Blog 10:

After reading my first blog, I feel as though I have accomplished a lot of the course objectives. The course objectives that stood out to me the most in the beginning of the semester were: “understand cultural diversity and the impact of culture on human life”, “develop a greater understanding of people from other cultures and skills for successfully interacting with them”, and “be able to make connections, or integrate learning, between courses and to outside experiences”. I feel as though I have definitely learned a great deal about culture and how it relates to psychology. Culture is something that everyone experiences. Learning and respecting the meaning of culture is very important and this course has taught me that. As far as integrating the information I have learned, I feel as though this will prove to be beneficial. I will be able to draw conclusions and connect the learned information to real life situations. This will greatly help me with my psychology career.

I would not say that my attitudes for social psychology have changed drastically throughout the course. If anything, the attitudes I had when beginning the course have amplified. I have a greater understanding as well as appreciation for social psychology. If I were to retake this class again, I would spend more time reflecting on the readings. The textbook provided a lot of interesting and useful knowledge. Rather than focusing on the assignments as related to the readings, I wish I spent more time actually taking in what I was reading. As far as a way that I have grown academically, I would say that my time management skills have improved. Being that this is an online course, one has to be extremely diligent on timing. I feel as though my time management skills have gotten better and that has contributed to my success in this course.

Blog 9:

Although there were a lot of different things that I have learned from my e-Portfolio, there are definitely a few things that stand out. For one, I have learned a lot about myself. The blog posts help me to reflect on myself. For example, from the multiple blog assignments I have learned about my passions (blog 2), my personality (blog 3), and even my best study habits (blog 4). Taking the time to think and write out these blogs provides me time to think and reflect on myself. I have a greater understanding of why I am the way I am, and how I function. As cheesy as that sounds, I truly have learned more about myself. The world is so fast-paced sometimes, and I often don’t have the time to stop and think. These blog posts give me that time and outlet to do that.

Another thing that I have learned as a result of the e-portfolio is a greater understanding of culture. Being able to research and analyze the differences in multiple cultures has caused me to have a better understanding of the world. The e-portfolio has allowed me to look at and learn about specific things relating to culture that I otherwise wouldn’t think to know or learn. I also have learned how to draw conclusions and make connections. In a weird way, all of these different assignments interconnect. For example, Blog 8 relates to that of Assignment 2. They both have the connection of emotion and expression. There are little ties throughout all of the assignments that contribute to this course as a whole. Everything intertwines. It is also interesting to see how this course applies to other courses that I have taken in the past. For example, my women literature class has a lot of ties to information presented in this course. Equality was a big topic in my women literature class, and it is also an underlying value in this course as well. It is very interesting to see how everything is tied together to make up one world and society.

Blog 8:

People from different cultures express themselves in many different ways. I have noticed that Americans tend to use the tone of their voice to express their emotion. For example, when someone is really happy, their tone of voice seems to rise. When someone is sad, their tone of voice changes to being quieter. There are other cultures present that don’t have that same manner. For example, Asians don’t tend to drastically change their tone of voice. They often use their eyes as a way of expressing emotion. In my experience, other cultures tend to behave differently than what I would expect them to. Although we share a lot of the same characteristics with other cultures, there definitely are some major differences. For example, Italians are often loud and use their hands to communicate and express emotion. That is something that not all cultures possess. I definitely think that the concept of universality and cultural display rules help explain some of my experiences. Being that there are culture norms, there is just a certain way some cultures display emotion. In a sense, it is like genetics and heredity.

