16/2/2022 Week 7: Response to "Culture and Psychology"

16/2/2022 Week 7: Response to "Culture and Psychology"

Response to "Culture and Psychology"

When I was reading about Culture and Psychology, I remembered the movie "Antz". This movie starts with an ant named Z, who is with a psychologist and is talking about his life. He feels insignificant and dislikes being a worker. He doesn't enjoy what he does. He wants to achieve his dreams, not those of the colony. And the psychologist makes him feel that he is wrong because he wants to break that paradigm.

In the video, we can see how the larvae are assigned to their future tasks, worker or soldier, without leaving them to grow and decide by themselves what they want to become.

In our real world, in some cultures, it is the same. For example, parents who are doctors, want that their children will be doctors, or if they are family of lawyers, their children will continue that pattern. Since they are born, they see them with the degree on their hand. These children when they are growing and like another career, sometimes feel that if they say "No" the whole family will be against them, and they prefer to sacrifice to reach the dreams of their family. But in some cases, they decide to face their family to follow their own dreams because parents and grandparents have their expectations with them and the next generations, but their expectations aren't the same as their parents.

Today, most parents let their children decide for themselves what they want to become, and this is a great advantage.

"Machismo"

Another thing that is changing is the work of men and women. Before, it was very marked that the men only did men's things and women did women's things or jobs.

It was embarrassing or degradant for men to do feminine occupations, and if women did men's jobs, it was humiliating for men. 

Mexico was known as "Machista" which means that women only do what men want them to do because Machistas believe that men are superior to women. Machismo affected the majority of women with low self-esteem because they never decided for themselves, they lived subject to their husbands, fathers, or brothers.

In the '90s, men began to change and break with these paradigms, and those who wanted to change or were obligated to change were called "Mandilones" because they began to do feminine jobs. They were criticized a lot, it was humiliating for the machos.

Nowadays, things are changing, men do what a woman used to do and vice versa, women now work in fields that were never for women. 

As teachers or future teachers, we cannot stereotype our students, they all have different qualities and abilities that will improve if we help them develop them. We need to stop making cultural assumptions and help them to adapt to a new culture because if we don't help them this can cause low self-esteem and this will affect lowering their affective filter.

• Machismo is an irrational culturally-created ought self, but how do you see Machismo from your culture?

References:

1) Culture and Psychology Professor Ivers BYU Idaho Universityhttps://content.byui.edu/file/c615d56d-e670-4fbe-8b8b-64325e977465/1/06%20Culture%20and%20Psychology.html

2) image https://estaticos-cdn.prensaiberica.es/clip/f23e1929-8d44-44ea-9f88-961ab1f4a5d9_16-9-aspect-ratio_default_0.jpg

3) video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFX14TEiBOw

4)Image worker or soldier (paint)

5)image machismo https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTul-xI4BCM-tGDR-bVmvdeqAtp8SWAoheHAQ&usqp=CAU

6) image

https://cadenaser00.epimg.net/emisora/imagenes/2017/05/11/ser_madrid_sur/1494507753_144508_1494507885_noticia_normal.jpg

https://static.comunicae.com/photos/notas/1212341/1582526680_Captura_de_pantalla_2020_02_24_a_las_7.43.38.png

https://previews.123rf.com/images/megaflopp/megaflopp1506/megaflopp150600149/41992342-doctor-joven-hermoso-medicina-mujer-sentada-frente-a-la-mesa-de-trabajo-y-prescripci%C3%B3n-de-la-escritu.jpg

https://img.remediosdigitales.com/0fd8b4/istock_000065744971_medium/1366_2000.jpg

 

15/2/2022 Week 7: Response to "Difference in Manners"

 15/2/2022 Week 7: Response to "Difference in Manners"

Response to "Difference in Manners"

As I said before, each culture is very different, and we cannot do things that we think are right for us in other places, because everything we think is right, for other people or culture is not.

Today we are going to talk about Differences in Manners.

From a very young age, our parents try to teach us manners or socially behavior, how we should address others which has to be with respect, and what to do and what not to do, so as not to leave the education that our parents give us in a bad way.

Throw

What do you do when someone asks you for something? Do you throw or give the object in their hands?

