Detweiler 1 Paul Detweiler Professor Sedik Introduction to Psychology 13 April 2012 Performing a cultural interview with someone of a contrasting

culture allows the interviewer to gain first hand knowledge and clearer understanding of the nuances of differing societies. Critical thinking strategies are needed, however, for one to gain the highest degree of clarity and unbiased perspective on this new material. Being willing to wonder is a critical thinking strategy that is appropriate for this assignment because it is curiosity and a yearning for knowledge that is the catalyst for the interview into taking place. Another critical thinking strategy that is appropriate for this assignment is to withstand oversimplifying the interviewees answers. Resisting the urge to make hasty generalizations and accept stereotypes is a great way to extract the true meaning of an interviewees answers; a lack of importance for punctuality may seem like laziness to the conventional Americans, but could really just mean that different cultures put different value on time. Taking a sociocultural perspective for this assignment is also suitable because this perspective emphasizes social and cultural influences on behavior, which is what is needed when administering a cultural interview. The biological, learning, cognitive, and psychodynamic approaches do not take into account the social and cultural forces that shape individuals values and behavior such as what people eat, holidays they celebrate, and how they treat others. Use of correlation and experimentation are also not appropriate for this assignment because nothing is being measured or compared. Correlation seeks to measure how strongly two variables are related to each other, but in a cultural interview there are no variables and thus no

Detweiler 2 opportunities to compare data because there is just an interviewer and interviewee. Experimentation is not applicable for this task because nothing is being tested or manipulated information is simply being gathered. Although correlation and experimentation are not appropriate for this assignment, descriptive methods of research, which yield descriptions of behavior, are better suited for a cultural interview. Case studies are one type of descriptive method of research that provide detailed descriptions of a particular individual based on observation or psychological test. Being more specific allows case studies to produce more detailed pictures of individuals compared to other methods. Psychological tests are another type of descriptive method of research, which can measure and evaluate various traits, values, and emotions of individuals, if preformed in a valid, reliable, standardized manner, in order to promote self-understanding and draw generalizations about human behavior. The two types of descriptive methods that are most suitable for a cultural interview however are observations and surveys. Observations, which can either be preformed in laboratories or in an individuals natural setting, are simply when researchers record and describe the behavior of individuals that they have observed. This method is appropriate for a cultural interview because an interviewer can observe how an interviewee acts in their own specific environment and draw conclusions from there. Surveys are questionnaires and interviews that ask individuals directly about their experiences, attitudes, or opinions on a subject. This cultural interview assignment doubles as a survey as first-hand information about the interviewee is being gathered through questions and answer. Heading into my interview with an individual from a different culture I knew nothing of my interviewee other then that he was born and raised in Puerto Rico. Upon meeting my interviewee I learned that his name was Joshua Rivera-Jimenez and he had lived in Puerto Rico

Detweiler 3 until he was eleven years old until his family decided to move to the United States. He now is happily married with six kids and is employed as a roofer. When asked how he would define family, Joshua held the position that family is people who are close to one another and who get along with one another without having to be necessarily related. Joshua also believes that success is when a person does something well and is proud of it. To succeed as an individual a person must be hard-working and willing to sacrifice their time for something, while to succeed as a team the most important criteria is being cooperative. Joshua added that given the choice between succeeding as an individual or succeeding as a member of a team that he would rather win with a team because it is more gratifying and more fun to win with others. Education is very important to Joshua as he holds that without an education people cannot get anywhere in the world anymore. He also says that his life goal for his children is to go to college and be secure in life, a much higher goal than Joshua said he had when he was younger as growing up poor his only goal was to get by. Joshua, who is a Pentecostal Christian, admitted that although he has not actively participated in religion lately, his wife wishes that they went to church more often. Plantains and an excess of pork products are two of the foods that Joshua considers to be indigenous to the Puerto Rican culture. Both of these foods are freely prepared and eaten during Puerto Ricos most important holiday, the Day of Kings. Celebrated in early January, the Day of Kings celebrates the Three Wise Mens visitation to baby Jesus and is a time where many gifts are given to families and friends. A lot of cheek grabbing and hugs and kisses are also shared during Puerto Rican holidays as Joshua describes his culture as very touchy feely and having lots of physical contact. Punctuality is not the upmost important factor to Joshua as he says that he will wait all day for a doctors appointment or a friend to come over to his house, although he himself strives to be on time as best he can. Joshua believes that the most commonly held

Detweiler 4 misconception about Puerto Ricans is that they are all ignorant, and he later stated that in school he suffered from racism as other kids would cut out the word spic from Spic-n-Span products and shove it into his locker. First coming to the US, Joshua had a rough start learning the language with caused him to feel excluded from other kids. Nowadays though Joshua believes that being Puerto Rican helps with job opportunities because he can speak two languages. Overall, I found my interview with Joshua to be quite interesting as we share numerous similarities and differences. Our views on family and how it does not have to necessarily mean blood relations are similar, as well as, our view that we would both rather win as members of a team then as individuals. We also share a strong stance on the importance of education. The main two differences between Joshua and I are that he grew up extremely poor and was discriminated against during his years of junior high. Unlike Joshua, I was blessed to grow up in an environment where I did not have to worry about simply living day to day, and I was never put in a situation that I felt discriminated against. The most surprising thing that I learned about Joshua was the severity of racism that he received as a young boy. Kids who shoved racist slurs into Joshuas locker seems to be extremely harsh as this action was obviously premeditated and ended up forcing Joshua to change schools. I found this assignment to be quite interesting and found that although Joshua may have had a tough upbringing that he works hard and stresses education so his own children can live an easier life than himself, a trait that I think most would find very admirable.

Detweiler 5 Interview Questions 1. What is your name, how long did you live in Puerto Rico? 2. How do you define family? 3. How do you define success? 4. What are your criteria for individual success? 5. What are your criteria for group success? 6. Would you rather win as an individual or as a member of a team? Why? 7. How important is education to you? 8. Do you eat any foods that are indigenous to your culture? If so what are they? 9. Do you actively participate in an organized religion? If so what is it? 10. How important is religion to your family? 11. Do you have or are there any traditions/rituals that are specific to your culture? 12. How important is punctuality to you personally? 13. How is physical contact viewed in your culture? 14. If there was one common misconception about your culture what do you think it would be? 15. Have you ever experienced racism? 16. Have you ever felt excluded from others based on your cultural identity? 17. Do you think that being of Puerto Rican culture affected your employment opportunities? 18. Do you, or did you when you were younger, have any specific life goals you wish to accomplish? 19. Are there any specific life goals that you wish your children to accomplish?