Sociocultural Unit Studies

Berry (1967)

Aim

To measure the difference in conformity levels between cultures of varying collectivist/individualist scores.

Method

Quasi-experiment

Procedure

• Sample of Temne, Inuit, and Scottish participants

• Participants were shown a set of lines and asked to find which one had the same length as a different line

  • There were a few practice trials of this before researchers collected actual experimental data

• Researchers told participants that members of their community chose a certain option which happened to be incorrect

  • Participants would then pick the line with the same length again

Results

Temne participants had the highest conformity levels, Scottish participants were in-between, and Inuit participants had the lowest conformity levels.

Conclusion

• Difference in conformity rates reflects the cultural values of each group

• Temne individuals value their group membership more (collectivist trait) and will therefore be more likely to change their answer to support their group

• Inuit individuals value group membership less (individualist trait) and will therefore be less likely to conform with their group

Strengths

• Translations and pre-trial tests increase the participants’ comprehension of the task and therefore accuracy of their responses

• Providing consideration of traditional and transitional factors increases relevancy to status quo by demonstrating the limited effect of globalization

Limitations

• Lacks temporal validity since it is an older study and uses Asch's test which was also developed a long time ago

• The etic approach reduces operationalization’s efficacy since individuals’ traits may not reflect that of the culture overall

Meeuwsen, van den Brink-Muinen, and Hofstede (2009)

Aim

To investigate if and how Hofstede’s cultural dimensions impact the medical communication and dynamics between patients and doctors.

Method

Naturalistic overt observation

Procedure

• ~300 medical practitioners and ~6,000 patients from Belgium, Estonia, Poland, ect. participated

• Researchers used Roter’s interaction analysis system (RIAS) to assess medical communication from videotapes

• Participants received questionnaires to inform about the demographic

Results

High PDI countries tended to have shorter communication between doctors and patients, less eye-contact, and less unexpected information exchange.

Conclusion

• The high PDI countries had more strictly defined roles for the doctor and patient where the doctor holds much greater power

• The resulting communication is thus also more fixed and leads to the results of less overall discussion/back-channeling

Strengths

• The use of a third-party source to analyze data (RIAS) reduces researcher bias

• Larger sample size allows for greater generalizability to European population (given that this is the sample used)

Limitations

• Social desirability effect may impact doctors’ and patients’ actions since they want to be viewed more positively

• One of the researchers developed the theory being tested, potentially leading to researcher bias

  • This is somewhat reduced by the use of researcher triangulation

Kulkofsky et al. (2011)

Aim

To examine the connection between the cultural dimension of individualism/collectivism on the formation of flashbulb memories

Method

Questionnaire

Procedure

• Participants had five minutes for a free-recall of public events in their lives

• They then provided information about these memories including when the event occurred and certain other details

• They also had to rate how nationally important or personally important the event was

• Questionnaire also included important information about repetition, an important aspect of flashbulb memories

Results

• Personal importance and emotional intensity had less predictive value for flashbulb memories

• Individualistic participants tended to have more personally important memories

Conclusion

• Collectivist participants de-emphasize individuals’ personal experiences, leading to less rehearsal of personal events

• This then lowers the chance of developing a flashbulb memory

Strengths

• Questionnaires were translated and back-translated, allowing for participants to provide more accurate responses

  • Overall, increases the research’s credibility

Limitations

• Collectivist culture was represented solely by Chinese participants and thus the results may reflect Chinese culture instead of collectivist culture overall

  • Lower generalizability to other populations

• Ecological fallacy of participants behaving according to a general cultural standard of collectivism/individualism

Bandura, Ross, and Ross (1961)

Aim

To investigate whether behaviours can be learned vicariously through a model and to find if the similarities of the model to the individual influences this learning.

Method

Matched-pairs designed true laboratory experiment

Procedure

• Participants were ranked on aggression levels and this value was used to determine participant allocation to different conditions

• Participants were placed in one of eight conditions

  • Aggressive conditions involved participants watching an adult display verbal and physical violence towards a bobo doll

  • Non-aggressive conditions involved participants watching an adult play with toys

  • Participants were either shown a model with the same or different gender as themselves

• Participants then entered a similar room as the one with the model

  • This room had both non-aggressive (teddy bears, crayons) and aggressive (mallet, dart guns) toys

  • Two researchers made notes on the child’s behaviour over 20 minutes

Results

• Participants exposed to a violent model were more likely to engage in aggressive behaviour

• Participants were even more likely to act violently if they were the same gender as the model

Conclusion

• Exposure to model allowed for the attention and retention aspect of SCT to occur

  • This would then allow for repetition in the future

• Self-efficacy of participants increases with relatability of model which then enhances the probability of repetition

Strengths

• The use of researcher triangulation (two observers) and single-blind nature of the study reduces researcher bias

• The study’s results parallels similar research such as Rosenblith (1959) and real world data, indicating high external validity

Limitations

• Children tend not to be left alone in laboratory settings, leading to low mundane realism and therefore low applicability to real-world settings

• The sample only included children of Stanford staff and thus the sample is not representative of the general population

  • The participants are likely wealthier and more educated than the average individual

Kimball (1986)

Aim

To find if access to television can change a community’s level of gender stereotyping.

