pyschology: sociocultural

concepts and case studies (ERQ perspective)

what is the Social identity theory?

the idea that a person has once ‘personal self’ and several social selfs that correspond with group identity

what are the four factors of SIT?

social categorisation: the process of identifying with the groups you belong to ,your in-group, and the groups you don’t, your out-group based on specific characteristics.

social identification: the process of adopting the norms and characteristics of your in-group

social comparison: comparing your in-group to the out-group to reaffirm and justify your decision

positive distinctiveness: comparing your in group to the out-group to boost your self esteem and maintain and positive social identity.

one study that supports the SIT

tajfel et al

explain the study tajfel et al

aim: investigate if intergroup discrimination would take place with minimal group differentiation

procedure: British school boys. they were asked to choose between two artists and were told they would be allocated based on this but, they were actually randomly allocated into their groups. they were then given a virtual task whereby they had to allocate money either to their in-group to the out-group. the boys did not know who was in each group and were only identified by a code that showed what group they belonged to.

findings: the boys gave more money to their in group . they were also willing to give fewer points to their own team to create a larger difference in the groups. demonstrating that in group favouritism based on social categorisation therefore supporting the SIT.

a second study for SIT

Drury et al.

explain drury et al

aim: to investigate how people would respond to an emergency simulation and how social identity influences the responses.

procedure: university students had a virtual simulation of an emergency situation where they had to imagine they were escaping and they had the choice to either push or help people. they were then divided into two groups, individual identity and group identity. In the individual identity group they were told to imagine that htey had just come back from a long day of shopping and they needed to ctach the train to go back to univeristy. the the second one they were told that they had just come back from watching a football match and needed to get back to uni. they can push or help people

findings: participants in the group idenntity condtion were less licky to push people but helped more than the individual idenity. group size did not have a significant effect

what is the social cognitive thoery

the social congitive thoery propsed by bandura is an extention of the social learning thoery. it suggests that people learn indiecty from thier environemtn through moddeling and reinforcemnt

what are the cognitive factors

reciprocal determinism: interacting factors ,environemntal, behvaiuoural and personal, that mutrally infulcen each other.

human agency: people are agents and are in control of thier behaviour

idenitification: people are more likely to model behaviour if they feel they can idenitify with the model

self efficacy: a personals belif in their ability to sucsed in a task

one key study of SCT

bandura et al

explain bandura et al

aim: to investigate if agesression in chuldren can be learned through observation

procedure: British primary school children. they were allocated into 3 groups

1. the children observed an adult model act aggressively towards a bobo doll.

2. the children observed an adult model assemble toys

3. control group, the children did not observe anything

finding: the children in the first condtition acted modeled the behaviour and acted agressivley towards the bobo doll. boys acted more physicaly agressivlywhile the girls were more verbaly agressive. the boys were more likely to model the behaviour of the male models. this demonstates identification and the idea that information can be learned through observations as mentioned in the SCT

what is a second study of the SCT

odden and rochat

explain Odden and rochat

aim: investigate if cultural behaviour can be learned indirectly in samoan children

procedure: a longitudinal observational study conducted on a rural samoan village. the researchers tried to observe how the children learned cultural norms such as fishing and respect for elders indirectly and through observations. they also conducted interviews to gain deeper insight.

findings: the children were able to learn their cultural norms by observing and modelling their environment therefore supporting the SCT

what is a sterotype

a belief about the characteristics and behaviours attributed to a group often based on biased and broad information

one theory regarding the formation of a sterotype

Illusory correlation: believing there is a connection between two variables when it doesn’t exist or is an assumption with no tangible evidence

one case study on formation of sterotypes

hamilton and guildford

explain Hamilton and guilford

aim: investigate the role of illusory correlation in the formation of stereotypes

procedure: male and female participants were divided into two groups.

