Cross-cultural psychology 2007
Cultural and social psychology
The Australian Psychology Accreditation Council
(APAC), the body that accredits psychology programs at Australian universities, requires that undergraduate programs in psychology must provide as a core topic, "intercultural diversity and indigenous psychology" (APAC, 2007, p. 26). Social psychology has many links with cross-cultural issues and skills and thus is an ideal subject for integration of cross-cultural awareness and skill training.
In recognising the cultural diversity within the general population, the Australian Psychological Society (APS) - the national professional body behind APAC, has made it an ethical requirement for psychologists to be culturally competent in behaving appropriately and communicating effectively with people from diverse backgrounds (Davidson, 1999).
The APS acknowledges that having an increasing proportion of bicultural and bilingual psychologists (currently under-represented in the Australian psychologists' workforce) will be one way to meet the needs of an increasing CALD Australian population.
In several ways, the entire unit will be oriented towards exploring and better understanding poor intercultural relations and possibilities for developing more harmonious and productive intercultural relations. The unit will also contain specific content in lectures, tutorials, and assessment designed to specifically address and enhance knowledge and skills about cross-cultural topics from a socio-psychological perspective.
Teaching Grant
Assoc. Prof. Anita Mak and Dr. Michele Fleming (Centre for Applied Psychology) have a UC Teaching and Learning grant titled "Internationalising the Student Experience". The aim of this project is to integrate and embed training in cross-cultural awareness and intercultural commmunication competencies into tertiary education. During this unit will be participating in the grant project. This will be reflected in unit content, assessment tasks, and research participation.
Integration of cross-cultural material
Anita Mak will present two special lectures:
Prejudice, aggression, and intergroup behaviour will be explored within the context of two documentaries:
- W5: Ghosts of Rwanda (about the 1992 Rwandan genocide) (during lecture time)
- W6: The Australian Eye (a Blue-eyed / Brown-eyed documentary by Jane Elliot in Australia)
Blog 1 involves a choice of questions, many of which are related to discussing social psychological theory and research about prejudice, aggression, and intergroup behavior.
Blog 2 involves a wide range of applied social psychological questions, several of which are related to cross-cultural issues and contexts.
Three tutorials will be dedicated to exploring prejudice, aggression, and methods for developing sociocultural competencies:
References
Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (2007). Standards for accreditation. Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Davidson, G. (1999). Cultural competence as an ethical precept in psychology. In P. R. Martin, & W. Noble (Eds.), Psychology and society (pp. 162-174). Brisbane: Australian Academic Press.
