Week 3: Acculturation and mental health

Question 1

What is enculturation and acculturation?

Answer 1

Enculturation describes the process of first-culture learning
Acculturation refers to the process of cultural change when you interact with people from another culture (second-culture learning)

Question 2

Why is it important to study acculturation?

Answer 2

There is more migration, contact and diversity, which is highly politicized. With increased globalization there is increased contact between groups which is not always permanent.

Question 3

What is migration?

Answer 3

The movement of a person or a group of persons, either across an international border, or within a State. “a population movement, encompassing any kind of movement of people, whatever its length, composition and causes”. It is usually economic migrants, sojourners, refugees, asylum seekers and displaced people.

Question 4

Why do people migrate?

Answer 4

There are push and pull factors to leave their countries. Push = drive people to leave (like economic, social or political problems). Pull= attracting them to country of destination like job opportunities, higher wages, quality of education, safety etc.

Question 5

What is an issue with the push-pull model?

Answer 5

It does not provide insight into the social, economic, political processes which leads to spatial wage and opportunity gaps. At odds with real life migration patterns. So migration should be a function of capabilities and aspirations to move to understand migration behaviour.

Question 6

Indigenous people

Answer 6

When there is no evidence of earlier people. Definition of course quite controversial at times. Often indigenous groups face migrants and are forced to participate in cultural change. They are on their home territories but engaged in intercultural contact with those who migrated to colonize or dominate. Others usually have more political and economic power than themselves, so often referred to as national minorities

Question 7

What are ethnocultural groups

Answer 7

These are descendants of earlier waves of immigration. Chinese or Indians in Carribean or African-American or Dutch/British in Southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand. Most are now voluntary participants in national life of their contemporary societies. They can be derived from voluntary migrants or involuntary migrants who are in contacts with others voluntarily. They are enculturated and socialized in their culture

Question 8

What are the definitions of acculturation?

Answer 8

• the cultural and psychological change that results after sustained contact with another culture (Berry)
• reflects ethnocentric idea that one is superior to the other, and that the inferior is changing. made up of savagery, barbarism, civilisation and enlightenment (McGee)
• different cultures result in changes in cultural patterns in both groups (Redfield)
• acculturation is a multilevel, contextually dependent developmental change process resulting in others moving into different cultural environments (Doucerain)

Question 9

What are the criticisms of acculturation research?

Answer 9

• Confusion in definitions of acculturation, due to being individual & supra-individual process
• Acculturation misunderstood as group level phenomenon involving change
• Individual can acculturate without eliciting any group level change in host culture or culture of origin.
• (Individual-level) research needs corresponding definition of acculturation

Question 10

Who adjusts better to acculturation?

Answer 10

• cultural distance so the difference between two cultures in their ways of life, much easier when distance is smaller like those who grew up speaking Germanic languages
• cultural fit so the degree to which an individual’s personality is compatible with the dominant cultural values of the host culture
• acculturation strategies: depends on attitudes towards the host culture ad towards the heritage culture which leads to distinct acculturation strategies

Question 11

What is the process of acculturation?

Answer 11

Contact results in influence, resulting in change. The psychological consequences can be none, unsolvable, or resulting in gradual change like acculturation.

Question 12

What are the difficulties in studying acculturation?

Answer 12

• Many different reasons for migrating
• Many different groups of acculturating people
• Many different experiences, e.g., depends on personality but also context: host cultural attitudes!
• scholars have different view points and studied from different disciplines
• disagreement about the process of acculturation

Question 13

What are unidimensional models?

Answer 13

The new culture is linked to rejection of the heritage culture. Assimiliation is the endstate and there is a zero-sum assumption. Biculturalism is only a stop before being fully acculturated

Question 14

What are bidimensional models?

Answer 14

The relationship with the heritage and mainstream culture are independent cultural orientations. Assumptions: differ in cultural values and attitudes, and can have multiple cultural identities. Separation can become difficult to maintain over generations as isolation and protection is needed. Assimilation is only one of 4 options

Question 15

When can the bidimensional model be established?

Answer 15

• if measured reliably
• correlate in expected directions with key third variables
• orthogonal (not strongly negatively correlated)
• distinct patterns of correlations with other variables
• the bidimensional model has a broader and more valid framework, even though unidimensional model has parsimony but incomplete and misleading acculturation

Question 16

What is the difference between sociocultural adaptation and psychological adaptation?

Answer 16

Sociocultural adaptation: doing well in new culture, fitting in or negotiating interactive aspects of life in a new cultural environment
Psychological adaptation: feeling well in new culture, mental health and wellbeing

Question 17

Cultural fit hypothesis

Answer 17

Fit between personal characteristics and norms in host culture

Question 18

What is a major difficulty for research?

