Blog 10

I do not think I expected this course to be as interesting as I found it. For some reason I had the expectation that most of the material would be pretty common sense but it in fascinating to know how much culture affects everything! I do think I have learned some beneficial tools in how to interact with people of different cultures but it is situational. If I took this class again, I would stagger my assignments more appropriately to make room for error instead of waiting until the last minute. Most of my assignment (in all classes) are due on the same day so procrastinating definitely did not help me at all! I think I have developed a better sense of the study habits I need to incorporate moving forward. This is the first 400 level class I have taken and it definitely makes a difference when you are ill-prepared. One skill I’ have gained from this course that I can use in my professional life is to gain understanding from individuals based on their cultural backgrounds. Understanding a person’s culture can help understand their behavior and interactions with others. Some perceptions may not be relevant if they are not looked at within a cultural lens.

I chose the photo below because I think it is a good representation of how the same situation can be interpreted differently by people depending on their cultural framework.

Image source:

https://culturalconflict.wordpress.com/tag/culture-thailand/

Blog 8

Being from the DC metro area, I have had experience interacting with people from many different cultures. One might think emotional expression is universal but that is not the case, as suggested in the article assigned for this blog post, “Emotion Perception Across Cultures” (found here: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/betweencultures/201610/emotion-perception-across-cultures). One particular culture I have experience with is Cameroon. My best friend in high school was from Cameroon as well as all of her family and I spent a lot of time with them during high school. What was noticeably different that I observed dealing with her family specifically is that the women were more stoic in their expression of emotions. Her mother and aunts barely ever cracked a smile and were generally very serious. On the contrary, the male figures in her family seemed to be much more expressive. It was easy to tell when they were enjoying themselves at family events or when they were irritated or angry about something. In comparison to American culture, I think this is essentially the opposite. Women tend to be more expressive than men in America, from my experience. This was probably different than my expectations for the women because I am used to women being very expressive and warm and being around women who were more serious and less expressive was definitely unexpected. Cultural display rules might be able to explain the reason for this difference in emotional expression in Cameroonian women though I only have exposure to this one family so it could be family specific, I do not have enough knowledge of the culture to know for sure.

I chose this image because it is similar to the experience I have had with my Cameroonian friend’s family. The top is a western caucasion person expressing different emotions and the bottom is a person from east Asia. As you can see, the person on the bottom’s expression has less variation. In fact, a lot of the images look similar or almost the same. This closely resembles the expressions of the women in my friend’s family.

Image source: https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2011/09/facial-expressions.aspx

Blog 7

I do believe fairy tales reflect shared cultural norms and values and can even be used to support those values, sort of like advertisements influence on society (like I had learned about in Social Psych). Advertisements can shape the perception and expectation of women and I think fairy tales have the same function. If you look at the Grimm Brothers fairy tales for example, they are mostly about children being obedient or not so to their demise.

Being inclusive and more egalitarian in children’s stories is essential for supporting that thinking in young children. Children are sponges and the more exposure they have to more inclusive and egalitarian material the better. There has been a movement more recently about including more people of color in children’s movies because of the current underrepresentation. This has led to movies like Moana, which includes a Pacific Islander cast and a heroin who denounces the damsel in distress. Another example of this is in the movie Home. This features an African American girl who saves her mom and ultimately the planet by being taken over by aliens.

In my personal experience, Alice in Wonderland has had a positive influence on me. Alice’s determination to accept her “weirdness” and continue her father’s business after he died, even though she was a girl and it was a “man’s business” has something that has definitely resonated with me.

The image I chose of the Sesame street characters does not directly portray inclusiveness. But the show itself has always been progressive in its ability to include people of all different shapes, races, abilities, etc.

Image source: http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Sesame_Street_(Japan)

Blog 6

Choosing to major in Psychology was a major way in satisfying my need for autonomy and competence. Psychology is an extremely competitive field and an “unsafe” area of study to many. I am sure my mom would have been much less anxious if I had chosen something like IT or Accounting. I chose to pursue the area of study most interesting to me, that I could gain the most knowledge willingly and where I had the most motivation. I also join groups with similar interests and motivations that allow me to feel relatedness with my peers. Maintaining an above average GPA has satisfied my need for competence. I would have hated to pursue a degree in Psychology and failed. Through the many challenges I have had over the last few years, nothing has stopped me from going to school and working on my degree. This consistent and continuous pursuance of my degree has satisfied my need for competence.

Some people may feel pressured by significant people in their lives to pursue career paths that satisfy those significant others but the best decision is to “cut the strings” and do what makes you the most happy and will gain you the most success. The picture I chose is representative of that idea.