Blog 7:

Do fairy tales reflect “a shared set of cultural norms and values”? I think it depends on how you portray the fairy tales. I do think that a lot of the fairy tells represent an old traditional outlook. Most fairy tales include prince charming coming and saving the princess. I do feel as though that concept is very sexist. Who’s to say that the princess can’t save the prince? However, with that being said, there have been more movies and fairytales nowadays that do have more egalitarian roles. Movies like that of Tangled, Brave, Frozen, and The Princess and the Frog, don’t exactly demonstrate the traditional outlook that a lot of fairytales have. In these movies, there are strong female leads. I think that having movies that reflect on the main character modeling more egalitarian roles would be extremely beneficial for younger audiences. I feel as though equality needs to be better broadcasted and what better way than in a movie. If children are influenced to believe that the man/prince is always expected to take care of and provide for the girl/princess, then that is setting up an unrealistic expectation. The princess is just as capable as the prince and vice-versa. For example, the movie Tangled provides a more egalitarian view. Rapunzel is determined to get out and experience the world for herself. She is an independent woman doing what she wants to do for herself. I found that I could very much relate to Rapunzel. I was always taught to be independent and to not rely on anyone. I chose to get an education so that I could provide for myself. I don’t need anyone else’s support but my own. I feel as though Rapunzel has those same qualities and effectively demonstrates those to the audience.

Blog 6:

Autonomy, competence, and relatedness are all characteristics that make up the Self-Determination Theory (SDT). This theory is about how people across all cultures share basic psychological needs. With this being said, the specific ways in which these needs are met differ from culture to culture. I personally have different characteristics that satisfy the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness academically. In regard to autonomy, this is similar to the need of feeling in control of your own behaviors. An example of this for me personally would be my food diet. I am currently making sure that I eat extremely healthy. Being that my diet is something that I can control, I am relating to autonomy. I feel in control of what I am putting into my body and it provides me with a sense of comfort. For competence, this is similar to the need of mastering different tasks and skills. An example of this in my personal life is my study habits. I feel as though I have mastered the way to study. This is something that helps me both academically as well as socially. This skill provides me with success when it comes to my schooling. The last one, relatedness, exhibits the need to care about and be cared about by others. This relates to my academics. I greatly care about my academics and this is a need that I experience. There is an expected standard that I hold myself to academically. Relatedness advertises the need of success that I experience in regard to school.

Blog 5:

I would agree that most of my statements align with the dimension of independent construal of self. All of the ten statements correlate with my individual personality as well as values. The individual statements are not solely focused on the type of person I am compared to other individuals, so that applies to the statements associated with the dimension of interdependent construal of self. I don’t feel as though they compare. When speaking on whether I am interdependent or independent, I feel as though I am more independent. I have been raised to provide for myself and not rely on others.

Some of the English proverbs that reflect independent are “if you want something done right, do it yourself”. As for interdependent proverbs, one would be, “it takes two flints to make a fire”. The proverb that was easiest to come up with was the independent one. I think the reason as to why is due to being raised independent. I was raised by a single mother who had very independent tendencies.

Blog 4:

I am very happy with the results of Exam 1. I felt very prepared for the exam and the study tips greatly helped me to be more prepared for the first exam. There were two questions that I answered incorrectly. After using my notes and textbook to find the correct answers, I now have an even better understanding of the material pertaining to those questions. I found that my study notes as well as the review sheet contributed to my success on the exam.

The week leading up to the exam period was filled with a lot of studying. Each day I took a few pages of the textbook to review. I would also do the same for the review sheet. One thing that I think really helped me was taking the important topics of each chapter and making sure I knew them. I would flip back to the first page of each chapter to review the chapter contents. I felt as though using those pages as a review really prepared me for the exam. I found this to be very helpful because it prepared me slowly. I didn’t cram for the test which allowed me to actually learn and retain the information. I found this way of studying to greatly help me. As for the questions I missed, I now know that I will never miss those questions again. Looking up the answers to those questions provided me with better knowledge on those subjects. I do think that due to the success of my studying, I will continue to use those studying methods in the future.

