can be compared. Often, response latencies or patterns of errors (versus correct responses) are used to determine the direction and strength

of associations. The techniques are implemented such that individuals have limited control over their responses.

Implicit Association Test

The IAT was developed to indirectly access associative knowledge (Greenwald et  al., 1998). The primary assumption of the technique is that the direction and strength of associations between two pairs of concepts can be revealed by the ease with which participants discriminate (or pair) stimuli representing these concepts under different conditions. Excellent overviews of the conceptual and methodological aspects of this technique are available (Lane, Banaji, Nosek, & Greenwald, 2007; Nosek, Greenwald, & Banaji, 2007; Teige-Mocigemba, Klauer, & Sherman, 2010). To illustrate the technique, we will describe a version of the task developed to investigate patterns of identification among bicultural individuals (Devos, 2006). One of the IATs used in this research was set up to determine whether Mexican American college students identify more strongly with the Mexican culture or with the American culture. Thus, in this particular version of the IAT, the two relevant cultures were pitted against one another. Based on a pretest, stimuli were selected to represent these two cultures. The following stimuli were used to represent the Mexican culture:  a flag of Mexico, a bullfight, a chimichanga, a Mariachi, a sombrero, Ana Guevara (Mexican track and field athlete), and the words Cinco de Mayo. To represent the American culture, the stimuli were a flag of the United States of America, the Statue of Liberty, a hamburger, a poster of American Pie (movie), a cover of Cosmopolitan (magazine), Britney Spears, and the word Thanksgiving. These stimuli could be categorized unambiguously and easily according to the relevant distinction. The other pair of concepts contrasted were “Me” and “Not-me.” Four pronouns or terms that were self-relevant (I, me, mine, myself) and four pronouns or terms that designate other people (they, them, their, themselves) were used to represent, respectively, the concepts “Me” and “Not-me.” To measure the relative identification with Mexican and American cultures, participants were asked to complete several categorization tasks, each consisting of multiple trials. Some blocks functioned as practice, whereas other blocks were used to infer the direction and strength of associations between the concepts. As customary, stimuli appeared at the center of a computer screen and

the four concepts (labels) were placed at the upper right and left corners of the screen. In one block of trials, participants were asked to categorize, as quickly and as accurately as possible, “Me” words and Mexican symbols on one side and “Not-me” words and American symbols on the other side. In another block of trials, the way the two pairs of concepts were combined switched. Now, “Me” words shared the same response as American symbols and “Not-me” words shared the same response option as Mexican symbols. Again, participants were instructed to perform the double categorization task as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Different scoring algorithms have been proposed to analyze IAT data (Greenwald, Nosek, & Banaji, 2003), but the underlying logic always consists of comparing response latencies to these two configurations. If it is easier for someone to combine self-related words with symbols representing the concept “Mexican culture” than to pair the same self-related words with symbols linked to the concept “American culture,” it would suggest that, for this person, the relative strengths of these two identifications differ such that he or she identifies more strongly with the Mexican culture than with the American culture. Thus, the basic assumption of the IAT is that if concepts are strongly associated, categorizations will be easier (i.e., faster) when these concepts share the same response key than when they require different responses. The results of this study on Mexican American college students are described and discussed in a later section of this chapter. For now, let us stress that the IAT does not require introspective access and minimizes the role of conscious control or intention. In contrast to self-report measures, it has been established that the controllability of responses on this task is minimal when participants have limited experience with the technique and are not provided specific instructions on how to modify their IAT score (Cvencek, Greenwald, Brown, Gray, & Snowden, 2010; Nosek, Greenwald, et al., 2007). In other words, the IAT is impervious to self-presentational motivations and social desirability concerns. At least in some cases, the technique is also likely to reveal associations that individuals are not fully aware of. For researchers interested in using the IAT to study multicultural identities, it is important to be cognizant of several methodological or procedural issues. Although the IAT is relatively easy to implement, performances on the task are affected by a number of factors, and attention to details is crucial Devos, Vu

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to use the technique effectively. First, the order of the double categorization blocks is often a reliable source of variations such that participants display a stronger effect if they first complete the pairing that is consistent with their implicit associations than if they start with a task that is inconsistent for them (Nosek, Greenwald, et  al., 2007). The impact of this factor can be strongly reduced by increasing the number of practice trials prior to completing the second critical series of pairings (Nosek, Greenwald, & Banaji, 2005). Counterbalancing the order of the IAT blocks is common practice. The impact of the sequence of implicit and explicit measures is negligible (Nosek et al., 2005), but, depending on the aims of the study, it might be worth counterbalancing the order of the measures or using a specific sequence. Moving on to other issues, the overall response speed, which might be linked to factors such as cognitive fluency or age, is correlated with IAT effects such that more pronounced effects (e.g., more positive attitude toward one group than toward another group) are obtained among participants who perform the task more slowly (McFarland & Crouch, 2002). Some analytical approaches can be used to control for or neutralize this largely irrelevant source of variations (Cai, Sriram, Greenwald, & McFarland, 2004). Performances on the IAT are a function of both the labels and the stimuli used for the task (Devos & Ma, 2008; Mitchell, Nosek, & Banaji, 2003). Thus, it is very important to choose the labels carefully and to select stimuli representing the concepts without introducing confounding factors. Familiarity with the stimuli does not play much of a role in IAT performances (Dasgupta, Greenwald, & Banaji, 2003), but it is imperative to use stimuli that can easily and unambiguously be categorized along the relevant dimension. Asymmetries in the salience of the concepts can account for IAT effects (Rothermund & Wentura, 2004). Cultural knowledge and assumptions, also referred to as extrapersonal associations, may also contaminate IAT effects (Olson & Fazio, 2004). In particular for investigators who intend to develop a new version of the IAT, these issues should be considered carefully so as not to jeopardize the conclusions that can be drawn based on the findings.

Limitations of the IAT and Alternative Techniques

A dominant feature of the IAT is that it captures the relative associations between two pairs of concepts. This property is both a strength and a limitation of the technique. Many concepts have 232

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complementary concepts such that they are spontaneously compared to one another. For example, to define oneself as being against the death penalty implies a direct contrast to people who are in favor of the death penalty. Lay people may be prone to appraise many pairs of concepts as dichotomous distinctions or polar opposites (e.g., liberal/conservative, gay/straight, sciences/arts). However, for some research questions, associations with a single concept may be of interest. In addition, greater information may be obtained by measuring these associations independently rather than examining only comparative associations. The relative nature of the IAT might be an issue for research on multicultural identities. Contemporary models stress that psychological acculturation should not be conceptualized as a linear process of assimilation, which would imply that as immigrants acquire the host society’s values and behaviors, there would be a gradual disappearance of the original cultural or ethnic identity. Bidimensional models of acculturation posit that identifications with different cultures are not mutually exclusive (Berry, 2003; Berry, Phinney, Sam, & Vedder, 2006). In other words, immigrants or members of ethnic or cultural minorities do not necessarily have to choose between adapting to the host society and preserving their cultural heritage. The task described in the previous section gives us a sense of the relative strengths of two identifications, but it might be necessary in many cases to assess identification with relevant cultures more independently. To some extent, this can be done using the IAT if the concept of interest is contrasted to a point of reference that is less relevant or more neutral (Sherman, Rose, Koch, Presson, & Chassin, 2003). For example, in the same study (Devos, 2006), Mexican American participants also completed IATs that contrasted each culture (the Mexican culture and the American culture) to a concept defined as “Other cultures” and that was represented with a variety of symbols that were not linked to the two cultures of interest. On these versions of the IAT, participants displayed very strong associations between “Me” and either the Mexican culture or the American culture. An alternative approach to this issue can be taken by capitalizing on techniques developed to provide more absolute assessments of associations. We will now describe several techniques that could easily be adapted to study multicultural identities and that are, in some ways, more flexible than the traditional IAT.

The Go/No-go Association Task (GNAT, Nosek & Banaji, 2001) is a variation of go/no-go tasks. It requires participants to discriminate between target (signal) stimuli and distractor (noise) stimuli. The strength of association is inferred based on the difference in accuracy or the sensitivity of participants toward noise and signal stimuli. Like the IAT, the GNAT is often used to index an implicit attitude by assessing the strength of association between a target object and two poles of an evaluative dimension. To measure the strength of cultural identification, it could be implemented as follows. In one block of trials, participants would be asked to provide “go” responses (e.g., press the space bar) to Mexican symbols and to “Me” words, and “no-go” responses to distractor stimuli (e.g., not press any key for symbols related to other cultures or “Not-me” words). In another block of trials, the “Not-me” concept would become activated such that participants would now have to provide “go” responses to Mexican symbols (as was the case before) and “Not-me” words and “no-go” responses to stimuli that are not associated to one of these two concepts. Go responses typically have to be made within a given response deadline (e.g., 600 or 700 ms). The performance difference between the two blocks would be interpreted as reflecting the strength of association. Note that in contrast to the IAT, GNAT scores are usually based on signal detection analyses of error rates rather than response latencies (Green & Swets, 1966). Thus, individuals are expected to perform better in terms of sensitivity scores (d’) when required to focus on two concepts that are strongly associated than when required to focus on two concepts that are weakly associated. The GNAT can be implemented in a way that minimizes the need or role of complementary or contrasting concepts. Thus, the technique might be suitable to measure more independently the extent to which individuals identify with two cultures. The format of the assessment would then parallel self-report measures based on bidimensional models of acculturation (Huynh, Howell, & Benet-Martínez, 2009; Ryder, Alden, & Paulhus, 2000). The Single Categorization Implicit Association Test (SCIAT, Karpinski & Steinman, 2006) is a modified version of the IAT that measures association with a single concept and eliminates the need for the second contrast concept. The task is often implemented to measure attitude toward a single object (e.g., social group, brand, self ). In this case, stimuli associated with this object or with an evaluative dimension (i.e., good-bad or pleasant-unpleasant

words) are presented in a random order. Potentially, the task could easily be adapted to measure identification with a specific culture. In this case, the key target concept would be the culture (e.g., “Mexican culture”) and we would once again use the contrast between “Me” and “Not-me” so that the task assesses how strongly the culture of interest is linked to the self. In one block of trials, “Me” words and Mexican symbols would be categorized on one response key and “Not-me” words would be categorized on a different key. In another block of trials, “Not-me” words and Mexican symbols would be categorized on one response key, and “Me” words would be categorized on a different key. As can be seen based on this description, the SCIAT is very similar to the IAT, except that it uses three concepts instead of four and the combined blocks involve assigning two concepts to one response and one concept to the other response. A similar version of the task could be administered to assess the strength of identification with another culture (e.g., “American culture”). The Sorting Paired Features Task (SPFT; Bar-Anan, Nosek, & Vianello, 2009) eliminates the IAT block structure. The SPFT uses four response options instead of two. Each trial requires participants to categorize two stimuli (e.g., one target and one attribute) at once to one of four possible target-attribute pairs, thereby requiring the simultaneous processing of both association components. The four possible concept pairs (e.g., Me+Mexican culture, Me+American culture, Not-me+Mexican culture, and Not-me+American culture) are each mapped onto one response key. As customary, participants have to categorize the stimuli in the appropriate category as fast as possible, but in this case they have to process a pair of stimuli. The task provides separable assessments of the four association strengths involved. This being said, the four scores are not completely independent, and each score needs to be interpreted relative to the other three (rather than in isolation). The Brief Implicit Association Test (BIAT, Sriram & Greenwald, 2009) differs from the standard IAT in that it uses fewer trials (about one-third the number of IAT trials) and requires participants to focus on two of the four (or more) concepts at a time. More precisely, participants are instructed to focus on two focal concepts (among all the available concepts) and to pair stimuli that belong to the focal concepts with one key while pressing another key for any other nonfocal stimuli. Having focal concepts diminishes the relevance of the nonfocal concepts and helps to control for irrelevant individual Devos, Vu

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differences in response strategy. In addition, the decrease in the number of trials in the BIAT greatly reduces the time needed for administration and thus can be useful when dealing with time constraints. A variety of techniques can be used to meet aims that cannot be operationalized in terms of associative strengths. For example, researchers might be interested in evaluating the accessibility of a construct (e.g., attitude, stereotype, or self-concept). The Lexical Decision Task (LDT, Meyer & Schvaneveldt, 1971) is a suitable technique to measure this aspect of implicit knowledge (Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2005; Macrae, Bodenhausen, Milne, Thorn, & Castelli, 1997). The technique involves measuring how quickly strings of letters can be classified as words or nonwords. In a series of trials, strings of letters are presented on a computer screen. In some cases, letter strings form a word, and in other cases, they do not. The premise is that words related to a given construct are likely to be identified more quickly to the extent that the construct is highly accessible. For example, a LDT could be devised to measure the accessibility of the concept “diversity” among multicultural individuals by asking participants to identify as quickly as possible whether strings of letters presented to them are words or nonwords. The speed with which participants successfully identify terms related to diversity (e.g. “variety,” “multiplicity,” “differences”) should be indicative of the accessibility of this concept.

Psychometric Properties of Implicit Measures

Compared to other implicit measures, the psychometric properties of the IAT have been examined fairly systematically. To some extent, the success of the IAT can be attributed to the fact that the technique can easily be implemented to assess a wide range of constructs (e.g., attitude, stereotype, self-concept, self-esteem) and to the relatively compelling evidence for the reliability and validity of the measure. The internal consistency of the IAT (Cronbach’s alphas or split-half correlations) is satisfactory, ranging from 0.70 to 0.90 (Nosek, Greenwald, et al., 2007). The test-retest reliability of the measure is relatively low, with a median value of 0.50 (Lane et al., 2007). This apparent discrepancy suggests either that the IAT should be conceptualized as a measure of states rather than traits or that unrelated sources of variance (e.g., test-taking strategies, attention, or practice effects) lower test-retest correlations (Teige-Mocigemba et al., 2010). 234

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Various types of evidence can be cited to lend support to the validity of the technique. For example, a substantial body of research documents reliable differences between groups of participants who a priori should differ on the construct assessed. For example, the study described earlier revealed that Mexican American participants identified more strongly with the Mexican culture than Caucasian American participants (Devos, 2006). Moving beyond the study of group differences, researchers have examined the extent to which IAT scores correlated with (a)  explicit measures of the same construct, (b) other implicit measures of the same construct, and (c)  potential outcome variables (Teige-Mocigemba et al., 2010). A conceptual discussion of the relations between implicit and explicit measures of social cognitions is provided later. Examining this issue through the lenses of the validity aspect, the available data provide evidence for both the convergent and divergent validity of the IAT. A meta-analysis revealed an average correlation of 0.24 between the IAT and explicit measures (Hofmann, Gawronski, Gschwendner, Le, & Schmitt, 2005). A slightly larger correlation of 0.37 was obtained in a large web-based data collection sampling a variety of attitude domains and comparing the IAT to an explicit measure that nicely paralleled the format of the IAT (Nosek, 2005). Correlations among various implicit measures of the same construct should help establish their convergent validity. Interestingly, performances on different implicit measures, including the IAT, are often weakly intercorrelated (Rudolph, Schröder-Abé, Schütz, Gregg, & Sedikides, 2008; Sakellaropoulo & Baldwin, 2007). This being said, various techniques often yield convergent findings and, at least under some circumstances, are reliably related (Cunningham, Preacher, & Banaji, 2001). Important differences among techniques should not be overlooked (Olson & Fazio, 2003) and structural analyses of available techniques help elucidate their similarities and differences (De Houwer, 2003; De Houwer & Moors, 2010). The ability of the IAT to predict behavior over and above explicit measures has now been well established (Perugini, 2005; Perugini, Richetin, & Zogmaister, 2010). The IAT and explicit measures have been shown to account for separate portions of variance in criterion variables (Schnabel, Banse, & Asendorpf, 2006). The IAT often predicts relatively spontaneous behavioral responses, whereas explicit measures account for more deliberative behaviors. For example, an IAT

assessing the extent to which the concept “shy” is associated with the concept “self ” accounted for spontaneous behavioral responses in a realistic situation, whereas a parallel explicit measure did not (Asendorpf, Banse, & Mucke, 2002). These findings echo the picture emerging from research on implicit and explicit motives in that their lack of overlap suggests that they are tapping different behavioral systems (McClelland, Koestner, & Weinberger, 1989; Schultheiss, 2008). Finally, the IAT outperforms explicit measures in socially sensitive domains such as prejudice and stereotyping (Greenwald, Poehlman, Uhlmann, & Banaji, 2009). These findings demonstrate the predictive validity of the IAT. At this point, the predictive validity of implicit assessments of multicultural identities has not been examined systematically, but research focusing on other domains provides a good starting point to make predictions regarding the behavioral correlates of implicit multicultural identities. Cultural identities are linked to and shape a myriad of behavioral responses. Some of these responses may stem from relatively conscious or deliberative thought processes (e.g., where someone chooses to live or send their children to school or the kinds of cultural activities a person may engage in), but other reactions are more likely to be initiated or triggered by responses that do not fully enter consciousness or are not under volitional control (e.g., comfort or discomfort in social interactions or nonverbal behavioral responses). As mentioned earlier, much less is known about the reliability and validity of other techniques presented in this chapter. The reliability of the GNAT has been found to be lower than the IAT’s (Nosek & Banaji, 2001). However, some studies have attested to the GNAT’s validity (Boldero, Rawlings, & Haslam, 2007; Gonsalkorale, von Hippel, Sherman, & Klauer, 2009). As with the GNAT, the SCIAT’s reliability has been shown to be somewhat lower than that of the IAT (Schnabel, Asendorpf, & Greenwald, 2008), but some validity estimates are encouraging (Friese, Hofmann, & Schmitt, 2008). Initial studies showed that reliability estimates of SPFT are considerably lower than for the IAT, but the validity of the technique has been documented based on both group-level and individual-level differences (Bar-Anan et al., 2009). At this point, it is worth stressing that implicit measures are not restricted to sophisticated and high-tech reaction time-based techniques. A  variety of paper-and-pencil measures can easily be

administered to indirectly assess mental constructs (Sekaquaptewa, Vargas, & von Hippel, 2010). For example, implicit self-esteem can be assessed by examining the tendency to prefer letters or numbers that are associated to the self, including one’s initials or date of birth (Kitayama, & Karasawa, 1997). Research on linguistic biases shows that the tendency to use more abstract language to describe attitude-consistent events than attitude-inconsistent events can be indicative of implicit attitudes (von Hippel, Sekaquaptewa, & Vargas, 1997). In addition, performances on implicit measures (high or low tech) should not be conceptualized as process-pure assessments of automatic responses. Instead, they should be viewed as tapping a mix of automatic and controlled processes (Sherman, 2006). A  variety of qualitatively distinct processes can be characterized as relatively controlled or automatic, and these processes ought to be specified. Several analytical frameworks have been developed to disentangle and isolate the role of distinct processes accounting for responses provided on techniques such as the IAT or sequential priming procedures (Sherman, Klauer, & Allen, 2010). For example, process dissociation approaches can be used to tease apart the role of executive control and automatic expectations (Payne & Stewart, 2007). The recent Quad model disentangles the contributions of four distinct processes on several tasks (Conrey, Sherman, Gawronski, Hugenberg, & Groom, 2005). The processes are conceptualized as the automatic activation of an association, the ability to determine the correct response, the success at overcoming automatically activated associations, and a guessing bias operating when other sources of responses are unavailable. The second and third processes are relatively controlled processes requiring cognitive resources and intention, whereas the first and fourth processes are more automatic in the sense that they often operate outside of conscious awareness. The heuristic value of these distinctions in the domain of multicultural identities has not been examined, but these approaches have the potential to help develop a more fine-grained analysis of processes underlying these identities.

