John W. Berry

• PhD (Edinburgh)
• Professor (Full) at Queen's University

The integration hypothesis is the proposal that individuals who engage in both their heritage culture and in the larger society (by using the integration strategy) have better psychological adaptation than those using other strategies (by engaging with only one or neither cultural framework). This hypothesis has received substantial support over th...

There is a lack of systematic acculturation research on the motivations underpinning the behavior of migrants, which could explain how they acculturate and adapt to their new country of residence. This paper examines the link between values, using the Schwartz Theory of Basic Human Values, and acculturation strategies among Arab immigrant and refug...

The Integration Hypothesis states that acculturating migrants who adopt the integration strategy (i.e. being doubly engaged, in both their heritage culture and in the larger national society) will have better psychological and socio-cultural adaptation than those who adopt any other strategy (Assimilation, Separation or Marginalization). This hypot...

Background. Many culturally-plural societies like Canada or Russia seek ways to manage their cultural diversity in order to promote harmony among coexisting groups. The social sciences have long viewed intergroup contact as a beneficial intervention to achieve such harmony. Objective. This paper proposes an adaptationist framework within which to...

The creation of a social climate where all ethnic groups can harmoniously coexist is a central challenge for many countries today. Should we emphasize similarities and common ground or, conversely, recognize that there are important differences between groups? The current study examined relations between diversity ideologies (assimilation, colorbli...

As worldwide migration continues to grow, valid and reliable instruments are needed to assess the psychological processes that influence the successful management of intercultural relations in different sociopolitical contexts. In this study, we test whether the original Multicultural Ideology Scale (MCI) required a revision to remain ‘fit for purp...

The Multicultural Ideology Scale (Berry, Kalin & Taylor, 1977) was developed to examine the views of Canadians toward the two basic principles in the Canadian multiculturalism policy (1971): the promotion of cultural diversity as a personal and public good; and the acceptance of social engagements among individual members of all cultural communitie...

The “integration hypothesis,” the notion that individuals engaging in both their heritage culture and the larger society have better adaptation than other strategies (e.g., engaging with only one cultural framework or neither framework) has been recently criticized in the literature. Bierwiaczonek and Kunst (2021) evaluated the “integration hypothe...

Reading the two commentaries (Birman, 2022; Schwartz & Cobb, 2022) has provided us with an opportunity to reflect further on many of the issues confronting researchers and policy makers in the domains of immigration, acculturation, and settlement. We are very grateful to the commenters for their direct and precise observations, questions, and sugge...

Dealing with cultural diversity is one of the key challenges in contemporary societies, with Japan being no exception. However, relatively little is known about how minority group members are viewed by members of the dominant group. The current paper presents a study that evaluated three hypotheses that are related to these issues with a survey of...

The invited IAIR Award Paper by Kunst (2021) published in IJIR asserts that there is a “causality crisis” in acculturation research and critically discusses the current meta-analytical evidence supporting the integration hypothesis. In this commentary, we question this claim in light of our understanding of the acculturation process and its constit...

This paper provides an analysis and a general taxonomy of intergroup ideologies, and presents a list of their indicators. This taxonomy is related to the eight ideologies that were originally outlined in the early works. These ideologies were created on the basis of three dimensions of intercultural relations: cultural maintenance; social participa...

With increasing interconnectedness of the world, intensifying migration flows and the rise of the right-wing populism in many countries, the topic of intercultural relations has become more and more relevant. Cultural and linguistic diversity brings both opportunities and challenges by, on the one hand, enriching human communication and enhancing s...

In many countries, individuals who have represented the majority group historically are decreasing in relative size and/or perceiving that they have diminished status and power compared with those self-identifying as immigrants or members of ethnic minority groups. These developments raise several salient and timely issues, including (a) how majori...

A revised version of the Multicultural Ideology Scale (rMCI) is currently being developed to measure endorsement of multiculturalism in different cultural contexts. This study, which is part of a wider cross-cultural research project, presents the first assessment of the rMCI scale in the German language. The measure aims to cover several attitudin...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.728048.].

This special issue was inspired by Grigoryev, Fiske and Batkhina’s work (2019) on ethnic stereotypes and Berry’s approach to the psychology of intercultural relations (e.g., Berry, 1998, 2005; Berry et al., in press). Since individual behaviors are shaped in particular cultural contexts, we interested in what happens when individuals who have devel...

