Psychology and Cultural Interactions
My own culture is Mexican, and I am a first-generation American born. The culturally accepted norms in my culture include embracing humanity and being courteous and humble when communicating with others. It demands maximum respect for one’s opinion since people are right from their points of view. Among the morally unacceptable behaviors in my culture include the degradation of one’s authority and disrespect to one’s opinion, which is punishable. My culture has a lot to emulate. The criminals in my society are treated in a rehabilitative manner that makes them have a sense of belonging. Among the things I love in my culture include the respect of the majority’s will over matters related to the cultural organization.
Also, I find the issue of allowing people to do whatever they want as long as it does not affect the majority in adverse ways being interesting to me. It sounds interesting to me because people know that their behaviors will affect them. The interaction among the people, therefore, entails maximum respect and courtesy. Our societal, cultural model and arrangement conforms with Skinner’s psychological theory in which behaviors are controlled by consequences (Schlinger, 2018). The misconceptions about my culture that seem to bother me include relating social skills to English fluency and thinking that one is only successful after having gone to school and secured a government job. In our society, a person is not considered worth when they have not been to school and attained college learning from recognized institutions.
My culture has brought the community a lot of positive experiences. It has led to the establishment of a robust democratic foundation in which the will of many people is observed. Besides, the cultural values that demand maximum courtesy and respect have helped reshape the moral existence of the members in society. It has led to the production of morally sound and responsible members of the community. The fact that free will in my culture renders the members do whatever they feel is right for them long as it sounds friendly to the community. Such sociologists like Norma Williams from my culture have also helped the state and the whole by providing the necessary social standards that help the people in it be socially fit. My culture also profits the community by providing achievable academic standards that help shape the economic being of society. The culture has significantly contributed to the establishment of psychology from a cultural perspective.
My friend from another cultural point is Robi, whose culture is African American culture. Robi is my cultural partner and makes me realize that I had known so little about their social arrangement. The perception that I had about the African American culture is that they consisted of people who do not uphold the moral ethics of the society and still hold on the old and outdated cultural customs that are not human friendly. Furthermore, I thought of them as being purely pagans. However, after sitting down and sharing a cultural experience with my friend, I noticed exciting aspects of their culture, which made me admire. From what he told me, their cultural practices allow for the provision of strict discipline to those regarded as a disgrace to society. The punishment is reached after a full consultation forms those believed to be the heads of the cultural organization.
Regarding the ways, they socialize, Robi outlined the maximum respect and courtesy measures that all people should accord to one another in the event of interacting with one another. In the same way, their culture allows for doing things at a free will only that there are strict punitive measures that are provided to those people that are found violating the set laws. There are customary laws set to govern the way all people in the community behave (Tang and Hallman, 2016). In their culture, Robi loves most of the punitive measures provided to those who are regarded as a disgrace to society. He loves it because, to him, it assists in the establishment of a morally sound society. He also loves the cultural aspect in their community that allows people to live in harmony as it creates peace among them.
From the experiences that he shared with me, the misperceptions in their community are that many people think and believe that the disciplinary council is always right. It has all the mandate to dictate the moral existence of all people in the community. They also think that their punitive measures are enough to change the way someone behaves. Under normal circumstances, the punishment of behavior should be associated with a reward of another similar action the way Skinner holds. They could as well consider the removal of the unpleasant behavior from the ill-behaved societal members. I believed the misperceptions in their cultural practices because they seemed to make sense, and many people, not only from their culture but also in the whole world, practice them. From my friend’s sharing, I found that their cultural practices and values help in the formation of a socially fit environment. This is following their psychologist Francis Cecil Sumner, whose ideas contributed to the national reforms in education (Thomas, 2011).
I admired their culture because most of the people brought up by it are not morally adjusted as compared to other cultural institutions. Examining my friend’s cultural practices in comparison to mine, it is clear that their cultural organization is harsher as compared to mine because there are strict punishments that are provided to those people that break the societal code of ethics. In sharing the cultural differences with my friend, I was emotionally disturbed with the kind of treatment that they give to those who do not abide by the societal laws. However, I was happy that most of the members of their cultural organization are well behaved, and they enhance sound moral values. Additionally, my encounter with him marked a special occasion, which made me learn more about African American Culture. My perspective of my own culture about punishment and stereotypes changed. To successfully interact with my partner, I adjusted my actions to imagine myself belonging to their learning.
From the analysis of both cultures, the issue that can be seen as a problem is access to education. The two cultures have problems in accessing quality education. Access to education is a problem because there are no systematic laws that govern the quality of education that both cultures receive. This is as a result of poverty and lack of highly developed learning institutions in both cultural settings. From the view of both society members, they positively take the issue of education and implicate it economically. They value their importance even though they have limited access to it. This issue should be resolved as soon as possible, within the two communities because it has had negative impacts on the moral development of the people in the communities. The issue will also affect the economic being of the communities if not adequately addressed early. People will continue to languish in poverty if the communities do not have access to proper education which will help them in building societies. This necessitates addressing of the issue.
Also, to effectively address this issue, one can engage in civic responsibility to ensure that there is an elimination of negative attitudes towards education. There can also be the provision of public education to people in the communities to help them realize the importance of having education in their lives. This can be done by starting with the young generation to make them understand that education is part of their lives, and they need to have access to it. They should also understand that it is their right to receive education. What already exists is that education has positive implications and a community is weakened without it. What can be developed on it is that there should be the establishment of more educational centers to make members realize the social responsibility of education in any given community. My involvement in addressing this issue will be mass provision of education to people from both the communities to help them realize the positivity in being educated.
The experience I received in the active engagement in an educational and cultural experience in school was the intercultural festivals in which I learned more information than I could have known. The experience was fascinating and informative at the same time. This made me conclude that different cultures have different views, which calls for an appreciation of one’s lifestyle. I was also able to know that culture poses a more significant influence on the educational system of a community.
References
Schlinger Jr, H. D. (2018). The heterodoxy of behavior analysis. Archives of Scientific Psychology, 6(1), 159.
Tang, S., McLoyd, V. C., & Hallman, S. K. (2016). Racial socialization, racial identity, and academic attitudes among African American adolescents: Examining the moderating influence of parent-adolescent communication. Journal of youth and adolescence, 45(6), 1141-1155.
Thomas, R. K. (2011). The Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology and Francis Cecil Sumner. The American journal of psychology, 124(3), 355-364.
