A Sample Syllabus
(for actual syllabus, please contact me)

 

Over the course of this semester, you will gain a clear understanding of what cultural psychology is, the main research methods used in cultural psychology and an in-depth look at the different topics of research in cultural psychology.  These topics include cognition, cognitive development, emotions, the self, ethnic identity, cultural values and psychological orientations, intergroup conflict, and social change.  In the case of each of these topics, a principal focus of analysis will be whether the particular psychological processes and behaviors in question, at both individual and collective levels, can be explained more fully in culture-specific or universalistic terms, and how they are related to the salient characteristics of the cultural-historical context in which they are embedded.

 

Course Requirements:

 

Textbooks:

 

Goldberger, N. R., & Veroff, J. B. (Eds.) (1995).  The culture and psychology reader.  New York: New York University Press.

 

Additional reading will be placed on e-Reserve.

 

Attendance and Participation:

Attendance is required at all class meetings.  This is for a number of reasons.  First, this course will be both lecture and discussion based.  Therefore, your interpretations, insights, experiences, and point of view will be an integral and necessary part of the class.  Because of this, it is expected that you come to class prepared to discuss in detail the reading assignments.  Additional information will be presented in the form of lecture.  This information will be needed for quizzes, exams and papers. I will be passing around an attendance sheet in each class.  Attendance will be taken in the beginning of class and if you are late to class and miss signing the attendance sheet, you will not receive full attendance credit.

 

Reading Assignments:

Reading assignments are listed at the end of this syllabus.   Reading assignments must be read prior to the class meeting under which it is listed. These reading assignments must be read before the class as they will provide you with a foundation for the lecture and discussion.  In addition, the readings will prepare you for any in-class exercises. Please note that this course is reading intensive and therefore you need to plan accordingly.

 

Exams:

There will be two essay exams, a mid-term and a final.  The exams will include essay questions regarding topics covered in class lectures and discussions as well as the readings.  Exams must be taken during the scheduled class time and no make-ups will be given except in extreme circumstances such as a significant illness documented by a letter from a physician (or doctor’s office), an extremely serious family problem (e.g., death of a family member), or another very serious impediment (e.g., jury duty, delivery of a baby, National Guard call-up, etc.). If there are extreme circumstances, you must notify me within 24 hours of the exam time in order to be allowed to take a make-up. If I am properly contacted within 24 hours of the exam and the excuse is a legitimate one, you must take the make-up exam prior to the next class period. After that time, no make-ups will be given.

 

Paper:

You will be required to write one paper over the course of the semester.  This paper will allow you to explore an area of research that we have covered in class in more detail.  This paper will require between 15 and 20 references and will be submitted to me in two drafts.  For this paper, you will be expected to write according to APA style using primary sources. A one page description or outline of the paper, together with a list of key references to be used, should be submitted to the instructor for comments and approval by October 9th.  The first draft of this paper is due on November 6th and the final draft is due December 4th.  On the last day of class, each of you will give a verbal presentation based on your paper topics.  We will discuss this more at length in class.

 

Response Papers:

This course is a seminar and therefore will be discussion-based much of the time.  In order to have discussion, it is important to be prepared to discuss.  In order to do this, I will ask that you have prepared for the beginning of each class a response paper.  This is a two-three page paper detailing your reactions, opinions, thoughts and questions raised by the particular papers that were assigned for reading.  Please see the attached handout on how to write a good response paper.

As part of your thought paper, you are also asked to prepare 3 questions that help us to think about the readings in new and interesting ways. At least one of your questions should explore ideas developed in current readings and at least one of your questions should explore the relation between ideas developed in current and past readings. I encourage you to develop questions that challenge our thinking and compel us to draw on our knowledge of related topics to understand cultural psychology in innovative ways.

 

Blackboard.com:

I have created a course site for this course on the website Blackboard.com.  To access this site, go to: http:// blackboard.mville.edu.  In order to enroll in the course you will need to follow these directions:

·        Without logging in, click on the “Course Catalog” button

·        Without logging in, click on the “Preview” button

·        Click on “Psychology” under the list of subjects in the Course Catalog

·        Find the name of our course and course number “Special Topics in Cultural Psychology (PY4015)” and click on the “Enroll” button to the right of the course name.

·        If you have already created an account on Blackboard, you can sign-in directly. If you do not already have a Blackboard account, please using the following directions to create yourself an account. 

