Sociocultural Approach to understanding Human behavior

Park and Rothbart (1982)

Aim: To study in-group bias and out-group homogeneity effect

Participants were 90 college females on university campus

Procedure

To measure ethnocentrism - Using questionnaires, participants were asked questions about how their viewed their sorority compared to others on 10 factors.

1) Questionnaires to rank their sorority and the out-group sorority on ten characteristics (8 favorable and 2 unfavorable characteristics)

2) Judge similarity of the members of their own sorority and the other two sororities

Results

All groups ranked their sorority higher for favorable characteristics compared to others.

· Out-group homogeneity - sororities rated individuals more dissimilar to other people in the same sorority compared to how individuals in that sorority rated themselves

Conclusions

Ingroup bias - being part of a group makes individuals want to boost self-esteem and think of their group more favourably than others.

Weaknesses

Low generalisability - college sample - over 30 years old.

Field study - Not a controlled environment

Barry et al. (1959)

Aim

To investigate the effect of different child training practices on behavior; Correlational Experiment

Procedure

1) Identified types of child training practices around the world (5 years old till adolescence)

2) Measured from 46 societies

3) Used existing data categorize societies as high food accumulating or low food accumulating

Type of Child Training Practices

1) Obedience

2) Responsibility

3) Self-reliance

4) Achievement

5) Independence

Results

Positive correlation

1) high food accumulation cultures and child training practices of obedience and responsibility

2)Low food accumulation cultures and child training practices of self-reliance, achievement and independence

Conclusion

Agricultural societies - focus on obedience because if kids do not follow the established rules and norms they risk jeopardizing food supplies

Hunting-Gathering societies - focus on achievement and innovation as there is no need to think about long term consequences

Limitations

1) Temporal validity (changed due to industrialization and globalization)

Berry (1967)

Aim

to investigate whether there is a difference in the degree of conformity between the Temne people of Sierra Leone and Baffin Island Inuit (Eskimo).

(the Temne people are rice farmers and harvest once a year and are dependent on that harvest during the year to come, while the Inuits fish and hunt)

Participants

two samples were drawn from each society; one consisted of traditional people without western education while one consisted of people in transition to western life

90 people from Temne were traditional and 32 were transitional

91 Inuits were traditional and 31 were transitional

for comparison, two additional samples of Scots were drawn, 62 from a rural area and 60 from an urban area

Procedure

participants were shown a paper with 9 different lines

the line at the top was a standard line and the task was to identify the line out of the other eight that was equal in length to the standard line

on one sheet, the difference between the eight lines was 1 millimeter; on another it was 2 mm and on a third it was 3 mm.

one of the eight lines had an X next to it. participants were informed that most people had identified that line as the one of equal length to the standard line

in fact, none of the lines with an X next to it were the correct answers.

the conformity score for each participant was the number of lines away from the correct one they identified as the one equal to the standard line

Results

the average conformity score was much higher in the Temne sample

*the average conformity score for the Inuit sample was considerably lower than the score for the Scottish sample.

all differences between the three different cultures were statistically significant. the transitional and urban samples were lower as compared to the traditional or rural samples within each culture.

Conclusion

different results for the Temne and Eskimo (Inuit) people are due to the different degree of conformity required by the contrasting social and environmental conditions of their cultures.

these findings support Hofstede's belief that the degree of individualism of a group will affect the group member behavior (conformity)

Bandura

Aim: To investigate the effect of children's exposure to an aggressive model

Methodology

- 36 boys and 36 girls; aged 3-6 years old

- Matched on pre-existing aggressiveness that was rated a on 5-point scale

- 8 experimental groups

- 24 controls

Procedure

- Half the groups saw aggressive models, then split again into same/opposite sex models

1.  Modelling - either shown an aggressive model attacking bobo doll or role model playing nicely with toys

2.  Aggression arousal - all children subjected to mild aggression arousal; told they weren't allowed to play with toys

3. Delayed imitation - child's behaviour observed at 5 second intervals; recorded aggressiveness towards toys/bobo doll

Results

- Children who observed the aggressive model gave more aggressive responses than children who observed non-aggressive models

- Girls showed physical aggression if they observed male model, but verbal when observing female

- Boys were more physically aggressive than girls

Conclusion

Supports SCT which suggests children learn social behaviour such as aggression through observation

Lyons-Padilla

Aim

effect of acculturation gap on first and second muslim immigrants

Methods

- 260 first and second generation muslim immigrants in the USA, aged 18-35, data gathered on a range of measures including acculturation strategies and mental health & significance loss (lack of self worth), used questionnaires, correlational study

Results

strong negative correlation between integration and significance loss (the more integrated the less likely to feel significance loss), strong possitive correlation between marginalization and significance loss (marginalized peeps were more likely to experience significance loss)

Conclusions

increase in immigration due to globalization affects mental health due to different acculturation strategies adopted by the immigrants

Strengths

-high ecological validity

Limitations

-bidirectional ambiguity,

-ethical considerations regarding researching discrimination and marginalization and not reacting to diminish these feelings