Well, this simple action could make a difference depending on where you are. For example, in Korea, they give things into people's hands, they don't throw them at someone else. If you live in the United States, you can throw to another person what they need, but if you are in Mexico maybe you can do it with a very close friend but never do this action with your parents or other people because this action is not good, it is rude. People only throw things to animals to play with or feed them. 

Eating

With cutlery or without cutlery? When we are going to eat, we need to be well seated, not resting our elbows on the table, and eat with our mouths closed, eating small pieces of food. We never eat with our mouths open or make noises like slurping soup. 

I remember my great grandfather showing me how to use the cutlery, and telling me not to do it with my fingers. Of course, there are foods that we can eat with our fingers like tacos, tostadas, fried chicken, hamburgers, pizza, popcorns, etc. But this is very different in other cultures, some cultures like India, Thailand, and Malaysia eat with the fingers. 

They show us the art to eat with our fingers and show us step by step. Let's see the video.

Another thing you should know is when we finish eating. If you eat at your house it is ok, no problem, but if someone invites you to eat at their house, you must finish all your food (clear your plate) if you do so and someone invites you a second time, and you deny the invitation, they will think that you are ok but you like their food. But if you don't finish all your food and they invite you a second time, and you don't accept they will think that you don't like their food. In China is the opposite, you need to leave some food on your plate.

Music

Good music is fantastic, but when the music is anywhere at any time it is a big problem. I like music, but for me, not for everyone. In my city, especially in my neighborhood, I have many neighbors who play music at any time, it is really a war. One person has electronica, other narcocorridos, other ballads from the '80s, and another bad bunny. This does not allow me to concentrate on my assignments during the day and at the night we cannot sleep because they also have Karaoke. Street parties in some countries are not allowed. People need to rent a special place for parties, but in Mexico, it is very common to close the street to have a big party. 

This and other differences in manners are what we must know and try to understand to avoid misunderstandings and share them with our students so that they know how to act with their classmates or their families.

• What other differences in Manners do you know?

 References:

1) image https://c.tenor.com/Jbs0FzeTXAYAAAAM/hambre-hungry.gif

2) Professor Ivers, BYU Idaho Universityhttps://content.byui.edu/file/3b9f9a3b-1633-41fd-a1cb-371052401ec8/1/Differences%20in%20Manners.html

3)image https://media.istockphoto.com/photos/man-giving-keys-to-someone-picture-id825903232?k=20&m=825903232&s=170667a&w=0&h=19KPHTnFlPdYL2ncBkkyj2O1debGl0DpkSY3nc5bSHE=

4) Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w35vjpmmb8

5) image  https://img.gruporeforma.com/imagenes/960x640/6/30/5029128.jpg

 

15/2/2022 Week 7: Response to "Cross-Cultural Students in the Classroom"

 15/2/2022 Week 7: Response to "Cross-Cultural Students in the Classroom"

Response to "Cross-Cultural Students in the Classroom"

As teachers or future teachers, we are preparing ourselves to deal with students of different nationalities and cultures. This opportunity also comes with different cultural paradigms and situations that we need to handle as best we can.

Expressivity

Professor Ivers taught, that cultures have different subcultures and some subcultures are more expressive than others. 

For example, in the United States, there are many different subcultures.  

White students in Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah are less expressive, but in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and New Jersey are more expressive and dynamic.

Hispanic students are more expressive than white students.

African American students are very expressive by their cultural paradigms.

Asian students tend to be less expressive than white students if they moved from their country to the United States, but if they were raised in the United States they tend to be like the Americans.

When Asian university students study in the United States they see things very differently because of their culture.

•  They never talk when the teacher is talking, showing a high degree of respect. But they think that the Americans are disrespectful because they interrupt the teacher to share their insights, but for American teachers, this means that the students are engaged in the class.
•  They rarely question or disagree with their teachers. but if with other students, because they eat in the classroom or when others students place their feet on the book rack of the desk in front of them.
•  Some Asian students don't look the teacher in the eyes to show respect, but American students don't look at their teacher for doing other things.

This happens because Asians are less expressive tolerance than Americans.

