Hold me, hold me

Hello, is it me you're looking for?

Personally, deep down I believe our self concept develops as we respond and adapt to our ever-changing environments. Just as personality can be defined as a unique system of identifiable, characteristic behavioural patterns that distinguish a person from others, so can environment to a certain extent. Each environment is a unique system of identifiable, patterns, surroundings, settings, etc.  I found that the definition of self concept almost combines the two in that it is the perception of oneself as a person with identifiable behavioural patterns and characteristics, directed by desires, preferences, attributes and abilities. With all that said, I strongly believe that our self concept can change over time. Simply, as our environments and surroundings can change so can our self concept. Overall though, development of our self concept is greatly influenced by our culture and the values and beliefs that come along with it. For example, being from a Western culture myself, generally, I've been brought up to be more independent and less reliant. For those individuals in non-western cultures however, it is a different case. They are brought up to be more interdependent in a more communal setting.

All in all, I am who I am. I accept it and adapt to my surroundings. I am proud to be who I am.

A tape cassette?... What's that?

This is one of the many questions one might ask if born in the 2000's. Specifically, by an individual who has never lived without the internet! Today, the internet is everywhere...literally. We cannot escape it! Whether it be on your iPhone, your tablet, or your laptop, it is everywhere and seems as though we are never and will never have to be without it. More important, it is quickly influencing and shaping today's society more so than ever before.

As far as knowledge building goes... well that's easy. One word: Google! Google is the largest search engine out there. In fact, it is frequently used as a verb when wanting to know something out of the ordinary or something you just can't put your finger on. In most cases like this, we just "google" it! Throughout my past few years as a university student, I constantly find myself wondering just what would we do without google.. what would we do without the internet? How did my parents make it through university without it? It appears that EVERYTHING can be found on the internet now a days. I specifically remember the first time I had to find an article out of an academic journal for a course I was taking. So of course, the apparent thing to do seemed to go to the library and look for it. So, I did just that. I went to the library and asked the reference desk for help. However, they were quick to send me to the computer lab  to look on a never ending database of articles! Just like that, by the click of the button, there was the article. 27 pages long and right at my finger tips in a matter of minutes. Over the past few years, my trips to the library have of course decreased for this very reason-- the internet. I can find what I want, where I want, when I want.

Writing this blog  and taking this online course couldn't be any more of an example. If it weren't for the internet, millions of students would not be able to take a course from another school or even get a whole degree right at home! But yet here we are, every day building our knowledge as we "google" facts, do an online quiz, or take an online exam. It is without a doubt that the knowledge of today's society is greatly influenced by and dependent on the internet.

Parenting...What's that?

First and foremost, it should be pointed out that parental beliefs vary a considerable amount across cultures. Although I expected parental beliefs, I personally was greatly surprised to see just how much difference there is. Such variation can be accounted for by something called the "Developmental Niche". Super and Harkness developed the framework for taking on a contextual perspective on childhood. It studies a process of development as a function of their interactions between the child and their environment. The framework itself consists of 3 subsystems: physical and social settings in which children live, child rearing practices and customs and psychology of caretakers in terms of their beliefs and values. Mention of these 3 subsystems alone was enough of an explanation for me to understand why there was so much variation.

After reading a few articles on the topic, I came across some interesting findings. Findings such as most European parents emphasized a great importance of family activities as well as meal time. One Italian mother even discussed how she and her husband reorganized their work schedules just so they could have 3 meals a day. In contrast, American parents gave most attention to developmental and school related activities. Meal time was talked about the least.

What threw me for a loop in some context was that many parents rejected the idea of "pushing" or even encouraging their children to do well academically. They claimed that such encouragement may even be detrimental to their happiness. I of course, am opposed to "pushing: your child into doing anything, but I completely disagree with not encouraging your child to do well.I do get where these parents are coming from in that if a child wants to do well and excel they will ... on their own terms. However, I believe positive encouragement is necessary, for many things. Necessary for support, motivation, etc. It is essential. From personal experience, if I didn't have encouragement from my parents, I would not be where I'm at, nor, would I be the person that I am today!

With regards to meals, I found it interesting that most of the European parents who had high priority for meal, gave such a high ranking primarily for the fact that they believed meal ti me to be a time to enhance family relationships and talk about problems.

Lastly, the one thing that I found quite intriguing was a certain difference between American and Italian parents. American parents claimed they schedule family time whereas Italian parents seem to find family time in routine activities.

Culture Bound Listeners

"Culture bound listeners" refers to the type of listeners that we become as early as our 1st birthday. The first year in a child's life is the most critical period for learning. Moreover, it is the most critical period for cognitive development. Being a nutrition student, and having taken a few psych classes, I have come to learn that this couldn't me more true. Without any doubt, first and foremost, children learn through observation and experience.While they may not know exactly what they're doing at first, they tend to mimick our actions. Overtime, this mimicking is converted into habits and thus, when they are older, they are aware of these actions. It is also very important to note that participation is key. Whether it be routines, rituals, etc., participation results in repeated experiences which creates multiple opportunities for learning. It is critical that the activities of which the child participates in are goal directed and positive! As well, parental expectations have a large impact on the outcome of the experiences.

We Are Family

My family has first and foremost had the greatest impact on any of my personal opinions that I have formed about anything, ever. One of the main things that has stuck with me throughout my whole life is to treat everyone equal; treat someone as you want to be treated-- even if they look different or do things in another way. One of the first times these statements really meant a lot to me is when we welcomed my Dad's cousin's new wife and sons into the family. As our family is entirely Caucasian, it was odd (especially at a young age) to all of a sudden consider someone who is of Asian decent as part of our family. This was the point that I learned that although they may speak, act or look different, we are all family. From then on, this is how I view the world. The phrase "so many cultures, so many possibilities" is my ultimate view point on the world in general in that no one culture is the same, nor is any one person the same. Furthermore, with culture comes variation, and with variation comes possibilities-- endless possibilities to be exact. However, with all this variation I stand to focus on the fact that when it comes down to it, we are all human and despite our differences, racism, discrimination, prejudice, etc. are completely unnecessary. Hence, the phrase: "we are family".