Blog Ten

I feel that, overall, I have achieved most of the course objectives listed in the syllabus. Since taking this course, I am completely more open minded and understanding with cultures that differ from my own. I know that culture is not as clear cut as I originally thought. If I took this course again, I would allow myself more time to study materials so that I can ensure I am grasping all the information. However, over the past few months I noticed that I do study more than I previously have. Lastly, one thing that I learned in this class is that culture strongly impacts life. Since I will be working with people, knowing how to handle various cultures will certainly be necessary.

Blog Nine

Since the start of the semester, Cross-Cultural Psychology has been an eye opener. I learned that the NEO personality test can be used in multiple situations such as in the workplace, or even personal use. I certainly learned more about myself after taking the test. Secondly, I learned that values across cultures can be controversial and confusing. Lastly, I learned the very important difference between the interdependent construal self and the independent construal self.

The NEO personality test reappeared during assignment three, which was about traveling abroad. The concept that men and women are different can be applied to traveling. Since women score higher in the areas of openness and agreeableness, they are the perfect candidate for these adventures. In my Drugs and Society course, we often compare Americans to those in Japanese or Chinese cultures. As we learned in this class, due to values we all make different choices. This can be seen in the clothing that people wear and the activities that people decide to engage in. For instance, those of Chinese culture are less likely to drink alcohol. However, in this activity is widely done in America.

 

Blog Eight

People differ all around the world. Sometimes, you see a variety in the expression of emotions within your own state. When I lived in Michigan, there was a large Arabic culture. I went to high school with a lot of the children and had several friends. When they were upset, mad, sad, or bothered by something they kept it to themselves or wore dark colors. Sometimes it was hard to tell because they still wore a smile or even occasionally cried with excitement. I was surprised by this because a lot of Americans tend to let people know what is bothering them in one way or another. In a lot of cases, things are expressed through social media for Americans. The cultural display rules explain this because  it states that these are things learned during childhood.

 

Blog Six

Satisfying the three psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence are very important for every single person. I satisfy my psychological need of autonomy academically by always creating my own time schedule to complete assignments and giving myself the right to be creative. To meet my needs for relatedness I always try to apply what I have learned from my courses to my everyday life. This helps me to remember the material in a different way. Lastly, I satisfy the competence need by studying extra material and setting higher goals for my test scores. This helps me to push myself harder each time.

Blog Five

Based on my ten statements, I am a shy thinker, who is very kind. Numbers 3, 5, and 9 are most associated with my independent construal self.  On the other hand numbers 2, 7, and 10 are mostly associated with my interdependent construal of self. I believe that I am more on the independent side because most of my statements fell along those lines. I have limited roles that have to do with others.  When it comes to the independent self, I would describe it as “being true to yourself”, but I would describe the interdependent self as “playing your part”.  Between the two, it was easier for me to come up with a proverb for the independent self because I closely identify with this. I focus on and prioritize authenticity and that aligns with the independent self.

 

 

Blog Four

Being able to go back and review my incorrect and correct answers was very helpful. I learned that I should take my time to ensure that I am not making careless mistakes. As I was going through the chapters I realized that I should take more detailed notes to make sure I am writing down the correct information. The feedback made me notice that it would be more beneficial to complete the exam review over the span of the week rather than a couple of days before. This feedback will alter the way I study for the upcoming exams and eliminate my careless mistakes.

Blog Three

The NEO personality test was fun and made me examine myself afterwards. For the traits neuroticism, extraversion, and conscietiousness, my score was average. On the other hand, I scored high for openness and agreeableness. I predicted that I would score high in these areas because they are a huge part of who I am as a person. Overall these results are consistent with my personality.

For example, being apart of a military family meant constant moving. Rather than being upset about moving, I decided use my imagination and decorate my room differently every move. It made sense for me to score average in the conscietiousness dimension because my planner is extremely organized, but I value downtime. I enjoy going out to dinner with my friends, but I also prioritize privacy, this proves why my score was average for extraversion. Agreeableness is probably the most observant trait that I posses, whenever there is tension I am the person who tries to soothe things. Lastly, my neuroticism is evident when I am overwhelmed with activities and responsibilities. When this happens I usually feel sad because i want to complete everything in the best way that I can.

 

Blog Two

A few life values that are important to me, and assists in the pursuit of my career, are integrity, creativity, determination, compassion, authenticity, and honesty. I always knew that I would attend college, and it was simply a dream that I would be accepted to the same University that my mother did. In middle school I recall working hard to ensure that I kept my grades up. This practiced followed me into high school, where I knew college was no longer a distant dream. I was determined to do my best on all assignments and always wanted my creativity to shine through.

I decided to continue onto higher education because I knew I wanted to help people and that requires a degree. My teachers, throughout grade school, always portrayed college as something that was very essential to life success. Both of my parents have always pushed the importance of education. As of today, my mother is a semester away from her PhD so it is easy to see why I would chose to attend a University. Creativity, determination, compassion, authenticity, and honesty have always been important to me and guide each step that I take towards my career.  They definitely help successfully get me through college.

Blog One

I believe the course objectives will help me in various ways in the future. Having knowledge of psychological theory, research, and an accurate understanding of the functionality of cultural diversity will be beneficial to my future career. I expect to obtain a deeper comprehension of multiple cultures and how to respectively navigate them when encountered. I am also hoping to gain tools that broaden my levels of diversity. To be, and remain, successful in this course I have transferred all due dates to my planner. In addition to this, I have printed out the syllabus and highlighted all essential information for the course. Lastly I have set aside a specific time to complete any coursework for this class, without distractions.