PSYC260 - Final

culture region

a collection of discrete behavioural norms and cognitions shared by people within a population that are distinct from those in another population

Cultural behaviour difference example

Handshake in Western countries vs. bow in south asia

What do participants look like in most psychological studies?

Female, North American, Psychology, Undergraduate students

What is wrong with the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology?

92% written by North American authors, 96% of participants are from Western, industrialized countries

Why is it a problem to draw conclusions from Western, Educatated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic populations?

Because only 12% of humans fit the criteria and has limited are understanding of human cognition and behaviour more broadly

Muller-Lyer Illusion

illusion of line length that is distorted by inward-turning or outward-turning corners on the ends of the lines, causing lines of equal length to appear to be different

What are the findings of Muller-Lyer Illusion?

People that don't live around man-built corners can distinguish the lengths of the lines better than people who do live around man-built corners

What does Cultural Psychology allow us to do? (4)

1. Test cross-cultural generality of a theory
2. Discover human universals
3. Discover relationship between culture and mind
4. Discover unique psychological experiences or phenomena in a culture

What does culture influence? (3)

Conceptualization of the self, perceptions of the world, preferences

Question of Cross-cultural generality

Is our theory or observation true in all cultures?

Self concepts (2)

independent self-concept, interdependent self-concept

independent self-concept (prevalent in...)

is encouraged in high individualism cultures (USA/Canada)

independent self-concept

an individual's perception of self as entirely independent from others. feel unique and autonomous, even in close relations to others

interdependent self-concept (prevalence)

is encouraged in cultures high in Collectivism. (default in east asia)

interdependent self-concept

an individual's perception of self as fundamentally connected to others. salient traits and preferences depend on the context and who is around you.

Analytic thinking

a type of thinking in which people focus on the properties of objects without considering their surrounding context

Two types of thinking

analytic thinking, and holistic thinking

What type of thinking is common in Western Cultures?

Analytic thinking

holistic thinking

a type of thinking in which people focus on the overall context, particularly the way in which things relate

what type of thinking is common in Eastern Cultures? (Japan, China, Korea)

holistic thinking

WEIRD

Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic

Analytic thinking is parallel to...

individual self-concept

holistic thinking is parallel to...

interdependent self-concept

Example of how different cultures perceive

Physics student entered academic competition and lost, unsuccessfully appealed, did not get academic job. Came back and shot advisor.
Two journals analyzed (leading chinese vs. leading english)
chinese journal = more situational attributions (access to guns...)
english journal = more dispositional attributions (angry and disturbed guy)

What preferences does culture shape?

Ideal mood, individual uniqueness

Preference for uniqueness differences

Independent culture (Western): uniqueness valued
Interdependent culture (Eastern): conformity values

Study for preference for uniqueness

North American and East Asian participants select between common vs. uncommon items
At airport, asked ps to pick between 5 orange or green pens
North American: picked pens that were more uncommon
East Asian: picked pens that are more common

What ideal mood is found in East Asia?

Positive affect, low arousal (calm)

Affective Valuation Theory (AVT)

A theory that looks at the way affective ideals across cultures manifest in everyday lives

AVT findings (music, drug use, children's books, religion)

Top hits:
- East Asia: calm music
-Western: high arousal music
Drug Use:
-East Asia: calming drugs
-Western: uppers
Children's books:
-East Asia: calming books
-Western: exciting arousal
Religion:
-East Asia: prefer calmness, serenity, tearfulness
-Western: excitement, enthusiasm, elation

what ideal mood is in Western cultures?

positive affect, high arousal (excited)

Types of Aggression

instrumental and hostile

Aggression

intentional behavior aimed at causing physical harm or psychological pain to another person

Hostile aggression

inflicting mental or psychological pain on someone else is the main goal

instrumental aggression

inflicting pain on someone else is a means to an end

how are hostile and instrumental aggression distinguished

the goal of the behaviour

Types of causes of aggression

situational, individual differences

Causes of Hostile aggression - Columbine

social exclusion, modeling (violent media), poverty, access to guns

Situational causes of hostile aggression

social learning, media, income inequality, social exclusion, aggressive objects, frustration, heat & colour

Social Learning

children copy adult behaviour. seeing aggressive behaviour leads others to copy, especially when the aggressive behaviour is rewarded

How is aggressive behaviour rewarded?

Sports (crowds cheer for fights, rough players get more play time)
Office (cut throat behaviour leads to raise)

Social Learning Theory

Bandura's version of learning theory, which emphasizes the role of modeling, or observational learning, in behavior. (Bobo doll experiment)

Bobo doll experiment

nursery school students observed an adult play aggressively (yelling & hitting) with an inflatable clown (Bobo); when children were later allowed to play with the Bobo, those children who witnesses the Bobo doll performed the same aggressive actions and improvised new ways of playing aggressively

media influences on aggression (correlational research)

Anderson & Dill, 2000: report a correlation of time playing violent games and aggression delinquent behaviour = .46
Could be because...
-direction of causality issue, 3rd variable

Anderson & Dill Study 2: Experiment on media aggression

Randomly assigned students to play a video games 3 times over a week (violent video game or equally engaging nonviolent game)
They then played a competitive game with another student.
DV: level/duration of noise blast given to opponent
found: people who played violent video game administered higher level and longer duration of noise

Meta-analysis of media aggression

Found:
increased aggression, aggressive thoughts, anger, arousal, decreased helping
same effects for males and females, children and adults

How does poverty increase aggression?

