David Sam - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by David Sam

In many countries, individuals who have represented the majority group historically are decreasin... more In many countries, individuals who have represented the majority group historically are decreasing in relative size and/or perceiving that they have diminished status and power compared to those identifying as immigrants or members of ethnic minority groups. These developments raise several salient and timely issues including: (a) how majority-group members’ cultural orientations change as a consequence of increasing intercultural contact due to shifting demographics; (b) what individual, group, cultural and socio-structural processes shape these changes; and (c) the implications of majority-group members’ acculturation. Although research across several decades has examined the acculturation of individuals identifying as minority-group members, much less is known about how majority-group members acculturate in increasingly diverse societies. We present an overview of the state of the art in the emerging field of majority-group acculturation, identify what is known and needs to be kn...

Journal of Psychology in Africa, 2008

This paper examines whether previously suggested reasons for having children: economic, social an... more This paper examines whether previously suggested reasons for having children: economic, social and psychological values of child can be identified among a group of sub-Sahara women, and the extent to which a spiritual value of child can be identified on the basis of African's belief in ancestors and its influence on their daily lives. Two groups of Ghanaian mothers—270 women (mean age = 42.14 years) with adolescent-aged child and 264 mothers (mean age =31.41 years) with a young child—participated in the study. Exploratory factor analyses found mixed support for the existence of social and psychological values of child. Economic values of child could not be identified. However, spiritual values of child came out as a clear factor, and accounted for about 10% of the explained variance, albeit the explained valiance was less than that from social and psychological values of child. The implications of these for family planning in sub-Sahara Africa and for fighting HIV/AIDS are discussed.

Deviant Behavior, 2018

This study sought to establish the extent of cyberbullying among students in Ghana, its consequen... more This study sought to establish the extent of cyberbullying among students in Ghana, its consequences on the victims, and the characteristics of the victims. The study found that nearly all participants had experienced one form of cyberbullying before. Victims of cyberbullying were not very different from non-victims in psychological wellbeing. The effect of cyberbullying on psychological wellbeing was small, and no clear profile characterizing victims emerged. The present findings should be an eye-opener for Ghanaian parents, educators and health professionals and set the stage for further studies to understand the Ghanaian situation.

European Journal of Social Psychology, 2015

Public discourse often portrays Islam as the main obstacle for Muslim minorities' integration... more Public discourse often portrays Islam as the main obstacle for Muslim minorities' integration, paying little attention to the contextual factors hindering this process. Here, we focus on islamophobia as one destructive factor that hinders the mutual integration between Muslim minority and Western majority members, affecting both groups. In Study 1, the more islamophobic majority members were, the more they expected Muslims to give up their heritage culture and the less they wanted them to integrate. In Study 2, only when Muslims experienced substantial religious discrimination did religious identity negatively relate to national engagement and particularly positively relate to ethnic engagement. Together, the studies suggest that religious prejudice in the form of islamophobia is a major obstacle to Muslims' integration because it increases the incongruity between majority and minority members' acculturation attitudes.

Personality & social psychology bulletin, 2015

Although integration involves a process of mutual accommodation, the role of majority groups is o... more Although integration involves a process of mutual accommodation, the role of majority groups is often downplayed to passive tolerance, leaving immigrants with the sole responsibility for active integration. However, we show that common group identity can actively involve majority members in this process across five studies. Study 1 showed that common identity positively predicted support of integration efforts; Studies 2 and 3 extended these findings, showing that it also predicted real behavior such as monetary donations and volunteering. A decrease in modern racism mediated the relations across these studies, and Studies 4 and 5 further demonstrated that it indeed mediated these effects over and above acculturation expectations and color-blindness, which somewhat compromised integration efforts. Moreover, the last two studies also demonstrated that common, but not dual, groups motivated integration efforts. Common identity appears crucial for securing majorities' altruistic ef...

Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2010

In cross-cultural psychology, one of the major sources of the development and display of human be... more In cross-cultural psychology, one of the major sources of the development and display of human behavior is the contact between cultural populations. Such intercultural contact results in both cultural and psychological changes. At the cultural level, collective activities and social institutions become altered, and at the psychological level, there are changes in an individual’s daily behavioral repertoire and sometimes in experienced stress. The two most common research findings at the individual level are that there are large variations in how people acculturate and in how well they adapt to this process. Variations in ways of acculturating have become known by the terms integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization. Two variations in adaptation have been identified, involving psychological well-being and sociocultural competence. One important finding is that there are relationships between how individuals acculturate and how well they adapt: Often those who integrat...

Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2008

Correspondence in value orientation between parents and their offspring may be due to actual tran... more Correspondence in value orientation between parents and their offspring may be due to actual transmission processes between generations, but it may also be due to influences from the general value context in society that are common to parents and their offspring. This common value context is referred to as Zeitgeist. The present study deals with one family relationship value (i.e., parents' and adolescents' obligations toward the family). Participants were 1,252 immigrant and 726 national adolescent-parent dyads from 10 Western countries. There were significant relationships between the value placed on family obligations among parents and offspring, and these were independent of gender. Zeitgeist effects, both intergenerational and intragenerational, were found. The strength of these Zeitgeist effects depended on the basis for defining Zeitgeist, either a person's own ethnic group or the wider community including both nationals and immigrants. For explaining national adolescents' acceptance of their family obligations, both the ethnic and the national Zeitgeist played a role, whereas in the immigrant groups only the ethnic Zeitgeist played a significant role. In short, in an immigration context it makes sense to distinguish the influence of a person's own ethnic group from the influence of the wider community, including other ethnic groups. Explanations are suggested and implications are discussed.

Applied Psychology, 2006

Cet article présente plusieurs des principaux résultats d’une grande étude internationale sur l’a... more Cet article présente plusieurs des principaux résultats d’une grande étude internationale sur l’acculturation et l’adaptation de jeunes immigrés (âgés de 13 à 18 ans) qui se sont implantés dans treize pays (N = 5,366); il y est adjoint un échantillon de jeunes nationaux (N = 2,631). La recherche s’appuyait sur trois questions centrales: comment les jeunes migrants gèrent‐ils le processus d’acculturation? Comment parviennent‐ils à s’adapter? Et y a‐t‐il un lien manifeste entre la forme d’acculturation et le succès de l’adaptation? L’analyse en clusters déboucha sur quatre profils d’acculturation: intégrateur, ethnique, national et diffus. L’analyse factorielle de cinq variables d’adaptation mit en évidence deux types d’adaptation: psychologique et socioculturel. Il existe une forte relation entre la façon dont les jeunes s’acculturent et leur adaptation: ceux qui présentent un profil intégrateur bénéficient des meilleurs indicateurs d’adaptations psychologique et socioculturelle alor...

Applied Psychology, 2005

Cette recherche élargit à un contexte africain avec la problématique suivante les études en cours... more Cette recherche élargit à un contexte africain avec la problématique suivante les études en cours sur les relations entre les générations et les valeurs attribuées aux enfants: dans quelle mesure la structure des valeurs projetées sur les enfants (VOC) repérée dans des études antérieures peut-elle être retrouvée en Afrique du Sud et quelles sont les préférences des femmes concernant la taille des familles petite, nombreuse et idéale. L'échantillon était constitué de trois cohortes de femmes noires sud-africaines originaires de la province de Limpopo. Des analyses factorielles ont montré que les dimensions de la VOC apparue en Afrique du Sud étaient un agrégat de différentes valeurs. Ont été isolées comme dimensions relatives au désir d'enfants Social/Emotionnel et Traditionnel / Utilitaire. Pour ce qui est des motifs expliquant le choix de ne pas avoir d'enfants sont apparus Ӷ l'enfant comme source de contraintes ӷ et Ӷ les contraintes que constitue le fait d'avoir un enfant ӷ. Les comparaisons entre les générations montrent des variations dans l'importance des dimensions des valeurs accordées aux enfants et dans les préférences concernant la taille de la famille. Les valeurs dont les enfants sont porteurs pour les jeunes

Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Computer Science and Intelligent Control

The advancement of computer architecture systems has led to the massive need for memory. The need... more The advancement of computer architecture systems has led to the massive need for memory. The need to sustain such leaps has required the examination of solutions for the design space exploration of memory. From design space exploration and its relevance to the fundamental makeup of cache memory, there are some possible solutions to the problem of needing more and faster memory sooner than later. Design Space Exploration techniques Simulation, Analytical, Configurable and Evolutionary all provide different advantages and definitely enhance the cache memory design. However, each has its drawbacks that should be considered depending on the intent of its application. This paper presents an overview of the different techniques and evaluates their effectiveness with regard to their advantages and disadvantages. A suggested best solution could be a hybrid that allowed the different techniques to compensate for the other's deficiencies.