Blog 10

My initial expectations for this course were to learn a lot about culture and how it affects people and community. I have actually achieved this exceeded my initial course expectations. I have learned not only about American cultures, but I have also learned different cultures from this course. Before taking this course, I did not know much about cross-cultural psychology, but I have really enjoyed this course and would recommend to others. My attitudes and thoughts about this course have been shifted greatly in positive way.

I have grown a lot academically after taking this course. The course provided the opportunity to explore other cultures and apply concepts learned into practice. A skill that I have learned from this course that is very relevant in my professional life is time management. The content of the course was spread to cover the curation of the semester. I learned to manage my time to meet deadlines in this course and I believe this is a skill that I will keep and use in my professional life.

Blog 9

I have learned a lot from this course and I have enjoyed this course. I have had the opportunity to discuss and share my views on the topics learned in this course on the e-Portfolio platform. The top three things that I have learned so far in this course are the NEO personality test (the 5 dimensions of personality), the emotional perception across cultures, and culture and personality (self-determination theory).

The emotional perception across cultures is one of the concepts that I discussed in one of my weekly posts and this concept can be related to the assignment two in this course which was about cultural values. In assignment two, I was provided a PDF copy of Robert Kohls article in which he summarized 13 values of Americans. I identified one of these values that I associate with the most. With assignment two, I had to notice how people react to situations based on their cultural values. I am relating these two concepts because they both emphasize on the values of culture.

The NEO personality test is a concept in this course that I can relate to the five core dimensions of personality I learned in my organizational psychology class. In Cross-Cultural Psychology, the NEO personality test is discussed in terms of how one relates to a core dimension of personality and in organizational psychology, the core dimension is discussed in terms of how the core dimensions predict an individual’s behavior at work.

I chose this image because it is about values which is a core concept in culture and in this course.

Blog 8

An occasion in which I noticed how people from different cultures express themselves was at work when we had our annual flu shots. I work with people from numerous backgrounds and different cultures. During the event, I noticed that most Americans were very vocal about their dislike of injection. People from other cultures did not express their emotions or feelings about the injection as much as the Americans did. I expected the Americans to behave the way they did because they are encouraged to express themselves, to be free and heard in their culture. I did not know what to expect from the people from other cultural backgrounds, but I was not surprised they way they behaved. I believed they also reacted in a manner that was appropriate in the culture in a social setting.  

A similar emotional expression that I noticed and believe it is a universal emotional expression was the faces we all made as we got injected. We all made faces expressing the pain that we felt as the needle went through our arms.

I chose this image because it depicts emotional perception across cultures. The image shows some facial expressions from people from various cultures. A facial expression that is described to be sad could be described as sorrow in another culture.

Blog 7

I believe that fairy tales share cultural set of values and norms. The main characters in fairy tales are portrayed to either live a normal life or go through some life tragedies which are similar to reality. For instance, in Cinderella, the main character struggled before finding love which is very similar to finding love in real life. Characters in fairy tales follow set of values and norms especially in the heroic fairy tales.

Fairy tales have more positive potential impacts than negative impacts on young audiences in my opinion. Main characters in fairy tales normally show good characters such as courage, kindness, love, and peace towards others. Young audiences turn to practice these characters in real life which can have positive impacts on them. For example, in Disney’s fairy tale frozen, the main character showed bravely, kindness, and love to her sister which when emulated by young audiences can have positive impacts on them.

A fairy tale movie that I identify with the main character and has positively influenced me is Shrek. An example of why I identify with the main character is the fearlessness, kindness, and determination of the main character. I was influenced by the main characters because, in spite of his weakness, he was determined to accomplish his assignment in the movie which he did. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. I was influenced by this movie not to dwell on my weakness but on my strength.

I selected this image because it represents inclusiveness. The image represents people from various cultural backgrounds working hand in hand with one another.

