Sociocultural Approach

Social Identity Theory // Taifel + Chen Social Cognitive Theory // Bandura + Kimball Steryotypes // Hamilton + Martin + Steele Compliance and Conformity // Asch Culture and its influence on behaviour and cognition. // Chen + Martin Cultural dimensions // Chen + Martin Enculturation // Martin + Fagot

Social Identity

An individual's self concept based on percieved membership in social groups.

Personal Identity

Self knowledge that derives from the individual's unique attributes.

Social Indentity Theory

Argues that a person does not have just one personal self, but rather many 'social selves' that correspond to different social groups. This is due to a desire to understand ourselves through belonging in a group.

Social Identity theory predicts that one of our social selves can become 'salient' and have an influence in our behaviour.

Why can a social self become salient?

We are labeled by others

Situational factors

Visual perception

Feeling threatened because of
one's personal identity.

When a member of one's in-group
is either praised or condemned;
or when a member of the in-
group dies.

Social Mechanisms of SIT

Social Categorization
Process by which we identify which groups we belong to and which groups we do not. This is done to organize the world around us.

Groups we belong to and identify with- "in-groups."
Groups that we do not belong to-"out-groups."

Taifel (AIM)

To investigate if intergroup discrimination would take place based on being put into different groups, due to social categorization related to the Social Identity Theory.

Taifel (PROCEDURE)

The participants were asked to rate 12 paintings by two abstract painters. They were not aware which painter had painted which. The participants were then randomly assigned to two groups and told they prefered either of the painters.

Each participant was then told to award points to a participant of their group and one that was not of their group. They could choose to give equal points to both boys, give the most points to the boy in their 'in-group' or give the most points to the boy in the 'out-group'

Taifel (RESULTS)

When the participants had a choice between maximizing profit for all and maximizing the profit for members of their in-group, they favored their own group.

It shows how out-group discrimination can easily be triggered, encouraging behaviour which discriminates against the out-group.

Taifel (EVALUATION)

Highly controlled, replicable and standardized.

Highly artificial task, not a lot of ecological validity.
Participants could have interpreted the task as
supposed to be competitive and tried to
win - thus showing demand
characteristics.

The study was done using British
schoolboys - so it may be difficult to
generalize the findings of this study to
other ages and cultures.

Chen et al (BACKGROUND CONTEXT)

Confucian work dynamism: Long-term versus short-term orientation.

Oriental cultures value long term work and persistence, with a focus on the future rather than the present. In contrast, americal values more the present and instant gratification.

Chen et al ( AIM)

to investigate the role of Confucian Work Dynamism (Long-term orientation) on an individual's buying habits.
This can be in both relation to the SIT and the effect of social groups.

Chen et al (PROCEDURE)

The participants were all bi-cultural, singaporean and american. The experiment was conducted online, and the participants were randomly assigned to two conditions.

They were primed to make their Singaporean or American social indentities more prominent by viewing several culturally significant pictures.

After the priming, the participants were given the choice to buy a book and wait a week to recieve it, or pay more and get it in a day. They were also asked to list three politicians.

Chen et al (RESULTS)

People whose western values were made more saltient chose to wait, while the american values paid more money. It showed how confusian work dynamism set by their social identities played part in their shopping behaviours.

In all cases, participants listed a politician of the culture they had been primed for.

Chen et al (EVALUATION)

The fact that the study took place in Singapore may be a confounding variable.
The study was naturalistic
However, since the study was done online,this means that it is difficult to control variables - such as potential help from others or other distracters in the environment.

The study is highly standardized and could be replicated in order to establish the reliability of the findings.

Social Cognitive Theory

It states that humans can learn through observational learning, generally watching models and imitating their behaviour. Reinforcement isn't necessary, but rather seeing that the behaviour works- this is called vicarious reinforcement.

The person must pay attention to the model, and have the motivation to follow said behaviour. Additionally, the model has to show consistency in behaviour and identification with the model.

