10.28.21 Week 7: Culture and Psychology

 

Culture and Psychology

    If you want to understand the psychology of a person, you will need to start by working to understand their culture. Their  culture includes their identity, social conduct, experiences, emotions, semiotic creativity. 

    "Culture is much more than foods, festivals, and costumes. It’s the set of ideas that coordinate the actions and construct the meanings of a group of people. More often than not, these ideas are implicit and automatic, guiding our practices, structuring our institutions, and generally infusing the everyday business of our lives. As people engage with a culture’s practices, artifacts, and institutions, their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors come to reflect the culture’s values and beliefs." This quote was found in an article titled the Nature of Culture. 

    I agree with this idea that as we partake in the cultures of other people around the world, we begin to develop a new line of vision to see the world through. I have seen this in my own life, especially with learning a new language. You begin to think differently and with a broader perspective as you think in the way that they speak, act, and process information. 

    

    Culture nor Psychology can exist independently of one another. If you want to understand your own culture and psychology, the first action item would be to fully immerse yourself in the culture of someone else. Go visit a new place with new people and new ideas. See how different you are from them or even how similar you may be to them. There is no better way to expose how you feel or what ideas you have about a certain topic than to experience another person's culture completely. 

    What are ways you can immerse yourself in another culture today? 

References: The Nature of Culture https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/cultural-psychology-studying-more-than-the-exotic-other

Culture and Psychology https://video.byui.edu/media/06+Culture+and+Psychology/0_s4h3d6bc

10.27.21 Week 7: Difference In Manners

 

Difference in Manners

    This last week, I spent some time in Mexico with my husband who had never been outside the country before. We met up with friends and made new friends. We rode public transportation and ate a lot of yummy food. This experience brought back memories from my first time going to Mexico and my first time experiences the cultural differences in manners. 

    One example I wish to include is "to tip or not to tip". In Mexico, it is always appreciated if you tip, if not almost always expected. We paid for our bus ride to our hotel from the airport and we were expected to tip. We ate at restaurants and we were also expected to tip. In contrast, places like China or Japan actually view tipping as rude or condescending. Receiving is almost similar to begging in their culture. 

    

    Another example of a difference in manners would be greeting a friend or someone new. In Mexico, it is normal to wave and embrace. In places like Greece, waving with your palm facing the person is considered rude. The best way to wave properly is with your palm facing yourself, like the contestants in a beauty pageant tend to wave. 

    

    When traveling to a new place or country, I would suggest taking a couple minutes to review the cultural norms and manners in that country on the internet. It will save you uncomfortable situations or misunderstandings. This will also help you to best show your respect for the people you are visiting and help you to grow as a person. 

References: 
13 Examples of Good and Bad Manners Around the World
https://people.howstuffworks.com/13-examples-of-good-and-bad-manners-around-the-world.htm#page=0

10.27.21 Week 7: Cross Cultural Students in the Classroom

 

Cross Cultural Students in the Classroom

    In any classroom, you will find students from all different shapes, sizes, and backgrounds. In an ESL classroom especially, you will find students from many different ethnicities. This is an exciting and exhilarating experience! Every day is an opportunity to learn something brand new from each other. 

    As these differences bring excitement and joy into your classroom, they may also cause misunderstanding, confusion, prejudice, or annoyance. As a teacher, it is your job to take this experiences and situations and use them to combat any negative feelings. It is important to always keep an open mind and heart towards our students and their behaviors and characteristics. 

    Here is a list of common occurrences with our students from different cultural backgrounds that  may present themselves in the classrooms. 

• Eye contact 
• Social Distance
• Volume in speaking
• Quantity of speaking
• The amount of questions answered 
• The amount of comments made 
• Chatter among themselves
• Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation, etc.
• Silence
• Competitiveness
• Pacifism

    At a glance, there be some of the things on the list that you would prefer your students to do, or I would prefer for my students to be like. Of course, I would like my students to sit quietly and listen to my lessons, participate when it is appropriate, have perfect grammar and punctuation, and make comments when asked, etc. But this is not going to be the case in the classroom, no matter what kind of teacher you are or where you are. It is so very important that we don't let our own personal views of what we imagine the perfect student to be affect the way we see our students. This should in no way affect the way we treat them or our patience with them. 

    There are some cultures that believe it is best to sit quietly and to wait until you have something valuable to add before making any comments in class. These students may come off as incompetent for never answering any questions or participating. Some cultures are very outspoken and tend to talk over each other. This may come off as rude to the teacher because they are constantly needing to quiet those students down or rear them back into the discussion. 

    Whatever the case may be in your classroom, I invite you to learn about each of your students individually. Find out where they come from, what their family lives are like, and what their personalities are like. Get to know their parents and families if possible. Be patient with your students and their differences. Love them for what makes them different.

