Weekly Blog 10

This course has taught me an immense amount of information about culture and diversity and how both of those aspects have an affect on human life. I feel that I have achieved the course objectives that were laid out for this course, by studying how different cultures use to different languages or body language to communicate. I also learned that it is important to know the values of different cultures when studying psychology because in a different culture other than that of the United States there could be different ways of communication or different values that are more acceptable in that culture. My attitudes towards Cross-Cultural Psychology have not changed since the beginning of this course. I thoroughly enjoyed learning the different modules in this class and how much culture makes a difference. Although I wouldn’t change anything about this course, I would personally take more time studying the textbook to make more sense of the course objectives. While taking this course I learned how to really study, which was very beneficial not only for this class but my other classes as well. I did learn many things that would help me academically and that is to learn to accept different cultures so that it would be easier to associate myself with different types of people that may not have the same culture as me. The first assignment that was assigned for this course I wrote about how I hoped to be able to broaden my knowledge on different cultures which I believe was satisfied in this course. One way in which that was met was when we learned about different facial expression in different cultures and how they could mean something totally different than how we do in the American culture. I loved taking this class and learning about different cultures.

Weekly Blog 9

In PSYC 420 Cross-Cultural Psychology, I have learned a lot of different concepts that I will take with me to finish my bachelor’s in psychology. There were three major concept that I really enjoyed learning that included values and how they can be different in other cultures, how gender can affect cultures, and how emotions can be different in other cultures.  All three of these topics where interesting because personally I never have really paid much attention to how different cultures focus on different values. For example, I learned that in the American culture we rely on materialistic things but in an African culture they may not value materialistic things very important. In blog 7, I explained how a fairy tale Disney movie showed what it was like being a woman in a Spanish culture. This helped to explain how different genders in different cultures carried different roles. Lastly, in blog 8 I shared how different emoticons in the Japanese culture focused more on the eyes than in American culture. I am taking 3 other psychology classes this semester and in my Positive Psychology class we are learning about the concept of values and how they are different in various cultures. Being able to study this topic in both courses has helped me to realize and remember the different values in each culture. So far, I have loved this course because it has helped me to realize just how important different cultures are.

Weekly Blog 8

I found the article called Emotion Perception Across Cultures, to be a very interesting read on how different cultures display their emotions through facial expressions. Americans in the United States tend to show their emotion in their facial expression whereas in the Japanese culture they show more emotion in their eyes. I have seen this many times through a girl I work with in the hair salon. She was born and raised in Japan till around 6 years ago. When talking to her you can see that she shows most of her emotion in the way that she looks at you. When I talk to her about a work-related issue I can tell when she thinks it is a good idea or a bad idea without her even saying a word, but rather by just looking at the way her eyes look. Although, she has been in the United States for several years she still hasn’t adapted to the American culture of showing emotion with facial expressions. In the article it states that the Japanese like to conceal negative emotions to maintain a sense of harmony. I find this statement completely true just by being around the girl I am employed with because when there is a stressful situation, she never shows the emotion of being scared. It is very interesting to meet people from different cultures to see how they portray emotion in comparison to the way Americans display emotion.

Weekly Blog 7

The Fairy Tale that I decided to pick was one of the newest Disney Movies called Encanto. This fairy tale is about a young girl whose family is Spanish. In the movie the main characters grandmother talks about an old wise tail about certain powers that each family member will receive. In the movie Mirabel, a young woman lives in a house which is basically “alive” with each of her family members. Every family member has a special power except for Mirabel, leaving her with a sense of not fitting in with her family. I believe that this movie shows how a fairy tale can reflect a certain set of cultural norms and values. In the culture of this Spanish family, it is evident that when a child becomes old enough, they will receive a special power that no one else has. It is normal in their culture to have a power like being able to talk to animals or being able to turn everything into beautiful flowers. Mirabel falls out of the cultural norm for this family, but she also shows a lot of other cultural roles as a woman. For example, Mirabel is shown in many different scenes of the movie with younger children, and she acts as a mother figure to them. She also takes control at the end of the movie rebuilding her family’s house which in some cultures would be considered a male’s job.

Encanto also created a positive outlook not only for Spanish culture but for any culture around the world and that is that it is ok to be different. I feel like everyone no matter the culture wants to fit in and follow what is considered a social norm. Mirabel teaches young audience and maybe even older audience that it is ok to be different, and to follow whatever makes you happy and not to worry about what other people are doing or thinking. Encanto in my opinion is a perfect example of how culture can have an impact of egalitarianism.

Weekly Blog 6

When I think of myself academically there are three categories that are very important to consider and that is autonomy, competence, and relatedness. While being in school I have noticed that failing is a part of passing. Not every test is going to receive the grade of an A, not every paper is going to succeed with a passing grade, and not everything you’re going to learn is going to stick in your brain. Everyone is going to take a different path when learning, and everyone is going to fail. I have learned to be able to live with that aspect while in school. There have been many times where I have wanted to drop a class or stop school altogether, but I must remind myself that it is ok to not succeed.

When it comes to competence, I have learned that keeping a planner on my desk as well as a planner in my book bag with all the assignment due dates, and test dates has helped me to become more competent. I always try to turn things in on time and give myself enough allotted time to study which the planner has helped me to do. Autonomy is the trait that I struggle with the most, because I have a full schedule so sometimes, I wait till the last minute until something is due to turn it in. Although I struggle with this aspect, I always remind myself that there is an end goal and that if I turn my work in, I will succeed. Lastly, relatedness is always in the back of my mind when doing an assignment that may be late. I have to remind myself that there are other people that also may struggle with being able to turn their assignments in because they have a full schedule as well. I always look out for emails from my professors that helps to remind me of due dates of assignments.

