Weekly Blog 10 – 4/8/18

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upon reviewing my first blog entry, I would say that I have met my expectations for this course. I have definitely learned a lot of information to explain the behaviors and cognition of people from different cultures. I would say that I am pretty open to other cultures even before this course, however this course made me more interested and it definitely gave light to cultural differences that were unclear to me. My attitude towards this course has never changed because I was interested and excited ever since. I would gladly take this course again; however, I think that it would be much better to take it in-person. In-person classes already have the advantage of interacting with people from different backgrounds.

 

Weekly Blog 9 – 3/25/18

The most interesting chapter for me was Chapter 6: Culture and Personality. As I was reading additional research from the book, I saw a section about Filipino Personality Structure. I was really surprising to have a major line of research about my ethnicity’s personality structure. I learned that they needed to add two more traits: tempermentalness and self-assurance, to the Five Factor Model in order to accurately rate their subjects. It was interesting to see that some factors unique to the Filipino cultures emerged: pagkamadaldal (roughly translates to being talkative), pagkamapagsapalaran (risk-taking), and religiosity. Those factors could predict behaviors such as smoking, drinking, and praying – most of these are beyond what the FFM could predict.

Second, Chapter 7: Culture and Gender taught me about cross-cultural differences in gender roles ideology and also gender norms. Blog 7 talked about the gender norms of fairy tales and how its evolving to being more inclusive to fit with the newer generations. It was interesting to learn that in 30 countries, they all displayed that women did a lot more house chores than men, just like in the fairy tales. I learned that division of labor was almost universal. Additionally, I also loved learning about masculinity and femininity. Journal 7 from Integrative Learning required me to take the Bem Sex Role Inventory to determine my gender schema classification. I loved comparing the differences in societies with higher and lower masculinity.

Finally, Chapter 9: Culture and Emotion piqued my interest on the universality of emotions. Sure, basic emotions are displayed almost similarly by all cultures due to evolution and survival. However, studies about self-conscious emotions found that these emotions are displayed differently across cultures. I discussed this more in-depth in Assignment 5. Moreover, Blog 8 discusses the differences in the expression of emotions between cultures, specifically Western Caucasians and Asians. I never really paid attention to these things; but after learning about it, it made me more aware and helped me understand people more.

 

Weekly Blog 8 – 3/18/18

When I’m talking to someone, I always look at their eyes. The eyes are where I can read and understand them fully. To me, it shows more emotions than the mouth or any other part of their face. When I read cross-cultural studies about emotion expression and perception, I learned that Asians tend to focus more on the eyes/nose part as opposed to Caucasians focusing on the eyebrows and mouth region.

When I came here to America, I saw that people tend to think someone’s happy just because they’re smiling. But to me, I would have to look at their eyes because the eyes actually express how they really feel. I also saw the difference between the use of emojis or emoticons. Growing up, I have always used emoticons such as >.<, ^_^ which focus more on the eye area. Before the invention of emojis (on cellphones), I saw that Americans tend to focus on the mouth part of the emoticon such as: :), :(, :'(. In the attached picture, the eyes of the Western Caucasian doesn’t really change through different emotions. Conversely, the East Asian had more changes in their eyes.

Weekly Blog 7 – 3/11/18

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most fairy tales were set in eras where females were not free to express themselves. In some of Disney’s fairy tales, the princesses were always expected to be saved by “ideal men” and are also expected to do the jobs and chores that women usually do. However, Disney has been making efforts to be more inclusive on the changing gender roles of today.

Stories like Cinderella and Snow White displayed traditional cultural norms on women staying at home and doing the chores. In the real Snow White story, she was only 14. Can you imagine being saved by a prince and getting married at this age? People from other cultures would not be surprised because it is part of their tradition to get married at an early age.

We can see this trend changing, however. In Disney’s Brave, the main character Merida was arranged to get married to a guy chosen by her parents. She decided to “shoot for her own hand” and proved that she will not get married to someone she doesn’t know. It is refreshing to see these kinds of changes in the traditional fairy tales because it shows that girls/women can choose to stand up for themselves and be successful.

 

Weekly Blog 5 – 2/25/18

(I am weird when I am comfortable with the people around me.)

 

 

Ten things to describe myself:

1. I am weird.
2. I am friendly.
3. I am awkward.
4. I am always anxious.
5. I am hard-working.
6. I am emotional.
7. I am family-oriented.
8. I am sensitive.
9. I am caring.
10. I am generous. 

