# Acculturation strategies

> IB Psychology · IB Psychology 2027 First Assessment
> Source: https://www.owlsprep.com/study/ib-psychology-hr-acculturation-strategies/

Different acculturation strategies and their effect on human behaviour.

## Learning objectives

- Different acculturation strategies and their effect on human behaviour.

## Core concept

Acculturation is the psychological and behavioural change that happens when people from one culture have sustained contact with another. Berry's model describes four strategies, defined by whether a person keeps their heritage culture and whether they take on the new one: integration (both), assimilation (new only), separation (heritage only) and marginalisation (neither). Which strategy someone uses is linked to their identity, stress and behaviour. Modern media means this change can even happen 'remotely', without anyone migrating.

## Key studies

IB Psychology answers must be supported by named studies. Learn these to cite as evidence:

**Ferguson, Ferguson, and Ferguson (2015)** — Urban Zambian adolescents showed remote acculturation, adopting influences from several foreign cultures (UK, USA, South Africa) and splitting into distinct 'Westernized Multicultural Zambians' and 'Traditional Zambians' groups. — *Shows acculturation produces measurably different cultural-behavioural groups even without migration — media-driven 'remote' acculturation extends Berry's model.*

## Evaluation (AO3)

**Strength — explanatory and applied** — The model explains immigrant and refugee adjustment and links strategy to wellbeing (integration is generally associated with the best outcomes), and it extends to media-driven change (Ferguson).

**Limitation — measurement & oversimplification** — The four strategies are ideal types measured mostly by self-report, and the same person can use different strategies in different settings (e.g. heritage culture at home, new culture at school), so a single label oversimplifies.

## Scope

> **note**
>
> This card applies acculturation to human behaviour in the relationships context; the base acculturation models and the emic/etic machinery live in the Sociocultural approach (SOC_8, SOC_5/SOC_7). ⚠️ The vetted HR evidence base offers only Ferguson (remote acculturation) here — flagged for expert-brain backfill of a classic Berry-strategy × wellbeing study.

## Common pitfalls

- **Wrong:** Acculturation just means immigrants assimilating — becoming like the majority culture.
  - Why it fails: A frequently penalised misconception in IB Psychology exams.
  - Correct: Assimilation is only one of four strategies (with integration, separation, marginalisation); acculturation is two-way change, and it is different from enculturation (learning your own first culture).

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