Answer 18

The lack of clarity on what constitutes adjustment and how it changes over time. Adjustment is the acceptance of the host culture, satisfaction, feelings of acceptance and coping with activities, mood state, culturally appropriate behaviour and skills. Has implicitly incorporated wellbeing and satisfaction. 3 frameworks emerged: clinical perspectives, social learning models, social cognition approaches

Question 19

What did research find about acculturation and adaptation?

Answer 19

They looked at their acculturation strategies across different lengths of residence and the relationship with the psychological and sociological adaptation. The longer the length of residence, the more integration strategies were used. Substantial relationship between age and how well they adapt. Those with an integration strategy had the best psychological and sociocultural adaptation outcomes, while those with a marginalization strategy had the worst. Youth should be encouraged to retain both
their sense of the heritage culture as well as to establish close ties with the host culture

Question 20

What is acculturative stress?

Answer 20

Is a reduction in mental health and wellbeing of ethnic minorities occuring during adaptation, can include language issues, perceived cultural incompatibilities and self-consciousness which can affect the mental health and psychosocial functioning. Found to be dependent on cultural distance and can result in negotiation between receiving and heritage cultures.

Question 21

What is the multidimensional acculturative stress inventory?

Answer 21

Used to assess stress of individuals of Mexican origin living in US including English Competency Pressures, Spanish Language Competency Pressures, Pressure to Acculturate and Pressure Against Acculturation. Stress subscales positively related to depression.

Question 22

What are biculturals?

Answer 22

Those who have been exposed to and internalized two cultures, involve integration and is the majority of acculturating individuals.

Question 23

Blending vs frame-switching

Answer 23

Frame switching: shifts between intepretive roots in different cultures in response to cues in the social environment. They take turns in guiding thoughts and feelings, can occur in response to contexts and symbols. The more accessible it is, the more likely it will guide interpretations

Question 24

What is the evidence for blending?

Answer 24

Both Japanese students went on an exchange to Canada, and Canadian teachers went to Japan for exchange. Found that the longer they are in a culture, the more likely that schema of thoughts and feelings activated in them is associated with the host culture. Self esteem change is more pronounced if there is a melting pot culture (assimilation) than a salad bowl culture (integration/separation). The more exposure there is to North American culture, the higher self-esteem is.

Question 25

What is the evidence for frame switching?

Answer 25

North-Americans: more likely to attribute behaviour to internal dispositions (‘fundamental attribution error’)
East-Asians: more likely to make external attributions (social context, group)
So East Asian are more likely to conclude that the fish is leading the group rather than being chased by others as the North Americans said.

Question 26

What was found about the tendencies of those from Hong Kong?

Answer 26

Hong Kong is more Westernized due to English colonial influence. When primed with American (Mickey Mouse/cowboy) or Chinese symbols (Chinese dragon/rice farmer). After the Chinese prime then people made more external attributions

Question 27

What is bicultural identity integration?

Answer 27

It is the individual-level indicator of compatability of cultures. Made up of harmony vs conflict which is the feelings and attitudes towards the cultures and includes the degree of tension or clash vs the compatibility between the two cultures.
Blendedness is the organization and structure of cultural orientations. Includes the degree of dissociation vs overlap between the cultural orientations. High BII associated with higher frame switching and associated with more positive outcomes like self-esteem and wellbeing.

Question 28

What was found about the prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses?

Answer 28

• Psychopathology present in all studied societies (people suffer all over the world)
• diagnostic differences: differences in what qualifies as mental psychopathology? (do diagnostic practices reflect particular cultural views? (compare China to Chile)
• Differences in expression? eg. is low anxiety in Ankara compensated by higher depression? And the other way around in Athens?

Question 29

How can culture impact psychopathology?

Answer 29

• each culture provides a symptom pool of recognized and discussed symptoms that leads to people to express their inner conflicts in a familiar language
• cultures differ in the prevalence and the degree to which symptoms are part of mental illnesses (like passivity and non-confrontation in SE Asia, so do not always have means to express frustration resulting in uncontrolled anger and unresolved tensions)
• cultures differ in how they are perceived (stigma) and dealt with (therapy)

Question 30

How can schizophrenia symptoms differ across cultures?

Answer 30

• existential universal with some variance in modes of expression
• fare better in less developed societies a) more fatalistic attitude and less primary sense of control b) possession by spirits more common c) more integrated in society so stronger sense of community
• In India, the family helps the patient more, less blamed and more social support received

Question 31

How can culture impact depression?

