About the research

Cross-cultural or intercultural transition refers to a set of very concrete phenomena: how we feel, behave, and change when we find ourselves in a new cultural environment.
The mere fact of being “abroad” in a new cultural space implies that we have to decode signs we are not used to, continuously fine-tune our expected scenarios, our representations of the new place as we find our old expectations falsified. The notion of “culture shock” (Oberg 1955) summarizes the often dramatic effect of the experience. As a consequence, we automatically set in motion a series of psychological mechanisms to help us regain comfort, a feeling of security and good thoughts about ourselves. The main objective of the research is to explore what happens in such adjustment processes, what makes it difficult, and why some people have it easier than others.

Please click on "participation" (menu on lefit side) to find out how you can participate or check some background theories under "theory". You can also find some interesting reading recommendations under "bibliography"

Participation in the longitudinal study

The main question of the research concerns the dynamics of the changes resulting from adjustment. This implies that participants must be accompanied during several months to allow for the observation of the developments.
Due to the focus of the research, ideally the participants should:
- Plan to stay in Paris for a period of at least one year
- Join the research project prior to or shortly after their arrival to Paris and be available for two consecutive sessions about 3 and 6 months after their arrival to Paris.

The research is structured in 3 sessions, each taking approximately two hours.

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