Theories Of Blending Culture

Unit 13 Written Assignment Heine (2012) presents several theories concerning how people who have been exposed to multiple cultural views organize their experiences. One such theory, is referred to as blending. Blending is defined as “[t]he tendency for bicultural people to evince psychological tendencies in between those of their two cultures…” (Heine, 2012, p. 405). The theory of blending suggests that individuals develop feelings and thoughts that represent a merger between the characteristics of their heritage and host cultures. In Cultural Psychology, Heine (2012) also discusses the concept of frame-switching and priming. In comparison to blending, frame-switch suggests that people who have been exposed to multiple cultures switch …show more content…
409). This perspective implied that multicultural persons have the capacity to master their heritage and host cultures proficiently. Case in point, W.E.D Du Bois (1903/1989) asserted that African Americans frequently toggled between, “two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings, two warring ideals” (as cited in Heine, 2012, p. 409). Du Bois further noted that the differences between mainstream American cultural and that of urban African-American culture were so distinctly different that it required for African-Americans to learn and become skillful in the cultural norms of both settings in order to function in each context (Heine, 2012, pp. 409-410). In addition, multicultural persons are also observed enacting a process of code-switching. Code-switch is a phenomenon that individuals employ as the navigate multiple cultures and settings. As subset of switching between frames, code-switching revolves around, “the ways people need to act and present themselves to others in their respective cultures” (Heine, 2012, p. …show more content…
Heine (2012) suggests, “[i]f we use language as a proxy for culture, it becomes clear than the fame-switching hypothesis makes more sense than the blending hypothesis” (p. 409). In the United States for example, there are numerous amounts of people capable of switching between languages. Bilingual individuals often demonstrate the ability to speak a primary language fluently within the context of their heritage cultural while equally being able to speak the language of a host culture when necessary. Given the established ability of individuals to switch between languages, Heine (2012) contends that, “people can also frame switch between different cultures” (p.