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 society,
and there have been few studies that link major psychological paradigms
to a comprehensive theory of acculturation.
This book looks at cognitive features believed to be central to acculturation
and thus brings together these two disparate fields. This book takes the perspective
that acculturation is grounded in the processes of comprehension
and formation of novel concepts. It is critical that we look at those cognitive
regularities in thinking that organize and direct perception into coherent
cultural units. This study investigates the relationship between the cognitive
abilities of gestalt formation and concept mapping, and two culture-related
adjustment indicators. Armed with such data, clinicians, educators, and social
policy-makers can develop practices that maximize immigrants' chances of
achieving a smoother cultural adjustment.