 

Mexico

Here in Mexico in all levels students are forbidden to 

•  Speak when the teacher is explaining the lesson.
•  Eat inside the classroom.They need to wait for recess.
•  Play or stand up inside the classroom, it is very rare for teachers to establish activities to work within the classroom. Most teachers forbid their students to move from their desk. 
•  Leave the classroom without the teacher's permission. The students need to ask permission to go to the bathroom, drink water, etc. This is a bit difficult because some teachers count the entrances and the exits and if the student need to go to the bathroom they don't allow it.
•  Go to school without the uniform and without the mandatory haircut for men.
•  Say "Que!"(What!) if the teacher speaks to them, they have to say "Mande!" and the teacher will tell them what to do.

Before the pandemic, there were many cross-cultural students in my area, because of the exchanges. Now only the children of the workers of some American, Chinese, and Korean industrial port companies. The things listed above may cause some misunderstandings for them. These rules may be easier for Asians than Americans because American aren't restricted in their country, as Professor Ivers said, "They live in an egalitarianism society", so they decide to pay for education more similar to their country, but here it is very expensive.

As a parent I don't like Public Education in my country, but we can take the positive side and not the negative because it is what we have, and Private Education, as I mentioned, is very expensive.

As teachers or future teachers, we must prepare ourselves to give our best to try to change this and make education meaningful for our students. I know this will be difficult because we will try to break some cultural paradigms, but we must begin by ourselves to make the necessary changes in education to mark the lives of our students (native and cross-cultural) in a positive way and help them understand the paradigms of other cultures so that they can have better relationships with the people around them not only at school but also in their future jobs. 

•  What would be some things that cross-cultural students could find different in your classroom?

Leave your comments.

References:

1) Cross-Cultural students in the classroomhttps://content.byui.edu/file/5ea5aa3a-0806-4dd5-8106-1ba4f85b3656/2/Cross-Cultural%20Students%20in%20the%20Classroom.html

2) image https://campus-climate.umn.edu/sites/campusclimate.umn.edu/files/discgroup1_1.jpg

3)image https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRk8XGXmLOK6t_9BchC0VoBMg8KJZrvQw7494ox1bGeZVPoShKuJkDEP9puA2gArK-Q5cA&usqp=CAU

 4)image http://www.anahuac.mx/iest//sites/default/files/gbb-uploads/seguro-accidentes-a7z722.jpg

 

 

12/2/2022 Week 6: Response to "Attributional Tendencies"

 12/2/2022 Week 6: Response to "Attributional Tendencies"

Response to "Attributional Tendencies"

Do you think that everything that happens to you is your fault? or everything good with others is because others help them succeed? Unfortunately, we always tend to see things that way, and this is called Attributional Tendencies.

Attributions are inferences that people draw about the cause of events, others' behavior, and their own behavior.

Professor Ivers mentions that Attributional Tendencies refer to what we attribute success, personal failures, the success of others, and the failures of others.

Internal and External Attributions

Attributions are divided into two: Internal and External and these are also divided into Stable and Unstable.

Internal Attributions: People tend to be responsible for their acts (success/failures). Taking over them the responsibility.

These kinds of people if they have success tends to think "I did it!" or "I am good!" attributing success to their effort. And if they do something wrong they recognize their mistakes saying, "Everything is my fault!" or "I don't know how to do anything!" taking all the blame over them.

External Attributions: In this part, people tend to think that the fault lies with someone else, not with them. And success is because someone else helps them to reach it.

These kinds of people if they have success tend to think "This happen because you helped me!" or "Without your help, this would never have happened!". And if happen something wrong they make responsible to someone else, talking about parents, teachers, etc. saying, "Everyone is against me" or "If you hadn't helped me, I would have done better!" They don't accept their mistakes.

Stable: Concrete, unchanging factors of success or failure.

Unstable: Temporary, changing factors of success or failure.

For example,

Personal Success/Failures

In the United States, typical Americans tend to be internal when they succeed, and external when they fail.

In Hong Kong and India, they attribute success and failures internally.

In Japan, typical Japanese tend to attribute their personal success to external attributions and personal failures to internal attributions.

