Educational course "Ethnopsychology" "Ethno-psychological characteristics of the Koreans"

As a response to the constant expansion of cross-ethnic interactions in the modern world and the primary significance of familiarity with psychology of other nations for future oriental specialists, this section was developed as part of «Oriental and African studies» in 2013-2014 for bachelor students of the Oriental studies department of the Faculty of Humanities. It continues on from the basic course “Introduction to the specialty” and serves as an indispensable basis for the disciplines of the following years. The main goals of the course “Ethnopsychology” are: to clarify the area of problems studied by the discipline and ethno-psychological aspects of intercultural communication; to familiarize students with the topics of ethnic identification and self-consciousness; to teach practical application of knowledge of ethno-cultural processes. The course features lectures and seminars and has five parts: I. The subject of ethnic psychology: main stages of development; II. Major trends of modern ethnopsychology; III. Methods and procedures in ethnopsychology; IV. Ethnos and ethnicity. These four parts lay the theoretical basis covering the history of the science, its terminology and approach. Parts III and IV prepare students for mastering the final, practical part. V. Ethno-psychological temper of the Buddhist civilization. General ethno-psychological characteristics of the Asian nations and comparative analysis. The seminar is divided into three blocks corresponding with three countries: China, Korea, and Japan. The Chinese part is the subject of past issues of the Bulletine of NSU (Frolova, 2016). This article is dedicated to seminars on the Korean ethnopsychology. The focus is on the topics of illustrating the Korean ethnic psychology within Korean and foreign historiography; the Koreans’ mentality; stereotypes of perception of ‘the other’; the role of Confucian postulates in shaping up the Korean national characters; traditions of worshipping the elder and remembrance of ancestors; the role of family within traditional and modern Korean society; the phenomenon of higher education status in Korea and South Korea’s present-day youth’s mentality; the Koreans’ world perception. Among other subjects of study is the ethno-psychology of North Korea citizens and the ethno-psychological portrait of Korean expat communities in Russia and abroad. As a result of participation in the seminar students obtain an idea of the major psychological characters of the Korean nation, formation stages of their ethnic identity and ethnic stereotypes, as well as learning to compose a comprehensive psychological portrait of a certain ethos.