Page 105 - Handbooks of Applied Linguistics Communication Competence Language and Communication Problems Practical Solutions

Emotion and intercultural adjustment 83

a key to successful intercultural adjustment. Recent research has also demon-
strated that there are gender and ethnic group differences in emotion regulation,
that individual differences in it are related to regulation success, mood regu-
lation, coping styles and strategies, inauthenticity, interpersonal functioning,
and well-being (Gross and John 2003).
The key, therefore, to achieving successful intercultural adjustment is the
engagement of a personal growth process model where ways of thinking, person
perception, and worldview are constantly being updated by the new and exciting
cultural differences with which we engage in our everyday lives. The key to this
engagement is the ability to regulate our emotional reactions and the other com-
ponents of the psychological engine of adjustment. If we can do so, then the in-
creasing cultural diversity of the world is an exciting research laboratory where
we can constantly test our hypotheses, explore new hypotheses, throw out the-
ories of the world that do not work, and create theories that do. In this framework
the world is an exciting place to be and the challenge of cultural diversity and in-
tercultural episodes and conflicts is a stage for forging new relationships, new
ideas, and new people. It is the stage for intercultural success for those individ-
uals who can engage in the processes outlined above. For these individuals, life
is an enjoyable journey.

3. Empirical support for the growth model of intercultural
adjustment: the intercultural adjustment potential scale
(ICAPS)

3.1. Development and validation of the ICAPS
For years the field has struggled with the creation of valid and reliable individ-
ual difference measures that will predict intercultural adjustment. The identifi-
cation of several psychological variables as the keys to intercultural adjustment,
however, opens the door to such development. Because there was no measure
that could assess individual differences in the potential for intercultural adjust-
ment based on the psychological skills outlined above, we created one, resulting
in the development of the Intercultural Adjustment Potential Scale (ICAPS).
Our strategy was to embody the several factors previously suggested in a
pool of items and then to empirically test which had the strongest ability to pre-
dict intercultural adjustment, rather than to decide on an a priori basis which
items should be included. We thus examined item content from a number of
valid and reliable personality inventories assessing psychological constructs re-
lated to emotion regulation, critical thinking, openness and flexibility; we also
included other skills such as interpersonal security, emotional commitment to
traditional ways of thinking, tolerance of ambiguity, and empathy. We created