Others People Success/Failures

In the United States, typical Americans tend to see other people's success externally, and other people's failures internally.

These examples help us to see that each culture has different Attributional Tendencies, and these can be very similar or totally opposite.

We need to learn about this because situations can arise at school with our students or their parents that will cause problems with others according to how they attribute their success or their failures.

For example, if our students need to work in a group activity, we know that some students are individualistic and others collectivist. And this could affect their attributional tendencies. Students who are individualistic can tends to be internal when they do something right and external when they fail. They tend to blame others. And students who are collectivists tend to do the opposite they attribute success to others and failures to themselves.

We need to encourage them to work in groups and help them recognize their failures without blaming others and not give total credit to others, not belittle their abilities if they do well. I think that our feedback will help them to make the necessary and will help them to change these attributional tendencies.

 

• How might these Attributional Tendencies affect your classroom in other ways?

References:

1) Image https://economia3.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/se-aprende-mas-del-exito-o-del-fracaso-noticias-infocif.jpg

2) https://wattersattribution.wordpress.com/

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

4) https://wattersattribution.wordpress.com/attribution-2/

5) image https://www.unir.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/iStock-472404164.jpg

6) image  https://previews.123rf.com/images/stylephotographs/stylephotographs1303/stylephotographs130300080/18324025-estudiante-joven-feliz-celebraci%C3%B3n-de-los-pulgares-para-arriba-en-clase-de-la-universidad.jpg

7) image  https://previews.123rf.com/images/jackf/jackf1803/jackf180305773/97813519-retrato-de-ni%C3%B1o-enojado-en-el-aula-en-el-fondo-con-los-alumnos-que-estudian-con-el-maestro.jpg

8) image https://educandoanuestroshijos.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Definiendo-el-%C3%A9xito-lo-que-los-adolescentes-necesitan-para-prosperar.jpg

9) image https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/muchacha-joven-del-estudiante-de-la-escuela-que-parece-infeliz-y-cansada-en-concepto-educaci%C3%B3n-119306319.jpg

11/2/2022 Week 6: Response to "Personal Space Differences"

 11/2/2022 Week 6: Response to "Personal Space Differences"

Response to "Personal Space Differences"

How do you know if someone is invading your personal space? Did you know that there are differences between countries on how they see if you are invading their space? Yes, there are limits or zone distances that may be right for you but not for them, and limits that are right for them but not for you.

Zone Distances

Chapter 9 of Personal Space Ownership, mentions four zones distances:

1. The Intimate Zone between 6 and 18 inches (15-45cm) This zone is for close people like spouses, children, friends, parents, relatives, or pets.

2. The Personal/Friend Zone between 18 and 48 inches (46cm-1.22m) This zone is for personal conversations.

3. The Social Zone between 4 and 12 feet (1.22-3.6m) This zone is to maintain distance for strangers.

4. The Public/Audience Zone is over 12 feet (3.6m) This zone is to maintain a considered distance between yourself and the first row.

We need to know the Zone Distances so as not to cross the limits of our student and avoid misunderstandings because the limits changes from one country to another and they could feel intimidated. If you are too close, they might feel threatened, or if you are far away, they might feel rejected. We also cannot touch our students because in some cultures to touch someone on the back is a violation. 

Busses and Subways

Now in this pandemic of Covid-19 is needed that we take distance everywhere but in busses, it is not possible everybody wants to arrive at works, schools, or meetings and they expose in crowded busses. 

In countries with a high population, it is difficult to keep the limits of space under control. For example, in Mexico City, Mexico, it is very difficult. Maybe you can walk the streets, and everything is normal but if you need to take a bus or the subway, it is chaos.

Here in Mexico, it is normal to see people taking distance on the corners waiting for the bus, but when the bus arrives all the people rush to avoid being left out and missing the bus because sometimes it takes time to pass again, and it is very common to see busses packed and people hanging out the door at rush hours. And it is the same in India and Japan.

I don't understand why the Japanese don't greet people with shaking hands, hugging, or kissing. They say that they never touch people they don't know, but they pack onto the subway as sardines with people they don't know. This is another cultural misunderstanding.

