Sociocultural Approach studies

Aim (Abrams et al.)

To determine if in-group identity would affect one's willingness to conform

Procedure (Abrams et al.)

The independent samples study included two independent variables, whether the confederates were from the participants in-group (psychology students vs history students), and whether responses were public or private (this created 4 possible conditions; in-group/private, in-group/public, out-group/private, and out-group/public). The three confederates were introduced to the participants (who were introductory psychology students) as either first-year psychology students or first-year ancient history students from a prestigious university, and none of the participants were allowed to speak to each other. Based on the Asch paradigm, participants were shown a stimulus line and three other lines on a screen, one of which was the same length as the stimulus line. There were 18 trials; in 9 the confederates gave the correct response, and in the other 9 the confederates gave a unanimous incorrect response. For each session, one participant and the three confederates were seated in a row, and they all gave their answers in succession, with the participant answering last. In the public condition, everyone gave their answer aloud. In the private condition, everyone was asked to write their answers down, and the participant was asked to record everyone’s responses since they were the “nearest” to the researcher.

Results (Abrams et al.)

77% of all participants conformed to the judgements of the confederates in at least one trial. 32% of the total responses conformed to the confederates (similar to the original Asch experiment). Conformity was highest in the in-group/public condition (mean 5.23) and lowest in the out-group/public condition (mean 0.75). There was no significant difference between the in-group/private and out-group/private conditions (3.00 vs 2.33). Researchers concluded that social categorization plays a role in one’s decision to publicly conform. Comparing the results to Asch, overall conformity was the same, but in-group public conformity was much higher and out-group public conformity was much lower. This can be explained by how social categorization exaggerates differences between the in-group and out-group.

Evaluation (Abrams et al.)

Strengths:

• Researcher manipulation of an independent variable and high level of control allows cause and effect to be established 

• Independent samples minimizes demand characteristics

Limitations:

• Highly artificial (low ecological validity)

• Ethical concerns about deception

• Sample was only university students, which makes the results difficult to generalize

• Culturally-biased in that it was only conducted in an individualistic society

• The study isolates a single variable to determine its effect on conformity, but conformity in real life is more complicated and likely impacted by many variables

Aim (Bagby & Rector)

To see if one's social identity would influence objectivity in determining the guilt of a defendant accused of rape

Procedure (Bagby & Rector)

The sample was made of psychology students, all of which were bilingual, French-speaking Canadians. Participants read a French transcript of a rape trial that identified the ethnicity of the defendent and victim as either French-speaking or English-spekaing. The participants were randomly allocated between four conditions (representing the four different combinations of English/French-speaking defendants/victims). The participants then completed a questionnaire, with two questions being to rate the personality traits of the defendant, and to determine the guilt of the defendant on a 7 point scale. There was also a question about the ethnicity of the defendant and victim, and participants were excluded from the results if they got this wrong.

Results (Bagby & Rector)

There were no significant differences between groups in terms of the personality question in the questionnaire. However, the participants rated the out-group defendant as more guilty when the victim was from their in-group, therefore indicating out-group bias and in-group favoritism.

Evaluation (Bagby & Rector)

Strengths:

• The study demonstrates that in-group favoritism doesn’t only happen in artificially-created groups (like in Tajfel)

• Provides insight into why conviction rates are higher for minority groups in some countries

• There was a control in place to make sure that participants noted the ethnicity of the defendant and victim

Limitations:

• The study is artificial because the participants weren’t in an actual courtroom, they only read a transcript (low ecological validity)

• Sampling bias in that the sample was only students and French-speakers are the majority in Quebec (the result may have been different if the experiment was done in an area where they are the minority)

• Rape is a very emotional topic, so the nature of the crime may have influenced the participants’ responses

Aim (Bandura)

To investigate whether children can learn aggressive behavior by watching the behavior of adults

Procedure (Bandura)

