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Very few studies have examined the influence of the acculturation strategies of an offender of foreign descent on the way a third party judges the personality and action of that offender. The aim of our study was thus to measure the effect of three variables (Seriousness of the harm suffered by the victim; Type of acculturation strategy of the offender; Level of Social Dominance Orientation [SDO]) of the person making the judgement) on the judgements and decisions made by a sample of students faced with a situation of physical aggression committed by a man of North African descent living in France. After reading a scenario describing a criminal act committed by a man of North African descent, who had or had not adopted French culture, 168 French students completed a judgement scale concerning the criminal act and the offender and an SDO scale. The results show that the crime was perceived as less serious when the perpetrator had adopted French culture than when he had not. The perpetrator was also judged less severely. Participants with higher levels of SDO advocated harsher punishment and attributed the crime to the offender's personality. We discuss these results and identify new avenues for research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analysed two fields of the sociocultural, acculturative orientation of North African immigrants in France. The first is Immersion within the Society of Origin (ISO), which has two facets: "Orientation towards Members of the Ingroup" (OMI) and "Orientation towards the culture of origin" (OCO). The second, "Immersion within the Host Society" (IHS) also comprises two facets: "Orientation towards People of French Origin" (OPFO) and "Orientation towards French Culture" (OFC). The aim was to analyse the relationship between these four facets of sociocultural acculturative orientations and various socio-demographic and psychosocial variables. Two-hundred-and-ten North African immigrants in France answered a questionnaire adapted from Stephenson's Multigroup Acculturation Scale (SMAS). Stepwise multiple regression analyses show that OMI is linked to the country of origin and cultural identity, and OCO to satisfaction with life, family situation, sex and cultural identity. OPFO is linked to participation in club activities, and OFC to work/student activity and family situation. These results illustrate the relevance and value of studying immigrants' sociocultural, acculturative orientation on the basis of ISO vs. IHS models, and in the fields of their social relations and their relationship with the culture. They highlight the importance of looking at acculturation as a composite process, the various facets of which are related to different variables that can therefore be regarded as relevant indicators of immigrants' intercultural adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]