Emotional Acculturation: Emotions as a Pathway to Social Integration

This article reviews recent research that examines how emotional processes change in response to exposure to new cultures and how successful changes in emotional processes play crucial roles in immigration outcomes. Social-psychology research has shown that emotional fit (i.e., having the “right” emotions in a given social context) is a pathway to social integration. Combining these findings with research on the crucial role of culture in shaping emotional experiences, this article aims to advance understanding of psychological adaptation processes among immigrants, cultural minorities, and cultural majorities, focusing on how they develop new emotional patterns to become calibrated to their cultural surroundings, a process termed “emotional acculturation.” We also discuss the antecedents and consequences of adaptive emotional acculturation. We hope to generate interest in future research on acculturation that fully incorporates the cultural foundations of psychological processes.