There were three independent variables: the gender of the children, the gender of the models, and the aggressiveness of the model (eight experimental conditions). There was also a control condition without a model. Since there were only 6 children in each experimental condition (and one aggressive child could therefore greatly skew the results), children were previously observed in a nursery and rated on a five point scale for their level of physical aggression, verbal aggression, and aggression toward inanimate objects. The children with similar levels of aggression were then matched between groups. The observers had noted similar aggression levels for the same child, indicating high inter-rater reliability. Each child did the experiment individually. In the first room, toys were set up in one corner, and the other corner (where the model was) contained blocks, a mallet, and the Bobo doll. In the non-aggressive condition, the model played with the blocks and ignored Bobo. In the aggressive condition, the model played with the blocks for a minute, then was both physically and verbally aggressive towards Bobo (in a scripted way). The researcher then took the children to another room with more toys, and after letting the child play with them for a bit, took them away to generate a mild level of aggression. The researcher took the children to a third room with a variety of toys, both non-aggressive and aggressive (a mallet, a dart-gun, and Bobo). The behavior of the children was observed for 20 minutes through a one-way mirror. The observers looked for three types of imitation: imitation of physical aggression, imitation of verbal aggression, imitation of non-aggressive verbal responses. They also recorded aggressive behavior that was not modeled: punching, non-imitative physical and verbal aggression, and use of the toy gun.

Results (Bandura)

Children who saw the aggressive model acted more aggressively than those who saw the non-aggressive model. Boys were more aggressive than girls, and showed more aggression in the aggressive model conditions if the model was male. Girls in the aggressive model conditions displayed more physical aggression if the model was male, and more verbal aggression if the model was female. 

*A follow-up study found that children also imitated aggressive behavior even if the model was on TV.

Evaluation (Bandura)

Strengths:

• Matched pairs design controls for level of aggression between groups

Limitations:

• Small sample size, and all were children of people working at Stanford (limited generalizability)

• Doesn’t necessarily disprove that aggression is biological

• Ethical problems in terms of exposing children to violent actions; the long-term effects were also not monitored, so it can be argued that the children experienced undue stress and harm

• Highly controlled and children are not normally left alone with strangers (low ecological validity)

• It is difficult to fully standardized the behavior of the models

• Rating of the children’s level of aggression may not have been completely accurate

• Potential for demand characteristics

Aim (Charlton et al.)

To investigate the effect of the introduction of television on aggression in children in St. Helena

Procedure (Charlton et al.)

Psychologists from the UK set up cameras on the playgrounds of two primary schools in St. Helena (a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean). The behavior of the children (ages 3 to 8) was observed before the introduction of television in 1994 and after in 2000 (TV was introduced in 1995). The researchers used a checklist to measure level of aggression. A total of 160 children were observed. Inductive content analysis showed a similar level of violence between the TV programs in St. Helena and the UK.

Results (Charlton et al.)

By analysing videotapes, and interviewing teachers, parents, and older children, no increase in antisocial behavior among the children was observed. The good behavior present before TV was introduced remained even 5 years after its introduction. Although this indicates that the violent media didn’t have an effect on aggression in children, it still could support SCT. The children may not have identified with the characters on the British TV station, or felt like they couldn’t behave the same way as the people on TV, which are both factors influencing the likelihood of imitating a model outlined by SCT.

Evaluation (Charlton et al.)

Strengths:

• High ecological validity as a natural experiment

• Researcher triangulation improves the reliability of the data

• Data triangulation was used by combining observations with interviews

• Pre-test/post-test design allows for change over time to be observed

Limitations:

• Low internal validity because of the many uncontrolled variables, so cause and effect cannot be established

• Natural experiments are difficult to replicate, which decreases reliability and makes generalization difficult

Aim (Joy, Kimball & Zabrack)

To determine the impact of television on children's aggressive behavior

Procedure (Joy, Kimball & Zabrack)

The study was conducted in three small towns in Canada, one of which had recently gained access to television, and two that had had television but were gaining access to a particular channel for the first time. Researchers observed the verbally and physically aggressive behavior of children on playgrounds in each of these communities before and two years after the introduction of television to the one town without. Teacher and peer ratings of aggressiveness and information on television viewing habits were also obtained.

Results (Joy, Kimball & Zabrack)

The amount of aggressive behavior significantly increased in the town where TV was introduced for the first time, but not in the towns that already had TV. This was supported by the teacher and peer ratings. Males were observed to be more physically aggressive than females. Researchers concluded that the likely reason for the increase in aggression was the arousal/thrill created by unfamiliarity with television.