Method

Natural experiment

Procedure

• Surveys provided to ~500 children living in three different cities

  • Multitel had multiple TV channels

  • Unitel had one TV channel

  • Notel had no TV reception although they were set to receive it

• Participants level of gender stereotyping was measured using the Sex Role Differentiation (SRD) scale

  • This scale involved aspects such as appropriateness of certain behaviours for boys vs. girls and how often their parents perform certain tasks

Results

• Notel participants originally had more egalitarian gender attitudes (lower SRD scale scores)

• After the introduction of TV, Notel participants had higher SRD scores, indicating stronger gender stereotypes

Conclusion

• Participants have exposure to a new set of models from TV access

  • These models may act according to gender stereotypes, allowing for these behaviours to be retained by children

  • Children may then exhibit these behaviours as well through learning them vicariously

Strengths

• High ecological validity due to real-world setting and minimal researcher intervention

Limitations

• Researchers cannot know what individuals tended to watch on TV and therefore cannot ensure that the models shown actually promoted gender stereotypes

  • This is an example of poor operationalization

• Self-reported data allows for demand characteristics and social desirability effect

  • Participants are likely to understand the study’s true aim since they can infer from the contents of their questionnaires

Tajfel et al. (1971)

Aim

To investigate if in-group favouritism exists and how it impacts behaviour.

Method

Quasi-experiment

Procedure

• Participants were artificially categorized into groups

  • Each participant estimated the number of dots on a sheet of paper

  • Individuals who had low estimates were placed in one group while those with high estimates were placed in another

• Individuals participated in a resource-allocation task where they would distribute a set amount of money between a member of their group and a member of the out-group

• The second part split participants by their preference of painting

• An altered resource allocation test was conducted where out-groups would receive more resources if the in-group also receives more resources

Results

• For the first part of the study, participants tended to give more resources to in-group members

• For the second part, participants gave less resources overall

  • This allowed for all groups to receive less

Conclusion

• Preference towards in-group suggests that a social identity is created towards that group

• The willingness to reduce the in-group’s resources to minimize the out-group’s resources also implies discrimination towards the out-group

  • Further shows that individuals distinguish between in-groups and out-groups

Strengths

• The highly controlled conditions allows for easier replicability and therefore reliability

• The study has minimal confounding variables due to laboratory conditions

Limitations

• Low mundane realism since individuals tend not to have such recently established in-groups and out-groups

• Demand characteristics and social desirability bias may impact participants’ responses

Abrams et al. (1990)

Aim

To investigate if in-group identity would have an impact on one’s likelihood to conform.

Method

True laboratory experiment

Procedure

• Participants consisted of first-year psychology students

  • Participants were either told that confederates were other psychology students or history students

• Asch’s conformity test was used with participants either writing down or speaking their responses

  • Confederates would provide unanimous incorrect answers half of the time

Results

• Conformity was higher in the in-group condition

• There was no significant different between the private response conditions

• Participants reported being less confident in their differing responses when surrounded by in-group members

Conclusion

• Differences in behaviour between conditions establishes that individuals distinguish between in-groups and out-groups

• The categorization is based on perceived similarities and differences

Strengths

• The use of actual university students as confederates increases mundane reality

  • This demographic accurately reflects the participants’ peers

• Greater comparability to other conformity research due to constant use of Asch’s conformity test in this field of research

Limitations

• Demand characteristics caused by participants’ awareness of Asch’s conformity test

  • Psychology students are likely interested in the field and may have prior knowledge

  • Asch’s conformity test is both old and rather popular

• High cultural bias due to use of only Western participants

  • Also are university students who are not representative of the general population

  • Students tend to be richer, younger, and more educated than the average individual

Steele and Aronson (1995)

Aim

To investigate the effects of stereotype threat on Black American students and their academic performance.