Mapping Implicit Multicultural Identities

Having addressed basic conceptual and methodological issues, we will now discuss more substantive research questions relevant to the study of implicit self and identity. We first summarize preliminary empirical evidences for the feasibility of research on implicit multicultural identities. Devos, Vu

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Implicit Bicultural Identity

As mentioned earlier, Devos (2006) examined to what extent members of ethnic or cultural minorities implicitly identified with the American culture and with their culture of origin. More precisely, the goal was to investigate whether knowledge about various cultures was implicitly incorporated into the self-concept of Mexican American and Asian American college students. Using the IAT, the studies examined the strength of identification with American culture and culture of origin relative to one another and relative to other cultures. Assessing identification with the target concepts (American culture and Mexican or Asian culture) independently (i.e., relative to the concept “Other cultures”) should reveal that, at the implicit level, both cultures are strongly incorporated into the self-concept of multicultural individuals. Pitting the American and Mexican/Asian identifications against one another provides an opportunity to compare the strength of the associative links between self and the two cultures. By definition, a direct contrast between American culture and culture of origin will frame these representations as competing self-definitions. The distinction we are making here is very similar to the debate surrounding the measurement of psychological acculturation (Abe-Kim, Okazaki, & Goto, 2001). Indeed, some models assume that acculturation with the host or dominant culture does not require giving up one’s attachment to the culture of origin; other models are based on the assumption that acculturation follows a linear process according to which, as individuals become more acculturated to the host or dominant culture, connections to the culture of origin become more tenuous. The first approach requires independent assessments of attachment to each culture, whereas the second perspective is more consistent with a relative assessment of cultural orientations. Despite the fact that the merits and advantages of bidimensional models have been established (Abe-Kim et  al., 2001), it remains of interest to compare responses based on measurement tools that provide more independent versus relative assessments. The goal of this study was precisely to examine the picture emerging from implicit measures of associations between self and the two cultures relevant to bicultural individuals both separately and directly, compared to each other. As hypothesized, Mexican American and Asian American college students strongly identified with the concept “American culture” when it was contrasted to cultural icons that were not personally 236

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relevant. These individuals also displayed a strong attachment to their culture of origin, i.e., Mexican or Asian culture, respectively, when it was contrasted to the same nonrelevant cultural icons. However, when American culture and culture of origin were pitted against one another, identifications with these two cultures pulled in opposite directions and hindered the ability to link the self to either. Indeed, when the two relevant cultures were directly compared to one another, there was clear evidence for response competition. Pairing “me” words with American symbols was more difficult (slower response latencies) when these symbols were contrasted to Mexican or Asian symbols rather than to symbols of other cultures. In addition, pairing “me” words with Mexican or Asian symbols was more difficult when these symbols were contrasted to American symbols rather than to symbols of other cultures. These differences in response latencies are consistent with the idea that both cultural identifications were activated and pulling in opposite directions when participants completed the IAT contrasting cultures that were relevant to them. In sum, the patterns obtained in these two studies provided evidence for an implicit bicultural identity among Mexican American and Asian American college students. In his doctoral dissertation, Miramontez (2011) ran a conceptual replication of these studies to examine differences in the strength of identification with both ethnic (e.g., Mexican) and mainstream (e.g., American) cultures among multigenerational Mexican American college students. An important distinction between this study and the aforementioned studies is that the two relevant cultures were contrasted to a specific culture, namely the “Korean culture” rather than to a concept defined more broadly as “Other cultures.” Not surprisingly, the results showed that participants implicitly identified strongly with Mexican and American cultures when either of these cultures was compared to the Korean culture. In contrast to what we reported earlier, this sample of Mexican American college students implicitly identified more strongly with the Mexican culture than with the American culture in a direct comparison of these two cultures. Although the discrepancy between these studies is not easy to account for, it stresses the value of relying on both relative and independent assessments of implicit identifications. Overall, these studies demonstrate the suitability of techniques developed to assess implicit associations to study the self-concept of bicultural individuals.

Discrepancies or Correspondences between Implicit and Explicit Self-Definitions

In the previous section, we summarized research-documenting patterns of implicit bicultural identities. The emphasis was on assessing self-definitions through responses occurring outside conscious control. In the next section, we examine how implicit and explicit self-related mental processes might be intertwined. To what extent do measures of implicit and explicit self-concept converge? In the domain of self and identity, most studies have examined the correspondence between implicit and explicit measures of self-esteem. Bosson, Swann, and Pennebaker (2000) showed that some implicit measures of self-esteem correlated significantly with explicit measures of self-esteem, but the magnitude of the observed correlations was relatively modest (all rs 〈 0.27). This is consistent with meta-analytic findings (Hofmann et al., 2005). In some studies, weak correlations between implicit and explicit measures can be attributed to methodological pitfalls or to characteristics of the measures. For instance, failing to evaluate measurement error or a lack of conceptual correspondence between implicit and explicit assessments may lead to misleading conclusions regarding the dissociation between implicit and explicit constructs. Researchers tackling these methodological shortcomings have documented robust interconnections between these two levels. For example, structural-equation-modeling studies that corrected for measurement error often support the contention that implicit and explicit self-concepts are distinct but related constructs (Greenwald & Farnham, 2000). Oakes, Brown, and Cai (2008) found a greater correspondence between implicit and explicit self-esteem when the implicit measure was based on self-relevant (rather than self-neutral) stimuli and the explicit measure captured the affective (rather than cognitive) component of self-esteem. This being said, methodological features only partially account for the extreme heterogeneity of implicit-explicit associations. The fact that the magnitude of the implicit-explicit relationship varies across studies, domains, and individuals suggests that it might be moderated by a variety of factors (Nosek, 2005). Self-presentation is the attempt to alter or mask a response for social or personal purposes. For a variety of reasons, people may be motivated to hide an identity that they do not want others to know (e.g., a Republican student on a liberal college campus, a gay man who has not revealed his sexual orientation at work). Because implicit

measures are less vulnerable to deliberate control than explicit measures, when self-presentational concerns are high, the discrepancy between implicit and explicit reports is expected to increase. This being said, the available evidence for the idea that social desirability or self-presentational concerns moderate the relationship between implicit and explicit measures is less solid than what one may expect (Gawronski, LeBel, & Peters, 2007). Nonetheless, if one focuses on issues of acculturation or multiculturalism, it remains likely that, at least in some settings, individuals might be motivated to affirm or conceal their attachment to a specific culture because of external pressures. In some situations, it might be valued or expected to stress one’s culture of origin. In other situations, it might be more desirable to downplay one’s ethnic heritage. Self-presentational concerns are likely to shape explicit self-image to a greater extent than responses that are not under conscious control. Thus, even in the domain of multicultural identities, depending on the extent to which these motivational forces are operating, they are likely to produce divergent (or convergent) explicit versus implicit self-definitions. Another moderator of the relationship between implicit and explicit measures is the dimensionality or structure of the construct being assessed. Research conducted on the evaluations of a wide range of social objects has documented a greater correspondence between implicit and explicit attitudes when the attitude objects could be evaluated along a bipolar continuum (e.g., gun control versus gun rights) than when they could not be appraised using a simple structure (e.g., being prowomen does not imply being antimen) (Nosek, 2005). From an information processing perspective, responses regarding attitudes or identities with a simple, bipolar structure are easier and faster to make, whereas multidimensional attitudes or identities are more complex, less stable, and more difficult to retrieve. Thus, when identities being assessed are multidimensional, a discrepancy between implicit and explicit measures is more likely to be found. This proposition is reminiscent of current work examining the various ways in which individuals may subjectively represent their attachment to different cultures or groups. For example, the concept of bicultural identity integration (BII) was introduced to capture the degree to which bicultural individuals perceive their cultural identities as compatible versus oppositional (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005; Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2007). A related construct is that Devos, Vu

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of social identity complexity (Brewer, 2010; Roccas & Brewer, 2002). In this case, the focus is on the degree of overlap perceived to exist between groups of which a person is simultaneously a member. When the perceived overlap of multiple in-groups is high, individuals maintain a relatively simplified identity structure, whereas when a person views memberships in multiple in-groups as minimally convergent, the associated identity structure is more complex and inclusive. These lines of research could lay the foundations to relatively specific hypotheses regarding the divergence versus convergence of implicit and explicit assessments of multicultural identities. For example, one could predict that greater convergence between implicit and explicit self-definitions will emerge when they can be apprehended along a fairly simple or unidimensional structure, whereas a more complex or multidimensional identity structure is likely to yield divergent explicit and implicit self-definitions. To the best of our knowledge, there is no direct evidence for this proposition. Although the literature on implicit attitudes might provide some insights on this issue, it is likely that research on implicit multicultural identities will need to examine various aspects of identity complexity that might be sources of specific effects on the relative convergence or divergence of implicit and explicit self-knowledge. There is also compelling evidence that the extent to which representations are elaborated in memory moderates the overlap between implicit and explicit measures (Karpinski, Steinman, & Hilton, 2005; Nosek, 2005). For domains in which people are likely to elaborate on their attitudes (i.e., actively generate or integrate favorable or unfavorable thoughts and reactions related to the attitude object), a stronger implicit-explicit correspondence was observed than for attitude domains with low elaboration (Nosek, 2005). As elaboration increases, the strength of the relationship between implicit and explicit measures augmented. When applied to the domain of multicultural self-definitions, this principle suggests that individuals who are inclined, willing, and able to consider and process systematically information relevant to their multicultural background, should display more consistent implicit and explicit self-definitions compared to individuals who are not interested in, not willing, or not able to elaborate on their experiences and knowledge. If these self-definitions are systematically elaborated, they become highly accessible and people are likely to use the same basis whether they express their responses on a self-report measure 238

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or whether they complete an implicit measure. In contrast, when elaboration is limited or minimal, explicit and implicit self-definitions are likely to be based on distinct subsets of pieces of knowledge. In sum, the evidence suggests that implicit and explicit self-concepts are distinct constructs, although connections may be detected under some circumstances. An important challenge for future research is to understand the similarities and differences between implicit and explicit measures of self and identity, and to identify the circumstances under which these two types of measures converge rather than diverge. The list of moderating factors discussed in this section is not exhaustive. For example, a recent series of studies reveals that trust in one’s intuitions moderates the relationship between implicit and explicit self-esteem (Jordan, Whitfield, & Ziegler-Hill, 2007):  The more individuals considered their intuitions valid, the more they displayed consistent implicit and explicit self-esteem. These findings suggest that implicit self-esteem is akin to an intuitive self-evaluation and that, among individuals who view their intuitions as valid, implicit self-esteem is incorporated into explicit self-evaluations. The capacity or opportunity to engage in conscious self-reflection and the extent to which self-beliefs are clearly defined, internally consistent, and stable over time (self-concept clarity) are also factors that deserve some attention as potential moderators of the implicit-explicit interconnections. A fascinating body of work documents the motivational consequences of discrepancies between implicit and explicit self-esteem (Zeigler-Hill & Jordan, 2010). Of particular interest is the case of individuals who hold relatively high explicit self-esteem and relatively low implicit self-esteem. This form of discrepancy has been characterized as defensive high self-esteem because these individuals tend to engage in defensive behaviors including intergroup biases (Spencer, Jordan, Logel, & Zanna, 2005). When the discrepancy between implicit and explicit self-esteem seeps into consciousness, individuals may experience self-doubts and may engage in enhanced processing of discrepancy-related information to resolve the discrepancy (Briñol, Petty, & Wheeler, 2006). To relieve their doubts, they may pay more careful attention to relevant information in order to better understand the reasons for the discrepancy. Following a similar logic, one could explore the motivational underpinnings of implicit-explicit discrepancies in multicultural identities. In this domain as well, discrepant self-definitions may

foster defensiveness and compensatory activities. For example, bicultural individuals who hold or experience discrepant identifications with their two cultures (e.g., explicitly identifying more with one culture, but implicitly identifying more with another culture) might be more attuned to discrepancy-related information and motivated to engage in processes that would allow them to reconcile these divergent self-definitions.

Interconnections among Identities and Attitudes

Based on the growing body of evidence regarding implicit processes involved in the self-system, Greenwald and colleagues (2002) proposed a unified theory of social cognition that predicts patterns of interrelations among identities and attitudes. Their approach draws its inspiration from theories of affective-cognitive consistency developed in the 1960s (Abelson et  al., 1968). In line with the framework outlined earlier, this work posits that the self is linked to traits, groups, concepts, or evaluations. A core principle of the theory is that attitudes toward self and concepts closely associated with self (i.e., components of self-concept or identity) tend to be of similar valence. In other words, according to the balance-congruity principle, if someone holds a positive attitude toward the self and considers that a particular concept (e.g., a group, an attribute, or a domain) is part of his or her self-concept, this person should also hold a positive attitude toward that particular concept. To illustrate this principle, we will describe a study examining associations underlying the orientation of bilingual Latino college students toward family and school (Devos, Blanco, Muñoz, Dunn, & Ulloa, 2008). Fluent in Spanish and English, these individuals have been immersed both in their culture of origin and in what is commonly referred to as the dominant culture. Thus, their experiences are often characterized by the need to negotiate tensions between distinct cultural worldviews. Beliefs and practices that promote family support and interdependence are core aspects of the Latino culture (Marín & VanOss Marín, 1999). The construct of familism captures this reality and attachment to family relations is often contrasted to educational obligations (Zinn, 1982). Indeed, education and achievement also have cultural significance among Latinos (Vásquez, 1982). Although orientations toward family and achievement are not necessarily contradictory in nature, these orientations might be sources of tensions at least under some circumstances

or for some individuals. Thus, understanding how Latinos reconcile seemingly divergent orientations toward family and achievement is an important step toward identifying conditions under which family and academic achievement interact toward a positive end (Valenzuela & Dornbusch, 1994). Here we examined the extent to which Latino undergraduates derived implicit self-esteem from their implicit attitude toward and identification with family and school. In line with the balanced identity design (Greenwald et  al., 2002), participants completed three IATs assessing their attitude toward family versus school, identifications with these concepts, and self-esteem. The balance-congruity principle can be tested by examining the extent to which one of these constructs (e.g., self-esteem, identification, or attitude) can be predicted as a function of the other two. In the present context, we tested whether college students’ self-esteem was a multiplicative function of the extent to which they identify with and value family in comparison with school. As predicted, we found that for individuals who strongly identified with family, liking for the concept of family was positively correlated with self-esteem. In other words, one could state: “If family is an important aspect of my self-concept and family is good, then I feel good about myself.” Given the correlational nature of the data, this statement should not imply a specific causal flow between the constructs. The pattern obtained supports a basic principle of affective-cognitive consistency and documents the importance of cultural values (e.g., familism) among Latinos. Support for similar hypotheses has been obtained using a variety of social groups and clusters of attributes that measure constructs such as attitude, stereotype, and self-esteem (for a meta-analysis, see Cvencek, Greenwald, & Meltzoff, 2012). Some of these studies have been conducted on samples of multicultural individuals. For example, Devos and Cruz Torres (2007) used this framework to study the academic self-concept of Latino college students and found that the more participants identified with role models in their life and the more they viewed these individuals as high academic achievers, the more they themselves identified with academic achievement. In the same vein, Dunham, Baron, and Banaji (2007) examined the development of self-esteem, group identification, and group attitude, and their interrelationships in Latino American children (ages 5 to 12) and adults. In the youngest children, the findings supported the Devos, Vu

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balance-congruity principle described earlier in this section, but balance was absent in adults, suggesting that, at least in disadvantaged minority groups, cognitive-affective consistency may actually decline with age. Interestingly, evidence for such balanced (similarly valenced) identities has been obtained primarily when implicit measures of self and group identity are used and has appeared in weaker form on measures of conscious affect and cognition (Cvencek et al., 2012). The framework can also be used to investigate how various identities are interrelated. For a number of years, we have conducted research on the interconnections between ethnic and national identities in the United States. The United States can be characterized as a pluralist society composed of identifiable ethnic groups that vary in length of immersion into mainstream culture and conditions of immigration. We examined the extent to which ethnic groups are implicitly conceived of as being part of America, a culture that explicitly holds that all groups be treated equally. Using a variety of techniques developed to assess implicit associations, we consistently found that European Americans were more strongly associated with the concept “American” than were Asian Americans, African Americans, Latinos, and even Native Americans (Devos & Banaji, 2005; Devos, Gavin, & Quintana, 2010; Devos & Heng, 2009; Devos & Ma, 2008; Nosek, Smyth, et  al., 2007; Rydell, Hamilton, & Devos, 2010). In a nutshell, European Americans are implicitly viewed as being essentially more American and as exemplifying the nation, whereas ethnic-minority groups are placed psychologically at the margins. In most cases, the majority of participants in these studies were European Americans. Thus, it was important to compare patterns of ethnic-American associations displayed by individuals who belong to the ethnic-majority group and individuals who belong to an ethnic-minority group. Research examining the impact of participants’ ethnic identity on implicit ethnic-American associations revealed that Latino and Asian American participants viewed their own group as being less American than the group “European Americans,” showing an internalization that is detrimental to their personal and group interests (Devos & Banaji, 2005; Devos et  al., 2010). Indeed, such implicit associations potentially hurt their national identity. More directly relevant to the issue of identification, we found that the propensity to link “White” and “American” was positively correlated with the strength of national identification (extent to which 240

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the concept “American” is associated with the concept “self ”) for European American participants, but it was not related to national identification for Latino and Asian American participants (Devos & Banaji, 2005; Devos et  al., 2010). Further analyses lend support to the notion that ethnic-national associations account for the merging of ethnic and national identifications for European Americans, but there is a relative dissociation between ethnic and national attachments for Latino and Asian Americans. Interestingly, similar research conducted in New Zealand revealed a different pattern of ethnicnational associations (Sibley & Liu, 2007; Sibley, Liu, & Khan, 2008). In New Zealand, a relevant social distinction is that between the Pakeha people, who represent a majority of the population and are essentially of European descent, and the Maori people being the minority group consisting of the indigenous people. Although the latter group is socially disadvantaged in many ways compared to the former, there is a strong representation of both cultures at the national level (e.g., English and Maori are both official languages and the national anthem is sung in both languages). In addition, the Maori culture is traditionally viewed in New Zealand as enriching its national identity. Therefore, maintaining a positive and distinct national identity seems to go hand in hand with an inclusion of both Maori and Pakeha cultures in the New Zealand national identity. This being said, as was the case in the United States context, ethnic-national associations are contingent on the ethnic group membership of respondents, but these variations are diametrically opposite to what was found in the United States (Sibley et al., 2008). Pakeha individuals equally associated their group and Maori people with the New Zealand identity. In contrast, Maori individuals viewed their group as being more representative of the national identity than the Pakeha people were. The studies described in this section illustrate that examining ethnic and national identities on an implicit level may reveal connections between these identities that were not previously known and provide a better understanding of multicultural identities. Variations across national contexts are consistent with the notion that implicit associations are rooted in experiences, they bear the mark of cultural socialization, and they reflect socio-cultural realities; a point that we develop more thoroughly in another section (see “Cultural Foundations of Implicit Social Cognition” section).

Contextual Shifts in Implicit Identity

We now turn our attention to research that demonstrates shifts in self-related cognitions that occur without conscious intention. Contrary to the assumption that implicit associations reflect highly stable mental representations, a growing literature indicates that implicit associations are flexible (Dasgupta, 2009; Gawronski & Sritharan, 2010). To account for the malleability of implicit associations, several theorists have relied on a constructivist view of mental representations (Mitchell et al., 2003). According to this approach (Schwarz & Bohner, 2001), associations are not merely retrieved from memory but rather are constructed on the spot. They should be conceptualized as momentarily constructed representations integrating contextual information and selective subsets of associative knowledge. In other words, mental representations are dynamically constructed or re-created based on available information and contextually activated knowledge (Smith, 1996). Studies showing that exposure to different kinds of information prior to completing an implicit measure influences performance on the measure are consistent with this framework (Dasgupta & Greenwald, 2001; Rydell et al., 2010). It could be argued that the initial-exposure phase influences how individuals construe the object. Contextually activated knowledge is incorporated in the mental representation produced in reaction to the experimental manipulation. Although most of this work focuses on the construct of attitude, the context-sensitivity of implicit self-definitions has also been documented (Devos et al., 2012). For example, unobtrusively making a social identity salient or changing the parameters of a social context can influence the social self (Haines & Kray, 2005; McCall & Dasgupta, 2007). In some cases, these fluctuations can be produced by short-term or minimal experimental manipulations. In other cases, they may stem from more extensive experiences. Illustrative of this second trend, a study conducted in Italy documents the impact of intergroup contact with a higher status majority group (Northerners) on patterns of implicit identification displayed by members of a lower status minority group (Southerners) (Sanchez, Zogmaister, & Arcuri, 2007). More precisely, this research investigated the development of multiple group identities among Southerners living in the northern region of Italy. Implicit identification with the in-group (Southern Italy), out-group (Northern Italy), and the superordinate category (Italy) was examined.