Evaluation (Joy, Kimball & Zabrack)

Strengths:

• High ecological validity as a natural experiment

• Researcher triangulation

• Data triangulation

• Pre-test/post-test design allows changes over time to be observed

Limitations:

• Low internal validity due to uncontrolled variables, so cause and effect cannot be established

• Difficult to replicate and generalize findings

Aim (Kimball)

To see if exposure to "normal television viewing" would lead to a change in the level of gender stereotyping in a Northern Canadian community

Procedure (Kimball)

The participants were children from four different communities: one with no TV (Notel), one with one station, one with multiple stations, and Vancouver (used as a control). The Sex Role Differentiation scale (SRD) was used to measure the level of gender stereotyping. It asks children to rate how appropriate/frequent certain tasks are for boys or girls their own age, and how often their mothers or fathers do certain tasks. Students in grades 6 and 9 in the communities with limited TV took the SRD test before and two years after the introduction of TV to the community without. The Vancouver data was taken from a previous study. The children took the questionnaire during class and the data was anonymized.

Results (Kimball)

Before the introduction of television, children in Notel had low levels of gender stereotyping compared to the communities with TV, with girls having lower levels than boys. Two years after the introduction of TV, gender stereotyping had increased significantly for both boys and girls. After two years, there was no significant difference in the level of gender stereotyping for boys between the three towns, with the most extreme increase being in terms of gender and jobs. This supports the idea that the introduction of TV led to increased gender stereotyping.

Evaluation (Kimball)

Strengths:

• High ecological validity as a natural experiment

Limitations:

• Low internal validity (no random allocation, many uncontrolled variables, no researcher-manipulated IV), so cause and effect cannot be established

• The study is pretty old, so temporal validity is an issues (however, there is modern research, such as with Disney princesses, that supports the findings)

• Since the data was anonymized, the researchers couldn’t see the changes in specific children over time (cross-sectional)

Aim (Hamilton & Gifford)

To determine how the size of group influences the perceived proportion of negative traits in that group

Procedure (Hamilton & Gifford)

Participants were shown a series of slides describing a person in either group A or group B. Group A had twice as many statements as group B, and participants were told that group B was smaller than group A before the experiment. Each statement was either positive or negative, with both groups having the same proportion of positive and negative statements (9:4). Afterwards, participants ranked members of each group on 20 traits. After this, they were given a booklet containing different statements that they had to match back to group A or B. Then, they were asked how many of the statements for each group were “undesirable”.

Results (Hamilton & Gifford)

Group A was ranked higher than group B for positive traits and lower for negative traits. Participants recalled more positive traits for group A than group B, and more negative traits for group A than group B. Participants tended to overestimate the number of negative traits in group B, although this was not statistically significant. Hamilton and Gifford argued that since group B was smaller, the negative traits appeared more distinct and representative of the whole group. This indicates that negative stereotypes may be more common for minority groups, which has led to many countries no longer reporting the race or ethnicity of people charged with crimes.

*A follow-up experiment was conducted in which participants were not told there were fewer people in group B beforehand. The ratio of positive to negative statements was also flipped (4:9). In this case, group B was perceived as having more positive traits, so the researchers concluded that telling the participants in the original study that group B was smaller may have primed them to view group B more negatively.

Evaluation (Hamilton & Gifford)

Strengths:

• Arbitrary groups A and B would have no pre-existing stereotypes, which increases internal validity

• Concurrent repeated measures design controls for participant variability

• The results have been applied to many situations; for example, it has been found that stigmatized medical patients are are more likely to be targeted by an illusory correlation bias than non-stigmatized patients

Limitations:

• The task was very artificial (low ecological validity); stereotypes form with a lot more context in real life

• Not all of the findings were significant

Aim (Rogers & Frantz)

To determine whether white European expatriates in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) would adopt the the stereotypes and prejudices towards the local African population

Procedure (Rogers & Frantz)

The sample was stratified in regards to sex, country of birth, age, and length of residence. Participants were given a survey with 66 examples of laws in which Europeans and Rhodesians were treated differently. Participants had to rate their opinions on each law as either 0, 2, 4, or 6 with 0 being very important to maintain the law and 6 being very important to discontinue the law. A Likert scale with only four options was used to prevent people from choosing a neutral option (gravitating towards the mean).

