ib psych paper 1 - sociocultural Flashcards
Explain how belonging to social groups can influence one’s behavior (e.g., conformity).
Conformity: changing one’s beliefs, attitudes, actions or perceptions to closely match those in groups in which they belong/want to belong/whose approval they desire.
Two reasons we conform:
Normative Social Pressure: the desire to be liked
And
Informative social pressure: look to others who we believe to be correct.
Asch (1955)
Aim: to study influences of social pressure on conformity in an unambiguous situation.
Method: lab experiment
Details:
- Sample of 123 male college students.
-Naive participants always sat second to last or last so as to hear everyone else’s answers.
- 6 - 8 participants - all confederates apart from naive participant.
- Naive participant verbally reported their answer -allowing conformity or independence.
- confederates told to answer incorrectly in 12 out of 18 trials - Critical trials.
– Participants / Confederates were shown two large white cards.
- First Card - Single vertical black line labelled ‘Standard Line.’
- Second Card - Three vertical black lines of various lengths labelled ‘1, 2, and 3’ and were called the ‘Comparison Lines’
- One of the Comparison lines was the same length as the Standard Line, whilst the other two were obviously not
- measuring: whether Naive participant would conform.
- measuring: whether the Naive participant would not conform and would report a different answer to the rest of the group
Findings:
- 36.8% of the responses were incorrect.
-74% of the participants gave a wrong answer at least once.
- only 25% of the participants never gave a wrong answer.
- control group: gave the right answer 99% of the time.
- conclusion: social pressure by the confederates caused the participants to conform due to the desire to be accepted (Normative social pressure).
Evaluation:
- Deception was used but it was necessary. Also, a debrief was preformed.
- can’t be generalized to other cultures.
- study is correlational but has high internal validity.
Discuss the use of compliance techniques.
Foot in the door: a technique that involves getting a person to agree to a modest request so that they will eventually agree to a large request.
Freedman and Fraser (1966) (FITD)
Details: This technique has people agree to a modest request to open and then ask for a larger request. The researchers, disguised as volunteers, asked participants to put a large, unattractive sign about safe driving in their front yards. In another group, participants were first asked to put a smaller and more attractive safe driving sign in their vehicles. Out of the first group, 17% complied, while in the second group (foot-in-the-door) 76% complied. For another trial, researchers first asked participants if they would sign a petition concerning maintaining California’s beauty. Those who agreed were asked, two weeks later, if they would be willing to put that large unattractive sign in their yard.
Findings: Even though the topics in this trial are unrelated, 48% of participants still complied. Participants were more likely to comply using the foot-in-the-door compliance technique due to cognitive dissonance. They did not want to be viewed as inconsistent, also this being a good cause, it would positively improve self-image (or stay in congruence to previous self-image). Humans want to be seen as consistent and predictable in their behavior and perceive themselves in that light (cognitive consonance).
Discuss social identity theory, making reference to relevant studies.
Social Identity Theory (SIT) (1979): we have both an individual and many social identities to enhance or maintain self-image/esteem. This assumes we automatically put people into specific categories, and we do the same with ourselves.
3 Steps:
1. Social Categorization: the automatic process of separating people into categories. An individual will label these groups as either “in-groups” or “out-groups.”
2. Social Identity: self-concept based on our membership in groups. This is the stage in which an individual may develop a sense of loyalty to this in-group.
3. Social Comparison: self-esteem is maintained by group comparison. Positive distinctiveness motivates comparison for self-esteem enhancement (sometimes, not always).
Tajfel and Turner (1971) (theory was developed in 1979):
Aim: Investigate automatic assertions using the minimal group paradigm. This study eventually led to the creation of Social Identity Theory.
Method: Lab Experiment
Details: 48 British schoolboys (all 14-15 years old) were placed into 2 groups based on preference for paintings by Klee or Kandinsky. Individually, the boys then had to assign points to groups. It is also important to mention that none of these boys had ever met before
Findings: The boys demonstrated in-group favoritism by administering more points to people who had the same painting preference. The boys demonstrated positive distinctiveness by maximizing the difference between the points of the two groups. Ex: in-group earns 7 while out-group earns 1 or both groups earn 13, the boys would choose the first option.
Evaluation:
<3 Validity from individuals not knowing each other
? Low-impact decisions are less decisive than big-impact decisions.
