Acculturation, Social Identity, and Social Cognition: A New Perspective

TLDR

The model builds on prior research in social cognition, cultural competence, social identity, and social stigma. The authors propose a new model of psychological acculturation that integrates social and cognitive psychology and posits that acculturation is more difficult for individuals facing stigma related to skin color, language, or ethnicity. They discuss social cognition, cultural competence, social identity, and social stigma perspectives in relation to acculturative processes in immigrants. The authors contend that this framework will yield more productive insights into immigrant adaptation than previous models.

Abstract

The authors argue in this article that new approaches are needed in the study of psychological acculturation. They posit that a new model of psychological acculturation should incorporate contemporary work in social and cognitive psychology. The model they present builds on previous research in the areas of social cognition, cultural competence, social identity, and social stigma. Each of these perspectives is discussed in accordance with its relevance to the acculturative processes operating in immigrants. They hypothesize that acculturation is more difficult for those persons who must cope with the stigma of being different because of skin color, language, ethnicity, and so forth. Finally, the authors believe that the theoretical framework present here will lead to more productive insights into the adaptation process of immigrants than has heretofore been the case.