Bandura BB (AIM)

Investigating whether children could learn aggressive behavior
by watching the behavior of adults, not necessarily being encouraged to follow them, connecting with the SCT

Bandura BB (PROCEDURE)

The sample was made up of little kids who would either watch a female or male model. There were three conditions; a control, a group exposed to an agressive model and a passive model. For a pretest, the natural agressiveness of the children were measured previous to the experiment to match the children in each group so that they had similar
levels of aggression in their everyday behavior.

In stage one, the children were made to watch one of the models. The passive model ignored the bobo doll set in the room while the agressive model hit and insulted it. In stage two, the children were taken to another room and subjected to a mild agression arrousal by being told they could not play with some toys.

In stage three, the behaviour of the children to the toys was observed. By looking at the results they can consider which children imitated the models, which models they imitated, and whether they showed a general increase in aggressive behavior

Bandura BB (RESULTS)

The children who saw the aggressive model made more aggressive acts than the children who saw the non-aggressive model. They also tended to copy the model of their same gender more.

Bandura BB (EVALUATION)

The study is an experiment using a matched pairs design.

The sample size was very small. In addition, these were all
children of people working at Stanford University. It is difficult to generalize from such a sample.

The study is ethically problematic
It did not monitor long-term effects on the children.
The situation is highly controlled and it is not normal for children to be left alone with strangers in this way. The study lacks ecological validity.

Kimball (AIM)

Study the role of television in the development of gender
stereotypes in elementary school children.

Kimball (PROCEDURE)

Natural experiment, taking advantage of the introduction of television in a remote area of Canada. The children's level of gender stereotyping was measured using the Sex Role Differentiation (SRD) scale. The test was administered before and after the introduction of television.

Kimball (RESULTS)

Before their town had television, Notel children held more egalitarian gender attitudes than children who viewed television regularly.

Two years after Notel obtained television, gender stereotyping had significantly increased in both the boys and girls.

Kimball (EVALUATION)

The study is a natural experiment, so ecological validity is high.
However, since the researcher did not manipulate the independent variable there was no ability to control for extraneous variables.

The study has low internal validity and causality cannot be determined.

Stereotype

A social perception of an individual based on a group membership. A generalization is made about a group and then projected into an individual.

Hamilton and Gifford (BACKGROUND)

Illusory correlation is when someone sees a relationship between two factors where there is none, like thinking being a woman makes you bad at driving. Illusory correlation is an example of "cognitive bias", that is, a person's tendency to make errors in judgment based on cognitive factors, like schemas.

We often rely on System 1 thinking,
making decisions based on heuristics - that is,
cognitive shortcuts.

Hamilton and Gifford (AIM)

To investigate illusory correlation as an explanation for stereotype formation.

Hamilton and Gifford (PROCEDURE)

Participants were shown a series of slides of characteristics of people in Group A, and Group B. They were twice as many people in group A, meaning group B was the minority. The characteristics could be either positive or negative, and were equal on proportion.

Participants were then asked to rank members of
each group on a series of 20 traits (popular, social,
intelligent). 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.

Hamilton and Gifford (RESULTS)

Group A was always given the better traits and rated better. This was because the minority group was smaller-
their negative behaviors appeared more distinct and
appear to be representative of the group.

Hamilton and Gifford (EVALUATION)

Group Creation: Two groups (A and B) with no pre-
existing stereotypes increased internal validity.

Ecological Validity: The study was artificial, limiting its
ability to predict real-world stereotype development,
which involves more context (e.g., economic
competition, fear, racism, personal experiences).

Design: Repeated measures design with
positive/negative statements and group size as IVs;
conditions were concurrent, reducing participant
variability.

Effects of Stereotyping

Stereotype Threat is when one is put into a situation where there is a threat of being judged or a fear of doing something that confirms the stereotype.

Steele and Aronson (AIM)

See how stereotype threat can affect test performance in African Americans.

Steele and Aronson (PROCEDURE)

They used a sample of black and white undergraduates. The participants were given a test, and were either told it was a test on problem solving skills or intellectual ability.

Steele and Aronson (RESULTS)

African American participants did poorly when they believed the test was that of intellectual ability, but did just as well when they thought it was about problem solving skills. When there was a stereotype threat, they performed worse, showing how stereotypes can have negative effects in behaviour.

Steele and Aronson (EVALUATION)

The sample was only made up of students of the same university, so the study lacks ecological validity and makes it harder to generalize findings.

