IB Psychology SL/HL - Sociocultural Approach

IB Psychology SL/HL Sociocultural Approach Key Terms

Culture

The shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviours, and traditions of a group or society, passed down through generations.  shaping how people live, think, and interact. evolving over time and providing a framework for understanding the world

Reciprocal determinism

A concept by Albert Bandura stating that behaviour, personal factors like thoughts and emotions, and the environment interact and influence each other bidirectionally

Social comparison & influence

The process of evaluating oneself by comparing to others, and the impact others have on our attitudes, behaviours, and beliefs

Social categorisation

The cognitive process of classifying people into groups based on shared characteristics like age, gender or ethnicity

Social identification

The process of adopting the identity of a group we belong to, which influences our self-concept and behaviour

Social comparison

Evaluating one’s abilities, opinions, and status by comparing oneself to others. 

Social norms

Unwritten rules or expectations for behaviour within a society or group. 

Assimilation

The process by which individuals or groups adopt the culture of another group, often losing their original cultural identity

Marginalisation

The social process of being pushed to the edge of society, often resulting in exclusion or limited access to resources

Separation

A strategy in acculturation where individuals or groups maintain their original culture and avoid interaction with the dominant culture

Integration

A strategy in acculturation where individuals or groups maintain their original culture while also adopting aspects of the dominant culture

Positive distinction

An individual’s motivation to show that an in-group is preferable to an out-group 

Attention

A state of consciousness in which a person can respond to a stimulus

Retention

The ability to recall, recognise and reproduce learned behaviour

Reproduction

To produce a copy of something (behaviour) 

Motivation

Reason(s) for acting or behaving a certain way, desire or willingness to act 

Live model

Observing an actual individual perform a behaviour

Verbal Instructional Model

Listening to detailed descriptions of behaviour and reproducing it 

Symbolic model

Learning through media, for example books or TV, where behaviours are demonstrated 

Vicarious reinforcement

The learning of behaviour through observation of the positive or negative consequences

In-groups

A group to whom the individual belongs 

Out-groups

Anyone who does not belong to the in-group 

Out-group homogeneity

Viewing members of an out-group in a one-dimensional way.  

Stereotype

An oversimplified, fixed and/or bias view of a particular group

Illusory correlation

Incorrectly perceiving two correlating variables as a cause-and-effect relationship. 

Stereotype threat / susceptibility

A situational dilemma in which one has a fear of being viewed in a stereotypical manner/ fear of conforming to a stereotype and strengthening another belief.  

Discrimination

When someone is treated unfavourably due to a protected characteristic or part of their identity

Cultural dimensions

A model used to highlight the differences between countries through six components: Power distance, indulgence vs restraint, long vs short term orientation, uncertainty avoidance, feminine or masculine and individualist or collectivist. 

Collectivist

Societies in which the individual experience is de-emphasised and there are strong cohesive in-groups.

Individualist

Societies in which the individual experience is over emphasized. 

Normative conformity

Adapting behaviour out of fear of judgement or to fit in with a group. 

Informational conformity

Adapting opinions based on information provided by people we believe know what they are talking about. 

Compliance

Going through the motions of conforming without believing what you’re doing – fitting in with social norms.  

Identification

Adopting the behaviours or attitudes of a group because you want to be like them or identify with them – related to social roles.

Internalisation

Completely adopting the beliefs and values of the group.

Cognition

The mental process of receiving, encoding, storing and retrieving information.

Behaviour

Mental process and observable actions

Flashbulb memory

A vivid, enduring memory associated with a personally significant or emotional event, often including photographic details of the moment the event happened. 

Enculturation

The process by which an individual learns the traditional content of a culture and assimilates its practices and values

Non-interventionalist

Parents of the Samoan children left them to learn independently and didn’t not get involved in teaching their children

Participatory learning

Learning through engaging in an activity and transferring their learning to later situations

Direct tuition

Learning through being told what to do

Acculturation

The process by which someone comes into contact with another culture and begins to adopt the norms and behaviours of that culture

Acculturative stress

The psychological, somatic and social impact of adapting to a new culture.