Weekly Blog

Blog #10

With this final blog of the semester, I am currently reflecting on what I have learned and retained through this course, as well as how I can utilize what I learned in my daily and professional life and career. Looking back on my previous blog posts, I realize that my expectations of this course were met and I have achieved the objectives designed for this course. One of the main expectations and topics I was hoping to learn was about differences in culture, as well as taboo or offensive behaviors in among different cultures. Though I may not have learned as much as I would have liked about offensive or taboo behaviors, I am content with learning more about major differences in culture and how it can impact travel or people from other cultures.

To be honest, I was not sure how much my attitude about cross-cultural psychology would change throughout this semester. In most of my classes, my original attitudes and perceptions at the beginning do not change much over the duration of the semester, mostly because I already know how important or crucial the topic is. However, it was a little different with this class. For one, I have never taken a psychology course that only focuses on culture. All of my other psychology classes have usually only had one chapter dedicated to culture and its relevance to the type of course it was. Also, now that I am in primarily human service classes, I understand even more just how important it is to understand culture and the differences that are present across cultures. In the human services field, it is likely that you will encounter clients or people from cultures different than your own and it is crucial that you are not biased towards a culture or stereotype them. Culture is a major aspect of what makes someone unique and themselves and a human service professional should always keep in mind the importance of culture in a client’s life.

If I were to start this class over, I would pay more attention to the videos that are featured in each module. I would usually just skip over them or skim through the videos as I did not always have time to dedicate to watching them thoroughly. I find that watching videos for classes and topics helps to emphasize what is being studied and practiced and I should try to make the time to sit down and watch them. Over the past few months, I feel as if I have grown in a few different ways, though it may not all be related to this course. Overall, I felt as if my writing has improved as I have written a paper almost every week of this semester across all of my classes. I have always considered myself a strong writer, but this semester just increased that skill and allowed me to witness it firsthand. Also, I have become more confident in my academics and my ability to accomplish tasks and responsibilities on my own to accomplish and pursue my goals.

Because of this class, I will be graduating in May. This class has allowed me to develop a sense of cultural identity and an understanding of how the world and the people in it are different. At the time I am writing this, I am still waiting on my results of my Grad school application, though I have high hopes that I was accepted. In Grad school, I hope to study counseling in education and the study of cross-cultural psychology will be beneficial with everything I have learned. Culture plays a huge role in a person’s life and it is important to understand differences and allow people to express themselves and communicate in ways that they know and understand from their culture.

https://www.pinterest.com/mikailafrazier/funny-grad-memes/
I decided to find a few memes relating to graduation. I graduate a few weeks from the time I am writing this, though it still feels far away. Sometimes I feel as if this semester will never come to an end. Though I am inching closer to walking across the stage, it does not mean that I will ignore the rest of my assignments and responsibilities. I also liked the top image because it feels so real. Every time I say I study psychology, I am either met with strange or deprecating looks and glances or numerous questions regarding illnesses and minds. I know I already included a meme of Robert Downey Jr. in my previous blog, but this one was good, too.
https://www.pinterest.com/afordjerem32_17/graduation-memes/

Blog #9

Over the course of this semester, I feel as if I have learned quite a bit from this class. I have never taken a class that focuses primarily on culture and psychology. Some of my previous courses have included the concepts of culture and psychology into their own chapter, but it was only briefly discussed with the emphasis of the class focusing on other concepts or materials.