I would say that numbers 1, 5 and 9 are within the independent construal of self. The rest are within the interdependent contrual of self because those traits are dependent on social context and relationships. Coming from a collectivist culture, it is not surprising that most of my traits are interdependent. I always act depending on other people’s feelings. I value belonging, obligations, relationships more than my own uniqueness and freedom. When I’m alone, I feel like I’m not myself because I am myself when I am surrounded by people I value. As someone who’s more interdependent, the proverb “No man is an island” speaks most to me.

Weekly Blog 4 – 2/18/18

Though I got an excellent grade, I wish I looked over the cognitive development stages again because that was the only mistake I had in the exam. I even had it on my list of topics to focus, however, I may have failed to look over it since it is a topic that came up in all of my classes this semester and I thought I knew it by heart. I wish I scheduled to study a week before the exam because I rushed to study five hours before the due date. Being able to go back and view the test questions again really help in clearing some topics that I struggle on.

 

Weekly Blog 3 – 2/11/18

NEO Personality Test

Neuroticism – 41	It is accurate that I scored very high on Neuroticism. I usually have anxiety and fear of failing and being alone. I have always had issues with myself especially in times where I feel like giving up and feeling worthless. I would say that this score is consistent to what my actual personality is.
Extraversion – 17	Next to Neuroticism, this one would be my second most accurate one. I am not a very social person and I would prefer to work by myself than in groups. Lacking extraversion makes it harder for me to open up to other people even my family and significant other. It always comes up as an issue simply because I just do not like talking to others about myself or what is going on in my life.
Openness – 37	I would say that I am pretty open to other people’s opinions and different cultures. I am an artist so this factor of personality helps with creativity. I am also easily influenced by others and their ideas in life.
Agreeableness – 26	Though I am not a very sociable person, I try my best to accept people for who they are and not judge them. People often trust me with their problems and they believe that they could open up to me and I would listen, which I would. I do believe that I show a lot of empathy so I would say that this is accurate.
Conscientiousness – 27	I am not a perfectionist but I am not a risk-taker either. My work doesn’t always have to be perfect but I try my best, like getting an A instead of an A-. I carefully plan my actions and decisions so that it will have a positive effect on my future. I don’t take spontaneous decisions that might hurt me or others around me. Additionally, when I have a goal in mind, I focus and strive to achieve that goal.

This photo is the most accurate description of me being an introvert.

Weekly Blog 2 – 2/4/18

PATIENCE the most important life value for me.

I never had patience growing up. Just like any other kid, I threw tantrums when I didn’t get what I want. I remember when my mother kept telling me to be patient but I never knew what it truly meant until I started facing life’s challenges. I learned to be patient when my dad petitioned me to immigrate in the United States. And from that day on, I have been waiting and being patient every step of the way. I try to be patient during the times when I have to stay all night to write my paper thinking to myself that I will walk the stage one day with my diploma. I learned that not everything has to be rushed. I learned that I don’t have to take 20 credits per semester just so I can finish my degree faster. Even though sometimes I feel like giving up on all of my classes and difficulties in life, I try to remember the patience that I have worked on for so long. I have come this far; why would I turn back now? Most of all, my patience comes from my family. The patience to pursue higher education comes from my goal to be a military psychologist to help people such as my dad who have faced mental issues in the military. The patience to keep going comes from my dream to petition my mother one day so we can be together here in the US.

It doesn’t matter how long it takes me to get there, what matters is I eventually will.

 

 

Weekly Blog 1  – 1/28/18

 

After reviewing the course objectives, I am hoping to learn more about other cultures since I am planning to be a military psychologist and I know that there’s great diversity in the military. I believe that knowing the importance of culture and understanding it will help me through my career and will definitely be beneficial. I also expect to do and study a lot of research for this course since I know that studying reliable research studies is a great way of gathering information and applying it in the real world. I hope to gain some knowledge about why people are insensitive toward other cultures and what I could do to help them be more open to others. I want to use the knowledge that I’ll get in this course and apply it in real life to make peoples lives better since I believe that when everyone accepts each other, life would be so much happier. In this class, I believe I could succeed by understanding all the lectures by heart and also being more open to new ideas and concepts since I know that there will be a lot of new things that I will learn.