Culture, Behaviour, and Cognition Flashcards
Outline enculturation
Enculturation is the process of how we adopt behaviours that are the norms of our culture, via 5 methods:
- Direct tuition: parents tell you what you’re supposed to do
- Observational learning: social cognitive theory states we can learn through watching others
- Participatory learning: children engage in an activity, and then transfer to other situations
- Vertical transmission: passion down cultural norms from one generation
- Horizontal transmission: learning from same-aged peers
Martin & Halverson: how schemas play a role in how children understand and learn about gender roles
● Studied gender stereotyping influence on memory recall in 5/6 year-olds
● Children were shown 16 pictures, half with gender consistent, or gender inconsistent activities, and asked to recall
Fagot: To see how parents would react to gender-appropriate and inappropriate behaviour, naturalistic observation
Outline acculturation
- Acculturation is the process by which someone comes in contact with another culture and tries to adopt the norms and behaviours of that new place
- 4 different types: integrations assimilation, marginalisation, and separation
- Acculturative stress: the psychological impact of adoption to a new culture —long-term acculturative stress may lead to reduced mental and physical health
- Acculturation gaps and dissonance: there are differences in understanding and values between parents and children as they go through the process of acculturation — when they have different acculturation strategies, and spend free time/language/superstition differently, leading to tension
STUDIES:
Lueck & Wilson: Semi-structured interviews, Random sample of 2095 immigrants. To investigate which linguistic and social constructs predict acculturative stress in a nationally representative sample of Asian immigrants and Asian Americans.
Outline the research method, aim, basic procedure, strengths and limitations, and ethical consideration for ENCULTURATION STUDIES
FAGOT:
- Naturalistic observation to see how parents would react to gender appropriate and inappropriate behaviour
- Toddler and parents were observed in their homes using an observation checklist – examine reaction when behaviour was not “gender appropriate.”
- parents acted more favourably when there were gender appropriate behaviour
- Parent’s perceptions did not correlate with observed -> not a conscious behaviour
STRENGTHS: High ecological validity, mundane realism, method triangulation,high inter-rather reliability
WEAKNESS: sampling bias, difficulty of generalisation (university, white American), demand characteristics
Outline the research method, aim, basic procedure, strengths and limitations, and ethical consideration for ACCULTURATION STUDIES
LUECK & WILSON:
- Semi-structured interview, random sample of 2095 immigrants
- To investigate which linguistic and social constructs predict acculturative stress in a nationally representative sample of Asian immigrants and Asian Americans.
- Interviews face-to-face or over the intent by interviewers with similar cultural/linguistic background
- participants were contacted to validate the data taken from the interviews
- (interviews measured the participants’ level of acculturative stress, the impact of language proficiency, language preference, discrimination, social networks, family cohesion, and socioeconomic status on this stress
- Bilinguals had lower acculturative stress than those who were not. Negative treatment (racism) led to acculturative stress,) whereas sharing values with family and economic satisfaction decreased this stress
STRENGTHS: provides detailed (rich qualitative) information - provides insight for further research - permits investigation of otherwise impractical (or unethical) situations - high ecological validity
WEAKNESS: inability to generalise results to the wider population - researcher bias - difficult to replicate, time-consuming
Outline culture
- Definition: Common rules that regulate interactions and behaviour sin a group, with shared values and attributes – collective mental programming
- Cultural norms: Rules that specific groups use for stating appropriacy of values, beliefs and values – give sense of order, control, safety, and belonging
- Cultural dimensions: The perspective of a culture based on values and norms – dimensions work on a continuum, never 100% individualist or collectivist
- Individualism: When culture defines your identity according to personal identity – Choice, unique, personal autonomy, competitiveness, self-sufficiency
- Collectivism: Identity is more connected to a social group, with characteristics influencing personal identity – responsibilities and relationships all associated with the group, individual characteristic are not valued
STUDIES:
BERRY (1967) - Asch Line paradigm with different cultures
Outline the research method, aim, basic procedure, strengths and limitations, and ethical consideration for CULTURAL DIMENSIONS/CONFORMITY
BERRY - 1967
Collectivist cultures are more likely to conform, individualistic cultures are less likely.
- True experiment, etic study, emic for participants
- Two distinct cultures (and one control) with differing values were asked to do the Asch Line Paradigm, writing answers on paper. A “hint” at the top said that most people from their culture chose the wrong one. Traditionalist culture conformed, individualist culture didn’t.
- Strengths: Control condition, translated questions (eliminate language as a confounding variable)
- Weakness: Low temporal validity, low ecological validity, don’t want to make ecological fallacy (stereotyping, overgeneralisation)
- Ethics: Deception used
Evaluation of correlational study
- Have no manipulated variable, and therefore don’t establish causal relationships
- Common where it’s not ethical orp tactical to manipulate variables as part of an experiment
- Usually cross-sectional, not longitudinal