It's about how much you have relative to others nearby (income inequality)

Income equality evidence

Greater income inequality -> more homicide
Canada < US -> may explain homicide difference

Explanation for income inequality causing aggression

Evolution - intense competition for resources

Social Exclusion

humans are social creatures - it hurts a lot when we are excluded

Social Exclusion Experiment

(Twenge et al, 2001)
Method: participants randomly assigned to groups (either everyone chooses you or no one does)
Next task: opportunity to deliver white noise to stranger
Results: excluded - delivered louder and longer white noise bursts to a new stranger (not one who excluded)

Aggressive objects experiment

participants brought into lab and made angry and aloud to administer shocks to another person
either on the presence of a gun or badminton racket
found: angry participants exposed to a gun administered longer shock duration. if participants were not angry, it did not matter what object they saw

frustration-aggression theory

the theory that frustration triggers a readiness to aggression

things that lead to frustration

goal blockage (closer to goal = more frustration)
perceived injustice

Frustration goal blockage experiment

confederate cut in line at crowded restaurants, movies. either cut in front second in line or cut in front twelfth in line. people more aggressive when confederate cut in second in line

Frustration perceived injustice experiment

Capuchin monkeys given a task and rewards
They reject rewards if they think it is unfair compared to what the other monkey is getting (cucumbers vs. grapes)

Heat causing aggression research

# of hot days predicted more violent crime

Heat causing aggression experiment

participants either completed study in hot or average room
found: people in hot room behaved more aggressively

colour causing aggression correlational research

found that sports teams with 50%+ black jerseys had highest penalty record

colour causing aggression experiment

ps randomly assigned black jerseys acted more aggressively than those randomly given white

What sex is more physically (directed) aggressive?

Men

What sex engages in more indirect (gossiping) aggression?

women

Catharsis

"blowing of steam" - releases built up aggressive energy -> reduce likelihood of aggressive behaviour. Idea came from Freud's aggressive impulses hydraulic system

Punching Bag Study

methods: read article on the (in)effectiveness of punching inanimate objects
insulted by confederate then opportunity to hit punching bag: present or absent
DV: white noise delivered
Results: people who thought catharsis worked were most aggressive (venting increases aggression)

Does catharsis work?

no/ the release of aggressive feelings actually increases the likeliness of further aggression

What reduces aggression?

Non-aggressive role models, defuse anger through apology, empathy

Empathy reducing aggression study

car at light doesn't move for 10 seconds.
2 conditions: someone walks between 1st and 2nd car, someone on crutches hobbles between 1 and 2
found: less likely to honk if someone on crutches

conformity

Adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.

Normative social influence (NSI)

An explanation of conformity that says we agree with the opinion of the majority because we want to be accepted, gain social approval and be liked. This may lead to compliance.

social norms

expected standards of conduct, which influence behavior

Normative social influence often leads to...

public compliance not private acceptance

Normative Social Influence study

Asch Line Study: 7 confederates and 1 participant asking people to match the size of lines
found: 76% of participants followed group despite group giving wrong answer

when are we most likely to conform (4)

when group is...
important to you, close (time and space) to you, large group, unanimous

Social Impact theory

the idea that conforming to social influence depends on the group's importance, immediacy, and the number of people in the group

Informational Social Influence

follow others to gain information

Informational Social Influence study

White dot study: participants sat in dark room and estimate how far white dot moves. Participants did it again with other people and changed estimates to accommodate guesses of other people. Participants came back again and gave answer close to group guess

When is informational social influence most likely to occur? (3)

ambiguous situations, crisis situations, when expert is present

Types of norms

injunctive; descriptive

injunctive norms

rules about how people are supposed to behave

descriptive norms

rules people actually believe

Resisting social influence (3)

be aware, find an ally, cash in your idiosyncrasy credits (credits earned from conforming to group)

Persuasion: 2 strategies

Door-in-the-face technique, foot-in-the-door technique

door-in-the-face technique

asking for a large commitment and being refused and then asking for a smaller commitment

foot-in-the-door technique

asking for a small commitment and, after gaining compliance, asking for a bigger commitment

door-in-the-face technique study

asked to chaperone 2 hour student trip - 17% agree
asked to work 2yrs unpaid - reject - then asked to chaperone = 51% agree

Reciprocity norm

you do something positive for another and the other person returns the favour

Foot-in-the-door technique study

"would you sign a petition to support safe driving" then asked "would you put a drive safe sign on your lawn"
found: people who were not asked the first question, much less likely to agree to second question

Milgrams Obedience Study

study of the phenomenon of obedience to an authority figure, examinfed the effects of punishment on learning (shock treatment for mistakes, 65% shocked dangerous amounts when ordered

In class Obedience study

writing odd and even numbers on paper and crumpling it

prejudice

preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience

ABC's of attitude

A-affective, B-behaviour, C-cognition

ABC's of prejudice

affective - prejudice
behaviour - discrimination
cognition - stereotype

Gender Bias study

Application for lab manager
IV: gender, DV: competency, likelihood of being hired, mentoring, starting salary
Found: females rate lower in competence, hire-ability, mentoring. Males given higher starting salary

social identity theory

theory in which the formation of a person's identity within a particular social group is explained by social categorization, social identity, and social comparison (us vs. them thinking)

in-group bias

the tendency to favor one's own group

in-group bias in class activity

dog vs. cat people

in-group bias study

people picked their favourite paintings.
participants liked the people that picked the same paintings as them more.

when does in-group bias start?

9 and 14 months olds prefer people who treat similar others well and treat dissimilar others poorly

Why favour in-groups? (2)

groups give us strong social identity
boosts self-esteem

out-group homogeneity

The perception that individuals in the out-group are more similar to each other (homogeneous) than they really are, as well as more similar than members of the in-group are