Course Overview

To fulfill the diversity component of LeADERS, I took Cross-Cultural Psychology (PSYC 420) during the spring semester of 2021. My instructor was Professor Jennifer Muth and the teaching assistant was Laura Kenneally. The course also had an ePortfolio assistant, Savannah Speese.

Cross-Cultural Psychology examines the roles and impact of cultures on human behavior, development, and experiences. This course explores how cultures relate to cognition, emotion, gender, health, language, personality, social behavior, and psychological disorders. Cross-Cultural Psychology has three major types of assignments which are exams, essays, and an ePortfolio (eP). Some topics covered in the course include cross-cultural research methods; enculturation; culture and developmental processes; culture and gender; and culture and emotion.

My Work Samples

My favorite assignment of PSYC 420 is the ePortfolio. This portfolio had four essential sections which are: About Me, Assignment Takeaway, Weekly Blog, and Top Artifacts.

The About Me page contains information about myself such as background details, what my (then) goals were, what my major is, and my reason for taking PSYC 420.

The Assignment Takeaway page contains short synopses of my assignments. It covers what I learned from the assignment, the assignment’s connection to me, my application of the assignment, and my self-reflection. I also included pictures to correspond with my posts. This section of the eP correlates to the essays completed for the course. The posts also appears in reverse chronological order (from most current at the top to least current at the bottom).

The Weekly Blog page relates to various prompts given by the instructor. Each weekly blog post is unique. Pictures are also included and they correlate with each post. This section of the eP also appears in reverse chronological order.

The content on the Top Artifacts page relates to visual representation ideas given by the instructor. Each artifact is unique and chosen for a specific reason.

View my PSYC 420 eP using this link: https://sites.wp.odu.edu/graham-psyc420/

Reflection

Upon reflection, I really enjoyed this course experience. At times, it was challenging which only motivated me to excel. I loved this course as I expanded my knowledge on diversity by learning more about cultures and their impact. I applied the lessons from this course to both my personal and professional lives as I interact with people from various cultures. I also improved upon my skills in the following areas: planning, organizing, and prioritizing work; making decisions and problem solving obtaining and processing information; communicating verbally; demonstrating computer software proficiency; demonstrating technical knowledge, and influencing others.