KADİR HAS UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY SEMINAR
Acculturation of Self-Construals and School Adjustment:
The Case of Interdependent Minority Students in Belgium
By
Canan Coşkan,University of Leuven
Monday, April 11th, 2016 @15:00, Fener Hall
Abstract
In my talk, I will summarize and discuss findings from 6 studies I conducted with Turkish, Belgian and Turkish-Belgian samples (1) to underline the importance of relational contexts in cultural self-construals (2) to show that self-construals are not isolated from the processes of acculturation and (3) to explore how minority students’ school adjustment can be promoted.Self-construals are shaped along cultural expectations and their psycho-social adaptation in a given culture. People from cultures of interdependence (vs. independence) define themselves as more related and less autonomous. Deriving from Autonomous-Related Self Theory (Kağıtçıbaşı, 2005) and relational selves (Chen, Boucher, & Tapias, 2006) my research differentiates between two relationship contexts (mother and teacher) along self-construals in Turkey and Belgium. What happens to cultural self-construals in the context of acculturation where the expectations from the mainstream and heritage cultures differ? How do acculturating Turkish minorities adjust in Belgium? In understanding this challenge, I adopt a cultural psychological approach to adjustment and I focus on how minority students’ school adjustment can be promoted. In discussing my set of findings, I suggest a relational approach to the study of selves and a cultural integration model of autonomy and relatedness in promoting Turkish minorities’ school adjustment in Belgium.
Bio. Canan Coşkan is a PhD candidate in social and cultural psychology at University of Leuven, in Belgium. Her PhD work entails investigating cultural as well as relational differences in situated self-construals, the acculturation of self of Turkish minority in Belgium, and the antecedents and consequences of acculturating selves for adjustment outcomes. She received her psychology major and sociology minor degrees (2008) as well as her MSc degree in social psychology (2010) from Middle East Technical University. Throughout her education, she conducted experimental research, took part in academia-private sector collaborative projects (in Meteksan and Coşkunöz) and an international research project (Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study). She aims to contribute to interdisciplinary frameworks which may better account for the interactions between micro- and macro-level factors by studying cultural differences in psychological processes and their implication on acculturation as well as self and social identity dynamics of intergroup conflict and discrimination. Canan has presented her work at various international conferences and symposiums.