Joel.Simone

I finished Chapter 4, Immigrants, Refugees, and the Acculturation Process, from the text book, Multicultural Psychology.

This chapter started about by defining immigrants and refugees. Immigrants are those who chose, or planned, to relocate to a new country, and refugees are those who were forced out of their country, e.g., by violence, war, and etc. The way immigrants and refugees experience adaptation to the new culture is very different, and this is due part into the factor of choice – immigrants choose and plan relocation where as refugees have little to no choice or planning.

Acculturation was a substantial subject in this chapter, and this is the “experiences and changes that groups and individuals undergo” while associating to other cultures. The book shared two very similar acculturation models for immigrants and ethnic minorities, respectively Berry (1990,1997) and LaFramboise (1993). I was particularly interested in “integrationist” from Berry’s model and the “alternationist” from LaFramboise’s model, maybe more notes on this later.

In addition to the homework, I’m considering the subject for my research project: either an aspect of communication or genetic intelligence within a multicultural context.