Blog 10

The initial course expectation that I hoped to achieve through this course was establishing a thorough distinguishable difference between culture and subculture. I think that I have an understanding of the difference between the two, but I do feel that there is no clear established between the two. I feel that subculture and culture are blended into one another and the main culture in a country blends with and influences subcultures in different areas; and there are subcultures within subcultures. After taking this course I feel that my focus regarding culture should not be distinguishing between culture and subculture; but rather, acknowledging that the two are intertwined and there is no clear separation. Instead of focusing on the differences, it would be more beneficial to acknowledge and appreciate how subcultures develop within different cultures and why. 

I feel that the course objectives were achieved throughout the course. Extensive application of psychological research and theory, an understanding of cultural diversity, intercultural competence, and being able to integrate information from this course with information learned in previous courses were all observable through the course and achieved without exception. During the course my attitude towards Cross-Cultural Psychology have not changed, only my curiosity for further exploration of cultural impacts on psychology in different countries has increased. If I had the opportunity to take this class again, I would spend more time on the lessons and reading from the text allowing myself to really focus on the details and retain more of the knowledge included that I may have looked over in my initial reading and review of the lessons. Academically over the last few months I have grown in the area of time management. Currently my life is pretty chaotic having moved across country during the semester and I feel that my time management where school is concerned was found lacking. One skill that stands out that I gained from this course was the utilization of the WordPress website, I feel that the knowledge and ability to use websites like this would be extremely useful in my professional life. 

This image represents the extensive cultural divide that exists between the different nations of the world. Through this course I have learned skills to be able to interpret other cultures from an objective point of view without the influence of my own culture inhibiting my full understanding of practices that are different than that of America.

Blog 9

The top three things taken from this course would be how you see yourself effects your behaviors, actions of others must be interpreted based on an unbiased consideration of cultural and situational context, and the significant differences between American and Asian cultures, especially on the basis of individualism and collectivism. I found Assignment 5 Takeaway to be useful with the concept of interacting with people of other cultures pertaining to the Blog 8 assignment. Emotional regulation and differences in cultural expectation of how individuals should express emotion influence how other perceive our actions and behaviors. This stresses the need to interpret the actions of others based on consideration of their cultural background and the situation in which it takes place. One thing that learned in this course is the self-determination theory; specifically, an individuals feelings that their behaviors coincide morally with their personality. This brings to mind the term cognitive dissonance learned from a previous course; this being the discomfort an individual feels when they interpret their behaviors as being out of line with their values and beliefs, or how they view themselves. 

This photo illustrates that cultural regulation presents different expectations for the expression of emotion; however, some expressions are universal. In this example each individual is smiling, some showing teeth, some not; but the general expression of smiling portrays happiness universally.

Blog 8

My mother-in-law is from the Philippines and I have found her emotions to be much more extreme than those of Americans. She tends to feel things on a deeper level than I do for example. Her feelings are very intense and her response to emotion is very exaggerated. The Philippines being considered an Asian country I would have expected her response to emotion to be quite the opposite; with her emotions being more internalized and without flagrant expression due to the collectivistic nature of most Asian countries. My mother-in-law has been in the United States for nearly 30 years and I’m sure the time spent here has had some form of impact on her tendencies and display of emotion. American cultural display rules are significantly different from other countries so visualizing the impact of spending 30 years in America is easy to do. I have also had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know other Filipino individuals who react much differently to their emotions than my mother-in-law so it does lead me to question how significant the impact of spending such a great deal of her adulthood in America has affected her and how much of her emotional expression is simply her individual personality. Individuality is no doubt a universal concept across cultures; leading to the question of whether personality traits and characteristic can overpower cultural display rules and expectations. 

This image represents the individual expression of anger between individuals and also the culturally universal emotional expression of emotion.

