II.3.2.1. Personality affects the way individuals acculturate
Models of acculturation patterns have been a large part of research in recent decades (Ben-Ezer, 1999; Berry, 1990; Berry, Poortinga, Segall, &
Dasen, 1992). In particular, some studies have considered the role of language in the multicultural identity practices (Ben Rafael, Olshtain, &
Geijst, 1997; Cooper & Fishman, 1977; Olshtain & Kotik, 2000; Olshtain, Stavans, & Kotik, 2003; Berry, 2003; Stavans, Olshtain, & Goldzweig, 2009).
Most research in this area has focused on individuals’ experience of short-term adaptation, addressing psychological problems that arise when people encounter a culturally different environment and examining alternative factors that might solicit effective adaptive changes. Some of the key variables discussed in this field of research are related to the perception of the host society, attitudes towards a new culture, psychological adjustments and general intercultural competence (Church 1982; Furnham & Bochner 1986;
Furnham 1988). In all these studies the main emphasis was oriented towards migrants’ frustration, disorientation, anxiety, ‘acculturative stress’, ‘transition shock’ and ‘cultural fatigue’ (Anderson 1994, Oberg 1960, Berry 1970, 1990, Bennett 1977, Taft 1977). However, starting from Adler’s idea (1987) of cultural shock as“an experience in self-understanding and change” (p.29), a
3Since the present research is not directly analysing identity negotiation and practices, only a brief review of the BII has been included in this chapter.
recent portion of literature decided to focus more on positive aspects of cultural adaptation, seen as a process of enrichment, growth, profound learning and self-awareness.Ward, Bochner and Furnham (2008) stated that the focus of research was indeed oriented towards people’s negative reactions to an unfamiliar cultural environment (2008), instead of the way they actively deal with change or how they feel, behave and think when exposed to a different culture. In this wide spectrum of research, cross-sectional studies showed that no two individuals adapt identically. A variety of theoretical models have been proposed in order to address specific factors, such as psychological and personality characteristics, communication pattern skills, interpersonal relationship preferences, biographical and demographical aspects (age of resettlement, length of residence, socio-economic status, educational background), mass media behaviour or listening skills as central in explaining individuals’ different reactions to the acculturation process (Berry, 2003; Gao & Gudykunst 1990, Epstein, Botvin, Dusenberry, Diaz &
Kerner 1996, Stilling 1997, Ryder, Alden & Paulhus, 2000; Kim 1980, 2001, 2005; Hammer, 2011).
A large part of contributions to this field centres on personality traits, which have been analysed both as independent and dependent variables.
Immigration and the subsequent acculturation to a new culture could represent a profound social change, which is likely to shape individuals’
personal attitudes, character and self. Some researchers investigated those personality variables associated to successful cross-cultural adaptation, such as readiness for change, adaptability, openness, strength and positivity (Kim 2001). Specifically, open-minded people, according to different scales, seem
to minimise their resistance to the new environment and to be less disposed to make ethnocentric judgements (Kim, 2008). Benet-Martínez and Haritatos (2005) found that bicultural individuals who perceived their dual cultural identities as overlapping and in harmony – reflected through their score on the BII scale mentioned in the previous section - also scored high on
‘Openness to experience’ and low on ‘Neuroticism’. Their path analysis revealed ‘Openness’ as being particularly important:
“[...] individuals who are rigid and closed to new experiences are more likely to compartmentalize cultural identities, feel stressed about their linguistic abilities, support a separation acculturation strategy, and be less biculturally competent” (p. 1036)
Similarly, Neuroticism seemed to put individuals at risk for negative acculturation experiences:
“Specifically, neurotic individuals who tend to feel vulnerable and anxious are more likely to perceive conflict between their cultural identities and also experience stress in the linguistic and inter- cultural relations domains” (p.1036)
‘Agreeableness’ and ‘Extraversion’ also appeared to play a role in acculturation processes. The authors argued that agreeable individuals, being more relaxed, were less likely to report conflict in their intercultural relationships, and extraverted individuals, benefiting from the gains associated with being sociable and outgoing, were less likely to feel strained by a living environment that is not very multicultural.
Chen and colleagues (1998), by looking at the effects of personality traits, bicultural identity, bilingualism and social context on the psychological adjustment of three groups of immigrants in Hong Kong (mainland Chinese immigrants, Filipino immigrants and mainland Chinese college students),
demonstrated that, over the course of time and generations, personality profiles of migrants increasingly resembled those of the mainstream culture.
A series of regression analyses revealed that ‘Neuroticism’ was the strongest predictor of psychological adjustment for the three groups. After controlling for the effects of self-efficacy, ‘Neuroticism’ and measures of language and identification, the researchers found that bilingual competence and the perception of integration of cultural identities were important antecedents of beneficial psychological outcomes. Acculturative stress “emerged as a negative predictor of well-being, even after controlling for dispositional Neuroticism and self-efficacy” (McCrae & al., 1998: 831).
