A4AT

Assignment 4 focuses on different advertising images that portray women and men of different cultures. I then compared the similarities and differences between the cultures. The two cultures I chose were the North American culture and the Asian culture. I learned that it is difficult to find advertisements from other cultures. North America was easy for the simple fact that I see these ads every time I turn on the tv or step outside. However, when I did find ads from another culture they were similar to those in North American culture.

In our textbook the focal point of chapter 7 is gender. In some cultures, their cultural norm of gender roles is women cook, clean, and take care of the children while men are the providers, protector, and the ones with the jobs. Making it so that women have certain roles and men have certain roles that if reversed would seem abnormal to certain cultures. All of my advertisements used in assignment 4 had specific gender roles for women and men except for two. Ads for cars were made masculine when cars are for any gender.

One of the advertisements I used in my assignment was the Dove sensitive skin body wash. This commercial challenges the perception that women have to look a certain way or look perfect for them to be beautiful. It shows that beauty comes in all shapes, skin colors, and ages. I personally use Dove and it makes me feel amazing. I love the skin I’m in just like the woman in the video. The video doesn’t sexualize us but just shows our confidence and beauty.

This image is of Tia Norfleet who is a NASCAR driver. I chose this image because she challenges racial and gender stereotypes. It is rare to see a female race car driver let alone an African American one.

133786780575902.gif (1016×677) (therichest.com)

A3AT

Independent and interdependent self-construal both relate to the level at which individuals see themselves. Independent is one’s self-perception with no other influences. Interdependent is one’s perception of themselves with the relation or influence of a group. Assignment 3 took random views of myself and allowed me to determine if I was more independent or interdependent. Based on the assignment I have learned that I am more independent. Looking at some examples from my life I believe the assignment was accurate. In class chapter 6 introduces culture and personality. Someone’s personality is based on their characteristics, emotions, and behavior. For that reason, I believe determining if someone is independent or interdependent is based on parts of their personality. Most people do not realize they switch up the way they act around certain people and certain situations. This assignment made me aware of that. In my life, I’m either with friends/boyfriend, family, or coworkers and in each environment my view of myself is different. I found that around my family and coworkers I have an independent self-construal and around my friends, I have an interdependent self-construal. For example, when I’m with my boyfriend I’m more sensitive and nurturing than I would be with any other aspect of my life. I chose this image of a brain with gears because it represents the different components of a person’s life and how they work together. I view the gears as different aspects of a person’s life. For instance their emotions, actions, thoughts, and personality.

Brain-Gear.jpg (800×800) (ptpower.com)

A2AT

This assignment highlights values. Everyone has their own values however when asked what they are individuals seem to have trouble giving an answer. This is why L Robert Kohls made ” The Values Americans Live By”. I have learned that for the most part, the values depicted are basic but accurate to the average person. The values that I appreciated and resonated with me the most were privacy and individualism. I never knew that in some countries privacy is not even a word and in others, it has a different definition than what we go by in the United States. In weekly blog 3, we discussed life values that are beneficial to pursuing a career. I came up with many different values that are not on this list made by Kohls. However, just about every value by Kohls can be related to the workplace. For instance, the self-help concept is taking credit for only what you have accomplished. In the workplace, you may have a situation where you and a coworker are working together on a case. You only taking credit for the role that you played would be because of that self-help concept. Values are a representation of our lives. They make up parts of who you are and how you view certain things. For example the view of privacy. I think that other countries don’t understand the benefits that privacy may provide. I like my privacy and that does not mean that I am lonely or always isolated from others. Privacy in my life is relaxing. It helps my brain recharge and just allows me to think about anything I choose. If I was in another country with a different definition of privacy I think my mind would fall heavy. I made this image of a word cloud to be my representative visual image. It represents all the values Americans live by L Robert Kohls.

A1AT

Assignment one focused on intercultural sensitivity. I knew that there were different ways individuals interacted and understood others’ culture however I never knew they had names for them.  Assignment 1 taught me that acceptance of difference was the category or stage that was best suited for me. After reading all the stages of intercultural sensitivity I thought about another course I am taking which is African American Psychology.  From our introduction chapters, I believe they would be in the first stage which is denial. As for how this assignment personally relates to me that’s easy. My family is a mix of cultures. For example, my cousins are half Puerto Rican and half African American. Because of the stage I mostly relate to I am excited to learn about their culture and also more understanding of any similarities and differences we may have.

Intercultural Young Minds:

intercultural_communication.jpg (5760×3840) (globaledguide.org)

This image is a representation of different cultures. When individuals are young they do not see the differences in their culture. It shows the innocents in youth.