References: Cultural Differences in the Classroom: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-lifespandevelopment/chapter/cultural-differences-in-the-classroom/
Cross-cultural students in the classroom https://content.byui.edu/file/5ea5aa3a-0806-4dd5-8106-1ba4f85b3656/2/Cross-Cultural%20Students%20in%20the%20Classroom.html

10.19.21 Week 6: Attributional Tendencies

 

Attributional Tendencies

 Attributional tendencies is a great topic to ponder on and learn from. This refers to our disposition of explaining successes, behaviors, failures, results, etc. on either internal or external reasons. 

    This is a very culture specific topic. It definitely depends on the culture, situation, circumstance, and even individual person to determine what the attributional tendencies are, but here are some general observations. 

    A very popular attributional tendency is to be proud of oneself and to take credit for the achievements and accomplishments that have been made. While when an error occurs or an unfortunate event, the blame is placed on external forces or others as the explanation. This is a common tendency found in the United States. 

    The opposite attributional tendency, would be to believe that any success or accomplishment is a result of others help, great instruction, etc. and any failure is because of something oneself did wrong or incorrectly. This is a common tendency found in Japan. Parents of Japanese kids may attribute their successes to their great teachers, parents and other influential adults in their lives, but when it comes to their mistakes, they may internalize the responsibility. The opposite of what a kid in the United States may do. 

    Hong Kong and India tend to both attribute their success and accomplishments to internal efforts and studies and then also their failures and errors to their own unpreparedness or mistakes. 

    There is not one way that is superior to the rest, but it is important to understand how different cultural tendencies are. When you realize how others think and act according to the culture they are most accustomed to, it will help us to appreciate their efforts no matter where they think their successes may have come from. 

    

References: John Ivers https://content.byui.edu/file/45b9e59e-e91a-44eb-879b-18efd35d7bab/3/Attributional%20Tendencies%20Cultures.html

10.18.2021 Week 6: Personal Space Differences

 

PERSONAL SPACE DIFFERENCES

    Let's take a moment to reflect on the cultural differences of personal space. There are some countries where personal space is crucial to their happiness, where other cultures are completely the opposite. 

    I, personally, am a very private person when it comes to physical contact or giving others their space. I lived in Mexico and I have traveled to other countries where it is very common to give a lot of hugs and to kiss each other on the cheek. This is not just the women or men, but both! At first, being from the United States, for me it was very shocking to me and quite the change. I adapted quickly, though, and I now wish that the rest of the world was more connected in that way. I felt so much love for my Mexican friends and family and I knew I always had someone to hug or a shoulder to cry on. Now that I live in the United States again, I do not hug or kiss anyone on the cheek regularly, a part from my husband. 

    In a study done by the Washington post, however, one thing that almost all cultures agreed on was this: Women prefer more personal space from strangers than men. Interesting. The results also showed that the warmer the climate, the less distance there tended to be between people. The colder the climate, the more distance was kept. This could definitely be correlation and nothing to do with causation, but still an interesting study result. 

    When we misread someone's intentions or even cultural differences, confusion and even negative feelings can occur. I went to Guatemala to visit one of my companions from my mission in Mexico. One thing, we loved to do was dance. We went to a couple of dances where the music was loud and the men our age were dancing very close to us. It could have easily been interpreted as them trying to flirt with me or something else, but I knew the Guatemalteco culture well enough to not take any of it personally. They weren't dancing inappropriately by any means (as they were also members of our same church), but according to what I was used to in my culture, I could have easily thought that they liked me as more than a friend or were trying to flirt with me. The personal space difference was definitely evident.

    As, I have mentioned previously, we need to be ever so careful to not misinterpret other's intentions and actions. It could very well be the cultural difference when it comes to personal space.  What will you do to help ensure that others around you are comfortable?  

References: 

What 'Personal Space' looks like around the world, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/04/24/how-close-is-too-close-depends-on-where-you-live/

10.18.21 Week 6 Collectivism vs. Individualism

 

Collectivism vs. Individualism

Collectivism is known as the practice or principle of giving a group priority over each individual in it. Individualism refers to the principle of being independent and self-reliant. When someone is viewed as being collectivist, they tend to value group effort, group instruction, group creditability and success, group nonperformance, etc. Those who view people individually tend to praise those for having self-reliance, self-advocacy, self-direction, and self-responsibility to name a few. 

    The most important thing in comparing these two views and learning about each one is this:

 One is not better than the other. 

    This is very important to know and recognize. In different parts of the world, the society may be viewed as a collectivism society or an individualism society. I grew up in the United States of America and According to Ava Rosenbaum, author of Personal Space and American Individualism, "The United States has one of the most individualist cultures in the world. Americans are more likely to prioritize themselves over a group of people and they value independence and autonomy." A few other countries that are considered individualist include: The United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, and Australia. 

