Sociocultural Terms

Social Identity Theory

• Suggests that there are two aspects of the self

  • Personal identity is known only to oneself and close friends/family

  • Social identity is the self defined by group memberships (eg. gender, ethnicity)

• Based on three principles

  • Individuals strive to maintain and enhance self-esteem

  • Membership to social groups may have negative and/or positive associations

  • Social comparisons with other groups are made to asses an in-group’s value

• May lead to in-group favouritism as seen with Tajfel et al. (1971)

• Individuals may also move between social groups (permeability)

• Have low predictive value since it can be difficult to determine which social identity is more salient at any particular time

  • Also makes research less credible since many do not test for identity salience

  • Testing for salience may also lead to priming schema and further confounding research

• Have many applications in marketing and persuasive speeches through using inclusive pronouns

Permeability

• The ability of an individual to change/move between social groups

• May be caused by dissatisfaction with current in-group

• Impermeability is the inability to move between groups and may lead to discrimination against out-groups

Social Cognitive Theory

• Suggests that individuals can learn behaviours through reciprocal determinism

  • Behaviour is connected to society and cognition

• Contains four parts:

  • Attention and retention allow for recollection of observed actions for later repetition

  • Reproduction of observed actions requires self-efficacy (if an individual believes they can reproduce the behaviour)

  • Motivation determines if the behaviour will be further reproduced based on rewards and punishment

• Television and other media provides an outlet for individuals to encounter more models

Stereotypes

• Over-simplified and generalized abstractions about in-groups and out-groups

• Can be conscious or unconscious

• Based on social schema and can therefore be altered based on gatekeepers, accessibility, and priming

  • Accessibility is the ease of accessing schemas from previous use

  • Priming determines the recent events influencing schema

Stereotype Threat

• Anxiety/apprehension towards a situation where a stereotype may be reinforced/confirmed

  • May also experience anxiety towards not being able to confirm a positive stereotype

• Identity contingencies can increase or decrease this feeling

Illusory Correlations

• Cognitive bias causing people to find correlations between unrelated variables

• A behaviour of a single individual may be attributed to the entire group

Social Cognition Principles

• Humans are cognitive misers (have limited cognitive resources)

  • Demonstrated through heuristics and dual-process theory)

• People engage in controlled (system 2) and automatic (system 1) thinking

• Humans seek consistency in behaviour

• Self-esteem guides human behaviour (SIT)

Cultural Dimensions

• 6 aspects of culture as defined by Hofstede

  • Define a set of values existing on a continuum

  • Generally shared by members of a culture

Individualism/Collectivism

• Individualism is characterized by looser ties between members and a stronger sense of self

  • Has less distinction between in-group and out-group (universalism)

  • Inuit culture is more individualistic because of low food-accumulation traditions

• Collectivism is characterized by stronger ties between members and a sense of unity within the group

  • Has inherent exclusiveness because out-group members are considered “others”

  • Temne culture is more collectivist because of a high food-accumulating community

PDI

• The extent to which less powerful members of a group expect and accept the unequal distribution of power

  • Likely originated from agricultural society where acceptance of leadership is needed to coordinate the community’s lives

• High PDI counties have stricter social hierarchies and deference to elders/authority

• Low PDI countries have a flatter social structure, low tolerance for inequality, and a willingness to question authority

Enculturation

• The process where individuals learn the norms and values of their own culture

  • Happens through interactions with peers, family, and community

  • Can occur through direct tuition or observational learning (SCT)

  • Parents may encourage or deter behaviour based on perceived appropriateness through canalization

• Impacts behaviour (music preference, food choice) and cognition (social relationships, gender roles)

• Constantly ongoing

Acculturation

• Cultural change resulting from interactions between different cultures

  • Caused by increased globalization as contact between cultures increases

• Berry’s model of acculturation includes integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization

  • The resulting type of acculturation depends on the aims of the dominant and subordinate cultures

Acculturative Stress

• Stress associated with being a migrant/immigrant and undergoing acculturation

• Risk factors and protective factors can increase or decrease acculturative stress respectively

Research Methods

Observation

• Aim to examine how individuals react to specific situations

  • Generally occur under uncontrolled conditions to allow for participants to make a wide range of choices

• Data collected may be quantitative or qualitative

• Observations may be covert or overt

  • Covert observations ensure that observed individuals do not know they are a part of the study

  • Covert research is thus often done in public spaces so that consent is not required

  • Overt observations ensure that individuals know that they are being observed and provide informed consent

• There is no manipulated independent variable, something common in research on culture

  • It is difficult to directly manipulate culture to discover its effects

  • Observations thus provide an important alternative

True Laboratory Experiment

• Used to establish a cause and effect relationship between variables

  • Researcher manipulates the independent variable to observe its effect on the dependent variable

  • Usually measures are put in place to diminish the impact of confounding variables

• Participants are often randomly allocated and the study’s environment is controlled to reduce the impact of extraneous variables, improving internal validity

• Results can often be quantified, allowing for researchers to determine if the data is significant

Semi-Structured Interviews

• Researchers provide verbal questions to the participants and collect qualitative data

  • They will have a set of questions (interview schedule) that must be answered although researchers can also ask follow-up questions 

  • This allows for further depth into the topic examined → important for research on culture since there may be nuance lost in structured interviews that do not provide unique questions for different participants

• May also have greater chances of interviewer effects by focusing more or certain topics due to personal biases

  • The quality of the interview depends somewhat on the experience/abilities of the interviewer

  • This means that interviews are often not consistent across participants

  • Having multiple interviewers does limit the effect of individual biases though

Ethics

Undue Stress or Harm

• Any stress that exceeds what participants ay experience in everyday life

  • Small amounts of embarrassment and discomfort may not constitute as undue stress or harm

• Researchers have the responsibility of minimizing harm on participants, something achievable through informed consent

  • Participants are then aware that they may withdraw if they feel uncomfortable

  • Also ensures participants understand that their data is anonymous and will therefore be more willing to participate and provide accurate data

• This is especially important for research on culture since these studies often involve minority groups

  • These individuals may face discrimination or may not possess a citizenship, increasing the risk of deportation or harm if their information is doxed

  • Researchers must store data in an anonymous manner to prevent this from occurring and causing harm

Deception

• Refers to intentionally misinforming or withholding information from participants

  • Generally used to conceal the experiment’s true aim and thus avoid demand characteristics

• Undermines the concept of informed consent and violates the trust between researchers and participants

  • May worsen people’s perception of the field of psychology

  • May increase the chances of participants withdrawing data

• Debriefing after the experiment restores trust, provides justification for deception, and ensure no harm occurred

• May be necessary to carry out certain research