The study was independent samples, meaning that individual differences of the participant could have been prevalent and degrade the internal validity of the experiment. A matched pair design would have been a better approach.

Their salience about their African Ametican identiy was not measured prior to the experiment.

Culture

Complex concept. Can describe food and eating habits, gender roles, rituals, communication patterns, and use of free time within a society. There's deep and surface level culture.

Deep Culture

Below the surface are the more meaningful and powerful aspects of culture: a. Beliefs- what we see as truth b. Norms- unwritten rules for behavior c. values- what we hold most important

Culture Dimensions

Dimensions are how the values of a society affect behavior. A dimension describes the trends of behavior in a given culture.

For example, long term and short term orientation. Cultures with a long-term orientation tend to focus on tradition and traditional norms, and are more sceptical or hesitant to adopt social changes. Cultures with a short-term orientation tend to focus on more practical matters right here and right now, or in the immediate past, with less focus on the future.

Enculturation

The manner in which we learn behaviours which are appropiate for our own culture, for example- proper gender norms. It shows how culture is passed down into groups.

gender schema

a cognitive framework that organizes information relevant to gender

Martin and Halverson (AIM)

Investigate the role of gender schema on a child's ability to recall information that was not consistent with their gender schema.

Martin and Halverson (PROCEDURE)

Children took a test to see their level of gender stereotyping. They viewed 16 images of males and females doing activities that were both aligned and not aligned with gender stereotypes. The children were told to identify the gender of the person in the pictures.

One week later, the children were told to recall 24 pictures (some they had not seen before). Children were asked, "Do you remember seeing a picture of something doing (activity) in the pictures I showed you last week?" If they were then asked if the person they remember seeing was a girl, a boy, a man, a woman, or "don't remember."

Martin and Halverson (RESULTS)

For pictures of girls, images that went along with stereotypes were remembered better.

For pictures of boys, images that did not go along with sterotypes were remembered better.

Children had distorted memories of pictures that were not consistent with gender role schemas. This supports the idea the children where looking for imformation that was aligned with their gender schema, showing the effects of enculturation.

Martin and Halverson (EVALUATION)

Highly standardized and easily replicable.

The study controlled for response bias. First, they asked them about images that were not seen in the initial part of the
study. In addition, they asked them their level of confidence.

The task has low ecological validity as the task is very artificial and the study is highly controlled.

Fagot (AIM)

Study the role of parents in gender-role development. We learn from observing their behaviour and recieving praise / punishment.

Fagot (PROCEDURE)

Several families with one child were the participants. Observers used an observation checklist of 46 child behaviors and 19 reactions by parents. After the observations were finished, each parent was asked to rate the 46 behaviors as more appropriate for girls, for boys, or neutral.

Fagot (RESULTS)

Boys were left alone by their parents more often than girls.

Boys received more positive responses from parents when playing with blocks, while girls received fewer positive responses for the same activity.

Parents gave girls more positive and boys more negative responses for playing with dolls.

Girls were criticized more for participating in large motor activities (e.g., running, jumping).

Girls received more positive responses when asking for help, while boys were given more negative responses for seeking help.

Fathers were more concerned about enforcing traditional gender roles than mothers.
Both parents found more behaviors appropriate for girls than for boys.

Fagot (EVALUATION)

Naturalistic, so high ecological validity.
Use of two observers, preventing examinator bias.
Sampling bias as all families were connected to the university and white.
The family knew they we're being watched, showing demand characteristics.

Acculturation

The modification of the social patterns, traits, or structures of one group or society by contact with those of another. It can lead to stress.

Integration --> retain original culture and adapt to new culture
assimilation --> dispose of original culture and adapt to new culture
separation --> retain original culture and reject new culture
Marginalization --> dispose of original and new culture

Acculturative Stress

Psychological Impact of adapting to a new culture. Stressors associated with being an immigrant or ethnic minority and going through the acculturation process.

Luek and Wilson (AIM)

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

Luek and Wilson (PROCEDURE)

Participants were all Asian Americans. Half of the sample were first generation immigrants who came to the US when they were 18 and the second was born in the US.

