Medvetskaya Anna, Ryder Andrew G, Doucerain Marina M
Département de Psychologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC H3C 3P8, Canada.
Psychology Department, Concordia University, Montréal, QC H3G 1M8, Canada.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2025 Apr 9;15(4):498. doi: 10.3390/bs15040498.
In superdiverse societies like Canada, characterized by high levels of cultural and ethnic plurality, national identity boundaries are often blurry. While policies may officially promote inclusiveness, public discourse on national identity is frequently dominated by mainstream groups, whose willingness to expand these boundaries plays a crucial role in fostering minority inclusion. Despite the importance of inclusivity for social cohesion, little is known about what enables majority group members to adopt a more inclusive national identity. This study addresses this gap by exploring the role of cognitive flexibility in facilitating an acculturative shift toward inclusiveness. Using latent class regression analysis ( = 202), we identified two distinct national identity profiles: one more inclusive and the other more exclusive. We also examined how factors such as ethnic vs. civic views on national identity, acculturation orientations toward integration, and personal identification with traditional English Canadian vs. multicultural identity representation shape these profiles. Our findings revealed that higher cognitive flexibility was positively associated with the likelihood of belonging to the more inclusive profile. This study contributes to a limited body of work on majority group acculturation, offering insights into how cognitive flexibility may encourage a broader and more inclusive national identity. Implications for policy and social cohesion are discussed.
在像加拿大这样具有高度文化和种族多元性的超级多元化社会中，国家认同的界限往往模糊不清。虽然政策可能会正式促进包容性，但关于国家认同的公共话语往往由主流群体主导，而主流群体扩大这些界限的意愿对于促进少数群体的包容至关重要。尽管包容性对于社会凝聚力很重要，但对于促使多数群体成员采用更具包容性的国家认同的因素却知之甚少。本研究通过探讨认知灵活性在促进向包容性的文化适应转变中的作用来填补这一空白。使用潜在类别回归分析（n = 202），我们确定了两种不同的国家认同概况：一种更具包容性，另一种更具排他性。我们还研究了诸如对国家认同的族裔与公民观点、对融合的文化适应取向以及对传统英裔加拿大身份与多元文化身份代表的个人认同等因素如何塑造这些概况。我们的研究结果表明，较高的认知灵活性与属于更具包容性概况的可能性呈正相关。本研究为关于多数群体文化适应的有限研究做出了贡献，深入探讨了认知灵活性如何可能促进更广泛和更具包容性的国家认同。讨论了对政策和社会凝聚力的影响。