On average, participants strongly identified with the in-group, and those who had spent more time in the northern region simultaneously displayed increased implicit identification with the out-group. Interestingly, incorporation of the out-group into the self occurred only in participants who were not already strongly identified with the superordinate category. In addition, it has been shown that individuals affectively orient themselves toward their social identities as a function of the adaptiveness of these identities (Pittinsky, Shih, & Ambady, 1999). In this perspective, an identity is adaptive to the extent that it is associated with stereotypes that predict desirable performance in a given context. In Pittinsky et al.’s (1999) study, Asian American women were asked to generate ethnicity- and gender-related memories in contexts differing in terms of how adaptive these identities were. Here, an identity is considered adaptive when it is associated with a stereotype that predicts desirable performance in a particular domain or context. To manipulate identity adaptiveness, Asian American female participants were asked to complete a mathematics test (ethnic identity adaptive) or a verbal skills test (gender identity adaptive). In a context in which their ethnic identity was adaptive, participants’ spontaneous affective responses were more positive toward their ethnicity than gender. The opposite pattern emerged when gender identity was adaptive. When neither identity was adaptive (control condition), participants expressed similar spontaneous affective reactions toward both identities. These results document contextual shifts in implicit affect across multiple identities. Directly relevant to issues of multiculturalism are studies showing that the language in which participants complete an implicit measure has an impact on their performance. Just as icons can be used to prime individuals and trigger cultural frame switching, so can the use of language (Ramírez-Esparza, Gosling, Benet-Martínez, Potter, & Pennebaker, 2006). Danziger and Ward (2010) examined the way in which language use can selectively influence the accessibility of socially relevant associations. They tested whether bilingual undergraduate Arab Israeli students would display different patterns of implicit attitudes as a function of whether these attitudes were elicited in Hebrew or in Arabic. As predicted, associations were more positive for Jews in a Hebrew-speaking environment and more positive for Arabs in an Arab-speaking environment. These results suggest that language and culture are Devos, Vu

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inherently linked to produce relevant associations among bilingual individuals. In the same vein, Ogunnaike, Dunham, and Banaji (2010) showed that implicit attitudes shifted accordingly with the cultural values embedded in a given language. In two studies, they tested bilingual participants, administering the same test of implicit attitudes in two languages. In the first study, native Moroccans (fluent in both Arabic and French) completed an IAT requiring them to categorize, as quickly as possible, Arabic (e.g., Rashida or Ahmed) versus French (e.g., Monique or Jacques) names with positive versus negative words. In the second study, Hispanic Americans (fluent in both Spanish and English) completed a similar task requiring them to categorize Hispanic (e.g., Miguel or Maria) versus Anglo-American (e.g., Michael or Mary) names with positive versus negative words. In both cases, participants manifested attitudes that favored social categories associated with the test language. That is, bilingual (Arabic and French) participants displayed more pro-Moroccan attitudes when tested in Arabic as compared with French and bilingual (Spanish and English) participants displayed more pro-Hispanic attitudes when tested in Spanish as compared with English. The effects of language provide evidence that preferences are not merely transmitted through language but also shaped by it. These findings are in line with the idea that attitudes are influenced by the larger cultural associations embedded in a specific language. They nicely illustrate the fact that languages are repositories of cultural values that contribute to important facets of social identities. As the authors pointed out, language is a form or component of cultural affiliations and, as such, shapes evaluative responses that are not consciously controllable. The previous studies document assimilation effects. In some other cases, however, language may be the source of effects that are best conceptualized as contrast effects. The study on bilingual Latino college students described earlier illustrates this possibility (Devos et  al., 2008). Participants were randomly assigned to complete the IATs in English or in Spanish. Surprisingly, participants who completed the IATs in English showed stronger identification with family than with school, but there was no difference in identification with these two constructs for those who completed the IAT in Spanish. Once again, the difference between the two language conditions (English versus Spanish) suggests that implicit identities 242

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are anchored in the parameters of the social context. Internalized expectations about one’s social group can shape self-definitions even when they are unobtrusively activated or assessed. The findings are consistent with the idea that individuals change their frame of reference in response to contextual cues as hypothesized in the dynamic-constructivist approach of multicultural identities (Hong et  al., 2000; see also Benet-Martínez, Leu, Lee, & Morris, 2002). Indeed one possible explanation is that the use of Spanish emphasized family, but lead participants in that condition to define themselves as students in contrast to others within their family context. Conversely, the English condition may activate more the academic context, thus promoting a self-definition that contrasts with the school environment. Self-definitions contrasting with the frame of reference have been documented in other lines of research (Chen & Bond, 2007; McGuire & McGuire, 1988; von Hippel, Hawkins, & Schooler, 2001; Yang & Bond, 1980). Taken together, studies relying on implicit measures of self-concepts or attitudes confirm that cultural frame switching can produce both assimilation and contrast effects (Benet-Martínez et al., 2002; Cheng, Lee, & Benet-Martínez, 2006; Zou, Morris, & Benet-Martínez, 2008). Setting aside the complex processes underlying these effects, these findings are in line with a growing body of research stressing the malleability of implicit associations (Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2006; Gawronski & Sritharan, 2010). Implicit associations are shaped by the frame through which a given situation is filtered. Individuals may hold multiple sets of associations about the self, and they may access these associations at different times based on contextual circumstances. Such work also illustrates the dynamic nature of self-related mental processes. This trend in implicit social cognition research resonates with assumptions of contemporary work on multicultural identities. The dynamic nature of bicultural identities is now a central theme in this literature (Benet-Martínez et al., 2002; Hong et al., 2000; Ng & Lai, 2009; Verkuyten & Pouliasi, 2002). Experimental studies have provided compelling demonstrations of bicultural individuals’ sensitivity to cultural primes, shedding light on the cultural basis of the self. Implicit social cognition research could help stress the largely automatic and nonconscious operation of fluctuations in self-definitions. Pulling these threads together might be a mutually beneficial research enterprise.

Cultural Foundations of Implicit Social Cognition

We now turn our attention to the influence of societal and cultural factors on implicit identities. Research on culture and self-concept shows that members of different cultures often define and evaluate the self in different ways. For example, the self is defined in terms of interdependence and is inherently collective in Asian cultures, whereas the typically Western conception of self is one in which individuals see themselves as distinct and independent from others (Markus & Kitayama, 1991, 2010). In a pioneering series of studies, Hetts, Sakuma, and Pelham (1999) compared the implicit and explicit self-concepts of recent Asian immigrants to those of European Americans and Asian Americans reared in the United States. At the explicit level, little differences between these groups emerged: Easterners emigrating to a Western culture seemed to endorse the kind of self-concept promoted in individualistic societies. However, a different picture emerged at the implicit level. Performances on reaction-time techniques and word-completion tasks revealed strong differences between groups in terms of personal versus group regard. For people reared in an individualistic culture, ideas that were automatically associated with the individual and collective identities were relatively positive. For people socialized in a collectivistic culture, the group or collective identity automatically elicited positive thoughts, but ideas tied to individual identity were neutral, ambivalent, or even negative. Such discoveries are consistent with the idea that the need for positive self-regard is expressed through social or collective identities in some cultures and in individualistic ways in others. The cultural context can overshadow differences in cultural experiences when measured through explicit self-evaluations, but implicit self-evaluations reveal the mark of cultural socialization. Other recent investigations have focused on the interplay between culture and self-esteem. At the explicit level, Westerners tend to display higher self-esteem than East Asians, whereas no significant cross-cultural differences emerged in terms of implicit self-esteem (Boucher, Peng, Shi, & Wang, 2009; Falk, Heine, Yuki, & Takemura, 2009; Heine & Hamamura, 2007; Yamaguchi et  al., 2007). A  similar picture emerged when another aspect of the self-concept, namely self-enhancement or the motivation to view oneself positively, is being considered. For example, a meta-analysis of 91 cross-cultural comparisons between East Asians

and Westerners on self-enhancement (Heine & Hamamura, 2007) documented that, on average, Westerners showed a clear self-serving bias, whereas East Asians did not. However, these cultural differences were very large on explicit measures of self-enhancement, whereas the average cultural difference was very small when implicit measures of self-enhancement were used. Research relying on implicit techniques also provides a more nuanced or fine-grained understanding of cultural differences. Due to self-enhancement bias, North American individuals regard themselves more positively, whereas Asian Americans do not exhibit as strongly positive self-regard due to self-effacing inclination. The distinction between implicit and explicit self-regard adds some complexity to this picture. Research reviewed in the previous paragraph suggests that people in some Asian cultures (e.g., Japan) often explicitly evaluate themselves less favorably while implicitly maintaining positive self-evaluations. Kitayama and Uchida (2003) conducted two studies showing that this pattern of explicit and implicit self-evaluations is quite common, even outside of Asia, as long as the evaluations are assessed in the context of close, interdependent social relations. Administering a modified version of the IAT to both Japanese and American participants, they found that the previously mentioned pattern emerged in both cultures if the self was compared to an actual friend. When placed in a context that had neither actual nor presumed emotional interdependence, both Japanese and American participants displayed positive explicit and implicit self-evaluations. These findings converge with those obtained by Kobayashi and Greenwald (2003). These colleagues found that, explicitly, American participants had a stronger positive association toward the self than toward a best friend or others; however implicitly there was a greater regard for a best friend than for the self. Conversely, Japanese participants explicitly displayed greater positive regards toward a best friend than toward self, but implicitly they displayed only small positivity toward a best friend compared to self. Therefore, American implicit responses could be interpreted as more self-effacing than the explicit responses shown in past research, whereas Japanese implicit responses could be interpreted as neutral or marginally self-effacing. In sum, findings on self-enhancement and self-esteem point to differential cultural influences on the content of implicit attitudes about the self and the explicit expression of those attitudes. These Devos, Vu

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results could be taken as evidence that implicit self-evaluations are less influenced by normative demands than their explicit counterparts. This being said, researchers are only beginning to grasp the complexities of cultural influences on implicit and explicit self-definitions, and work in this area often challenges common assumptions about cultural differences. The implicit social cognition framework also has the potential to shed light on important aspects of psychological acculturation. One could make the case that psychological acculturation largely occurs at an automatic or nonconscious level in the sense that individuals might not be able to control or are not necessarily aware of changes in their cultural values, attitudes, and behaviors as a result of their experiences at the crossroad of their heritage and host cultures. In a study focusing on Korean Americans, Kim, Sarason, and Sarason (2006) examined the influence of cultural values of parents and quality of parent-child relationships on psychological acculturation and distress. Korean American young adults completed both explicit and implicit measures of ethnic (Korean) versus national (American) attitudes and a series of self-report measures including psychological distress, parental values, and quality of parent-child relationships. Not surprisingly, compatible parent-child cultural-value orientations and positive parent-child relationships both were associated with the development of more positive attitude toward the group of ethnic origin. Less trivial was the fact that a favorable attitude toward Koreans (relative to Americans) was linked to greater psychological distress. In addition, discrepancies between implicit and explicit attitudes seem to partially mediate the relationships between the quality of parent-child relationships or parental traditionalism and psychological distress. This study demonstrates the utility of implicit psychological approach for culture and ethnic minority research. Among other things, it may lead to a better understanding of the impact of socialization experiences on the sense of self and well-being of multicultural individuals. For example, the last finding we alluded to suggests that, in some cases, interactions between parents and children are sources of divergent explicit and implicit attitudes, which, in turn, are linked to adverse psychological states. Another compelling illustration of the cultural foundations of implicit associations is the impact of the respective social standings of social groups on the automatic or nonconscious attitudinal responses  they elicit. More often than not, social 244

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groups are assigned positions that differ in terms of numerical status, social status, or power (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999). In some cases, members of subordinate groups display intergroup perceptions favoring the in-group to a greater extent than members of dominant groups, suggesting that the former have a stronger need to achieve a positive social identity through favorable intergroup distinctions (Judd, Park, Ryan, Brauer, & Kraus, 1995). However, at the implicit level, members of subordinate groups are less likely than members of dominant groups to display a preference for their group possibly because the social conditions impose a less favorable evaluation of the subordinate group. For instance, unlike European American respondents, who show a strong implicit preference for European Americans over African Americans, African American respondents showed no such systematic preference (Nosek, Smyth, et al., 2007). Similar findings emerge from research comparing intergroup attitudes displayed by Anglo and Asian Australians (McGrane & White, 2007). Further data provide more direct evidence for the fact that these differences stem from the relative standing of groups in society (Livingston, 2002). African Americans who believed that their group is held in low regard by mainstream American society did not exhibit an in-group bias at the implicit level, but did at the explicit level. African American students exhibited implicit liking and identification with their own ethnic group only when they believed that European Americans hold African Americans in positive regard. Convergent findings have been obtained for other intergroup contexts (Rudman, Feinberg, & Fairchild, 2002). Developmental approaches also contribute to reveal the socio-cultural foundations of intergroup attitudes (Olson & Dunham, 2010). For example, research on the development of implicit race attitudes in American and Japanese children and adults indicates that implicit in-group bias was present early in both populations, and remained stable at each age tested (age 6, 10, and adult) (Dunham, Baron, & Banaji, 2006). However, implicit race attitudes toward favored out-groups were more positive in older than in younger participants, suggesting that cultural prestige enjoyed by a group moderated implicit preferences as knowledge of group status was learned. Together, these findings illustrate that in-group favoritism is constrained by socio-cultural evaluations of social groups. On explicit measures, disadvantaged group members exert effort to report positive attitudes, but the lower social standing of

their group is internalized sufficiently so that they do not show an implicit preference for their own group. On the other hand, advantaged group members’ preferences show the combined benefit of both in-group liking and the socio-cultural advantage assigned to their group. Such results are consistent with the notion of system-justification (Jost, Banaji, & Nosek, 2004) in the sense that members of both dominant and subordinate groups share, at least to some extent, intergroup attitudes that reinforce and legitimize existing social systems. These findings also point to the impact that negative cultural depictions may have on members of cultural minority groups. More positive messages about issues surrounding immigration, diversity, and multiculturalism may not be enough to alleviate the potentially negative impact of asymmetrical relations between social groups. Assessments of implicit associations provide a window into the subtle, yet pervasive implications of socio-structural realities on thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. These societal foundations have far reaching influences on responses that operate outside of conscious awareness and control. It has been argued that this type of research may underestimate in-group favoritism among low-status groups because the most widely used measure of group attitudes, the IAT, is influenced by extrapersonal associations or cultural knowledge and, as such, is not tapping personal attitudes (Olson, Crawford, & Devlin, 2009). This alternative interpretation assumes a clear separation between cultural and personal knowledge that overshadows the societal foundations of implicit associations (Banaji, Nosek, & Greenwald, 2004; Nosek & Hansen, 2008). In addition, data showing the predictive validity of implicit attitudes suggest that they tap more than extrapersonal associations. Directly relevant to the present discussion, nontrivial relations between African Americans’ implicit racial attitudes and their psychological health have been documented (Ashburn-Nardo, Monteith, Arthur, & Bain, 2007). The more African American participants displayed a positive implicit attitude toward their ethnic group, the higher they scored on measures of psychological well-being and the lower they scored on measures of psychological distress. Although these data are correlational, they are consistent with the notion that implicit attitudes have personal significance and do not merely reflect society’s characterization of ethnic groups. The value of implicit measures to increase our understanding of the experiences of ethnic or cultural minorities is nicely illustrated by a study

conducted in the Netherlands. To shed light on the self-esteem of individuals belonging to an ethnic minority group, Verkuyten (2005) drew distinctions between the personal self and the collective self and between explicit and implicit self-esteem. Three groups of adolescents were compared: Dutch, Turkish-Dutch (participants of Turkish origin living in the Netherlands), and Turkish participants living in Turkey. Turkish-Dutch individuals displayed a lower level of implicit collective self-esteem than Turks living in Turkey, but these two groups did not differ on other measures of self-esteem. Furthermore, the proportion of participants with high explicit and low implicit collective self-esteem was significantly greater among the Turkish-Dutch sample than it was among participants of the other two samples. Finally, for the Turkish-Dutch individuals, perceived discrimination was negatively related to implicit collective self-esteem but not to other self-esteem measures. This research is a good example of a promising approach of identity development among disadvantaged ethnic minority groups. It is a matter for future research to determine whether similar findings emerge in other national or cultural settings. Without a doubt, there are important differences among communities that are often labeled as ethnic-minority groups, and multiculturalism encompasses realities that are multifaceted and heterogeneous. The point here is that examining issues of self and identity using both implicit and explicit measurement techniques significantly enrich our understanding of dynamics coming into play in multicultural contexts. Besides increasing our understanding of the interconnections between self, culture, and society, the implicit social cognition framework provides the conceptual and methodological tools to make visible subtle, yet ubiquitous, forms of prejudice and exclusion that affect the psychological and physical health of minority populations (Okazaki, 2009; Sue, 2010). As we mentioned earlier, even multicultural individuals who are by no means recent immigrants are often seen as perpetual foreigners in their home country. These spontaneous assumptions may not be driven by an antipathy toward these individuals or the groups they belong to. They may stem from misconceptions about ethnic minority groups and the makeup of the U.S. population. They may also reflect the relative accessibility of various representations of the American identity that tend to saturate daily experiences. Nonetheless, the recurrent experiences of being denied their national identity may account for psychological distress (Huynh, Devos, Vu

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Devos, & Smalarz, 2011). Individuals may not be fully aware or able to control the impact of these or similar experiences on their mental health.

Conclusion

For multicultural individuals, the questions of who they are and how to define themselves within a given social context are often of interest. The work reviewed in this chapter raises issues that should be increasingly incorporated into our understanding of multicultural identities. Processes that underlie multicultural identities can operate without introspective access or deliberative thought. Knowledge about self, culture, and group memberships that is automatically learned, even if consciously denied, can have indirect influences on people’s self-definitions. Several findings reported in this chapter suggest that implicit associations are not rigid and that shifts in self-definitions can occur without conscious awareness or intention. Situational or contextual manipulations reveal the plasticity of self-related implicit social cognition. Finally, several lines of research covered in this chapter show the subtle but crucial ways in which socio-cultural variables (such as asymmetries in the distribution of resources, power, or social capital among groups and individuals) shape self-related mental processes. In many instances, socio-cultural influences on psychological processes become more obvious when mental processes that are not consciously accessible are examined using indirect measures. In that regard, work on implicit processes promises to deepen our understanding of the inextricable links between psychological and cultural processes. The initial enthusiasm for the concept of implicit social cognition was driven largely by the prospect of circumventing the limitations of self-report measures. However, the existing body of research suggests that the virtues of indirect measures do not stem solely from their capacity to access thoughts and feelings that do not fully enter consciousness, or to bypass social desirability, impression management, or demand characteristics. More importantly, research on implicit social cognition has led to many theoretical and empirical insights. Multicultural identities are shaped by a multitude of psychosocial processes marked by a lack of conscious awareness, control, intention, or self-reflection. Hopefully readers will be convinced that advances in the study of implicit social cognition provide concepts, theories, paradigms, and methods that allow researchers to study these fascinating processes. Capitalizing on the development of an arsenal of techniques, 246

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scientists are now in a position to tackle important research questions and to rigorously examine assumptions that often remain untested. Research on implicit multicultural identities might provide insights into the subtle, yet crucial, mechanisms by which cultural knowledge is incorporated into the self-concept. It should lead to a better understanding of how cultural values, beliefs, customs, norms, and experiences shape thoughts, feelings, and behaviors without reflexive consciousness or deliberate decisions. As we stressed at the onset, the study of implicit multicultural identities is in its infancy or one could even say at an embryonic stage. The aim of the present chapter was to inspire researchers in the field to expand their conceptual and methodological toolboxes to explore new questions regarding the processes underlying multicultural identities. Implicit social cognition research has generated a plethora of insights into subtle forms of prejudice and stereotyping. An expansion of research focusing on more diverse populations using the available conceptual and methodological tools would also enrich our understanding of cognitive, affective, and behavioral responses that operate outside conscious control and awareness. In that sense, the study of implicit multicultural identities would be a mutually beneficial enterprise. Bridging research on multiculturalism and work on implicit social cognition would cross-fertilize these fields and generate answers to questions that have both theoretical and practical significance. For example, this research could highlight and provide a better understanding of the cultural or societal foundations of aspects of self and identity that are not always accessible to introspection or that are not under volitional control. Research conducted at the crossroad of these traditions could expand our knowledge regarding the role of culture as a source of subtle influences on key facets of daily interactions. Multiculturalism is more than a trendy concept; it is a defining feature of many social settings. Multiculturalism characterizes dynamics that operate at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, intergroup, and societal levels. Automatic and nonconscious processes are inextricably bounded to cultural realities and, at the same time, these cultural realities emerge to a large extent through mechanisms that evade conscious and deliberative thought processes. These are not only issues that spark the curiosity of scientists, they also make up the mental life of actors embedded in rich and diverse communities and give meaning to their daily endeavors. As such, issues addressed in this

chapter should provide insights into the identities, challenges, and aspirations of individuals navigating a multicultural world.

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Individual Differences

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Personality and Multicultural Effectiveness

Karen I. van der Zee and Jan Pieter van Oudenhoven

Abstract Personality traits play a significant role in facing intercultural challenges. In the present chapter, a model is presented linking certain personality dispositions to intercultural success. The relevance of different approaches to personality will be discussed, focusing on the Big Five, intercultural traits, core self-evaluations, coping styles, learning orientations, and attachment styles. Relying on these approaches, we present a framework linking personality to demands and challenges of intercultural situations. First, stress-buffering traits (e.g., emotional stability, locus of control, emotion-focused coping styles) may protect against loss of control, uncertainty, and adversity in intercultural settings. Second, social-perceptual traits (e.g., agreeableness, extraversion) make individuals feel attracted to the social and cognitive opportunities of intercultural situations. Finally, intercultural situations provide a challenge to one’s identity. The ability to switch between different social identities may be linked to traits such as cultural empathy and open-mindedness. These traits may stimulate the emergence of more complex identities. The chapter will end with the theoretical and practical implications of our model. Key Words:  big five, intercultural traits, core self-evaluations, coping styles, learning orientations, attachment styles, adversity and stress, challenge, social identities, intercultural effectiveness

Introduction

Globalization has become a feature of the modern world. As a consequence, citizens across the globe need to be able to function effectively and maintain constructive interactions in intercultural contexts. This not only holds for expatriates or immigrants in a new cultural environment, but increasingly also for cultural majority members being confronted with cultural diversity at school, work, and in other public areas of daily life. Personality characteristics seem to play a significant role in the process of adjustment to a new culture and in dealing effectively with the challenges of an intercultural environment. In the present chapter, we will present a theoretical model linking personality characteristics to intercultural success, building upon a review of the recent literature and our own work in this area.