? Low ecological validity
<3 High internal validity
Discuss social cognitive theory.
Social Cognitive Theory: this theory asserts that humans learn through observations, imitation, and modeling. This theory emphasizes the need for consequences. This part of the theory is called social learning theory. In addition, SCT does not assert that people only learn through their environment, rather, a reciprocal relationship exists between the environment, the individual, and the behavior. This is known as reciprocal determinism.
The process of Social Learning:
1) Attention - learned must give attention to the model
2) Retention (encoding and memory) - the learner must encode and store memory for immediate and deferred imitation.
3) Motivation (internalized outcome expectancies) - The learner analyses the environment and outcomes and makes a decision about reproduction.
4) Reproduction - This does not always occur! This is when the learners copy behavior. The learner specifically decides to copy.
Bandura (1965) aka The Bobo Doll Experiment
Aim: Find out if children are more likely to imitate a role model when the model is rewarded and less likely to imitate a role model when the model is punished.
Method: lab experiment
Details: There were three primary conditions: the model, called “Rocky,” was either rewarded (vicarious reinforcement), punished, or received no consequence for violent action towards a Bobo doll. The observers recorded the number of verbal, physical, mallet, and gunplay aggressive actions the children carried out. They also counted acts of non-imitative aggression. The sample was of 66 children (33 boys, 33 girls) aged 3-5 who were recruited from the Stanford University Nursing School. Children were shown a 5-minute movie of “Rocky” beating up a Bobo doll, and Rocky either received no consequence, was punished, or was rewarded. Then, the children were placed in the observation room for 10 minutes with a Bobo doll and secretly observed. After playing, they were brought into a separate room and given fruit juice and a sticker, and asked to reproduce the behavior of Rocky. The children were told they would be given more juice and stickers for every action they could repeat. These children were observed for another 10 minutes.
Findings: The model reward condition (girls scored 2.8 and boys scored 3.5) showed results about the same as the no consequence condition. The punished condition produced much less imitation, especially in girls (.5). Bandura concluded children will be less likely to imitate role models who are punished. However, the no-consequence condition showed behavior doesn’t have to be rewarded to be imitated. When offered incentives, it was shown that even the children who didn’t repeat the original actions still learned the behaviors. Males were also concluded to display more physical aggression than girls (who displayed more verbal aggression).
Conclusion: Aggression appears to be a learned trait rather than an innate one. This supports SCT in that observing a model leads to imitation. Moreover, it makes sense that not all children imitate violence/nonviolence since they all have different life experiences (reciprocal determinism).
Evaluation:
<3 Several judges made similar conclusions regarding behaviors = high inter-rater = high reliability.
? Can not be replicated because it is so highly unethical. Lowers reliability
? Not generalizable to those outside the US
? Low ecological validity
? Highly unethical! Consider the long-term harm of teaching children aggressive behaviors.
Explain the theory of reciprocal determinism.
- slt cant explain findings without reciprocal determinism (slt + rd = sct)
Reciprocal Determinism: the theory, set forward by Bandura, that one’s behavior influences and is influenced by personal factors and one’s environment. This is why the last “R” in “ARMR” does not always occur.
(Remember “ARMR” = Attention, retention, motivation, and reproduction).
Bandura (1965) aka The Bobo Doll Experiment
Aim: Find out if children are more likely to imitate a role model when the model is rewarded and less likely to imitate a role model when the model is punished.
Method: lab experiment
Details: There were three primary conditions: the model, called “Rocky,” was either rewarded (vicarious reinforcement), punished, or received no consequence for violent actions towards a Bobo doll. The observers recorded the number of verbal, physical, mallet, and gunplay aggressive actions the children carried out. They also counted acts of non-imitative aggression. The sample was of 66 children (33 boys, 33 girls) aged 3-5 who were recruited from the Stanford University Nursing School. Children were shown a 5-minute movie of “Rocky” beating up a Bobo doll, and Rocky either received no consequence, was punished, or was rewarded. Then, the children were placed in the observation room for 10 minutes with a Bobo doll and secretly observed. After playing, they were brought into a separate room and given fruit juice and a sticker, and asked to reproduce the behavior of Rocky. The children were told they would be given more juice and stickers for every action they could repeat. These children were observed for another 10 minutes.