A few things I have learned or began to understand more through this eportfolio include some more things about myself and culture in general. I already knew how different cultures could be, but through my eportfolio and modules in this course I have begun to understand even more about the differences in emotion and behavior across people of different cultures. For example, in my eighth blog post, I referenced Walt Disney and his way of pointing so as not to accidentally offend a person from another culture. I learned from this how important it is to be culturally aware and understand what may be offensive or taboo in different cultures, as well as how to avoid those behaviors some may find offensive or inappropriate. I also learned more about cultural display rules, a concept that I have found interesting the past few years and have realized I am starting to pay more attention to in my everyday life. Cultural display rules are incredibly important to understand as a human service professional, a field that I am currently working towards, as people of differing cultures display their emotions in ways different than us. It is important to understand these differences and pay attention to your clients way of showing emotion, as well as what culture they may be a part of and what part of the world they may be coming from. One other thing I have learned while working through this eportfolio and the modules is that of independent and interdependent construals of the self. To be honest, I had never thought about where I fell on the spectrum of independence and interdependence, though this class allowed me to dive head first into my thoughts and experiences to determine where I fell. I may be divided between independent and interdependent depending on the different areas and pieces of my life, but I am happy to have been able to have had the opportunity to evaluate where I stand and make any changes or moves towards a construal of my self.

An area where I found I mentioned similar concepts and found overlap occurred with the archived item from module seven and blog post five. In both, I wrote about the independent and interdependent construals of the self and how they relate to my life and my experiences. In my blog post, I wrote about different areas where I feel the construal of independence or the construal of interdependence fit in my life, while in my archived item for module seven, I gave specific examples of events or parts of my life where that fit into each construal. For example, in my archived item I related my experiences of graduating high school and starting school at ODU as interdependent aspects of my life and in my fifth blog post, I related different roles of myself as interdependent, including student, daughter, sister, and employee. Interdependence refers to belonging within a group and having group influences on your life. These parts of my life relate to interdependence and were emphasized with my multiple discussions of it.

One thing that I have learned in this class that can be associated with another class relates to culture and emotion. When I was at Tidewater Community College, I took an anthropology course that I thoroughly enjoyed. That class placed a lot of emphasis on different cultures and aspects of different cultures, including emotion. One of our major assignments of the semester was to choose a concept that could be related to culture and anthropology. I ended up choosing to write a report and design a presentation on culture bound syndrome, not necessarily a part of emotion, however, another student wrote and gave a presentation about differing emotional presentations across cultures. I remember they had us take a quiz or play a game about differing facial expressions and what they meant to people of different cultures.

I feel as if I have learned more about culture in this semester than any of my other classes. This course has allowed me to dive deeper into the world of different cultures and how they relate to psychology, as well as how to approach and interact with people of different cultures and continue to treat them fairly and communicate effectively.

https://www.pinterest.com/organizeraz911/organizing-memes/
I decided to find a few memes relating to organizing, as I had to organize my thoughts for this post and go through previous work to complete it. I am an incredibly organized person and I hate messes. I love keeping things organized and enjoy organizing. In fact, I am very much like Monica from Friends (one of my favorite shows) in that aspect of myself. Plus, you can’t go wrong with anything that includes Robert Downey Jr. I hate when I am told how to organize something and I do not have freedom to decided how I want something to be organized. Thankfully with this course, I had some liberties with how I could put together and organize some of the assignments.

Blog #8

People express themselves in all different ways and different cultures have different and unique ways of expressing themselves and their emotions. Personally, I cannot recall a time when I interacted with someone from a different culture except for at work. I work in retail and many customers come from different cultures, but I do not have enough interaction time with them to determine major differences in expressions and emotional regulation. Based on my brief interactions with customers of different cultures, their expressions are similar to ours, meaning they have either integrated themselves into our culture or they were primarily raised in our culture in the United States and follow what we all have learned. Also, since everyone is currently wearing face masks, it is harder to distinguish differences in facial and emotional expressions of people from our culture as well as people from other cultures.

Based on my expectations and what I have learned, when I am able to and have the opportunity to fully interact with someone of a different culture I am expecting to witness some differences in both behavior and expressions, especially if it is someone from an eastern culture. It is important to be aware of different cultural norms regarding behavior and expression to ensure there is no communication confusion or accidental hurtful behaviors or actions. For example, in Disney World and Disney Land, cast members are not allowed to point with one finger, as that behavior is considered offensive in some cultures and Walt Disney wanted the employees of the park to be culturally aware of differences in behavior and expression due to the volume of guests that were not coming from within the United States.