Results (Rogers & Frantz)

The mean rating was 2.45, indicating that most Europeans favored the current laws. Almost 70% of participants had a mean score less than 3.00. Age, sex, district of residence, and income were not found to be statistically significant in terms of attitudes about race. Statistically significant correlations to attitudes about race were found for country of birth, occupation, length of schooling, religious affiliation, political party preference, and length of residence. Those who opposed the current laws the most were those who had lived in Rhodesia for less than 5 years. The results indicate that new immigrants would change their attitudes over time to conform to the European population.

Evaluation (Rogers & Frantz)

Strengths:

• The sample was large and representative of the local community, so the results can be generalized to the other members of the population

Limitations:

• The results may not be transferable to other populations 

• Cross-sectional, so it is not certain that the Europeans’ attitudes changed over time

• The standard deviation was 1.12, which indicates a lot of variation

• Factors other than length of residence could have influenced attitudes, and it would be impossible to isolate any one factor

• People may have stronger opinions in a survey than they would in person

Aim (Steele & Aronson)

To see how stereotype threat affects test performance in African Americans

Procedure (Steele & Aronson)

The sample included both Black and white undergraduate students. Participants were given a standardized test of verbal ability and told it was either a diagnostic of intellectual ability or a test of problem-solving skills. Participants were randomly allocated between conditions.

Results (Steele & Aronson)

Black participants did worse than white participants when they were being tested on their intelligence, but the same as white participants when they were told they were being tested on problem-solving skills. This demonstrates that Black participants did worse in the condition that introduced a stereotype threat.

Evaluation (Steele & Aronson)

Strengths:

• Reduced likelihood of demand characteristics and order effects (independent samples design)

Limitations:

• The sample of only university students may not be representative of the whole population, and the findings are therefore difficult to generalize

• Independent samples design was used, so participant variability could have been an issue (although SAT scores were collected to ensure that all the participants fell within the normal range)

• Salience of racial identity and levels of stress were not measured, which means that stereotype threat may not have been the reason for under-performance

Aim (Stone)

To determine whether the way a sport is framed can impede the performance of members of different racial groups

Procedure (Stone)

The study is based on the stereotype that white people lack natural athleticism. Participants were told that they would be tested on a golf-related task that was described as testing either factors associated with natural athletic ability (high stereotype threat) or factors associated with general sports performance (low stereotype threat). Participants were allowed to practice as much as they wanted before doing the golf task.

Results (Stone)

White athletes practiced significantly less in the high stereotype threat condition than the low stereotype threat condition. Black participants showed no significant difference in practice time between the two conditions. However, Black participants performed worse than other participants when the task was framed as a test of “sports intelligence”. The results demonstrate that stereotype threat can lead to reduced effort. This may be a form of “self-handicapping” that serves as psychological protection by providing an explanation for failure.

Evaluation (Stone)

Strengths:

• High ecological validity, given that sports are a common scenario

Limitations:

• Potential for participant variability

Aim (Berry)

To measure the level of conformity in individualistic and collectivistic societies by applying a version of the Asch Paradigm

Procedure (Berry)

Three cultures were studied: the Temne from Sierra Leone (society based on rice farming, collectivistic), the Inuit from Baffin Island in Canada (society based on hunting/fishing, individualistic), and the Scots as a reference group. Both groups consisted of people who had never received as Western education and maintained a traditional life, as well as those who were members of these groups but had a Western education or employment. Each group had approximately 120 members. Each participant was tested alone in a room and was shown a set of 9 lines for each test. For the first two, they were asked to choose the line that most closely matched the length of the one at the top. This served as a control to make sure they understood the instructions. On the following trials, the procedure was repeated but they were told that most Inuit/Temne/Scottish people had chosen a particular line. For the third trial, the correct answer was the hint, and for the rest of the trials it was five lines away from the correct response. The dependent variable was how many lines away from the correct line the participants’ choice was for each of these three trials (0-15).

