Blog 10:
My initial course expectations aligns with the outcomes provided by this course. At the beginning of this course, I didn’t know much about cross-cultural psychology. One of my goals was to learn about different cultural behaviors and apply them to my career field to communicate efficiently with my clients. Also, I have grown academically, since I have an understanding on the influences of cultural values and theories regarding cultural differences. The coursework provided has allowed me to be successful in this course. I would not change anything differently about this course.
Blog 9:
I have learned three significant things in this course that will be very useful to me. I’ve learned why people from different cultures behave differently around those they don’t know compared to those from my culture. Also, I have learned about my personality by taking the NEO personality test and being open-minded to others differences even if I may not understand or agree to them. Some of the blog posts and assignments correlated with each other. Assignment 4 about gender stereotypes in advertisement and module 9 about gender association most with specific occupations. From these assignments, I learned that gender stereotype should be eliminated because they can be mentally detrimental on women and men. I can relate this course to another. In this course and my interpersonal relations course, the main objective was learning how to communicate better with those who differ.
Blog 8:
Emotions are worldwide, but how a person expresses and interprets it differs culturally. My best friend is from Morocco, so I interact a lot with her family. Compared to the American culture, Moroccans don’t express their emotions the same. In Morocco showing anger, fear and guilt or any other negative emotion is not acceptable, especially in public. Also, showing emotions of sadness is not desirable because it assumes the individual is weak. In the American culture, negative emotions can be shown in front of others. The concept of universality and cultural display rules can help explain my experiences. 
Blog 7:
Everyone has read, watched or heard about fairy tale stories. I do believe, fairy tales reflect a shared set of cultural norms and value by showing social class and challenges people may face. Most older fairy tales include a prince charming and a damsel in distress; e.g. Cinderella, Snow White and The Little Mermaid. During the time those fairy tales were written, the men were considered dominant. Also, there was no representation of any minorities in these fairytales. As the society changes, there is more movies where the woman are becoming independent and there is a depiction of minorities. Although she isn’t a traditional princess, Fa Mulan has influenced me the most. She saved all of China, due her military training. She proved that a woman could be a hero.
Blog 6:
The self-determination theory by Ryan and Deci asserts that people are motivated to grow and change and have the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. This states that people generally like to feel in control of their own lives. Personally, I satisfy my needs for autonomy through my education. I was able to chose my career path and the college that I wanted to attend. I satisfy my need for competence academically by passing all of my courses and obtaining important information from my peers and course work. Lastly, I satisfy my need for relatedness academically by getting involved in activities that align with my career interest. Also, I speak with students and faculty to get an understanding on how to succeed in college.
Blog 5:
- I am… a student
- I am…passionate
- I am…compassionate
- I am…strong
- I am…truthful
- I am…beautiful
- I am…determined
- I am…intelligent
- I am…happy
- I am…valuable
All of my statements are representative of the dimension of independent construal of self. My traits reflect my abilities and personality. I do not have any traits that reflect the dimension of independent construal of self. The English proverb states that independent construal of self include “there is no ‘I’ in team, but there is a ‘I’ in win”. This indicates individual success. English proverbs for the dimension of interdependent construal of self include “there is strength in numbers”. This saying reflect that on collectivism and working together with a group will increase greatness. Thinking of a phrase was easy for both of these dimensions.
Blog 4:
A lot of students find it easy to cram for a test or not study at all, but I never leave it to the last minute to prepare for an exam. Two weeks before this scheduled exam, I created a study guide from my course notes and reviewed them for at least 30 minutes each day. In order to properly do this, I separated myself from any distraction and cluttered space to concentrate. After finishing my test, I had earned a 94 out of 100, which is a lot better than I expected. Although, I was stressed out from studying, my techniques were very useful. I will continue using my tips for my future exams.
Blog 3:
For the NEO test, I scored high for openness. My personality reflects that I am imaginative and open to learn new things. For example, each weekend I like to try different activities such as going to the museum or hiking. My conscientious score was also high. I am very organized and detailed. Whenever I am assigned a task at work, I try to complete it carefully to not make any mistakes.
I scored average for agreeableness. I can be both compassionate with people, distant and/or non-trusting of people’s intentions.. For example, I easily can get along with anyone that I am working with.
My neuroticism score was fairly low. My personality reflects I can either be emotional, stressed and anxious. I find it very hard to not get upset if something doesn’t go the way that I had planned. My score for extraversion was also very low. I tend to be very introverted and reserved from everyone else. I do not like to go out to large events because it becomes draining.
Personality Traits
These characteristics summarizes who I am as an individual. These traits reflect how good I may be as a student, worker or leader.
Blog 2:
I consider myself to be a highly organized and motivated student, but very quiet. I make sure that I attend every class. I am the student that always sits in the back and never asks any questions, but I give my full attention to take thorough notes and understand the chapters topic. When given assignments, I complete them before the deadline. Also, I have the capability to maintain my workload and my social life. My current level of confidence is moderately high. I canacknowledge my skills, and I believing in my abilities to achieve success, but I can doubt myself at certain times of failure. I can increase my level of confidence by focusing on the times I was successful and surrounding myself with motivated and self-assured people.
Positive Thinking
I apply this quote, “They can because they think they can.”, to my life when I am trying to achieve one of my short or long-term goals. In order to become successful or great, I have to have positive thinking such as believing in myself and attempting a difficult task..
Blog 1:
Each objective listed on the syllabus will help me to have a successful career future. I plan to be a clinical psychologist and that entails me to associate with various cultural backgrounds. If every objective is met at the end of this course, I will have a solid comprehension on the thoughts and behaviors of my patients.
While completing this online class, I expect for good course material such as videos, articles. When taking certain classes, the assignments that must be completed are always long and tedious. I would like for the assignments to be interesting because that will provide with an increased chance of undertaking the chapter topics. Also, I anticipate for practice problems or quizzes to be offered before taking a test and for the return of grades in a timely manner to guarantee I am passing this course. At the end of this course, I hope to obtain a better understanding on cross-cultural psychology to apply to my career field.
Taking an online class means that I can work at my own pace, but that can lead to me being distracted. The strategies I plan to implement to be successful in this course is taking good notes and studying. Each week, I will commit my time to look over the assigned power points and type the important concepts into a filed word document. Another strategy I intend to utilize is meeting assignment deadlines. As soon as I received the syllabus, I wrote down all of the due dates into my planner.
I have chosen to use my notes as my representation. Notes are an efficient way for me to understand the chapters reading and to pass this course. Good note taking helps me stay prepared and on track with the courses module schedule. All of my notes are typed in an organized form. Each document has the title at the type of the page in bold and with section headers in various colors. This format assists with studying.