A significant part of the development of our personal identity is the learning and maintenance of the behaviours and norms of our culture

Babies develop an understanding of the values, language, and expectations of the culture through interactions with the gatekeepers (parents, media, peers...)

It is a constant process that reinforces your identity as a member of your culture

The determining factors of the effect of enculturation on cognition are also referred to as values enculturation

It can occur through direct tuition: gatekeepers telling you what you are supposed to do

Aim: studied the role of observational learning on the development of cultural norms in Samoa

Procedure: it was a longitudinal study of 25 months to look at behavior of line of fishing and conceptual understanding of rank and hierarchy. As fishing lines, spears, and nets are limited, children do not participate in fishing with adults

Samoan culture has a very high power distance index, including the rank of a parent and a child. Parents have a non-interventionist approach to their children and their learning. Children are mostly left to learn things on their own

CULTURAL NORMS ARE NOT TAUGHT DIRECTLY, BUT RATHER LEARNED THROUGH THE ACTIVE OBERSVATION BY THE CHILDREN OF THE ADULTS IN THE COMMUNITY

One of the key behaviours that is enculturated is gender roles

Aim: examining the parental reaction when the behavior of the child was not gender appropriate

Procedure: series of naturalistic observations of parents/child interactions using an observation checklist

Fagot then carried out follow up interviews with the parents and found that the parent's perceptions of their interactions with their child did not correlate with what was observed by the researchers, so this is not a conscious behavior

This shows that the way parents interact with a child may play a role in enculturation, teaching the child what is acceptable and appropriate in their culture

considers social and cultural context in which enculturation occurs

predicts that children acquire internal standards for behavior through reward and punishment, by personal or vicarious experiences

cannot explain why there seems to be considerable variation in the degree to which children conform to a culture's norms. It does not explain the nonconformists

too many variables that may play a role that Is not possible to limit the explanation simply to modelling of behavior

It is the process of cultural and psychological change that takes place as a result of contact between two or more cultural groups. At the individual level, it involves changes in a person's behavior

when an individual abandons their original culture and adopts the cultural behaviours and values of their new culture

when there is an interest in adopting the behaviours and values of the new culture, while still maintaining the original culture

when migrants maintain their own culture and minimise contact with the new culture

result of when it is not possible to maintain one's original culture, and because of exclusion or discrimination, it is not possible to assimilate into new culture

Acculturation gaps: generational differences in acculturation and how this leads to conflict within the family

Aim: investigate which factors in the lives of Latino immigrants to the US would decrease the level of acculturative stress

Sample: random sample of 197 members of two social services agencies

Procedure: members of SS completed a questionnaire and a series of standardized tests to assess family cohesion, level of acculturation, acculturative stress, and coping strategies for stress

Results: immigrants with effective coping strategies, good proficiency in English, and a strong family structure are less likely to experience acculturative stress. Immigrants who had spent longer time in the US were less likely to demonstrate this stress and show a higher level of acculturation. This study shows that there are many protective factors that influence the extent to which an individual acculturate and the effect that this will have on mental health

Sample: 2095 Asian Americans. 1271 were first-generation immigrants who were 18 years and older when they came to the US. The rest of the sample was born in the US to first-generation immigrant parents. The sample consisted of several different Asian cultures

Procedure: carried out semi-structured interviews that had cultural and linguistic backgrounds similar to those of the sample population. Randomly selected sample of participants was contacted to validate the data taken from their interviews that measured participants' level of acculturative stress, language proficiency and preference, discrimination, social networks, family cohesion, and socioeconomic status

Aim: inesvtigate the variables that may predict acculturative stress in a nationally representative sample of Asian immigrants and Asian Americans

Negative treatment significantly contributed to higher acculturative stress

Sharing similar values and beliefs as a family significantly contributed to lowering acculturative stress

Even though bilingualism is a predictor of low acculturative stress, the preference for speaking English only is a predictor of high acculturative stress

Acculturative stress was significantly lower among those who were very satisfied with their economic opportunities in the US and among immigrants who would still move to the US if they were to make that decision again

A bilingual language preference contributed to lower acculturative stress

Positive: argued that a strong sense of cultural identity leads to a sense of empowerment that motivates people to take action to change the institutionalised discrimination

Negative: contributes to the hardening of oppositional attitudes toward the majority culture

Found that Hispanic adolescents who speak mostly Spanish are less likely to use drugs and alcohol

Sample: 119 Cuban American university students living in Miami. Purposive sampling: all students had at least 1 parent from Cuba. 80% of sample was female. 23% of students was born outside of US.

Procedure: asked to fill an online survey and questions were presented on Likert-scale format

Results: biculturalism was linked to more favourable outcomes (higher self esteem, lower depression and anxiety)

Aim: wanted to test the relationship between three dimensions of acculturation and positive psychological functioning (Cuban culture, relationship with US culture, and ethnic identification). Positive psychological functioning was measured by levels of depression, anxiety, and self esteem

Found that Hispanics born in the US or who spent considerable amount of time in the US are more likely to be diagnosed with psychiatric disorders that Hispanics born abroad or who arrived more recently

makes it difficult to find representative samples that can be used to generate a theory about the acculturation experience, and historically, such studies have high attrition rate and low rate of participation

language barrier in giving tests to immigrants, how they interpret the question, and when measuring acculturation, psychologists make assumptions about what healthy acculturation looks like

participant need to be aware of their rights; informed consent, anonymity, withdraw from study, and in many cultures the researcher would be seen as a higher social hierarchy and having power and authority over the individual. important that the subjective experience of the participants is respected

some participants may be illegal or undocumented immigrants, researchers must consider this issue when recruiting participants and publishing their findings

Results: showed positive correlation between the level of acculturation and psychological health and a negative correlation with resting heart rate. The relationship between physical and mental health is an example of spiralling causality: acculturation to Seoul reduced physical health, but being outside of North Korea imported mental health, and as mental improved so did physical health. If refugees were employed, they were better adjusted to their new culture and better overall health

Focus is on individual's behavior and not the behavior of the host culture. it emphasises a undirectional relationship between the two cultures rather than bidirectional

Implied hierarchical relationship between two cultures

4 distinct patterns of behavior may not be the case; the way an individual behaves may be dependent on the social context

Seen as too simplistic. Factors for the reason of migration, cultural dimensions of the individual, and the level of similarity between the 2 cultures may all play key roles in the acculturation process