In any undertaking to review the literature concerning personality and intercultural encounters, the first issue to be addressed is to get an understanding of the various definitions and operationalizations of intercultural success. In contemporary cross-cultural research, different terms are used to define the concept of intercultural success (also often called multicultural or intercultural effectiveness), although considerable overlap exists in such definitions. Vulpe, Kealey, Protheroe and MacDonald (2000) define an interculturally effective person as someone who is able to live contentedly and work successfully in another country. A  disadvantage of their definition is that it restricts the definition of success to individuals actually moving from one country to another. Hammer, Bennett, and Wiseman (2003) 255

define intercultural success more broadly in terms of the ability to communicate effectively in intercultural situations and to relate appropriately in a variety of cultural contexts. Taking a comparable approach, Van der Zee and Van Oudenhoven (2000) define intercultural success as effectiveness in the fields of professional performance, personal adjustment, and intercultural interactions when confronted with a different cultural environment. This definition is derived from the three-dimensional view of expatriate adjustment proposed by Black, Mendenhall, and Oddou (1991) and will be used as a conceptual framework of intercultural success in the present chapter. In early work, Van Oudenhoven & Van der Zee (2002) indeed showed that such indicators of intercultural success are not only relevant to individuals who move to a new country, but also to members of the cultural majority who engage in intercultural interactions.

The Big Five Model and Intercultural Success

Different approaches to personality are linked to intercultural success in the literature. In this regard, the most influential model of personality is the five-factor model (FFM; Costa & McCrae, 1992; Digman, 1990; Goldberg, 1993). The five-factor model is built on the big-five general personality traits:  (1)  extraversion, (2)  agreeableness, (3)  conscientiousness, (4)  neuroticism, and (5)  intellect/autonomy (Goldberg, 1993). Extraversion is related to character traits such as being assertive, active, gregarious, talkative, and optimistic (Barrett & Pietromonaco, 1997; Costa & McCrae, 1992). An extraverted person is considered to be outgoing and sociable. Agreeableness is associated with warmth, empathy, and cooperativeness. Together extraversion and agreeableness are considered to represent the interpersonal trait domain (Barrett & Pietromonaco, 1997; Chatman & Barsade, 1995). Agreeable individuals are sensitive to other people’s norms and needs. They seek friendships and acceptance from others. Conscientiousness is associated with how an individual demonstrates trustworthiness in others and whether an individual respects social roles (Mount & Barrick, 1995). Neuroticism is related to lessened emotional stability, and a low degree of emotional control (Mount & Barrick, 1995). Intellect/Autonomy refers to imaginativeness, curiosity, and an interest in intellectual and/ or artistic pursuits (Goldberg, 1993). The fifth 256

factor is also referred to as openness to experience (Costa & McCrae, 1992). Interestingly, Caprara, Barbarinelli and Borgogni (1993) explicitly argue that the fifth factor encompasses openness to culture. The relevance of the big five to intercultural success has widely been documented in research on expatriate success (Caligiuri, 2000; Huang, Chi & Lawler, 2005; Shaffer, Harrison & Gilley, 1999; Ward, Leong, & Low, 2004). For example, Caligiuri (2000) showed that expatriates with high scores on extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability were less likely to terminate their assignment, whereas conscientiousness predicted supervisor-rated success of performance. In a similar vein, findings by Huang et  al. (2005) suggest that American expatriates in Taiwan who scored highly on extraversion, agreeableness, and openness to experience adjusted better to the new cultural context as compared to low scorers. Openness to experience appeared to be an important predictor of professional effectiveness, whereas extraversion and agreeableness were related to constructive intercultural relations. Based on a longitudinal study among expatriates in Hong Kong and two samples of Korean and Japanese expatriates sent around the world, Shaffer and colleagues (1999) reported that the big-five personality traits—with exception of conscientiousness—were related to expatriate effectiveness. It must be noted that findings are not always unequivocal. For example, a study by Dalton and Wilson (2000) among Arab expatriates posted around the world convincingly showed that conscientiousness and agreeableness significantly predicted performance as rated by their supervisor in the home country, but it failed to reveal any significant relationship of the five personality traits with job performance as rated by their supervisor in the host country. Much less research has focused on the relationship between the big five and our three indicators of intercultural success among immigrants. As one of the few exceptions, a study by Bakker, Van der Zee and Van Oudenhoven (2006) among Dutch immigrants living in different countries across the world indicated that psychological adjustment was significantly predicted by emotional stability and, although less strongly, by extraversion.

Specific Traits and Intercultural Success

The five-factor model is a general model of personality. Alternatively, some studies have relied on personality traits that are specifically defined in relation to intercultural situations. For example, in

Personalit y and Multicultural Effectiveness

our own work, we distinguish five dimensions: cultural empathy, openmindedness, social initiative, emotional stability, and flexibility (Van der Zee & Van Oudenhoven, 2000, 2001; see also Ponterotto in this volume). These traits were derived from an extensive literature review of dimensions that are assumed to be relevant to success in intercultural situations. Cultural empathy is considered the ability to empathize with the thoughts, behaviors, and feelings of culturally diverse individuals. It includes an affective component, referring to the expression of warmth in interpersonal relations, as well as a cognitive component, indicating the ability to read the meaning behind another person’s verbal and nonverbal expressions. Open-mindedness refers to an open and unprejudiced attitude toward culturally diverse individuals and toward different cultural norms and values. Social Initiative is related to approaching social situations in an active manner and initiative taking. Emotional stability is a trait that refers to a tendency to remain calm in stressful situations versus a tendency to show strong emotional reactions under stressful circumstances. Flexibility is the tendency to approach unknown situations as a challenge and the ability to adapt one’s behavior to the expectations of novel and ambiguous situations. Empirical evidence suggests that these traits indeed predict successful intercultural adjustment of employees (Brinkmann & Van der Zee, 1999; Van der Zee, Atsma, & Brodbeck, 2004; Van der Zee, Zaal, & Piekstra, 2003), migrants (Bakker et  al., 2006), expatriates (Peltokorpi, 2008; Van Oudenhoven, Mol, & Van der Zee, 2003), international students (Leong, 2007; Van Oudenhoven & Van der Zee, 2002), and that these traits have predictive value above and beyond the big five (Van der Zee et al., 2003). For example, Peltokorpi (2008) investigated expatriates in Japan and found that particularly emotional stability and cultural empathy were related to psychological adjustment, intercultural interactions, and professional effectiveness. A  longitudinal study of Leong (2007), who investigated undergraduate students that attended an international exchange program, reported that social initiative was related to social-cultural and psychological adjustment. This is in line with research of Van Oudenhoven, Mol, & Van der Zee (2003), who found social initiative to be a strong predictor of psychological well-being among Western expatriates in Taiwan. Interestingly, in recent work on expatriate couples, Van Erp (2011) found that a low score on an intercultural trait in one partner could be

compensated for by a high level of the same trait in one’s partner. More specifically, expatriates with a low level of social initiative or openmindedness could still maintain a high level of adjustment, provided that their partners were high on these traits. Interestingly and counterintuitively, at high levels of social initiative, expatriate spouses displayed even slightly better adjustment when their partners were low on social initiative than when their partners were high on this trait. This may be related to the fact that sociocultural adjustment may benefit from being the main person within the family who arranges social events in the new cultural context. In order to cope effectively with the new situation abroad, one should dispose of enough coping resources such as effective personal characteristics and favorable social circumstances (see e.g., Hobfoll, 1989; Hobfoll, Johnson, Ennis, & Jackson, 2003). Van Erp explains her findings by arguing that intercultural traits can act as a coping resource that facilitates adjustment to a new culture among expatriate couples, and that this resource can compensate any lack of the resource in their partners (exchange of resources effect). Take the example of social initiative (Figure 12.1). Individuals who are low on social initiative may profit from high levels of social initiative in their partners, when their partners invite people over and build up a social network. The compensatory value of the personality of a significant other to act as a coping resource has, as far as we know, not been reported before:  studies focusing on the importance of coping resources derived from significant others usually focused on the social support they may offer (see e.g., Thoits, 1995). A second category of specific traits that have been linked to intercultural success concerns metatraits, that is, traits that refer to a general sense of control in life, perseverance, or self-confidence. Most research in this area has focused on core self-evaluations. Core self-evaluations are individuals’ basic evaluations of themselves and their success in and control over their lives (Judge, Locke, & Durham, 1997 Locke & Durham, 1997). It is a latent construct indicated by four lower-order traits: self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and, again, emotional stability. These traits share a considerable amount of variance that can be characterized as a general evaluation of one’s sense of competence, deservingness, and control over success in life (Judge, Erez, Bono, & Thoresen, 2002, 2003). A study among expatriates on international assignments worldwide by Johnson, Kristof-Brown, Van Vianen, de Pater and Klein (2003) points at the van der Zee, van Oudenhoven

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Social-cultural adjustment expatriate spouse

6.4 SI expatriate low (–1SD) SI expatriate high (+1SD)

6.2 6 5.8 5.6 5.4 5.2 5

SI expatriate spouse low (–1SD)

SI expatriate spouse high (+1SD)

Social initiative expatriate spouse Figure  12.1 Interaction of expatriates by expatriate spouse’s social initiative on expatriate spouse’s socio-cultural adjustment (Van Erp, 2011).

relevance of core self-evaluations for intercultural success. Their study shows that core self-evaluations represented by a composite score of self-esteem, self-efficacy, internal locus of control, and emotional stability were not only positively related to the number of ties formed with other expatriates but also to psychological, social, and professional adjustment outcomes (Johnson et al., 2003). The importance of self-monitoring as another metatrait linked to personality is discussed by Kosic, Mannetti, and Sam (2006). Self-monitoring is proposed to be a personality trait that entails regulating one’s behavior, thought processes, and emotions in social interaction (Snyder, 1974). High self-monitoring individuals are considered to be sensitive to social situations and changes. The concept of self-monitoring has been proven to be positively related to (successful) sociocultural and psychological adaptation. The ability to self-monitor also seems to have an impact on the effectiveness of acculturation strategies. In this regard, Berry (1997) distinguishes between four different strategies that reflect the orientation of migrants toward the majority group:  integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization. In the case of integration, migrants maintain their own culture while engaging in contacts with members of the dominant culture. Migrants who assimilate equally regard contact with members of the dominant culture as important, but these immigrants do not place value on maintenance of their original culture. When migrants wish to maintain their own culture and are not interested in contact with members of the dominant culture, this is referred to as separation. Marginalization, finally, is a strategy characterized by neither maintenance of one’s original culture nor contact with 258

the dominant culture. Empirical evidence suggests that integration is the strategy that is most consistently associated with immigrant well-being (Berry, 1997). Interestingly, a study by Kosic et al. (2006) among Polish immigrants in Italy suggests that the relationship between acculturation and psychological adjustment is moderated by self-monitoring. Their data suggest that assimilation is more negative and integration is more positive for psychological well-being among high self-monitors. This finding may be explained from the fact that high self-monitors are sensitive to the approval of others. Polish immigrants are a relatively new group in Italy and Polish immigrants are often involved in jobs that are considered as inferior by the host nationals. Assimilating immigrants mainly have contacts with host nationals. Trying to get social acceptance from a group they are not familiar with in terms of language, values, and culture may induce uncertainty and consequently social anxiety among high self-monitors. Wang and Takeuchi (2007) link intercultural success to goal orientations. Goal orientations refer to the mental frameworks for how individuals respond to and interpret goal attainment situations. In the process of adjustment to their overseas position, expatriates need to accommodate to the work values, expectations, and standards of the host work environment. During this adjustment process, expatriates learn their new job roles, the new performance standards and expectations, and the type of leadership expected of them by their subordinates. This learning process is critical for expatriates to improve their task performance (Kramer, Wayne, & Jaworski, 2001). Wang and Takeuchi argue that expatriates with

Personalit y and Multicultural Effectiveness

a learning-goal orientation toward the overseas assignment (“I want to learn as much as possible at this expatriate assignment”) are more likely to be intrinsically motivated to improve their work adjustment. In addition to a learning orientation, these authors distinguish a performance orientation, that is to demonstrate and validate one’s competence, which in turn has two facets: a proving-goal orientation and an avoidance-goal orientation (Elliot & Harackiewicz, 1996; VandeWalle, 1997). A proving-goal orientation (“It is important for me to do well compared to other expatriates here”) may also be helpful to improve expatriates’ work adjustment due to a motivation to demonstrate high levels of competency. In contrast, expatriates with an avoidance-goal orientation (trying to avoid making errors and having low intrinsic motivation to develop corresponding competences) may try to shy away from this challenging process and put less effort into learning job-related knowledge. The study by Wang and Takeuchi shows that a learning-goal orientation and a proving-goal orientation promote expatriate adjustment, and in that way facilitate positive expatriation outcomes, whereas an avoidance-goal orientation has a negative impact on such outcomes (“My goal in this expatriate assignment is to avoid performing poorly”). An earlier study by Gong and Fan (2006) also showed a positive relationship between a learning-goal orientation and indicators of expatriate adjustment. However, these authors did not find a relationship between a performance-goal orientation and indicators of adjustment, probably because their operationalization of performance-goal orientation differed from the one used by Wang and Takeuchi. In a meta-analysis of the theoretical relations between goal orientations and other personality aspects, Payne, Youngcourt and Beaubien (2007) found empirical evidence for positive relationships between a learning-goal orientation and extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and emotional stability, whereas an avoidance-goal orientation was negatively related to these traits. A proving-performance goal orientation appeared to be negatively related to emotional stability. It has been argued that a proving performance orientation has both positive-approach and negative-avoidance characteristics. The negative relationship with emotional stability may reflect the negative-avoidance characteristics. Possibly, Wang and Takeuchi’s operationalization of a proving-performance orientation captured

its positive-approaching feature resulting in evidence for its positive effects, such as a high need for achievement and power motivation that may underly the desire to emigrate. Also, in research on immigration, motivational factors have been linked to intercultural success. For example, in their work on the “immigrant personality,” Boneva et  al. (1998) found that individuals intending to emigrate score higher on the need for achievement and power motivation but lower on affiliation needs. The authors did not link these motivational dimensions to actual intercultural success. A high need for achievement proved to be positively related to a learning goal orientation (Payne, Youngcourt, & Beaubien, 2007), which suggests that this higher motivation to immigrate may also translate in better adjustment outcomes. On the other hand, a high power motivation may lead to frustration because expression of power strivings may, in many cases, be difficult immediately after resettlement. It is yet unclear whether this motive indeed frustrates positive adjustment outcomes.

Coping and Intercultural Success

The ability to deal with intercultural situations has also intensively been studied from the angle of stress and coping. Particularly the literature on acculturation processes among immigrants has focused on the role of coping strategies in the process of adjustment to a new culture. Acculturation refers to the contact between individuals or groups that have a dissimilar cultural background and the process of mutual adaptation that takes place as result of that contact (Berry, 1980, 1997). We already discussed the four acculturation strategies that play an important role in this process of mutual adaptation. Acculturative stress occurs when individuals, mostly immigrants, experience difficulties that arise from this process (Williams & Berry, 1991). Examples are immigrants who have to live under deprived circumstances, who fail to establish contacts or do not succeed in finding a job or a school for their children. Acculturative stress may lead to negative subjective emotional states such as anxiety, negative affect, and depression (Hovey & King, 1996; Hovey & Magana, 2002) depending on whether a threatening situation is perceived as exceeding one’s coping resources. Such emotional states may be mitigated or avoided through adoption of effective coping strategies (Hovey, 2000a, 2000b; Hovey & King, 1996, 1997; Wong, 2002). The general coping literature distinguishes between active, problem-focused coping and van der Zee, van Oudenhoven

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passive, emotion-focused or cognitive coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Empirical findings from studies on coping responses by immigrants suggest that particularly active coping strategies successfully protect immigrants against stress (e.g., Crockett et  al., 2007; Gloria, Castellanos, & Orozco, 2005). For example, a study by Gloria, Castellanos and Orozco (2005) reveals negative relations of active coping with depression and anxiety among second-generation Mexican-heritage female undergraduates in the United States. However, findings by no means always point in the same direction. Wong (2002), for instance, found that in the short term, passive strategies may also be helpful. Coded interviews with mainland Chinese immigrants revealed that strategies such as acceptance, compromise, and avoidance were useful for a short period but could have a deteriorating effect in the long run. Hence, passive strategies may be useful in facilitating acceptance of migration reality, which in most cases means a low standard of living and being relatively poor. However, in the long run, tolerating these unfair conditions prevents migrants from undertaking action to improve their quality of life, so that they remain in the same disadvantaged situation. In a similar vein, a quantitative study by Van Erp, Giebels, Van der Zee, & Van Duijn (2011) on relationship dynamics among expatriates and their partners, revealed that avoidance of conflict issues in their relationship may be temporarily effective for adjustment, but not in the long run. Also, in this case, the overseas situation introduces an uncontrollable stressor in the form of inequality between spouses when one partner is employed and the other usually engaged at home. Actively confronting the partner with this inequality will not be very helpful: finding an equivalent position is in most cases very difficult, particularly in the short term, and returning to the old situation would imply quitting the assignment. However, avoidance of issues for a longer period will backfire and obstruct the relationship. In an interview study in multicultural Hawaii, Song (2009) derived five cultural coping factors: respect for and understanding of cultural differences (“I try to be respectful of the ways in which people are different from me”); self-development arising from negotiation between cultures (“I tend to think that I have learned to deal with various difficulties in life through my movements between two cultures”); support seeking (“When I have difficulties resolving from movements between two cultures, I talk to someone about my emotional difficulties”); 260

avoidance and passive acceptance (“When there are situations that may lead to conflicts between two cultures, I  try to avoid them”); and, finally, rejection of monocultures and generation of unique identity (“I try to think that I  do not belong to either culture but that I am a cosmopolite”). These dimensions clearly reflect instances of cognitive and emotional coping. The first factor “respect for and understanding of cultural differences” resembles the earlier-mentioned intercultural trait of cultural empathy. Problem-solving coping strategies did not appear as dimensions from the interviews. The author attributes this to the fact that the study focused on inhabitants of a multicultural society rather than on voluntary immigrants or expatriates. In sum, different coping styles may be effective in dealing with acculturative stress, dependent on the phase of acculturation as well as characteristics of the intercultural situation. Whereas active coping seems to be most effective in the long run, passive coping strategies may help to relieve tensions in the short term. In situations that are difficult to control, in particular, passive strategies come into play and may generate favorable adjustment outcomes (e.g., Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).

