Vår 2015

PSY-2015 Cross cultural psychology - 10 stp

The course is administrated by

Institutt for psykologi

Type of course

The course is one of the free choice courses in the Bachelor program in psychology. The course can also be taken as a single subject.

Course overlap

PSY-3020 MA Cross cultural psychology 10 stp

Course contents

The course is offered to students in 2nd or 3rd year of the bachelor program in psychology. The course provides an introduction to the methods, themes and outcomes of cross-cultural psychological research. Traditional textbooks in psychology are often largely based on research from the United States, written by scientists from the United States, and topics of interest in the United States. Cultural psychology and cross-cultural psychology is an antipode to the typical American majority in psychological textbook. Instruction will focus on 1) history of cross-cultural psychology; 2) methods used in cross-cultural psychology; 3) critical thinking in cross-cultural psychology; 4) cognition; 5) culture-based measurement of IQ; 6) cultural aspects of emotions; 7) motivation; 8) development and socialization in several cultures; 9) psychopathology in a cultural perspective; 10) social psychology in other countries; 11) relations between different ethnic groups; 12) applied cultural psychology.

Application deadline

Applicants from Nordic countries: 1 June for the autumn semester and 1 December for the spring semester.

Exchange students: 1 October for the spring semester and 15 April for the autumn semester.

Admission requirements

Local admission, application code 9199 - singular courses.

Objective of the course

After completing the course the students should be able to:

Provide a reasonable critique of cultural "biases" in the traditional textbooks in psychology
Clarify differences in psychological research rooted in one culture and research that spans many cultures.
Apply the library's databases to obtain literature to illustrate cultural and cross-cultural psychology.
Write academic articles in APA Style.

Language of instruction

Teaching will be in English, language of the exam can be chosen, either English or Norwegian.

Teaching methods

The course consists of a combination of traditional lectures roughly following the content of the selected text book and interactive parts within which students will be asked to work on specific aspects in small groups. This will support the student's independent work with the material by helping to create an overview and to integrate the topics into a context.

Assessment

The exam consists of questions to-be-shortly-answered based on the textbook. Grading scale A - F.

It will be offered resit-exam in the following term when given an F.

Course-work requirements: Each student must write a coursework consisting of a text that deals with a scientific issue related to cross-cultural psychology. The text should be 5-6 pages (Times New Roman 12, double spaced), using scientific references (e.g., textbook, magazine article, chapter in books, encyclopedia, etc.). The paper should satisfy requirements for style and formatting that are formulated in the APA standard for manuscript writing. The work requirement (approved / not approved) must be approved before the final examination.

Date for examination

One written 07.05.2015

The date for the exam can be changed. The final date will be announced at your faculty early in May and early in November.