02/09/2021 - Week 6: Differences in Emotional Expressivity

Does everyone express emotions in the same way? Studies had shown that most of our emotions are expressed in the same way, independent of our culture. Even though, the way we allow them to appear in public can and is impacted by your cultural background.

What does that mean? It means that some cultures allow more expressivity about how we feel in our speech and interactions in public, while others may “block” it subconsciously.

Cultures with a higher expressivity tolerance tend to accept more emotions in their speech and behavior and express more their feelings in public concerning what is presented (remember the Mexican telenovelas?). They may even speak dynamically and use more emphasis and other strategies to express their emotions strongly while they speak.

On the other hand, cultures with a low expressivity tolerance do not accept a lot of public showing of emotions, like expressions of disgust and sadness or even holding hands with your loved one. People from these cultures tend to hide it more in public, reacting more calmly and constantly instead of following the rush of emotions.

This can vary from country to country and even from one state to the other, and it follows more like a scale than two well-divided groups. Those changes are a normal part of the multicultural and diverse world we live in, but without recognizing the differences, we may wrongly judge them.

The first group is constantly misinterpreted by the second as aggressive, less disciplined, and even less civilized, with no control over their emotions. While the second group can be judged as boring and shallow, to believe they feel superior over other cultures to express their emotions.

All of these judgments are wrong. None of them are being shallow or aggressive, they are just corresponding to the expectations of their own culture. Because it is hard that those tolerances change in society, since is passed subconsciously, we have to understand the differences, research, and learn how to deal with them so we can have greater interaction between cultures, especially if you are a teacher or interact constantly with them. Dealing with them is key to avoid miscommunications.

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02/15/2021 - Week 6: Personal Space Differences

If a stranger gets at you like this: How would you feel? Uncomfortable, right? Why do we all have this bubble around us? And where is ok to get close to someone? These are a few things we will talk about in this post. Personal Space Personal space is the space around us and our things. It is an invisible bubble around us, an air area that separates us from others. This area can be divided into four: Intimate zone - the closer one, for closer friends, love interest, family, and pets only; Friend/Personal zone - for friends and a casual conversation; Social zone - the area for strangers and those around us; Audience zone - the area for the audience you speak at. These areas can enlarge or shrink from culture to culture. Japanese and Latin Americans, for example, may have a smaller personal space than Americans. There are other aspects that may change the personal space around us. People from big cities and metropolis tend to have smaller personal space than those from a

02/15/2021 - Week 6: Individualism vs. Collectivism

As we saw in the previous posts, cultures can vary in distinct aspects. Time , expressivity , and others (that we will keep talking about in the next posts). Some of these aspects can be understood by a better understanding of these two cultural orientations: individualism and collectivism. Individualism Cultures with an individualistic perspective tend to see individuals as atoms, each one an important part of the group that has an opinion of their own. Free will and independent choices are expected and demanded by society, as they grow up to be more responsible for themselves. One person as a complete unit. Collectivism On the other hand, group orientated cultures picture the world and interactions in a more holistic view. Everything is connected, and individuals are responsible for the group. Elders and older family/community members are responsible for most of the choices, and everything is done thinking about the group (family, tribe, etc.). People are not separate units,

02/18/2021 - Week 7: Culture and Psychology

As we've been discussing through the last posts, culture can determine a lot in our lives. How we eat, our manners, how we consider time, etc. Almost all aspects of our lives are impacted and determined by cultural paradigms. Like in other aspects of our life, culture can have a great impact on our psychology. Our self-esteem, shame, and even how we see reality, building irrational stereotypes and prejudices. Let's work on these themes during this post. Self-esteem - the urge to belong In every culture, there is an ought self, that was defined by the cultural expectations on an individual, and the true self (who you really are). The culture-created ought self varies from culture to culture. The closer your true self fits in the first one, the more self-esteem you will have. The bigger the gap between those two, the less self-esteem and acceptance one might have. Why? Because, as we talked about in the Individualism vs. Collectivism post , what is responsible for shame

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