Blog 6

I take control of my own academic success and I owe myself responsible for all my academic decisions and outcomes. This is the way that I satisfy my autonomy academic needs. I do not blame my instructors for my failure. When I get a bad grade, I learn from it and rectify the mistakes that I made in other not to repeat it in another class. A way that I satisfy my competence need academically is by taking courses that I believe I can and will pass when I study for it. There are so many majors and courses to take at school. I researched into the majors and courses that I found very interesting. Upon the outcome of my research, I found out what interested me the most and the one that I was much confident to succeed in. There are so many ways that I satisfy my academic relatedness needs. One of these ways is registering for classes that I relate to the topics discussed in that class. I have the privileges of choosing my own classes to satisfy my general education requirements. I take classes that I have general knowledge about and the classes that I can relate some of my experiences to.

I chose this image because it shows a student registering for class. Registering for classes of my own choice encapsulates how I satisfy my competence needs academically.

Blog 5

Based on my statements, I am open minded, generous, reserved, confident, courageous, fearless, hard worker, goal oriented, caring, and sincere. Out of these ten statements, I believe confident, reserved, courageous, fearless, caring, and sincere are associated with the dimension of independent construal of self. I believe so because, these are attributes that define who I am and what I strive to be. Open minded, hard worker, goal oriented, and generous are associated with the dimension of interdependent construal of self. I believe this is true because, I acquired these attributes from my culture. I need to have these attitudes and mindset to live up to my cultural expectations. Based on my statements, I believe that I am more independent than interdependent. I identify myself with most of the attributes that I associated with the dimensions of independent construal self than those that I associated with the interdependent construal of self.

The proverb that reflects independent self was easier for me to think of than the proverb that reflects Interdependent self. This is because, I hear this because I hear this proverb often. Influential people in my life such my parents and teachers always advise me to be myself and not be scared to be unique.

I chose this Image because, it is related to this blog. This is how I always refer to myself when I am describing myself.

Blog 3

I had a score of 44 on the openness dimension. My personality fits this dimension because I am able to adapt and open to new experiences. For example, I am open to new ideas and projects at work. I am not scared of making changes in my life. I had a score of 50 on conscientiousness. An example of why this dimension fits my personality is that I am always on time and like to stay organized. I had a score of 24 on extraversion. This dimension does not fit my personality. I like to be on my own and socialize less. For instance, I will rather stay home and watch a movie than to go out with friends. I had a score of 50 on agreeableness. This dimension also fits my personality. I abide by rules and regulations. For example, I will follow rules rather than to take short cuts to complete a task. I had a score of 50 on emotional stability/neuroticism. This dimension fits my personality because I have the ability to control my emotions. For example, When I am upset, I take time to calm myself down and not react based on my feelings

I chose to use these images because they are my results from taking the core five personality dimensions assessment.

Blog 2

I live by many life values but the three most important life values to me and to my career pursuit are courage, determination, and patient. I believe that a person can achieve everything if that person is determined enough, courageous to take chances, and patient to make the right choices at the right time. The biggest experience in my life that made this possible for me is when I moved to the U.S.A to study. I had to be courageous and patient especially at school since everything was new to me. I am determined to achieve my educational goals no matter how tedious the process is. I decided to continue higher education for a better chance at being successful in life. There are so many paths to become successful in life but for me, I chose higher education. My parents and peers always encouraged me to stay focus on my dreams, and most of my teachers presented me with career opportunities that are available for graduate students. All these people play important roles in my higher education and career pursuit.

I chose this image because it is the first school that I attended when I moved to the U.S,A. This is where I discovered my career path and the relevant life values necessary for my educational success.

Blog 1

After reviewing the course objectives, the objectives of this course will help me in the future in many ways. One way that this course will be helpful to me in the future is that, it will help me understand and know the importance of cultural diversity. Knowing about cultural diversity will help me in the future to communicate and connect to people from different cultures. I will also learn how culture affects human lives. This course will help me to understand people from other cultures and appreciate their ways of life in the future. Another way that this course will be helpful to me in the future is that, it will help me in developing critical thinking skills and apply them to psychological theory and research that examine the influence of culture.

My expectations for this course is to learn as much as possible about culture and how it affects people and the community. I hope to gain a lot of cultural understanding and perspectives. I intend to practice the materials learned in this class in life. To be successful in this course, I also intend to study hard, do all my assignments on time and read the text book.

I selected this Image because it virtually represents cultural diversity. The image shows different cultural attributes such as race and clothing styles. Cultural diversity is one of this course objectives and this image shows a diverse group of people.