sociocultural saq

Stereotypes are a type of

social schema

Stereotypes are subconscious

true

stereotypes are a set of cognitive generalizations

• beliefs and expectations

• qualities and characteristics of members of a group or social category

stereotypes are like heuristics

they fit the steeotype until proven otherwise

stereotypes are prone to confirmation bias

people ignore evidence that contradicts it

stereotypes are acquired

indirectly from other people or norms not from personal experience

prejudice is

judgement about individuals without information about them except for group membership

our attitude towards someone- our schema and emotion

discrimination is

the action, the behavior of stereotyping someone based on our prejudices

Illusory correlations

• people see a relationship between 2 variables even when there is none

• forms false associations between membership of a social group and specific behaviors

• causes people to overestimate a link that is perceived to be true

• example of cognitive bias ‘representative heuristic then confirmation bias where in social contexts we pay attention to behaviors to confirm our beliefs

Hamilton and gifford - aim

to determine if illusory correlation can be formed without any pre existing ideas instead of focusing too much on information that stands out

what are the two types of illusory correlations

expectancy based and distinctiveness based

expectancy based

mistakenly see relationships due to our pre existing expectations surrounding them with confirmation bias

distinctiveness based

relationship is believed to exist between two variables due to focusing too much on information that stands out

HG procedure

• 70 undergraduates

• 5050 male and female

• series of slides

• statement about one of two groups a or b

• twice as many people in group a than group b

• 26 vs 13

• group b was the minority

• told that group b was smaller

• each statement was about one individual in one of the two groups

  • either positive or negative

• same proportion of + and - comments

• asked to rank members of each groups on a series of 20 traits like social and popular

• given a booklet with a statement and asked if the person who did this was from a or b

• how many of the statements had been undesriable

• half of the group changed the order of measuring dependent variable to avoid interference

• booklet was done before trait rankings

HG results

• group a was ranked higher than b for positive traits and lower for negative

• booklet = correctly recalled more + traits for A than b 74% vs 54%

• participants overestimated the number of negative traits in the minority group

  
  

HG findings

• minority was smaller, negative behaviors apperaed more distinct and representative

• demonstrates why negative stereotypes are moer common for minority groups than the majority

Spotlight effect

• causes emotional distress and pressure that undermines performance

• under stereotype threat = underperform

• could result in positive effects as well

stereotype threat

• occurs when one is in a situation where there is a threat to being judged or treat stereotypically

• fear of doing something that would confirm the stereotype

• you dont have to actually believe it

stereotype effect x spotlight anxiety

the stereotype effect turns on spotlight effect

Shih - aim

to investigate the possibility of stereotypes having potentital positive or negative effects on behavior

Shih - procedure

• 46 asian american females university students

• randomly allocated to 3 conditions

  • asian identity

  • gender identity

  • control

• asked a range of questions that differed in each condition

  • Asian asked questions related to heritage

    • how many generations have lived in america

  • gender: asked questions gender related

    • co-ed or single sex dorms

  • control: meaningless questions

• given a math test with 12 questions

• given 20 minutes for the test

  
  

Shih - results

• asian = 54% all correct

• control = 49%

• Gender = 43%

shih - findings

• positive stereotypes = positive effects on performance

• one’s sense of asian identity = increased performance on math test

• females = decreased performance on math test

• based on the stereotypes that men are better at math and asisnas are better at math

• because of the stereotype, there was the stereotype effect and spotlight threat causing them to underperform

Cultural dimensions

• Cultural dimensions are frameworks that explore how the values of a society affect behavior through various cultures

• describe the trends of behavior in a group in a given culture.

type of cultural dimension

individualistic vs collectivist society

Individualistic

• The individualist societies, which Hofstede argued were more Western based

• stated that the relationships between individuals were "loose"

• the ties were not as integrated into the individual.

• everyone is expected to look after themselves or at least their immediate in group/family.

Collectivist

• birth onwards, people are integrated into strong cohesive in groups that stem beyond our immediate family

• It can go beyond to our extended family, friends, co-workers, etc

• The collectivist society forms these strong ties to the in group because it is expected that groups provide support and protection

• It is also said that the individual who does not conform to the norms of the group or family or larger social group would face consequences that can be severe.

Kulkofsky - aim

To investigate if there would be a difference in the rate of flashbulb memories in collectivist or indivudlaistic cultures in the 5 countries studied - china germany turkey uk and usa

fbms

flashbulb memories are not easily changed by schemas, memories made by emotional impact

kulkofsky - procedure

• 274 adults from 5 countries middle class

• pre study:

  • given 5 minutes to recall public events in their time

    • at least 1 year ago

  • used list to create a memory questionnaire

• given 5 questions to ask how they learned about that event

  • who were you with

  • what were you doing

  • when was it in the day

  • where when you first learned

  • how did you learn

• asked questions of importance of event to them

  • how nationally or internationally important

  • personally important

  • how surprising

  • how many times have you talked about it

• translated and assisted by bilingual assistants

Kulkofsky - results

collectivist cultures like china:

• personal importance and intensity of emotion played less of a role in the predicting an FBM

individualistic

• more emphasis on personal involvement and emotional experience

Kulkofsky - findings

• focusing on an individuals experience less rehearsal of a triggering event = lower chance of fbm

• national importance = equally linked to fbm formation

Enculturation

• the process of adopting or internalizing the schemas of your culture that is native to you

• done both explicitly rules and norms that are told

• or implicitly observations that are unspoken

• even if we dont know it, time of birth until death we are being enculturated

Cohen - aim

to study the effect of honor culture in southern white males in the usa to respond to threats and insults vs northern males

cohen - procedure

• 3 conditions between northerners and sourtherners

• uni students who either grew up in N or s of usa

• confederate bumped into them and then insulted them by calling them a derogatory name

cohen - results

N = unaffected by insult

S=

• think masculine reputation was threatened

• be more upset, higher cortisol levels = homone for stress and arousal

• physically primed for aggression = higher testosterone

• congitively primed for aggression

N was only half as likely to become more angry but amused

angry = 35% and 85% amused

Cohen - findings

• hihglights how southern culture of honor as S wants to restore lost reputation through aggression

enculturation x cohen

Schema changes to adapt to native culture

• Honor culture is more of a cultural norm and is part of one's schema

• Demonstrates how enculturation can affect one's behavior and how they "should" act based on their schema

Acculturation

process of cultural and psychological change that takes place as a result of contact with two or more cultural groups that results in changes in a persons behavior

assimilation

abandons their own individual and original culture and adopts cultural behavior or values of a new culture

Marginalization

it is not possible to maintain original culture but also not possible to assimilate

integration

interest in adopting behaviors of new culture but maintaining original cutlure

separation

migrants maintain their own culture and minimize contact with new culture

acculturation stress

the psychological impact of adaptation to a new culture which long term can lead to reduced mental and physical heatlh aka culture shock

acculturation gap

acculturaon dissonance

differences in understanding values between generations

reverse culture shock

surprise or disorientation when you go back to home culture

Luek and Wilson - Aim

to investigate what factors would decrease level of accultrative stress in asian imigrants in the us

LW - procedure

• 2095 immigrants through random sampling

• 1271 were first generation

• semi structured intervieews to measure acculturative stress

  • impact of language profiency language preference, discimination, social networks, family cohesion, socioeconomic stress

• either interview or face to face

LW results

• 1433/2096 70% had acculrative stress

• bilinguals had less stress

• only speaking enlighs meant high AS

• negative treatment meant hIGH

• SHARING VALUES LOW

• ECONOMICALLY SATISTFEIED LOW