A semi-structured inteview was done. The interviews measured the participants' level of acculturative stress. They also measured things like language proficiency, language preference, discrimination, social networks, family cohesion, and socioeconomic status on acculturative stress.

Luek and Wilson (RESULTS)

70% of the sample suffered from some form of acculturative stress. A bilingual language preference helped reduce acculturative stress by allowing individuals to build support networks both inside and outside their community.

Stress increased when Asian Americans were unable to discuss sensitive issues in their native language with family members, or by things like xenophobia.

Luek and Wilson (EVALUATION)

Semi-structured interviews are more personal than questionaires and allow for more deep and meaninful responses, suitable for a topic as personal as acculturation.

Interviews are also open to interviewer effects - where characteristics of the interviewer may lead the interviewee to disclose less (or more) information or guide the conversation to a certain point.
the constructs of acculturative stress and level of acculturation are relatively subjective

large and diverse sample made of many different asian americans (japanese, chinese, korean)

Wang (AIM)

To test the relationship between acculturation and depression, anxiety, and self-esteem.

Wang (PROCEDURE)

The sample consisted Cuban American university students in Miami. Participants were recruited from an introductory psychology course and asked to complete an online survey. All of the questions were presented in a Likert-scale format.

Wang (RESULTS)

biculturalism was linked with more favorable outcomes (e.g., higher self-esteem, lower depression, and lower anxiety). Generally, integration seems to lead to more positive results, while things like separation, marginalization and assimilation more negative. Maintaining one's cultuture is important to mental health.

Wang (EVALUATION)

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What is conformity

Behaviour which goes along with the social norms, behaviour and standard that the society / enviroment around an individual views as appropiate.

Whenever individuals change their behaviour,
beliefs, or attitudes to be more similar to the social
norms of a particular group (due to either real or
imagined pressure) that is conformity in action.

Why does conformity occur?

It may occur due to social comparison. It is our tendency to compare ourselves to others around us in order to validate
our own behavior and opinions. This is also called informational social influence, and it's when people want to know what is 'right'

It can also occur due to normative social influence, the need for social acceptance and approval. People want to fit in and be liked.

Asch (AIM)

test the power of normative social influence on
one's likelihood to conform in an unambiguous task. See if the participant would conform even when they knew they were doing the wrong thing.

Asch (PROCEDURE)

participants were told that they were taking part in a 'vision test'.

The independent variable was the "unanimous incorrect response" and the dependent variable was the level of
conformity. A naive participant and six confederates were involved. Participants were shown an card with a single line, and they had to choose the matching line on card 2.

The confederates were instructed to give incorrect answers on
specific trials. As a control, Asch had another condition where one participant answered all 18 trials without the confederates present.

Asch (RESULTS)

About 75% of participants conformed atleast once.. In the control condition, less than 1% of the participants gave the wrong response.

One of three reasons for why they conformed: they thought that they were wrong; they were unsure of their answer; or they didn't want to be ridiculed by the group,

Effect of culture on the brain

Culture plays a role in the creation of our schema - and these, in turn, affect what we remember. However, it also affects how we remember. While the ability to remember is universal, the strategies for remembering are not.

Ethnocentrism

The inability to empathize with another culture; to assume that one's own culture is the standard by which other cultures are assessed.

Culture and Intuitive Thinking

Culture can also influence cognition, contrasting intuitive thinking with rational thinking within the two-system model.

System 1 is characterized as fast, automatic, effortless, associative, implicit, and emotionally driven.

In contrast System 2 is slow, sequential, effortful, consciously monitored, and deliberately controlled.

Norenzayan (AIM)

Whether western thinking is more rule-governed and less intuitive than East Asian thinking.

Norezayan (PROCEDURE)

Researchers conducted a series of experiments on university campuses in North America and Asia.

They compared European-American, Asian-American, and East Asian students.

Each experiment was designed to trigger cognitive conflict, encouraging participants to use either rational or intuitive thinking to solve the problem.

Norezayan (RESULTS)

European Americans tended to make judgments based on rules, while East Asian participants relied more on intuitive thinking, guided by family resemblance.

Asian-Americans showed intermediate results between the two groups.

