MCAT® ExamPsychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of BehaviorHard
An immigrant family moves to a new country. They maintain their native language at home, celebrate their traditional holidays, and often cook traditional foods. However, they also learn the host country's language, send their children to local schools, and adopt some of the host country's social customs in public. This process of adapting to a new culture while maintaining aspects of one's original culture is best described as:
- AAcculturation
- BAssimilation
- CMulticulturalism
- DCultural relativism
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Acculturation
Acculturation is the process by which individuals or groups adopt elements of a new culture while retaining aspects of their original culture. The scenario precisely describes this dual process of adaptation and retention.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Assimilation is the process by which a minority group or culture comes to resemble a dominant group or assume the values, behaviors, and beliefs of another group, often losing their original cultural identity.
- C. Multiculturalism describes a society where multiple cultures coexist and are generally respected, but it's a societal characteristic, not an individual's process of cultural adaptation.
- D. Cultural relativism is the principle that an individual's beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individual's own culture, not a process of cultural change.
Acculturation
The process of cultural and psychological change that results from continuous firsthand contact between two or more distinct cultural groups.
- Involves adaptation to a new culture
- Original cultural identity is partially maintained
- Can occur at individual or group level
- Distinct from assimilation (where original culture is largely lost)
Memory trick: Acculturation accepts new while keeping old culture.