Blog 7

I do believe that fairy tales reflect a shared set of cultural norms and values for the majority of westernized cultures. Different individual characteristics are valued in different cultures, but for the most part fairy tales reflect a set of moral values that are commonly upheld in various world cultures. It can not be said this is true and applies to ALL cultures, but cultures as experienced from my personal American point-of-view; admittedly limited, do value the characteristics portrayed by the main characters in fairy tales, in a broad sense. In classic fairytales such as the story of Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty, they occupy roles of authority but are pushed down and oppressed, only to in the end regain their position of authority. They are almost always portrayed as humble characters accepting of all people; this sense of egalitarianism provides comfort for children from all backgrounds, and a perception that they can rise from any position to place themselves where they want to be; titles come and go. It is your work ethic and drive that determine your success in life, along with your attributes and consideration for others. The story of Snow White influenced me greatly as a child. Although she was driven from her home into a new environment. Through adversity, she adapted and ultimately found happiness of her own on her own terms. In such a situation I believe it would be difficult to maintain positive attributes and to not allow it to change you as a whole; make you bitter, negative, and untrusting of others. 

This image represents the positive outlook of most main characters in fairytales and despite whatever adversities they face, their perseverance always takes them all the way to the top. They are always restored to whatever position they came from due to their ability to maintain their positive attributes and characteristics, remaining unchanged.

Blog 6

Experiencing autonomy, competence, and relatedness as per the self-determination theory would depend on a person feeling that their behaviors are morally suitable to their personality, without being the influence of any outside force; and aligning with individual values and beliefs. On a personal academic level I meet the need for autonomy by having an independent approach toward education. Taking online courses allows me to consider the material presented and apply it to the outside world after my own interpretation and understanding without influence from anyone else’s opinions. I do not cheat on my assignments and cannot turn in assignments if I did not complete them to the best of my ability. It is important to me to use competence from an academic standpoint to stay focused on the behaviors that will be beneficial to my success as a student and my long term goal of finishing out my degree. In reference to relatedness pertaining to my academics I do feel that I carry and individualist approach being that I am an online student and do not attend classes as part of a group. Although I have chosen more of an independent approach to learning I still uphold my own personal values regarding completing my work, on time, and thoroughly.

This image labeled autonomy I feel encompasses my personal academic style; independent, determined, and focused.

Blog 5

If I were to complete the statement; I am…., 10 times I would select the following attributes; determined, adaptable, straightforward, reliable, chill, open-minded, warmhearted, loyal, dependable, and patient. I would associate the first 6 with the dimension of independent construal of self, and the latter 4 with interdependent construal of self. I feel that being determined, adaptable, straightforward, reliable, chill, and open-minded display independence which is a westernized cultural characteristic. Being warmhearted, loyal, dependable, and patient reflect an interrelation aspect of my personal attributes. I believe myself to be more independent than interdependent because the majority of attributes that come to mind quickly tend to be more definitive of an independent construal of self. 

Some English proverbs that easily come to mind describing independence are; “Give it your all,” and, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” These both display a sense that your independent self and reliance on your own personal skills will result in your success, or ability to persevere through the absence of a loved one. English proverbs that display interdependence are; “There is no I in team,” and , “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” These both leave the impression of putting the group before the self while the weakest link reference demonstrates the need to help others to achieve the advancement of the group as a whole. I found it easier to think of the interdependent proverbs. I believe this is due to my childhood background participating in team sports; such as, basketball, softball, and volleyball. 

I chose this image because it represents two of the self attributes I listed above which would be at the top of my list if I had to list them in order of importance.

Blog 4

Reviewing the questions that I answered incorrectly on the exam helped me to clarify topics that in some case I was aware were unclear to me and other I thought I understood, but apparently did not. As I read through the chapters I took my own notes and then as test preparation I completed the study guide. I think that in the future it would be more beneficial to me to print out the study guide and fill it out as I read through the chapter to be more efficient and ensure that no information gets looked over on the next exam. Using my notes to fill in the study guide may have left out important information overlooked in the text. I did not space the review sheet over the week prior to the test which I now know was a huge mistake. Even though time demands are conflicting for the next exam I will allocate much more time to the review sheet. I don’t feel as though I spent enough time on the review sheet even though I did study my notes in preparation for the exam it was not sufficient. I think this strategy will be helpful on future tests when exams are cumulative and and information overlooked or misunderstood on one exam will be seen on future exams in the course. 

