When Different Becomes Similar: Compensatory Conformity in Bicultural Visible Minorities

TLDR

Bicultural immigrant children often identify strongly with the dominant culture, yet visible minorities experience physical dissimilarity as a barrier to assimilation. The study aimed to demonstrate compensatory conformity by having Chinese Canadian participants rate abstract paintings. Participants rated paintings relative to normative anchors, with or without a mirror present. Compensatory alignment occurs when appearance is salient, evidenced by increased conformity to the majority norm in the mirror condition, without increased distancing from the minority norm.

Abstract

The children of immigrants possess bicultural identities that reflect their ethnic heritage and their membership in the wider community. For most, strong identification with the dominant culture creates a desire for full inclusion within it. In the case of visible minorities, however, physical dissimilarity is at times experienced as an “ethnifying” obstacle to assimilation or integration. One response to this challenge is compensatory alignment with the majority group when physical appearance is made salient. To demonstrate this phenomenon, the authors asked Chinese Canadian participants to rate their liking of a set of abstract paintings. The ratings were made in relation to various normative anchors and either in the presence or absence of a mirror. As predicted, only participants in the presence of the mirror showed heightened conformity to the perceived European Canadian (majority group) norm. This tendency, however, was not matched with greater distancing from the perceived Chinese Canadian (minority group) norm.