The concept of universality and cultural display rules may help to explain differences people experience during interactions with people from different cultures. Cultural display rules vary among different countries and areas of the world and it is important for everyone to understand that not every part of the world expresses themselves in the same way. People of different cultures express themselves and act in ways different than our own and everyone should be accepted for their differences in behavior and expression based on where they were raised and what their culture values and promotes.

Walt Disney as depicted in the Partners Statue, vaguely gesturing with multiple fingers. Photo by David [CC BY 2.0] via Flikr.
https://unclewalts.com/other/walt-disney-pointed-three-fingers/
This is an image of the statue of Walt Disney at Disney World in front of Cinderella’s castle. In this statue, he is motioning with his entire hand, as he wanted the cast members of the parks to do. Pointing with one finger may be considered in some eastern cultures of the world and Walt Disney began using two fingers or his entire hand when pointing out directions and motioning so as not to possibly offend someone from a different culture.

Blog #7

The question on whether fairy tales reflect a shared set of cultural norms and values is a complicated one. Depending on the time period the tales were written and when they were redesigned for film or television plays a big part in the cultural norms and values they may reflect. To me, it seems as if older versions of fairy tales, such as the first editions or publications, are more likely to reflect shared cultural norms and values as they share similar archetypes and tropes across different cultures. However, fairy tales today are different. Even though it is the same fairy tales we are seeing, they have been rewritten to reflect more modern values and norms. The values that fairy tales are rewritten with may not be prevalent in all cultures across the globe yet, but they are often popular and accepted in western cultures where the gender differences and breaking of stereotypes is more widely accepted.

Changing the roles of characters in fairy tales has a profound impact on young audiences, especially because many characters are switching to more egalitarian roles. Gender roles are often being switched and females take the lead as the heroine, where they often do not need rescuing from a hero. Rewriting scripts and characters of fairy tales to be more modern and egalitarian allows children to see the potential when they grow up. They do not have to grow up and live life as a stereotype or following typical gender roles. They can be whatever they want to be after seeing older characters in new ways to reflect changing times and modern societal values and beliefs. It may not be the same from one culture to another, but in more developed, Western cultures, the progression of egalitarian characters and strong gender breaking roles has become more popular with each new iteration of a classic fairy tale.

One movie and character that has influenced me and made me realize how we are moving forward with typical gender roles and breaking them, is Tangled with Rapunzel. She may not be my favorite Disney princess, but she is very close to the top for me. It was one of the first Disney movies I remember seeing where it broke the standard plot of prince saves princess. In this case, there was no prince and Rapunzel is a headstrong, creative, and intelligent leader. She outsmarts the villain, tackles obstacles, lightens the hearts of ruffians and thugs, using what she has (her hair and frying pan) to her advantage, and changes the way Flynn Rider sees the world. She accomplishes all of this while remaining her true self and securing her role as leader of the kingdom, still holding on to her gentle heart and encouraging demeanor.

Ten Things You May Not Know About Rapunzel - Celebrations Press
https://celebrationspress.com/2017/12/04/ten-things-you-may-not-know-about-rapunzel/
I decided to take an image from Tangled of Rapunzel and Pascal. Considering the numerous Disney princesses there are, I would say that Rapunzel is my 3rd favorite princess, after two classics. (I might be biased because my top three Disney princesses are the blond ones, like me). She defies typical gender roles and takes on the challenging course of being an effective leader and role model to young girls, including myself.

Blog #6

Academics and intellectual abilities and capabilities are complicated pieces of a culture and someone’s personal life, as some place more emphasis on it than others. Personally, I have always made my education my number one priority to see the benefits and enhance my academic career. Autonomy, competence, and relatedness are three aspects of the Self-Determination Theory. These characteristics of the theory can be applied to my academics in a few ways.