An important contribution in the development of personality questionnaires is the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) (van Oudenhoven & van der Zee, 2000, 2002), which was introduced in section II.2.4.1. Following the shift towards a more positive outlook on the phenomenon of acculturation, Dewaele and Stavans (2014) stated that it is not a coincidence that the MPQ personality dimensions were positively rather than negatively oriented. For example, the trait ‘Neuroticism’, found in the Big Five model, has been renamed ‘Emotional Stability’. Leong (2007) used the MPQ to look at the relationship between personality traits and socio-psychological adaptation of Singaporean undergraduate students in an international exchange program, compared to a control group of domestic students. He found that students who had opted for the exchange program reported significantly higher levels of intercultural competences in four of the five MPQ dimensions, namely ‘Openmindedness’, ‘Social Initiative’,
‘Flexibility’ and ‘Emotional Stability’, in comparison to the control group. A
high level of ‘Social Initiative’ was found to predict a reduction in both socio-cultural and psychological difficulties, while high scores on ‘Flexibility’
correlated with depression. Peltokorpi and Froese (2011) investigated the link between MPQ-measured personality traits of American and European expatriates and their adjustment in Japan. Positive correlations emerged once again between ‘Openmindedness’ and interaction adjustment, ‘Social Initiative’ and work adjustment and ‘Emotional Stability’, ‘Cultural Empathy’
and general adjustment.
In conclusion, research on personality dimensions as predictor variables of successful cross-cultural adaptation among expatriates or multicultural individuals in general is expanding and reflecting a more positive view of acculturation as a potentially enriching process.
II.3.2.3. Acculturation affects migrants’ personality profiles
“Despite the common perception of personality as stable and unchanging, there is some evidence to suggest that cultural change may be sufficient to cause corresponding changes in personality in the direction of the mainstream culture” (Ryder, Alden, & Paulhus, 2000:
51)
Indeed, the fact that personality is believed to be the result of the interplay between internal physiological factors and external social factors (Furnham &
Heaven, 1999; McCrae & al., 2000; Kim, 2001) leads to the idea that it can both determine the way people acculturate and undergo a process of constant change while adapting to new settings. Dewaele and van Oudenhoven (2009) used the MPQ to look at how the personality traits of 79 young London teenagers were linked to their multilingualism and multiculturalism. Both migrants and participants reporting to be dominant in more than one
language scored significantly higher on the dimension of ‘Openmindedness’, marginally higher on ‘Cultural Empathy’ and significantly lower on
‘Emotional Stability’ compared to locally born informants and participants dominant in one language only (Dewaele & van Oudenhoven, 2009:12)4. Korzilius, van Hooft, Planken, and Hendrix (2011) referred to the Dewaele and van Oudenhoven (2009) study as a starting point for their own investigation into the link between LX mastery and scores on the MPQ’s multicultural personality dimensions among 144 local and international employees of a Dutch multinational company, as well as their business contacts across the world. The researchers found that the number of LXs known by participants significantly correlated with ‘Openmindedness’ and
‘Emotional Stability’. A lower but significant positive correlation was also found between self-assessed knowledge of LXs and ‘Cultural Empathy’. The international employees who spoke one more LX than the other groups scored higher on ‘Openmindedness’ and ‘Flexibility’ than the local employee group, which reported, on the other hand, being more emotionally stable than the business contacts. Similarly, Dewaele and Wei (2013) used the feedback of an online questionnaire from 2158 multilinguals from around the world (204 different nationalities, 82 different L1s), to investigate the link between multilingualism, a high level of global proficiency, frequent use of various languages and the measure of Tolerance of Ambiguity (TA), a lower-order personality trait (Herman, Stevens, Bird, Mendenhall, & Oddou, 2010).
A significant positive link emerged between the number of languages known to participants and their TA scores. While growing up bi- or trilingually from
4Results will be more exhaustively discussed in the section II.6., which focus on Language Dominance.
birth had no effect on TA, the experience of having lived abroad had a positive impact. TA thus appears to be influenced by an individual’s socio-linguistic and cultural environment and by the conscious effort to learn new languages to better fit into and operate within it.
In a more recent follow-up study, Dewaele and Stavans (2014) looked at whether the linguistic and cultural background of 193 Israeli residents was linked to their personality. Findings confirmed that a variety of social, linguistic and biographical factors were linked to some personality dimensions. Participants with foreign-born parents tended to score lower on
‘Emotional Stability’ compared to those with locally born parents. Similarly, acculturation and the shift from dominance in the L1 to dominance in a LX resulted in lower levels of ‘Emotional Stability’5. One of the most striking patterns emerging from this study was the fact that participants with high total proficiency scores (the sum of self-perceived competence scores in up to 5 languages) and total language use scores (the sum of frequency of use for up to 5 languages) reported higher levels of ‘Openmindedness’ and ‘Social Initiative’. Advanced knowledge of several languages was also linked to
‘Cultural Empathy’. These findings suggest that intercultural communicative activity was linked to individuals’ personality profiles. Finally, a recent study reported personality changes in 58 British students spending a year abroad who undertook the MPQ test before and after their departure (Ventura, Dewaele, Koylu & McManus, 2016). The experience abroad was linked to a significant increase in ‘Emotional Stability’. Reflective interviews confirmed
5Results will be more exhaustively discussed in the section II.6., which focus on Language Dominance.
these findings, as more than three quarters of participants reported feeling more confident and independent after their year abroad. Informants’
narratives also highlighted a positive change in terms of ‘Openmindedness’
and ‘Cultural Empathy’ dimensions. The authors explained the fact that results in terms of ‘Emotional Stability’ were not in line with previous research by considering the fact their sample was composed of young adults only that willingly decided to study abroad.
In conclusion, literature suggests that, while migrants’ personality profiles enhance their acculturative practice, migration experiences can trigger changes across all aspects of individuals’ psyche, including personality.
II.4. On Emotion