Method

True laboratory experiment

Procedure

• Participants took a test from the General Record Examination

  • The test was either framed as a test of intelligence or a problem-solving task

• Participants were either Black or White

Results

• There was no significant difference between Black and White participants in the ‘problem-solving’ condition

• Black participants performed significantly worse in the ‘test of intelligence’ condition

Conclusion

• The worsened performance can be attributed to stereotype threat

• The stereotype that Black individuals lack intelligence and therefore experience stress that they will confirm the stereotype

  • This stereotype is enhanced by having be salient after the researchers explicitly stated the test’s purpose

  • The stress then leads to lowered performance

Strengths

• Although the study is a true laboratory experiment, it still has high external validity

  • Testing situations are also generally very rigidly structured

• The study’s context is very applicable to real-life situations

Limitations

• Use of only Stanford students in sample may be unrepresentative

  • Highly successful students may have more self-efficacy overall due to previous successes and therefore suffer less from stereotype threat

• Operationalization of stereotype threat may be incorrect

  • The study did not test for the salience of the stereotype or racial identity

Stone (2002)

Aim

To find if the way a sport is framed affects the performance of different racial groups based on stereotype threat.

Method

Field experiment

Procedure

• Students rated their athletic ability relative to their peers’ on a Likert scale

  • Only students with above average athletic ability who did not play golf were recruited

• Participants then participated in a golfing task that was either framed as a ‘sports intelligence’ or ‘athletic ability’ test

Results

• White participants practiced less in the ‘athletic ability’ condition

• Black participants scored lower in the ‘sports intelligence’ condition

Conclusion

• By practicing less in the ‘athletic ability’ condition, White participants engage in self-sabotage

  • This allows them to have a method to explain their scores if they perform poorly

  • Allows for self-esteem to be maintained, an aspect of social cognition

• Stereotype threat may cause stress to Black participants in ‘sports intelligence’ condition

  • Leads to lower performance

Strengths

• The public setting of the experiment makes it more realistic

  • Individuals may feel judged and be more likely to self-handicap to appear better in front of others

Limitations

• The stereotypes between Black and White individuals is the product of their history and previous events

  • The stereotype dynamic is unique to these groups and cannot be applied to other stereotypes

• Interpretation may be subject to researcher bias

  • White participants’ lack of practice was interpreted as self-handicapping

  • May also reflect their confidence in performing well

Smith and Lloyd (1978)

Aim

To investigate if the effects of gender labelling would impact toy choices.

Method

True laboratory experiment

Procedure

• A set of primiparous mothers interacted with cross-dressed babies

  • Babies were given names and outfits indicating the opposite gender

• Within the room, several masculine, feminine, and gender neutral toys could be used

  • These gender designations were provided by third-party individuals

• Videotapes and written records were used to collect data

Results

• Participants tended to use toys with the associations of the child’s perceived gender

• Mothers tended to encourage physical activity more often with perceived male babies

Conclusion

• These actions imply that enculturation of gender may be learned directly through parent figures

Strengths

• Use of babies as confederates improves internal validity

  • There cannot be any demand characteristics since the baby cannot understand the study

• Similar research has yielded the same results, increasing reliability

Limitations

• Mothers may not be adequately deceived by the cross-dressing

  • Studies such as Doucet et al. (2009) suggest that information exchange may occur through pheromones

  • This may indicate about the baby’s actual sex

• Demand characteristics may impact how participants treat the children

  • They may act in a manner they believe is more socially acceptable since they are being watched

Fagot (1978)

Aim

To determine the influence of parents in the development of gender-roles in young children.

Method

A series of overt, naturalistic observations and a questionnaire

Procedure

• A sample of 24 families with a child between 20 and 24 months old

• Observers noted child’s behaviour every 60 seconds from a list of possible behaviours

• A questionnaire collected information on parents’ views on gender stereotypes and sex role socialization

Results

• Parents reacted more favorably when their children engaged in same-sex preferred behaviour

• Parents reacted less favorably when their children engaged in cross-sex preferred behaviours

Conclusion

• These reactions may help perpetuate gender stereotypes and norms in children

• An example of direct tuition adding to children’s enculturation

Strengths

• The naturalistic setting of a playground adds to mundane realism, increasing external validity

  • This situation also mitigates social desirability bias

  • Similar to the observers in the study, parents may also feel judged by other families in public settings

• Use of researcher triangulation during observation helps reduce researcher bias

Limitations

• Results cannot be extrapolated to more personal situations (eg. at home) where parents do not feel judged

• Parents were all affiliated with the university and are therefore likely wealthier and more educated than the average person

Lueck and Wilson (2010)

Aim

To investigate the variables that may predict acculturative stress in Asian American immigrants

Method

Semi-structured interviews

Procedure

• The sample included both first and second-generation immigrants

  • Allows for acculturation gap to be examined

• Interviewers familiar with participants’ language and culture conducted interviews

• The interviews asked about the level of acculturative stress experienced and possible risk/protective factors

• A sample of participants then reviewed their responses for correctness later (member checking)

Results

• 70% of participants indicated experiencing acculturative stress

• Bilingualism and sharing similar beliefs/values with family reduced stress

• Discrimination and a strong preference for only speaking English increased stress