Conclusion: The findings suggest that acculturation may influence decision-making styles

globalization

movement toward a unifying global culture.
the values associated with globaloization include freedom of choice, individual rights, openness to change, and tolerance of differences.

Local Culture

Culture you are enculturated into

Global Culture

the culture of trade, diplomacy, and the internet, which are all acculturated to a shared global culture.

Identity confusion

Difficulty in integrating various aspects of oneself into a cohesive identity while trying to determine one's values and place in society.

Delocalization

When one develops a strong global identity but struggles to identify with their local culture.

Hikikomori

A response to feelings of marginalization from wanting to be part of the global internet community but being unable to fully integrate.

It characterized by young individuals locking themselves in their rooms and refusing to come out for years. It has three key traits:
Lack of motivation to attend school or work,
Absence of other psychological disorders,
Persistent social withdrawal for at least six months

Hikkikomori and acculturation

Hikikomori can be explained through the acculturation model, where Japanese youth experience conflict between the traditional values of conformity and social harmony and the values of the globalized world. This leads to identity confusion and feelings of marginalization, resulting in social withdrawal.

Norasakkunkit & Uchida (AIM)

Use the acculturation model to explain the origins of Hikkimori

Norasakkunkit & Uchida (PROCEDURE)

Sample of 195 Japanese university students

Standardized test to see whether they were at high risk or low risk for hikikomori. The researchers then gave the participants a test to measure their attitudes about social harmony and social conformity. The test looked at three levels:

- perception of their current self

- their ideal self

- general Japanese society.

They also were asked to take a test to measure their sense of local identity (high on social harmony and collectivism) and global identity (high on individualism and achievement).

Norasakkunkit & Uchida (RESULTS)

Both groups acknowledged that social harmony and conformity are highly valued in Japanese society.

Students at high risk for Hikikomori ranked these values lower than low-risk students when assessing their current and ideal selves.

High-risk students expressed a desire to seek less harmony and conformity than what they perceive is expected in Japanese society.

High-risk students scored lower on both local and global identity measures.

As a result, local culture may alienate these youths, who choose not to conform to societal norms but also struggle to identify with or access globalized culture, leading them to withdraw from society

Norasakkunkit & Uchida (EVALUATION)

The study is correlational, comparing the results from various tests to find a relationship between the variables. It cannot establish a cause and effect relationship.
There is also bidirectional ambiguity, meaning that it is not clear whether alienation causes hikikomori or the opposite.
Demand characteristics could have also been present, seeing as it was a survey.

Globalization of Mental Illness

When other cultures look to Western media, they may be "learning" the behaviors associated with Western manifestations of disorders.

Becker et al (BACKGROUND)

Television was introduced to the islands of Fiji in 1995. Fijian culture focuses on having a large appetite; a larger body mass is not seen as unattractive.

Becker et al (AIM)

investigate whether the introduction of television would lead to an increase in disordered eating among Fijian adolescent girls.

Becker et al (PROCEDURE)

Prospective study: Participants' behaviors were measured before the introduction of television into their culture.

Two samples of Fijian schoolgirls were studied. The first group was assessed in 1995, shortly after television was introduced. The second group was tested in 1998, three years later.

The girls were administered the EAT-26, a standardized test designed to determine eating attitudes:

It is a Western test, and researchers assumed its applicability despite cultural differences.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted to confirm test results, particularly if there was evidence of bingeing and/or purging behaviors.

Becker et al (RESULTS)

There was a significant difference in EAT-26 scores between the two groups:
The 1995 cohort had an average score of 12.7%.
The 1998 group had an average score of 29.2%.

11.3% of the 1998 sample reported purging behaviors, compared to 0% in 1995.

In 1995, dieting was rare. By 1998, 69% of participants reported that they had dieted to lose weight. 74% felt they were "too big or fat." 77% reported that television influenced their perception of body shape.

becker et al (EVALUATION)

An extremely small sample of 60 girls total, which does not allow for generalization towards the entirety of Fiji.

TV may not be the main factor influencing eating disorders as lots of changes in Fijian society may have occurred alongside of the introduction to television.

Additionally, not the same girls where used, which could introduce individual characteristics.