Increased migration has led to the formation of culturally diverse societies in many places around the world. The concept of Multicultural Ideology incorporates two values as a way to promote positive intercultural relations: a) Diversity: the presence of ethnocultural diversity in the population and b) Equity: the right for equal participation of...

Living together in culturally plural societies poses numerous challenges for members of ethnocultural groups and for the larger society. An important goal of these societies is to achieve positive intercultural relations among all its peoples. Successful management of these relations depends on many factors including a research-based understanding...

Cross-cultural psychology seeks to understand human behavioural similarities and differences in the contexts within which they develop and are displayed. One framework to guide this search is the ecocultural framework, which shares many characteristics with the macropsychology approach. This framework posits two features of the habitat (ecological...

Berry, J. W., Dasen, P. R., & Witkin, H. A. (1982). Developmental theories in cross-cultural perspective. In L. L. Adler (Ed.), Cross-cultural research at issue, (pp. 13-22). New York: Academic Press. *** When ontogenetic developmental theories are employed in cross-cultural research, differences in individual behavior may be interpreted as implyin...

Dasen, P. R., Berry, J. W., & Witkin, H. A. (1979). The use of developmental theories cross-culturally. In L. Eckensberger, Y. Poortinga, & W. Lonner (Eds.), Cross-cultural contributions to psychology, (pp. 69-82). Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger.

A revised version of the Multicultural Ideology Scale (rMCI) is currently being developed to measure endorsement of multiculturalism in different cultural contexts. This study, which is part of a wider cross-cultural research project, presents the first assessment of the rMCI scale in the German language. The measure aims to cover several attitudin...

Psikologi Lintas-Budaya. Riset dan aplikasi. Indonesian translation of : Berry, J. W., Poortinga, Y. H., Segall, M. H., & Dasen, P. R. (1992). Cross-cultural psychology: research and applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Кросс-культурная психология: исследования и приложения. Russian translation of: Berry, J. W., Poortinga, Y. H., Segall, M. H., & Dasen, P. R. (2002). Cross-cultural psychology: research and applications (Second, revised edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Psicologia transculturale. Teoria, ricerca, applicazioni. Italian translation of: Berry, J. W., Poortinga, Y. H., Segall, M. H., & Dasen, P. R. (1992). Cross-cultural psychology: research and applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Globalization implicates a number of social psychological processes and outcomes, including openness to ideas, products, and people from outside one’s national boundaries. Drawing from theory and research on intergroup threat, the researchers posited that people will be more open to connections between their nation and others if they feel their eco...

Dasen, P. R., Berry, J. W., & Sartorius, N. (Eds.). (1988). Health and cross-cultural psychology : Towards applications. Beverly Hills: Sage. It is with a generally positive outlook that we assess in this volume the possible usefulness of psychology as a science for the promotion and improvement of health. We are concerned with "Health for All," m...

Segall, M. H., Dasen, P. R., Berry, J. W., & Poortinga, Y. H. (1990). Human behavior in global perspective: An introduction to cross-cultural psychology. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Διαπολιτιστική Ψυχολογία Η μελέτη της ανθρώπινης συμπεριφοράς σε παγκόσμιο οικολογικό πολιτιστικό πλαίσιο. Athens : ΕΛΛΗΝιΚΑ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΑ

When immigrants settle into their new societies, variations in their wellbeing are commonly found, due to a number of factors: their generation; their specific settlement context; and their acculturation strategies. With respect to settlement context, the policy of multiculturalism in Canada and of interculturalism in Quebec, provide different cont...

Italy is increasingly becoming a culturally complex society. This poses numerous challenges for developmental and educational psychology, mainly in terms of how to encourage adequate levels of social harmony by promoting positive development of both immigrant and autochthonous youth. Within this perspective, the current paper presents the Italian f...

With increasing interconnectedness of the world, intensifying migration flows and the rise of the right-wing populism in many countries, the topic of intercultural relations has become more and more relevant. Cultural and linguistic diversity brings both opportunities and challenges by, on the one hand, enriching human communication and enhancing s...

This research examines the relationship of social capital with the acculturation attitudes and sociocultural adaptation of 122 migrants from Central Asian republics of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan) and 136 migrants from South Korea. The questionnaire included scales...

La compréhension et la gestion de la diversité culturelle grandissante découlant de l’immigration constituent désormais une question d’intérêt public majeure au Canada et dans d’autres pays de réinstallation d’immigrants. Un des aspects discutés est le niveau selon lequel les immigrants s’orientent à l’égard de la nouvelle société et selon leur cul...

