Facilitating Psychological Growth through Multicultural Experience

Kaitlin McDaniel University of Missouri-Columbia

Introduction
Multicultural experiences
Previous research has examined the potential benefits of having greater multicultural experiences, or greater exposure to alternative cultures. Higher cognitive functioning, including cognitive flexibility to integrate alternative information or ideas into ones own (Tadmor & Tetlock, 2006), is said to be a byproduct of attaining exposure to dissimilar lifestyles. Researchers consider multicultural competence an important aspect for functioning in todays dynamic society.

Methods
Participants 32 age (M = 19.31; SD = 1.77) undergraduate psychology students Materials Several filler items were included to disguise the true purpose of the research study. Multicultural Exposure Scale. Multicultural experiences were determined by the Multicultural Exposure Scale (MES; Leung, 2010). The MES examined the participants background: percentage of time spent outside of their home state (0-100%), their parents nationality (U.S. born or not), and their languages spoken (language other than English). Participants listed their top five friends, restaurants, and musical groups then identified the perceived ethnicity of each item. The number of friends, cuisines, and musicians originating outside American mainstream culture were tallied and divided by five to produce a proportion ranging from 0 to 1. Participants were also asked to rate how frequently they are exposed to cultures outside of mainstream America on a 10 point likert-type scale (0=Never; 10=Very often). The overall multicultural exposure score was calculated by sum of the item percentages. Growth orientation. The 20-item Growth Motivation Index (GMI; Bauer et al.; = .73) was used to determine growth orientation. Items assessed experiential growth motivation (8 items), cognitive growth motivation (7 items), and non-growth motivation (5 items; reversecoded). Experiential growth items can include I try to form my personal goals in life around my deeper interests while cognitive growth can be represented I spend time thinking about how to deepen my interpersonal relationships.

Discussion
Multicultural components are becoming increasingly integrated into mainstream society. The amount of diversity varies throughout the nation, such as cities and rural areas. This study aimed to determine how people respond to the multicultural influences in their location. This studied found a positive correlation between multicultural experiences and growth motivation. This implies individuals inclined to actively pursue novel or alternative experiences also dedicate time to personal growth. Future research can be conducted to expand on the causal relationship between multicultural experiences and growth motivation; as well as the direction of influence between the two variables.

Growth Alignment Individuals have the capacity to expand their personal success by engaging in self-enriching activities such as learning and self-improvement. The desire to pursue these selfactualizers is known as growth motivation (Bauer et al. 2008). Growth motivation provides an individual with the potential to attain greater psychological and individual success.

References Bauer, J. J., Park. S. W., Kamide, H., Wayment, H. A., Arbuckle, N. B., Lauer, A., Perciful, M. S., & Schwab, J. R. (under review). Growth motivation: Wanting eudaimonic self-development. Bauer, J. J., Park, S. W., Wayment, H. A., Lauer, A., Perciful, M. S., Arbuckle, N. B., et al. (2008). Growth motivation for two paths of personality development, submitted for publication. Leung, Angela; Chi-yue, Chiu; Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology Vol 41, Sep/Nov, 2010. pp. 723-741. Multicultural Experience, Idea Receptiveness, and Creativity. Tadmor, C. T., & Tetlock, P. E. (2006). Biculturalism: A model of the effects of second-culture exposure on integrative complexity. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 37, 173-190.

Hypothesis: The hypothesis posited that because multicultural experiences facilitate greater acceptance of alternative lifestyles and integrating novel information increased multiculturalism would enhance growth oriented motivation.
Presented on Psychology Day to the department of Psychological Sciences, April 2012, Columbia, Missouri. For copies of this paper please contact: Kaitlin McDaniel, C/O Dr. Jamie Arndt, Department of Psychological Sciences, McAlester Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, Email: klmn87@mail.missouri.edu

Results
The MES scores (M = 1.53; SD = .83) were positively correlated with the GMI scale (M = 7.76; SD = .75), r = .38, p = .03 as illustrated