Living Spaces

Professor Ivers said, "For Germans their personal space and living space are sacred". Not only for Germans also for many people. These are only material things, but these were acquired with work and sacrifice. For example, some people in Mexico, do not respect limits and they interrupt in homes to steal, for this reason, people build fenders around their properties and set cameras to record to have evidence if someone is nearby.

Not all people are stealers. Let's also not go to extremes, we aren't not going to shout at everyone who passes by the sidewalk or call the police because they rang the bell, but we need to respect the property of others.

Stuff

A property, in this case, a house, is not the same as a pen, a marker, or a ruler, but many people, for example, some students, do not like someone to take or touch their stuff. They see this as a violation because these things belong to them, and they do not allow anyone to touch their stuff. Our students can be like that, and we must talk to our students that everything is in the classroom they can take it and touch it freely, but if things belong to a classmate, they just respect them and borrow them before taking them. And if someone asks them to borrow something, students should be careful and return it to their classmates.

• How do you react when someone invades your personal space?

References:

1)Professor Ivers BYU Idaho University https://content.byui.edu/file/b224d5c7-20ff-4f88-9660-7bfb4d1669fc/2/Personal%20Space%20Differences.html

2)Image https://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/book_of_body_language/images/195-personal_zone_distances.jpg

 3)Image https://corp.camilocruz.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Aprende-a-respetar-el-espacio-personal-de-los-dema%CC%81s_display.jpg

4)Imagen https://ruizhealytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/microbus_df.jpg

https://valenciaplaza.com/public/Image/2016/4/1459762363metro_NoticiaAmpliada.jpg

https://lavozdelmuro.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/empujadores-en-el-metro-de-japon-1.jpg

5) Chapter 9 Personal space ownership https://westsidetoastmasters.com/resources/book_of_body_language/chap9.html

6) Image https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/muchacha-enojada-que-quita-el-l%C3%A1piz-de-ni%C3%B1o-en-la-escuela-130003840.jpg

7) Image https://amqueretaro.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/SEP.jpg

10/2/2022 Week 6: Response to "Individualism vs Collectivism"

 10/2/2022 Week 6: Response to "Individualism vs Collectivism"

Response to "Individualism vs Collectivism"

Do you have heard the saying, "I prefer to be alone than in bad company" or "if your friends jump off a bridge, do you too"? I think that these two saying explain better what we are going to talk about in this time, Individualism and Collectivism.

Individualism and Collectivism

Individualism or individualistic-oriented society is more independent people. They like to work alone. They set and achieve their own goals. They do not like to work in groups because this makes them feel limited. They see teamwork as a hard thing to do because they do not like to depend on others.

Countries with a culture of individualism are the United States, Germany, Ireland, South Africa, and Australia.

Collectivism or group-oriented society is people that work together to support each other to achieve the same purpose. Family and communities are the centers of all. They share their ideas and together they decide what is best for the group. They are more social. They try to avoid contention to work in harmony.

Group-oriented culture countries are China, Korea, Japan, Costa Rica, and Indonesia.

Baseball team experience

Most of us know how Individualism works, but professor Ivers shared an experience that happened in the 1980s in Japan to better explain how Collectivism works.

Professor Ivers

“This happened in the 1980s. I don't know if anyone would be quite the same today. The 1980s were a long time ago. But this happened in the 1980s, and I don't think that it's that different today. There was a high school baseball team in Japan. Baseball is big in Japan. And they won a championship. They won some sort of championship. And they were out celebrating, and they ended up drinking.

In the end, some of the baseball players got in this car and drove drunk. The driver was drunk. Well, they had an automobile accident. It wasn't a bad one. It was just a little one. It was a fender bender. Every one of those high school baseball players, even the ones who were not driving lost his license for life.

That wasn't the end of it. Their parents got on the local TV station and they apologized to the community. The coach of the baseball team got on a local television station and apologized to the community for the actions of his baseball players. And that wasn't the end of it. The principal of the high school got on the local television station and apologized to the community for the actions of his baseball players.”

Remember the proverb, "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down", all were hammered down. In a group-oriented society, one person's mistakes are paid for by all members of the group, in this case, the baseball players, their parents, the team's coach, and their school principal.