1. the majority that had most of the participants

2. the minority that had fewer participants

the researchers gave the participants a series of statements both negative and positive and asked them to identify which group they believed the statement related to. there was an equal amount of negative and positive statements for each group.

findings: the participants gave more negative statements to the minority group than the majority group. Researchers believed this was because the minority group is small by nature leading people to believe that a statement regarding one person is representative of the whole group. supporting illusory correlation.

another study for the formation of sterotypes

risen et al

explain risen et al

what is one effect of a sterotype

a sterotype threat whereby people are scared to fullfit the sterotype regarding them or the group they belong leading to anxiety and affect hier behavoir/performance

one study relating to the effects of sterotypes

steele and aronson

explain steele and aronson

aim: investigate the effects of stereotypes of test performance on a group of black and white Americans

procedure: university students. allocated into two groups

1. Stereotypes threat: the participants were told that the test they were taking was a measure of intelligence

2. non stereotypes threat: participants were told it was just a general test

findings: African American participants in the first condition performed worse than their white counterparts in comparison to the second condition. in the second condition there was not significant difference in the performance between white and black students. This shows that when a stereotype threat was in place the participants performance was affected negatively.

another study relating to the effects of stereotypes

stone

explain stone

aim: investigate sports related stereotype threats

procedure: the sample included both white american and black american participants. the participants were told they would be taking part in a golf related task and were allocated into two conditions.

1. told that it would be a measure of natural atheletic ability

2. told it was a measure of genral sports knowledge

they were told they have an unlimited time to practice golf

findings:

the white participants practiiced significantly less. the black participants performed worse in condition two where athletic knowledge was test then in condition one where natural athletic ability was test. the white participants in condition 1 did worse than in concdition two. the findings realte to sterotype threat. white people dont have natural athletic ability and black people are not very knowledgable leading to negative impacts on thier performance.

one cultural dimension

individualism vs collectivism

one study related cultural dimension

berry et al

explain berry et al

aim: investigate if individualistic and collectivist cultures have an impact on conformity

procedure: two distinct cultures; the Temne people from Sierra leone who are collectivist and the Inuit people from Canada that are individualistic. they were given a series of lines and asked to determine which one matched the standard line given. Some participants were told a wrong answer and told that it was the answer that most people choose.

findings:

the Temne people conformed to the wrong answer more than the intuit people demonstrating their collectivist culture that leads them to align more to what the majority says while the Temne gave their own answer more because their culture places more emphasis on independence and self reliance.

another study for cultural dimensions

kulkofsky

explain kulkofsky

aim: investigate if collectivist and indiviualistics cultures influence flashbulb memory

procedure:

the sample included variety of adults from china, trukey, the usa, the uk and germany. they were asked to recall a public event that occurred within 1.5 years to the experiment. they were then asked the personal significance of it as well as how the learned about it. the questionaire was translated into the differnt languages and then back translated.

findings:

in collectivists cultures like china personal significance did not play that big of a role in the creating flashbulb memory as in individualistic cultures where it played a major role. However in all cultures public and national significance played a significant role.

what is enculturation

the proceses of learning the norms of your own culture. it happned over time and is fundamental in fostering cultural idenity.

one study on enculturation

oden and roacht

another study on enculturation

fagot

explain fagot

aim: to investigate gender role enculturation in children

procedure: sample included various families with one child. the researchers did 5 1 hour sessions where they observed the children’s play styles, toy choices and activity choices.

findings:

girls were encouraged and praised for playing with ‘girly toys’ like dolls and engaging in softer play while the same was done for boys playing with trucks and rougher play. the researchers also found that parents enforced gender roles unintentionally and subconsciously.

what is accultration

adopting the norms of another culture while still maintaing elements of your own

one study on acculturation

miranda and matheny

explain miranda

aim: to investigate the factor that contribute to acculturative stress in hispanic immigrants to the USA

procedure: hispanic immigrants to the usa from different countries such as Mexico. the were asked about: economic status, coping mechanism, family cohesions and proficiency in english.

findings:

tighter family cohesion, fluency in english and longer time in the us lead to lower levels of acculturative stress.

another study on acculturation

lueck and wilson