Cognition and acculturation - Thinking about how we adapt

Immigrants face numerous difficulties in adjusting to a given host culture.The failure to acculturate comes at a high cost to both the individual and societyand there have been few studies that link major psychological paradigmsto a comprehensive theory of acculturation.This book looks at cognitive features believed to be central to acculturationand thus brings together these two disparate fields. This book takes the perspectivethat acculturation is grounded in the processes of comprehensionand formation of novel concepts. It is critical that we look at those cognitiveregularities in thinking that organize and direct perception into coherentcultural units. This study investigates the relationship between the cognitiveabilities of gestalt formation and concept mapping and two culture-relatedadjustment indicators. Armed with such data clinicians educators and socialpolicy-makers can develop practices that maximize immigrants' chances ofachieving a smoother cultural adjustment.