Psychology 201 - Book Report/Review Example

Age: 45 years old Gender: Male Race: Asian (Filipino) When did you move to the United Sates and under what circumstances? I moved to US last 1994, my brother who is a member of the US Navy petitioned my mom to migrate in the US in 1986, and then my mom was the one who petitioned us (3 of my siblings). What did you accomplish here? In terms of career growth, since I am a professional back in my home country, I was fortunate enough to maintain the level of my career, I am an established travel agent here for more than 14 years.

I was able to buy a brand new high quality car, that I would never have gotten in my home land; able to travel for leisure more often and seeing other countries, that again I would never have experienced back home; able to save money, help my nieces and nephews in financing their studies back home; able to acquire properties in my home country. Is there something that you have here that you did not have back in your home country? Yes, I mentioned it above already, mostly it points out to material stuffs.

Do you feel happier here or do you believe you would be happier if you lived now in your home country? I am human of course I am happier in my home land; but if you look at the material side and the opportunities here, I would say that I am I should be happy here monetarily speaking, specially since I am well compensated here being a Senior Travel Agent than being an Operations Manager back in my home land. But money is not the only thing that makes the world go round, right? I mean, my nieces, nephews, grandkids make me happier than any hundred dollar bill.

I would give up everything just to watch them grow; I have a very holistic way of thinking, I could watch them grow and watch them starve or I could sacrifice a bit of my happiness to see them happy and see them being able to finish their college studies. Did you make any mistakes here in America? If yes, what would have you done differently if you had a chance? Mistakes? I believe I haven’t done any, there were opportunities in the past that I refused to accept, like being transferred to another state with 30% salary increase and allowances, but I could not leave my mom alone in our apartment.

And when it comes to laws, I am sure I did not commit any, I am a law abiding citizen.:) How do you celebrate American holidays? American holidays are almost the same as the holidays back home except the festivities are a bit grander there than here. Well, I do celebrate Halloweens since I came here, and I do join the Independence day celebration, just like any typical US Citizen! What kind of films do you watch? I am fond of watching fictions like harry potter and stuffs, even back in my home land, our family has quite an inclination over western films; I still watch local films in my cable tv but I prefer to watch those that garner high movie reviews.

What kind of sports, if any, do you follow? Basketball of course! NBA games. Imagine you have a person in your home country who is just 17 years old and wants to move to America permanently. What would you say to this person? Give this person three best, from your view, suggestions on what she/he has to do to succeed in the United States.  First, know yourself; it’s very difficult to have an identity crisis in a foreign land. Second, love your roots, a green card will not change who you really are!

It is just valid legally but you can never change who you really are. Never ever deny what country you came from, be proud, embrace our culture and even if migration is the only solution to experience a greener pasture, do not erase the culture and custom of our country in yourself. Speak our native language. If you want to succeed in the US, just remember not to be picky, if your qualifications does not match the job you want then grab the next best thing. Make a lot of friends, at first I thought Americans are snobbish, but I was wrong, they are as friendly and as easy to be with as my own people.

Next pray to God to guide you always, have faith in God and everything will fall into place. Migration is something that humans do in order to escape, discover, or achieve something that the native homelands cannot give them. “Since the dawn of human evolution, humans have migrated across continents in search of food, shelter, safety, and hospitable weather. People still move for these reasons, but new reasons for human migration are arising, such as job relocation and overpopulation.” - Marie Loiselle, National Geographics Web Psychological Analysis: When the interview was conducted the interviewee was accompanied by his officemates, they were a group of five people wherein three were also immigrants, including himself.

He was observed to be proud of his race since he has a tattoo of the national flag in his right arm and tends to speak his native language at some point. Also shows pride in telling the good points of his country specially the beaches and other tourist spots, which according to him are among the best in the world. Shows a very laid-backed attitude in stating his views and explaining his answers, likewise seemed to be pleased that I chose him as my subject for interview. An educated person based on the way he carries himself, the way he dressed, speak and his obvious hand gestures may give people to assume that he was an experienced public speaker.