This chapter presents a framework for understanding the concept of diversity as being inclusive of variations in culture, ethnicity, religion, age, gender and sexual orientation. It further underscores the relationship between diversity and opportunity for equitable participation, which is considered essential for societal development.

Piaget’s theory has been studied extensively in non-Western cultures during the past ten years; these data are extremely rich but heterogeneous and have been summarized elsewhere (Dasen, 1972a). Whenever Piagetian tests are applied in non-Western cultures, the same stages as those originally described by Piaget are found, but the rate of developmen...

We integrated models of discrimination of immigrants by combining established approaches to prejudice and discrimination towards immigrants (proximate explanations) using assumptions of Evolutionary-Coalitional Theory (ultimate explanations). Based on this perspective, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), social dominance orientation (SDO), and multi...

This book offers a comparative analysis of value and identity changes in several post-Soviet countries. In light of the tremendous economic, social and political changes in former communist states, the authors compare the values, attitudes and identities of different generations and cultural groups. Based on extensive empirical data, using quantita...

This study examines the acculturation, experiences of discrimination and wellbeing of a representative sample of over 3000 adult second generation of immigrants in Canada; 43% were born in Canada, while 57% immigrated before the age of 12 years. Four acculturation profiles were created using two sense of belonging questions: those who have strong s...

This study tests a model of the socio-economic adaptation (SEA) of Russian-speaking immigrants in Belgium. It examines the roles of language skills and length of stay in Belgium, and of ethnic and religious identification in their acculturation preferences in their adaptation. The study showed that language skills were positively related to prefere...

Winner of 2019 IAIR William B Gudykunst Outstanding Book Award

In culturally diverse societies, one of the biggest questions on our minds is 'how shall we all live together?' Mutual Intercultural Relations offers an answer to this fundamental and topical issue. By exploring intercultural relationships between dominant/national and non-dominant/ethnic populations in seventeen societies around the world, the aut...

Мультикультурная политика – один из немногих теоретически обоснованных способов управления этнокультурным разнообразием. В то же время в российском экспертном сообще- стве выражаются сомнения в целесообразности ее применения в России. Такие сомнения обо- сновываются трудностями, с которыми сталкиваются страны Европы в процессе адаптации мигрантов,...

This study examines the relative distribution of immigrants who have: strong sense of belonging to both Canada and the source country; strong sense of belonging to Canada only; strong sense of belonging to the source country only; and weak sense of belonging to Canada and the source country. It further examines four sets of determinants of these ac...

Cambridge Core - Cultural Psychology - Mutual Intercultural Relations - edited by John W. Berry

Much international research has examined the various ways in which immigrants engage both their new society and their heritage culture, and the relationship between these ways of engagement and their wellbeing. The present study examines these ways of engagement and this relationship in a representative sample of 7,000 immigrants to Canada. Immigra...

International research has mostly confirmed the positive association between acculturation strategies and resilience in ethnic groups, but the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying the relationships are still under-investigated. The present study aimed to investigate the associations between acculturation strategies (based on two cultural...

SPSS data file showing raw variables data and related information for the participants. (SAV)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse two features of multicultural societies: diversity and equity. The author argues that both these features are necessary for multicultural societies and their institutions to be successful. Diversity is understood to include variations in culture, ethnicity, religion, age, gender and sex...

Few studies examine intercultural relations in emerging adulthood. Framed from the perspective of the Mutual Intercultural Relations in Plural Societies (MIRIPS) project, the current paper examined the mediating role of tolerance and perceived consequences of immigration in the relationship between multicultural ideology and attitudes towards immig...

This study examines intercultural relations in post-Soviet Russia. Russia currently has the world’s second highest number of immigrants with most migrants coming from the former Soviet Union, mainly the Central Asian and South Caucasian states. The research was carried out in Moscow, which is the most attractive destination for these immigrants. Th...

Multiculturalism is an increasingly common characteristic of contemporary societies. In culturally diverse social contexts, virtually every person experiences intercultural contact on a daily basis. It is essential to understand that there must be both cultural diversity and equity in social participation for true multiculturalism to exist in these...

Canada has been a culturally plural society since before its formal establishment as a nation state in 1867. Indigenous Peoples settled over 10,000 years ago in diverse ecological zones, giving rise to distinct cultural zones that still persist. Around 500 years ago, Europeans arrived and settled, followed by Africans, Asians and South Americans. A...

