# Models of acculturation

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

The application of one or more acculturation models to explain the experience of immigrants, refugees or other people taking an extended stay in another culture.

## Learning objectives

- The application of one or more acculturation models to explain the experience of immigrants, refugees or other people taking an extended stay in another culture.

## How often is this tested?

Based on OwlsPrep's analysis of official CIE IB_PSYCH P1 past papers (2019–2025): **Models of acculturation** appears **15 times** in the last 7 years — **6.6%** of all P1 questions (15 of 228).

Most-tested forms: Essay: Discuss (22 marks) (7), SAQ: Describe (9 marks) (6), Essay: To what extent (22 marks) (2).

## Core concept

Acculturation is the psychological and cultural change that happens when people have extended contact with a culture other than their own — for example immigrants, refugees or long-stay students. Berry's model maps it with two questions: do you want to keep your heritage culture, and do you want to engage with the new one? The answers give four strategies — integration (both), assimilation (new only), separation (heritage only) and marginalisation (neither) — and the strategy adopted is linked to how much 'acculturative stress' a person experiences.

## 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' — taking on UK, US and South African influences through media rather than migration — splitting into distinct 'Westernised Multicultural' and 'Traditional' groups. — *Applies an acculturation model, with integration-like and separation-like patterns emerging, and extends it to cultural contact without physically moving.*

## Evaluation (AO3)

**Strength — organises a complex experience** — The two-question framework turns messy migration experiences into four clear, comparable strategies that help predict differences in well-being.

**Limitation — tidy categories, blurry reality** — People often sit between strategies or shift over time and context, so the four fixed boxes can oversimplify what is really a fluid, ongoing process.

## Scope

> **note**
>
> Change on contact with a new culture, and Berry's strategies, are the focus. Learning one's original culture is enculturation (SOC_6); the universalism/relativism and emic/etic debates around this topic are SOC_5/SOC_7.

## Common pitfalls

- **Wrong:** Acculturation is the same as enculturation, and 'assimilation' is just another word for acculturation.
  - Why it fails: A frequently penalised misconception in IB Psychology exams.
  - Correct: Acculturation is change after contact with a SECOND culture; enculturation is learning your FIRST culture. Assimilation is only ONE acculturation strategy (adopting the new culture and dropping the heritage one) — not the whole process.

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