The Self-Determination Theory includes the psychological need of autonomy, generally referring to independence and the capability of making one’s own decisions in confidence. With my academics, ever since I can remember I have tackled everything on my own. Of course when I was younger, I often had help to get through my homework and assignments as I would have had difficulty reading or pronouncing the words, but that was very early elementary school. The older I got and the more I progressed through school levels, the more independent I became with my work. I started relying only on myself and very few others. Once in a while I would enlist the help of my older brother, usually with difficult math classes, as he was more experienced in academics than I was. I am also not one to choose to work in groups. I do not enjoy having the lingering thought of my partner or partners not doing their share of the work and then have me take over the entire project, as this was often the case in high school since I was considered “gifted” or the “smart one” of the group. I find myself to be very responsible with my work and choose to work independently with little aid from others unless absolutely necessary. It could be considered a pride thing, but I willingly choose to work by myself and complete my assignments in the way that best fits myself.

Another psychological need of the Self-Determination Theory is competence, which refers to learning and growth, such as in academics, skills, or practices. I can almost always remember wanting to learn more and expand upon what I already knew. I learned how to read early in my academic career and quickly grew to love it. I discovered a new hobby that I wanted to improve and continue to do throughout my life. As I progressed through elementary school, my reading skills and levels grew and exceeded the elementary grade school levels and entered middle school reading capabilities. Having discovered early on how much I loved reading has been a huge benefit to me in my academics. There are not as many people who love reading like I do in current times as technology has taken over, but I have found that books open up my mind and keep me interested in new topics and discussions. I have become competent in my reading abilities and have seen the benefits of it to this day, as I was able to keep up with textbook readings and understand complicated passages and topics in books, including novels such as Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. My competence in reading has not only given me a hobby and a characteristic of myself, but it has helped me progress through my education and push my education even further.

Relatedness is a psychological need of the Self-Determination Theory and it refers to the psychological need of belonging and attachment to others around them. Growing up, I never would have considered myself to be one of the popular students. I always had a few close friends, though I would consider most other students to be acquaintances or friends, just not as close as others. Even after graduating high school and moving on to college I have a few close friends. I am not one for large social gatherings (which is good for me during these times!) and I have never been a partyer. I prefer a close group of people to hang out with without going crazy. I am more quiet and reserved and prefer my friend group to be that way, as well. However, sometimes I feel left out or as if I do not have enough friends after seeing pictures of people together or hanging out in a place I wouldn’t normally go. This feeling is very discontinuous with my personality and sometimes I feel bad just for thinking in that manner. I understand my personality though, but sometimes I can’t shake the feelings of not belonging or not being enough as I am. Thankfully, my close group of friends are all very accepting and we are all very similar to each other and feel and have similar experiences. Though I am not one of the popular ones, I typically prefer it that way as it makes me focus on my academics and not which party I will be going to on the weekends. Having a smaller friend group makes it feel more personal and we all understand each other and how we get through our lives.

The Self-Determination Theory consists of three psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. All three needs can be applied to most everyone’ life in one way or another, including my own. The needs are different for me with my academics and my personal life, though there is some overlap that helps me fulfill these needs. As I have grown and progressed through school, I have developed my autonomous, competent, and related self based on my personal and academic experiences. I may be graduating in May (hopefully going to grad school, cross your fingers!) , but the three needs of the Self _Determination Theory will continue to be developed throughout my professional life and career.

I decided to include a few pictures referring to my need for relatedness. These pictures are a few years old (from high school) but I am with some of my close high school friends who I remain friends with to this day. There is also a picture of one of my oldest friends and I on a field trip in 1st grade! We met in kindergarten and continue to be friend to this day. Yes, I am missing some teeth (I was 7!). I also included an image of my bookshelf, referring to competence, currently sitting in my room. I continue to enjoy reading and love spending time in bookstores.

Blog #5

When I am asked the question “Who are you?” I never know how to respond. I find myself answering this question more and more as I age and progress through school. Learning more and more about myself as I go through new experiences, meet new people, and progress through normal human development, I have started to discover more about independent and interdependent construals of the self.

