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2021/10/28 week07 Culture and Psychology.

  Culture and Psychology.     The impact of culture on psychology can be vast. For some people it provides a huge boost to their self-worth and self-esteem, for others it completely tears them down and leaves them feeling worthless. This  all depends on if you fit in or not with what is culturally expected for you to do.     I am lucky to live in a city that is very open in its mindset. It is acceptable for us to express ourselves and be unique individuals, this can be through the way we choose to dress, hobbies and sports that we do, or what type of work we want to do. The only condition is that we don't do anything that harms those around us. At school you would find friends who were vastly different, some were sporty, others academic or more focused on the arts and cultures. This differences created talking points and sharing points instead of divisions. There was no silly idea of the rugby players cant be friends with the drama kids, or any one cool or ...
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2021/10/26 week07 Differences in Manners.

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  Differences in Manners.          I am sure that all of us were raised in certain ways. We were taught from a young age that this is the way you should behave in public, how to conduct yourself towards the opposite sex, your peers, those older/younger than you and hundreds of different situations. All of these are the manners that we were raised with. Like many other aspects of life, these vary from culture to culture.     When I started to travel and live abroad I always found it interesting to see how we all differed in what we considered correct manners. I remember waiting to board buses or the subway. At first I would stand back, let the woman and elderly go first, while everyone else just pushed and made sure that they got on the bus. A few times I would even wait for a different bus to arrive, this was easy as they came almost every five minutes. After a short while I realized that while my heart was in the right place, in a city of mi...
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2021/10/26 week07 Cross-Cultural Students in the classroom.

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  Cross-Cultural students in the Classroom.     In my previous blogs, we have looked at various aspects of cultures and how they can differ. We have also looked at the impact that these differences can have on societies. Today I would like to take a look at what happens when we have classrooms with mixed cultures.                                        Different cultures throughout the world have different perspectives on what the ideal student is. Some believe that a quiet, respectful student is best, while others will value a student who interrupts and asks questions or freely expresses contrary opinions. These views often boil down to different cultural paradigms.     There is no right or wrong in this situation, it just depends on what is normal for you. However foreign students who differ to the norm may find themselves in tough situations! ...
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2021/10/22 week06 Attributional Tendencies

  Attributional Tendencies.     I found the ideas of attributional tendencies to be really interesting. They made a lot of sense once I became aware of them. I think it was information I was subconsciously aware of but hadn't quite put it together by myself before.     Attributional tendencies is the idea of what we acknowledge or blame for our success and failures. Do we take credit for what goes well and say it was all due to our individual efforts, then when things go wrong do we look for any scapegoat that we can and mention every excuse we can think of, in an attempt to make people think we are not failures? Or is the opposite true, do we share in our achievements and take the blame individually?      To me taking credit for your success always made sense, its your effort, so claim it, but give credit to team mates and such, if appropriate. I never understood the concept of not taking responsibility for your failures thoug...
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2021/10/22 week06 Personal Space Differences.

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  Personal s p a c e differences.          The only thing I have enjoyed about the whole Covid situation that we are in, is that we are encouraged to keep our social distance! I enjoy having my own personal space and do not want others to invade it whenever they wish. It takes a long time for me to become comfortable to have someone stand close to me. Obviously in certain situations I realize that I need to shrink what I view as my personal space, but this does not mean I am happy about it.     One of the hardest parts of teaching young kids for me is their lack of understanding on personal space. They will constantly badger you for attention and if you are busy helping someone else, then they will try get up and tap on you the whole time until you give them the attention they need. That part of teaching has taken the most getting used to and patience on my part.            I found this graph interestin...
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2021/10/21 Individualism VS Collectivism.

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  I N D I V I D U A L I S M VS COLLECTIVISM.      The ideas of individualism and collectivism are  interesting if you really start thinking on them. Depending on what part of the world we are from, we have completely different ideas and thoughts on these two concepts. Often we will shudder in horror if had to contemplate trying to become the opposite of what we currently are.     In South Africa we have strong individual traits, though there are some aspects where we take the collective approach if needed. We all try to get as much of an advantage that we can, we want to stand out and show what unique talents we have to offer. This is especially true in many work places.     Things do differ in our cities though, the trend is that coastal areas are more individual than landlocked cities. Living in Cape Town it is completely normal to see people freely expressing themselves through their looks. Even men will have their hair dyed in all di...
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2021/10/18 week 06 Differences in Emotional Expressivity.

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  Differences in Emotional Expressivity.     Emotions have always fascinated me, for the most part it is something we all do naturally and in our private lives we all do it similarly too. Emotional Expressivity on the other hand is even more fascinating. It revolves around how we express our emotions when we are out in public. Do we keep it bottled up till we are alone or are we willing to let it all out then and there, no matter what! Maybe we take more of a middle ground approach and don't under or over show any feelings.     Growing up I have always felt that it is ok for me to express some positive emotions in public and some degree of affection for my loved ones, but nothing over the top. On the other hand, if I am feeling anything negative then I must suck it up and just be neutral. We are not supposed to feel sad, disappointed or hurt. although, anger was acceptable for some weird reason. On the other hand the woman in my culture were free to sh...
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