    When it comes to Collectivism, nearly three-fourths of the world's cultures can be described as collectivistic (Triandis, 1989). Some of these countries include: Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Venezuela, Guatemala, Indonesia, India, and Brazil, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, Argentina, and Pakistan. People are considered collectivistic when they are generous, helpful, and interdependent on each other. 

    It is important to remember that although specific countries may portray themselves as being more individualistic or collectivistic, there may very well be individuals within that specific country who does not follow the status quo. Although it may be seen as "good" to be selfless and generous to those in their community, it is also not wrong to want to work hard for something and want to be able to reap the joys of their labors. We must always strive to do our best and be our best for ourselves and our community and we should be free to choose which is best for our own circumstances. 

References: 

http://www.ncset.org/publications/essentialtools/diversity/partIII.asp

Brown Political Review https://brownpoliticalreview.org/2018/10/personal-space-american-individualism/

10.16.2021 Week 6: Differences in Emotional Expressivity

 

Differences in Emotional Expressivity

    Emotional expressivity is the extent as to how much a person expresses their inward emotions on an outward scale. This expressivity varies greatly on the different cultures and backgrounds of people. Even within cultures, there can be those who express their emotions differently. 

   

     The differing amount of emotional expression can also vary a great deal within the United States. It seems that even the West Coast and the East coast have varying amounts of expressivity. There are many ways to express your emotions through your words, nonverbals, and facial expressions. Simple gestures that can very clearly mean one thing within the United States can mean the complete opposite in other parts of the world. 

    

    An example of this would be, someone who is very passionate about their beliefs and wants to share them by speaking loudly and boldly in a conversation. This can be interpreted as rude or overbearing by some. Others may even think that this person thinks that what they believe is the only truth and they would be angry if someone were to say something contradictory. This passion shown in facial expressions and words can come off as a negative interaction, when really that was not this person's intention at all. 

    

    Another example would be a person who is very quiet and reserved. In the United States, it is normal to be more reserved around those you don't know and have no intention of getting to know. In other countries, it may seem rude to not introduce yourself and start a conversation. 

    Defining differences in cultural emotion expression is crucial in developing relationships and friendships. The more you learn about the differences in culture for different cultures and people, the more you will recognize that our differences are not a bad thing. They are what makes us who we are. 

References:

Influence of Culture on Emotion 

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-psychology/chapter/influence-of-culture-on-emotion/

10.16.2021 Week 5: Culture Miscommunication

 

Culture Miscommunication

     Communication in our world is our means for understanding one another. Any team, group, church, staff, class, etc. understands the importance of clear effective communication. We simply would not be able to accomplish anything without clear communication. 

    Is there such a thing as miscommunication because of differences in culture? 

    

    Our differences make us unique and exciting as people. We have different ways of speech, dress, behavior, tradition, and many others. Our differences make us who we are. These differences, however, are also often the cause of confusion, hurt, or even anger if not properly addressed. In a work environment in the United States, for example, there may be certain rules and regulations that each employee is expected to adhere by. These regulations may include: a dress code, a punctuality/attendance policy, and appropriate speech. In a workplace in the United States, there may be employees with many different cultural backgrounds. These differences in persons do not change the before mentioned regulations. Everyone is expected to show up on time, wearing the specific dress code required, and to speak with proper language. 

    

    In my workplace and being in an elevated position, I have known several situations with employees of different cultural backgrounds who experienced cultural miscommunication. In one particular example, there was an employee from South America that had a very hard time waking up early and would come into work 15-30 minutes late nearly everyday. She also had a hard time following the dress code. She did not think that there was anything wrong with the way she was behaving because in her experience, it was completely normal. However, due to the nature of her job, she was fired by the upper management of the office. She had been given several chances to change her behavior and follow the rules that were laid out, but instead she insisted that the management were all just "racist" and were judging her unfairly. In this sad example, we can see how there was miscommunication from both parties that led to misunderstandings, anger towards one another, and eventually a negative departure. 

    I think that it is very important to take these experiences and to learn from them. We need to expect cultural miscommunication to happen, because it will, and be ready to combat the confusion and hard feelings with patience and love. 

References: Cultural Miscommunication Brother John Ivers

https://content.byui.edu/file/1f252424-e7fc-42a2-a0ba-8d8564ac3571/1/Cultural%20Miscommunication.html

10.13.21 Week 5: Response to Cultural Differences Concerning Time

Cultural Differences Concerning Time

A Monochronic World 

    In a monochronic world, time is linear and only one event can happen at once. Any interruption or delay is a major inconvenience and should be avoided. Being on time and maintaining a regular schedule is more important that human relationships. An example of this would be Doctors or Dentist appointments. When you make an appointment, you are expected to be 10-15 minutes early or on time at the least. If you fail to make it there on time, you will be charged a fee for the wasted time that you cost the office and Doctor. 

