Studies

Studies for Social Cultural approach

Tajifel & Turner (1972) (SIT)

Tajifel & Turner (1972) (SIT)

Aim: To investigate the minimal groups paradigm and how it is relevant to social identity theory (SIT)

Participants: 48 males aged 14-15 same state school in UK. Randomly allocated to 3 groups consisting of 16 boys

Procedure:

• Randomly assigned to groups by researchers

• Boys had been shown slides of painting by the artists Klee and Kandinsky, and asked which they preferred

• they were told after that their preferences for one of the artist would form the basis of the group they would be assigned to (it did not - the boys just thought this had happened, thereby creating minimal groups)

• The boys were not told which boys were in their groups, so no face to face contact with other group members once they hade made their choice

• Then they were shown individually to a cubicle and was asked to conduct the following taks: Assign money (virtually) to members of either boys in-group or outgrip

• The boys did not know the identity of each boy, only code number which identified whether they were in-group or out-group

• It was randomised design, and they were tested on if they wanted maximum joint profit, maximum in-group profit, maximum differences between in-group and out-group

Results: The boys tended to favour the in-group members, choosing to go for a higher reward and to penalise the outgroup, which means instead of going for maximum points they instead went for the choice that maximised the biggest profit/loss difference between the groups.

This was based solely on the idea of the other groups, they didn’t even physically meet. The differences (characteristics) between the in-groups and outgrips were minimal, but even then just knowing the artist preference made them feel like an in-group, even though they didn’t even know about the artist before this experiment

Conclusion: in group favouritism can be manipulated via the minimal groups paradigm in which participants use social catagorisationsd to make decision, simply knowing that another (rival) group existed is enough to suggest the idea of us and them

Evaluation

Strenghts:

• Lab experiment = uses standardised procedure and quantitative data which should ensure reliablility

• The guys not meeting add validity to the study, because that eliminates bias

Weaknesses

• lacks ecological validity, lab experiment but also assigning virtual money to faceless strangers does not reflect a real life situation

• The boys may have succumbed to respond bias, meaning they rewarded the in-group because that’s what they thought the researchers wanted

Cialdini et al 1976 (SIT) for ERQ

Aim: to investigate the idea of choosing to be part of a group to build self-esteem

Method: Field experiment and interviews

Procedure: After a football match, they interviewed students, asked them about the performance of their football team. Cialdini observed the student clothing on a day when there was a big football game, the researcher looked if the teams supporters would change their behaviour due ti the result of the fame

Results: the students tended to wear more accessories associated with their football team, or school, when they won in comparison wo then they lost. When lost, supporters used pronouns “they” in interviews, but when the team won the pronounces “we” was used much more often.

Conclusion: Positive distinctness they need to show that your in-group is superior to an out-group.

Strengths

• High ecological validity; field experiment, conducted in an natural setting, and successfully replicated results from lab experiments in a natural setting, confirming that the theory is testable and applicable in real life

Weaknesses

• We don’t know of the school already had traditions of wearing the school clothing the next day, or if the classmates had maybe sent out a message about wearing school related merchandise the next day.

Bandura et al (1961) (SCT)

Aim: to investigate observational learning in children when confronted with an aggressive adult role model

Participants: 72 children (mean age = 4, 36 males and 36 females)

Design: children had been rated as to their level of aggression by nursery staff to produce matched pairs

Procedure: there distinct phases

• Phase 1: each child was taken to an experimental room where they observed either an aggressive or a non aggressive adult (the aggressive group had an adult punching a bobo doll)

• Phase 2: then the child was taken to a room full of attractive toys, they were told that the toys were meant for another child and that they had to leave the room

• Phase 3: the child was then taken to a third room filled with aggressive and non aggressive toys, including a bobo doll where they were left to play for 20 minutes while the researchers observed them from a one-way mirror. Specific examples of physical and verbal aggression were measured by the observers

Three conditions:

1. Agressive model - the model behaved aggressive towards the bobo doll

2. Non-aggressive model - the model behaved in a non-aggressive way

3. Control group - no model was present

Results: Children in aggressive conditions produced more directly initiative acts of aggression towards the bobo doll e.g. punching kicking hitting it with a toy hammer. this was not seen in the non-aggressive or control conditions

conclusion: Aggression can be the result of observational learning experienced in one setting and carried over to a different setting

Strengths

• use of matched parts- so individual differences in aggression was not a variable

• findings of this study highlighted the importance of tv controll

Weaknesses

• Children observe violent, aggressive behaviour in natural settings, often involving adults they know well which makes this procedure lack ecological validity

• There are ethical considerations which were not adhered to when this study was conducted – particularly protection of participants from harm – which means that the procedure could not be replicated today

Dijkstra &De Vries (2001) (SCT) for ERQ

Aims: to imnvestigate self-efficacy as a factor in quitting smoking

Participants: 1546 smokers from the Netherlands

Procedure: The researcher conducted a field experiment using participants who wanted to quit smoking, randomly allocated

• Condition 1: outcome information - pas. were given info about the bad affects of smocking

• Condition 2: Self-efficacy enhancing information - The pas. were given info about how to quit smoking and nothing else, about how ti incorporate into their own lives e.g. believing that they could give up, strategies for successfully quitting smoking

• Condition 3: both 1 and 2 - participants were given both the info from condition 1 and 2

• Condition 4: control condition - no info was given

Results:

• participants came back after 12 weeks, had to tell how many days the las 7 days they were clean (and if they had tried quitting the last 12 weeks)