This experience helps us to learn a little about collectivism, and this could be difficult to understand for more of us because we live in an individualism-oriented society.

Here in Mexico and in other places that have an individualistic culture, if someone does something wrong, he or she is responsible and the person must pay for the mistake, nobody else.

As teachers or future teachers, we need to know the culture of our students and help them solve in the best way the problems they may face in their learning process. Our students are or will ve very different in culture, behavior, and needs and we need to make wise decisions to know how to teach, evaluate, and correct them.

I think we need to talk about these things at the beginning of the course with them and their families about how we will handle some situations in our class and their families can help us to work together to help them. We as teachers focus on them both individually and collectively, but without going to extremes.

Advantages and Disadvantages

The advantages of working with students with an individualistic culture are that they are creative, take initiative, and work hard to solve problems. The disadvantages are that they are perfectionists who don't mind stepping over others, they just want to be the best.

The advantage of working with students with a collectivist culture is that they are peaceful, support each other, work with the same purpose, are respectful, and aren't competitive. The disadvantages are that they are not creative, they sacrifice for the benefit of others and the whole group, and more of their ideas are not taken. Most of the time they do things that they do not like to do. 

There are many positive and negative things in each, individualism and collectivism society, that we need to understand and use wisely or leave to do it, to help them to have a better relationship with others and achieve success in their lives.

• As a teacher or future teacher, how can this help you better understand the differences between Individualism and Collectivism?

Leave your comments.

References:

1) Imagen AutoDraw

2) https://www.verywellmind.com/what-are-individualistic-cultures-2795273

3) https://www.verywellmind.com/what-are-collectivistic-cultures-2794962

4) Professor Ivers Individualism vs. Collectivism https://content.byui.edu/file/5312ca2a-4f25-4d01-8386-f505b0c1dad6/3/Individualism%20vs%20Collectivism.html

5) Imagehttps://assetsnffrgf-a.akamaihd.net/assets/m/502019486/univ/art/502019486_univ_lsr_md.jpg

6) Imagen https://usercontent.one/wp/elisoler.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/La-importancia-del-trabajo-en-equipo-en-los-adolescentes-500x336.jpg

7) Image https://previews.123rf.com/images/plepraisaeng/plepraisaeng1206/plepraisaeng120600024/13983682-praca-zespo%C5%82owa-i-duch-zespo%C5%82owy-u%C5%9Bcisk-d%C5%82oni-w-grupie-po-pracy-udany.jpg

8/2/2022 Week 6: Response to"Differences in Emotional Expressivity"

 8/2/2022 Week 6: Response to"Differences in Emotional Expressivity"

Response to "Differences in Emotional Expressivity"

Everyone has born with the capacity to feel and express what we are feeling, but not all express our feelings in the same way. Expressing feelings can change from culture to culture. That is why Emotional Expressivity is easily misunderstood.

Professor Iver explains this by showing an "Emotional Expressivity Scale". He divided a line in two: Low Tolerant Expressivity (left side) and High Tolerant Expressivity (right side).

Low Tolerant Expressivity Cultures

People with a Low Tolerant Expressivity Culture do not express their emotions in public. They are more reserved and do not show their feelings in front of others.

Some places with low tolerant expressivity are the countries of Asia, Scandinavian (for example, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden). And some places in the West of the United States.

High Tolerant Expressivity Cultures

People with a High Tolerant Expressivity Culture express and show their emotions and feelings in public without any problem. They are the same here and there, wherever they are.

Some places with high tolerant expressivity are the Hispanic countries (for example, Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Argentina, Colombia, etc.), Middle East countries, Italy and Iran. And some places of the East of the United States, for example, New York.

People with Low and High Tolerant Expressivity Cultures are very different. Professor Ivers said that people with a low tolerant expressivity culture see people with a high tolerant expressivity culture as less civilized, more dangerous, less disciplined, and less intelligent. On the other hand, people with a High Tolerant Expressivity Culture see people with a Low Tolerant Expressivity as boring, dull, or holier. This is a misunderstanding because they stereotype people by their emotional expressivity. 

