Acculturation - the Psychology of Multicultural Societies

"Cultural diversity has become a defining feature of many or even most societies. Our own experiences have been directly impacted by it. We all know of political discourses emphasizing the advantages or disadvantages of living with multiple ethno-cultural groups in one country - about “us” and “them”; we know about labourers from other countries working in the country in which we live, or about people from our country who went to work or study abroad; we perhaps have friends or relatives of other ethno-cultural groups.

In all these settings, people -whether belonging to a minority or a majority- act and decide based on their beliefs, perceptions and motivations they have with regard to themselves, their group and others. In this course, we will look at the psychological processes that help explain important aspects and issues of acculturation.

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Upon successful completion of this course, students are able to

 Characterize acculturation as a process from different social, theoretical and empirical perspectives.

 Describe antecedents, consequences and roles of key variables in acculturation

 Able to analyze situations of acculturation in a comprehensive manner