The top thing I have learned in this course is just how complex and carefully developed cross-cultural studies must be. Another of the most important things I learned was just how much my own cultural lense tends to distort my opinions and observations. Yet another was Self-determination theory. I noticed that my low conscientiousness score in the Big 5 Personality test is clearly reflected in the difficulty I had figuring out wordpress and my problems with formatting. I also was able to observe how gender stereotypes varried in their representations across cultures, specifically that masculinity was idealized more in American advertisements, while women were portrayed in a more idealized manner in Chinese advertisements. I also able to draw parallels between characteristics of Eastern cultures and Asian history, as I am also taking Interpreting the Asian Past. I find it especially interesting to see how Confucianism continues to resonate and affect the values of many Asian cultures, in spite of the fact that it has been denounced by the current government.