Acculturation

Acculturation is a complex process that includes those phenomena that result when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous firsthand contact, with subsequent changes in the original cultural patterns of either or both groups. The study of acculturation was originally of interest to the fields of anthropology and sociology, focusing on changes occurring at a group level. However, acculturation incorporates changes at the social, group, and individual levels. Later, other fields such as psychology examined acculturation at an individual level. The concept of individual acculturation is also referred to as psychological acculturation, which is explained as a change in attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, and values. In relation to acculturation, scholars have identified six areas of functioning that are directly affected by acculturation: language, cognitive styles, personality, identity, attitudes, and acculturative stress. Although acculturation is usually linked to cross-cultural relocations, as with immigrants and refugees, it may take place in numerous sociocultural contexts among a variety of groups. Acculturation is not restricted to those who embark on geographical movement; it can occur in stationary communities, such as in the case of indigenous or native people and ethnic groups in pluralistic societies.