Marina M. Doucerain

It is well established in social psychology that intergroup contact is beneficial to reduce intergroup bias. Based on this insight, a growing body of work has focused on correlates of people’s motivation to seek or avoid intergroup contact. The present study contributes to this literature by probing motivation for an ecologically valid and ideal form of intergroup contact: intercultural twinnings (structured exchange activities between people of diverse linguistic and ethnocultural backgrounds). We examined three facets of motivation (contact willingness; intrinsic motivation; and contact opt-in as a proxy for behavioral intent) and a range of well-established intergroup contact associates. We also tested the role of cultural congruity with the dominant society, inspired by push–pull theories of migration. Participants included 214 students in Québec, Canada. The results show that motivational profiles differed depending on motivation facets. Intergroup anxiety was negatively related to intrinsic motivation; desire for self-expansion was positively related to all three facets; ethnocentrism was negatively associated with our behavioral proxy. Cultural congruity was associated with all three facets through a suppression effect, such that greater perception of not fitting in Québec society was related to higher motivation indices once avoidance dispositions were taken into account. With prevalent intergroup tensions, better understanding how to “bring the horse to the contact water” is essential.

The health repercussions of intergroup bias on members of minoritized groups are massive. This scoping review examines the available peer-reviewed evidence on mindfulness as a moderator of associations between intergroup bias and psychological health indicators. Peer-reviewed studies of mindfulness moderating associations between intergroup bias and psychological health indicators through May 2024 were surveyed, with no limitations in terms of intergroup bias variety, study context, participants' characteristics, or date of publication. Sixteen articles were eligible and reviewed. Trait mindfulness moderated negative associations between intergroup bias and psychological health indicators in most studies reviewed, such that the associations are reduced or disappear at high, compared to low, levels of trait mindfulness. Important caveats of this protective role of mindfulness are discussed, such as the lack of diversity in mindfulness research and interventions, and the potentially silencing effect of mindfulness as construed in mainstream Western contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Acculturation, traditionally described as the adjustment to new cultural realities, faces major conceptual challenges in superdiverse societies where defining “heritage” and “mainstream” cultures is increasingly problematic. This study proposes expanding cultural identity frameworks to include belonging to one’s living place, emphasizing the ecological significance of place–people relationships in identity formation. We apply this approach to a highly diverse urban context, examining how individuals from both majority and minority backgrounds construct multicultural identities across local, regional, and national levels. A community sample (N = 276) completed measures of cultural identification, psychological flexibility, discrimination, and well-being. Latent class regression revealed four distinct identity profiles: High contextual identification, Low contextual identification, Quebec focus and Montreal focus. Contrary to expectations, the most prevalent profile reflected strong local attachment rather than robust endorsement of multiple cultural levels. Psychological flexibility predicted membership in the High contextual identification profile above and beyond well-being and ambient discrimination, while minority status and perceived discrimination were associated with locally focused profile. These findings underscore the importance of place identity and psychological flexibility in acculturation processes, offering a broader and more context-sensitive account of multicultural belonging in superdiverse societies.

In superdiverse societies like Canada, characterized by high levels of cultural and ethnic plurality, national identity boundaries are often blurry. While policies may officially promote inclusiveness, public discourse on national identity is frequently dominated by mainstream groups, whose willingness to expand these boundaries plays a crucial role in fostering minority inclusion. Despite the importance of inclusivity for social cohesion, little is known about what enables majority group members to adopt a more inclusive national identity. This study addresses this gap by exploring the role of cognitive flexibility in facilitating an acculturative shift toward inclusiveness. Using latent class regression analysis (N = 202), we identified two distinct national identity profiles: one more inclusive and the other more exclusive. We also examined how factors such as ethnic vs. civic views on national identity, acculturation orientations toward integration, and personal identification with traditional English Canadian vs. multicultural identity representation shape these profiles. Our findings revealed that higher cognitive flexibility was positively associated with the likelihood of belonging to the more inclusive profile. This study contributes to a limited body of work on majority group acculturation, offering insights into how cognitive flexibility may encourage a broader and more inclusive national identity. Implications for policy and social cohesion are discussed.

This work focuses on migrants’ ‘other‐cultures’ intergroup contact – contact with individuals belonging to neither their heritage ingroup nor the mainstream outgroup. We test the overarching hypothesis that other‐cultures contact is positively associated with mainstream acculturation, especially when contact in the mainstream group is scarce. Study 1 results show that frequent other‐cultures contact is positively associated with mainstream identification among Maghrebi migrants to Quebec. This effect is stronger for participants with infrequent, versus frequent, mainstream contact. In Study 2, conducted among Russian migrants to Canada, having more other‐cultures friends is positively related to mainstream acculturation only for participants with few mainstream friends. Further, the entry of other‐cultures friends into migrants’ network takes place later than heritage friends but earlier than mainstream friends. The current work expands the traditional mainstream–heritage acculturation framework by moving away from binary conceptualizations of intergroup relations and considering other‐cultures contact in superdiverse contexts.

Migrants and members of cultural minorities must negotiate their identification with multiple cultural groups. Many studies have investigated associations between general questionnaire–based cultural identity patterns and psychological adjustment. Research on situational cultural identity patterns—context-bound, momentary identification with a given cultural group—is scarcer. Furthermore, we know little about how variability in identification across contexts and situations may be associated with psychological adjustment. This study addresses these issues by (a) comparing the relative ability of general questionnaire–based and situational diary–based cultural identity patterns in statistically predicting psychological adjustment among Maghrebi migrants to Canada, and (b) introducing and testing cultural identity entropy, a novel approach to characterizing variability in a person’s multiple cultural identities during daily interactions. Drawing on concepts in thermodynamics and information theory, cultural identity entropy indexes greater balance in one’s multiple identifications during an interaction and reflects greater flexibility in cultural ways in that moment. Participants were 93 Maghrebi migrants to Canada who completed baseline questionnaires and daily diaries on situational identification during interactions for 7 days. Results show that situational diary–based cultural identity patterns accounted for substantial variance in psychological adjustment, above and beyond general questionnaire–based patterns, and that greater entropy in heritage cultural contexts was associated with greater psychological adjustment. These results underscore the importance of going beyond general characterizations of multicultural identity by investigating the shifting and contextual ways in which migrants mobilize and negotiate their cultural identities in daily life.

A focal point in the acculturation literature is the so-called “integration hypothesis,” whereby integration (high mainstream cultural engagement and heritage cultural maintenance) is associated with higher psychosocial adjustment, compared to other strategies. Yet, the vast majority of this literature is cross-sectional, raising questions about how best to understand associations between integration and adjustment. Does greater integration lead to greater psychosocial adjustment, as proposed by the integration hypothesis? Or is it the other way around, with more adjustment leading to greater integration, consistent with what we name the “mental resources hypothesis?” This study tests these 2 competing hypotheses in a 4-wave longitudinal study of 278 international students in their first weeks and months in Canada. The results replicate well-documented cross-sectional acculturation-adjustment associations. They also show that baseline adjustment is prospectively associated with later integration and mainstream acculturation, but not vice versa, supporting the mental resources hypothesis but not the integration hypothesis.