The project Mutual Intercultural Research in Plural Societies was designed to examine three hypotheses of intercultural relations: the multiculturalism hypothesis, the integration hypothesis, and the contact hypothesis. These hypotheses were derived from the Canadian multiculturalism policy (Berry, 1984), and their validity has been assessed in a n...

In the 1970s, research on the relationships between cognition and culture was very active. While up till that time the focus had been primarily on very general issues (such as the mean intelligence of cultural populations or ethnocultural groups), research began to move away from such general issues in order to discern relationships between specifi...

Although integration involves a process of mutual accommodation, the role of majority groups is often downplayed to passive tolerance, leaving immigrants with the sole responsibility for active integration. However, we show that common group identity can actively involve majority members in this process across five studies. Study 1 showed that comm...

Purpose – Psychology, both as science and practice, has been largely developed in one cultural area of the world: Europe and North America. As a result, the discipline is culture-bound, limited in its origins, concepts, and empirical findings to only this small portion of the world. The discipline is also culture-blind, largely ignoring the influen...

Increasing transnationalism, globalisation and the changing composition of diverse societies highlight the need to consider multiple group perspectives on acculturation. This is particularly apparent in Australia, a settler society in which at least 25% of the population is born overseas and approximately 3% identify as Indigenous Australian. In th...

One result of the intake and settlement of migrants is the formation of culturally plural societies. In the contemporary world, all societies are now culturally plural, with many ethnocultural groups living in daily interaction. A second result is that intercultural relations become a focus of public and private concern, as the newcomers interact w...

The study of psychology has been largely developed in Europe and the United States. It thus has close ties to the cultural traditions of those particular societies. As a result, the discipline and practice of psychology are largely culture-bound, limited in its origins, concepts, and empirical findings to only this small portion of the world. The d...

Canada announced a policy of multiculturalism in 1971. The goal of the policy was to improve the quality of intercultural relations. Two main elements of the policy were proposed as steps towards achieving this goal: support for the maintenance and development of cultural communities (the cultural component); and promotion of intercultural contact...

One result of the intake and settlement of migrants and the presence of indigenous peoples is the formation of culturally plural societies. In these societies, the domain of intercultural relations is ripe for social psychological research. Such research can provide a knowledge basis for the development and implementation of policies and programmes...

One result of the intake and settlement of migrants and the presence of indigenous peoples is the formation of culturally plural societies. In these societies, the domain of intercultural relations is ripe for social psychological research. Such research can provide a knowledge basis for the development and implementation of policies and programmes...

Culture as a theoretical construct and an empirical variable evolved steadily in the history of psychology in Canada. This historical account is offered to record important contributions made by Canadian psychologists to the understanding of culture, both within the Canadian context, and internationally. The distinctive demographic, historical, pol...

La culture à titre de construit théorique et de variable empirique a évolué de façon constante au fil de l’histoire de la psychologie au Canada. Le présent compte-rendu historique veut consigner les importantes contributions de psychologues canadiens à la compréhension de la culture, tant dans un contexte national qu’international. Les contextes pa...

Psychology has a long history in only a few countries of the world. Initially developed in Europe and the United States, it necessarily has close ties to the cultural traditions of those particular societies. As a result, the discipline and practice of psychology are largely culture-bound, limited in its origins, concepts, and empirical findings to...

We received many proposals, and after a selection and review process, this special issue now contains five papers that address various psychological aspects of living in a number of multicultural societies in Europe. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)

Chinese migrant workers form a substantial body of people who move to large cities from rural areas to seek employment. As they settle into the large urban cities, these internal migrants experience challenges that are similar to those of international migrants, and of members of ethnic groups who engage in the process of acculturation. Many see th...

We tested group interventions for women with a Turkish migration background living in Austria and suffering from recurrent depression. Sixty-six participants were randomized to: (1) self-help groups (SHG), (2) cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) groups, or (3) a wait-list (WL) control condition. Neither SHG nor CBT were superior to WL. On an individua...

We tested group interventions for women with a Turkish migration background living in Austria and suffering from recurrent depression. N = 66 participants were randomized to: (1) Self-Help Groups (SHG), (2) Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) Groups, and (3) a Wait-List (WL) Control condition. Neither SHG nor CBT were superior to WL. On an individual...