Available to undergraduate students in their second or third year of any degree – university-wide!
Australia is one of the most culturally diverse societies in the world and culture influences us all the time, even though you may not be conscious of it. If you have eaten sushi or enjoyed a boba tea, you have experienced cultural diffusion. If you speak a language other than English at home or have a history of migration then you have experienced acculturation. Cultural diversity is all around us and it matters for how we live our lives and relate to one another.
Despite this, cultural frameworks are often invisible to us unless we learn to be aware of them. We need to stop and think about what it means to be a member of our social groups, how this makes us similar or different from others, and who is included or excluded. We all have a culture that we belong to or were brought up in that has profound impacts on who we are, how we live our lives, and what we value.
Our new elective course 3033PSY Psychological Perspectives on Cultural Diversity will help develop your understanding of those frameworks from a psychological standpoint. It will be beneficial to students who are interested in working in everything from psychology or human services, to law, marketing, education, tourism, and anything in between.
Be part of a new and exciting course run for the first time in T1 2021!
In this course, you will learn about what happens when societies become more culturally diverse and apply principles from Cultural, Cross-Cultural, and Indigenous Psychology to understand local and global intercultural relations. The course aims to assist you in recognising the importance of culture in guiding your own and others thoughts, feelings and behaviours and to build competence in working with culturally diverse communities.
We are exposed to a variety of diverse cultural viewpoints via globalised migration, trade, and tourism, as well as connections to geographically dispersed others via media and technology. Psychology can help us to understand how culture influences the way individuals, communities, nations function and how social groups interact with one another in the new world. By growing your awareness about the importance of culture you will be able to better navigate the complex intercultural world that you will inevitably be living and working in. Regardless of your career goals, this course will help amplify an important element of every career – human interaction.
Further elective options for students interested in applied psychology
If you’re interested in complementing your degree with further psychological knowledge, consider 1021PSY Applied Psychology, another new elective course. This course is available to all undergraduate students in their first, second, or third year of any degree. It has been designed for students from a range of disciplines, who are interested in learning about the psychological principles behind human behaviour in relation to contemporary issues.
The course is aimed to provide students with an in-depth understanding of human behaviour as it relates to the self, others and the world at large. In doing so, it encourages personal growth, understanding others, and navigating the ever-changing landscapes of technology, health, the environment, and work. Principles taught in the course are applicable to a range of settings, and you are likely to benefit from the enhanced insight and skills that the course has to offer. The course provides an excellent basis for continuing studies in psychology, or as an elective of another degree, to which its principles can be applied.
If these courses appeal to you and you have free-choice electives available in your undergraduate program, search the course codes listed and enrol into your chosen course for T1 2021. You can complete this when managing your enrolment via myGriffith.
