Blog 10
To be honest, initially this class sounded extremely interesting but also very demanding and scary all at the same time. After going through almost the entire course, I found that the assignments and requirements for the class helped solidify the course load, but also pushed me to push my thinking of the box. The course load helped me become a slightly better and self-aware person, but also stronger academically too. This course, more than any other course throughout my undergraduate career, has connected the dots between the dozens of classes and curriculum in an effort to have all of the information finally all sink in. Which was enormously beneficial, in not only this class, but in all of my classes I am currently enrolled in all the while making previous classes seem way more effective. I never could have imagined that one class could completely change thoughts and attitudes.
Throughout the course of this class, I originally thought that the topic of Cross-Cultural Psychology would be fairly interesting, but I mainly chose to take the class because of how important it would be for my own benefit as a helping professional. My attitude about the class changed from originally being a means to an end to becoming a topic that I find to be genuinely interesting. After referencing back to the course objectives that are laid out in the course syllabus, I successfully feel as though I personally achieved many if not all the course objectives. As for something I would do differently if I took the class again, I am not sure that I would do anything different. Throughout the duration of this course, I have dug deep to complete assignments, but also some soul searching stemming from the course topics. The class taught me more than I could ever imagine and that was more than I could have asked for from a class.
Blog 9
So far in this course, the coursework has taught me and given me a new outlook on myself. I come from a family where having individuality and being different than the other family members is highly frowned upon. Due to the dampening to my own values, thoughts, feelings, individuality, etc. my entire life I have only in the last few years even come close to be able to identify those aspects in reference to my own self. Throughout my college career and my major coursework in particular have I been able to develop my own ideas and belief system for myself. Although up to this point, I have yet to come across a class that made me really think about different aspects cultural and belief based part of my life. Each module has given me inspiration to go digging for information to further build my own identity. Every prompt, whether it be for a blog post or an assignment have created a dialogue inside of my own head, but also with the people in my life pushing me to find myself.
The three specific things that this course has taught me is what does culture mean to me in my daily life/what is my own culture, how to identify my own beliefs and values, and that it is alright to be and feel different than others around you. Throughout the journey of completing the coursework required for this class, I have had to dig deeper than ever before to reach a level of depth I had yet to tap into during any of my undergraduate work to date. The coursework in this class required me to think long and hard about issues and aspects within my own life to use to fulfill assignments. Whether or not I had traveled down that road at any point during my young adult life previously, this class helped me tap into the ability to be my own true person. During each and every assignment I have completed throughout this course, I thought long and hard about my response and what I really needed to achieve to complete the assignment requirements to the best of my ability, but also what I needed/wanted to gain from completing an assignment. My journey to my own self-identity progressed throughout the course load throughout the semester. It is shown in each assignment I completed for this course.
Blog 8
Fairy tales are a representation of different societies and cultures all over the world. Different countries have their own stories specific to their cultures and societies, but also sometimes adapt stories from other places around the world to fit more into their own culture. As a whole, the main themes and social issue aspects that are within each of the fairy tales are the same no many how many times or who adapts the stories. The article “Tale as Old as Time”, describes the example brought on by new adaption of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. The article discusses how the original film’s screenwriter, made her version of Belle’s character more intellectually curious and active. In the 2017 adaption, the already progressive heroine themes and ideals that Belle possessed were just more intensified in the new film. Other modern social issues that the entire world are currently dealing with such as self-identity. In both adaptations of the tale of Belle and the Beast, worldwide current issues were integrated at the time of each adaption.
Based not only on the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, but many other fairy tales created over the years I personally believe that to an extent that a shared set of cultural norms and values are shared within the stories. Each fairy tale does hold its own personal characteristics true to the place of origin. While, many of the basic themes from an array of fairy tales are similar despite originating from different places all over the world with different cultural qualities. I believe this to be because the themes that are most often put into fairy tales and any form of media are more relevant to cultural norms and values of the time period not exclusive to one place of origin. In short, yes I do believe that fairy tales do indeed share a set of cultural norms and values within their stories.
Blog 7
Throughout the entirety of my academic career, the base line for all my course load has always been and continues to be laid out before me with little to no say on the matter. Every class has syllabi and standards that must be covered during the course. Leaving me, as individual, lost to my own individuality. Despite that fact, I continue to work at making my course load cater more to my strengths, my personality, and me as much as possible. To preserve autonomy, competence, and relatedness academically in my life I do a few small, basic things. To satisfy my autonomy needs through my academics I do course load in my way own way and my own time (but of course turned in on time). For example, when I have a research paper to write, many students sit down for a day or two and just knock out the entire paper, I do the complete opposite. I spend days completing one task at a time. One day I will just research and get a better feel for the topic, the next day I will find all the sources I need for the paper, next I might do my reference page, and finally I might split the paper in half to spend two days writing the paper. This way I still complete the assignments that are required of me, but I get to complete them in my own way. It makes me feel like I have some sort of control over my work. While the previous example expressed how I satisfy my need for autonomy, it also plays a part in my need for competence in my academic career. To further assist in my need for competence in my academic career I make many to-do lists and stick to a strict schedule that I create/cater to my week. In my planner, my classes are color-coded and my schedule is planned out in one hour or two hour increments. I have to-do lists on my laptop, an additional list in my planner attached to the page for the week, as well as calendar events each day in both my phone and my computer calendars. This all helps me stay on task each day as well as ensure that I can complete everything I need to efficiently and successfully. In an attempt to satisfy my need for relatedness (despite being slight shy) I try to create a connection personally and/or professionally to as many people I come in contact with. As a human service major, my connections and relationships with people are and will be of big importance during my professional career. Those relationships start to create during my undergraduate career. I constantly work to create those relationships to not only satisfy my personal need for relatedness, but also for my professional needs.
