Cross-Cultural Psychology

Increase your awareness of cultural differences and develop a broader academic attitude

With ever-increasing globalization, we are getting in touch with different cultures more and more. In a city such as Rotterdam, where people from over 100 countries live and work, knowledge and skills in cross-cultural contacts have become essential. This minor deals with various important themes across psychological subdisciplines, including emotions, identity and psychopathology in different cultures, cultural differences in education and in attachment, working in intercultural teams, well-being of expatriates and immigrants, and problems in conducting cross-cultural research and assessment.

This minor is intended for all students who are interested in intercultural issues and in psychology. The minor aims to increase students’ awareness of cultural differences and contributes to the development of a broader academic attitude. Working during the course with students from diverse cultural backgrounds will deepen students’ knowledge through experiencing different cultural backgrounds and viewpoints themselves.

• Students gain insight into the following overarching themes: cross-cultural differences in child development, cognitions, emotions, personality, intelligence, psychopathology and the meaning of working.
• Students gain insight into methodological issues that play a role when conducting cross-cultural research.
• Students gain insight into ethnic differences and similarities in the domains of (mental) health care, education and the labour market.
• Students gain insight into the processes playing a role in stereotyping and discrimination.
• Students gain insight into multicultural identity development and acculturation strategies.
• Students gain insight into effective behaviour in intercultural situations.

Teaching methods

1. Fundamentals in Cross-Cultural Psychology
2. Ethnic Differences

Problem Based learning: Tutorial groups, self-study and lectures

Teaching Materials
Recent journal articles and book chapters, provided on the internet.

Method of examination
Modules 1 and 2 will be closed with a separate exam each. The exam consists of true/false statements and (short-answer) open-end questions. In addition, during Module 2 you will work in couples to prepare a presentation. During the last tutorial meeting of Module 2, you will give this presentation to the students in your tutorial group.

Composition final grade
The final grade will be a weighted average of both Exam Part 1 and Exam Part 2, plus the grade for the presentation (weights 2 + 2 + 1).
In order to pass the course, the minimum weighted average of both Exam Part 1 and Exam Part 2 must be a 5.5. Each exam separately (Part 1 and Part 2) needs to be graded with a 5.0 at minimum.
That means students can to some extent compensate an insufficient grade for one part of the minor. In addition, the assessment of the final presentation needs to be a grade of 5.5 or higher.

The minor will be open for international students. For this reason, all the material and activities will be in English. The language used in all tutorial groups will therefore be English. It will be possible to answer open ended questions on the exam in Dutch.

Students from all educational backgrounds are admissible for this minor. Students who do not have a background in psychology need to be aware they may need to put in extra effort in order to master the material and understand the underlying psychological principles.
This course uses a problem-based learning (PBL) approach. Students who do not have a background in PBL will receive an online training to learn how to work with this didactical model. This short digital training needs to be completed before the minor starts.