Artifact 5

Australia has always been at the top of my list for places I want to visit, so the archive for Module 4 was interesting! For this activity, I had to consider five value dimensions that may be different among certain cultures. I got to choose a place, and compare it to the United States; I chose Australia. The image above shows the results of the comparison between the two locations. I expected the two places to differ, but to my surprise, they were very similar. This was interesting because it really showed me how cultures can be so different from one another in ways of living, but still have similar values. I learned from this activity that the United States is not as likely or willing to change in terms of living or work. I thought back to how some countries view us as acting privileged. I think because we have this sense of privilege or superiority, we are not as likely to sway away from our set ways.

Artifact 4

Pictured above are my parents: Andrew and Ramona. Parents are often a huge impact on a child’s enculturation. For Module 5, I was asked to consider my values in comparison to my parent’s. My family is a huge piece of my life, so I was not too surprised that our answers were not very different. There are many values that my parents taught me that have extreme importance to me. Although they taught me those things, I realized I would probably still value the same things on my own. This activity helped me realize that family is probably one of my most important values because they have introduced me to the culture I love and hold dear. There are many things I have experienced outside of my family that have allowed me to create a set of my own values, aside from the ones I have always had. I have made a broad group of friends at school, and they have been so welcoming. Many of them have different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and they have been extremely opening to sharing their own values with me. This really opened my eyes to how many different factors can play into a person’s enculturation!

Artifact 3

This activity was interesting and caught my attention, because I got to include a friend of mine. The assignment provided me with a list of occupations, and my partner and I had to write down if male or female came to mind when we first heard the job title. My friend has a different cultural background than I do, so it was interesting to compare our results. Above, I have attached an image that represents our responses to each occupation listed. There were a few results that were surprising to me. For example, he considered a dancer to be male, and I considered a dancer to be female. I thought this may have to do with the area he grew up in, because males are usually considered to be “performers” there. We did have many similarities when it came to typical male careers, such as engineers or pilots. I think this made me realize that most cultures have set gender roles or stereotypes. I thought back to my Psychology of Women class and how it discussed how women are sometimes discouraged to go for these jobs because of the stereotypical roles society has set. It was interesting to see that myself, as well as my partner, had the same ideas on those careers even though we are from different areas and backgrounds.

Artifact 2

I was challenged to think about what truly makes me happy for my artifact in Module 13. This was easy and things came to mind very quickly. For example, above I have attached an image of just one thing that makes me happy: my niece. I realized many of the things I listed involved my family. Many of the other things I listed had to do with activities or places that my family introduced me to. Overall, I realized that family plays a large role in many cultures. I also noticed that although there are differences, there were many things I listed that have the capability to bring cultures together. For example, I listed books, music, and traveling.

This assignment also challenged me to decide if I thought happiness relates to physical health or if physical health relates to happiness. Personally, I see a positive change in my attitude and overall health when I am more physically healthy. I related this back to values some cultures put more emphasis on than others. I thought about how America often has more obesity, and how this is often related back to the food we consume and a lack of physical activity. In comparison, Italy does not have as much obesity. This was easy for me to note after thinking back to my visit to Italy; most people ate fresh foods and were very active.

Artifact 1

In Module 12, we were asked to watch a Ted Talk by Amy Cuddy about body language. This has been my favorite archive item because I really personally related to it, and I could relate it back to the course as well. I found her speech to be extremely helpful, as well as encouraging. She spoke about how to present yourself, and your body language, during interviews or business meetings. She told how one looks more confident if he or she looks more open, bigger, more powerful. Amy Cuddy stated that it is almost a natural human response to open up and throw your arms into the air after a victory, just like Megan Rapinoe is doing in the picture above. These tips were important to me, because I am graduating this year. I will soon be facing new programs and new careers, and I need to be as confident as I can be; I need to be confident in myself.

I related the Ted Talk back to a few concepts I learned in class. For example, all people have a concept of personal space. Some cultures have different ideas of what exactly this concept means. I thought about how it is important for employers and employees to always keep this in mind when interacting with one another. The concept of encoding also came to mind. People are always watching one another, picking up on words, attitudes, facial expressions, and more. They take these cues and try to decipher a meaning. It is important to always be mindful of how you carry yourself!