One Individual, two identities: Frame switching among biculturals

One Individual, two identities: Frame switching among biculturals
Lune et al. 2008
Bicultural bilinguals (henceforth called “biculturals”) are those individuals who have internalized two cultures and who speak the languages associated with each of those cultures. often report feeling “like a different person” when they speak different languages biculturals may have distinct cognitive frameworks associated with each of their cultures and languages and that those mental frames may consist of different repertoires of values and behaviors as well as separate worldviews and identities
That is, bicultural individuals with extensive experience in two cultures seem to access different culture-specific cognitive structures, or mental frames, depending on the socio-cultural context switch between culture-specific mental frameworks as“frame switching”  can result in shifts of sense of self and has been shown to be moderated by individual differences here we validate a theory-based psycholinguistic framework.
We explain how language can be a cue that activates different culture-specific frames. Each culture has its own frames, which are learned and used in conjunction with that culture’s language
Words in different languages might be the exact translations of each other are likely to have different sets of culture-specific conceptual associations, reflecting the differences in cultural frame content.
We use this framework to explain why biculturals experience frame switching but monocultural bilinguals do not

Biculturalism

Def. Culture: We define culture as the beliefs, values, and norms of a specific sociocultural group
Def. Biculturalism: Are those individuals who have internalized two cultures. Accordingly, both of those cultures guide biculturals’ thoughts, feelings, and behaviour.
Def. Bilingualism: Is the ability to communicate relatively well—including the ability to speak, understand, read, and write—in two different languages. Bilingualism is an essential property of being bicultural.
Def. Monoculturalism: Monocultural bilinguals are those individuals who never internalized the native culture of their second language. Typically, they learned their second language in a classroom environment, without significant exposure to the language’s cultural context.

2 Key differences between MC and BL:
a) compared to biculturals (e.g., Mexican American biculturals), the knowledge that monoculturals (e.g., Anglo Americans who have never been fully immersed in a Mexican environment) have of the other culture (i.e., the Mexican culture) is not linked to self-relevant identity constructs.  their knowledge of the other culture, does not affect how they view themselves.
b) - biculturals and monoculturals differ in the level of complexity of their knowledge about the two cultures in question
- biculturals have richer, more complex knowledge about what it means to be a member of each of the two cultures. Biculturals have two distinct and complete sets of knowledge structures, one for each culture.
- Monoculturals have only one set of such structures, for their own culture, and then have second-hand knowledge about the other culture.
Def. Mental frame:
- understood to be “an interpretation which is frequent, well organized, memorable, which can be made from minimal cues, contains one or more prototypic instantiations, and is resistant to change”
- are largely transparent to and implicit for the individual, become mediating devices that organize and manage the comprehension of abstract processes
-The content of culture can be seen as a collection of mental frames that are internalized through individuals’ socialization and participation in a cultural group
- two categories of mental frames: the identity-related (or self-relevant) frame and the situational-based frame
- Identity-related mental models represent core constructs of self that have been shown to change only gradually across time and even more slowly across context; thus, they are stable across situations for members of a given culture
- Situational-based mental frames include mental frames elicited by situation-specific environmental inputs and feedbacks