This paper presents a multiscale nonlinear finite element simulation aimed at revealing the relationship between the macroscopic hysteresis response and the microscopic crystal morphology of polycrystalline ferroelectric materials. We utilized an incremental form of constitutive law to consider changes in material properties caused by domain switching, and employed the asymptotic homogenization theory based on the perturbation method for scale-bridging of the macro-and microstructures. The proposed multiscale simulation was applied to two different ferroelectric materials, viz., barium titanate and lead titanate, both of which have a perovskite-type tetragonal crystal structure. The correlation between the macroscopic response under an external electric load and the microstructural change in crystal orientations caused by 90 degrees and 180 degrees domain switching was investigated. We also discussed the influence of the initial crystal orientation distribution and the difference between the two ferroelectric materials. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.