Results (Berry)

The Temne had the highest rate of conformity, followed by the Scots, and then the Inuit. There was also no significant difference within groups; there were similar rates of conformity between the fully traditional and transitional members.

Evaluation (Berry)

Strengths:

• Control condition strengthens internal validity of study

• Etic approach (Asch paradigm), so highly replicable → reliability can be established

Limitations:

• Highly artificial, lacks ecological validity

• Quasi experiment, so cause and effect cannot be established

• The study is old, so temporal validity is an issue (increased globalization could impact conformity rates)

• Ecological fallacy based on the results can lead to stereotyping (assuming that all members of each of these groups are more or less likely to conform)

Aim (Kulkofsky et al.)

To determine if there is a difference in the rate of flashbulb memories between collectivistic and individualistic cultures

Procedure (Kulkofsky et al.)

The sample was made up of 274 adults from China, Germany, Turkey, the UK, and the US, all of which were “middle class”. The participants were given five minutes to recall as many memories of public events during their lifetime as they could, all of which had to have happened more than a year ago. They used these events to create a memory questionnaire with questions similar to the one developed by Brown and Kulik: “where were you when you first learned of the event?”, “what time of day was it?”, “how did you learn about it?”, “what were you doing at the time that you learned about it?”, and “whom were you with?”. They were also asked questions about the importance of the event, including “how nationally or internationally important was the event?”, “how personally important was the event?”, “how surprising was the event?”, and “how many times have you talked about the event since it happened?”. The questionnaire was originally written in English, but was translated into Mandarin Chinese, German, and Turkish by bilingual research assistants. The texts were also translated back into English by a native speaker to make sure that the translation wasn’t a confounding variable.

Results (Kulkofsky et al.)

In collectivistic cultures such as China, personal importance and emotion didn’t play a large role in flashbulb memory formation, as opposed to individualistic cultures that emphasize personal experience and emotion. Individual experiences tend to be downplayed in collectivistic cultures, so there would be less rehearsal and hence a lower chance of developing a flashbulb memory. National importance, however, was an accurate predictor of flashbulb memory formation across cultures.

Evaluation (Kulkofsky et al.)

Strengths:

• Interviewer effects were avoided by making sure that a cultural representative administered the test and that the questionnaire was in the native language of the participants (participants were more likely to recall memories because they were formed in their native language)

• Back-translation ensures that translation was not a confounding variable and increases credibility

Limitations:

• Memories cannot be verified (self-reported data)

• Potential for ecological fallacy (assuming that the participants are representative of their whole culture)

• Cultural factors could have influenced the reporting of information (personal memories could exist, just not have been reported)

Aim (Lueck & Wilson)

To investigate the variables that may predict acculturative stress in a nationally representative sample of Asian immigrants and Asian Americans

Procedure (Lueck & Wilson)

The sample was composed of immigrants and the children of immigrants, and represented various Asian cultures. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with interviewers that had similar linguistic and cultural backgrounds to the participants. The interviews were conducted online or in-person. The interviews were used to measure participants’ level of acculturative stress, as well as the impact of language proficiency, language preference, discrimination, social networks, family cohesion, and socioeconomic status on acculturative stress.

Results (Lueck & Wilson)

70% of the participants were found to have acculturative stress. It was found that a bilingual language preference contributed to lower acculturative stress, and that preference for speaking only English was a predictor of high acculturative stress. Discrimination/negative treatment in the US contributed to high acculturative stress. Sharing values and beliefs as a family contributed to lower acculturative stress, and also lower for those who were satisfied with the economic opportunities in the US. Finally, acculturative stress was lower for the immigrants who said that if they could make the decision again, they would still move to the US.

Evaluation (Lueck & Wilson)

Strengths:

• Semi-structured interviews are more personal than a questionnaire, and allow follow-up questions to be asked

• Sample is large and representative in terms of diversity

Limitations:

• Carrying out such a large number of interviews is time consuming and expensive, and also requires training many interviewers

• Potential for interviewer effects (characteristics of interviewer lead participants to disclose more or less information)

• Issues with the construct validity of acculturative stress and level of acculturation

• Potential for ecological fallacy

Aim (Wang et al.)

To examine the relationship between dimensions of acculturation and positive psychological functioning (many previous studies supported the “immigrant paradox”, which indicates that greater degrees of acculturation were associated with problematic health outcomes)

Procedure (Wang et al.)

The sample was Cuban-American university students living in Miami. All participants had at least one parent who was born in Cuba. The participants completed a Likert scale survey that measured their attitudes towards Cuban and American culture, ethnic identification, and levels of depression, anxiety, and self-esteem.

Results (Wang et al.)

Researchers found that biculturalism was linked to lower rates of depression and anxiety, and higher levels of self-esteem.

Evaluation (Wang et al.)

Strengths:

• The study is bidimensional (looks at relationship with both Cuban and American culture)

• Large sample size (119) increases reliability

Limitations:

• Problematic construct validity in measuring level of depression, anxiety, and self-esteem

• Demand characteristics for self-reported data (social desirability, especially for immigrants)

• Only looked at Cuban-Americans (limited generalizability)

• Cause and effect cannot be established

Aim (Fagot)

To investigate the role that parents play in gender role enculturation

Procedure (Fagot)

The sample was made up of 24 families, half of which had a boy and half of which had a girl. Each of the families only had one child between 20 and 24 months, both parents lived at home and were between 20 and 30, and all of them were white. Observers used a checklist containing 46 child behaviors and 19 parent reactions, and each family was observed for 60 minutes five times over five weeks. Time sampling was used, so child behavior and parent response was noted every 60 seconds, and there were two observers to establish inter-coder reliability. After the observations, the parents were asked to rate the 46 child behaviors as more appropriate for girls, boys, or neutral, and then fill out a questionnaire on the socialization of gender roles.

Results (Fagot)

The observations demonstrated that boys were more likely to be left alone than girls, parents gave more positive responses to boys when they played with blocks than girls, parents gave girls a more negative response when they manipulated objects than boys, parents gave a more positive response to girls when playing with dolls and a more negative response to boys, parents criticized girls more when they participated in large motor activities (running, jumping, etc.), and parents gave a more positive response to girls when they asked for help and a more negative response to boys. Fathers were more concerned with sex-typing than mothers and both parents thought more behaviors were appropriate for girls only than boys only. Parents reacted significantly more favorably towards their child when they engaged in same-sex preferred behavior, and parents reacted more negatively when their children engaged in cross-sex preferred behavior. Parents responded more positively towards girls when they engaged in adult-oriented and independent behavior. On the questionnaire, parents did not mark seeking help as a sex-preferred behavior, but they reacted more positively towards girls when they asked for help; this indicates that the parents were unaware of how they were socializing their children.

Evaluation (Fagot)

Strengths:

• High ecological validity (naturalistic)

• High inter-rater reliability (both observers recorded the same data)

Limitations:

• Sampling bias (all white, all American, all associated with the university, small sample size) → limited generalizability

• Overt observation, so potential for demand characteristics (could be more or fewer behaviors that parents would have criticized when not being observed)

Aim (Hilliard & Liben)

To determine the influence of gender salience on the development of stereotypes and intergroup behavior in elementary school children

Procedure (Hilliard & Liben)

The sample was 3-5 year old American children attending two different preschools with a policy to avoid gendered language. At the beginning of the experiment, the children completed a gender attitude test to measure their level of gender flexibility. The test involved being shown images of activities or jobs (some stereotypically feminine, some stereotypically masculine, and some neutral) and being asked if boys, girls, or both should do them. The children were also observed to determine how often they played with same-sex rather than opposite-sex peers. One school was the high salience condition, where children were made highly aware of their gender by having them line up by sex and their teachers using gendered language. The other school was the low salience condition, where teachers did not change their behavior and continued to avoid gendered language. After two weeks, the children took the gender attitude test and were observed again. The children participated in a debriefing program after the study in an attempt to counteract any increase in stereotyping.

