Implicit Biculturalism Theories: How Bicultural Individuals Perceive Others and Organize Their Own Cultures

Abstract

ABSTRACT Bicultural individuals who blend their two cultures and identities (i.e., subscribe to a mixed culture) may assume that other bicultural individuals blend their cultures and identities too. Here, we introduce the concept and assessment of implicit biculturalism theories: beliefs about how two cultures reside within one individual. We hypothesized that bicultural individuals would perceive and think about others’ biculturalism based on how they organize and structure their own two cultures and identities (i.e., cultural blendedness). Taking a person-specific (rather than variable-centered) approach, we examined the associations among variables within each of 54 Asian Americans who completed the Role Construct Repertory Test and subjected the data to multiple-group confirmatory components analysis, conducted for each participant. We found that bicultural identity and person perception are linked: Participants with higher levels of cultural blendedness expressed the implicit biculturalism theory that cultures are also blended for other people. This suggests that bicultural individuals engage in egocentric processes to perceive others and interpret their biculturalism. These findings may have implications for social interactions, such that implicit biculturalism theories may affect how perceivers act toward targets, the targets’ reciprocal perceptions of the perceivers, and their subsequent relationship.