Conclusion

• Being able to speak multiple languages allows for connection in both cultures and may lead to integration instead of assimilation

• Similar beliefs as family helps maintain connection to original culture, providing support for issues of acculturation

• An inability to fit into both cultures (monolingualism and discrimination) increases the negative impacts of acculturation

Strengths

• Semi-structured interview structure allows for unexpected information to be collected, increasing the credibility of data

• Use of multiple interviewers reduces researcher bias

Limitations

• Interviewers may interpret or misinterpret answers based on pre-existing beliefs and schema

  • Somewhat mitigated by having some participants review their responses and validate their correctness

• Levels of acculturative stress may lack some construct validity

Shah et al. (2015)

Aim

To study the association between acculturation and obesity rates in South Asian immigrants.

Method

Questionnaire

Procedure

• 1375 male migrant workers who had lived in the UAE for over 6 years had their BMI calculated

  • These values were based on WHO’s standards

• Participants were enrolled at a health examination centre where each third person was asked to join the study

Results

• Migrants had a higher BMI than native citizens and those from the immigrants’ home country

• The longer a migrant had lived in the UAE, the higher their BMI was

Conclusion

• Acculturation is known to cause unhealthy eating behaviours which could lead to conditions such as obesity

  • Immigrants may be unable to access their cultural food and be unaccustomed to the UAE’s food

  • They may then eat more fast food which leads to the increased BMI

Strengths

• Large sample sizes allows for improved internal validity

• The focus of South Asia is uncommon for much of psychology research

  • Allows for a broader view of acculturation in multiple cultures when viewed in conjunction with other research

Limitations

• Lowered construct validity since time spent in the new culture is not the only factor impacting acculturation levels

  • Connections with other individuals and ties to original culture were not measured

• May not be very generalizable since the sample excludes other immigrant populations such as women and children

Buchan et al. (2011)

Aim

To determine if one’s identification with global culture can influence willingness to cooperate.

Method

Quasi-experiment

Procedure

• 1122 participants from various cultures were found via quota sampling

• Participants could allocate tokens representing money to themselves, participants in their community, participants in their country, or participants in other parts of the world

  • Tokens provided to the broader population would have a greater monetary value overall

  • The tokens for the larger community would be split among a larger amount of people

  • Investing in the greater community would lead to less returns for oneself but the greatest overall benefit for all participants

• Participants filled out a questionnaire pertaining to their concern on local, national, and global issues

  • This questionnaire helped inform the extent of their global social identity

Results

• Those with higher global social identity scores tended to invest more in the global community

  • These participants tended to forgo personal interest to provide more resources for the broader population

Conclusion

• High global social identity participants may view all people as part of their in-group

  • This causes them to feel more connected to them and therefore act more altruistically

  • Overall, this indicates that globalization and the global identity caused by it can change individual’s behaviour

Strengths

• The large and cross-cultural sample allows for the results to be generalized

  • This is especially important for research on globalization since this is an inherently universal concept

  • The use of participants from both urban and non-urban regions help provide information on people with varying degrees of global social identity

• The operationalization of global social identity used is common in other research, allowing for them to be more comparable

  • Ensures that determining experimental reliability is possible

Limitations

• Having participants fill out the questionnaire after they made their choices would increase their identity saliency towards the options they chose

  • This may artificially exacerbate the statistical significance found

• Participants may not be as engaged in the study as with real life

  • The amount of money distributed may be considered insignificant to many participants and they therefore will not put much effort into their choices

  • The value of the money may vary from location to location, reducing consistency across participants

Norasakkunkit and Uchida (2014)

Aim

To find if globalization has an effect on the rise of hikikomori in Japan.

Method

Questionnaire

Procedure

• A set of 195 Japanese students were tested for risk of developing hikikomori

• They also filled out a survey on their alignment with the values of Japanese culture and their community

  • This test examined their perceptions of their current self, ideal self, and general Japanese society

  • They were also tested on identification with Japanese and global culture

Results

• Participants considered high-risk for hikikomori rated their current self as having low social harmony, an important trait in Japanese culture

  • All participants considered social harmony to be valued highly by their society

• High-risk students did not identify with local or global culture

Conclusion

• Having a lack of local and global culture alienates students from both populations, leading to stress

  • This may manifest as hikikomori as individuals isolate themselves from the cultures that do not align with their own

Strengths

• The study uses an emic approach of understanding the underlying causes of a specific, culture-bound phenomenon

  • This allows for a more in-depth understanding of the topic

Limitations

• Study uses an analogous approach where participants do not actually have hikikomori

  • Does not properly represent the target population and results may not be applicable

• Does not explain why hikikomori is mostly a culture-bound phenomenon