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In the literature, several studies have shown that the perpetrator's ethnic origin and acculturation strategy are particularly influential extrajudicial factors, but authors have focused on highly stigmatized groups. The aim of this study was to examine how the participants' judgments were influenced by the acculturation strategy of a Vietnamese aggressor (member of a valued minority group in France), the consequences of the act for the victim, and their level of SDO. It was expected that assimilation, which reflects a strong similarity with the majority group, or separation, reflecting strong dissimilarity, would lead to negative judgments of the assault and its perpetrator and a harsher punishment. After reading a scenario describing a physical assault committed by a Vietnamese man, in which the perpetrator's acculturation strategy and the consequences of the act were manipulated, 196 French students completed a questionnaire. The results confirm our hypothesis. Moreover, they show that when there were serious consequences for the victim, the act was considered to be more serious if the offender had not adopted French culture. However, when the consequences were minor, the act was considered to be more serious and a harsher punishment was recommended if the offender had adopted French culture. We explain how acculturation strategy is an important factor when judging transgressions, and how being too similar or too different to the majority group can increase the perceived threat. The status of SDO is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

In the light of the French integration model, the present research was designed to examine the influence of host culture adoption and original culture conservation in the private sphere and the public sphere on the host population's judgments of migrants. Using the scenario method, in a pilot and a main studies (n=156) migrants' targets were portrayed as adopting the host culture or conserving the original one, depending on the private (at home) or public (at work) setting. Our results suggest that the host population's perceptions are influenced by the behaviors adopted by migrants in both the private and public spheres, and by the type of judgment being made, as the effects we found differed according to the dependent variable being examined (affective, normative, and perception of integration into French society). Finally, the main study reveals that threat significantly moderates host populations' perceptions. Three main contributions and one implication are discussed and perspectives for future researches are proposed. [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]