Attachment Styles

Finally, relying on insights from developmental and intercultural psychology, recent work has emphasized the role of attachment styles in intercultural situations. Attachment theory preeminently refers to the way individuals have been taught to approach others, and attachment styles influence the way people approach unknown individuals or their behavior in new situations (Cassidy & Shaver, 1999). Four adult attachment styles can be distinguished that refer to either a positive or negative self-regard combined with either a positive or a negative other-regard. A positive model of self and the expectation that others are responsive and trustworthy characterizes the secure attachment style. The preoccupied attachment style indicates a preoccupation toward the unworthiness of oneself, combined with a positive evaluation of others. A  positive model of self and a negative disposition toward others defines the dismissive attachment style. Lastly, the fearful attachment style is characterized by a negative model of the self, in combination with the expectation that others are untrustworthy and rejecting (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991). In general, research suggests that dispositional attachment security—a feeling of confidence in the available support and love

Personalit y and Multicultural Effectiveness

of attachment figures—is related to more cognitive openness (Mikulincer, 1997), more empathy and compassion for others (Gillath, Shaver & Mikulincer, 2005), and less negative reactions toward out-group targets (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2001). Because relations between immigrants and majority members imply interaction with unknown others in new situations and exploration of new social environments, we may expect attachment styles to be related to acculturation. Only a few studies have explicitly investigated the relation between the attachment styles of migrants and their adjustment to the new culture. Some of this work relates migration in itself to dysfunctional attachment patterns (e.g., Van Ecke, 2007). These studies depart from the idea that immigration functions as a form of attachment disruption, causing migrants to be less securely attached. However, there is also work showing that dispositional differences in attachment styles may facilitate adaptation to new cultures and acculturation attitudes. For example, a study by Handojo (2000) showed that securely attached Chinese Indonesian immigrants in the United States had fewer problems relating to American culture as compared to insecurely attached immigrants. A  study by De Pater, Van Vianen, and Derksen (2003) among expatriates indicated a secure attachment style to be positively related to the number of close contacts with locals. In a large study among Dutch immigrants in Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and some other countries, Bakker, Van Oudenhoven and Van der Zee, 2004) also found a positive relation between secure attachment and social relations in the host culture, whereas the insecure styles were negatively associated with relationship development in the host culture. Attachment styles have also been linked to acculturation strategies. Interestingly, a study by Van Oudenhoven and Hofstra (2006) in the Netherlands among immigrants showed that the more people are securely attached, the more positive they are toward integration. In contrast, immigrants who have a dismissive attachment style preferred separation as their acculturation style. Apparently, securely attached immigrants feel confident maintaining aspects of their original culture, while engaging with members of the new culture. In contrast, immigrants with a dismissive style tend to refrain from contacts with members of the new culture and stick to their own cultural group. The same study revealed a similar pattern of findings for reactions of majority

members toward immigrants. Securely attached members of the majority responded more favorably toward integration as an acculturation style among immigrants than majority members who were less securely attached. It must be noted that the variances in preferences for acculturation strategies explained by the attachment styles are more modest for majority members than for immigrants. This is not surprising because, on a daily basis, immigrants are more intensively confronted with acculturation issues than majority members. Together, the aforementioned studies clearly support the idea that attachment styles are important to the acculturation of immigrants to the host society. These factors and other relevant personality characteristics discussed earlier are summarized in Table 12.1. Table  12.1 Summary of personality characteristics that are related to intercultural success. Category

Specific Trait or Disposition

General extraversion (+) personality traits agreeableness (+) conscientiousness (+/0) neuroticism (-) intellect/ autonomy (+) Intercultural cultural empathy (+) personality traits open-mindedness (+) social initiative (+) emotional stability (+) flexibility (+) Core self-evaluations

self-esteem (+) generalized self-efficacy (+) emotional stability (+) locus of control (+) self-monitoring (+)

Stable motivational factors

learning goal orientation (+) proving performance goal orientation (+) avoiding performance goal orientation (-) achievement motivation (+) power motivation (+/-) affiliation motivation (+/-)

Coping strategies active, problem-focused coping (+) passive emotion-focused coping (-) passive cognitive coping (+) Attachment styles

secure attachment (+) preoccupied attachment (-) dismissive attachment (-) fearful attachment (-)

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Demands and Challenges of Intercultural Situations

In the previous sections we discussed which personality variables are relevant to intercultural success. To be able to further understand why specific personality variables make individuals better equipped to deal with intercultural situations it is first important to consider the characteristics of intercultural situations. In discussing these characteristics a distinction should be made between general characteristic of intercultural situations and specific characteristics of transitions from one culture to another. In both cases we argue that three dimensions of intercultural situations are of relevance: (1) threat, (2) social and cognitive opportunities, and (3) identity challenge.

Threat

First, intercultural situations are potentially stressful. In their book on the psychology of ‘culture shock’, Ward, Bochner, and Furnham (2001) argue that a cross-cultural transition may be considered as “a series of stress-provoking life changes which tax adjustive resources.” They refer to classic work by Homes and Rahe (1967) who developed the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) as an index of life changes. The instrument provides life-change units for 43 significant life events. Migration and expatriation are events that are associated with a substantial number of life changes, in particular to a new line of work, new housing conditions, and dramatic changes in one’s social network. Furnham and Bochner (1986) have indicated that such changes reach a level on the Readjustment Rating Scale that, according to the rating system developed by Holmes and Holmes (1970), is associated with 50–80% risk of major illness. Unfortunately, there are not many studies in which the Readjustment Rating Scale has actually been applied among migrants or expatriates. Exceptions are studies by Masuda, Lin, and Tazuma (1982), cited by Ward et al, 2001) among Vietnamese refugees in the United States and among Malaysian, Singaporean and New Zealand students (Searle & Ward, 1990; Ward & Kennedy, 1993a, 1993b, cited by Ward et al., 2001). These studies clearly reveal that high levels of life changes among immigrants and international students are indeed associated with increased levels of psychological and psychosomatic distress. It must be noted that when Oberg (1960), over half a century ago, coined the term “culture shock” sojourners probably experienced a real shock, because much less was known about remote cultures, the sojourners often had to stay abroad for long periods of time because overseas traveling 262

was much more expensive, and most importantly there were no forms of easy, cheap, and instantaneous forms of communication such as e-mail or Skype. Nowadays there is much less reason to experience culture shock or serious forms of homesickness thanks to unparalleled opportunities for transnational contact (Van Oudenhoven, Ward, & Masgoret, 2006). A theory that helps to further distinguish between different sources of potential threat in an intercultural context is Stephan and Stephan’s (1996) integrated threat theory. Although integrated threat theory primarily deals with the attitudes of majority groups toward minorities, it can also be applied to intercultural situations in general. Integrated threat theory distinguishes three types of threat1 that may be experienced in a culturally diverse environment:  realistic threats (external circumstances that involve potential physical, economic, or status damage), symbolic threats (the perception of the beliefs, values, and symbols of a different culture as a threat to one’s beliefs, values, and symbols), and intergroup anxiety (negative feelings when anticipating or experiencing contact with the other cultural group). In their transition to a new country, both expatriates and migrants are exposed to considerable changes in their social and cultural environment. They have to conform to new values and standards and have to learn a new language (Pawliuk et  al., 1996). The experience of an American expatriate woman (Box 12.1) shows how trivial problems can provide a major source of stress in a foreign situation. For immigrants and refugees, realistic threat may also be related to experiences of adversity. They often have to live in socially deprived circumstances, are unemployed or not allowed to work, and when they do work they are employed in low-wage jobs due to their low educational levels and language problems, or due to lack of professional title recognition in the new host culture, forcing even immigrants at higher educational levels to work in low salary jobs (Veld, 2004). Moreover, in intercultural encounters, immigrants are likely to face experiences of rejection and discrimination (Danhua et al., 2011; Somerville & Walsworth, 2009).

Social and cognitive opportunities

Next, at the positive side, intercultural situations are also characterized by social and cognitive opportunities. The literature on international experience clearly describes the process of cultural learning that potentially takes place in the process of a transition to a new culture or in culturally diverse contexts

Personalit y and Multicultural Effectiveness

Box 12.1  One of those Dutch days “Well it’s just one of those days when everything goes wrong. You’re fighting the weather. You fell off your bike. I mean one day my daughter was going to go on a Brownie sleepover. She needed a flashlight. And I thought this is not going to be that hard. I walked to the Albert Heijn. Well Albert Heijn doesn’t sell flashlights. I went to my local hardware store. They don’t sell flashlights. Seven stores and four hours later I find myself in the Kalverstraat walking in every single store I can and I finally walked in to this Xenos (. . .). And I walk in and, there’s a flashlight. And I buy it. And it works once for the one thing and then it breaks. It doesn’t matter. You know its like, geeze, this cannot be this hard. (. . . .). But just things like that, where it’s like the country is killing you.” An American expatriate wife (having lived for one year in The Netherlands) on her experiences in Amsterdam (Jones-Corley & Van Oudenhoven, 2002) (Ely & Thomas, 2001; Schneider & Barsoux, 1997). Cultural learning is also one of the phases in models of cultural adjustment (Ward et al. 2001), following an initial period of culture shock. An intercultural context provides individuals with opportunities to establish contacts that extend the borders of the own cultural group (e.g., Hawes & Kealey, 1981; Kets de Vries & Mead, 1991). However, intercultural contacts provide numerous challenges, because cultures differ in their communication styles, and this holds for both verbal and nonverbal communication. For example, well-known differences have been described in the literature between members of individualistic and collectivistic cultures in the directness of their communication (Gudykunst & Matsumoto, 1996; Ting-Toomey, 1991). In individualistic (low context) cultures, communication is direct, and there is an emphasis on verbal communication. In collectivistic (high context) cultures, communication is more indirect and only part of the message is conveyed in words. The receiver has to understand the remaining message from earlier knowledge about its sender, the setting in which the communication takes place and other characteristics of the context (Hall, 1976). The difference between individualistic and collectivistic cultures in the directness of communication is further moderated by another dimension on which cultures differ: power distance (e.g. Hofstede, 2001). Data suggest that, within collectivistic cultures, high power distance leads to indirect communication toward superiors versus direct communication toward subordinates (Brew & Cairns, 2004). Second, individualistic cultures also differ in the extent to which self-disclosure is regarded as appropriate. Members of individualistic cultures tend to be more inclined to share personal information with others. Within these cultures, it is regarded as useful to get to know each other better in order to decide whether one wants to get more personally involved.

In collectivistic cultures, it is more important to get information about the status and position of the other person and about the rules that guide the mutual interaction. Personal contacts are usually limited to in-group members. Therefore, it is not surprising that psychotherapy—being based on the sharing of personal information of the client with the therapist—is far more popular in individualistic cultures than in collectivistic cultures. Such sharing of personal information with a “stranger” feels more uncomfortable among members of collectivistic cultures. Third, individualistic and collectivistic cultures differ in the meaning of loss of face. In individualistic cultures, loss of face refers to individual failure. In those cultures it is important to hide or to come up with justifications for bad performance. In collectivistic cultures, loss of face refers to disturbed harmony in mutual relationships. An employee who wants his colleague to leave will never say this explicitely, but will, for example, ask what time it is, suggesting that the other has to leave, without being rude. Fourth, cultures differ in the use of manipulation techniques. Across the world, individuals use manipulation techniques to reach their goals. The way they do so, may differ strongly. In India for example, strategies are used to ingratiate oneself to another person, by self-degradation, expressing one’s dependency upon one’s superior, and adjusting one’s opinion in a socially desirable direction (Pandey, 1996). In order to successfully engage in and benefit from intercultural interactions, individuals need competencies in order to overcome such differences. In a process of social learning, characterized by continuous vicarious learning, practicing and receiving feedback on one’s own behavior, individuals will gradually learn the rules underlying social interaction in a new culture (Bandura, 1997). It is important to note that an individual cannot be regarded as a simple product of their cultures. It has been argued that differences within cultures van der Zee, van Oudenhoven

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generally exceed differences between cultures (see Van Oudenhoven, 2008, for a discussion). Because of her personality and characteristics of the family and neigborhood environment in which she was raised, a woman from a collective culture may, for example, communicate in a manner that strongly resembles the pattern of an individualistic culture. Effectively interacting with her requires more than just following the communication rules that are appropriate in her culture. In the next section, we will discuss how particular traits that are related to sensing differences, being open to them, and acting upon them may help in benefiting from intercultural interactions. Cultural learning does not refer only to successful interactions. It is also about learning different viewpoints and perspectives on issues in life. Writings on how an intercultural context can foster cognitive flexibility and learning can be found in the literature on cultural diversity at the work place (e.g., Austin, 1997; Nemeth & Nemeth-Brown, 2003; Van Knippenberg, De Dreu, & Homan, 2004) and in work on biculturalism (Benet-Martínez, Lee & Leu, 2006; see Crisp & Turner, 2011, for an integration of both perspectives). In research on cultural diversity in work groups, it has been argued that the novelty of input that is present in intercultural situations may provide opportunities for learning (e.g. Austin, 1997), creativity, and innovation (Nemeth & Nemeth-Brown, 2003; Van Knippenberg et al., 2004). Confrontation with new and different perspectives seems to evoke more thorough and active modes of information processing. When groups are confronted with routine input over a longer period of time, they may fall back on unconscious, automatic behaviors (Louis & Sutton, 1991). This may cause them to become rule-determined and insensitive to context. By contrast, when employees encounter new events or perspectives on a regular basis, they are more likely to switch to more active modes of processing (Louis & Sutton, 1991). Cognitive and learning theories have pointed at the positive aspects of active processing in problem solving and decision making (Argyris & Schon, 1978). Diversity of inputs may not only motivate effortful cognitive processes, it may also activate knowledge that has not been previously used. Models of cognitive processes in idea generation assume that knowledge is represented in associative networks. Associative networks are network structures of ideas in the brain in which the closest connections are between those ideas that are semantically related (e.g., tooth paste and tooth brush) and more 264

indirect and distal connections are between ideas that are less closely related (e.g. tooth paste and lip gloss). Exposure to ideas is believed to lead to the activation of knowledge through a process in which activation of one knowledge area leads to activation of adjacent areas in the network and is subsequently spread out to other areas (e.g., Nijstad, Stroebe, & Lodewijkx, 2002). In order for such a process to occur, ideas must actually be able to activate knowledge or have associative value (Dugosh & Paulus, 2005). This requires that ideas do not overlap too much with the information that is already available. In an intercultural context, intermember differences enhance the likelihood that new associations will emerge. Indirect support of this view is provided by a recent study by Nakui, Paulus, and Van der Zee (2011) on group brainstorming. This study revealed that culturally diverse groups performed better than homogeneous groups. The authors instructed brainstorming groups to generate ideas on a specific topic. Although the intercultural groups generated fewer ideas, these ideas were of higher quality compared to monocultural groups. Similar arguments can be found in the literature on biculturalism. Bicultural individuals seem to be able to process information from different perspectives in a less rigid way compared to monocultural individuals (Bhawuk & Brislin, 1992; Yamada & Singelis, 1999). Several studies have provided empirical evidence to support this claim (Gutierrez & Sameroff, 1990; Buriel et al., 1998; Benet-Martínez et  al., 2006; see for an overview, Crisp & Turner, 2011). For example findings by Benet-Martínez et  al. (2006) show that Chinese American college students generate more complex descriptions of both Chinese and American cultures than monocultural Anglo American students did. Remarkably, these biculturals had been in the United States only five years, on average, and yet their descriptions of U.S. culture were higher in complexity than those provided by U.S.-born monoculturals.

Identity challenge

In addition to providing social and cognitive challenges, intercultural situations can also be framed as a challenge to one’s identity. Confrontation with different cultures and members of different cultural groups makes our own cultural identity salient and makes us realize that the behavioral norms within our own culture are just one way of looking at reality. Even more so, speaking a new language or adjusting to the habits of a new culture, our own identity may change. Earlier in this chapter we

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discussed four acculturation strategies as identified by Berry (1997):  integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization. Because overseas traveling has become increasingly affordable and instantaneous forms of communication, such as e-mail or Skype, are more available, integration increasingly will incorporate transnational elements or will be combined with transnationalism. Transnationalism refers to “multiple ties and interactions that link people or institutions across the borders of nation-states” (Vertovec, 1999, p.  447). Although transnationalism may reflect international linkages across several countries, in most cases, the term is used to refer to bilateral transnationalism, that is, the process by which immigrants maintain multiple social relations between their societies of origin and settlement (Basch, Glick Schiller, & Szanton Blanc, 1994). An essential element of transnationalism is the great number and variety of involvements that immigrants sustain in both home and host societies. Examples include: money remittances, commercial ties between the country of origin and the new country, intensive links with relatives and friends, subscription to journals in the country of origin, branches of religious organizations that are set up in the new country, second homes in the country of origin, and frequent mutual visits. Transnationalism has provided immigrants with a wider range of alternatives for life in their new country. It certainly affords them greater opportunities to distance themselves from the host society when their identity is being threatened. Paradoxically, the availability of several options to deal with the society of origin may make immigrants also feel more at ease and more “at home” in the new society. Alternatively, it is possible that immigrants may not directly identify with either their heritage or host culture because they have opted for a more individualistic acculturation strategy (cf. Bourhis, Moïse, Perreault, & Senécal, 1997). Immigrants who are more individualistic

selectively adopt elements from several cultures and do not feel strongly committed to any particular culture. In essence, they show a cosmopolitan attitude. As we argued, most immigrants feel best if they integrate, that is, take over aspects of the new culture and maintain aspects of their original culture at the same time. Based on a human need to belong, employees from cultural minority groups like to belong to the new society based on groups and organizations within society; based on a need to be acknowledged in their unique characteristics, they also wish to bring in their original culture and be recognized for that (Brewer, 1991). When applied to smaller groups or organizations, this strategy is also called a “dual identity” (Gaertner & Dovidio, 2000; Van der Zee, Atsma, & Brodbeck, 2004). Combining two identities is not an easy task to accomplish. A study among culturally different employees from various Dutch organizations, suggests that a double identity requires a certain degree of emotional stability to deal with the conflicting demands of different cultures and to integrate different identities into one coherent sense of self (Luijters, Van der Zee, & Otten, 2006). For situations in which it is difficult to balance between two cultures, complete adjustment to the new culture (assimilation) is sometimes a “safer” strategy. Berry acknowledges the fact that although individuals have some choice about whether they want to integrate or assimilate, for example, the context clearly places restrictions on their identities (see also Bourhis et al., 1997). Some countries clearly emphasize adjustment to the dominant culture, leaving limited room for maintaining aspects of one’s original culture, especially in public spaces. The study by Kosic et  al. (2006) suggests that, in some situations, assimilation may be a difficult rather than a safe strategy because the chances of positive acceptance by minority members are low. Box 12.2 provides the example of an expatriate wife who is trying to assimilate. It is not hard to imagine

Box 12.2  Feeling American “I love Americans. And the more I meet other people the more I like Americans. I love that Americans are loud. I like that Americans are honest (. . .). People love to make comments about Americans. I had a problem with that when I first got here. People meet you and they like you and you’re American [yet] they feel it’s completely fine to put down Americans because you’re not like that. I’ve gotten a lot of American pride this year. I am still American. Everything about me is American . . . and I am comfortable with that. I’m not embarrassed, I think, to be American.” An American expatriate wife (after having lived in The Netherlands for three months) on her experiences in Amsterdam. (Jones-Corley & Van Oudenhoven, 2002) van der Zee, van Oudenhoven

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that her orientation evokes resistance among host nationals.

Personality in Context

Insight into the aforementioned characteristics of intercultural situations helps us to theorize on the underlying mechanisms that are responsible for personality effects on intercultural success. In Table 12.2 we link the different traits that we have discussed earlier to the aspects of intercultural situations distinguished in the previous section. Part of the personality dimensions that we have already discussed may clearly function as a buffer against threat (e.g., emotional stability, locus of Table 12.2  Critical personality dimensions tailored to characteristics of intercultural situations. Characteristics of intercultural situations

Critical dimensions

Threat

Stress-buffering traits Big-five neuroticism (-) emotional stability (+) flexibility (+) self-esteem (+) generalized self-efficacy (+) passive emotional coping (-) passive cognitive coping (+) avoiding performance goal orientation (-) locus of control (+)

Social and cognitive opportunities

Social-perceptual traits Big-five extraversion (+) Big-five agreeableness (+) Big-five intellect/autonomy (+) cultural empathy (+) open-mindedness (+) social initiative (+) active coping (+) learning goal orientation (+) proving performance goal orientation achievement motivation (+) power motivation (+/-) affiliation motivation (+/-) self-monitoring (-) secure attachment (+) self-esteem (+) self-efficacy (+)

Identity challenge

Identity related traits emotional stability (+) cultural empathy (+) open-mindedness (+) secure attachment (+)

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control, emotion-focused coping styles). We will refer to these traits as stress-buffering traits. In addition, we have discussed social-perceptual traits such as social initiative, open-mindedness, and secure attachment. These traits are not particularly related to the success of dealing with stress, but they seem to predispose individuals to perceive and explore, and even welcome, the challenging aspects of intercultural situations. In two laboratory studies, we examined how personality affects individual responses to diversity in the presence or absence of threat (Van der Zee, Van Oudenhoven & De Grijs, 2004; Van der Zee & Van der Gang, 2007). The data showed that in the presence of threat, stress-buffering traits protected individuals from negative responses to diversity. Social-perceptual traits did not have this protective ability. Conversely, when no threat was present the stress-buffering trait of emotional stability did not affect responses to the diverse setting, whereas the social trait of social initiative evoked positive responses to diversity (Van der Zee & Van der Gang, 2007). In practice, being able to deal with stress will be helpful in the first phase of a cultural transition. Over time, the amount of uncertainty and loss of control will decrease and it becomes more important to appreciate and make use of cultural differences in order to accomplish things. Simply being able to cope with stress does not suffice to generate positive outcomes from diversity or to be succesful in an intercultural setting. Not perceiving diversity as a threat may protect individuals from approaching new cultural perspectives in a rigid and close-minded way (Bar-Tal, Kruglanski, & Klar, 1989; Bruner & Postman, 1948; Steigleder, Weiss, Balling, Wenninger, Lombardo, 1980). However, intercultural success requires more in terms of dispositions than simply being able to deal with stress. Here social-perceptual traits, such as open-mindedness and social initiative come into play. Intercultural situations may pose a threat to one’s identity, and personality plays a role in this process. Some individuals seem more capable than others to identify with a foreign culture or to switch between identities than others. The social traits that we discussed earlier seem to reinforce identification with the new culture, whereas stress-buffering traits may help individuals to refrain from sticking too much to their own culture (Van der Zee et al., 2002; Van der Zee & Van der Gang, 2007). With respect to the ability to switch between identities, Brewer and colleagues introduced the construct of identity complexity (e.g., Roccas & Brewer, 2002; Miller, Brewer, & Arbuckle, 2009). Individuals with

Personalit y and Multicultural Effectiveness

complex identities define themselves in terms of multiple group memberships (e.g., being Chinese, a liberal, and a dentist) rather than in terms of one dominant identity (e.g., primarily being Chinese). Individuals with complex identities are better in connecting with others regardless of background, and to be tolerant of different cultures. The development of complex identities may be linked to aspects of personality. The concept of secure attachment, which assumes a simultaneous trust in oneself and in the other, is a good example. Even more related to the phenomenon of multiple identities is the concept of biculturalism. Biculturals are individuals whose self-label reflects their cultural dualism (Benet-Martínez, Leu, Lee & Morris, 2002). Bicultural individuals move between cultural orientations across situations in their daily lives. In general, biculturalism is associated with positive outcomes, in terms of developing cross-group social networks, well-being, and achievements (Benet-Martínez, 2012). Research has supported the role of personality as antecedent of biculturalism (Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2007). For example, individuals high on neuroticism are more inclined to perceive a clash between their native and host culture, and individuals low in openness to experience tend to perceive a larger distance between native and host culture, compared to high scorers (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005; Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2007). In a similar vein, a study by Swagler and LaRae (2000) on the link between personality and acculturation suggests that neuroticism is negatively related to an orientation toward the new culture (“mainstream acculturation”), whereas extraversion predicts both an orientation toward the new and to the heritage culture (“heritage acculturation”). In a work context, Luijters et al. (2006) confronted culturally different employees with a description of a fellow employee from a minority group who was either assimilating or integrating. Their data suggest that respondents who are low in emotional stability prefer assimilation over integration for their potential employees who are cultural minorities. Possibly, individuals high in neuroticism tend to adopt one dominant identity rather than shifting between identities, in order to deal with the higher conflict they experience between identities. The scarcity of studies on the role of personality on identity processes in an intercultural context forms a challenge for future research in this area. We do not expect identity processes to be linked to traits that are conceptually different from stress-buffering or social-perceptual traits. As we will discuss later,

dependent upon the phase of adjustment, traits may be helpful that protect individuals against identity threat (stress-buffering traits) or traits that help to define a flexible new identity that allows individuals to feel connected both to the old and the new culture (social-perceptual traits).