After recording ten different responses to the question of who I am, I associate numbers 5, 6, 7, and 9 as independent. These responses were hard working, motivated, willing, and compassionate. These words describe parts of my personality that I value and cherish. They are characteristics of myself that I hope others notice and recognize. I associated the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 8 as interdependent, where I felt I belonged to a group or I was a part of something that was not a part of my personality traits. These words I used to complete the statement of who I was were student, daughter, sister, and employee. These are roles that I find I have taken on in life and some are undeniable and concrete, such as being a daughter and sister. Being a daughter and sister is something that will never be taken away from me as long as I live as I was born into those roles. You’ve probably noticed that two numbers are missing. I excluded numbers 4 and 10, as those were trickier for me to categorize and associate with independence or interdependence. I answered the question of who I was with “a reader” and “a friend.” I felt as if they could be categorized into both independence and interdependence as there are aspects of each that I can relate to both contruals of the self. Both may be roles of the self, but they are also traits that I can use to describe my personality and self.

It’s hard for me to determine whether I am more independent or interdependent. Based on my responses to the question of who I am, I find I am divided almost entirely down the middle of independence and interdependence. There are different aspects and areas of my life where it is more appropriate or necessary to be independent and other areas where it is more important to be interdependent. I do not categorize myself as one or the other but both, depending on the overall context of that point or area of my life.

Expressions of popular wisdom, known as proverbs, are in most cultures and can reflect independent or interdependent construals of the self. For example, some independent proverbs include “paddle your own canoe,” “the early bird gets the worm,” and “strike while the iron is hot.” These proverbs relate to being independent and focusing on yourself. Some interdependent proverbs include “there’s more than one way to skin a cat” and “people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.” These proverbs relate to interdependence as they are not limited to one person or individual trait specifically. For example, the latter proverb involves multiple people and not being critical of them. It took me a while to think of some proverbs that would relate to construal of self. I found it harder to think of some that relate to interdependence as many refer to an individual person or situation.

I decided to include pictures of my interdependent construals. One, I am an employee and two, I am a daughter. Even though I am my mother’s daughter and an employee, I am still a friend to them and others around me. Here is a picture of me with my mom (right) and my amazing group of co-workers (above). I also included an image of my brother and myself, as well as his girlfriend as I am a sister to him but also to my (hopefully) sister-in-law (below). I am also a student, so I included an image from one of the past semesters when classes were moved to online. I may be a hard-working and motivated individual, but sometimes there are obstacles that get in the way of my school work. In this case, one of my cats who decided that online classes was a good time to start laying on my laptop.

Blog #4

After twelve years of public school and almost four years of college I have figured out some of my traits and tendencies when it comes to test taking. I have figured out that the first test of a class is typically the one I do the worst on. I tend to perform the worst on the first test as I am unfamiliar with how the professor or teacher designs the test and questions, as well as how difficult the test may be. This holds true for the first test in this course, too. Though I am fine with how I did on the first exam, I know I can do better on the next one as I now know what the test will look like, how the questions will be formulated, and overall what to expect on it.

80 Funny College & Study Memes ideas | funny, college memes, studying memes
https://www.pinterest.com/collegestudysmarts/funny-college-study-memes/

After going through the questions that I missed on the first exam, I understand why I answered them incorrectly. I realized that there were a few that I did not read thoroughly or I misunderstood the question and answered them in a different way. However, there were two or three questions I realize I did not know and had to use test taking strategies to find an answer that I thought would work. I now realize how I can change my study habits for this course to succeed on the exams and strive for the high grade that I want. I have figured out that it is a good idea to add more to the notes as I read through the chapters. While I was working through the modules on this exam, I added my own notes to the PowerPoint lecture notes on Blackboard, but I realize now that I should add more to my notes to be more descriptive and thorough. I should also take more time to study and start studying earlier rather than a few days before the exam opens. After taking the first exam and seeing where I messed up, I will use what I learned from this experience to improve my test taking skills and strategies on the rest of the exams in this course.


