Blog 10

Comparing my initial expectations when I wrote blog 1 to now, I think not a lot has changed. I still refer to the syllabus all the time to make sure I am keeping track with assignments. I also feel like I have been doing well in turning assignments in early. As for my initial fear of being uncertain that I would know how to make the ePortfolio, I think I over came that fear. The more I logged onto WordPress to update my ePortfolio, the more I stared to understand the website. I only had two minor complications when it came to creating my ePortfolio, which was loading up pictures or finding a website to generate word clouds. Other than that, everything else was pretty self explanatory. If I had to change anything that I did as the course progressed, I would have tried turning more assignments in early. If I did that, I think I would have opened up more time to study for the GRE and look for a job. Regardless, I feel like I learned everything I was hoping to learn. My attitudes for Cross-Cultural Psychology are still the same as they were before. I believe this class is very important to learn from so we can all try to imagine how other people are thinking. I think classes like this help us destroy barriers and make us all feel a little more connected. While taking this class I feel like my computer skills has grown. After completing different assignments I have figured out short cuts to help me complete more assignments efficiently. A skill that I have gained from this course that I can apply to my professional life is one of insight. I feel like having a better understanding of what other people might be coming from due to their cultural background will help me find ways to try and relate with people more. As someone who wants to become a therapist, I feel this skill is very crucial.

I included this image because even though I already attended my graduation ceremony, I technically haven’t finished my degree yet. I still needed a few more credit hours to complete my field and thats why I took these two online summer classes. As my last blog entry, I feel like I am a step closer to completing my degree.

Blog 9

Top 3 lessons learned from making an e-portfolio

Number 3: ATA1

I feel like learning the different sensitivities people may have about culture was very applicable to whats going on in the world today. It was something I didn’t know about before, and it was very interesting to see which category I fell under. With so much political talk about immigration we see a lot of different sensitivities debated amongst people. knowing where these people come from now makes me feel more knowledgable of my surroundings.

Number 2: Blog 7 and ATA1

A lot of what I wrote for blog 7 reminded me of what I learned from my Women Studies class sophomore year of ODU. In both places, we discussed a lot about traditional tropes in different forms of media. This blog post made me think back to ATA1 because I felt that the things I wrote there relate back to my cultural sensitivity. As close minded as they were, I learned what other peoples’ stance were while looking up the casting for the Little Mermaid as my visual image.

Number 1: Items to Archive for Module 6 and 7

Both these items to archive made me reflect back on my memories and dig deep to find significant events. I think what I learned from these two archives were that I still have a lot of life ahead of me. It can be easy to get caught up on the little stuff life throws at you and make mountains out of mole hills. While reflecting on these two archives I learned that I still have a long road ahead of me and there is so much to explore.

Related Concepts

A topic discussed in Cross-Cultural Psychology that I have gone over in other psychology related classes is the Five-Factor Model. In this class, we discussed it in terms of culture, how they evolved, and origins. In other classes like, Abnormal Psychology, we discussed this model and related it back to mental disorders.

I picked this image because I feel like everything we talk about in this class is connected in some way. All the concepts we learned some how play off one another and the same idea goes for psychology as well.

Blog 8

As a child and in my teenage years I would often travel to Puerto Rico with my mom to visit my family. Whenever I came back home after a month or two on the island, my dad would always ask why I was talking with my hands. I soon realized that Puerto Ricans express what they’re saying with their hands. If you look closely, you could probably tell the tone of a Spanish conversations my just looking at the hand gestures alone. Even when I’m not speaking Spanish, I still use my hands when I speak to get my point further across. It is almost hard for me not to speak without my hands because it just feels like my hand gestures are half the point I’m trying to make when I speak.

I picked this image because Puerto Rico is the one culture I have the most experience with. I remember visiting the island when I was as young as four years old. There are a lot of aspects about Puerto Rico that is different from the states. Some are more obvious than others like food, architecture, and media. Although, there are some aspects that are not so popularly known, like traffic laws. The traffic laws in Puerto Rico are very relaxed. You wouldn’t get in trouble for driving through a red light if there is no traffic in the other lanes. Also there are a lot of people who sell water and various food items on the street corners. This is something that is not that common in the States, or Virginia at least. In Puerto Rico on the other hand, they have extremely hot days so it is not uncommon to see those street venders.