Image from: https://www.governancenow.com/news/psu/psus-seek-more-autonomy-less-govt-interference

Blog 5

Based on my 10 statements I have an independent self-construal. I listed mostly abstract personality traits. The other “I am” statements were who I am in accordance to other people. Although my personality traits are independent, they have been formed because of my roles in other people’s lives. I said that I am a nurturer and a healer. Many of my friends and family members come to me for emotional healing but I have found that (maybe because of my personality) many strangers trust sensitive information with me and feel comfortable discussing personal details of their lives.

In my statements, items 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10 are associated with independent. Items 3, 4, and 9 are interdependent.  this how I came to my conclusion above.

Oscar Wilde has been quoted saying, “be yourself, everyone else is already taken.” I think this is pretty self explanatory but it is part of the independent self-construal which values uniqueness.

“Occupy and play one’s assigned role” is a saying that encourages being who you are in relation to other people. If you are a mother, be a mother. Do not try to be the “cool mom” or the “artsy mom” or the “tidy mom”. Do not seek unique aspects of motherhood. Just be a mom.

I identify most with the independent self because I think there is value in being your own person. If everyone was supposed to be the same, there would  not be any difference in DNA or environments, there would not be different cultures or background, etc. I also think it is exhausting to try to be like other people. We are naturally supposed to be ourselves.

image from: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=g0jNW5S7EcO9ggfF-Yr4Bg&q=uniqueness&oq=uniqueness&gs_l=img.3..0l10.14202.16015..16120…0.0..0.82.648.10……1….1..gws-wiz-img…….0i67.jtmYkKb0o98#imgrc=aCUy_LBZ6_sAeM:

 

Blog 4

For this exam I thought I was a little better prepared than I actually was. I was under the impression that I had studied enough during the course of different modules that I would not need as much actual study time the week before the exam. I looked over my notes and briefly went over the study guide at the beginning of the week but did not study again until the day before the exam (exemplified in the image below). For future exams I am definitely going to take advantage of the study week and make sure I prepare better.

I chose the image below because, as I already stated, I did not study much during the week but did a sort of cram session the day before I took the exam.

 

Blog 2

I believe myself to be a pretty confident student as long as I don’t procrastinate past the point of no return. I can easily get overwhelmed if I leave everything to the last minute however, once I start on task I have no lack in confidence in my ability to finish the task- starting is the hardest part for me. My confidence levels directly correlate with my course load. I don’t really have qualms with the things I have the ability to accomplish. I know that if i work hard enough, I can get an A- no matter how hard the class is. In fact I have been known to get As in my hardest classes and lower grades in my easier classes because I enjoy challenges. My biggest setback is not allowing my course load to pile on top of me and staying organized is a way to combat this. The way I can boost my confidence is to maintain a good work ethic and stay on top of my assignments. Instead of pushing my work to the last minute, I need to stick to the schedule I’ve laid out for myself to keep myself ahead of the game.

I scored a 92.5 in “believe in your ability”,  80 in “ability to grow with effort, and 87.7 overall. This is actually slightly lower than I had assumed it would be however I scored a little lower in areas that talked about talent. I do believe that some people are gifted with talents that other people cannot obtain or exceed because they were birth given. However, I do believe that hard work gives one the ability to achieve anything- even if not at the same level as someone with talent AND hard work. I think that directly correlates with what I said about being able to succeed in any of courses if I just put in the work necessary to succeed. An example of what I mean by this, is that a person with superb memory hard work ethic might receive a 100% in the course where I might receive a 96% with my work ethic alone. Both still As, but the person with the better memory earns the higher grade.

The last blog I posted, I added the explanation of why I posted the picture in the “description” part of the picture and did not receive credit for it. I’m assuming this means it needs to be in the body of the blog itself. Anyway, I’ve included a picture of the results of the Self-Efficacy test for self-explanatory reasons.

 

 

PS- I used the same blog post from Psych 304 here because the prompt was the exact same. I hope that is ok. I did not see anywhere that said they needed to be different so I just included the same information.

Blog 1

The objectives specific to this course will help me in the real world in dealing with people of different cultures. In a professional and personal setting it is beneficial to know how to respectfully communicate and interact with others who may share a different cultural background than myself. I expect to gain insight in these areas and specifically the reasoning behind certain culturally driven behaviors so as to better understand my peers of different cultural backgrounds. For this course, I plan to create a scheduled study plan and organize my material in a user friendly way to ensure success.