Immigrants in an Unfamiliar Environment: Locational Decision-Making under Constrained Circumstances

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A major reason for the lack of an adequate theoretical base underlying research into migration is because many studies to date have neglected the behavioural aspects of the decision-making process. This study of a group of intra-urban migrant households in an unfamiliar environment examines the effect of selected variables on the learning process and formation of an individual's cognitive representation, and the way in which spatial biases in the overt patterns of behaviour are manifested as a function of this intervening behavioural process. The results from the study clearly demonstrate that initial location in a previously unknown urban environment, length of time for learning to take place, and ethnic status are factors which influence the formation of an individual's cognitive frame of reference, and are reflected in overt patterns of relocation behaviour in space. These findings support the proposition that an adequate explanation of the migration process and patterns of behaviour in space will eventuate only when the role of behavioral considerations in the human decision-making process are more clearly defined and understood.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: