IB Psychology: The sociocultural approach

Basic assumptions

-culture influences behaviours

-human beings are social animals with a basic need to belong

-our behaviour is influenced by other people even when we believe that we are acting independently

-situational factors play a key role in our behaviour

-we have both an individual and social self

Conformity

-a change of behaviour as a result of real or imagined group pressure or norms

-it is a basic human behaviour, all are prone to it: social comparison to validate self

-it is a result of 2 key factors: informational and social influnce, narrative social influence

Informational and social influence

the need for certainty. When in ambiguous situations, we engage in social comparison in order to figure out how to behave

Normative social influence

the need for social acceptance and approval. We conform in order to be accepted and fit in

Pluristic ignorance

-ignorant because everyone else is

-happens due to need for social acceptance and a want to conform with a group

-eg. Asch paradigm: people waited so long because it is the usual thing to do, if no one else is going against routine, they don't

Social identity

-individual's self-concept derived from percieved membership of social groups

-it is an individual-based perception of what defines "us" associated with any internalised group membership

-we have many different social identities

-social identities include: ethnic groups, religious denominations, occupational groups, neighbourhoods, etc.

-eg. australian, daughter, only child, musician, runner, etc.

Social identity theory

-perspective that considers when and why individuals consider themselves members of groups

-developed by Tajfel and Turner

-there are 4 mechanisms

Social categorisation

process by which we identify which groups we belong to and which groups we do not

Social identification

process of adopting the norms of the group and taking on characteristics

Social comparison

-justifying membership

-the benefits of belonging to the in group rather than out group

Positive distinctiveness

being more positive to anything that your own group represents due to need of positive self concept

Studies - Social Identity

-when one of our social identities becomes salient, it affects our behaviour

-in many studies of social identity theory, one social identity is primed to see if it has an effect on an individual's behaviour

-when an identity is salient, others are muted. This is why we sometimes carry out behaviours that are contradictory to other identities