Culture Contact and the Development of Intercultural Sensitivity

The theory exhibited here is rooted in a culture-contact psychology perspective. It gives a central role to interculturation, transitory psychological reactions and intercultural sensitivity in such a way that the hypothesis investigated is thus expressed: “lasting critical culture-contact experience implies the development of intercultural sensitivity”. The content of this postulate requires that the study focus on distinct cultural areas. This is why the inhabitants of the cities of Buenos Aires (Argentina), Hong Kong (China) and Toulouse (France) were selected to answer a multidimensional questionnaire (n = 209), deriving from a theoretical approach and allowing the proposed hypothesis to be tested, through the analysis of culture contact and intercultural sensitivity level. The analysis of these results is combined with an ethnographic approach and demonstrates that critical culture contacts influence the nature of the intercultural sensitivity that can develop. The authors also show that the experienced exteriority differs from the given one. However, it is noted that methodological limitations hamper the relevance of this study

Intercultural Competencies to Overcome Trauma

This research aims to implement a set of questions linked to two theoretical approaches: French intercultural psychology, in terms of culture contact psychology, and intercultural clinical psychology of trauma. We examine the alleviation of trauma from the development of intercultural competencies involved in cultural contacts. We advance the hypothesis of a link between the development of intercultural skills and the reduction of trauma. We contend that these two concepts are connected through creative resolution strategies and that people confront a traumatic situation that doesn’t make sense, whether from a perpetrator or from another culture encounter. In our first set of qualitative interviews (N = 15), we elaborate on a quantitative questionnaire. According to the results of our second sample (N = 165), the people who experienced a potentially traumatic life event seem to develop intercultural skills and creativity to overcome the trauma

INTERCULTURATION AND INYERCULTURAL SENSITIVITY: IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MAJOR CONCEPTS FOR A BETTER MANAGEMENT OF CULTURAL OTHERNESS

This study aimed to explore the relationship between intercultural sensitivity, namely, the ability to apprehend cultural difference, and interculturation. Specifically, this study investigated the effect of nationality (French, Brazilian, Bolivian, Sri Lankan) and individual characteristics (e.g., number of spoken foreign languages, socioeconomic status, age and gender) on intercultural sensitivity and interculturation. An intercultural sensitivity scale and demographic questions about individual characteristics were administered to a sample of 434 participants. The results showed that intercultural sensitivity depends on the number of spoken foreign languages, which is a strong asset for a better understanding of cultural otherness. Nationality, socioeconomic status and gender had significant effects on ethnocentrism and ethnorelativism aspects of intercultural sensitivity

Family first: Evidence of consistency and variation in the value of family versus personal happiness across 49 different cultures

People care about their own well-being, but also about the well-being of their families. It is currently however unknown how much people tend to value their own and their family’s well-being. A recent study documented that people value family happiness over personal happiness across four cultures. In this study, we sought to replicate this finding across a larger sample size (N = 12,819) and a greater number of countries (N = 49), We found that the strength of the idealization of family over personal happiness preference was small (average Cohen’s ds = .20 with country levels varying from -.02 to almost .48), but ubiquitous, i.e., direction presented in 98% of the studied countries, 73-75% with statistical significance and .40 and .30). Importantly, we did not find strong support for traditional theories in cross-cultural psychology that associate collectivism with greater prioritization of the family versus the individual; country level individualism-collectivism was not associated with variation in the idealization of family versus individual happiness. Our findings indicate that no matter how much various populists abuse the argument of “protecting family life” to disrupt emancipation, family happiness seems to be a pan-culturally phenomenon. Family well-being is a key ingredient of social fabric across the world, and should be acknowledged by psychology and well-being researchers, and by progressive movements too

Happiness Maximization Is a WEIRD Way of Living

Psychological science tends to treat subjective wellbeing and happiness synonymously. We start from the assumption that subjective wellbeing is more than being happy to ask the fundamental question: what is the ideal level of happiness? From a cross-cultural perspective, we propose that the idealization of attaining maximum levels of happiness may be especially characteristic of WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrial, Rich, Democratic) societies, but less so for others. Searching for an explanation for why “happiness maximization” might have emerged in these societies, we turn to studies linking cultures to their eco-environmental habitat. We discuss the premise that WEIRD cultures emerged in an exceptionally benign ecological habitat, i.e., compared to other regions, they faced relatively light existential pressures. We review the influence of the Gulfstream on the North-Western European climate as a source of these comparatively benign geographical conditions. We propose that the ecological conditions in which WEIRD societies emerged afforded them a basis to endorse happiness as a value and to idealise attaining its maximum level. To provide a nomological network for “happiness maximization”, we also studied its several potential side-effects: alcohol and drug consumption and abuse, and the prevalence of mania. To evaluate our hypothesis, we re-analyse data from two large-scale studies on ideal levels of personal life satisfaction—the most common operationalization of happiness in psychology—involving respondents from 61 countries. We conclude that societies whose members seek to maximize happiness tend to be characterized as a WEIRD, and generalizing this across societies can prove problematic if adopted at the ideological and policy level

