GLOBAL STUDIES MODULE FORMAT
Ivy Tech Community College North Central- Global Studies Program
Name: Daniel Dickman
School: Ivy Tech Community College- Evansville
Course Number and Title: PSYC 101 Introduction to Psychology
Module Title: The relationship of Individualism-Collectivism to Social and Developmental Psychology
Description of the Module: This unit will provide students an opportunity to better understand how our
cultural viewpoint about our relationship with others can have a major impact upon our individual
behavior, health, and expectations for the future.
Educational Objectives of the Module (should constitute a minimum of 12% of the course):
1. Students will be able to identify and describe the difference between individualistic and collective societal
structures and provide two examples of how this might be reflected in different developmental outcomes for
people living in United States (typically individualistic) and countries considered more collectivistic such as
India or China.
2. Students will have a greater appreciation of how and individualistic and collectivistic cultural perspectives
have developed (biological, evolutionary, social) and can affect the manner in which our behaviors impact and
are impacted by the real or perceived influence of others.
Outline of Lectures/Discussions:
1.
2.
3.
Discussion of collectivistic and individualistic cultural (commonalities and differences in terms of
developmental and social psychological outcomes) theories.
History and some current research supporting the rationale for each of the perspectives, why they
occur, and their relevance to the science of behavior and mental processes.
Group discussion and report out about parenting practices articles (provided to students at the close
of the second class session of the module) from India and China and their variance between
expectations for parenting in the United States.
a. Parent expectations for their children (I vs. C)
i. Education
ii. Careers
iii. Decisions about the future
b. Behavioral response patterns for acceptable / unacceptable behavior of children
i. Discipline
ii. Family expectations
c. Your feelings/judgements about differences between other cultural parenting practices and your
own experiences.
Listing of Resources Used to Support the Module (readings, videos, podcasts, documentaries, etc.):

Brief articles to have students read about different parenting practices
o Article 1
 Child-rearing Beliefs and Practices in Indian Culture
 http://people.opposingviews.com/childrearing-beliefs-practices-indian-culture-8160.html
o Article 2

o
o
o
o
Traditional Indian parenting practices
 http://www.indiatribune.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4357:traditional-indian-parenting-practices&catid=99:column&Itemid=462
Article 3
 Fathers and Parenting: India 2009
 From: http://www.indiaparenting.com/raising-children/253_1353/fatherhood.html
Article 4
 Interpretations of Culturally Different Parenting Practices and the Legal Implications Court
Decisions in Other Countries
 http://infochangeindia.org/children/analysis/childrearing-practices-culture-and-psychology.html
Article 5
 Beliefs, Values and Customs of Chinese Parents
 http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/beliefs-values-customs-chinese-parents-15904.html
Article 6
 Traditional Chinese parenting: What research says about Chinese kids and why they succeed.
 http://www.parentingscience.com/chinese-parenting.html
Description of the Assignments Used to Facilitate an Understanding of the Module Objectives (writings, interviews,
reflections, experiential projects or field work):
1. Group activity (small group discussion and report out class as a whole) about parenting practices articles
from India and China and their variance between expectations for parenting in the United States.
2. Students will write a reflection paper after the class activity and respond to the following questions:
i. From a psychological frame of reference, what might be some of the reasons such
differences occur.
ii. How might our view of such cultural differences (individualistic /collectivistic) impact
our judgment of those families and the society of which they are part?
Evaluation/Testing Used to Assess the Comprehension of the Module:
1. 2-3 page reflection paper (40 points)
2. Exam questions (questions about this material worth 40/100 points for this exam).
Note: total points possible for this course are 660. Evaluation will count for 12% of total course points
available.
Resources (Bibliography) used to Develop/implement the Module:
1. Text:
2. Triandis,H.C., Bontempo,R., Villareal,M.J., Asai,M.,& Lucca,N. (1988).
Individualism and Collectivism: Cross Cultural Perspectives on
Ingroup Relationships. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 54(2), 323-338.
3. Tao, V. & Hong, Y. (2013, December, 13). When Academic Achievement
Is an Obligation: Perspectives From Social-Oriented Achievement Motivation.
Retrieved February16, 2014 from University of Macau, Macao, China, Psychology
Website: http://jcc.sagepub.com/content/45/1/110.full.pdf+html
4. Chiao J.Y. & Blizinsky, K. D. (2009, October, 28). Culture–gene
coevolution of individualism-collectivism and serotonin transporter
gene. Retrieved March 10, 2015 from U.S. National Institutes
of Health, PubMed Central® Web site:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2842692/
5. Gorodnichenko, Y & Roland, G. (2011). Understanding the
Individualism-Collectivism Cleavage and its Effects Lessons from
Cultural Psychology:. Retrieved June 15, 2015 from University
of California, Berkeley, eml.berkeley.edu Web site:
http://eml.berkeley.edu/~groland/pubs/IEA%20papervf.pdf