Blog 6
Blog 5
- I am… a woman
- I am… complex
- I am… strong-willed
- I am… a sister
- I am… responsible
- I am… caring
- I am… a friend
- I am… intelligent
- I am… a hard worker
- I am… a girlfriend
Who am I? I am a complex woman who has many roles and characteristics, one word cannot captivate my overall being. Based on the independent and interdependent construal theories, my list of “I am” statements would suggest that I am more independent. While I posses characteristics of both theories, I would agree overall that I am more independent than interdependent, but the groups I am apart of are a large part of who I am as well.
“No matter how you feel get up, dress up, show up, and never give up.”
Blog 4
The first test in any class is always the scariest, in my opinion. As a student, you never really know what to expect from your new professor. Even when guidelines or a study guide is provided, it’s not always guaranteed to be the end all be all for helping you succeed. In preparation for this test: I printed out the slideshows, took small additional notes (reminders) in the margin, and highlighted important terms/ideas, I read through each of the chapters in the book (I bought the book so I highlighted and wrote down reminders, etc. to help me remember the information), finally I also made flashcards with major terms and ideas on them with their definitions. Not all these steps were taken just to study the week of the test; I completed these tasks throughout the weeks leading up to the test in preparation for the test.
The week of the test I went over the materials I had been preparing for the weeks prior as study tools to help prepare me for the test. In addition to the materials I had prepared myself, I found Quizzlets online that also aided in my study patters for the test. However, I did not use the study guide as my main point of studying, I did read over to make sure the information I had been covering was addressed in the study guide as well as to check to make sure I did not forget to study any of the information. If I had not done all of the prep work throughout each module, I do believe I would have simply just filled out the study guide and used that as my main source of study material.
My test grade reflected positively on my studying strategies. While it was not my best test grade, it is a good grade to start the semester out on. I now know how the test questions are answered and presented within the test. So for future tests, I know what to expect on them. For the future tests, I will more than likely continue what I did for the previous test, but in addition spend more time on the study guide.
Blog 3
Out of the discussion board forums that I have participated in thus far, the definition of culture forum has by far been my favorite. While this forum was the most straightforward and basic, it is a topic that I feel should be addressed in almost every class. Culture is such a prominent part of daily culture all over the world. Being able to identify the difference between the actual definition of culture and one’s own preconceptions about culture. Participating in this discussion forum was a reminder that culture is such a large part of everyday life without even realizing it. Being culturally aware and culturally competent are two great skills to posses especially in a helping profession, but also in average, everyday life.
This forum is personally relevant to my life due to my career goals as a future helping professional. Having knowledge of many different cultures and being able to approach a situation with a strong sense of cultural competence is an enormous asset to have in helping professions. As a future helping professional, for the entirety of my career I will come across clients, collogues, family members, etc. with a different cultural background than myself. It is inevitable. Being aware of that fact and combatting it by becoming as culturally competent as possible will only help in future career goals.
Blog 2
While I personally value an abundance of things in my life, certain values particularly pertain to my intended career path. Three of the main values that pertain to my career pursuits are my concern for others, my high sense of responsibility, and my desire for achievement. My genuine concern for others is probably the most relevant value of mine not only in my daily life, but also in my professional life. I personally have a strong concern for others and a large desire to help people in any way possible. My high sense of responsibility is also another life value that is a strong aspect of my career pursuits. I am an extremely responsible person for my own life and daily tasks, but also when it comes to people depending on me one way or another. Lastly, my high desire to achieve at pretty much everything; in everything I do I want to succeed and achieve all my goals. This applies to both my personal, professional, and academic aspects of my life.
My decision to continue with my higher education stemmed from a desire of my own to make the best life for myself in addition eagerness to learn. Another aspect that played into my decision to continue my education was growing up and watching my own mother struggle to make a living to support our family without a college degree. While I had my own desires to continue my education, it seemed as though the path was a requirement and not as much of a decision. All my peers in my life had chosen to continue their educations; my teachers spent all of high school preparing me for college; all four of my parents talked about college and took me on college tours starting in the tenth grade. I believe if I did not have my own desire to continue my education, then I would have felt pressure from the many people in my life to continue my education anyway.
Blog 1
The course objectives outlined in the syllabus mainly describe how the course will help students be prepared for upper level psychology courses, continuing education, in addition to preparing students for culture in the world outside of academia. As a student, and furthermore as a future helping professional, the ability to recognize and understand cultural diversity from an abundance of cultures is invaluable. Helping professionals come into contact with a wide array of different people. Being able to understand that people are different and the things that make them different make it easier when it comes to helping that person in whatever capacity. For this course in particular, the learning and further developing the skill of critical thinking and then applying it to psychological theory is a great skill to acquire.
While going through this course I expect to learn about cultural diversity and to interact with people from many different cultures. By learning about the subjects laid out in this class, I expect to walk away with an understanding of culture and cultural skills from a Psychology standpoint. This is also what I hope to gain from this class. After two and a half years of almost all Human Services classes and learning about the Human Services thought processes/criteria, I am extremely excited to learn about culture and cultural interaction skills through a Psychology mindset. To ensure my success within this course, I intend to read through the course materials online, read the textbook and take additional notes from the text, and participate in the online assignments. Putting forth the effort in applying the knowledge we are learning about while putting them into the required assignments will be a great learning tool.