Personality, Context, and Time

In the previous section, we argued that different traits may be linked to different environmental demands that a specific intercultural context may present. In this section, we try to extend our model by adding the dimension of time. The time dimension has particularly received attention in the literature on sojourners. The adjustment of sojourners over time has been found to follow a U-shaped curve, although the evidence is not unequivocal (Church, 1982). In the first phase, sojourners have few problems (i.e. high adjustment) because they are excited about the new experience. This phase is also referred to as honeymoon phase (Black et  al., 1991; Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005) and is assumed to last 2–6 weeks, dependent upon individual characteristics. After some time, feelings of frustation, anxiety, and loneliness take over. This phase is usually referred to as the phase of culture shock, characterized by a set of complex psychological experiences, usually unpleasant and disruptive (Black et  al. 1991; Oberg, 1960). The phase of culture shock is assumed to end approximately eight months after arrival in the host country. In the period that follows, sojourners gradually learn to cope with the new circumstances, and their well-being increases again. Hofstede and Hofstede (2005) refer to this phase as the “acculturation phase.” They describe this phase as a phase in which the sojourner has slowly learned to function under the new conditions, has adopted some of the local values, finds increased self-confidence, and becomes integrated in a new social network. This phase lasts approximately one to two years and ends in a period of mastery in which a stable state of mind is reached (Black et al., 1991; Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005). The U-shaped model has been criticized because it was based on cross-sectional rather than longitudinal data, and a lot of questions regarding the form and time period of the curves remain unanswered (e.g. Berry, Poortinga, Segall & Dasen, 2002; Furnham and Bochner (1986). Moreover, the term culture shock has been criticized because of its emphasis on pathological effects of expatriation (Shiraev & Levi, 2000). Triandis takes a less clinical approach and views culture shock as a loss van der Zee, van Oudenhoven

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of control that people experience when they interact with members of a different culture (Triandis, 1994, p. 239). Loss of control is in most cases maladaptive or frustrating but does not necessarily cause serious psychological disturbances. Nowadays, there are a host of easy and cheap transnational means of acquiring social support from the home country so that the migrant does not really go through periods of depression or homesickness. Furnham and Bochner (1986) take an approach that even more stresses the positive aspects of culture shock, describing it as a learning experience that includes the acquisition and development of the skills, rules, and roles required in a new cultural setting. In a similar vein, Pedersen (1995) defines culture shock as the process of initial adjustment to an unfamiliar environment (Pedersen, 1995). Incorporating phases of adjustment in our model, we will exclude the honeymoon phase for two reasons. First, this phase has not been consistently supported across studies. For example, in a longitudinal study among Japanese students in New Zealand, Ward, Okura, Kennedy, and Kojima (1998) found that adjustment problems were greatest at the beginning and decreased over time. Second, we aim at a model that generally applies to individuals who settle down in a different country for a considerable period of time, whether they are sojourners, immigrants, or international students. The honeymoon phase seems more typical for expatriates than for immigrants, for example. We assume that the first relevant challenges that individuals who settle down in a different country face concern culture shock. In this phase they have to adjust to unfamiliar and uncontrollable aspects of the host environment. In terms of the earlier mentioned characteristics of the context, we argue that the three sources of threat as identified by Stephan and Stephan (1996) may be the main causes of “shock” during this period. An expatriate wife moving with her husband from the United States to Saudi Arabia may, for example, be confronted with problems establishing contacts with her neighbors and other parents at the school of her children (intergroup threat), experience difficulties walking on the street without a head scarf (symbolic threat), and also difficulties finding a job to earn her own salary (realistic threat). Moreover, her own identity as a Western woman may be seriously challenged (identity threat). Each of these threats may contribute to her experience of culture shock. As indicated in the previous section, in terms of traits, this implies that stress-buffering 268

traits play a significant role in this phase. Data suggest that individuals high in emotional stability are more inclined to perceive cultural differences as a challenge rather than as a threat and, as we stated, that they are less inclined to respond to potentially threatening aspects of such situations with negative affect (Van der Zee Oudenhoven et al., 2004; Van der Zee & Van der Gang, 2007). We also think that the stress-buffering traits may help to protect against threats to their own identity that may have a serious impact on well-being. As we mentioned earlier, there is evidence to suggest that individuals high in emotional stability are less inclined to perceive a clash between their native and host cultures, and individuals low in openness to experience tend to perceive a larger distance between native and host cultures, compared to high scorers (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005; Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2007). Excluding a honeymoon phase, we present a model that distinguishes between three phases— culture shock, acculturation, and mastery—and links these phases to different traits. First, empirical evidence supports the idea that stress-buffering traits particularly play a role in the first phases of adjustment (Van Oudenhoven & Van der Zee, 2002). Emotional stability proved to be the most important predictor for international business students’ success of adaptation at the start of their academic career. However, after six months, social initiative and cultural empathy became more important predictors of their success of adaptation. The results make sense intuitively:  at the start of a stay in an unknown cultural context, one must remain calm; after some time, however, social needs such as friendships and social support become more crucial. At that stage taking social initiatives and understanding the surrounding culture will help to build a social network. Work on coping, which suggests that passive coping strategies—aimed at threat-reduction—are effective in the first phases of adjustment but may be detrimental in the long run, also fits with this view (e.g., Wong, 2002). In line with Hofstede and Hofstede, (2005) we will use the term acculturation to characterize the phase that follows the phase of culture shock. In this stage, settlers learn to function under the new conditions, adopt some of the local values, find increased self-confidence, and become integrated in new social networks. In terms of the context factors described in the previous section, they increasingly learn to grasp social and cognitive opportunities,

Personalit y and Multicultural Effectiveness

and gradually develop a new identity, incorporating aspects of the new culture in their view of self. We assume that successful acculturation particularly benefits from social-perceptual traits. More specifically, whereas open-mindedness and a learning-goal orientation may facilitate cognitive learning in this phase, traits such as social initiative and being securely attached may be helpful in developing social networks across the borders of individuals’ own cultural group. Individuals high in social-perceptual traits may also more easily develop complex identities. In this regard, openness to experience has been identified as an antecedent of biculturalism (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005; Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2007). Again, there is first empirical support for the idea that social-perceptual traits become more relevant in later phases of adjustment. In the earlier mentioned study among international students, we showed that although the stress-buffering trait of emotional stability was particularly important in the first phase of adjustment, the social-perceptual trait of cultural empathy became more important in the long run (Van Oudenhoven & Van der Zee, 2002). The fact that stress-buffering traits become less important over time does, of course, not imply that they are not important at all in this phase. Particularly among immigrants, in defining themselves in relation to the old (heritage acculturation) and the new culture (mainstream acculturation), stress-buffering traits may help them in sensing less conflict between the old and the new culture (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005; Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2007). Conversely, in the phase of culture shock, social-perceptual traits may help to bring down the perceived distance between the heritage and the mainstream culture, in that sense reducing the amount of threat that is perceived by the settlers. The acculturation phase ends with a mastery phase in which a stable state of mind is reached. In this phase, intercultural traits become less crucial to maintaining a satisfactory level of well-being. Note that we assume that the social-perceptual traits are more important in the mastery phase compared to the stress-buffering traits. Hence, over the course of their stay in the new country, it remains important to establish contacts, to contribute to all kinds of tasks at work and in the home environment, and to start up new projects. Another assumption implicit in our model is that it may at times be cyclic. New threats or acculturation challenges may occur, for

example, as a result of job turnover, geographic mobility within the host country (e.g., moving from California to the Midwest), or political instability in the country of residence, which start new cycles of threat-reduction.

Conclusions and Discussion

The literature on multiculturalism and acculturation has strongly been influenced by the contributions of John Berry. His classification of four acculturation strategies (assimilation, integration, separation, and marginalization), in particular, has inspired many scholars. Although Berry has stressed the importance of individual variables as important determinants of intercultural success, many of his followers have exclusively focused on acculturation strategies as individual predictors of immigrants’ intercultural effectiveness. Acculturation strategies do vary across individuals, but they reflect, to a large extent, the influence of group pressures, state policies with respect to immigration, and the level of compatibility between the culture of origin and the host culture. Moreover, they are affected by individual difference variables that are not directly related to personality (e.g., intelligence, SES, education level, etc.) This implies that the variance in intercultural effectiveness explained by personality-related individual differences in acculturation strategies is slim. Fortunately, during the last decade, a great number of researchers have successfully taken the relation between personality factors and multiculturalism as the object of their studies. An obvious choice for personality characteristics was the big five, because, for over 20 years, the big five model has been the dominant theoretical model with a set of characteristics that have been shown to be meaningfully associated with a host of psychological aspects. Another category of likely traits that have been linked to intercultural success are metatraits, that is, traits that refer to a general sense of control in life, perseverance, or self-confidence, because these seem to have (face) validity as predictors of intercultural effectiveness, especially for migrants. It is a latent construct indicated by four lower-order traits:  self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, emotional stability, and locus of control. Next came three different categories that were selected because it seemed plausible on theoretical grounds that they would be related to intercultural success. First, learning goal orientations have been mentioned because cultural learning in the confrontation with new cultural situations is one of van der Zee, van Oudenhoven

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the phases in models of cultural adjustment (Ward et  al., 2001). Second, the literature on acculturation processes among immigrants mentions that acculturative stress may lead to negative subjective emotional states such as anxiety, negative affect, and depression, and has focused on the role of coping strategies in the process of adjustment to a new culture. Third, attachment styles can be seen as personal tendencies of individuals to approach unknown persons in “strange situations.” These situations may strongly deviate from what migrants are accustomed to. A secure attachment style thus would seem to be particularly relevant for migration situations in which migrants must interact with unknown host members and must explore new social environments. Finally, our own approach was to look for a tailored set of key intercultural competencies that were based on a selection of the many aspects that were mentioned in the expatriation literature and in interviews with expatriates. They proved to be predictive for success in intercultural encounters above more general factors such as the big five (Van der Zee et al., 2003). Moreover, the five competencies have discriminative predictive value for intercultural success, depending on the situation. There is a lack of theory explaining which theoretical processes explain the link between specific personality traits and specific intercultural outcomes. In the present chapter we related the different traits that were discussed to features of intercultural situations: threat, social and cognitive opportunities, and identity challenge. By doing so, it becomes possible to make theoretical predictions on the underlying processes that explain why traits are linked to specific outcomes. Future studies on the link between personality and intercultural success ought to include such explanatory social and cognitive variables linked to threat, social and learning opportunities, and identity challenges. Particularly, the relation between personality and successfully reacting to identity challenges has been rarely investigated. Our framework is not only of theoretical

relevance; it may also be useful for practitioners. Companies who send employees to overseas positions, schools that support students in going abroad for study purposes, or professionals who support immigrants within the community, can define the intercultural situation at hand in terms of the three environmental characteristics to derive which traits are most critical to success. Assessment information on individual traits can then be used to derive predictions on intercultural success as a basis for selection, training and consulting. Considering the challenges of intercultural encounters, particularly for those who want to make a move, it is of crucial importance that these individuals know themselves and their social, cognitive, and emotional skills and limits. In studying the relationship between personality traits and indicators of intercultural success, one aspect has often been overlooked. Ratings of self and others on traits are by no means independent of the salience of specific identities. For example, Ramirez-Esparza, Mehl, Álvarez=Bermúdez, and Pennebaker (2009) and others showed that, although Mexicans described themselves on a personality inventory as less sociable compared to Americans, self-descriptions of actual behavior indicated that they were, in fact, much more sociable compared to Americans. Most likely, in arriving at a general rating of their own personality, members from each group compared themselves to other members within their own cultural group, causing the difference in findings for both outcome measures. Focusing explicitly on biculturals, a study by Mok and Morris (2009) showed that although Asian-Americans used primarily abstract and decontextualized descriptions of others when they were primed with an American identity, they generated more concrete and contextualized descriptions on an Asian identity prime. Future work on the link between personality and intercultural success should take into account such identity influences on ratings, because they may seriously obscure true associations between personality and adjustment outcomes.

Table 12.3  Critical personality dimensions as a function of time. Phase

culture shock

acculturation

mastery

Main challenge

Coping with social, cognitive and identity threat

Social and cognitive Learning, stable identity formation

Maintaining a stable level of functioning

Importance of stress-buffering traits Importance of social-perceptual traits

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Personalit y and Multicultural Effectiveness

The present chapter not only focused on the role of personality as a determinant of intercultural success, but it also discussed the importance of traits in different phases of intercultural adjustment. The idea that intercultural adaptation varies over time is well documented. More interesting both theoretically and practically is the fact that different traits are interculturally effective depending on the stage of expatriation or immigration, as is indicated by the dynamic model that we developed (see Table 12.3). This model assumes that stress-buffering traits are particularly important in the phase of culture shock, whereas the social-cognitive traits are important in the later phase of acculturation. In the final phase of mastery, the importance of traits declines gradually. The model is cyclic in the sense that planned or unplanned changes may evoke new phases of culture shock, followed by new phases of cultural learning. Our model first received indirect empirical support (Van Oudenhoven & Van der Zee, 2002), but it needs further testing in longitudinal studies among different samples of sojourners. It must be noted that stages of adjustment are not only dependent on time but also rely on other factors. Stages will differ depending on the type of migrant (e.g., expats, immigrants, or international students), whether migration is forced or voluntary, the cultural distance between host and home country, and the presence of co-nationals or the distance to the home country. We believe that in future research it is important to investigate the complex interplay between these factors over time as well as the way in which they influence the effects of stress buffering and social-perceptual characteristics on intercultural success. This chapter focused on the role of personality characteristics as determinants of intercultural effectiveness. We hope that we have clarified our theoretical presumption that, on our journey through a multicultural landscape, we will probably benefit more from our competencies to take the perspective of the other culture and to adapt our behavior to that new environment, to approach the other people with an open mind, and to keep our emotions in balance than we will to carry books on all the cultures we will encounter.

Note

1. Integrated threat theory also includes negative stereotypes as a fourth possible threat. Several studies suggest, however, that presence of negative stereotypes may, in fact, be seen as a mediator of the other types of threat with outcome variables (Curseu, Stoop, & Schalk, 2007; Ward & Masgoret, 2006). Therefore, the authors chose to include only the first three threats in this framework.

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Variations in Multicultural Experience: Influence of Bicultural Identity Integration on Socio-Cognitive Processes and Outcomes

Chi-Ying Cheng, Fiona Lee,Verònica Benet-Martínez, and Que-Lam Huynh

Abstract This chapter provides a comprehensive framework that integrates research on the socio-cognitive processes and outcomes of biculturalism. First, this chapter offers an overview of the psychology of multiculturalism, including early definitions and typologies of multicultural experiences. Second, this chapter examines how Bicultural Identity Integration (BII), the degree to which biculturals perceive their two cultural identities as compatible versus oppositional and fused versus compartmentalized, influences biculturals’ cognitive and motivational processing. Third, a theoretical model called the Integrative Psychological Model of Biculturalism (IPMB) is proposed as a comprehensive framework for understanding the social-cognitive correlates of biculturalism. Specifically, the IPMB examines individual and contextual antecedents of variations in bicultural experience, and how these processes influence self-concept, cultural frame switching, knowledge bridging, cognitive complexity, motivation as well as their psychological, social, and behavioral outcomes. The IPMB has implications beyond biculturals to those managing multiple identities around gender, religion, and profession as well. Key Words:  bicultural, multicultural, bicultural identity integration (BII), integrative psychological model of biculturalism (IPMB), cultural frame switching (CFS)

Variations in Multicultural Experience: Influence of Bicultural Identity Integration on Socio-Cognitive Processes and Outcomes

Multiculturalism has become a reality of life in today’s world. Many individuals have migrated to a different culture than the one in which they were born, move regularly between cultures (e.g., transnationalism), live in nations colonized by a different cultural group, have parents from different cultures, or reside within close proximity with people from a variety of cultural backgrounds. According to the 2010 U.S. census, for example, 4.2 million children are multiracial; this group has grown almost 50% since 2000, when the very first time respondents were allowed to check more than one box regarding their race (Williams, 2012; see also Sanchez, Shih, & Wilton, this volume). An increasing number 276

of people are now known as “third-culture kids,” “global cosmopolitans,” or “global nomads”; these are people who do not identify with only one culture, but associate with multiple cultures or a combination of different cultures (Brimm, 2010). To complicate the picture further, these individuals manage their multiple cultural identities in different ways; some find it easy to integrate their multiple cultural identities and feel proud of their multicultural status, whereas others struggle between the cultural groups with which they are associated, deciding to identify with one or neither, or switching between them (Benet-Martínez, 2012). A comprehensive psychology of culture must take into account how multiculturalism is experienced, managed, and negotiated in these people’s everyday lives. Indeed, a thriving psychological scholarship of biculturalism has emerged during the past

decade (see Benet-Martínez, 2012; Hong, Wan, No, & Chiu, 2007; Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2010 for recent reviews). Some scholars have focused on individuals with multicultural demographic or sociological characteristics—for example, individuals who have a mixed racial or ethnic background, have lived in more than one country or immigrated from one country to another, have parents from different cultures, or have lived in societies where they are exposed to multiple cultural groups (e.g., Berry, 2003; Padilla, 2006; Phinney & Devich-Navarrro, 1997; Rockquemore, 1999; Shih & Sanchez, 2005). Others have focused on the psychological processes involved in negotiating between multiple cultural identities and competencies (e.g., Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005; Cheng & Lee, 2009; Hong, Morris, Chiu, & Benet-Martínez, 2000). Here, multiculturalism is broadly construed as the experience of having been exposed to and having internalized two or more cultures (Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2007).1 In this line of work, multiculturals have been considered as individuals who have multicultural competence (i.e., have knowledge, language skills, social-networks, values and attitudes, media preferences, value systems, and so forth, that are representative of two or more cultures; LaFromboise, Coleman, & Gerton, 1993). Multiculturals also have been considered as individuals whose self-labels (e.g., “I am multicultural”) or group self-categorizations (e.g., “I am American” and “I am Chinese”, “I am Chinese-American”) reflect cultural pluralism (Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2007). Relatedly, multicultural identity is the condition of having attachments with and loyalties toward different cultures (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005). Note, then, that multicultural identity is only one component (albeit a very important one) of the more complex and multidimensional notion of multiculturalism (Benet-Martínez, 2012). Acquisition of knowledge from a new culture does not always produce identification with that culture (Hong et  al., 2007). In short, an individual who has been exposed to and has learned from more than one culture is a multicultural person; but we say that the individual has a multicultural identity only when this individual expresses an attachment to these cultures. Although multicultural identity involves a significant degree of identification with more than one culture, it does not presuppose similar degrees of identification with all the internalized cultures. Often, demographic, sociological, and psychological conceptualizations of biculturalism

overlap—many people who identify with multiple cultures also have been exposed to these cultures via their life experiences, and are seen by others as belonging to different cultural groups. However, this is not always the case, and sometimes these conceptualizations of multiculturalism can diverge. For example, consider first- and second-generation Asian American immigrants. Even though their demographic characteristics may be similar, research suggests that some self-identify as Asian, some self-identify as American, some self-identify as bicultural (both Asian and American), and others just self-identify as human beings without reference to any cultural groups (Shih, Bonam, Sanchez, & Peck, 2007). Moreover, one’s own identification with cultural groups may be different from others’ perceptions (Rockquemore, Brunsma, & Delgado, 2009). For instance, a second-generation Asian American may have never lived in Asia and self-identify as American, but others may see her as Asian. In this chapter, we focus specifically on multiculturalism as a psychological process, defined by an individual’s subjective sense of belonging to more than one cultural group. That is, we use an individual’s own perceptions of his or her behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and sense of belongingness within a cultural group to define bicultural identity. One of the earliest theoretical frameworks using this approach was developed by Berry (1990), who examined the extent to which immigrants value and participate in their ethnic (home or original) culture and the dominant (host or mainstream) culture. Drawing on immigrants’ self-reports, Berry identifies four strategies immigrants use to manage their potential dual-cultural membership: (a) integration refers to the strategy of retaining the traditions and values of their ethnic culture and also developing competencies and participating in the dominant culture; (b)  assimilation refers to the strategy of developing competencies in and involvement with the dominant culture but not retaining their ethnic culture; (c)  separation refers to the strategy of retaining their ethnic culture but not establishing or maintaining a relationship with the dominant culture; and (d) marginalization refers to the strategy of retaining neither their ethnic culture nor the dominant one. According to Berry’s model, those who adopt the integration strategy by being involved with both cultures are defined as biculturals. Empirical work on these four acculturation attitudes or strategies reveals that, at least at the individual level, the most common strategy used by