Weekly Blog 5

After filling out the 10 “I am” statements I noticed that it helped to create a synopsis of who I am as a person. I always thought of myself as a very independent person, but after reading the textbook I noticed that in some aspects of my life I could be interdependent. According to my list number 1, 3, 6,7,8, and 10 are associated with the dimension of independent construal of myself. I believe these describe being independent because they are within myself and don’t have much to do with any other entity or person in my life. I believe that numbers 2,4,5, and 9 are associated with the dimension of interdependent construal of myself. These numbers are interdependent because they connect me to other people. For example, number 4 is an example of interdependent because it shows that I can be flexible for another person. I think based on my ten statements I would consider myself more interdependent. Even though I had more statements that would point to being more independent, the statements that were labeled interdependent consume more time in my life.  For instance, number 2 “I am a good mother” takes up much of my life and would be deemed interdependent. The English proverbs that say “occupy and play ones assigned roles” which describes interdependent for self is easier for me to think of because I have roles that I have to succeed at like being a mother and a full-time student and hairdresser. After making the 10 statements I realized that maybe I wasn’t as independent as I thought I was.

Weekly Blog 4

Exam 1 was an eye opener for me because I usually struggle with knowing how to study for a particular class especially on the first test. I didn’t really receive the grade that I would have liked on Exam 1, but I expect to do much better on the test to follow. I read through the chapter before the test, but I did not take notes on what I was reading which was a mistake. To prepare for the next test I will be reading the textbook and take notes on what I think is the most important in that chapter. I did read over my PowerPoint notes that I write down for every chapter multiple times before taking the exam, and I will say I benefited from doing so. After I was able to view what I got correct and what I got incorrect on the test. I wrote every question down with the correct answers. For the questions I got wrong I looked them up and wrote down the correct answers. I believe this will be key factor in helping me to study for the next test. Knowing how to study for a test is key in knowing how to retain the information, and I look forward to getting a better grade on the next exam.

Weekly Blog 3

By taking the NEO personality test I was able to get a rough incite on just how my personality is in 5 different dimensions. The 5 dimensions included Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Neuroticism. Part 1 of the test is to rate yourself average, high, or low in each category. For Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, and Agreeableness I rate myself average and for Conscientiousness I rated myself high. The for the second part there are 60 statements, and you rate yourself from strongly disagree, to strongly agree for each statement. For the final part you add up the numbers and look at the chart to find out if your rough evaluation in part 1 was correct.

              After taking the test I would say that all my evaluations at the beginning of the test coincided with the results at the end of the test. Neuroticism in which I scored average I would agree because I am usually very calm, but when I am under a lot of stress, I could become overwhelmed with anger. For example, when something goes wrong at work, I am the usually the employee that stays calm and figures out a solution. If my home life which causes immense stress gets in the way of my work life sometimes, I can become angry. Extraversion was very interesting to me because rated myself average and received that result at the end of the test. I really love to be around people and learn about different people’s lives most a lot of the time I also like to be alone. An example of this would be, when I am at home sometimes, I must take a break from being around everyone and go into my room. Openness I also scored on average meaning that I am open to change and like to discover new ways of doing things. This is a correct result because I like to be taught new things that might make the getting the job done a lot easier. Agreeableness was a difficult one for me to judge myself on, I ended up choosing average and I was correct. I really try to be nice to everyone, but I also have a competitive side especially when it comes to my work. Lastly, conscientiousness I scored myself high and the results after taking the test agreed. I love to be organized and have a set schedule for things to make sure that I complete each task that is in my life. Overall, this test was very accurate in telling me the 5 dimensions of my personality.

Weekly Blog 2

I have a lot of values that are relevant to my career pursuits, that I started learning at a very young age. The first value that is very important in reaching the goals that I have set for myself is the value of Equality. I believe that equality is very important when learning that no matter the circumstance everyone has the same chances. I believe that equality is up to the person that is trying to reach a goal. Growing up I learned “You get what you put it”. Even if you fail the first couple of times, trying is the key to success. Equality is the main value that I have been following since I started my educational career as a college student.

I decided to follow my dreams of becoming a psychologist, and the only way to achieve my dream is to further my education past high school. I have had a lot of people including my parents, friends, and a couple of teachers along the way that have made the value of equality very clear in the definition of even if things get in the way I deserve a chance at pursuing my dream career. I also have had many experiences along the way that have prevented me from believing I could achieve my goal. For example, becoming a mother at a young age. After I had my son, I never thought that I would be able to go to school and get a degree in psychology. Equality is the reason why I have kept going, and why I keep trying. I have just as equal of a chance of getting a degree than someone that doesn’t have a child.

Weekly Blog 1

Title of Image: The Proud Family

After reading the course objectives for chapter one I noticed that it had a lot to do with diversity. I chose this picture because the first cartoon that entered my mind when seeing the word diversity was The Proud Family. The Proud Family is a cartoon that I grew up watching and it is about a group of friends that all come from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. This show teaches you how it is ok to be in a different ethnic group and have different values.

I noticed after reading the course objectives for chapter 1, that we are going to be learning a lot about how different cultures, races, orientations etc. , have an enormous impact on the psychological upbringing of each person within that cultural class. I hope to be able to gain knowledge on the importance of other cultures and not just my own. Being able to relate to other cultures will help me better understand the views that other cultures have when it comes to politics, family life and much more. I plan to read all of the course materials, and stay on task to be able to gain as much knowledge as I can about other cultural groups.