Blog 7

I do believe fairy tales and older animated Disney movies highly influence people as they grow up. It might not outright say it or intentionally try to set a set of cultural norms but I believe common story tropes do help set standards early on in our childhood. We have all seen movies that involve white princesses who need saving or have to find their perfect prince. These story beats can imprint on a child early on that boys and girls must adhere to these standards. I think its great that more movies today that are designed for children to watch are departing from these older story beats. I think by showing women accomplishing other things in these fairy tales, it can make young kids realize they are not limited to just certain ideas. Changes like Disney casting an African American singer to play the Little Mermaid are great ways to make their movies more inclusive for other young children of color as well. I personally have never been attached to older Disney movies as a kid because I was never crazy about musicals. Instead, I remember my dad showing me older cartoons as a child, like Transformers, which I absolutely loved. I think it was the iconic voice acting that really hooked me as a kid, and of course the giant robots turning into vehicles was fun to watch as well. My favorite character from the show was Ultra Magnus because he looked really cool and stood up for ideals that I admired. He was a selfless robot that did anything for his friends and I remember wanting to be like him as I was growing up.

Even though the movie is not out yet, I think casting Halle Bailey as the Little Mermaid is a perfect example of inclusiveness. We have plenty of movies where we see white female protagonists as the forefront of these Disney movies. I think it’s great for young African American children to be able to see someone that looks like them in huge roles such as these. Other movie characters like Black Panther or Miles Morales Spider-man are great opportunities to diversify modern day Disney and super hero movies that are targeted for young children. I think its a welcomed change and a step in the right direction to make these movies more inclusive for everyone of all colors and backgrounds.

Blog 6

I’m not sure if how I achieve my own self interest academically can be considered to be autonomy. Close to the end of each semester at ODU, I always made it a habit to visit my advisor. During these meetings I would ask her how well I’m doing and what I should take for the next semester. It was in my own self interest to meet with her but I was following her guidelines to the best of my ability. Although, I will say that I am a more independent student when it comes to studying and doing assignments. I know it’s not the best trait, but I have always felt more comfortable doing my own work. While I like to do my work alone, I do like discussing assignments with other students because sometimes I can overthink what I was supposed to do. The reassurance given to me by other students and faculty often help my own peace of mind.

This image represents my ideal study environment. I feel like I would be able to get the majority of my work done in a room like this. I’m someone who can get easily get distracted, especially if I get frustrated with something. Whenever I am frustrated with work, I just feel like dropping everything and doing something that calms me down. If I’m all alone and just have my work in front of me, then I feel like I have no choice other than to keep trucking along.

Blog 5

At first I thought I would be more independent, but after reviewing the ten statements I made about myself, I think I am more interdependent. I believe statements such as one, two, three, six, seven, and nine are interdependent while the remaining four are more independent. When I typed the interdependent statements, I remembered past experiences that involved other people. The other statements that are more representative of the independent construal self I believe only really reflect my own mentality. I think it was easier coming up with the interdependent statements because I feel like connections with other people is something I am lacking in my life right now that I want to gain back.

I believe this statue is representative of this weekly blog post because this was pretty much what I looked like trying to come up with these statements. I believe this is what my mind looks like when I encounter pretty much anything new because I always just seem to wonder off and think about a million different stuff.

Blog 4

After taking the first exam, I realized how important it was to complete the study guide. When it comes to taking classes in person, a lot of the optional materials professors offer to students may not harm students if they are on a good academic standing. When it comes to online classes on the other hand, the optional materials are basically a requirement if you want to do well in the class. The study guide was extremely helpful for me to prepare for the test. Even though I got an 82 on the first exam, I was happy with how I typed up my notes. There are only two things I would do differently next time. First, I would start the study guide way sooner than I did originally. I underestimated how long it would take to finish the study guide if I wanted to be thorough. Second, I would be more descriptive with my notes when it comes to questions that want you to be familiar with a certain section. I believe the questions I missed on the exam were from questions on the study guide I did not review as much as I should have.

I picked this image to represent my blog post because I think it summarizes one of the factors that took me off guard while I prepared for the first exam. When I was typing it all out, it hit me how much I was going to have to look back and review. Regardless of the page number, there is no doubt how helpful the study guide was.

Blog 3

Neuroticism

I scored very high on this one, which did not surprise me. I feel like I keep a lot of emotions to myself, but once I am alone, I feel and express them. Especially now with so much change happening in my life, I feel a lot of different emotions that are kind of upsetting me at the moment, if we are being honest.

Extraversion

I scored very low on this one, which was also not surprising. Throughout my years studying at Old Dominion University, I have worked on plenty of group projects. The majority of my experiences have all been negative, where people do not do the work and I end up carrying the group. I never enjoyed going out to parties or being around large groups of people. I enjoy doing very small and laid back activities with a small group of friends.