Findings: The model reward condition (girls scored 2.8 and boys scored 3.5) showed results about the same as the no consequence condition. The punished condition produced much less imitation, especially in girls (.5). Bandura concluded children will be less likely to imitate role models who are punished. However, the no-consequence condition showed behavior doesn’t have to be rewarded to be imitated. When offered incentives, it was shown that even the children who didn’t repeat the original actions still learned the behaviors. Males were also concluded to display more physical aggression than girls (who displayed more verbal aggression).
Conclusion: Aggression appears to be a learned trait rather than an innate one. This supports SCT in that observing a model leads to imitation. Moreover, it makes sense that not all children imitate violence/nonviolence since they all have different life experiences (reciprocal determinism).
Evaluation:
<3 Several judges made similar conclusions regarding behaviors = high inter-rater = high reliability.
? Can not be replicated because it is so highly unethical. Lowers reliability
? Not generalizable to those outside the US
? Low ecological validity
? Highly unethical! Consider the long-term harm of teaching children aggressive behaviors.
Discuss the formation of stereotypes, according to one of more theories.
Stereotype: a social perception (a generalization) of an individual in terms of group membership and/or physical attributes. Stereotypes can influence behaviors, thoughts, and emotions.
SCT stereotype formation: We have too much information in our social world to process, and our capacity to process information is limited. Therefore, we must simplify by being miserly with our cognitive efforts and organizing everything into cognitive structures known as schema.
Stereotypes = schemas
-Energy-saving devices
-automatically activated
-stable and resistant to change.
Stereotype threat effect - performance impairment in a situation where there is a threat of being judged or treated stereotypically.
How to explain to Elliot: these children are getting told that they are “less than” the blue-eyed children. This label is then encoded in their schema. Then, because of stereotype threat, they experience academic difficulty. These stereotypes can be reversed because these children are young.
Elliot (1968)
Aim: Teach her students lessons on prejudice and discrimination
Procedure: divided class into groups based on eye color. Brown-eyed or Blue-eyed students are labeled by wearing collars around their necks. On the first day, she favored blue-eyed students and on the next, she favored brown-eyed students. On their respective day, the students with the positive stereotype received preferential treatment.
Results: The brown-eyed kids suffered a blow to their self-esteem on the first day when they were discriminated against. They also experienced decreased performance in class. They turned to each other for support. On the second day when the labels were reversed, the brown-eyed students became more engaged in class and improved their academic performance on classroom activities.
Conclusion: This experiment demonstrated the effect of stereotypes on children and the blow to their self-esteem due to the negative stereotypes. It caused an in-group and out-group phenomenon, where members of the same group (either discriminated against or favored) group up together for support.
Evaluation:
(+) demonstrates the theory of stereotype threat and shows its negative effect on the performance of the children, supports social identity theory, and has high ecological validity (quasi field).
(-) low replicability due to ethical concerns, the upbringing of children, and the environments they are exposed to outside the classroom may have had an effect on their reaction to the stereotypes against them, which is not taken into consideration.
Discuss one or more effects of stereotypes on behavior.
SCT stereotype formation: We have too much information in our social world to process, and our capacity to process information is limited. Therefore, we must simplify by being miserly with our cognitive efforts and organizing everything into cognitive structures known as schema.
Stereotypes = schemas
-Energy-saving devices
-automatically activated
-stable and resistant to change.
Stereotype threat effect - performance impairment in a situation where there is a threat of being judged or treated stereotypically.
Elliot (1968)
Aim: Teach her students lessons on prejudice and discrimination
Procedure: divided class into groups based on eye color. Brown-eyed or Blue-eyed students are labeled by wearing collars around their necks. On the first day, she favored blue-eyed students and on the next, she favored brown-eyed students. On their respective day, the students with the positive stereotype received preferential treatment.
Results: The brown-eyed kids suffered a blow to their self-esteem on the first day when they were discriminated against. They also experienced decreased performance in class. They turned to each other for support. On the second day when the labels were reversed, the brown-eyed students became more engaged in class and improved their academic performance on classroom activities.
Conclusion: This experiment demonstrated the effect of stereotypes on children and the blow to their self-esteem due to the negative stereotypes. It caused an in-group and out-group phenomenon, where members of the same group (either discriminated against or favored) group up together for support.