Shows no sign of sadness, laughs occasionally during the conversation and sites situations so I would understand what he meant. He has a positive attitude; he smiles a lot and seems to have a lot of friends since there were some people that said hello to him during our interview. And tends to be very outspoken when asked about his accomplishments, he takes pride in what he has already done in the US and having been able to work in his field of expertise unlike other immigrants that started in low paying jobs.

He is delighted being able to buy a decent car and properties in his home land. He has a tendency to show importance in his religious beliefs when giving out advice for other fellow immigrants when he stated “make God your priority and everything will fall into place”. He shows a strong personality in the manner of his outlook in life. He was more than willing to answer all the questions, and henceforth cannot find any signs of reluctance in his voice. A very sincere person in giving out his points however, when the question was about happiness, I felt the sadness in him, as per his answer, he stated he is just a human, and of course he would be happier in his own country since most of his family and friends are there.

Leaving his country is one of the hardest things he did in his life. Sacrificing his own happiness to help out his family is a heroic thing to do. A caring soul, he doesn’t want his nieces and nephews be left out that he sends a package to them containing stuffs that they want. Although I noticed that he did not talked much about his relationship to the opposite sex, it appears that he does not have any time or interest in the opposite sex and cared more about the condition of his nieces, nephews, grandkids and mother.

His over-caring attitude to his family may be viewed as a scapegoat since he still doesn’t have a family of his own. He did mention something about refusing an opportunity that has knocked his doorstep. He denied going to other State so that his mother would not be left alone. He talked about his mother’s health status that is not included in the transcript; his mother is quite old and cannot cope with the cold weather of that particular State. He again shows genuine care for his family, by passing an opportunity that could be a window for him to achieve further career growth.

He showed signs of being hurt by the waiters of a particular restaurant in the State which he visited, because they treated him badly and showed excessive racial discrimination. Homesickness, identity crisis, sacrifice are among the things that the interviewee mentioned. In addition to that, the loss of cultural attachment of the migrant is a big issue facing migration. The host country mandates the migrant to learn all the customs (language, national anthem, history, memorize the presidents) before his green card is approved.

At some point, the migrant will eventually lose track of his own country’s identity especially if the migrant’s age is very young. Most immigrants who migrated in the US below 10 years old, tends to forget everything about his native land. They don’t even speak their own language, since their parents don’t have the time to teach them because they are focusing more on their jobs to sustain their finance. In my view point, it is the young children who adjust better and adapts the host country customs, a child’s mind is a lot easier to mould.

For me, women adjust easier than men; because of gender equality women tend to dominate the field of men in terms of the weight of the jobs. Women have a longer tolerance for sadness and have an innate capability to adapt. Education also effects the adjustment of a migrant, if he feels to be inferior because he didn’t even got to finish grade school then most probably he will be aloof and would just get a low paying job. Ethnicity and religion also plays a valuable key in the adjustment of a migrant, if the migrant was a Muslim of Middle Eastern origin, he would probably get the discrimination treatment from most of the population.

Not everyone in US are educated enough not to associate all Muslims to terrorists. Racial discrimination is a huge factor, if the immigrant was of European Origin, the treatment of most people would be special if not the same as they treat fellow Americans, but if it was of Asian Race, there are some States in which the population discriminates these people. The interviewee stated a time in his life were he went to a particular State to attend a convention, and when his group of Asian Colleagues entered a fancy restaurant, the waiters just ignored them, that they had to transfer to some cheap dinner.

There are still stubborn folks who are the reasons why these immigrants would not feel welcome. I gained a thorough awareness on the effects of the response of the host community to immigrants. That the host contributes greatly if that immigrant would adjust faster or would not be able to adjust at all. I also learned that people view US as a great place that offers opportunities for them to raise their status of living. I also realized the martyrdom of some immigrants, to give up their personal pleasures for their family’s well being.