Answer 31

In China, more likely to somatize (experience symptoms in bodies) vs psychologization (experiencing symptoms in minds) in the West. Due to social stigma/costs with having a psychological disease in Chinese contexts. There is less focus on internal/emotional events as relevant in Chinese vs Western clients.

Question 32

How can culture impact social anxiety disorder?

Answer 32

• symptoms are more frequent in Asia but perceived as less problematic and more normal so diagnosis is less often met
• high correlation with interdependence as too much focus on others which is perceived as normal in collectivistic cultures but problematic in individualistic cultures

Question 33

What is Taijin Kyoufushou (TKS)?

Answer 33

Preoccupation with physical symptoms (blushing, sweating, penetrating gaze), “phobia of offending others”. Differs to social phobia as: preoccupation of making others uncomfortable vs. self, high prevalence among men vs. women, high prevalence only in Japan (lifetime prevalence 3-13%)

Question 34

What are the client variables for an east- Asian client?

Answer 34

• higher tolerance for ambiguity;
  more respect for authority: will not go against interpretation therapist;
• Less emotional display: will be interpreted as shy (emotion moderation)
• expression of symptoms of the body rather than the mind/ mood (somatization vs psychologization): the symptoms may go unnoticed;
• focus on secondary control (adjustment to environment)
• self-improvement motivation
• high context communication

Question 35

What are the Western Therapist variables?

Answer 35

• Studies show that therapists have same degree of stereotypes as general population.
• self-fullfilling prophecy; patient feels/is misunderstood, not possible to build effective, trusting relationship
• Training bias: little attention to whether tests/techniques work with different cultures. Focus on individual (vs. group), agency as primary control (vs. secondary).

Question 36

What are the Western variables?

Answer 36

• need to solve contradictions
• appreciation of assertiveness
• appreciation of self-efficacy (primary control)
• emotion expression
• low context communication
• self-enhancement motivation

Question 37

How would those from Asian backgrounds view a Western therapist?

Answer 37

They would welcome a therapist who takes an active role as a healer, and is assertive in carrying out his therapeutic activities. They might not trust a therapist whose professional orientation is to respect a patient’s autonomy, and who does not, therefore, directly and explicitly express his own opinions and make suggestions.

Question 38

How do Western therapies differ to East Asian ones?

Answer 38

Most Western therapies follow a cognitive, rational approach to understanding the nature and cause of problems, and how to deal with them. In contrast, some Eastern therapies stress the importance of actual experience, without cognitive understanding.

Question 39

What was found about cross-cultural therapy?

Answer 39

• higher and premature drop-out rates
• rated as less effective and satisfying
• culturally adapted psychotherapy more effective than general approach
• more sessions, less drop-out, better treatment outcomes when matched ethnically, and linguistically

Question 40

What is important for cultural competence?

Answer 40

• Therapist needs to recognize her own cultural influences
• Therapist needs to develop knowledge about the culture of the client and how integrated the client is in the mainstream culture
• Therapist needs to be culturally sensitive when she applies her therapeutic techniques
• Therapist needs to be flexible, when to generalize from the client’s culture to the mainstream culture and when to individualize the client

Question 41

What was found about self-identity related to unidimensional and bidimensional scale?

Answer 41

For the unidimensional model, the more the individuals were assimilated, the more independent they saw themselves. No correlation between assimilation and interdependent self. For the bidimensional model, found the same but also the more assimilated from the heritage culture, the more interdependent they were. Bidimensional model can give more information

Question 42

What are migrants?

Answer 42

a person that moves from their heritage culture to a host culture (the new culture). They include
sojourners and immigrants.
Sojourner = a migrant that intends to stay in the host culture temporarily.
Immigrant = a migrant that intends to stay in the host culture permanently

Question 43

What is the acculturation curve?

Answer 43

an adjustment pattern found to be shared among many immigrants, although with varying timing:
1. Honeymoon stage: initial phase of positive feelings about the host culture.
2. Crisis stage: phase of culture shock in which there are anxious, helpless, irritable, and disoriented and homesick feelings on moving to the host culture.
3. Adjustment stage: a gradual phase of adjustment and more positive feelings to the host culture.
For sojourners, reverse culture shock can also happen upon returning to their home country

Question 44

What are the most common acculturation strategies?

Answer 44

acculturation is the easiest and causes the least stress, is
integration, while marginalization is the least common
and is associated with the worst acculturation difficulty

Question 45

What is identity denial?

Answer 45

when a minority group individual’s identity is called into question because he or she does not seem
to match the prototype of the culture. Someone with ancestors from Africa, having a dark skin tone, but born in the Netherlands his/herself might be asked “Where are you really from?”.

