Multicultural Identity and Experiences: Cultural, Social, and Personality Processes Verónica Benet-Martínez ICREA1 and Universitat Pompeu Fabra To appear in K. Deaux & M. Snyder (Eds.), Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology. Oxford University Press. 2nd edition. Date: December 2016 1Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies 1 Abstract This chapter discusses the cultural and social-personality psychological processes involved in multicultural experiences and identities, and the societal factors which influence these phenomena. To do so, relevant findings and theories from the subfields of acculturation, sociology, cultural, social, and personality psychologies are reviewed and integrated. The chapter includes sections devoted to defining multiculturalism and its components at the individual, group, and societal level, explaining the links between multiculturalism and related constructs such as acculturation and interculturalism, and synthesizing the fast growing literatures on cultural frame-switching, individual differences in multicultural identity, and outcomes resulting from multicultural identities and experiences. The chapter concludes with a discussion of future challenges and needed directions in the psychological study of multiculturalism. Key words: Multiculturalism, multicultural, biculturalism, bicultural, interculturalism, intercultural, acculturation, bicultural identity integration, identity, ethnicity, culture 2 Multiculturalism: Cultural, Social, and Personality Processes “Each day I am reminded of the fact that I have two cultures. All I have to do is write down my name to see this!” -- Nigerian-American bicultural participant in Huynh, Benet-Martinez, & Nguyen´s (2016) study We live in a time with unprecedented rates of connectivity, as physical and psychological boundaries defined by geography, traditional social roles, and limited means of global mobility and communication have greatly weakened. Consequently, more people with different cultural and ethnic backgrounds are interacting with each other, and more people are being exposed to multiple cultures. In sum, multicultural experiences have become a regular component of many individuals’ lives, and growing numbers of individuals also describe themselves as bicultural or multicultural.1 This phenomenon is, at least in part, driven by the large demographic changes resulting from migration. For instance, it is projected than in less than 40 years US-born and foreign-born ethnic and cultural minorities will constitute more than half of the country´s population (United States Census Bureau, 2009). High numbers of multicultural individuals can also be found in other nations where migration has been historically strong (e.g., Germany, The Netherlands, Canada, Australia, Singapore), where there is a history of colonization (e.g., Hong Kong), or in multi-nation states (e.g., Belgium, Spain). Because of its widespread societal impact, multiculturalism has attracted the interest of politicians and world leaders, policy makers, educators, businesspersons, and social scientists (BBC, 2011). The study of multiculturalism has exciting and transformative implications for social and developmental psychology, as the issue of how individuals develop and affirm their (national, cultural, ethnic, religious) social identities and group memberships becomes particularly meaningful in situations of cultural clashing, mixing, and integration (Deaux & Verkuyten, 2014; Vedder & Phinney, 2014). Furthermore, the issue of how and why people vary 3 in how they make sense of these experiences provides personality psychologists with a window through which to study individual differences in identity dynamics and reactions to intercultural contact (van der Zee & van Oudenhoven, 2014). In fact, as eloquently said by Phinney (1999): “… increasing numbers of people find that the conflicts are not between different groups but between different cultural values, attitudes, and expectations within themselves” (p. 27; italics added). The study of multiculturalism also affords unique methodological tools to social and personality psychologists. By virtue of having two or more cultures that can be independently manipulated, multicultural individuals give researchers a quasi-experimental design ideal for the study of how culture affects behavior (Hong, Morris, Chiu, & Benet-Martínez, 2000). In addition, previously identified cross-cultural differences can be replicated in studies with multicultural individuals without the counfounding effects (i.e., differences in SES and language, translation issues) that often characterize cross-national comparisons (e.g., Ramirez-Esparza, Gosling, Benet-Martínez, Potter, & Pennebaker, 2006). The main goal of this chapter is to review and integrate relevant findings and theories on multiculturalism from social, personality, and cultural psychologies, and propose an agenda for future studies. Because multiculturalism issues are still relatively new to mainstream social and personality psychology, this chapter also includes sections devoted to defining the constructs of multiculturalism and multicultural identity, and discussing key issues from the fields of acculturation and interculturalism studies. Defining Multiculturalism: Individual, Inter-Group, and Societal Levels Definitions of multiculturalism at the individual level range from those based on socio- demographic characteristics (e.g., being an immigrant or descendant of immigrants, being an 4 ethnic/cultural minority, having parents from two different cultures) to those refereeing to particular psychological experiences (e.g., multicultural exposure; having diverse cultural values, competencies, and/or identifications). Broadly speaking then, those who have mixed ethnic or racial backgrounds, those who have lived in more than one country (such as long-term expatriates and international students, immigrants, and refugees), those reared with at least one other culture in addition to the dominant mainstream culture (such as children of immigrants or colonized people), and those in inter-cultural relationships may all be considered multicultural individuals (Benet-Martinez & Hong, 2014). Common to all these types of individuals is the experience of having been exposed to and having internalized (elements from) two or more cultures (Hong et al., 2000; Nguyen & Benet-Martínez, 2007). Many of these individuals are also likely to develop a multicultural identity –i.e., a type of cultural identity that incorporates attachments with and loyalties toward two or more cultures (Benet-Martínez & Haritatos, 2005). Yet note that being a multicultural individual, or having multicultural experiences, doesn’t guarantee having a multicultural identity. Multicultural identity is only one component (although perhaps a very important one) of the more complex and multidimensional notion of multiculturalism. That is, an individual who has been socialized in more than one culture is a multicultural person, but only when this individual expresses a sense of belonging with these cultures it can be said that the individual has an (explicit) multicultural identity. This is because acquisition of knowledge from a new culture does not always produce identification with that culture (Hong, Wan, No, & Chiu, 2007). In fact, research on multiculturalism should differentiate between the study of processes relevant to the multicultural mind --i.e., how an individual acquires knowledge from multiple cultures and how this knowledge is used to navigate the social world-- and those pertaining to the multicultural self --i.e., how an individual 5 makes sense of multicultural experiences and influences in terms of her or his identity (Hong & Khei, 2014). Multicultural identity involves a significant degree of identification with more than one culture; however, it does not presuppose similar degrees of identification with all the internalized cultures. Further, having a multicultural identity involves following the norms of more than one culture, or at least being cognizant of them. This premise is supported by social identity research showing that individuals who identify strongly (vs. weakly) with a culture are more likely to follow that culture’s prescribed and intersubjective norms (Jetten, Postmes, & Mcauliffe, 2002; Wan, Chiu, Peng, & Tam, 2007), and that for these individuals cultural norms have greater impact on behavioral intentions than personal attitudes (Terry, Hogg, & White, 1999). Lastly, multiculturalism should not be confused with multilingualism (having fluency in multiple languages), although these terms are conceptually related given the interrelatedness of language learning and cultural learning (Ji, Zhang, & Nisbett, 2004) and the fact that many multicultural individuals are also multilingual (Grosjean, 1996; Ramirez-Esparza & Garcia-Sierra, 2014).2 Similarly, multiculturalism is also highly relevant to the experience of many multiracial individuals (Sanchez, Shih, & Wilton, 2014). SOCIETAL AND INTER-GROUP LEVELS Multicultural ideologies and policies advocate the inclusion and equal value of distinct cultural groups (for extensive reviews of the history and nature of different types of diversity management policies across societies see Berry & Sam, 2014; Novoa & Moghaddam, 2014). Examples of government-endorsed multicultural policies are dual citizenship, government support for media outlets (e.g., newspapers, television, radio) in minority languages, support for cultural minority holidays, celebrations,