2 research outputs found
Data_Sheet_1_Feeling âRightâ When You Feel Accepted: Emotional Acculturation in Daily Life Interactions With Majority Members.pdf
<p>When immigrant minority individuals engage in frequent and positive social contact with majority culture members, their emotions become a better fit with the majority norm; the increased fit is called emotional acculturation. In the current research, we test the prediction that high-quality interactions with majority others, in which minorities feel accepted, increase the likelihood of emotional fit. We also explore whether this prediction holds true for both positive and negative interactions with majority. To test this prediction, we conducted a 7-day daily diary study with minority students in Belgian middle schools (N = 117). Each day, participants reported one positive and one negative interaction at school. They subsequently evaluated each interaction (e.g., felt accepted), assessed their relationship with the interaction partner (e.g., our relationship is important to me), and rated their emotions. Analyses focused on the interactions with Belgian majority interaction partners. Emotional acculturation was computed for positive and negative interactions separately, by calculating the fit between the emotional pattern of the minority student and the average emotional pattern of a sample of majority participants (N = 106) who also took part in the daily diary. As predicted, we found higher emotional fit in positive interactions when immigrant minorities felt accepted by the interaction partner. In contrast to this finding for positive interactions, emotional fit for negative interactions was higher when minorities felt excluded by the interaction partner. Further analyses on the negative interactions suggested that minority adolescents felt more negative autonomy-promoting emotions (e.g., anger and frustration) when they perceived being excluded. Given that Belgian majority youth feel more autonomy-promoting emotions generally, minoritiesâ fit with majority patterns was higher. The results confirm our hypothesis that minoritiesâ fit with majority emotions is contingent on the quality of their interactions with majority, even if in negative interactions, high-quality interactions produced less rather than more emotional fit. Our findings suggest that emotional acculturation is not just a âskillâ that minority individuals acquire, but also a response to the ways in which interactions with majority others develop. Inclusive interactions, especially when they are positive, appear to align immigrant minority individuals with the majority norm.</p
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Cultural fit of emotions and subjective well-being: replicating comparative evidence and extending it to the mediterranean region
Greater âemotional fitâ with one's cultural group is often associated with positive psychological and relational outcomes. However, the few empirical studies on this link have been limited to the comparison of Anglo-Western, independent, and East Asian, interdependent cultural contexts. In the current paper, we conceptually replicated findings from three studies on the link between emotional fit and well-being in Anglo-Western and East Asian contexts, using different methods and more comprehensive samples. Moreover, we expanded emotional fit research to the understudied Mediterranean region, characterized by an emphasis on âhonorâ and a distinct blend of independence and interdependence. We collected data from N = 3,097 participants from 12 countries and asked participants to report their emotional experience in 10 hypothetical situations and to rate their well-being in different domains. Our results largely replicated established positive links between emotional fit and well-being in the Anglo-West and East-Asia, as i) experiencing more culturally valued emotions (from which we infer cultural fit) was linked to better general well-being; ii) actual, calculated emotional fit in relationship-focused situations predicted better relational well-being; and iii) only in East Asia calculated emotional fit in culturally central contexts predicted psychological well-being and thriving. Our exploratory analyses on the Mediterranean region showed a non-homogenous pattern: while general well-being was consistently most strongly predicted by the intensity of disengaging emotions, relational and psychological well-being were differentially predicted by calculated emotional fit in relationship-focused situations across different Mediterranean sub-regions. The current work consolidates insights into how our well-being is shaped by the interplay between culture and emotional fit and strengthens evidence that there may be âuniversalism without uniformityâ.</p