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Cross-Cultural
Psychology Bulletin
International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology
Ke Kou Ke Le!
City Park, Guangzhou, China
Volume 33
Number 2
June
THEORY & METHOD
An
Intercultural
Approach in
Psychology:
Cultural
Contact and
Identity
JEAN S. PHINNEY
CALIFORNIA STATE
UNIVERSITY, LOS ANGELES
24
T
wo contrasting approaches have
dominated the conceptualization
and study of culture within the
field of psychology, those of cross-cultural
psychology and cultural psychology.
Although they generally agree that culture
plays an essential role in human behavior,
their view of that role and of the ways
of studying it differ. In cross-cultural
psychology, culture is seen as antecedent
to behavior, and research is typically
comparative, across two or more cultures;
this approach is closely linked to the
empiricist tradition, with an emphasis
on identifying universal processes. In
contrast, cultural psychology emphasizes
the interdependence of culture and the
self, and much of the research focuses on
cultural processes within a given society;
this approach is typically associated with
the constructivist or interpretivist view
(Kashima, 1998).
Both these traditions assume, to varying
degrees, that cultures are discrete entities
that exist within more or less defined
territorial boundaries and can be described
in terms of values, attitudes, or practices
that characterize them. However, in the
contemporary world, it is increasingly
problematic to think of cultures as based
in particular geographical locations
(Hermans & Kempen, 1998). As the
world becomes smaller, there is a vast
increase in the amount of contact among
different cultures. Most of the world’s
inhabitants have some degree of exposure
to cultures other than their own. Some
of this exposure is direct, through travel,
migration, conflict, and commercialization,
but even more is indirect, through movies,
Cross-Cultural Psychology Bulletin
television, and, increasingly, the Internet. As a result of such contact, many societies today
are becoming multicultural. In addition, historical changes within and across cultures
present individuals with cultural transformations that require choices and adaptation
(Dien, in press;
Moghaddam, this
In the contemporary world, it is
issue). For many
increasingly problematic to think of
people, it is no
longer necessary
cultures as based in particular geoto leave home to
graphical locations
encounter cultural
difference.
H YBRIDIZED C ULTURES
Because of the connections among people and the transfer of information, cultures are
becoming hybridized, as they are mixed with each other and transformed into new
combinations (Hermans & Kempen, 1998). This contact and interpenetration among
cultures has been acknowledged by some psychologists, but it is rarely dealt with
explicitly in research. For researchers, the methodological problems of studying such
processes are far more complex than those of studying or comparing discrete cultures.
Because of the mixing of people and cultures, it becomes difficult both to classify
individuals as members of particular groups and to identify particular values, attitudes
and practices as belonging to one culture.
However, this situation provides the opportunity for an intercultural approach that has
exciting implications for the field, for it is at the points of contact that culture is most
salient. People generally are unaware of their own culture and of cultural differences
until they are exposed to
other ways of being or doing
For researchers, the method- things; without such contrast,
ological problems of studying culture is virtually invisible.
At points of contact among
hybridized cultures are far
cultures, individuals and
groups experience directly
more complex than those of
the clashing, overlapping,
studying or comparing discrete and mixing of cultures. Such
areas of contact offer a labocultures.
ratory for examining cultural
meanings as they are experienced. An intercultural approach highlights aspects of variability among human
groups at the moments when such differences are most directly meaningful for
individuals.
The study of contact among cultures has been pursued largely in the fields of
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intercultural communication and training. Research and programs in these areas have
provided valuable information and assistance for foreign travelers and sojourners.
However, the focus has been largely on the immediate or short term implications—the
shocks, misunderstandings, and social blunders that occur in situations of contact.
Over the longer term, as people continue to have contact with other groups, they
become aware of more subtle aspects of culture. They try to integrate their intercultural
experiences in terms of the meaning of such experiences for themselves.
T HE N EED
FOR
G ROUP I DENTITY
Across the variability of human populations, one constant in all contexts is the need for
human beings to make sense of their environment and their place in it, that is, to form
an identity as a member of a particular community or ethnic, national or cultural group.
Group identities are much more than categorical designations; rather, they encompass
one’s sense of belonging to a group and the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that
accompany such membership in the group (Phinney, 1990). A group identity provides
an internalized perspective from which to view others.