https://www.buzzfeed.com/jennaguillaume/exam-time-2017
I decided to find a few memes that relate to studying. I’m sure many (not just me or a few others) can relate to these memes about studying for exams. Sometimes studying can be difficult and it is hard to find time to study efficiently. Also, no matter how much one may study, it is not an uncommon feeling to think you will perform poorly on the exam, a thought that many of us need to work on and understand that you can perform well and receive a high grade on the exam. Sometimes it feels as if there is so much to study with not enough time in a day, and we have to make sacrifices in other areas of our life to be able to do well in our courses.
25+ Best Keep Studying Memes | Exactly Right Memes, After Graduation Memes,  Keep Memes
https://me.me/t/keep-studying

Blog #3

The NEO personality test is a personality inventory that investigates a person’s “Big Five” personality traits of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. I have taken this personality inventory, or a variation of it, at least once every semester I have been in a psychology course. I have become very familiar with the five characteristics and how my personality corresponds to the profiles of each one. I find that every time I have taken this assessment one of my traits changes slightly, though overall it remains very consistent. The consistency of my scores on the NEO personality test showcases the validity and reliability of this particular personality test.

My scores for my latest personality assessment are 35 for openness, 39 for conscientiousness, both of which are considered high scores, 30 for extraversion, considered average, 38 for agreeableness, considered very high, and 15 for neuroticism, which is considered low.

My scores for openness and conscientiousness were both considered high. A high score of openness is described as having broad interests and being imaginative and open to new experiences. With conscientiousness, a high score consists of being well-organized and having high standards relative to achieving your goals. For the characteristic of extraversion, my score was about average, meaning I am moderately active and enthusiastic, where I enjoy the company of others but still place value in privacy. I scored very highly on agreeableness, signifying compassion, being of a good-nature and eager to cooperate while avoiding conflict. The last characteristic of neuroticism I scored low on, meaning I can handle stressful situation well by remaining generally relaxed and secure during the situation.

I find that my scores reflect my personality very well, and each time I take this test my feelings toward the personality test become stronger. I would say that I am rather open and like to try new things and activities when I get the chance. I am interested in a wide variety of subjects, have many hobbies, and love all sorts of genres of books and movies. Conscientiousness relates to being organized, of which I am very organized and have been my entire life, even as a younger kid. Everything I own has its own designated spot and I color coordinate my closet. I hate messes and keep my room clean with nothing on the floor. Also, I have high standards for myself, which may or may not be a good thing depending on the situation, which is another trait of being conscientious. I consider myself to be an “over achiever” and I always try to take on new tasks. My score for extraversion fits me well, also, as I enjoy being by myself and using that time to complete my work and “me” time. Though I love my privacy, I also enjoy being out and about with my friends and being active outside of my home and comfort zone. The fourth trait of agreeableness fits my personality well, too. I have been told I am a very compassionate person and I would agree. I want those around me to understand that I am someone who they can come to if they need help or someone to talk to, as I am sympathetic and show concern for others. I try to avoid conflict as best as I can, but it is not always possible to avoid, especially working in retail. It is not uncommon for me to diffuse a situation or be called to the front to handle a situation or confrontation. Also, I typically handle stressful situations well, as described by my score for neuroticism. At first, I can get very stressed and feel as if I cannot handle the situation, but after some time to think and plan, I can progress through stressful situations relatively easily with a good outcome.

I made a word cloud of words that I feel describe me and my personality. It was a lot harder than I thought to come up with some good adjectives to describe myself, but I am content with my word cloud.

Blog #2

When I was in high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do as a career, or even what I wanted to pursue in college. It was not until I was a senior that I took AP Psychology, and found my love for it. Ever since then, I have pursued psychology in college and taken as many courses as I could. I attended Tidewater Community College for the first two years to obtain my Associate’s Degree in Social Science, plus I wanted to get my general education courses out of the way for an affordable tuition. While I was at TCC, I knew I wanted to further my education and attend ODU. After only being at ODU for a little while, I decided that I wanted to pursue my Master’s after obtaining my Bachelor’s Degree and work towards counseling.

