I’m working on a psychology project and need guidance to help me understand better.

This assessment will encompass concepts covered in Lessons 1 through 7. The midterm interview project includes components discussed below.

For this assignment, you will conduct an interview with someone who is of a different culture than your own. The write up for this assignment will encompass concepts covered in Lessons 1 through 7, so be sure to formulate your questions with this in mind. In preparing for the interview, create questions in advance and consider some of the concepts you would like to expand on in the write up of the interview. For example:

• Lesson 1 – Culture: Have your interviewee tell you about the values, beliefs, customs and traditions of his/her culture including norms and symbols. Is your interviewee from a collectivist or individualist culture?
• Lesson 2 – Learning: Who were the major influencers in your interviewee’s life? Does your interview recall if certain customs or behaviors were verbally explained to her, or did she learn them simply by observation? For example, beliefs on respect, manners, religion, etc. Be sure to briefly summarize/explain one of the Learning Theories covered in the lesson and how this would apply.
• Lesson 3 – Research Methods: This lesson covers a section on Interviewee/Interviewee Issues. You can consider how this information applies to your write up of the interview. Concepts for this lesson will likely not require a question of your interviewee, instead it would be part of your own thoughts on the process you used to collect the information for your write up and your own observations.
• Lesson 4 – Development: This lesson discusses developmental theories in psychology. Be sure to briefly summarize/explain one of these theories and how you think it would apply. You may also want to consider the concept of enculturation and how this concept applies to your interviewee’s story. Is she a 1st generation American, did her family migrate to the U.S. or within the U.S. Was this a difficult transition for her/him and her/his family?
• Lesson 5 – Cognition: This lesson covers an array of concepts that can easily be applied to your interview, such as language, motivation: ex. what motivated your family to migrate? How did language play a role in your ability to adapt (adaptation) to your new environment?
• Lesson 6 – Gender: This lesson covers aspects of sex and gender in culture. To apply these concepts you can ask your interview about gender roles within their culture. How are men and women enculturation in your culture, what are the expectations for men and women? Are there specific traditions or customs for the different sexes (M/F). What is your culture’s general view on different sexual orientations?
• Lesson 7 – Emotions: This lesson focuses on emotions and can be applied by asking your interviewee about their cultural view on the expression of emotions. Does your culture tend to express emotions more overtly or do the outwardly expression of emotions go against cultural norms?

Remember, the list above are examples of possible questions or aspects you may want to consider. You are welcome to use these questions or formulate your own and be sure to include concepts from each lesson (1 – 7).

Your write-up of the interview should be at least 1,000 words in length and must include concepts from each lesson. It must be in essay format (not Q & A or outline format) and include proper APA citations (review how to cite an interview).

To ease the flow in communication during your interview, you can obtain desired information by simply asking your interviewee general questions about: 1) basic family background, 2) the unique aspects of who they are as a person, 3) some of the most important values/beliefs they have learned from parents/teachers while growing up, 4) their perceptions about similarities and differences between their own culture and “American” culture. Keep in mind that there are specific questions you would want to ask in order to effectively complete your assignment and cover concepts from each lesson.

Also, keep in mind that “different culture than your own” can include racial/ethnic, sexual identity/orientation, religious/spiritual, socio-economic, or ability/disability.

When completing this keep in mind that I am an African American women, heterosexual, not religious however I do believe in god.