Top Artifact #3

For this assignment, I reflected on what brings me happiness, as well as the relationship between happiness and physical health. When considering what brings me happiness, I immediately think of how much joy a delicious meal brings me. I chose this item as my top artifact as I’m immensely proud of the progress I’ve made in learning to cook. I also appreciate the change I’ve seen in myself. As a child, I don’t think I wouldn’t have seen food bringing me this much joy. I was a picky eater who enjoyed riding my bike around the neighborhood with friends. As I’ve grown into my twenties, my priorities and needs have shifted, however. I no longer have a parent to cook for me and am therefore responsible for keeping myself alive. See my reflection for this archived item low:

“In my mid-twenties, nothing seems to make me happier than a good meal. Although seemingly simple, after teaching myself to cook and ensuring that I remain fed every single day, I’ve come to appreciate good food much more than when I was a child. I credit this to learning about the time, money, and energy it takes to create good food, as well as the resources required to keep a person fed. Food, the thing that brings me happiness, is very much crucial to good health. When I’m well-nourished, I’m more inclined to engage in other important health behaviors such as good sleep and physical activity. In my case, I perceive my happiness (derived from food or not) and physical health to be in a bidirectional relationship. Both elements contribute to one another, for better or for worse. For example, if I’ve had a headache all day I’ll be less inclined to cook for myself, which in turn could make me feel worse the following day. Alternatively, if I try a new recipe that doesn’t turn out that well, I may turn to a can of soup for a quick substitute. However, the soup, especially if eaten alone, will likely not keep me satiated long enough, potentially leading to me waking up hungry in the middle of the night. Despite these examples being on a small scale, I still think this bidirectional relationship between happiness and health could easily translate to a larger life-long scale, as Matsumoto’s text touched on the increased mortality rate of those who experience loneliness. Our physical and mental well-being seem to be in a symbiotic relationship, one relying on the other to maintain itself.”

This journey of learning to cook for and look after my body has not been an easy one. While struggling to maintain a good body image, I’ve had to reflect on what’s important to me and come to terms with needing to feed myself well. Although I derive happiness from eating a delicious meal no matter who the chef is, when I cook for myself, I also experience a sense of pride. Archiving this item made me consider that seemingly insignificant things that bring people joy might not be so insignificant. Small actions you take every day may be highly impactful throughout a lifetime. Considering some of the things I’ve learned in this course and others, from an evolutionary perspective, I think it’s probably adaptive that a life-continuing behavior (e.g., eating), brings me such joy. It makes sense that things that make us happy (e.g., food, sex, socializing, etc.) might also keep us alive by contributing to our physical health.

Top Artifact #2

My top artifact from this section was from module 10. After archiving this item, I found myself reflecting on cultural differences in lateness and promptness and exploring my own implicit biases and expectations, as well. Upon comparing the number of minutes I would wait for a variety of different people in my life, I realized that there is quite a bit of variability in my patience level for people depending on their role. I would wait very little time – only 10 minutes – for a boss who was running late. However, I would wait up to an hour for my best friend if they were running late. This shows an arguable lack of patience for the peripheral individuals in my life, such as a boss. Other peripheral individuals were on the lower end of my patience, as well, while more proximal individuals, like friends and family, were given the benefit of the doubt.

I found this activity very thought-provoking. It may be that more collectivist cultures would be willing to wait a bit longer for a boss or client, seeing them as parts of the whole and seeing the value in fulfilling their own role by attending the appointment. Personally, I usually view someone running late, particularly in work settings, as wasting my time, especially if they don’t give notice that they’re running behind schedule. I do think I should try to be more empathetic and forgiving when individuals are behind. I run late sometimes; it’s only human.

This activity also had me thinking about certain cultures’ overall tendencies to run behind schedule, which I’ve heard referred to as “colored people time” or CPT. I am not a person of color, and it’s totally possible that other cultures who have alternative scheduling practices might see my promptness as a transgression and handle the scenarios described above entirely differently. It’s important to consider cultural differences when setting appointments and encountering individuals from different backgrounds than your own. This archived item really got me thinking about how culture shapes individuals’ views of promptness vs. lateness, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

As a child, I was always taught that “the early bird catches the worm,” instilling strong values of promptness in me as a child. (Image sourced from: https://www.csaimages.com/preview.asp?image=T85226&badge=true)

Top Artifact #1

I thoroughly enjoyed archiving Artifact 2. Although I found value in other artifact items, I strongly connected with the research component and visuals in this artifact. Also, the Hofstede website tool helped make some of the differences between cultures on the five cultural dimensions more digestible.

Of course, it was not surprising to see the United States score high on individualism. It was also not surprising to see how the U.S.’s scores on other constructs, such as uncertainty avoidance and masculinity/femininity, differed from more collectivistic cultures. Simply looking at some of these differences in scores has led me to pause and reflect on what ecological, environmental, and contextual factors may have evolved in each culture to shape such values.

Reflecting on my own experiences with Americans, we are a highly individualistic culture, placing our own needs before those of others. In contrast, reflecting on my Korean friends from high school, discussed in Assignment Takeaway #1, who are from a traditionally more collectivistic culture, their families consistently demonstrated a commitment to the larger Korean community. This likely had something to do with being part of an immigrant community, as well. Though, there also may have been some contribution from the country my friends’ parents immigrated from. Either way, these differences are fascinating, and I enjoyed reflecting on them.