PS 360 - Cross-Cultural Psychology

The primary aim of this course is to provide the student with an overview of both established and contemporary knowledge in the area of culture and psychology and to facilitate the student in gaining insight to the ethnocentric nature of western psychology. This course offers a combination of key areas in psychology (culture and mental health, social psychology and human development) each viewed through a cultural lens. Given that the students are here as sojourners (living temporarily outside their own country), the psychological literature in this area is also explored. A further component focuses on an applied area, psychosocial health of immigrants in Italy, and specifically Rome, thus providing the opportunity for students to apply the knowledge they have acquired and allow them to gain insight into a current cultural issue in Rome. It is hoped that the approach taken in this course will both complement and enrich the students’ experience as sojourners, living and studying in a new culture, on both an academic and personal level.