Evaluation:
(+) demonstrates the theory of stereotype threat and shows its negative effect on the performance of the children, supports social identity theory, and has high ecological validity (quasi field).
(-) low replicability due to ethical concerns, the upbringing of children, and the environments they are exposed to outside the classroom may have had an effect on their reaction to the stereotypes against them, which is not taken into consideration.
Discuss ethical considerations in the study of the individual and the group.
Bandura (1965)
Bandura (1965) aka The Bobo Doll Experiment
Aim: Find out if children are more likely to imitate a role model when the model is rewarded and less likely to imitate a role model when the model is punished.
Method: lab experiment
Details: There were three primary conditions: the model, called “Rocky,” was either rewarded (vicarious reinforcement), punished, or received no consequence for violent action towards a Bobo doll. The observers recorded the number of verbal, physical, mallet, and gunplay aggressive actions the children carried out. They also counted acts of non-imitative aggression. The sample was of 66 children (33 boys, 33 girls) aged 3-5 who were recruited from the Stanford University Nursing School. Children were shown a 5-minute movie of “Rocky” beating up a Bobo doll, and Rocky either received no consequence, was punished, or was rewarded. Then, the children were placed in the observation room for 10 minutes with a Bobo doll and secretly observed. After playing, they were brought into a separate room and given fruit juice and a sticker, and asked to reproduce the behavior of Rocky. The children were told they would be given more juice and stickers for every action they could repeat. These children were observed for another 10 minutes.
Findings: The model reward condition (girls scored 2.8 and boys scored 3.5) showed results about the same as the no consequence condition. The punished condition produced much less imitation, especially in girls (.5). Bandura concluded children will be less likely to imitate role models who are punished. However, the no-consequence condition showed behavior doesn’t have to be rewarded to be imitated. When offered incentives, it was shown that even the children who didn’t repeat the original actions still learned the behaviors. Males were also concluded to display more physical aggression than girls (who displayed more verbal aggression).
Conclusion: Aggression appears to be a learned trait rather than an innate one. This supports SCT in that observing a model leads to imitation. Moreover, it makes sense that not all children imitate violence/nonviolence since they all have different life experiences (reciprocal determinism).
Evaluation:
<3 Several judges made similar conclusions regarding behaviors = high inter-rater = high reliability.
? Can not be replicated because it is so highly unethical. Lowers reliability
? Not generalizable to those outside the US
? Low ecological validity
? Highly unethical! Consider the long-term harm of teaching children aggressive behaviors. Moreover, there was no debriefing or informed consent. You could also say that there was some deception going on because of the covert observations.
**
Discuss the use of one or more research methods in the study of the individual and the group.
(Etic)
Research method: Etic studies that look at the wider picture of culture.
Berry (1967)
Aim: to investigate the level of conformity in individualistic and collectivistic societies by applying a version of the Asch Paradigm.
Procedure: there were three distinct cultures with 120 participants in each. The Tenme of Sierra Leone (collectivistic), the Inuit people of Baffin Island (individualistic), and the Scots as the reference group. Participants were given a paper with 9 lines and instructed in their native language to match one of the lines’ lengths below to the one on the top for two first trials. On the third trial the participants were given a ‘hint’ of what most people in their culture thought the correct answer was, the hint was correct in trial 3 and incorrect in trials 4-6.
Results: The results showed that Tenme culture had the highest rate of conformity as they were more likely to follow the suggested advice of the culture even if the answer suggested was incorrect (collectivist culture). While the Inuits had the lowest rate of conformity and were the most likely to disregard the suggestion of the cultural norm (individualistic culture).
Conclusion: Therefore supporting Hofstede’s belief that the degree of individualism of a culture impacts the behavior in this case the conformity of individuals within the culture.
Evaluation:
(+) Use of Scots as a control condition > internal validity, High replicability of procedure > reliability of findings
(-) low ecological validity, no random allocation, temporal validity (1967)
Discuss one or more ways culture may influence behavior and/or cognition.
Individualistic vs Collectivistic cultures
Berry (1967)
Aim: to investigate the level of conformity in individualistic and collectivistic societies by applying a version of the Asch Paradigm.