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immigrant and cultural minorities is integration/ biculturalism, followed by separation, assimilation, and marginalization (e.g., Berry, Phinney, Sam, & Vedder, 2006). Further, there is now robust evidence supporting the psychometric validity of the multidimensional model of acculturation and its advantages over unidimensional models in predicting a wide array of outcomes (Flannery, Reise, & Yu, 2001; Ryder, Allen, & Paulhus, 2000; Schwartz, Unger, Zamboanga, Szapocznik, 2010). Cross-national acculturation studies have found a zero or even positive association between national/ mainstream identity and ethnic identity in settler countries such as the United States (r = .15), Canada (r = .09), or New Zealand (r = .32), which have long traditions of immigration (see Table 4.1 in Phinney, Berry, Vedder, & Liebkind, 2006). However, this association is often moderately negative in nonsettler countries such as France (r  =  −.13), Germany (r = −.28), and The Netherlands (r = −.27; Phinney et  al., 2006). This pattern of associations speaks to the prevalence of multicultural identities across countries, which may result from the interaction of two factors: the climate of the receiving country, such as how long it has been receiving and incorporating immigrants (e.g., Canada vs. Germany), and the type of predominant immigrant group, such as how much this group poses a threat to the mainstream cultural values (e.g., Muslim Moroccan and Turkish in Europe versus predominantly Christian Asian and Latin American groups in the United States and Canada). These results also speak to the different forms that multicultural identity may take (e.g., negative, zero, or positive correlation between ethnic and dominant orientations), and how structural factors may play a role in fostering one form over another (Benet-Martínez, 2012).

Biculturalism: Being of Two Minds

The psychology of biculturalism arose from long-standing research showing that people from different cultures differ greatly in how they think, feel, and behave (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Cross-cultural differences have been observed in a variety of psychological processes—ranging from higher-level processes such as values to lower-level processes such as perception—and have been shown to occur very early in life (e.g. Hofstede, 2001; Ji, Peng, & Nisbett, 2000; Masuda & Nisbett, 2001; Nisbett, Peng, Choi, & Norenzayan, 2001; Peng & Nisbett, 1999; Schwartz, 2004). It is not within the scope of this chapter to provide a comprehensive review of these differences, but next we offer 278

a few examples to illustrate the pervasiveness and robustness of cross-cultural differences in the psychological literature, and provide a background for understanding why being bicultural can be seen as having two distinct and even oppositional “minds.” Self-concept, or the idea of “I” as an active agent in the social world, varies greatly by culture (Mead, 1934). East Asians have a predominantly interdependent self-construal; they see the self as inherently connected with others and inseparable from a social context, which leads to an emphasis on being attentive to others, fitting in, and interpersonal harmony. In comparison, North Americans possess a predominantly independent self-construal; they perceive the self as a unique and separate entity from others, and seek to maintain their independence by attending to the self and by downplaying others (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). For example, when asked to recall autobiographical memories, Americans provided more references to themselves and their own internal states (Han, Leichtman, & Wang, 1998; Wang, 2001; Wang & Brockmeier, 2002). People from Australian, Ghanaian, Malaysian, and other non-Western cultures also have been shown to have self-construals distinct from people from Western cultures (e.g., Adams & Dzokoto, 2003; Bochner, 1994). Cross-cultural differences also have been observed in how people express, experience, appraise, and judge emotions. Compared to their Western counterparts, East Asians experience more negative emotions, and also are less emotionally expressive, especially in terms of expressing negative emotions to in-group members (Suh, Diener, Oishi, & Triandis, 1998). East Asians are more likely to experience self-critical emotions such as guilt, shame, and embarrassment when negative events occur, and other-enhancing emotions such as admiration and gratefulness when positive events occur (Scherer, Walbott, Matsumoto, & Kudoh, 1988). East Asians are also more likely to incorporate information in the context when judging others’ emotions than are Westerners (Masuda, Ellsworth, Mesquita, Leu, Tanida, & van de Veerdonk, 2008). Similarly, culture has been shown to affect cognitive processes. For example, East Asians are more apt to adopt holistic attention and thinking styles, whereas North Americans are more prone to adopt analytical attention and thinking styles (e.g., Masuda & Nisbett, 2001; Nisbett, et  al., 2001). These different thinking styles have implications for how individuals assess their emotional experiences and themselves. For instance, Schimmack, Oishi,

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and Diener (2002) found that the link between the frequency of positive emotions and negative emotions was significantly more negative among Westerners than among East Asians. Apparently, the latter group experiences positive and negative emotions more independently, which is supportive of a dialectical view of the self. Similarly, Spencer-Rodgers, Peng, Wang, and Hou (2004) found that East Asians endorse both positive and negative statements measuring self-esteem and well-being, whereas European Americans endorse either positive or negative aspects, supportive of an analytic orientation that is less tolerant of contradiction and duality. In addition, East Asians are less likely to exhibit the correspondence bias, or the tendency to attribute other people’s behaviors internally to their dispositions; East Asians tend to make more external attributions, and they generally consider more causes as well as consequences of social events (Choi, Dalal, Kim-Prieto & Park, 2003; Choi & Nisbett, 2000; Choi, Nisbett, & Norenzayan, 1999; Maddux & Yuki, 2006; Morris & Peng, 1994). In categorization tasks, East Asians tend to categorize objects by their functional associations, whereas North Americans categorize objects by shared features. For example, when asked to group a television, a computer, and an antenna, East Asians group the television and the antenna together, while Americans group the television with the computer (e.g., Chiu, 1972; Ji, et al., 2000). Furthermore, culture has been found to influence motivation, or the study of why people initiate, persist in, and terminate specific actions in a given circumstance (e.g., Atkinson, 1958). Cross-cultural comparison research shows that people in Western cultures are predominantly motivated by the desire to maintain a positive view of the self (e.g., James, 1890; Steele, 1988), but self-enhancement and self-promotion are perceived negatively in Japanese culture (Yoshida, Kojo, & Kaku, 1982). In a similar vein, the self-serving bias is more salient in Western cultures such as the U.S.  than in Eastern cultures such as Japan (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). This voluminous literature documenting pervasive, basic, and fundamental cultural differences raises the question of how multiculturals, people who have two or more cultures, psychologically bridge these different ways of being. For example, how would an East-West bicultural negotiate between the normatively Western independent self-construal and the normatively-Eastern interdependent self-construal? It may be possible

that bicultural individuals possess “two cultural minds”—they have two sets of cultural knowledge, use two cultural schemas to guide their thoughts and behaviors, and can activate these two cultural frames of references. The “two cultural minds” theory of biculturalism has been well supported in research demonstrating biculturals’ tendency to fluidly move between different cultural frameworks in response to cultural cues. This phenomenon, known as “cultural frame switching” or CFS, has been observed in a variety of psychological processes, cultural groups (e.g., Asian American, Greek Dutch, Latinos), and types of cultural cues (e.g., visual icons, language). For example, when exposed to Asian cultural cues such as pictures of the Great Wall of China, East-West biculturals made more external attributions, a prototypically Eastern attribution style. In comparison, when exposed to Western cultural cues such as pictures of a cowboy, East-West biculturals made more internal attributions, a prototypically Western attribution style (Hong et  al., 2000). In a similar study, Verkuyten and Pouliasi (2002) found that activating the Greek identity led bicultural Greek-Dutch children to make more external attributions, to have stronger identification with friends, and to possess a more positive evaluation of social identity—all prototypically Greek values—than when activating the Dutch identity. Beyond attributions (Benet-Martínez, Leu, Lee, & Morris, 2002; Cheng, Lee, & Benet-Martínez, 2006; Hong, Benet-Martínez, Chiu, & Morris, 2003; Hong et  al., 2000; Verkuyten & Pouliasi, 2006), CFS effects have been reported in the domains of personality self-views and evaluations (Ramirez-Esparza, Gosling, Benet-Martínez, & Pennebaker, 2006; Ross, Xun, & Wilson, 2002; Verkuyten & Pouliasi, 2006), ethnic identity (Verkuyten & Pouliasi, 2002), emotional experience (Perunovic, Heller, & Rafaeli, 2007), self-construals (Kemmelmeier & Cheng, 2004), acculturation (Lechuga, 2008), values (Fu, Chiu, Morris, & Young, 2007; Verkuyten & Pouliasi, 2006), cooperation (Kim-Jo, Benet-Martínez, & Ozer, 2010; Wong & Hong, 2005), autobiographical memory (Bender & Ng, 2009), decision making (Briley, Morris, & Simonson, 2005), word-meaning associations (Ringberg, Luna, Reihlen, & Peracchio, 2010), and other psychological processes. Further, CFS has been demonstrated when cultural cues were presented explicitly (i.e., above participants’ level of conscious awareness, Pouliasi & Verkuyten, 2007) and implicitly (i.e., below participants’ level of conscious awareness, Devos, 2006).

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In summary, there is solid evidence supporting CFS, or the process by which multicultural individuals move back and forth between their distinct cultural mindsets depending on situational cues; under the right conditions, East-West biculturals can behave in ways that are indistinguishable from monocultural Easterners or monocultural Westerners. Importantly, for CFS to occur, and for a particular cultural cue to influence behavior, three conditions should be fulfilled: (a) the relevant cultural schemas have to be cognitively available (i.e., the individual has internalized cultural values, norms, attitudes), (b)  associations relevant to that culture have to be cognitively accessible (the schemas have been recently activated by explicit or implicit contextual cues), and (c)  associations relevant to that culture should be perceived as applicable to the situation (Hong et al., 2000; 2003).2 CFS can be habitual and automatic. For example, one can imagine a bilingual individual who can fluidly switch languages depending on the audience. However, that is not always the case. Individuals may sometimes manage the CFS process by actively and consciously controlling the accessibility of cultural schemas. For instance, immigrants and expatriates hoping to adapt quickly to their new cultural environments engage in self-priming, surrounding themselves with symbols and situations that prime the meaning system of the host culture (e.g., by reading newspapers in the new language and supporting the local sports team). Alternatively, those who wish to sustain their original ways of thinking and feeling may activate a sense of “cultural nostalgia” by surrounding themselves with stimuli (e.g., food, art, or music) priming their home culture (Sedikides, Wildschut, Routledge, Arndt, & Zhou, 2009). These active processes of culturally priming oneself may help multicultural individuals in their ongoing effort to negotiate and express their cultural identities (Hong et al., 2000).

Individual Differences in the Psychological Management of Multiculturalism

Navigating multiple cultural memberships is a complex and multifaceted psychological process. Even within the biculturals who adopt Berry et  al.’s (2006) integration/biculturalism strategy, large individual differences exist. For example, early acculturation and popular work on multicultural individuals find that the experience of dual cultural membership is mixed; for some, these experiences are associated with positive feelings (e.g., pride in 280

one’s cultural backgrounds, feelings of uniqueness and belonging to a rich community), for others they are associated with negative feelings (e.g., identity confusion, dual expectations, value clashes), and for still others they are associated with both positive and negative feelings (e.g., Chavez, 1994; LaFromboise et al., 1993; O’Hearn, 1998; Padilla, 1994). Clearly, multicultural individuals vary in how they deal with the implications of coming from different cultural communities each with their own cognitive, affective, and behavioral expectations (LaFromboise et al., 1993). An important issue, then, is how particular individual differences impact the process of multicultural identity formation and the meanings associated with this experience. There are several individual difference models of bicultural identity formation and negotiation. Early theoretical work on this issue is worth discussing, even if briefly. Using qualitative, interview data from 46 Mexican-American and 52 African-American adolescents, Phinney and Devich-Navarro (1997) found empirical evidence for three bicultural types:  blended biculturals, alternating biculturals, and separated biculturals. Blended biculturals affirm their biculturalism, express pride in their background, and consider themselves equally ethnic and mainstream in their cultural orientations. They see the mainstream and ethnic cultures as different but not in conflict, and they are reluctant to choose one culture over the other. In comparison, alternating biculturals find it more difficult to have two cultures at the same time. Alternating biculturals perceive the mainstream and ethnic cultures as highly disparate, with distinct values, ideas, and norms, and they experience conflict between the two. The way they see themselves changes in response to the situation. For example, they feel more American at school and more ethnic at home. For alternating biculturals, their cultural identification is not fixed. Rather, it switches in response to contextual demands (see also Collins, 2000; Cross, 1978; Poston, 1990). Separated biculturals are not truly bicultural as defined by their psychological identification and attachment; they do not feel welcome in the larger society and do not see themselves as part of the dominant culture. In short, they identify with their ethnic cultures only. In another extension of Berry’s model, Roccas and Brewer (2002) proposed that individuals manage dual identities using one of four strategies: (a) intersection or identification with the intersection of multiple social groups (e.g., Asian-American biculturals who mainly identify with others who

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also are Asian-American biculturals); (b)  dominance or identification with one social group (e.g., Asian-American biculturals who mainly identify with American culture); (c)  compartmentalization or identification with either social group depending on the social context (e.g., Asian-American biculturals who identify with Asians in one setting and with Americans in another setting); and (d) merger or identification with both social groups simultaneously (Asian-American biculturals who identify with both Asians and Americans). Research on mixed-race individuals, individuals who belong to two racial groups, supports this taxonomy of strategies. Mixed-race individuals manage their two racial identities by:  (a)  having one foot in each of the two racial groups [similar to Roccas & Brewer’s (2002) merger strategy]; (b) shifting the foreground and background as they move between different racially defined contexts (similar to compartmentalization); (c) choosing a hybrid “border” racial identity (similar to intersection); or (d) identifying with one “camp” while visiting other camps when necessary (similar to dominance; Binning, Unzueta, Huo, & Molina, 2009; Renn, 2000; Root, 1996; Wallace, 2001). These seminal typological studies underscore the existence of individual variations in multicultural and multiracial identities and experiences, and have significant heuristic value. At the same time, these typologies suffer from an important conceptual limitation:  they confound differences in identity and behavior. Specifically, whereas labels such as “blended” and “fused” refer to subjective, identity-related aspects of the bicultural experience (e.g., seeing oneself as Asian American or Chicano), labels such as “alternating” or “shifting” refer to the behavioral domain, that is, the ability to engage in cultural frame-switching by alternating behaviors (and perhaps even identities) depending on the cultural cues of the situation (Benet-Martínez et al., 2002). Naturally, individuals’ subjective experiences of their bicultural identity and their bicultural behaviors or competencies do not have to map onto each other (Boski, 2008). For instance, the third author of this chapter has a bicultural upbringing in Barcelona, which included paternal Catalan and maternal Spanish cultural influences. When asked about her native or birthcultural identity, she reports having a relatively stable “blended” or fused Catalan-Spanish identity. Accordingly, she often jokingly labels herself as “xarnega,” a formerly derogatory term used to describe immigrants to Catalunya coming from other parts of Spain and

their children (Niño-Murcia & Rothman, 2008). However, she also describes her biculturalism in terms of “alternating” cultural frames, as she often alternates or switches between Catalan and Spanish languages, behaviors, and even identity components, depending on the cultural demands of the situation. Thus, researchers should consider to what extent the two labels “blended” and “alternating” tap into different components of the bicultural experience (i.e., identity in the case of “fused” and behaviors in the case of “alternating”) rather than different types of bicultural individuals.

Individual Difference in Bicultural Identity Integration

Phinney and Devich-Navarro’s (1997) study identified bicultural types differing in their cultural identification patterns and in how they perceived the relationship between the two cultures to which they belong (Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2007). The individual difference dimension underlying differences between two of these types is best captured by the concept of Bicultural Identity Integration (or BII) (see Benet-Martínez et al., 2002; Huynh, Nguyen, & Benet-Martínez, 2011 for reviews). BII is defined as the degree to which “biculturals perceive their mainstream and ethnic cultural identities as compatible and integrated vs. oppositional and difficult to integrate” (Benet-Martínez et al., 2002, p. 9). Typically measured using self-report questionnaires, biculturals high on BII (high BIIs) perceive overlap rather than disassociation between their two cultural orientations (sample items include “I am a Chinese-American” versus “I see myself simply as a Chinese in the U.S.”), and perceive harmony rather than tension between their two cultures (sample items include “I do not see conflict between Chinese and American ways of doing things” versus “I feel trapped between the two cultures” (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005). In comparison, biculturals low on BII (low BIIs) perceive disassociation and tension between their two cultural orientations. Bicultural identity integration clearly draws from previous acculturation work examining variations in acculturation patterns and biculturalism (LaFromboise et  al., 1993; Phinney & Devich-Navarro, 1997). However, whereas previous frameworks typically focus on individual differences in the cultural group(s) with which biculturals identify, how much they identify with those groups, and when they identify with those groups, BII taps into individuals’ perceptions and feelings about the relationship between their different cultural identities.

