The SAGE Handbook of Applied Social Psychology

Kieran C. O?Doherty,Darrin Hodgetts,Kieran C. O?Doherty

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781526417107
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Social Psychology
• Index: Psychology

In the present epoch of global change, movement, interconnection and the intensification of social issues within and across many societies, applied social psychology is more relevant than ever. The SAGE Handbook of Applied Social Psychology offersan overview of the field andthe disparate and evolving approaches.Through an international team of contributors, the handbook bringsprominent research literature together and organises it around ten keyareas: Part 01: Culture, race, indigeneity
Part 02: Gender & Sexuality
Part 03: Politics
Part 04: Health and mental health
Part 05: Work
Part 06: Ageing
Part 07: Communication
Part 08: Education
Part 09: Environment
Part 10: Criminal Justice, Law, & Crime This handbook is a uniting and invigorating resource for the field ofApplied Social Psychology.

Part I Culture and Indigeneity

1 Acculturation and its Application: A Conceptual Review and Analysis

Saba Safdar and Fons J. R. van de Vijver

Acculturation: A Conceptual Review and Analysis

In this chapter, a review of acculturation literature is provided by examining a selection of research that is conducted in the Americas, Europe, Oceania, Asia, and Africa. Firstly, we provide a brief historical overview of how acculturation has been conceptualized and operationalized based on an anthropological definition and discuss some of the criticisms that have been raised within this framework. Our argument is that the transition in the literature from unidimensional, to bidimensional, and to emerging multidimensional models reflects the changing reality of immigration and the way immigrants negotiate their allegiances with relevant cultures surrounding them in the acculturation context.

Secondly, we review several contemporary acculturation models and frameworks that have been used to examine key factors in understanding the process of adjustment of newcomers in their settling society. Additionally, we discuss the emerging models of acculturation. In describing these acculturation models, we describe how antecedents, mediating, and outcome factors are involved in feedback loops, whereby output variables will have an impact on acculturation orientations.

Thirdly, we review the literature on acculturation of refugees, focusing on characteristics that set refugees apart from other acculturating groups. The multiple sources of stress for this group are examined. Additionally, the importance of contextual and personal factors in adjustment of refugees is discussed.

Fourthly, we discuss the application of this line of work in different sociocultural contexts. We will examine and compare adjustment of newcomers in different societies within the framework of governmental policies and host society attitudes. We also examine the impact of the larger demographic conditions on sociocultural adjustment of newcomers. We describe studies that compare a single ethnic group in multiple societies (such as studies of Turkish and Iranian immigrants in different Western countries).

Definition of Acculturation

Studies of psychological acculturation can be taken to have started when Graves (1967) coined the term psychological acculturation. The earliest use of acculturation terminology goes back to the nineteenth century, when social scientists applied the term to the changes in indigenous groups as a result of colonization. Within this context, acculturation was used to describe cultural shifts from ‘uncivilized’ and ‘savage’ culture to civilized European culture (e.g., McGee, 1898). Acculturation within this framework was viewed as a one-dimensional development from culture A to culture B (see Safdar et al., 2013, for a review). The one-dimensional model, however, was criticized as it is possible to identify with both the heritage culture and the culture of the settlement society (Berry, 1980; van Oudenhoven et al., 2006).

Anthropologists, Redfield et al., (1936: 149) defined acculturation as ‘those phenomena which result when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact, with subsequent changes in the original patterns of either or both groups'. This definition is widely used by social scientists and cited extensively in the acculturation literature. However, the definition has been criticized as viewing the construct at a group level and providing no insight to its psychological mechanism at the individual level and what aspects of ‘original patterns’ change (Chirkov, 2009). In response to these criticisms, and in line with the acculturation literature examining individual change in terms of the behavioral (sociocultural adaption) and the cognitive-affective (psychological adaptation) domains (Searle and Ward, 1990), Safdar and colleagues (2013) proposed a working definition of acculturation which is mainly the same definition that Redfield et al. (1936: 215) proposed, with minor modifications. It states that acculturation process are, ‘those phenomena which result when groups of individuals with different cultures come into contact, with subsequent changes in the original patterns of either or both groups, or in behavioural or psychological change in individuals from either or both groups'. The authors not only specified patterns of change, they also removed the inclusion of ‘continuous’ and ‘first-hand’ from the original definition as these are not necessary types of contact in order for change to occur. This is particularly true in the modern world, where technology has increased and altered types of contact with ‘others'.

Acculturation Strategies

Berry's acculturation strategies

More than four decades ago, Berry (1974; 1980) considered intercultural strategies. In his original work, Berry (1974) considered three dimensions in response to intercultural contact. The first dimension was preference for maintaining ones’ heritage culture. The second dimension was preference for having contact with the larger society. The third dimension was the role of societal policies in facilitating or constraining the first two preferences. How groups and individuals respond to these dimensions defines acculturation strategies. At the individual level, when there is no preference to maintain heritage culture but value is seen in having contact with members of other ethno-cultural groups, assimilation is defined. When individuals prefer to maintain heritage culture but do not value having contact with members of other ethno-cultural groups, separation is defined. When there is an interest to maintain heritage culture and also have contact with other groups, integration is the outcome. Lastly, when ind...