When we meet new people, some people are more reserved than others. Obviously, we do not try in the same form people that we have known for many years. But there are people that are more open, they are more spontaneous and maybe ruder with people even if they just met them. Personally, I like to show myself as I am from the first time, according to the norms I live by, but of course, with time there is more confidence, but this does not mean that I leave my values and norms aside. Maybe I could be more tolerant with others because they are free to express their emotions but when they see I do not do the same they respect me which I thank them.

Facial and Corporal Expressions

Professor Ivers said, "Studies have shown that in private we all express the same emotions in a similar way. But in public, we're dissimilar in the way we express our emotions".

There are different facial expressions for different emotions that we can detect more easily. 

Accordingly to the American Psychological Association, the most common are:

1. Joy
2. Surprise
3. Anger
4. Contempt
5. Sadness
6. Disgust
7. Fear

For example 

Joy

We smile when we feel joy or happiness, but in Asia, people are low-tolerant expressivity and they do not show their feelings in public. They only smile when they feel embarrassed or confused. This is a cultural misunderstanding.

Fear

Cuban and Puerto Ricans are very spontaneous, they refer to themselves "chabacanos" because when they speak, they are very extroverted. When they speak it may seem that they are angry, or surprised because they speak very loudly. They speak by moving their hands and body as if they are going to dance or hit you, which is why many people are afraid of them.

Anger

When people are angry, they sometimes not only change their facial expressions but also use parts of their bodies to express what they are feeling with offensive movements. 

So as teachers or future teachers, we need to talk to our students to avoid this in class. We need to help them to avoid future situations that can happen in our classroom by teaching them to be tolerant with others and respect each other.

As we said before, most people get angry and show their feelings with the same facial emotions but in Asia for example, in Japan, people don't express anger, they do not differentiate Anger, Fear, or Surprise because these emotions are very similar to them.

Mexico

There are many other facial expressions that there are not listed above. For example, here in Mexico, there are different expressions today that somebody is crazy. These are some fun ways to express this feeling for others' behavior but remember that this also could be rude for others, and they could get angry with you. My grandmother said, "Remember that crazy people do not like others say to them that they are crazy, so avoid saying someone the truth and let them be"

Another feeling expression in Mexico is love, we have the custom of showing our emotions in public. For example, a couple can walk hand in hand, kiss, or hug. But in Asia, this is not allowed. There are Asians living in Mexico, and they may be shocked by the things they see in our country or in other countries with a high tolerant expressivity culture because Asians do not show these feelings in public.

As teachers or future teachers, we must better investigate and learn all these emotions and feelings and teach them to our students and we must also learn the cultures of origin of our students to avoid some embarrassing situations in our classrooms.

• What emotions are easy for you to express? And what feelings do you need to work on to avoid problems with others?

Leave your comments.

References:

1)Image created in WordArt

2)Image created in WordArt

3)American Psychological Association https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2011/05/facial-expressions#:~:text=Thus%20there%20is%20strong%20evidence,surprise%20(see%20Figure%201)

4)Imagen emotions https://www.apa.org/images/PSA-2011-05-matsumoto-fig1_tcm7-115934_w1024_n.jpg

5)Image http://cfsrecoveryproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/8448173_s.jpg

6)Image https://media3.giphy.com/media/3osxYrwWEEUdCTm9DG/giphy.gif

7)Image https://ngs-space1.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/am/uploads/mediaGallery/image/1626461355224.jpg-org

8)Image https://i.giphy.com/media/XB43a39jYFT6JxjVtR/giphy.gif

9)Image https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/usted-est%C3%A1-loco-43163063.jpg

10)Image https://www.tierrapost.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/expresiones-para-decir.jpg

 5/2/2022 Week 5: Response to "Cultural Miscommunication"

Response to "Cultural Miscommunication"

This time we are going to talk about Cultural Miscommunication and Misunderstandings. We know that we can communicate with others written, verbally, or with bodily gestures. In our culture, we know what is right or wrong, what to say and what not, what movements do and what don't. But everything we do to communicate with others does not mean the same in other places, even if it is in your native country. Can you imagine how this can change in other countries?