Question 46

What is stereotype threat?

Answer 46

The fear of behaving in a way which will confirm a negative stereotype about a group. African American and European American students took a test consisting of verbal items and some were reminded of their race (which activated negative stereotypes for African American’s) by checking a box indicating it (race prime). African Americans did way poorer on the test in the race prime condition than in the condition without a race prime.

Question 47

What would we expect if blending is used?

Answer 47

If multicultural people use blending, we would expect them to show responses to psychological measures that are intermediate to responses of monocultural (one culture) people from different cultures. Asian-Americans would be expected to think in some way that lies between the mainstream
American or Asian way of thinking.

Question 48

What did evidence find about acculturation?

Answer 48

Participants from Japan or Canada had their self-esteem measured after arriving at the other country
and after 7 months of staying there. Canadians are associated with having more self-esteem than East Asians. Japanese participants’ self-esteem scores were significantly higher after they had been in Canada for a while than when they had just arrived. The reverse was the case for Canadian’s. The longer someone is in a culture, the more likely it is that the meta-schemas of thoughts and feelings that are activated are associated with the host-culture.

Question 49

What did research find about blending?

Answer 49

The self-esteem of students in Japan and Canada, with differing degrees of exposure to Canadian
culture, was contrasted. Results showed that more exposure of the Japanese to Canada led to higher self-esteem (blending). However, the self-esteem scores of Asian’s only reached Canadians’ scores after they were the 3rd generation to be in Canada.

Question 50

What is evidence for frame-switching?

Answer 50

Multicultural people can develop multiple selves, each equipped to deal with a specific cultural
environment. The different cultural selves get activated by different contexts. Native Indonesian speakers in an English-speaking country do not speak a blended language but will speak Indonesian in Indonesian contexts and English in English contexts.
Research has shown that people tend to frame-switch when they shift between their languages: language can be a prime for frame-switching.

Question 51

What was found about monocultural frame-switching?

Answer 51

Biculturals (Asian-Americans) and monoculturals (European-Americans) were compared on their difficulty to be primed. They were primed with either independent or interdependent aspects of themselves and asked to rate the importance of individualistic and collectivistic values. Monoculturals also showed frame-switching, but in biculturals this was more pronounced. Monoculturals can be primed to switch between different knowledge structures, and biculturals are more skilled at this as they have more separated networks

Question 52

Why are multicultural people more creative?

Answer 52

Multicultural experiences foster integrative complexity (willingness and ability to acknowledge and consider different viewpoints on the same issue). The effect is greater when different cultures have greater cultural distance and when people feel that their identities are blended.

Question 53

How does adapting to a new culture lead to more creativity?

Answer 53

Participants that had lived in more than one culture were either primed to think about adapting to life in another culture or just observing another culture. Only the group that was primed to think about adapting showed enhanced creativity.

Question 54

What was found about creativity and multicultural experiences?

Answer 54

• Breadth (number of countries): the most creative designers had lived in 2 or 3 different cultures.
• Depth (number of years abroad): the more years people had lived abroad, the higher the rated creativity.
• Distance (cultural distance): those who had lived in moderately different cultures were rated
  as most creative.

Question 55

Culture-bound syndromes

Answer 55

groups of symptoms that appear to be greatly influenced by cultural factors, and hence occur far less frequently in some cultures than others, or manifest in highly divergent ways across cultures.

Question 56

What are the differences in prevalence rates for eating disorders?

Answer 56

Bulimia: seems to be confined to modern cultures with Western influences.
Anorexia: evidence is mixed because in contrast to bulimia, it is found in diverse cultural contexts with relatively little Western influence and also, people in some cultures (Hong Kong) often lack a (fear of fatness (which is a key symptom in the West).

Question 57

Hikikomori

Answer 57

• unique in Japanese culture
• A self-incarceration and withdrawal from all social interaction outside family members for at least 6 months, including no participation in school or work

Question 58

Dhat

Answer 58

• most prevalent in South Asia
• Morbid anxiety around concerns that one is losing semen

Question 59

Koro

Answer 59

• prevalent in South and East Asia
• Morbid anxiety that one’s penis is shrinking into one’s body

Question 60

Amok

Answer 60

• specific to Southeast Asian cultures
• An acute outburst of indiscriminate violence followed by amnesia and exhaustion

Question 61

Ataques de Nervios

Answer 61

• Common in Puerto Ricans but also observed in other Latino populations.
• Emotionally charged / stressful incidents bring on symptoms such as palpitations, numbness, and a sense of heat rising to the head