Personal life satisfaction as a measure of societal happiness is an individualistic presumption: Evidence from fifty countries

Numerous studies document that societal happiness is correlated with individualism, but the nature of this phenomenon remains understudied. In the current paper, we address this gap and test the reasoning that individualism correlates with societal happiness because the most common measure of societal happiness (i.e., country-level aggregates of personal life satisfaction) is individualism-themed. With the data collected from 13,009 participants across fifty countries, we compare associations of four types of happiness (out of which three are more collectivism-themed than personal life satisfaction) with two different measures of individualism. We replicated previous findings by demonstrating that societal happiness measured as country-level aggregate of personal life satisfaction is correlated with individualism. Importantly though, we also found that the country-level aggregates of the collectivism-themed measures of happiness do not tend to be significantly correlated with individualism. Implications for happiness studies and for policy makers are signaled

Societal emotional environments and cross-cultural differences in life satisfaction: A forty-nine country study.

In this paper, we introduce the concept of ‘societal emotional environment’: the emotional climate of a society (operationalized as the degree to which positive and negative emotions are expressed in a society). Using data collected from 12,888 participants across 49 countries, we show how societal emotional environments vary across countries and cultural clusters, and we consider the potential importance of these differences for well-being. Multilevel analyses supported a ‘double-edged sword’ model of negative emotion expression, where expression of negative emotions predicted higher life satisfaction for the expresser but lower life satisfaction for society. In contrast, partial support was found for higher societal life satisfaction in positive societal emotional environments. Our study highlights the potential utility and importance of distinguishing between positive and negative emotion expression, and adopting both individual and societal perspectives in well-being research. Individual pathways to happiness may not necessarily promote the happiness of others

L'identité interculturelle

Denoux Patrick. L'identité interculturelle. In: Bulletin de psychologie, tome 48 n°419, 1995. Contacts de cultures. pp. 264-270

La personnalité interculturelle (socialisation, enculturation, interculturation)

La théorie de la personnalité interculturelle qui est exposée céans s'enracine dans une perspective interactionniste, qui défend l'idée que c'est l'Homme qui crée l'extériorité, qui crée l'Homme. Cette réciprocité donne à la socialisation, à l'enculturation, à l'interculturation, et aux réactions psychologiquestransitoires des places centrales dans cette recherche ; de telle manière que l'hypothèse générale s'exprime ainsi : "La nature de la personnalité interculturelle dépend de l'appropriation par le sujet des dimensions culturelles, sociales et interculturelles, du contexte dans lequel il vit". La teneur de ce postulat impose que l'étude porte sur des aires culturelles distinctes. C'est pourquoi les habitants des villes de Buenos-Aires (Argentine), de Hong-Kong (Chine) et de toulouse (France) ont été choisis pour répondre à un questionnaire multidimensionnel, qui découle de l'approche théorique et qui permet de tester l'hypothèse présentée. L'analyse des résultats démontre que l'appropriation des dimensions culturelles, sociales et interculturelles influence la nature de la personnalité interculturelle qui peut être développée. Aussi, l'auteur valide son hypothèse, en précisant que l'extériorité vécue diffère de l'extériorité donnée. Néanmoins, il relève que de nombreuses limites méthodologiques entravent la pertinence de cette étude. Il précise que d'autres recherches s'étayant sur le dépassement des limites sontnécessaires pour faire évoluer le concept crucial de personnalité interculturelle.AMIENS-BU Lettres (800212104) / SudocSudocFranceF

Interculturation précoce, interculturation tardive: La mémoire autobiographique dans une histoire de vie interculturelle

International audienceThis research paper presents the results of an analysis based on the life stories of five elderly subjects who have had an intercultural experience. The findings indicate a link between an intercultural life experience and a way of reconstituting a life story.Esta nota de investigación presenta los resultados de un análisis basado en las historias de vida de cinco sujetos de edad avanzada que han tenido una experiencia intercultural. Los resultados indican un vínculo entre una experiencia de vida intercultural y una forma de contar una historia de vida.Cette note de recherche présente les résultats d’une analyse basée sur les récits de vie de cinq sujets âgés ayant vécu une expérience interculturelle. Les résultats viennent indiquer un lien entre une expérience de vie interculturelle et une modalité de restitution d’une histoire de vie