Group identities are meaningful only in
situations of contrast. In self-contained,
Group identities are
traditional, static societies, including
those of the past and a few isolated meaningful only in situacontemporary groups, there is little or no
tions of contrast.
awareness of alternative ways of being,
and cultural identity has little meaning.
An individual’s place in the community is clearly defined, and there are few choices
to be made regarding identity. However, such cultural isolation is increasingly rare.
Most people in the world today are confronted with dramatic changes that challenge
their sense of who they are (Baumeister, 1986). Exposure to a wide range of cultures,
values, religions, and life styles inevitably results in the questioning of existing norms
and presents individuals with many choices. As individuals struggle to understand
these differences and construct a coherent identity, their experience provides clues to
the complexities of cultural meaning in today’s world. The study of the meanings of
group identity at the interface of cultures provides a way of linking the individual and
the culture and of examining cultural contact and change.
Social psychologists have furnished detailed information on the ways in which group
membership creates feelings of “us” and “them,” based on real or imaginary contrasts.
Such feelings can provide a sense of stability and security, of knowing who we are
and who we are not. Yet with the increasing overlap of cultures, the lines become
blurred. In reaction, some people create ever more rigid boundaries and seek to
vilify (or worse) those who threaten the boundaries; such conflicts are most often
over issues of power and control. On the other hand, increasing numbers of people
find that the conflicts are not between different groups but between different cultural
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Cross-Cultural Psychology Bulletin
values, attitudes, and expectations within themselves. These sorts of internal cultural
conflicts are occurring throughout the world, in developed and developing countries,
among dominant and subordinate groups within multicultural societies, and even
in isolated traditional cultures.
I MMIGRANT I DENTITY
Within multicultural industrialized nations, issues of cultural contact and the resulting
identity conflicts are most obvious among immigrants and the children of immigrants,
who on a daily basis face exposure to differing cultural expectations. Children of
immigrants are confronted with the task of constructing an identity by selecting or
combining elements from their culture of origin and from the new culture in which they
are growing up. This process is
often complicated–or clarified–by
exposure to the cultures of other
Within multicultural indusimmigrant groups in their comtrialized nations, issues of
munities, as when two immigrant
youths in the U.S., one from Mexico
cultural contact are most
and one from China, find they
obvious among immigrants
have more values in common with
each other than with European
Americans.
Members of immigrant families deal with cultural meanings directly, on a day-to day
basis and their struggles highlight differences. In our research with immigrant families
(Phinney, 1999, May), we met parents struggling to be American while retaining their
traditional values. A Vietnamese father was required to attend parenting classes because
of his adolescent son’s misbehavior. The father was accustomed to giving orders,
and he expected obedience without discussion; the son, seeing other families that
negotiated disagreements, rebelled and carried his rebellion into other aspects of his
life. The father learned that as an American he needed to communicate in a more open
and responsive manner with his son. In other examples, many children and adolescents
“Mexican at home, and American at school”
in immigrant families grow up knowing that there are different expectations at school
and at home; they learn to be “Mexican at home, and American at school” (Phinney &
Devich-Navarro, 1997). As they establish their own adult identities, they are likely to
blend the different values and expectations into new combinations.
Another reality in multicultural societies is the increasing number of mixed marriages
and children from mixed ethnic or cultural backgrounds (Phinney & Alipuria, 1996).
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Children whose parents are from different backgrounds face day-to-day issues of who
they are and where they fit. Throughout their lives they deal with the need to forge an
identity from two differing cultural backgrounds.
M AJORITY G ROUP I DENTITY C ONFLICTS
Contact with other cultures also raises identity issues for members of a majority group
within relatively homogeneous industrialized societies. Japan has historically been a
country with a distinctive culture that supported a clear sense of the meaning of being
Japanese. This sense is being challenged by cultural contact from without and within.
Children of Japanese business leaders often spend extended periods in one or more
foreign countries; on returning home, as high school or college students, these young
people are confronted with learning to be “Japanese.” Increasing numbers of Japanese
undergraduate and graduate students spend extended periods studying in Western
Contact with other cultures also raises identity
issues for members of a majority group within
relatively homogeneous industrialized societies.
countries and return to face similar issues. For both these groups, the differences
they become aware of on their return to Japan provide direct, immediate evidence
of current cultural contrasts. In addition, within Japan, the small Korean minority is
becoming more vocal and raising issues of diversity within a previously homogeneous
country. The study of Japanese identity in these situations has the potential to capture
key aspects of the meaning of culture.