Blog 3

According to the results from the NEO inventory measuring then five dimensions of personality I scored low in both neuroticism and extraversion, average in openness, and high in agreeableness and conscientiousness. I feel as though these results are consistent with my personality. I am not an anxious person nor do I seek excitement or exude warmth which are attributes of someone high in neuroticism and extraversion. My values are very important to me and I have many ideas but realistically consider which ideas are achievable which is probably a significant reason that I score only average in the area of openness, some  attributions of this trait I highly consider daily while others I do now which would result in an average mean when the two are balanced. I understand why my scores for agreeableness and conscientiousness were high because I am quite self-disciplined, orderly, straightforward, and modest. The traits associated with each of the five major traits as described by Matsumoto & Juang (2017) make it clear to me that the results of my answers to the NEO inventory provide an accurate description of my personality. 

Source: 

Matsumoto, D. R., Juang, L. (2017). Culture and psychology (Sixth). Cengage Learning. https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/b3e59046-b88b-4b61-b7b6-f21d6b270baf/page/ 70079d0b-34ea-47ad-8b6a-3e25ae646eae.

Blog 2

The first life value that holds great importance to me is self-sufficiency. This may be reflective of my family’s individualistic American culture and childhood socialization and enculturation (Matsumoto & Juang, 2017). I do find it to be beneficial from a career standpoint, self-reliance and independence provide an employee with drive to ensure that their responsibilities are fulfilled and their work is not lacking. These qualities are desirable and although in many work settings a group mentality is required, self-sufficiency of each member of a group is required in order to provide a solid foundation for success for any assigned task. Another life value that is important to me that holds significance in a career setting is respect for others. Although individualism is highly valued in many westernized countries, so is respect for others. Support and provision for one’s own family is highly valued, but managing to do so while upholding standards for the positive treatment of others is also important. Without respect for colleagues in a work environment and acceptance of their assets businesses cannot run at their highest efficiency. 

Many different experiences in my life made it possible for me to pursue a higher education. Having a high value for family led me to seek out a life partner at a young age. I met my husband in high school and we started our family soon after we had both graduated high school. He joined the military which allowed me to allocate all of my attention to raising my children. Lacking the finances needed to go to college and still provide for our family, higher education was not the priority at that time; but was never forgotten. Now, 20 years later, having established my family, nurtured my children, and come to a financially stable state; college is now available to me in a reasonable and affordable capacity. If I had not had the desire at a young age to start a family, I may never have driven myself to become financially stable enough to be able to afford a higher education. 

Continuing onto higher education was always an intended route in my future. In high school it was just a desire to learn, educate myself, and reach a level of education that would provide the foundation for a successful career; but after having a family of my own, providing the best life for my children is my goal; having a good job is essential to do so. My parents and extended family instilled in me a need to support and maintain a stable environment for my children through example. The value of being self-sufficient was something that my parents always stressed to me; never relying on others to provide for you, and never living outside of your means. I feel these things are best obtained through higher education and the acquisition of the best job possible. 

Source:

Matsumoto, D. R., & Juang, L. (2017). Culture and psychology (Sixth). Cengage Learning. https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/b3e59046-b88b-4b61-b7b6-f21d6b270baf/page/ 70079d0b-34ea-47ad-8b6a-3e25ae646eae.

This is the Old Dominion University logo located at the top of their homepage website. I have chosen it to be representative of this blog post because it will be the University where I receive my Bachelor’s degree. This degree is a long term goal that I have been working toward for a decade.

Blog 1

The course objectives outlined in the course syllabus will be beneficial to me in the future in many ways. The connections made between this and other psychological courses is an obvious benefit. Understanding culture and having extensive knowledge about the diversity of different cultures will help me achieve intercultural competence. Intercultural competence will be crucial in pursuing a career in the psychological field interacting with individuals from many different cultural backgrounds. 

For this course I expect to gain a distinct comprehension of culture and how to differentiate the broad category of subculture. Being able to distinguish between the two has proven to be a challenge. Since culture has no clear finite definition I find it hard to have a concrete idea of how to determine and understand what is a subculture, or a separate culture altogether. I also hope the expansion of my cultural education will push me to explore and expose myself to more cultures in my personal life. 

To ensure success in this course I plan to begin and maintain a weekly routine balancing reading, lecture material, assignments, and papers. I find it easier to begin papers as early as possible instead of considering them part of a weekly process due to the more spread out due dates. Extensive note taking is another skill I plan to use in order to assure that I retain more information and to aid in the studying process for exams.