Blog #10

I chose this picture of a planner because this is one of the ways I have grown academically over the months. Becoming organized and planning out my courses have become such a large help in succeeding this semester. Time management is essential when you are in school and working full time, so my planner has been my best friend for the last 4 months.

Looking back at my initial post, I learned everything I expected to in the beginning! I’ve learned about cultures in different countries, I’ve learned how to be culturally competent with those in my workplace, and I have learned to use my critical thinking skills in order to better understand people of different cultures. I always had an open attitude toward Cross-Cultural Psychology, but I am even more intrigued as I learn how we use this form of psychology every day. I have realized that being culturally competent is vital to making the world go round. If I took the class over again, I would take more time to read the chapters twice before moving on to the assignments. Re-reading the course material gives you a second chance to understand the information in the text. I gained the skill of having more patience with people from different cultures, it helps me to feel better about myself and also other people feel more comfortable.

Blog #9

This is a photo of Raven Sutton, a Black ASL performer. I chose this picture as a representation of what I learned this semester because your culture has such an influence on everything you do in life. We have to acknowledge that there are multiple cultures in the world and understand their differences are what makes their personality. Sutton if full of life and her appearance is a representation of her culture.

The first thing that I have learned in the course would be the definitions of culture and enculturation. Culture is something that is learned and practiced throughout your life and enculturation is the ways and manners learned from the youth of the specific culture. Another thing I learned would be the Five-Factor Model for personality traits and their subtraits. Being in the Northern Virginia area, I do see common personality traits that are universal between multiple cultures. The last thing that I learned in this course would be counterfactual thinking in a culture. This relates to another course I am taking called Diversity Issues in Human Services. Human service professionals have come across Arabic clients that regret the incident on 9/11, which plays a major role on how they are treated in America today.

Blog #8

I chose to compare the emotion of stress and sadness in the Arabic culture. I have watched videos of bombings and tragic things happening to them and just as Americans, they scream, cry, and panic in a similar way. One thing that stood out to me was the terms they repeatedly shouted such as ” Allahu Akbar ” , “SubhanAllah” , and “Astaghfirullah”. The English translation would be “God is the Greatest”, “All praise be to God”, and “I seek forgiveness in Allah”. Muslims of the Arabic culture call to God in every state of need and regardless of the bad situation, they still praise him because to him we all come from, and to him, we will have to return. It is beautiful to see them run to prayer instead of shying away from God during times of stress, sadness, happiness, etc. In other cultures, you see people tend to give up on God and shy away from religious practices during tough times because they have lost faith. Everyone is different but this faith that the Arabic culture has is truly aspiring and beautiful!

Blog #7

I chose Princess Tiana as a movie character that I identify with because we are both African American and have big dreams. Some may say that the dreams you dream of are too big because of your current situation, but your life now does not define your future. I know how it feels to work the crumbiest jobs and have people overlook your worth because of your looks and financial class. If you would have told me that I would be the first time college graduate of my family, not on any state assistance, and making a fine living for myself, I would not have believed you! But look at me now.

Fairy tales do reflect a shared set of cultural norms and values, in my opinion. Depending on how you look, the majority of your life has already been set in stone and made out for you. For instance, many White families already have college funds, wills, and life savings ready to be inherited when the children become of age. The Black community has always had the system work against them and it has been harder to create a fulfilling life. Not to make this a race thing, but the fairytales that are most effective are the ones that portray all races in the world. There is Cinderella, Princess Tiana, Jasmine, and Mulan that all reflect different cultural backgrounds and values in each of their ethnicities. All of their stories and lifestyles are different because of the backgrounds they come from, which makes them all unique. The representation of these different cultures does exemplify egalitarianism and I am happy to see more diversity in the fairytale world

Blog #6

I chose this image to reflect the relatedness psychological need of self-determination theory. Being an online student, it is hard to feel like you belong to a group or are connected to other people. This app helps you relate to others that may be going through a difficult time whilst trying to finish the course and also act as a helping hand when you have questions. Feeling connected to other peers in school can motivate students in various ways. This app contributes to the success of a lot of students enrolled in online courses.

According to the text, the self-determination theory states that people from all cultures share basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, but that the specific ways in which these needs are met and expressed differ according to context and culture. Academically, whenever I chose to sit in the community room and finish assignments in one sitting for a course, I am satisfying the needs of autonomy. I desire to get my work completed and turned in before each due date, and setting aside the appropriate time to do this will help me pass the course. Studying for exams and quizzes puts me in a better position to feel confident of passing, which satisfies the needs of competence academically. I know that once I am prepared to take on the subject, I can utilize all the learned skills and information in order to have a high performance. I also satisfy the needs of relatedness by interacting with my peers in groupMe chats and staying active during discussion boards.

