Social Identity Theory, Social Cognitive Theory, and Stereotypes Quiz Review

Social Identity Theory

A person has not just one “personal-self”, but also several selves that correspond to internalized group membership.

Out-Group Homogeneity

Tendency to assume that the members of other groups are very similar to each other

Social Cognitive Theory

Behavior that can be learned from the environment through modeling and reinforcement

Modeling

Observing of other people’s behavior

Vicarious reinforcement

The learning of observed reinforcement of other’s behavior

Stereotypes

A fix, over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people

Confirmation Bias

Tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs or theories

Illusory correlations

The phenomenon of perceiving a relationship between variables even when no relationship exists (think of the guy who thought that by putting freshwater fish in polluted water would make it pure water)

Stereotype Threat

Psychological threat that arises when one is in a situation or doing something for which a negative stereotype about one’s group applies.

Social Identity Theory

Festinger and Tajfel et al.

Social Cognitive Theory

Joy and Kimball

Aim: Study the impact of television on children's aggressive behaviour by carrying out a longitudinal natural experiment

Methods: 120 children conducted in 3 small towns in British Columbia and Canada, studied before and after a town (Notel) didn't have TV and again in 1975 when the town received a channel, 2 other towns with TV but got new channels were also observed

Results: Aggressive behavior of children in Notel increased significantly from '73 to '75, aggressive behavior of children in the other two towns didn't change significantly, peer and teacher ratings supported findings, males more physically aggressive than females, children's favorite shows showed no difference between aggressive and less aggressive children, heightened arousal (from TV) results in greater likelihood of aggression

Formation of Stereotypes

Hamilton and Gifford

Aim: To investigate cognitive processes which determine illusory correlation between undesirable behaviors and minorities

Methods: Participants were shown a series of slides, each with a statement about a member of one of two groups - simply called group A and B. There were twice as many people in group A (26) as group B (13), so group B was the minority group. The participants were told that group B was smaller than group A before starting the experiment. Each statement was about one individual in one of the two groups; the statement was either positive or negative. Each group had the same proportion of positive and negative comments. Participants were then asked to rank members of each group on a series of 20 traits. After completing this task, they were given a booklet in which they were given a statement and then asked whether the person who did this was from Group A or Group B. Finally, they were asked how many of the statements for each group had been "undesirable."

Results: On the trait ratings, group A was ranked higher than group B for positive traits and lower for negative traits. In the booklet, participants correctly recalled more positive traits for group A (74%) than for group B (54%) and more negative traits for group B (55%) than for group A (65%). Participants overestimated the number of negative traits in the minority group, but this finding was not significantly significant.

Effect of Stereotypes on Behavior

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