Blog 3:

The NEO personality test was a fun test to do. It was neat to figure out your own 5 dimensions of personality. For me personally, my 5 major dimensions of personality “stacked up” on how I thought they would. For the first dimension, Neuroticism, I was average. I am normally calm and able to deal with stress, but sometimes experience feelings of guilt, anger, or sadness. I find this to be very accurate. I am normally able to deal with stress, but sometimes I do reach a breaking point and feel overwhelmed. For the next one, extraversion, I ranked high. According to the test this mean that I am outgoing, active, high-spirited, and enjoy being around people most of the time. I do agree that I enjoy being around people most of the time, however, I would see myself as being more average on this one. I do like being around people, but I also really enjoy having my alone time. The next one, openness, I ranked low. This ranking puts me at being down-to-earth, practical, traditional and set in my ways. I most definitely find this ranking to be accurate. I know that I am very set in my ways. I don’t like change. For agreeableness I ranked high. Ranking high on agreeableness means that I am compassionate and eager to avoid conflict. This is also very accurate for me. I do not like conflict. I am not one of those people who enjoys drama. I very much like to stay out of the drama and mind my own business. For the last dimension, conscientiousness, I scored average. This means that I am dependable and moderately well-organized. I have clear goals but am able to set my work aside. I would also agree with that ranking. I am normally well-organized, however, there are times where I slack-off or am lazy. With that being said, I do always maintain my goals. Overall, the NEO personality test proved to be accurate.

Blog 2:

There are a lot of different life values that I hold close to my heart in regard to my career pursuits. I am very passionate about upholding certain values and I most definitely want to make sure that I incorporate those values into my career as well. Some of the values that I am very passionate about are respect, kindness, dependability, efficiency, consistency, loyalty, compassion, and service to others. Although I hold those values in my everyday life, I most definitely would include those in my career pursuits. I feel as though those qualities provide for a healthy and successful work environment. I think that being a college student helps to influence those life values. College provides experiences that contribute to learning about upholding values. College is a crucial time where individuals learn how to grow. As far as why I chose higher education, I knew that my career choice needed more schooling. If I were to pursue the career that I wanted, I needed to complete more school. I also believe that my parents were a huge contribution in my decision to pursue higher education. In my family it is the traditional route to attend college. I also receive support in the financial aspect of college. I don’t know if I would necessarily be pursuing higher education if I wasn’t so supported. All in all, I love the decision I made about pursuing college. I enjoy learning and being a student. I can’t wait for all of my education to pay off in my career.

Blog 1:

The multiple course objectives that were outlined in the Course Syllabus provides a lot of value for the future. Not only do they serve as a guide for the course, but they also provide some helpful aspirations for the future. The first course objective, “acquaint upper level undergraduate students with psychological research and theory that examine the influence of culture and psychology throughout the world”, will be extremely helpful for having some background knowledge going into the psychological field. It is important to have a background knowledge of psychological theories and research. The second and third course objective, “understand cultural diversity and the impact of culture on human life”, and “develop a greater understanding of people from other cultures and skills for successfully interacting with them” is also very beneficial background knowledge. Culture is something that everyone experiences every day. Learning and respecting the meaning of culture will prove to be important when acting in my psychology career. The last two course objectives, “develop critical thinking skills and apply them to psychological theory and research that examine the influence of culture”, and “be able to make connections, or integrate learning, between courses and to outside experiences” are both beneficial in the sense of connecting learned information to real life situations. It is very important to connect learned material and be able to apply it to real situations.

I am really excited for this course. I am interested to learn about the different aspects of culture and how they apply to psychology. My greatest expectation for this course is to have a better understanding of those from other cultures. I look forward to understanding cultural diversity and its impact on culture and human life. I hope to gain the insight and familiarity in order to incorporate that knowledge into my psychological career. In order to gain success in this course, I plan to dedicate time each day to working on this class. Online classes can prove to be difficult at times because they require a lot of diligence. It is easy to get behind in online classes because they require as much time as in-person courses. The difference is that they don’t require the in-person interaction. I plan on putting a lot of time aside in order to keep up with this class. I also will keep up with readings and take detailed notes in order to implement my own success.