·        Click on “Create” to create an account.  Please fill in all of the information with a red asterisk.  Please include an e-mail address that you use on a regular basis and a contact telephone number. Then click on “Submit.”

·        You will receive a confirmation that you have created an account with a particular username.  Click on “OK.”

·        On the next page you will enroll in the course.  Click on “Submit.”

·        You will receive a confirmation that you have created an account with a particular username.  Click on “OK”.

·        You will then be taken to the homepage of our coursesite. 

·        In the future, simply login using your username and password.

 

On this site, you will find any class announcements, the course syllabus and there is also a discussion board.  The discussion board allows you to posts questions or comments regarding the material we are learning about and other students can then post answers and responses.  Throughout the course, you will be required to post questions as well as respond to them. I will also use the Blackboard.com site to post announcements and important handouts so please check this site regularly.

 

e-Reserve: 

Reading that do not appear in the Goldberger and Verhoff book will be placed on e-Reserve.  This is an electronic reserve that allows you to download the reading via computer.  You can access this site via the Manhattanville Library homepage or via the “External Links” on our course page in blackboard.mville.edu.  Once on the E-Res homepage, please follow these directions to access the readings:

·        Go to the “Select an instructor” pop-up menu and scroll down to my name (Alison Carson).  Click on “Go.”

·        Then click on the name of our course “Special Topics in Cultural Psychology (PY4015)”.

·        Here you will be prompted to enter a password.  The password is our course number: 4015 and then scroll down and click on “Accept.”

·        The next page will list all of the readings for our class.  The readings are listed in order and there is also a link to a copy of our syllabus if you forget the assignment. Click on the link to the reading and be patient as it opens up.  Adobe Acrobat Reader will open and then the paper will open in a separate web-browser window. If you are downloading the paper via a modem connection, it can take up to ten minutes to download.  Downloading will be much fasted via a networked computer.

Grading:

 

Reaction Papers                       20%

Exam 1                                     15%

Exam 2                                     15%

Paper  (first draft)                     15%

Paper  (second draft)                15%

Attendance & Participation       20%

 

Grades will be determined as follows:

A         90-100             Excellent

B          80-89               Good

C         70-79               Satisfactory

D         60-69               Pass but unsatisfactory

F          Below 60         Failure

Important Dates:

 

October 2: Outline and list of references for paper due

October 16: Midterm exam

November 6: First draft of paper due

December 4: Final draft of paper due

December 11: Oral presentations in class

 

 

Week 1  -  September 4         Culture: What is it?

Cultural Psychology: What is it and where did it come from?

 

Read: Goldberger and Veroff #1

 

e-Reserve:   Sears, D. (1997). College sophomores in the laboratory: Influences of a narrow data base of psychology’s view of human nature (p. 20-51).  In Peplau, A. Letitia, & S. E. Taylor (Eds.), Sociocultural perspectives in social psychology: Current readings.  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 

 

Week 2  -  September 11       Cultural Psychology: What is it?

Research Methods in Cultural Psychology

 

Read: Goldberger and Veroff #3 (Shweder)

Read: Goldberger and Veroff #5 (Ingleby)

Read: Goldberger and Veroff #25 (Moraga)

 

Kral, M. J., & Burkhardt, K. J.  (2002). A new research agenda for a cultural psychology.  Canadian Psychology, 43(3) 154-162.

 

 

Week 3  -  September 18       Culture and Human Development

 

Super, C.M., & Harkness, S. (1986).  The developmental niche: A conceptualization at the interface of child and culture.  International Journal of Behavioral Development, 9, 545-569.

 

Wertsch, J. V., & Tulviste, P. (1992).  L. S. Vygotsky and contemporary developmental psychology.  Developmental Psychology, 28, 548-557.

 

Rogoff, B. (1990).  Apprenticeship in thinking.  New York: Oxford University Press. Chapters 1 & 2

 

 

Week 4  -  September 25       Culture and Human Development

 

Read: Goldberger and Veroff #13 (Dodson)

 

Morelli, G., Rogoff, B., Oppenheim, D., & Goldsmith, D. (1992). Cultural variation in infants’ sleeping arrangements: Questions of independence.  Developmental Psychology, 28, 604-613.