Working through multiple schools, as well as my job, has given me the opportunity to determine what I value in my education, life, and career pursuits. With education, I value time and communication. As a student, it feels as if you will never have enough time for your classes and to complete your assignments. Many students tend to feel this way with their course load, but I have found ways to manage my time so I feel less stressed during the semester. Though I love my job, I take three days off each week so I can dedicate that time to working on school assignments. Communication is key to all parts of my life, including academically, professionally, and personally. I appreciate someone who knows how to communicate effectively to get their point across, but not in a demeaning manner.

I consider myself lucky to have so many people in my life who support my pursuits and ambitions, and encourage me to continue with my education and achieve my goals. My mother, brother, his girlfriend, and even my manager at work, have all encouraged me with my academic career and wishes. My manager at work has known me since I was 18, right before I started college. She has watched me go through my schooling and knows what I want to do, and understands why I need extra time off during the semester. It is just as important to her as it is to me that I have the time I need to focus on my coursework. She even wrote one of my recommendations for my grad school application, and she was thrilled when I asked if she would. My brother and his girlfriend graduated from Virginia Tech last May, and have always checked in with me to see how my classes are going. They like to be updated when I hear news about anything that has to do with graduation or my graduate school application, as they even helped me with my studying for the GRE. Ever since I can remember, my mother has been by my side for every step of my life. She always tells me how proud she is of me and what I have accomplished, thus far. She encouraged me to follow the academic route that I wanted to and was excited when I told her about my ambitions of attending grad school in counseling. She is always there to help me with anything I need, or if I just need someone to talk to about school. Even if I end up not attending graduate school, she will still tell me how proud she is of my academic career and what I have accomplished in my life.

Those four people have been major influences on my life and career. I appreciate every single one of them and do not know what I would do without them.

I decided to include pictures of myself with my manager at work (pictured on the right) and myself with my mother, brother, and his girlfriend (above). My mother and brother have been incredibly important to me all my life, and his girlfriend and my manager at work have meant so much to me the last few years I have known them. I would not be where I am or who I am without some of the most influential people in my life.

Blog #1

I have never taken a course that solely focuses on culture and psychology, though many of my previous classes have included chapters or lectures on culture. When I was signing up for my classes for this semester, I saw that this one was available and immediately enrolled in it. To me, culture is a very interesting aspect of the human race and I am always interested in learning about other cultures I am not familiar with and their customs.

Going through the objectives of this course, I hope to learn from all of them and obtain and utilize that information in my professional life. I am hoping to attend graduate school for counseling and the lessons I will have learned from this class will be incredibly beneficial. In any human service profession, understanding different cultures is important and you will see clients from all different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The more I know about different cultures the better prepared I will be in the field. All aspects of this course’s objectives will be beneficial to me in the future as I will be able to understand cultural diversity in depth, develop greater understandings of people from different cultures, and understand the impacts of culture on our lives.

I am not one for taking notes on a computer or on my phone. I have always preferred hardcopies of our notes or PowerPoint lectures that I can use to follow along with the readings. I add notes to the lectures as I need to and use them as study guides to prepare for exams.

I am hoping to gain insight into some of the different cultures of the world and how they differ from our own. I want to understand what is considered taboo or offensive in one culture, that is not in ours. Understanding differences such as what may be taken as offensive or taboo will help me in my professional career to avoid making simple mistakes that could prevent me from properly helping someone.

To be successful in this course, it is important for me to stay on top of assignments and deadlines. I will make sure I give myself plenty of time to review directions and complete my work to keep my grade up. I print all of the notes that are posted on Blackboard and utilize them while I read through the chapters. I add extra information to the PowerPoint notes as needed and use those while I am working on my archives, as well as using them as a means of studying to prepare for exams.