Assignment: Thinking Critically About Your Own Culture

Recall that your text defines cross-cultural psychology as “the critical and comparative study of cultural effects on human psychology” (Shiraev & Levy, 2017, p. 2). Throughout the course, you will be asked to think critically about your own culture so that you can understand how it differs from other cultures. To make those comparisons, you need to recognize defining qualities of your own culture. As you begin this examination process, keep in mind the definition of culture: a set of attitudes, behaviors, and symbols shared by a large group of people (Shiraev & Levy, 2017, p. 4).

For this Assignment, you will identify and analyze your own culture based on concepts covered in Week 1 of the course.

Important Note: Although you may view your family as having a particular “culture,” focus on a larger culture of which you are a part, such as one connected to your national, regional, racial, ethnic, or religious heritage. If you are multicultural or have no strong connection to a single culture, you may use a broad category, such as “American” or “Caribbean.”

To prepare:

Review the Week 1 Learning Resources. Pay particular attention to Chapter 1 in your course text.
Use guidance from the text reading, and any other sources you choose, to identify the culture that you view as “your own.” Consider what attitudes, behaviors, and symbols would define your culture.
Research your culture using resources in the Walden Library and other scholarly resources you find. Consider how you would answer the following questions drawn from concepts in cross-cultural psychology. For each question, keep in mind how cultures can range on a spectrum and aim to describe where your culture falls—clearly on one end, clearly on the other, or somewhere in between:
- Is your culture more traditional or more nontraditional?
- What is the power distance level in your culture?
- What is your culture’s uncertainty orientation?
- Is your culture more associated with individualism or with collectivism?
- What cultural syndromes are characteristic of your culture?
Use the Walden Writing Center for guidance on scholarly writing in preparing your Assignment.

By Day 7

Submit a 2- to 3-page paper that includes the following components. Be sure to reference the Learning Resources, including the media, in your Assignment. When providing examples, describe people and situations from outside of your own family.

Describe the attitudes, behaviors, and symbols that define your culture. (Be sure you address your larger cultural setting and not your family.)
Explain whether your culture is more traditional or nontraditional, and provide examples to illustrate your thinking.
Diagnose the power distance level in your culture and provide examples to explain your thinking.
Explain your culture’s uncertainty orientation and provide examples to illustrate your thinking.
Assess where your culture falls on the individualism-to-collectivism spectrum, and provide examples to illustrate your thinking.
Identify one or more cultural syndromes that are characteristic of your culture and provide an example for eachcultural syndrome to support your thinking.

Note: Support your responses within your Assignment with evidence from the assigned Learning Resources. Provide a reference list for resources you used for this Assignment.

Submission and Grading Information

To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:

Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK1Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
Click the Week 1 Assignment Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
Click the Week 1 Assignment link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.
Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK1Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.
If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.
Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:
Week 1 Assignment Rubric

Check Your Assignment Draft for Authenticity

To check your Assignment draft for authenticity:
Submit your Week 1 Assignment draft and review the originality report.

Submit Your Assignment by Day 7

To submit your Assignment:
Week 1 Assignment

Assignment: Thinking Critically About Your Own Culture