Sociocultural Approach

study for social identity theory

Hilliard and Liben

key words for social identity theory (8)

social identity theory, saliency, social categorisation, social comparison, positive distinctiveness, category accentuation effect, in-group, out-group

social identity theory

we have multiple identities that correspond to the groups that we are a part of

saliency

our level of awareness of a particular part of our social identity- high saliency occurs when that part of our identity is noticed by others

4 situations that cause high saliency

being surrounded by out-group members, if it is visibly obvious, if that part of your identity is threatened, if an in-group member is praised or condemned

social categorisation

classifying people into in-groups (us) and out-groups (them) based on similar characteristics

social comparison

maintaining self-esteem by comparing out-groups to your in-group

positive distinctiveness

having bias towards anything to do with your in-group to aid in maintaining this self-esteem

category accentuation effect

social identities, categorisation, comparison and distinctiveness come together to cause an increase in perceived similarities in in-groups and perceived differences between groups

Hilliard and Liben

A: to investigate whether SIT can be used to explain the formation of stereotypes of the outgroup

P: 57 american 3-6 year olds from 2 pre schools did a gender attitude test pre and post study and the gender that they played with was observed, this involved them being shown activities and professions and asked whether it should be done by girls, boys or both, the schools were given either high or low saliency condition, in the high saliency condition teachers had to use gendered terms and ask for specific genders for specific task, low saliency condition continued as normal as both already had a no gendered terms policy

F:in high saliency condition there was a high decrease in “both” answers after two weeks and play with the opposite gender (out-group) heavily decreased, no chnage occured in low salience condition

C: making the children’s social identities salient led to the category accentuation affect and the formation of streotypes

social cognitive theory study

Bandura

SCT key words (12)

attention, retention, reproduction, motiviation, social learning, self-efficacy, consistensy, identification, liking the model, modelling, vicarious reinforcement, direct tuition, reciprocal determinism

the process of social learning (ARRM)

we pay Attention to a behavior that is being modelled, we Retain (remember) this, we are presented an oppurtunity to Reproduce the behaviour, and we have Motivation to reproduce it

self-efficacy

the belief that you can reproduce a behavior. this plus ARRM = SCT

3 things that increase motivation to reproduce

consistency of the model, identifying with the model and liking the model

3 ways that social learning can occur

modelling, vicarious reinforcement, direct tuition

Formation of stereotypes study

Hilliard and Liben

formation of stereotypes key words (11)

stereotypes, cognitive misers, heuristics, social identity theory, in-groups, out-groups, social categorization, social comparison, positive distinctiveness, category accentuation effect, saliency

sterotypes

generalisations about a group that is attributed to all of it’s memebers

heuristics

mental shortcuts used for decision making

congnitive misers

our brains have a tendency to think in the quickest and most effortless way leading to the use of mental shortcuts such as heuristics and schemas

how SIT causes the formation of stereotypes

category accentuation effect causes us to judge all out group members quickly based on a generalisation of the whole group

effect of stereotypes study

Martin and Halverson

effect of stereotypes key words (5)

stereotype, heuristic, cognitive misers, memory distortion, gender schema

memory distortion as an effect of stereotypes

we fill in missing gaps with incorrect information that aligns with our stereotype and are more likely to remember information that misaligns with the stereotype which makes this behavior seem more common

gender schema

our mental representation of what someone of a particular gender looks like/ does created to help us remember it better- can lead to stereotypes and memory distortion

Martin and Halverson

A: to investigate the role of gender stereotypes on children’s ability to recall information that is/isn’t gender schema congruent

P: 48 4-6 year olds underwent a sterotype test and were then shown 16 images of men and women doing things that either fit or didn’t ft with general gender stereotypes/ schemas and weren’t told to memorise them, a week later they had to recall the pictures with probed recall procedure- they were asked if they remembered seeing a certain activity and if yes which gender and their confidence in this answer on a scale of 1-4

F: female activities more consistent with gender stereotypes were more often remembered, for males it was the opposite, all children showed memory distortion despite stereotype level found in test, higher confidence levels for schema congruent behaviors