Procedure: there were three distinct cultures with 120 participants in each. The Tenme of Sierra Leone (collectivistic), the Inuit people of Baffin Island (individualistic), and the Scots as the reference group. Participants were given a paper with 9 lines and instructed in their native language to match one of the lines’ lengths below to the one on the top for two first trials. On the third trial the participants were given a ‘hint’ of what most people in their culture thought the correct answer was, the hint was correct in trial 3 and incorrect in trials 4-6.
Results: The results showed that Tenme culture had the highest rate of conformity as they were more likely to follow the suggested advice of the culture even if the answer suggested was incorrect (collectivist culture). While the Inuits had the lowest rate of conformity and were the most likely to disregard the suggestion of the cultural norm (individualistic culture).
Conclusion: Therefore supporting Hofstede’s belief that the degree of individualism of a culture impacts the behavior in this case the conformity of individuals within the culture.
Evaluation:
(+) Use of Scots as a control condition > internal validity, High replicability of procedure > reliability of findings
(-) low ecological validity, no random allocation, temporal validity (1967)
Discuss the role of cultural dimensions on behavior.
Cultural dimensions: a framework used to understand the differences in culture across countries. Hofsteds initial six key dimensions include power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism vs collectivism, masculinity vs femininity, and short vs long-term orientation.
In this study, we look at how Individualism and Collectivism can change the behaviors of individuals.
Berry (1967)
Aim: to investigate the level of conformity in individualistic and collectivistic societies by applying a version of the Asch Paradigm.
Procedure: there were three distinct cultures with 120 participants in each. The Tenme of Sierra Leone (collectivistic), the Inuit people of Baffin Island (individualistic), and the Scots as the reference group. Participants were given a paper with 9 lines and instructed in their native language to match one of the lines’ lengths below to the one on the top for two first trials. On the third trial the participants were given a ‘hint’ of what most people in their culture thought the correct answer was, the hint was correct in trial 3 and incorrect in trials 4-6.
Results: The results showed that Tenme culture had the highest rate of conformity as they were more likely to follow the suggested advice of the culture even if the answer suggested was incorrect (collectivist culture). While the Inuits had the lowest rate of conformity and were the most likely to disregard the suggestion of the cultural norm (individualistic culture).
Conclusion: Therefore supporting Hofstede’s belief that the degree of individualism of a culture impacts the behavior in this case the conformity of individuals within the culture.
Evaluation:
(+) Use of Scots as a control condition > internal validity, High replicability of procedure > reliability of findings
(-) low ecological validity, no random allocation, temporal validity (1967)
Describe the distinction between surface and deep culture.
Cultural dimensions: a framework used to understand the differences in culture across countries. Hofsteds initial six key dimensions include power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism vs collectivism, masculinity vs femininity, and short vs long-term orientation.
– individualism vs collectivism- deep culture with an impact on conformity
- -surface culture is something superficial about a culture such as the food they eat or the music they listen to.
– deep culture is more nuanced and is the component of culture that can not be easily seen or taught.
Berry (1967)
Aim: to investigate the level of conformity in individualistic and collectivistic societies by applying a version of the Asch Paradigm.
Procedure: there were three distinct cultures with 120 participants in each. The Tenme of Sierra Leone (collectivistic), the Inuit people of Baffin Island (individualistic), and the Scots as the reference group. Participants were given a paper with 9 lines and instructed in their native language to match one of the lines’ lengths below to the one on the top for two first trials. On the third trial the participants were given a ‘hint’ of what most people in their culture thought the correct answer was, the hint was correct in trial 3 and incorrect in trials 4-6.
Results: The results showed that Tenme culture had the highest rate of conformity as they were more likely to follow the suggested advice of the culture even if the answer suggested was incorrect (collectivist culture). While the Inuits had the lowest rate of conformity and were the most likely to disregard the suggestion of the cultural norm (individualistic culture).
Conclusion: Therefore supporting Hofstede’s belief that the degree of individualism of a culture impacts the behavior in this case the conformity of individuals within the culture.
Evaluation:
(+) Use of Scots as a control condition > internal validity, High replicability of procedure > reliability of findings
(-) low ecological validity, no random allocation, temporal validity (1967)
X
Discuss one or more studies of the enculturation of human behavior.