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The emphasis here is on subjective perceptions and experiences of cultural overlap and compatibility because, as was found in a study of over 7,000 acculturating adolescents in 13 countries, objective differences between ethnic and host cultures do not seem to relate to adjustment (Berry et al., 2006). It is important to note also that both high and low BIIs endorse the mainstream (e.g., American) and ethnic (e.g., Chinese) cultures, even if not always equally, but differ in their ability to create a synergistic, integrated cultural identity. For example, high and low BIIs consistently emerge as similar in their endorsement of Berry’s integrative acculturation strategy (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005; Benet-Martínez, Lee, Leu, 2006; Benet-Martínez et  al., 2002). However, compared with high BIIs, low BIIs tend to be less proficient in English and less identified with American culture. This pattern suggests that competence in the host, majority culture is a key component of BII. Studies on BII (e.g., Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005; Miramontez, Benet-Martínez, & Nguyen, 2008) showed that BII is not a unitary construct as initially proposed (e.g., Benet-Martínez et  al., 2002). Instead, BII involves two relatively independent psychological constructs, cultural harmony versus conflict and cultural blendedness versus compartmentalization, each representing unique aspects of the dynamic intersection between mainstream and ethnic cultural identities within bicultural individuals (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005). Cultural harmony versus conflict captures the degree of harmony versus tension or clash felt between the two cultural orientations (e.g., “I find it easy to balance both Chinese and American cultures” versus “I feel caught between the two cultures”). Cultural blendedness versus compartmentalization, on the other hand, captures the degree of overlap versus dissociation or distance perceived between the two cultural orientations (e.g., “I feel part of a combined culture” versus “I am simply a Chinese who lives in the U.S.”). [See Table 2 in Benet-Martínez and Haritatos (2005) for original items and their factor structure, and the later section in this chapter for a discussion of the newly expanded Bicultural Identity Integration Scale–Version 2 or BIIS-2.] BII’s components of cultural harmony and blendedness are relatively independent, with correlations between the two scales ranging between 0.02 and 0.40. This suggests that these two constructs are formative (i.e., causal) rather than reflective (i.e., effect) indicators of BII (Bollen & Lennox, 1991). In other words, BII is not a latent construct with 282

two resulting facets or narrower dimensions (cultural harmony and blendedness) but, rather, an observed construct emerging or resulting from (but not leading to) differences in cultural harmony and blendedness (see Figure  13.2 in Benet-Martínez, 2012). Thus, behaviors, attitudes, and feelings described by cultural researchers under the rubric of low BII (e.g., feelings of incompatibility or division between one’s two cultures), in fact, may be capturing the phenomenology resulting from the experience of cultural conflict and/or cultural compartmentalization (see also Figure 13.1 in Huynh, Nguyen et al., 2011).3 The development of BII within bicultural individuals likely varies depending on a number of factors, ranging from personality to the immediate social environment to the larger historical, political, and economic context of the cultural groups with which people identify (Huynh, Nguyen et al., 2011). For instance, the history and current status of one’s cultural group within the dominant culture may affect BII. Specifically, African Americans, as compared to Latinos and Asian Americans, come from a long and stable history in the United States, a common African American culture and identity, and the widespread recognition of their collective history, such that they are subjected less often to the perpetual foreigner stereotype by both in-group and out-group members (e.g., Cheryan & Monin, 2005; Devos & Banaji, 2005; Huynh, Devos, & Smalarz, 2011). These sociohistorical differences may predispose African Americans to be higher on BII, and Asian Americans or Latinos to be lower on BII (see Huynh, Nguyen, et al., 2011 for an extensive discussion of the development of BII). Research on BII reports a positive association between BII and psychological well-being, even after controlling for trait neuroticism (Chen, Benet-Martínez, & Bond, 2008; Downie, Koestner, ElGeldi, & Cree, 2004). Cultural harmony and blendedness also are associated with different sets of personality, performance-related, and contextual antecedents (Benet-Martínez, 2012; Huynh, Nguyen et al., 2011), which we discuss later. Next, we review studies showing how BII influences psychological processes such as cultural frame switching, perceptions of the self and one’s cultural in-groups, knowledge bridging and creativity, cognitive complexity, and motivation.

Cultural Frame Switching

BII has been found to moderate the cultural frame switching process. High BIIs tend to

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Individual factors

Proximal psychological processes: Individual differences in bicultural identity

• Cultural frame switching • Perceptions of social self • Knowledge bridging • Cognitive complexity

Distal processes: Psychological, Social, and Behavioral Adjustment

• Motivation

Contextual factors Contextual factors: cultural cues

Figure 13.1  An Integrative Psychological Model of Biculturalism (IPMB).

assimilate to cultural cues and behave in the direction of the cues, whereas low BIIs tend to contrast against cultural cues and behave in the opposite direction of the cues. In a study of first-generation Asian Americans, Benet-Martínez et  al. (2002) found that high BIIs assimilated to cultural cues by making more prototypical Asian attributions (external) when primed with Asian cues, and making more prototypical American attributions (internal) when primed with American cues. Surprisingly, low BIIs made more prototypically American attributions when primed with Asian cues, and more prototypically Asian attributions when primed with American cues. In other words, low BIIs exhibited what the socio-cognitive literature describes as “behavioral reactance” or a contrast or reverse priming effect (Dijksterhuis et al., 1998). With a sample of first- and second-generation Asian American biculturals, Mok, Cheng, and Morris (2010) replicated this effect in a study examining how biculturals make decisions when conducting performance appraisals. High BIIs assimilated to cultural cues—when asked to evaluate employees with an Asian last name, they were more likely to attribute the employee’s performance to situational factors; when asked to evaluate employees with an American last name, they were more likely to attribute the employee’s performance to internal factors. However, low BIIs contrasted against the cultural cues and behaved in the opposite way. These findings were further replicated with a different sample of East-West biculturals:  Taiwanese managers who had over 3  years of working experience in Western countries (Friedman, Liu, Chi, Hong, & Sung, 2011). BII moderates cultural frame switching in representations of the self as well. After being primed with American (versus Asian) cues, Mok and Morris

(2009) found that Asian American biculturals with high BII reported higher need for uniqueness and higher levels of extroversion (prototypical Western values and traits). Low BIIs exhibited the opposite trend, displaying a contrast effect. In other studies of Asian American biculturals, high BIIs reported higher perceived self-status and exhibited higher action tendencies (more prototypically Western responses) when exposed to American primes than when exposed to Asian primes, whereas low BIIs exhibited the opposite trend (Hsu & Galinsky, 2012; Hsu & Phillips, 2013). These findings indicate that both high and low BII biculturals engage in cultural frame switching; they both possess two cultural frames of reference and can switch their attributional styles, decisions, and self-perceptions in response to cultural cues. However, high and low BIIs tend to respond to cultural cues in different ways, with high BIIs often engaging in assimilative cultural frame switching and low BIIs often engaging in contrastive cultural frame switching. Recent evidence sheds light on the underlying process by showing that high and low BIIs assimilate and contrast to different types of cultural cues. Cheng et al. (2006) exposed Asian American biculturals to positive and negative culturally stereotypical words (for example, “polite” and “reserved” are positive and negative stereotypes of Asians respectively; “independent” and “arrogant” are positive and negative stereotypes of Americans, respectively), and found that high BIIs assimilated and low BIIs contrasted to the cultural cues only when the words were positive. Interestingly, the opposite occurred when the words were negatively valenced—that is, unlike previous studies, low BIIs assimilated to the cultural cues and high BIIs contrasted against the cultural cues. This suggests that biculturals may overprocess and correct for cultural cues that are inconsistent

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with their own subjective representations of their cultural identity. Low BIIs may only contrast to positive cultural cues because, relative to high BIIs, they have more conflicting, negative, and tension-laden associations with their cultural identities. Indeed, low BII Chinese American biculturals are more likely to endorse items such as “It is hard for me to feel proud to be Chinese”, “There are downsides of growing up as Chinese,” “I sometimes feel uncomfortable being perceived as a Chinese”, “I do not want to be limited by being American”, or “There are some aspects of American culture that I  do not want to exemplify” (Zou, Morris, & Benet-Martínez, 2008). As such, words that prime positive aspects of culture, Asian or American, might appear more dissonant, resulting in overprocessing, overcorrection, and reactance, which, in turn, leads to a contrast effect (Glaser & Banaji, 1999). However, negatively valenced cultural words are more consistent with low BIIs’ own experiences, and thus may not trigger these processes. The opposite may be true with high BIIs—their more positive associations with their cultural identities may lead them to overprocess negatively valenced cultural cues, leading them to engage in contrasting rather than assimilating cultural frame switching. This suggests that the motives of biculturals, for example, to affirm their own subjective experiences and beliefs about biculturalism, may be at play. Following the motive argument but taking a different perspective, Mok and Morris (2013) proposed that the assimilation and contrast effects exhibited by high and low BIIs respectively, are mediated by the motive of self-protection, that is, to protect their (un)primed identity from being undermined and excluded in a given context. In the section on motivation, we discuss this issue in more detail. One important caveat should be kept in mind when considering this literature on the moderating effects of BII on cultural frame switching. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, BII has been shown to encompass two dimensions of cultural harmony and blendedness, but much of this work used an earlier measure of BII in which these two dimensions were not clearly differentiated. In subsequent work, some studies have found moderating effects using the cultural harmony subscale of BII, some studies have found moderating effects using the blendedness subscale, and others have found moderating effects using both subscales. In short, the operationalization of BII has varied in this line of work, and the different processes cultural harmony and blendedness may play in cultural frame switching are not well understood. 284

The Social Self

BII has been found to relate to biculturals’ perception of their “social” selves, or how they fit in with others in their social worlds. In two separate studies, Miramontez et  al. (2008) asked Latino biculturals to describe themselves, and a typical person from each of their related cultural groups (i.e., a typical Latino and a typical Anglo American). They found that the degree of overlap between the personality traits ascribed to the self, a typical Latino individual, and a typical Anglo American individual was consistently and positively associated to BII, and more specifically, to the component of cultural blendedness (please see more detail for the components of BII in “Measurement of BII” later in this chapter). To the extent that the ascribed traits reflect cultural selfand group-based stereotypes, this finding supports Benet-Martínez and Haritatos’s (2005) view that the blendedness component of BII captures the more perceptual (versus affective) elements of the acculturation experience. Perhaps biculturals’ feelings of having a blended or hyphenated cultural identity is at least in part driven by their perceptions that the members of their two cultures share meaningful characteristics (e.g., see Table  3 in Miramontez et  al., 2008). The links found between BII blendedness and the overlaps between the three types of personality also support notions from social identity theory highlighting the moderating role of identity structure on social projection and self-stereotyping processes (Cho & Knowles, 2013; Roccas & Brewer, 2002; Turner, Oakes, Haslam, & McGarty, 1994). Miramontez et  al.´s (2008) study has implications that go beyond the understanding of bicultural identity and social identity processes. The psychological distance between the attributes individuals ascribe to themselves and members of their cultural in-groups affects the nature of their intergroup attitudes and behaviors. Biculturals with blended cultural identities, by virtue of having perceptions of their ethnic and mainstream cultural groups that are more overlapping, are more likely to have more positive, inclusive, diverse, and equitable attitudes towards individuals representative of these groups, and thus reduced in-group/out-group biases and stereotypes (Urban & Miller, 1998). Further, overlapping cultural identities and stereotypes may reduce the importance of any one cultural or social identity for satisfying an individual’s need for belonging and self-definition (Brewer, 1991), further reducing the motivational base for in-group biases. BII also relates to actual patterns of social relationships among biculturals. A social network study

Variations in Multicultural Experience

with first-generation Chinese Americans (Mok, Morris, Benet-Martínez, & Karakitapoglu-Aygun, 2007) showed that biculturals with high levels of BII not only have more non-co-ethnic friends than those with low BII, but they also have higher interconnectedness between these friends (these results held after controlling for strength of cultural identifications). A  similar pattern also was found in samples of Pakistani, Ecuadorian, Romanian, and Moroccan first-generation immigrants in Spain (Benet-Martínez, Repke, & Maciocco, 2013). In this study, immigrants with a higher degree of BII had social networks that were more diverse (both in terms of ethnicity and language usage) and included fewer co-ethnic members. In summary, it appears that the way biculturals organize and perceive their cultural identities— blended versus disassociated, harmonious versus tension-laden—is related to (a) their perceptions of how they would fit with different cultural groups, (b) their perceptions of what their different cultural groups are like and (c) how they fit with each other, as well as their actual social relations with members of these groups.

Knowledge Bridging and Creative Performance

BII also has been found to moderate how biculturals perform on complex tasks that require creativity. For example, Cheng, Sanchez-Burks, and Lee (2008) asked a sample of first-generation Asian Americans to generate new and original dishes for a hypothetical restaurant with either Asian or American ingredients only, or with both Asian and American ingredients. The results showed that high BIIs (specifically on the component of cultural blendedness) generated more numerous and more creative dishes than low BIIs, but only in the condition when both Asian and American ingredients were available. When only ingredients from a single culture were available, there were no differences between high and low BIIs, suggesting that high BII biculturals are not inherently more open minded, creative, or knowledgeable. Replicating Cheng et  al.’s (2008) findings, Saad and colleagues (Saad, Damien, BenetMartínez, Moons, & Robins, 2013) found that Chinese-American biculturals with higher BII (again, this is especially true for cultural blendedness) exhibited higher creativity in bicultural than monocultural contexts, and this effect was mediated by ideational fluency or number of creative ideas produced (see Figure 1 in Saad et al., 2013). This

supports the idea that, when cues from both cultures are present, biculturals with high BII blendedness are more adept at activating their cultural schemas simultaneously and drawing ideas from the knowledge sets associated with each of these schemas, leading to more ideas and, in turn, higher creative performance (Simonton, 2004; Weisberg, 1999). Biculturals with low BII blendedness, on the other hand, keep their cultural schemas separated, and as such have a more difficult time bridging between and drawing from the two schema-related knowledge sets. These findings have clear societal implications. Biculturals with blended cultural identities will experience enhanced creativity in settings and organizations that foster or allow for culturally mixed (i.e., multicultural) contexts.

Cognitive Complexity

As mentioned earlier, biculturals with high BII blendedness are better able to simultaneously activate and integrate their two cultural knowledge sets in creativity tasks. Recent research suggests that this may be mediated by cognitive complexity—that is, those with a blended bicultural identity have higher levels of cognitive complexity, which in turns promote higher levels of creativity (Tadmor, Galinsky, Maddux, 2012). However, there is also research suggesting the opposite—that is, high BII might be related to lower levels of cognitive complexity. For example, Benet-Martínez et al. (2006) analyzed the content of written text generated by a sample of first-generation Asian American biculturals who were asked to describe their cultures (after being exposed to Chinese or American cultural images), or in the neutral condition, to describe different types of landscapes. These descriptions were rated on multiple dimensions of cognitive complexity, such as the number of ideas, whether they contained multiple perspectives, whether the perspectives were compared, and whether differences were reconciled (see Table  1 and Appendix A  in Benet-Martínez et al., 2006). The results showed that, compared to high BIIs, low BIIs exhibited higher levels of cognitive complexity when describing their cultures, but this difference was not apparent in contexts that were not culturally laden. (Again, it should be noted that this study used an earlier measure of BII that did not clearly differentiate between cultural blendedness and harmony.) Consistent with these findings, Tadmor, Tetlock, and Peng (2009) showed that biculturals who experienced higher levels of cultural conflict (or lower BII) exhibited greater cognitive complexity.

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The higher complexity of low BIIs’ cultural representations could be explained by several mechanisms. First, it is possible that the cultural description task might have reminded low BIIs of their conflicting cultural orientation and the emotional unease associated with their bicultural experiences (e.g., feelings of being torn between two different cultural orientations). These negative feelings, in turn, may make low BIIs more analytical and critical in their cultural descriptions, resulting in higher complexity (Tripodi & Bieri, 1966). Furthermore, low BIIs’ uneasiness about possible competing cultural norms might make them more vigilant in cultural domains (Miller & Bieri, 1965), which also could lead to higher cognitive complexity. How can we reconcile the finding that, on cultural tasks, low BIIs exhibit higher levels of cognitive complexity but lower levels of knowledge bridging or creativity? One possibility is that thinking about cultures in a complex manner does not necessarily facilitate bridging and integration of culturally discrepant knowledge sets. On one hand, high BII’s fluid integration of disparate cultural knowledge sets or cultural identities might facilitate creativity, but on the other hand, this process might require a certain level of simplification of cultural schemas. In contrast, overly complex representations of culture exhibited by low BIIs may actually inhibit integration of cultural schemas and associated knowledge sets.

Motivation

Perhaps the crux of understanding the psychology of BII, or biculturalism more broadly, lies in the psychological motives of biculturals. There is good reason to think that high and low BIIs have different needs when interacting with their social worlds, and are motivated to achieve different goals. These motivational differences in turn drive how they react to cultural cues, tap into culturally related knowledge sets, and perceive themselves and others in their cultural groups. For example, motivation is crucial for understanding and predicting when and why people assimilate or contrast to social cues. Aarts and Dijksterhuis (2003) found that priming the “library” situation led participants to assimilate and behave more quietly, yet this was the case only for participants who were motivated to visit the library. Similarly, people with positive attitudes toward the elderly assimilated or walked more slowly when primed for the elderly, but people with negative attitudes toward the elderly showed the opposite 286

effect (Cesario, Plaks, & Higgins, 2006). Drawing from the same rationale, prior cultural experiences and attitudes of biculturals can influence their motivational states when interacting with cultural cues in the environment. Prior research has pointed to several motivational states that might affect high and low BIIs differently, and we turn to these studies next. Most studies reporting assimilation versus contrast tendencies as a function of level of BII have assumed a response symmetry across the two cultural prime conditions, so that assimilative response to cues of culture A  goes along with a contrastive response to cues of culture B or vice versa (e.g., Benet-Martínez et  al., 2002; Cheng et  al., 2006; Mok & Morris, 2009). Zou et  al.’s study (2008) contests this symmetry by showing that biculturals can exhibit contrastive responses to one of their cultures while showing assimilation responses to the other culture, depending on their specific identification and disidentification motives. First, these researchers showed that low BII (specifically, conflict) is not predicted by the degree of identification one has with either of one’s two cultures, supporting similar findings in other studies (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005; Mok & Morris, 2013). Interestingly, they showed that cultural conflict is associated to the degree of cultural “disidentification” one may feel with regard to either one of the cultures (i.e., a desire to defy a group’s norms or avoid having others associate oneself with the group, Goffman, 1963). Based on these considerations, Zou et  al. (2008) showed that assimilative responses are driven by identification motives, whereas contrastive responses are driven by disidentification motives. Further, there is evidence that low BIIs are not generally motivated to defy norms and exhibit contrastive behaviors. For example, Mok and Morris (2010) showed that, when performing a group decision task, low BIIs are less likely to follow the group consensus than high BIIs, but only when the groups’ judgment is incorrect. When the situation does not justify it—that is, when the group is correct—low BIIs appear content to assimilate or conform. Recently, Mok and Morris (2013) showed that the contrastive responses of low BIIs may be explained by unconscious self-protective motives as well. Specifically, they found that Asian American biculturals with conflicting identities were more likely to agree with statements such as, “In Asian (American) cultural contexts, I  feel that my American (Asian) side is left out, underemphasized,

Variations in Multicultural Experience

unrecognized, or unaffirmed.” In other words, compared to high BIIs, low BIIs perceive situations that cue one cultural identity as more threatening to their self-concepts because their noncued cultural identity is excluded. These feelings of identity “exclusion” were found to mediate the contrastive response of low BIIs. For low BIIs, cultural cues appear to activate the motivation to defend against identity exclusion.

Measurement of BII

Much of the early work on BII (e.g., Benet-Martínez et  al., 2002; 2006) relied on a vignette-like instrument called the “Bicultural Identity Integration Scale–Pilot Version” or BIIS-P. Using a Likert-type scale (e.g., 1  =  definitely not true, 5  =  definitely true), the BIIS-P asks participants to rate their agreement with the following paragraph tapping low levels of BII: “I am a bicultural who keeps American and Chinese cultures separate and feels conflicted about these two cultures. I am simply a Chinese who lives in America (versus a Chinese-American), and I feel as someone who is caught between two cultures.” Despite the advantages of the BIIS-P (e.g., high face validity to respondents, shortness, ability to moderate and predict relevant outcomes), this scale is limited in that it confounds the two components of BII (cultural blendedness and harmony). Thus, when participants agree with the preceding statement, there is no way to know if they have experiences denoting low blendedness, low harmony, or both. With the goal of clarifying and unpacking BII, and improving its measurement, Benet-Martínez and Haritatos (2005) developed the Bicultural Identity Integration Scale–Version 1 (BIIS-1), a Likert-type eight-item measure with separate four-item subscales taping cultural blendedness and cultural harmony (see Table  2 in Benet-Martínez and Haritatos, 2005 for original items and their factor structure). Although the internal consistency of the BIIS-1 scales is adequate considering its length—alpha for blendedness ranges between. 62 and. 72, and for harmony between. 71 and. 82 (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005; Chen et  al., 2008; Cheng et  al., 2006; Miller, Kim, & Benet-Martínez, 2011; Miramontez et  al., 2008; Zou et al., 2008)—the reliability of scores yielded by this instrument is not ideal. In addition, the few items assessing each component of BII do not adequately cover all relevant content domains of BII.4 Recently, in a series of scale development and validation studies, Huynh (2009) refined the

measurement of BII by developing the Bicultural Identity Integration Scale–Version 2 (BIIS-2). After generating new items using qualitative data (open-ended essays written by self-identified bicultural college students) and having these items evaluated by subject-matter experts and pilot testers, Huynh (2009) administered 45 new items of the BIIS-2 to an ethnically diverse group of more than 1,000 self-identified bicultural college students. Approximately half the participants (55.5%) were women, and the mean age of the sample was 19.3 years. The majority of participants were either Asian Americans (48.6%) or Latinos (32.1%), and most participants were either first- (34.6%, M  =  10.6  years in the United States) or second(55.9%) generation Americans. The final BIIS-2 consists of 19 items rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1  =  strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree; see Huynh, Nguyen et al., 2011; for sample items). These items yield reliable (blendedness versus compartmentalization α =.  86 for 9 items; harmony versus conflict α = .81 for 10 items) and stable (n = 240; M = 6.93 days, SD = 0.90 days; Time 1 and Time 2 correlations:. 74 < r