Understanding the divergent effects of multicultural exposure

Cultures, as shared meaning systems, facilitate coordination and provide members within a given society with a sense of epistemic security. They enable us to comprehend our social and physical environment. As globalization draws people with diverse cultural meaning systems together, some individuals open their minds to embrace diversity while others turn their backs on it. In this review, we present the divergent effects that multicultural exposure has on individual psychology and discuss their implications on intercultural relations. On the one hand, multicultural exposure equips individuals with diverse perspectives, enhances their creativity, and reduces their biases toward the different others. On the other hand, it results in more rigid thinking style and more intergroup biases. After examining the divergent effects of multicultural exposure, this review explores the boundary conditions that influence the outcomes of multicultural exposure and discusses future directions.