Changes in Perceptions of Filipino Immigrants about Themselves and of
Americans Before and After Coming to the United States
Abstract
This paper examines the changes in Filipino immigrants’ perceptions
about themselves and of Americans before and after coming to the United
States. Filipinos have a general perception of themselves as an ethnic
group. They also have perceptions about Americans whose media products
regularly reach the Philippines. Eleven Filipinos who have permanently
migrated to the US were interviewed about their perceptions of Filipinos
and Americans. Before coming to the US, they saw themselves as
hardworking, family-oriented, poor, shy, corrupt, proud, adaptable,
fatalistic, humble, adventurous, persevering, gossipmonger, and happy.
They described Americans as rich, arrogant, educated, workaholic, proud,
powerful, spoiled, helpful, boastful, materialistic, individualistic,
talented, domineering, friendly, accommodating, helpful, clean, and
kind. Most of the respondents changed their perceptions of Filipinos and
of Americans after coming to the US. They now view Filipinos as having
acquired American values or “Americanized.” On the other hand, they
stopped perceiving Americans as a homogenous group possessing the same
values after they got into direct contact with them. The findings
validate social perception and appraisal theory, and symbolic
interaction theory.