IB Psychology HL - Terminology of the Sociocultural Approach

Social psychology

- is the study of how groups influence behaviour.

Observations

- are frequently carried out by researchers taking a sociocultural approach because this method examines behaviour in its social settings.

emic approach

- to research focuses on the perspectives and words of participants.

- will use accounts and descriptions given in the very words used by the members of the group or culture being studied.

etic approach

- to research is the opposite as it is focused on the universal.

- uses as its starting point theories and concepts from outside of the setting being studied.

Ethics

- refers to a system of moral values or the way people distinguish right from wrong.

Social identity theory

- refers to the way someone thinks about themselves and evaluates themselves in relation to groups.

- was first proposed by Henri Tajfel (1971).

Categorisation

- is a process of organising objects and people (including ourselves) into groups.

Social identification

- is when we adopt the identity of "our" group.

- If you have categorised yourself as a student, the chances are you will adopt the identity of a student and begin to conform to the norms of the "student" group. - Your self-esteem will be linked to this group and other groups you belong to and help define who you are.

Social comparison

- involves comparing your group with others.

- To maintain or improve your self-esteem, your group needs to compare well with other groups.

- This is critical to understanding prejudice because once two groups identify themselves as rivals they are likely to compete so that members can maintain and improve their self-esteem.

social representation theory

- This schema provides information about the group's norms and how members communicate with each other. - They establish a common understanding between group members and they contain all information about the identity of the group and how it functions in society. - The study outlined below uses this theory to understand the social world of people living in a distinct area of London.

Social cognitive theory

- suggests behaviour is modelled by other members of a group and acquired through observation or imitation based on the consequences of a behaviour.

Reinforcement

- can be external or internal and can be positive or negative.

- If a child wants approval from parents or friends, this approval is an external reinforcement, but feeling happy about this approval is an internal reinforcement

vicarious reinforcement

- Finally, the child will also take into account what happens to other people when deciding whether or not to copy someone's actions. This is known as

- If they see someone punished for imitating behaviour, the child will learn the behaviour, but will not display it. - Identification with the role model occurs and involves adopting observed behaviours, values, beliefs and attitudes of the person with whom the child is identifying.

self-efficacy

- The idea here is the importance of a person's perception of their chances of success based on their previous experiences.

- When a person's sense of self-efficacy is high, they believe that she can behave in ways that will lead to success.

- By contrast, when a person's sense of self-efficacy is low, they believe they are incapable of success and may not even try.

- These beliefs are very powerful and impact relationships, health and work as well as traits of persistence.

- This sense of self-efficacy is shaped by past situations and experiences that a person encounters in life.

stereotype

- a fixed, over-generalized belief about a particular group of people.

theory of illusory correlations

- To explain stereotyping, Hamilton and Gifford (1976) developed a

- This theory distinguishes between stereotyping as the encoding of new information and stereotyping as the application of existing knowledge.

The gatekeeper theory

- decides what information should move to group or individual and what information should not.

stereotype threat

- defined this as a situation where individuals suspect their behaviours are being evaluated on the basis of a negative stereotype.

Cultural norms

- They are patterns of behaviour typical to specific groups and are passed down through generations by "gatekeepers" such as parents, teachers, elders and the media.

Surface culture

- includes things like food, dress, music, visual arts, crafts, dance, literature, language, celebrations and games. These aspects of culture can be easily observed by members of that culture and by outsiders.

Deep culture

- includes concepts of time, ideas about personal space, types and forms of nonverbal communications, ideas about childrearing, the nature of friendships and the concept of self.

- These beliefs, values, thought processes can be easily understood by members of that culture but may be less accessible to outsiders.

Power Distance

- Hofstede originally distinguished four "cultural dimensions" by which life in a society is organised. They are:

- the extent to which people in societies accept, or do not accept, a hierarchical order in which everybody has a place and which needs no further justification.

Individualism versus Collectivism

- Hofstede originally distinguished four "cultural dimensions" by which life in a society is organised. They are:

- the extent to which people prefer a loosely-knit social framework in which individuals are expected to take care of themselves and their immediate families or a tightly-knit framework where individuals can expect their relatives or members of a particular ingroup to look after them in exchange for loyalty.

- A society's position on this dimension is reflected in whether people's self-image is defined in terms of "I" or "we."

- Individualist cultures are seen as "I" cultures and collectivist cultures as "we" cultures.

Masculinity versus Femininity

- Hofstede originally distinguished four "cultural dimensions" by which life in a society is organised. They are:

- the extent to which a society is competitive (masculine) or cooperative (feminine).

Uncertainty versus Avoidance

- Hofstede originally distinguished four "cultural dimensions" by which life in a society is organised. They are:

- the extent to which the members of a society feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity. The fundamental issue here is how a society deals with the unknown future. A society high in uncertainty avoidance tries to control people's behaviour through rigid codes of belief and is intolerant of unconventional ideas.