C: schemas can affect the encoding and retrieval of memory

Cultural dimensions study

Kulkofsky

cultural dimensions key words (7)

cultural dimensions, surface culture, deep culture, Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions, individualism, collectivism, flash bulb memory

cultural dimensions

the ways in which the values within a group affects behavior within that group

collectivism

community is highly valued and emphasis is placed on the group over the individual eg: China

individualism

value is placed on individual autonomy and social groups are less closely intertwined eg: USA

flash bulb memory

memories with high vividness that are prone to being forgotten that occur during moments with high personal consequence

Kulkofsky

A: to see if there is a difference in the role of flashbulb memory between individualist and collectivist cultures

P: 274 middle class adults from China, Germany, Turkey and the USA were given five minutes to recall as many memories as possible of public events in their lifetime at least one year ago, they were then asked questions about what they were doing when they heard the event and of the personal importance of the event

F: participants from collectivist cultures were less likely to have FBM of the events

C: in collectivist cultures personal consequence and importance is deemphasized causing these participants to have lower rates of FBM

cultural groups/ influence of culture on behaviour study

Kulkofsky

cultural groups/ influence of culture on behavior key words (9)

surface culture, deep culture, cultural norms, cultural dimensions, Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions, individualism, collectivism, flash bulb memory

surface culture

what can easily be seen as different between cultures eg: food, dress, religion

deep culture

the differences in norms and values between cultures which are less easy to notice

cultural norms

a set of rules based on socially/ culturally shared beliefs about how a person should act to be accepted

enculturation study

Hilliard and Liben

enculturation key words (7/11)

enculturation, SCT, ARRM, direct tuition, participatory learning, observational learning, gender roles

enculturation

the learning and maintaining of the behavior and norms of your culture

social cognitive theory

the theory that behavior is learnt through watching it being modelled and reproducing it

gender roles

behaviours and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate or desirable for a person based on their biological or perceived sex

3 ways that enculturation can occur

direct tuition, observational learning, participatory learning

direct tuition

being explicitly told/ taught

observational learning

being taught from waching others

participatory learning

engaging in an activity and transferring attitudes learnt from other peoples reaction to other situations

modelling

learning to do something from watching a model

viacrious reinforcement

learning how to behave by watching someone else get praised or punished

reciprocal determinism

environment, behaviour and personal factors all influence and determine each other

how Hilliard and Liben explains enculturation

the children were taught gender roles through direct tuition (use of gendered terms) and participatory learning (using specific genders for specific tasks)

Acculturation study

Becker

Acculturation key words (9)

acculturation, berry’s model, integration, separation, marginalisation, assimilation, acculturative stress, acculturation gaps, protective factors

acculturation

the process of adapting to the norms and behaviours of a new culture that you come into contact with eg: when immigrating, travelling or through media

Berry’s model

acculturation can lead to integration, separation, marginalisation or assimilation

intergration

adopting some beliefs and norms of the new culture whilst still holding on to some of your original culture

acculturative stress

psychological, comatic and social difficulties experienced due to the process of adapting to a new culture

acculturation gaps

children often acculturate to a higher degree creating gaps in understanding between generation

protective factors

conditions/ attributes that make acculturation easier eg: a supportive community

Becker

A: to investigate the role of media on adolescent and female body image

P: when TV was introduced to Fiji in1995 (a culture that previously celebrated larger bodies) studies were done on its effect, 2 samples of girls from 1995 and 1998 took and EAT-26 test which is a Western ED test and had semi-structured interviews about binging and purging behaviors as well as having their weights and heights measures, in 1988 the girls were given additional questions about dieting, body image and generational values

F: the girls in 1988 scored significantly higher on the EAT-26 test and 31% of them felt that their parents wanted them to eat too much

C: the girls acculturated to the Western culture that they saw on TV by integrating the norms about body image, this created an acculturation gap

Bandura

A: to demonstrate children replicating aggressive behaviour

P: 36 3-5 year olds were separated into groups based on witnessing an aggressive or non-aggressive model of the same or opposite sex (8 groups), groups were matched pairs based on prior interviews with teacher and parents to determine the aggression levels of the child, taken into a room to play on one side whilst the model played either aggressively with a Bobo doll on the other side or non-aggressively with blocks, they were then taken into another room with toys and told not to play with them to raise aggression (motivation) and finally into a final room where they were left to play with a range of toys and observed (reproduction)

F: children with the aggressive model showed more aggression when playing alone, especially boys with male models

C: children reproduce behaviors modeled to them, particularly if they identify with the model