Openness

For the rest of the dimensions, they are just average for me, including this one. When I find ways of doing something I usually track my results. If they are all positive, then I stick to it. I get uncomfortable when someone recommends me a new way of doing something, unless I really trust them. Often times, when someone recommends me something, I say I will try it but I end up brushing it off. If I do try something and it ends up working in my favor, then I will change my old ways.

Agreeableness

If there was a box in between average and low, I feel like that’s where my score should be. I scored average on this dimension, even though I do not find myself to be trusting of others. I feel like this is the biggest dimension I have adopted from my father. He has always taught me never to trust people easily because everyone has an agenda. I have had a lot of experiences where people have taken advantage of me so I have embraced that lesson my father has taught me. I find myself being right about where people are really coming from if I feel suspicious of someone. Even when I feel like I am overreacting, something happens down the line that proves me right about someone.

Conscientiousness

I agree with my average score I got on this dimension. Without a doubt, I deliver when someone asks me to do something. Anytime someone needs me to perform a task, I make sure I get it down, especially if it’s from someone I respect or a supervisor. When it comes to my own goals though, I feel like I am all over the place. Even though one day I feel like they are clear, somedays my attentions feel like they change and I end up doing something completely different.

Note: I was unable to access the wordle link in the instructions. When I tried downloading it to my computer, it said it was unable to do so because the app was not trusted. I downloaded firefox and I was still unable to access the site. When I tried pasting words through the firefox browser, it would still say I need a specific program that only firefox has, even though I was already on the firefox browser. Anytime I went to the create tab and tried pasting words in, it would not load anything. I found another free site that pretty much did the same thing and was compatible with my computer, so I hope this will suffice.

Description: I picked the dog and cat cover because I felt like it added another description about me without having to find the words for it. I love animals but I could not think of one word to sum it up. Even though some of the adjectives in the image are negative, I feel over all the cover shows that I am still an okay person. I know that I am flawed but I like to think that there is still some kind of hope for me. The cover represents that in it’s own way, I guess.

Blog 2

Values that I have developed through my years of schooling that have led me to the career I was to pursue is mostly the act of helping. Ever since I was in middle school, I knew that I wanted to go into a career where I was helping others. I thought that maybe I should go into the medical field, so I went to the Health and Science Academy at Bayside High School. Soon after starting my first year at Old Dominion, I realized the path for medical students is not something I could see myself doing and be happy with. I then realized my passion for psychology and talking to other people about their mental state. Growing up, I have always been a person that people have often come to explain what was on their mind. I truly feel accomplished and proud of myself when someone feels a little better after talking to me about an issue they had. 

I decided to continue higher education because the path to the career I want to get into requires it. I also love learning about psychology and I greatly appreciate all the knowledge I have obtained from my classes. My parents have played the biggest role in my continuation of higher education. They have always been supportive right from the start and allowed me to take my time. They never stressed about grades and were always open to helping me find resources to succeed in my classes. 

I picked this picture because this was an achievement that I was really proud of. About a year ago I joined Dr. Braitman’s about alcohol research. During the Spring semester, undergraduate students had the ability to work on a poster to present at the annual VAS meeting. I was fortunate enough to coauthor on this poster that discussed drinking motivations and expectancies. We worked all throughout the semester on this poster and I really liked how it turned out. I was proud of myself because I felt that I made a real achievement in the field of psychology that professors and graduate students were proud of. It is also nice to say that we are technically published. 

Blog 1

After going through the syllabus, there are two main factors that will help me in the future. Having a page that outlines the schedule and highlights the due dates for assignments is extremely helpful. I find myself referring back to this page to ensure that I am up to date on assignments. The other factor that really helps me out is how descriptive the syllabus is. I am horrible with computers and having step by step instructions that clearly lay out all the directions you need to follow is extremely useful for me. What I would like to gain from this course is further knowledge about the field of psychology and how different cultures effect peoples’ persona. I want to learn about as many different people as I can so I can be well equipped as a therapist. My main strategy to succeed in this course is to get assignments done on time and always refer back to the schedule page. It is easy to look at an assignment that is due a week from now and put it off until the last day. If you get it done by the day it is assigned, or close to it, then you don’t have to worry about it.

Looking at the Five Hofstede Cultural Dimensions, the United States scored really high on Individualism/Collectivism. People in the US are encouraged to follow their own dreams and do what makes them happy. A sign of success in the US is that you are obtaining great wealth while having your dream career. The meme above represents to me that the “American Dream” might be something that is unobtainable for some people in the US. Some US citizens might have given up on obtaining this dream and just live out their lives doing what they can to survive.