- Hofstede originally distinguished four "cultural dimensions" by which life in a society is organised. They are:

Long-term versus Short-Term Orientation

- Hofstede originally distinguished four "cultural dimensions" by which life in a society is organised. They are:

- is the extent to which a culture values the long term over the short term.

- This dimension is also referred to as Confusican Dynamism.

- Long-term cultures value future rewards, persistence and perseverance, thrift and the ability to adapt to changing circumstance.

- Societies with a short-term orientation value the past and the present, national pride, respect for tradition, fulfilling social obligations, and the role of religion.

Indulgence versus Restraint

- this is a final dimension that was added in 2010.

- It expresses the attitude of a culture to the gratification of natural human drives related to enjoying life and having fun.

- Restraint stands for a society that suppresses gratification of needs and regulates drives by means of strict social norms.

Reciprocity

- We all tend to do something for someone who has already done something for us.

- If someone does something for you, such as giving you a free sample of a product, then you feel more obliged to do something for them, and buy the product.

Commitment

- If we make a small commitment, then we are more likely to commit to something larger in the future.

- For example, if we just buy a single DVD from an online store then we are more likely to buy other DVDs that they send us.

Manipulating people to comply

- Compliance is known to be enhanced by a number of situational manipulations.

- The "Foot-in-the-Door" Technique involves someone asking you for a small request before they ask for a much larger request.

- If you comply with the first, you are more likely to comply with subsequent larger requests.

- The "Door-in-the-Face" Technique adopts the opposite approach.

- A request likely to be refused is made and this is then followed up by a smaller request that you are more likely to see as reasonable.

- The "That's not all" technique is often used by television marketers.

- A product is described and then an addition offer of free products is made. The salesperson is trying to make the offer as tempting and appealing as possible.

Ingratiation

- This is a compliance technique in which the persuaders get their target person to like them first, through flattery and presenting themselves as like their target, and then attempting to gain compliance with some request. - While flattery might seem the most obviously successful, doing small favours, using appropriate body language and exploiting similarities between themselves and the target, are also successful.

conformity

- is when we behave in a similar way to others without direct pressure to do so.

- Whenever we change our behaviour, our beliefs and our attitudes in response to the norms of a group to which we belong, or want to belong, this is

Informational conformity

- often occurs in situations in which there is high uncertainty and ambiguity.

- In an unfamiliar situation, we are likely to shape our behaviour to match that of others.

- The actions of others inform us of the customs and accepted practices in a situation.

- Others inform us of what is right to do and how to behave in new situations.

Normative conformity

- is when we conform because we want to be liked by the group.

- This is the dominant form of social conformity when we are concerned about making a good impression in front of a group.

- Though we may disagree secretly with the group opinion, we may verbally adopt the group stance so that we seem like a team player rather than a deviant. - Peer pressure amongst teenagers is an example of normative conformity; most young people of this age are particularly vulnerable to influence because they long to be accepted by their peers.

Socialization

- is a process of learning the social norms of a culture.

Enculturation

- is the process where you acquire your own culture

- is a life-long process that helps a person acquire social values, social norms, behaviours, social roles, expectations, language and other tools of a culture.

- This is how we acquire our first culture and it is a conscious and unconscious conditioning process. - Parents, friends, family and the media are all strong influences in teaching individuals what are acceptable behaviours and what behaviours should be avoided.

- An individual should conform to the accepted behaviours or risk being considered a deviant by the rest of the society.

Acculturation

- is the merging of two cultures.

- is a process of socialization and psychological adjustment that takes place when two cultures come into contact.

- This is how we acquire our second or third culture.

Assimilation

- is a strategy that sees individuals leave their own cultural practices behind and become absorbed in the dominant culture.

Integration

- describes a middle ground where individuals keep aspects of their own culture but interact with the dominant culture.

bicultural

This works best in multicultural societies who value and affirm cultural diversity. These individuals are termed

Marginalisation

- takes place when the old culture is lost but there is little contact with the dominant culture due to exclusion or discrimination.

acculturative stress

- when individuals experience problems that cannot be easily or quickly solved by simply adjusting or assimilating to the norms of the dominant culture.

Enculturation

- is the process by which people learn the necessary and appropriate skills and norms in the context of their culture.

Acculturation

- People may change as a result of contact with other cultures in order to assimilate into a new culture.

Globalisation

- is a powerful force comprised of various dimensions including the economic, the political, the sociocultural, the technological, and the environmental.

Third Culture Individuals

- can be defined as people who have spent a significant portion of their childhood in a culture outside of their parent's original culture, or the culture from where their family originates.