Blog #5

I usually could never tell someone about myself because I did not know who I was. I was in the process of trying to find myself and still be there for others; it did not work. You never know who you truly are until you are alone and experiencing life. Other people can influence you to participate in things you wouldn’t or even act in a way that doesn’t reflect who you are. I am me; a loving, caring, outgoing, soon-to-be mom. I am always there when you need me, even if I don’t have the energy. My goal is to make a difference in every person’s life that I come in contact with just by being myself. If you aren’t smiling by the end of our conversation, I’ll give you my life savings! 🙂

The majority of the statements I wrote are associated with the dimension of “independent construal of self”; eight of those statements, to be exact. When I think of describing myself, I think of everything that defines me characteristically. Just as the book states, I give my credit for my success in life to making decisions and trusting my true instincts. Two of the statements I wrote are associated with the dimension of “interdependent construal of self”, are “I am a Mom” and “I am a student”. I don’t wish to be identified because of children or because I’m continuing my education, but instead, the things about myself that define me more in-depth.

I’m more independent than interdependent because I worked hard to make a name for myself. The things that define me are self-made because of my personality, and I am proud of that.

I chose this image to best represent myself because traveling lets me express my true self. One of the statements about myself was that I am outgoing. If you want to experience something out of the norm, I’m your girl to call. I love adventures and I love to learn about other cultures. The best way to learn about a culture is to experience their everyday life yourself. I stayed in an Airbnb instead of a resort because I wanted to feel more connected to the people in San Juan. It was a beautiful experience.

Blog #4

After reviewing my exam, I am proud of myself. I have been struggling with consistently being sick in the first trimester of my pregnancy. I must say that this has been the most challenging thing I have faced being in school. Looking over the questions I got wrong, I was simply moving too fast. At times, when something confuses me, I tend to make impulsive decisions and guess instead of taking my time. I did review the review sheet, but I did not give myself enough time to thoroughly study it. The questions that I did get wrong, I noticed that I didn’t take the proper notes to sufficiently understand the criteria. In order to do well on my next exam, I will have to review my notes over the week versus two days before the exam is due.

Blog #3

Blog #2

One life value that is important to me that is relevant to career pursuits is to never give up when things get difficult. Growing up in Baltimore, I was more advanced than the other kids I went to school with. I read fluently, math problems were a breeze, and I could teach other kids how to understand the work when the teacher couldn’t. When I got to college things took a turn for the worst; I realized that I knew less than other kids from other states. I noticed that I was going to have to work hard to get where I wanted in life. I’ve been on my college journey for 7 years and I am finally scheduled to graduate next year. Another life value is to be true to yourself and not the money! A lot of times, we work for money because it pays the bills instead of working because it’s what we want to do. I tried to only work for money at a job and it only resulted in me being a lousy worker. I then went back to my old job and took a pay cut but realized that this is where I was more happy.

I decided to continue to higher education because that was all I knew. That was the American way to go! Finish high school, go to college, get a career, and live happily ever after. Boy was I in for a rude awakening! I would say the only people who played a part in my decision for college were my 12th-grade teachers and student counselor. My parents didn’t attend college and my peers only knew what I told them, so I was the one who would finally make a difference in my family and neighborhood. I thought about dropping out, I did drop out, and then I put on my big girl panties and began to finish this journey.

I chose this picture because I was at a family function doing homework, and this shows my dedication to getting things done. School can be such a hassle when you are older trying to balance your life and homework. One of my life values is to never give up when you face a difficult situation and this photo is a prime example of that. Your personal life can get overwhelming and the last thing you want to worry about is reading a long chapter and doing a quiz after. Be sure to never let a difficult measure come in between what you truly want in life. We have to continue pushing!

Blog #1

The first course objective is to acquaint upper-level undergraduate students with psychological research and theory that examine the influence of culture and psychology throughout the world. This will be useful in the future because analyzing behavior consists of focusing on those coming from different backgrounds. We may all be alike in some way, but your culture plays a huge role in your upbringing and how you perceive things. The next objective is to understand cultural diversity and the impact of culture on human life. As I stated before, your culture will influence everyday activities and beliefs. The United States is full of diversity and understanding a person’s culture can help with a better understanding of their point of view in life. I work as a receptionist, so I come in contact with people of all races and ethnic backgrounds, not everyone is the same. The third objective is to develop a greater understanding of people from other cultures and skills for successfully interacting with them (intercultural competence). At times, we are often impatient and bias to those of other cultures and it can be perceived as being rude or even racist. Just because someone comes from a certain background doesn’t mean use cultural slang when you see them; we must all work on successful communication. Another objective is to develop critical thinking skills and apply them to psychological theory and research that examine the influence of culture. This will be critical for myself because behavior is severely influenced by your background and upbringing. The last objective is to be able to make connections, or integrate learning, between courses and to outside experiences. This will be useful because a lot of courses tend to relate to one another and you can have more knowledge on a subject because of what you learned in another course.

I usually never go into a course expecting anything because I did not know what I wanted to do with my career. The classes taken are often relevant to your major but when you don’t have a clear vision, you can find yourself taking courses just because they fit the criteria. At the end of the course, I do expect to learn how to be more understanding with people outside of my culture. I intend to take the appropriate time to finish all work and readings in a successful manner. Removing all distractions 100% while working will give me a better chance at focusing on my work efficiently.

The woman on the right is from a Middle Eastern country and she is expressing that sex toys are forbidden and illegal in her country and that the government is repressive. I chose this image because the text mentions beliefs and how people from different cultures believe in different things. I agree one hundred percent because I reverted to Islam and I am Black American. I’m having a moment in life where I am trying to go about Muslim culture successfully while living in the United States and it’s hard.