A Theory of Proculturation

Vladimer Lado Gamsakhurdia is a professor of cultural psychology and psychological anthropology at the psychology department of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University and is interested in the cultural basis of human psychology. He explores the semiotic dynamics of proculturation, acculturation, selfhood, and identity-construction, humans' adaptation to immigration and multicultural societies. Previously he published the book: Semiotic Construction of the Self in Multicultural Societies: A Theory of Proculturation (2021). Lado Gamsakhurdia is an editorial board member of the Sage journal, 'Culture & Psychology' and Springer's 'Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science'. He is an associate editor of Springer journal "Trends in psychology". He has been a visiting scholar at the universities of Uppsala, Aalborg, Chicago, Luxembourg, Jacobs (Bremen), Iasi, Fribourg, and the University of Basque country. He was awarded the Georgian national "Dimitri Uznadze Award in Social Sciences" in 2019 and the "special prize for significant contribution in social sciences" by Georgian Shota Rustaveli National science foundation in 2021.

Chapter 1. Introduction - Towards a developmental and systemic understanding of intercultural mental dynamics.- Chapter 2. Considering the systemic and culturally sensitive model of the self-structure.- Chapter 3. Critical consideration of theoretical features of major bidimensional models of acculturation.- Chapter 4. Considering anthropsychological models of intercultural dynamics and cultural evolution.- Chapter 5. Semiotic dynamics of intercultural communication and its meaning for self-construction - theory of proculturation.- Chapter 6. General conclusions - considering developmental and constructive nature of proculturation - towards the phenomenon-focused methodology.