Weekly Blog
Weekly Blog 5 | Self Construals
This week we were assigned to reflect on 10 “I am…” statements, then sort them into independent self construal or interdependent self construal.
A prominent and recurring concept throughout our text so far has been the perspective of collectivism vs. individualism. This was also explored in Assignment 2 with reflecting on distinct American values. I have not given this but shallow thought until reading the chapters in our text and reflecting in recent assignments.
Symbolic of resilience and adaptability.
Out of the 10 “I am…” questions I’ve categorized per characteristics in our text:
6 as independent and 4 as interdependent.
Based on the above, I identify more with the independent self construal.
Some proverbs/idioms I can think of:
Birds of a feather flock together
Interdependent
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree
Interdependent
Trust your gut
Independent
Early bird gets the worm
Independent
It was actually easier for me to think of the Interdependent category first despite identifying more within the independent self construal. I suppose this tendency is because I believe a balance of interdependence and independence is healthy–to know the role that one plays in the lives of others, to foster cooperation, empathy and acceptance, but to also know that your own well-being is your sole responsibility and not depend on others for things you should do yourself.
Drawing connections between Cognitive Psychology and Cross-Cultural Psychology: Our top down-processing influences our perception and interaction with the world so profoundly that it’s impossible to ignore the influence of the priming and conditioning one receives in their culture and at most basic level, household.
Further reflection: It’s becoming increasingly evident that it’s important to remember that how we, as Americans, perceive something doesn’t make it “right” or “better” just because that’s how we’ve been primed. With how we promote uniqueness, it can be easy to inflate one’s ego and feel vastly different from the rest of the world, but it’s incredibly crucial to keep the mind open to other perspectives because they’ve been primed just as we have.