 

Rothbaum, F., et al. (2000).  Attachment and culture: Security in the United States and Japan.  American Psychologist 55(10), 1093-1104.

 

Tronick, E. Z., Morelli, G.A., Ivey, P.K. (1992).  The Efe forager infant and toddler’s pattern of social relationships: Multiple and spontaneous.   Developmental Psychology, 28(4), 568-577.

 

Keller, H., Yovsi, R. D., & Voelker, S. (2002).  The role of motor stimulation in parental ethnotheories: The case of Cameroonian Nso and German women. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 33(4), 398-414.

 

 

Week 5  -  October 2             Culture and Self

 

Read: Goldberger and Veroff #15 (Triandis)

Read: Goldberger and Veroff #16 (Kitayama & Markus)

 

 

Week 6  -  October 9             Culture and Emotion

 

Liem, R. (1997).  Shame and guilt among first- and second-generation Asian Americans and European Americans.  Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 28(4), 365-392.

 

Stephan, C. W., Stephan, W. G., Saito, I., & Barnett, S. M. (1998).  Emotional expression in Japan and the United States: The nonmonolithic nature of individualism and collectivism.  Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 29(6), 728-748.

 

Scherer, K. R. & Wallbott, H. G. (1994). Evidence for universality and cultural variation of differential emotion response patterning.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66(2), 310-328.

 

Wikan, U. (1988). Bereavement and loss in two Muslim communities: Egypt and Bali compared. Social Science and Medicine, 27(5), 451-60.

 

 

Week 7  -  October 16

 

**Midterm exam today

 

Week 8  -  October 23           Culture and Cognition

 

Rogoff, B., & Chavajay, P. (1995).  What's become of research on the cultural basis of cognitive development.  American Psychologist, 50(10), 859-877.

 

Saxe, G.B. (1988).  The mathematics of child street vendors.  Child Development, 59, 1415-1425.

 

Geurts, K. L. (2003).  On rocks, walks and talks in West Africa: Cultural categories and an anthropology of the senses.  Ethos, 30(3), 178-198.

 

Li, J. (2002). A cultural model of learning: Chinese “heart and mind for wanting to learn.” Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 33(3), 248-269.

 

 

Week 9  -  October 30           Culture and Moral Development

 

Miller, J. (1994).  Cultural diversity in the morality of caring: Individually oriented versus duty-based interpersonal moral codes.  Cross-Cultural Research, 28(1), 3-39.

 

Gilligan, C. (1977).  In a different voice: Women’s conceptions of the self and of morality.  Harvard Educational Review, 47, 481-517.

 

Huebner, A., & Garrod, A. (1991).  Moral reasoning in the Karmic world.  Human Development, 34(6), 341-352.

 

 

Week 10  - November 6        Culture and Psychopathology

 

Read: Goldberger and Veroff #28 (Kleinman)

Read: Goldberger and Veroff #31(Jones & Thorne)

Read: Goldberger and Veroff #32 (Landrine)

 

 

Week 11  -  November 13     Culture and Social Change

 

Read: Goldberger and Veroff #20 (Berry)

 

Weisskirch, R. S. & Alva, S. A. (2002). Language brokering and the acculturation of Latino children.  Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 24(3), 369-378.

 

Hermans, H. J. M. amd Kempen, J. J. G. (1998). Moving cultures: The perilous problems of cultural dichotomies in a globalizing society. American Psychologist, 53, 1111-1120.

 

Santisteban, D.A. & Mitrani, V. B. (2003). The influence of acculturation processes on the family.  In K.M. Chun, P.B. Organista, et al (Eds.), Acculturation: Advances in theory, measurement, and applied research. (pp. 121-135). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

 

 

Week 12  -  November 20     Culture and the United States

 

Read: Goldberger and Veroff #4 (Betancourt & Lopez)

Read: Goldberger and Veroff #8 (Nobles)

Read: Goldberger and Veroff #19 (Fiske)

 

 

Week 13  -  November 27     No Class – Thanksgiving

 

 

Week 14  - December 4         Indigenous Psychologies

 

Ho, D. Y. F. (1998).  Indigenous psychologies: Asian perspectives.  Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 29(1), 88-103.

 

Kim, U., Park, Y., & Park, D. (2000).  The challenge of cross-cultural psychology: The role of indigenous psychologies.  Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 31(1), 63-75.

 

Week 15  -  December 11      Presentations