John Berry’s research in cross-cultural strategies of acculturation earned him the 2012 CPA Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology.

John Berry (Psychology) was recently honoured with a major award from the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) for his internationally recognized research in cross-cultural psychology.

“The long-standing view up until the 1970s was that cross-cultural contact would always lead to homogeneity, to assimilation. Well, this obviously hasn’t happened,” says Dr. Berry, an emeritus professor in the Department of Psychology. “I’ve worked on describing alternatives to this process of homogenizing. There are many different ways individuals and groups acculturate, but it is good for people to maintain their own sense of cultural identity while participating in a new culture.”

Dr. Berry’s framework for acculturation strategies is one of the most commonly used in the field of cross-cultural psychology and multiculturalism studies. The framework maps different kinds of ties groups or individuals maintain with a cultural heritage, and degrees of engagement with new cultures. It also describes these processes in terms of both small ethnocultural groups and the larger societies in which they live.

“The International and Cross-Cultural (IIC) Section of the CPA has benefited enormously from Dr. Berry’s wide-ranging connections with scholars across Canada and internationally,” says Saba Safdar, past Chair of the IIC and associate professor of psychology at the University of Guelph. “He is also an inspiring and dedicated mentor of junior scholars. He dutifully attends the Student Symposia at the CPA and shows real interest in the new generation of cross-cultural researchers.”

Dr. Berry received the 2012 CPA Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology. The IIC Section of the CPA also created the John Berry Award for Best Student Presentation in honour of the Queen’s professor.