Enculturation: learning the norms and values of your own culture. This goes along with social cognitive theory (ARMR) (remember: reciprocal determinism is why reproduction doesn’t always occur). We are learning through others.
Odden and Rochat (2004)
Aim: Investigate the effects of enculturation in a society.
Method: natural experiment
Details: This study of cultural norms in Samoa was done over 25 months (longitudinal). Looked at the behavior of line fishing and conceptual understanding of rank. 28 young males water older men fishing, no explicit instructions were ever given. Researchers found that children around 10 years old would borrow the adult’s fishing gear (on their own, without supervision). By age 12, most children were able to fish on their own. The researchers then gave a basic knowledge test about the system to 46 12-year-olds
Findings: There is no direct instruction about the system, the people learned from observation. The test found that the majority of the children had a broad understanding of the concepts and rituals of their society. Cultural norms are not taught directly, they are learned through observation. Then, the norms become a part of one’s schema.
Evaluation:
-High ecological validity
-correlational
- could be difficult to replicate
**
Discuss acculturation.
Acculturation: the process of cultural and psychological change that takes place as a result of interaction between 2 or more cultural groups. At the individual level, it involves changes in a person’s behavior and thoughts.
Acculturative stress: Also known as culture shock, acculturative stress is the psychological or social difficulties that may accompany acculturation, often resulting in anxiety, depression, and other forms of mental and psychological stress.
Lueck and Wilson (2010)
Aim: investigate the variables that may predict acculturative stress in a nationally representative sample of Asian Americans and Asian immigrants.
Method: Semi-structured interview
Details: The sample had 2095 Asian Americans. 1271 of the participants were first-generation immigrants who were 18+ when they came to the US, and the rest of the participants were born in the US. Many different Asian cultures were represented in this sample. The researchers carried out semi-structured interviews that matched the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of each of the participants. The interviews measured the participant’s level of acculturative stress. Additionally, they measured the impact of language proficient, language preference, discrimination, social networks, family cohesion, and socioeconomic status on acculturative stress.
Findings: 1433/2095 were found to have acculturative stress. Researchers also found that bilingual language preferences contributed to lower acculturative stress. Asian people who used both languages were able to build up networks more efficiently than those who did not. English preference for speaking predicts high acculturative stress. Negative treatment contributes to higher acculturative stress. Less acculturative stress was seen in those satisfied with their economic opportunities in the US. Sharing similar values and beliefs as a family was also seen to significantly lower acculturative stress.
Evaluation:
- lower ecological validity
-research triangulation increases validity
-hard to replicate –> lowers reliability.
Explain what it means to assimilate and how this may influence human behavior.
Acculturation: the process of cultural and psychological change that takes place as a result of interaction between 2 or more cultural groups. At the individual level, it involves changes in a person’s behavior and thoughts.
Assimilation: one strategy of acculturation. This is when an individual abandons their original culture and adopts the behaviors and values of a new culture. This is harmful and causes more acculturative stress.
Acculturative stress: Also known as culture shock, acculturative stress is the psychological or social difficulties that may accompany acculturation, often resulting in anxiety, depression, and other forms of mental and psychological stress.
Lueck and Wilson (2010)
Aim: investigate the variables that may predict acculturative stress in a nationally representative sample of Asian Americans and Asian immigrants.
Method: Semi-structured interview
Details: The sample had 2095 Asian Americans. 1271 of the participants were first-generation immigrants who were 18+ when they came to the US, and the rest of the participants were born in the US. Many different Asian cultures were represented in this sample. The researchers carried out semi-structured interviews that matched the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of each of the participants. The interviews measured the participant’s level of acculturative stress. Additionally, they measured the impact of language proficient, language preference, discrimination, social networks, family cohesion, and socioeconomic status on acculturative stress.
Findings: 1433/2095 were found to have acculturative stress. Researchers also found that bilingual language preferences contributed to lower acculturative stress. Asian people who used both languages were able to build up networks more efficiently than those who did not. English preference for speaking predicts high acculturative stress. Negative treatment contributes to higher acculturative stress. Less acculturative stress was seen in those satisfied with their economic opportunities in the US. Sharing similar values and beliefs as a family was also seen to significantly lower acculturative stress.
Evaluation:
- lower ecological validity
-research triangulation increases validity
-hard to replicate –> lowers reliability.
