Wednesday, February 14, 2007

維瑄 02/10/07

Time: Saturday (02/10) 2PM
Location: Park
Speaker: Wei-Hsuan Serena Wang
Topic: Exploring the Fascination of Cross-Cultural Psychology
Taiwan Chatting Room: Me and You and Our Cross-Cultural Experiences
Host: Hsiangyun

Wei-Hsuan (Serena) Wang, a doctoral student in the Area of Human Development and Education, Department of Educational Psychology. I am highly interested in cultural and cross-cultural studies in Psychology. I also love watching Food Channel, especially Emril's show!

Exploring the Fascination of Cross-Cultural Psychology

Introduction:


"Like the fish that is unaware of water until it has left the water, people often take their own community's ways of going things for granted." – Barbara Rogoff

Do you still remember the cultural shock you had experienced when you first stepped onto the land of the U.S.? Have you ever pondered that how your cross-cultural experiences of studying abroad has influenced your way of thinking, perceiving, and behaving? Have you ever thought that each individual is actually the product of culturally-shaping process? We are just like the fish which has left the original water (Taiwan) and have immersed into another different water region (U.S.)., and culture is like the water or lens which affect the ways we view and evaluate the world.

In this talk, I will try to bring you to explore the fascination of cross-cultural psychology. I'll talk about some basic ideas of cross-cultural psychology, the relation between cultural background and the formation of self-concept, and the application of cross-cultural psychology to the real life.


Taiwan Chatting Room

I suggest the two following topics concerning the cross-cultural issues:

a) Taiwanese students' cross-cultural adaptation – Sharing your own experiences and your observation of other Taiwanese students.

b) Multicultural education in Taiwan – Please refer to the attachment which is a piece of interesting news from China Times in this January, regarding foreign spouses and their children's educational issues in Taiwan. I got this news when I was back to Taiwan in January and thought it can be a facilitating material for our chatting room.