• highest number of people who had been clean for 7 days came from condition 2 (8.5)

• Condition 2 also had the highest number of smokers who had attempted to quit in the last 12 weeks (27.3). lowest clean days came from condition 1 (info)

Conclusion: Seld-eddicacy may be a key factor un helping people to quit smoking: simply warning people of the dangers of smoking does not appear to be as effective

Strengths:

• large sample size + field experiment which meant high ecological validity

• Findings of this study could be used to inform health campaign which aim to help people

Weaknesses

• using self-reported data means the the results may not be valid as participants could have lied about their smoking (social desirability bias)

• no follow up study, so no idea if condition 2 was actually the best

Steele and Aronson (1995) stereotype threat (effect)

Aim: to see how stereotype threat affects test performance in African Americans

Participants: 114 male and female black and white undergraduates from Stanford uni

Procedure:

• two independent variables in the study: the race of the participants and the test description. The participants were given a 30-min test on verbal ability similar to the SAT. in each condition same amount of black and white students

• Condition 1: was told the test was to test their verbal abilities and limitations (Stereotype threat condition)

• Condition 2: told that the test was just o better understand the psychological factor involved in solving verbal problems

  • The assumption was that linking the test to ability would activate the existing racial stereotype, so black participants face the threat of fulfilling the stereotype

Results

African Americans did bad in the first condition compared to their white counterparts, but equally good in the second condition. In other words, they did bad in the stereotype threat condition because they felt like they were being judged based on already existing stereotypes that describes African Americans as dumber compared to their white counterparts

Conclusion: When a person was aware of the negative stereotype or expectations, the amount of anxiety may increase and performance will hence decrease

Strenghts:

• cause and affect relationship

• increased control and accuracy

• objectivity

• standardisation

• internal validity

Weaknesses

• total control=impossiple

• artificial

Hilliard and Liben (2010) formation of stereotypes

Aim: to determine how social category salience may play a role on the development of stereotypes and inter-group behaviour in elementary school children

Participants: two pre-schools. 57 US children from 3 years to 5. roughly equal gender

procedure:

• pretest to test the bias they already had to gender attitude, and they were also observed to see if they played with other children of different sexes

• then the schools were separated into two conditions:

  • High salience condition: children were made aware of gender, they had gender lines, posting separate boys and girls bulletin boars, used gender specific language

  • Low salience conditions: teacher were given no instructions about changing their behaviour, this served as the control group

• both schools did have a policy to avoid gendered languages

Results: After two weeks, the researchers found that the children in the high salience conditions had a significant increase in their gender stereotypes when the test was taken age, it was Laos observed the the high salience condition had less interaction between opposite sexes.

Strenghts: true experiments =high ecological validity (field experiment), shows cause-and-effect relationship

weaknesses: environment was not strictly controlled, low internal validity. not really possible to measure a Childs salience. ethical considerations of harm ag

Smith and Bond (cultural group affecting individuals, behaviour,; cultural dimension, individualistic and collectivistic)

AIM:To investigate conformity as a product of culture

Participants: the study was a meta-analysis ethic in total compromises 133 studies from 17 countries which represent both collectivistic nd individualistic cultures. the countries include France, Fiji, Ghana, Hong Kong, Japan, the UK, and the USA

Procedure

• A meta analysis is quantitive research method which uses the data from previous published studies on the same topic, int this case conformity rates as measured Bia the ASCH paradigm

• a meta analysis used statistics to analyse the findings of cross-cultural replication of ASCH’s original study( which in itself had nothing to do with culture)

• Smith and Bond combined the findings of theses studies to draw an overall conclusion about rates of conformity in collectivist cultures compared to individualistic cultures

• The findings are expressed as an effect size, in case of this study this was linked to overall rate of conformity per country

Results:

• the highest rates of conformity were seen in more collectivistic countries; the effect size from studies in Fiji was the highest at 2.47, then hinging then japan

• Lowest rates were found in studies in France which was 0,56, then the Netherlands, then us

Conclusion: conformity may be affected by culture with collectivist cultures showing more conformity Thant individualistic cultures

Strenghts

• meta analysis = large amounts of quantitative data, high statistical power, meaning not only based on one study

• Using replications of Asch’s conformity research means that the researchers had access to the results of studies which used as a standardised procedure which should ensure that there is in built reliablity

Weaknesses

• reliability if the finding is compromised because not the same amount of Asch replication in each country

• meta analysis is a rather cold method, a purely statistical thing cannot provide any explanations to why conformity might occur more in collectivistic cultures.

Takano Sogono (2008) (conformity, showed that a collectivistic society does not mean conformity)

Aim: To investigate the idea that the Japanese are conformist

Participants: 297 uni students from Japan from same uni clubs no sports

Procedure

• split into 40 groups, each between 7-9 participants

• students participated in Asch’s classic conformity experiment involving identification of line lenght

Results

• have conforming answer in 12 out of 18 critical trials with a conformity rate of 25% less then 32 which was in the original Asch study

• 14 participants did not fongotm at all in any of the critical trials and 3 conformed in all 12 critical trials

Conclusion: the idea that the Japanese are highly conforming because of collectivistic society may be incorrect and ba based on outdated ideas about culture

Strenghts:

• results puncture cultural stereotypes

• the study used Asch original standardised procedure, which meant hat future replicationnof the study could be conducted to check for reliability

Weaknesses:

• Same uni, and attended the same non sports clubs = difficult to generalise

• no iteration between group members, lacks external validity.