Results (Hilliard & Liben)

Before the study, children in both schools had similar levels of gender flexibility. After two weeks the gender flexibility of the children in the high salience condition had significantly decreased, while the gender flexibility of the children in the low salience condition remained about the same. Play with opposite-sex peers also decreased in the high salience group, while it remained about the same in the low-salience group. This indicates that the children in the high salience condition began to be enculturated into gender roles when their gender identity was made salient.

Evaluation (Hilliard & Liben)

Strengths:

• High ecological validity (field experiment, so high mundane realism)

• Cause and effect is indicated

Limitations:

• Low internal validity

• Sampling bias makes generalization difficult; preschool was not free (middle to upper-middle class children), preschools were initially gender neutral (indicates similar values of parents)

• Problematic construct validity in manipulating level of salience

• Ethical concerns; although there was debriefing, it may not be possible to change the new behaviors of the children

Aim (Kearins)

To better understand the cognitive strategies of Indigenous Australians

Procedure (Kearins)

The sample was made of 44 indigenous Australian adolescents and 44 white Australian adolescents. All of the indigenous Australian adolescents were raised under semi-traditional tribal conditions and spoke English as a second language. The sample was matched for age and sex across groups. 20 objects were placed on a board divided into 20 squares. Both groups were told to study the board for 30 seconds. They were instructed to memorize the locations of the objects. Afterwards, the objects were piled in the center of the board and they were asked to place the objects back in the original arrangement. There were four version of the task: artificial different (20 man-made objects that would be familiar to the white Australians, differing in at least one way), natural different (20 naturally-occuring objects that would be familiar to the indigenous Australians, differing in at least one way), artificial same (12 unlabeled bottles of different colors/shapes on a 4x3 grid), and natural same (12 rocks of different colors/shapes on a 4x3 grid).

Results (Kearins)

The indigenous Australians correctly placed more objects than the white Australians. White Australian children scored the highest on the artificial different task, but the performance of the indigenous Australians did not differ between artificial and natural objects. On over half of the 4x3 grid trials, the indigenous children made no mistakes, and about one fifth of the 20 square trials were error-free. 18% of white children had a single perfect score, and none had more than one. 75% of indigenous children had a single perfect score, and 41% had two or more. The indigenous children did the task at a constant pace and rarely changed their decisions, while the white children started fast, then slowed down and changed their decisions a lot. Kearins concluded that living in the desert encouraged the indigenous Australians to develop memories that store and encode information based on visual retrieval cues. Therefore, survival needs may shape particular ways of encoding information.

Evaluation (Kearins)

Strengths:

• Qualitative data was collected regarding how the children carried out the task → data triangulation, increased validity

Limitations:

• Quasi experiment, so cause and effect cannot be established

• Single sample, so the study would need to be replicated with other indigenous groups to establish reliability

• It is unclear why exactly the indigenous children had better spatial memories; Kearins argues it is evolutionary since the children weren’t raised completely in the desert, so it was probably something to do with how the parents raised their children, but we don’t know what specifically

Aim (Drury et al.)

To determine whether priming a group identity would make it more likely for people help others during an emergency situation

Procedure (Drury et al.)

Participants experienced a virtual reality simulation of a fire in the London metro. They could make the decision to either help people or push them out of the way to escape safely. Before the simulation, the participants were primed by reading a news report about a fire in Kings Cross Station that killed 31 people, and were asked to imagine the sensory details associated with that scenario. The participants in the group-identification condition were given a scenario stating they were coming back from an England football match on a train with fellow supporters. The participants in the individual-identification condition were given a scenario stating they were travelling back to the university after going shopping. To make the group identity salient, the other people in the group condition simulation wore the sample colored shirts, while the other people in the individual condition simulation wore different colored shirts.

Results (Drury et al.)

Participants with a higher in-group identification were more likely to give help, and those without in-group identification were more likely to push people out of the way.

Evaluation (Drury et al.)

Strengths:

• High internal validity (controls for extraneous variables)

• High mundane realism

• Replicable, which increases reliability

• Highly ethical because undue stress/harm and deception were avoided

Limitations:

• Low ecological validity because the participants didn’t feel like their life was in danger

• Independent samples means participant variability could impact results