Another example of cultural contrast within an industrialized society is seen in the
issue faced when Israeli youth, raised on a kibbutz, complete their required military
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jean Phinney is a developmental psychologist at California State University, Los
Angeles. She became involved in ethnic and cultural issues in psychology as a result
of finding hereself in one of the most culturally diverse universities in the most
diverse region of the United States. In addition to continuing the study ethnic identity,
she has recently become interested in the ways in which adolescents in families
with strong interdependence values balance their own needs with those of their
families as they form an identity.
[email protected]
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Cross-Cultural Psychology Bulletin
service (Wiseman & Lieblich, 1992). They have been exposed to the individualist
values of Israeli society in the military, but retain their roots in the kibbutz. They
wrestle with the decision about whether to return to the secure but confining
communal life of the kibbutz or establish a new and more independent identity
in the society at large.
In another context, inhabitants of Eastern Europe and the countries of the former
Soviet Union are dealing with cultural contrasts between the collectivist values of the
Communists and the individualist values of the West (Reykowski, 1994). As individualist
attitudes clash with normative collectivist beliefs, people face conflicts among alternative
ways of constructing their identities. They may hold on to the communist values of
the past, with the accompanying idea that the state will take care of them; they may
incorporate individualist Western values and the understanding that everyone must take
care of him or herself; or they may try to achieve some form of “ensembled” individualism that includes
high individuation together
Even highly traditional soci- with concern
for the social
well-being of
eties are exposed to ideas ilar contrast
others. A simbetween comand information from “out- peting cultural
values has been
described in
side” that challenge their
Turkey, where
increasing earning power of
established ways of being. young people
leads
to
a
decline in economic interdependence in
the family, but not necessarily at the expense of emotional interdependence
(Kagitcibasi, 1996).
T RADITIONAL S OCIETIES
Even highly traditional, isolated societies are exposed to ideas and information from
“outside” that challenge their established ways of being. In traditional village culture in
Nepal, woman are becoming aware of alternative social structures in which women have
greater freedom to shape their lives; as a result they are searching for ways to develop
identities that give them more personal opportunities, without directly confronting the
existing order (Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner & Cain, 1998).
In cases such as these, the contrasting implications of individualism and collectivism
can be seen in situations of direct contact. The meanings of these two constructs have
been widely debated at the theoretical level (e.g., Matsumoto, in press). In the abstract,
the concepts are perhaps too broad to be of value in pinpointing the role of culture.
However, their specific implications can be examined empirically through individuals’
experiences as they deal with specific manifestations of these values.
In summary, in many settings throughout the world, individuals are experiencing
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cultural differences at the point where they impact their lives personally and directly.
The ways in which they make choices and construct an identity provide a window
into the processes of cultural contact and change. In today’s increasingly multicultural
world, cultural dichotomies are problematic (Matsumoto, in press). Research needs
to focus more on the contact zones among cultures than on cultures as separate
entities (Hermans & Kempen, 1998).
M ETHODOLOGICAL P ROBLEMS
The study of these processes poses complex methodological problems for researchers.
Because of the variety of situations in which cultures are in contact, it is impossible at
this point to develop models that might apply generally. The early stages of research
on virtually any phenomenon can benefit from descriptions of particular cases and
contexts. Narratives and case studies are one approach that can provide insights into
the range of issues individuals must deal with in constructing an identity at the interface
of cultures (Phinney, in press). Other qualitative methods, including interviews and
anthropological approaches, are illustrated in some of the studies cited earlier. As
information accumulates regarding this complex process, we can begin to develop
models and hypotheses, as well as the quantitative methods needed to test them
(Greenfield, 1997). At this point, there is room, and the need, for researchers interested
in cultural contact from a variety of perspectives. Because the study of cultural contact
and identity provides an exciting opportunity for the field, there should be many
people willing to take up the challenge.
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INFORUM
ANTHONY J. MARSELLA
Tony was awarded an honorary doctorate – Doctoris
Honoris Causas – from the University of Copenhagen in
November 1999 at a ceremony celebrating their commemoration day anniversary - award is for contributions
to cultural and international understanding.
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
University of Hawai’i
Honolulu, Hawai’i, USA 96822
[email protected]
Tel: (808) 956-8414
FAX: (808) 956-4700
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