A Polychronic World

    In a Polychronic world, family and human relationships take utmost importance.  Time in a polychronic world has more fluidity. More than one thing can be done at once and setting appointments will be at a much wider view of time. As long as the different tasks you have can be done in a natural rhythm, you can do them at the same time. Doctors or Dentist appointments can be changed at any moment, and you can go in on a day that is convenient for you and be flexible to be seen when the Doctor has availability. 

 

    I worked at a Dentist office in the United States as a Dental Assistant. Working there, I knew the importance of having a scheduled appointment and not missing it. If you were to miss your appointment, you would be required to pay a missed or late fee of $35-$75 dollars to somewhat make up the cost of the time of the Doctor, staff and building. Likewise, you could not just walk into the office and be seen. You were required to make an appointment ahead of time and come at the scheduled time. 

    When I lived in México, I had accidentally thrown away my retainer (after having my braces removed) and I desperately needed a new one or my teeth would move out of position. I went to the nearest Dentist/Orthodontist I could find and I sat in the lobby for probably 2 hours until there was an opening and I was seen by the Dentist right away. I got an impression taken of my teeth the same day. I didn't have to schedule an appointment and come back later. This can be good in situations like this, but if there hadn't been an opening, I could have waited all day. I also experienced this same treatment anytime I needed to be seen by a doctor. I would never make an appointment. I'd find the nearest Doctor's office and wait in the lobby. If there were other people, we all sub-consciously let the most severe case go first to see the doctor and we'd all patiently wait our turn. 

    It is fascinating to me how the Cultural time differences work in different parts of the world. I have grown up in a Monochronic world and so a Monochronic time table makes the most sense to me, but I know that is not the case with the rest of the world. It is ever so important to be understanding and patient with the difference in our cultures. It is important to not take offense or get frustrated when someone's time table is different than your own. I have had to learn that. As a missionary in México, Mérida impromptu teaching appointments were always the most reliable. People were always willing to make time for us in the moment and listen to us. Setting up appointments to come back later did not always have the same impact. If I knew then what I know now about Polychronic time, I would have been more patient and understanding. I hope that anyone reading this, can also have their eyes opened and their minds enlightened. 

 What will you do to make sure that your view of time does not cloud your ability to love others and have relationships with them while also respecting their time?

References: 
Cultural Difference in Concerning Time - Brother John Ivers
Monochronic vs. Polychronic https://habitgrowth.com/polychronic-vs-monochronic/

 

 

 

10.11.21 Week 5: Culture Paradigms

 

Culture Paradigms

 

    Cultural Paradigms are unavoidable in our world. With the differences and distance between each one of us being so great, it is no wonder these paradigms exist. 

    The above image is a perfect example of a paradigm that presents itself in our society today. These blind men stumbled into an elephant. As they each grasped different parts of the elephant, they called out what they could feel and what they whole-heartedly believed it was. Of course, an elephant is a very large animal with many moving parts and the men could only feel their tiny portion. This caused contention, frustration, and confusion among them. 

    How can we keep in constant question our own
 beliefs and views of the people around us? 

It is true that we often do not have the full picture and can be quick to make assumptions of what we believe to be correct. When someone comes along and tells us something different, our first reaction can be to disagree or argue.

    A culture paradigm is a "role-concept which we use to negotiate our notion of self and our relationships with others in our everyday lives."  Culture can exist in one's country, city, religion, school, workplace, home and family. A culture paradigm can be a belief or view of oneself and others. A tradition comes from a culture and is passed down from generation to generation. 

Why do you think it could be important to question tradition?

    Delali Bright, in her speech titled "Cultural Clashes in Defining Beauty," shared her insights. Bright goes on to tell her story, "I was born and grew up in Togo in West Africa, and in my culture, a thin body is not synonymous to beauty. Being thin was considered unhealthy, probably poor, and definitely not beautiful.... Then, in my 30s, I moved to America. And suddenly, I was beautiful!" In this short quote, we see how her entire view of her body and self changed purely because of her change in location and culture. I definitely recommend listening to the rest of experience featured in her TED talk. We see here, that she spent 30 years of her life believing she wasn't beautiful and unhealthy because of what she was told and what was believed to be true in her culture. We need to be aware, focused and open to what is going on in our communities, our schools and our homes. We cannot let the opinions and traditions of other people define ourselves and our worth. 

We can be anything that we dream we can become. 

References: 

Understanding Cultural Paradigms — Being and Knowledge — By Daniel B. Martin
Arditi and The Idea of Cultural Paradigms: Page 8
Cultural Clashes in Defining Beauty - Delali Bright https://www.ted.com/talks/delali_bright_cultural_clashes_in_defining_beauty