Question 62

Hysteria

Answer 62

• One of the most common disorders (among women) in mid-19th century Europe
• Symptoms such as fainting, insomnia, sudden paralysis, temporary blindness,
  loss of appetite for food or sex, and general disagreeableness

Question 63

Frigophobia

Answer 63

• identified in China
• Morbid fear of catching a cold, which leads people to dress themselves in heavy
  coats and scarves even in summer

Question 64

Susto

Answer 64

• common in Latin America
• Feelings that a frightening experience has dislodged the soul from one’s body, leading to a wide range of physical and psychological symptoms

Question 65

Voodoo death

Answer 65

• common in Africa
• Conviction that one has been cursed or has broken a taboo, which results in a severe level of fear that sometimes leads to death

Question 66

Latah

Answer 66

• common in people of Southeast Asian cultures and Siberia
• A transient dissociated state in which one exhibits unusual behavior (barking like
  a dog, acting in inappropriate ways) after some kind of startling event

Question 67

Malgri

Answer 67

• Australian Aboriginal groups
• The believe that one has been invaded by a spirit that makes them sick and drowsy in response to entering the sea or a new territory without engaging in the
  appropriate ceremonial procedures

Question 68

Agonias

Answer 68

• Portuguese and Azoreans
• Characteristics :Anxiety disorder that can include a wide array of symptoms such as a burning
  sensation, loss of breath, hysterical blindness, and sleeping and eating disorders

Question 69

Kufungisisa

Answer 69

• Zimbabwe, but also in several other cultures with other variants
• Characteristics: Anxiety and somatic disorder believed to be caused by excessive thinking

Question 70

What are the causes of variation in depression?

Answer 70

Social stigma: in Chinese contexts there might be greater social costs in acknowledging a psychological disorder than a physical issue compared to Western contexts. Koreans who describe their distress using physical terms receive more empathy than those who use psychological terms.
Focus: people from some cultures tend to notice and focus on certain symptoms more than others, and more than people in other cultures. Westerners might pay closer attention to their psychological symptoms (emotional states) because they are somehow more meaningful to them.

Question 71

Tajin kyoufushou

Answer 71

culture-bound disorder (highly prevalent only in Japan) involving a preoccupation with physical symptoms (blushing, sweating) associated with social anxiety. The ‘offensive type’ of TKS also includes being concerned that the symptoms will offend and create unease in others. TKS is different from SAD in that there is a preoccupation with making others uncomfortable (instead of oneself) and in that it is highly prevalent among men (instead of women).

Question 72

How does suicide differ across cultures?

Answer 72

Frequency rates: People in different cultures tend to commit suicide at different points in their lives. Suicide has become more prevalent in traditional cultures that have been Westernized and in colonized indigenous populations.
Motivations: In the West, suicide often stems from various mental disorders and other tragic life events. In Japan, accepting responsibility and preserving one’s honour is an important motivation to commit suicide.

Question 73

How can social support differ across cultures?

Answer 73

European Americans are far more likely than East Asians to actively seek help from others. North Americans typically give emotion-focused help, while East Asians tend to offer problem-solving support.

Question 74

What is the main message of the podcast?

Answer 74

• Main topic: American’s are teaching the world how to define and treat mental illnesses, which is
  disrupting how other cultures heal themselves and might even spread mental illnesses.
• Main conclusion: We should look at how we can offer the Western scientific knowledge to the
  rest of the world without trampling on beliefs that might be very valuable themselves.

Question 75

What is the issue with pharmaceuticals?

Answer 75

The major pharmaceuticals have financial gains by the homogenization of what illnesses are across cultures. They promote certain diseases (promoting what is considered pathological sadness (depression) in America, while it might not be in Japan), for which their drugs are claimed to be the fix.

Question 76

What is the issue with the DSM-5?

Answer 76

• carries cultural assumptions
• Western diagnosis can lead to self-shaping of expression of disorders
• Back in the early ‘90s Hong Kong, anorexia had nothing to do with fat phobia. Then, after the DSM diagnosis was imported from the West, Hong Kong saw a rise of the
  diagnosis in the American form: fat phobia

Question 77

How can cultural narratives impact mental disorders?

Answer 77

Sometimes, aspects of cultural beliefs can be helpful for people in certain cultures, even though these stories are not necessarily ‘scientific truths’. In Zanzibar, people with schizophrenia are seen as being possessed by a spirit, which is a belief that ties a person very closely to the group and might therefore be helpful for the person.

Question 78

How can inviting Western ideas impact mental disorders?

Answer 78

The spread of the Western ideas of mental illnesses goes both ways. Not only does the West impose their ideas on other parts of the world, these other cultures also often invite them in and desire these ideas. They might think anything from the West has to be better.