If we do not communicate properly, we can have many problems because of misunderstandings, from critical comments to cause a war. Well, this last one can pass only in a diplomatic field. Therefore, it is important not only to try to learn the language of the country we want to visit or get to know but also its culture, to have better communication with others and avoid misunderstandings.

If you are a teacher or future teacher, more reason we must know more about our students' culture so as not to do anything that could be a misunderstanding and could offend them or their family.

Professor Iver shared some cultural misunderstandings, and here are some examples.

"They're not so good"

When Japanese receives compliments about their or a member of their family, they are negative and show humility. For example, if a child plays the piano and he or she does it well, and people say good comments, they say, They're not that good". 

This is very different in another country, for example, in The United States, the American people always welcome compliments and make them or a family member proud of them by saying, "Thank you, thank you he or she is so good". 

Professor Iver explains that these things are difficult for the Japanese because they have a group-oriented culture and don't want to be above others. For them, it is not important to climb to the top like other people who have an individualistically oriented culture. Japanese have a saying, "The nail that sticks out is hammered down" this proverb best explains their group identity.

"Smile"

Another misunderstanding that Professor Ivers explains is when people smile. We know that most people are custom to smile when we are happy, but when people smile in Asia is because they are embarrassed or confused.

Yes or No???

We can say yes by nodding our heads up and down because this is our affirmative way of saying that something is okay. And to say that something is wrong we shake our heads from side to side.

But in Bulgaria, it is very different how they say yes and no. They do the opposite, they nod to say no and shake to say yes. How difficult right?

Mexico

Here in Mexico, we have many things that people of other countries don't understand why we do it. For example:

1)When someone has hiccups, especially children, we take a red thread and wet it with saliva and then put it on the person's forehead. This is weird for people because they say they only need to drink some water.

2)Most people when invite you to eat at their house and you finish your meal, invite you a second or third time until you are satisfied, but if you leave food and they invite you a second time and you do not accept, they feel that you do not like their food. So, you must eat everything they serve and leave your plate clean so that if they invite you a second time and you don't accept, that's enough to make them feel that you liked their food but that you are satisfied.

3)Most Mexican people, not all, like to be closer to others and this sometimes makes others countries' people feel uncomfortable. They need their space. Most people in when we meet or see someone, greet with a handshake and pull them to give a kiss and a hug. Nowadays it is difficult for us for the pandemic but this was what we used to do. People of other countries only kiss their family and when we do this, they feel uncomfortable because we invade their personal space.

4) In some regions of our country, people like to eat Pre-Hispanic food such as insects (grasshoppers, ants, worms) or typical Mexican food, sopes, migadas, bocoles, tostadas, tacos (all they made with corn), mondongo (cow stomach), rellena (animal blood). In other countries, this is uneaten because they say that the animals only eat corn, not humans, and the other to the trash.

5) Most people in Mexico have a problem with time (punctuality) you need to invite a Mexican an hour before your meeting or party to start on time.

These and more are the things you need to know if you meet a Mexican or if you think to visit before Mexico.

• What other misunderstandings do you know about Mexico or other countries that are different in your country?

Leave your comments.

References:

1) Image https://us.123rf.com/450wm/yayayoy/yayayoy1807/yayayoy180700005/106275795-emoticon-confundido-con-signos-de-interrogaci%C3%B3n-y-exclamaci%C3%B3n-en-bocadillo.jpg?ver=6

2) Image https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cGDUV-be2Ek/maxresdefault.jpg

3)Image https://www.quoteslyfe.com/images/collection1/quotations270/The-nail-that-sticks-out-is-hammered-270771.jpg

4)gift https://c.tenor.com/KLHYQ3sIJXIAAAAM/hi-oh.gif

5)Image https://mx.toluna.com//dpolls_images/2018/03/21/7c0e3850-748b-4968-9064-e6185583c229.jpg

6)Image https://i.blogs.es/2f2143/650_1000_492860519/1366_2000.jpg

7)Image https://www.ayayay.tv/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/portada-abrazo.jpg

8) Image http://recetasdeinsectos.es/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Tacos-de-gusanos-de-maguey.jpg

9)Image https://www.victig.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/shutterstock_178356740.jpg

10) Image https://headbng.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/familia-mexicana.jpg