Human Relationships

Berry's Acculturation Model

Identifies four strategies for adapting to a new culture: assimilation, integration, separation, and marginalization.

Assimilation

Adopting the new culture while losing or reducing connection with the original culture.

Integration

Maintaining the original culture while also participating in the new culture.

Separation

Maintaining the original culture while rejecting or avoiding the new culture.

Marginalization

Losing connection with both the original and new cultures.

Berry et al. (2006)

Studied over 5,000 immigrant adolescents across 13 countries; found integration was associated with the highest self-esteem, life satisfaction, and social competence, while marginalization was associated with the poorest outcomes.

Freedman & Fraser (1966)

Demonstrated that participants who first agreed to a small request were more likely to agree later to a much larger request.

Foot-in-the-door technique

Obtaining compliance with a small request first increases the likelihood of compliance with a later, larger request.

Regan (1971)

Found that participants who received an unsolicited soft drink subsequently bought more raffle tickets when asked.

Reciprocity

Receiving a favour can create an expectation that the favour should be returned, increasing compliance with a later request.

Conformity

Changing behaviour, beliefs or attitudes to align with group norms or social expectations.

Normative influence

Conforming because of the desire for acceptance and approval or the fear of rejection.

Informational influence

Conforming because the individual believes that others have more accurate information.

Asch (1951)

Participants judged line lengths while confederates unanimously gave incorrect answers; many participants conformed to the incorrect majority despite the obvious correct answer.

Steinberg & Monahan (2007)

Found that susceptibility to peer influence peaked at approximately age 14 and then declined during later adolescence.

Individualism

Emphasises personal autonomy, self-expression and individual goals over social obligations.

Collectivism

Emphasises group harmony, social obligations and maintaining relationships over individual autonomy.

Individualism and family conflict

Individualistic cultures may encourage open expression of disagreement and prioritisation of personal needs.

Collectivism and family conflict

Collectivistic cultures may encourage avoiding direct conflict in order to preserve family harmony.

Ting-Toomey et al. (2003) DELETE

Compared conflict-related facework in Germany, Japan, Mexico and the United States; individualistic cultures were more likely to use self-face maintenance and dominating styles, while collectivistic cultures prioritised other- or mutual-face maintenance and avoiding or integrating styles.

Uncertainty avoidance

Cultural differences in the extent to which people prefer structure and predictability rather than accepting ambiguity and uncertainty.

High uncertainty avoidance

Preference for structure, predictability and strict rules; uncertainty is more likely to be perceived as threatening.

Low uncertainty avoidance

Greater tolerance of ambiguity, flexibility and uncertainty.

Matsumoto et al. (1996)

Found differences in emotional disclosure between cultures with different levels of uncertainty avoidance; participants from higher uncertainty-avoidance cultures were less likely to disclose emotional distress.

Emic approach

Studying behaviour from within a culture, focusing on culturally specific meanings and insider perspectives.

Etic approach

Studying behaviour from an external perspective using frameworks intended to allow comparison across cultures.

Mesquita & Frijda (1992)

Showed that cultures differ in how emotions such as pride and happiness are expressed and interpreted, reflecting different cultural values.

Social Identity Theory

Group membership contributes to identity and can produce ingroup favouritism and outgroup discrimination.

Social categorisation

People classify themselves and others into social groups.

Social identification

People adopt a group membership as part of their identity.

Social comparison

People compare their ingroup with outgroups, potentially producing favourable evaluations of their own group.

Tajfel et al. (1970)

Minimal group experiments showed that simply categorising people into groups could produce ingroup favouritism and discrimination.

Social Learning Theory

Behaviour can be learned by observing models and the consequences of their behaviour.

Observational learning

Individuals acquire behaviour by watching other people perform it.

Vicarious reinforcement

Seeing another person rewarded for a behaviour increases the likelihood that the observer will imitate it.

Bandura (1961)

Showed that children could imitate observed aggressive behaviour without directly receiving reinforcement themselves.

Huesmann et al. (2003)

A 15-year longitudinal study found that greater childhood exposure to aggressive media predicted higher verbal, indirect and physical aggression in young adulthood.

SLT and group behaviour

Observed group behaviour can be imitated, particularly when influential models receive attention, status or other rewards.

Changing group behaviour with SLT

Model prosocial behaviour through influential role models and reinforce the desired behaviour when it occurs.

Chemical messengers

Hormones released into the bloodstream that affect target tissues and can influence behaviour.

Testosterone

A steroid hormone associated with dominance, competitiveness and responses to social threat or status challenges.

Dabbs et al. (1995)

Convicted inmates who had committed personal crimes involving sex and violence had higher testosterone than inmates convicted of property crimes; higher-testosterone inmates also violated more prison rules.

Dreher et al. (2016)

Testosterone administration could increase generosity when generosity enhanced or signalled social status, showing that its effects are not limited to aggression.

Testosterone and aggression

Higher testosterone is associated with aggression particularly in situations involving social threat, provocation or status competition, but the effect depends on context.

Schema theory

Mental frameworks developed through experience that influence how individuals interpret and respond to information.

Hostile schema

A pattern of interpretation in which ambiguous social behaviour is more likely to be perceived as threatening or hostile.

Dodge et al. (1984)

Aggressive boys were more likely than non-aggressive boys to interpret ambiguous social interactions as hostile and to report aggressive responses.

Schema theory and aggression

Past experiences can contribute to hostile interpretations of ambiguous social situations, increasing the likelihood of aggressive responses.

Communication and conflict

Poor communication such as shouting, interrupting, sarcasm and dismissiveness can create misunderstandings, emotional escalation and interpersonal conflict.

Aggressive communication

Communication involving behaviours such as shouting, threats, sarcasm, interruption or domination of conversations.

SLT and aggressive communication

Aggressive communication can be learned by observing parents, peers or media models and can be reinforced when it produces attention, compliance or success.

Huesmann et al. (1983)

A classroom intervention used discussions and activities to challenge children's perceptions of media violence; participants developed more negative attitudes toward aggression and showed reduced peer-rated aggression.

Improving relationships using SLT

Use positive role models to demonstrate constructive communication and reinforce respectful, cooperative behaviour.

Aggressive communication intervention

Model calm and respectful communication, reinforce prosocial responses, and reduce exposure to aggressive models.