social influence studies

Question 1

Bond Smith 1996

Answer 1

-Used the Asch paradigm

-measured I vs C in 17 different countries and compared results to 133 studies that used the Asch paradigm
Found correlations between cultural values (individualism and collectivism) and conformity

-US, UK and France had low levels of conformity
Hong Kong, Fiji and Zimbabwe had higher levels of conformity

-The value we place on the thoughts of others, could affect our willingness to conform or to remain an individual

Question 2

How might cultural values/dimension influence conformity?

Answer 2

In collectivist cultural groups harmony is valued, people from these cultures might be more likely to conform to the norm because they don’t want to disrupt the harmony of the group.

Another explanation is that because individualistic cultures value independence, they may be more comfortable with sticking with their own ideas and going against the norms of the group.

Question 3

Minimal Group Paradigm

Tajfel et al 1971

Answer 3

Originally studied British schoolboys
Divided into groups based on meaningless criteria
One example = led them to believe they were in groups based on preference for Klee or Kandinsky (painters)
Asked them to assign “rewards”
Used matrices
Found that boys would sacrifice rewards to their own group in order to make the out-group have even less rewards
Shows how in-group bias can occur even when there’s no competition for resources
Originally thought they would have to keep increasing intra group similarities of members to see in-group bias – realized that the biases occur when there are no innate similarities

Question 4

Park and Rothbart (1982)

Answer 4

Three sororities at the University of Oregon
10 dimensions (see this post)
how well they dressed, how much they partied, sexual activity, helping others
Ranked how characteristic they were of the three sororities
Ranked how similar members of their own sorority were and members of the other sororities (out-groups)

Question 5

Results of Park and Rothbart (1982)

Answer 5

The results showed that the Ps rated their own sorority members as being more different compared to the members of the other sororities.

all Ps rated their sorority higher in favorable characteristics(how they dressed, helping others) compared to other sororities.
This can support social identity theory’s explanation of how belonging to a group can lead to in-group bias and favouritism, possibly as a result of wanting to boost one’s self-esteem and positive social identity.

all Ps rated the other sororities higher in unfavorable characteristics(sexual activity, partying) compared to their own sorority.
this is more evidence to explain how the cognitive process of social identity – social categorization and social comparison – can lead to in-group bias.

Question 6

Lamm et al. (2018)

Answer 6

aim: How parenting impacts delayed gratification

German vs Cameroonian children do the marshmallow experiment paradigm.

70% of Cameroonian children wait for the 2nd treat, while only 30% of Germans children did so

Cameroonian mothers place emphasis on “hierarchical relational socialisation”…German mothers place emphasis on “psychological autonomous socialization”

Question 7

Torres et al. (2012)

Answer 7

669 Latinos (Mexican, Chicano, Cuban, etc.)
Around half born outside US, half born in the US
Questionnaires that measured:
Acculturation strategy
“Anglo behavioural orientation” (lang fluency)
Perceived discrimination
Acculturative distress
mental health outcomes (depression, anxiety, stress)
results
positive correlation between discrimination and poor mental health.
participants who had a “higher Anglo behavioural orientation” (i.e. were more integrated) had better mental health outcomes. .

Question 8

Robber’s Experiment - Sherif et al (1961)

Answer 8

11-12 year olds
Three stages
1) bonding
2) competition
3)cooperation
conflict: Raiding cabins, fist fights, burning the flag, verbal abuse.
when asked to characterise other groups: Gave other group negative characterisations, and held own group higher.
–
A summer camp in Oklahoma, called “The Robber’s Cave”

22 boys, divided into two groups

All white, middle-class, protestant, parents still married

Phase two – competition phase

Researchers designed competitions to cause conflict

Example: Played games like baseball and tug-of-war with prizes for the winning team only (e.g. pocket knives, medals, trophies).

Set situations whereby one group gained at expense of the other – e.g. made the Rattlers late to a party and Eagles got to eat all the good food

–
Competition caused hostility – they booed each other during games, raiding cabins and one group burned the other’s flag

The party food incident escalated so food and even punches were thrown. The researchers had to intervene and physically separate the groups.

The experiment demonstrates that conflict, including prejudice and discrimination, can occur when groups compete for resources.

Question 9

Berry (1967)

Answer 9

The Asch paradigm was inspiration
They were shown a large sheet of paper with one line at the top and 8 lines beneath
the researcher would lie and say that most people within the participant’s cultural group selected a line 6 (which was incorrect).
Conformity was the measured by the distance between the participant’s answer and the correct one (further distance = higher conformity)
-
Temne (farming culture) had highest levels of conformity
Different cultures have different rates of conformity to group norms. This can be explained by the values that are encouraged through socialization, enculturation and parenting practices of those cultures

economics→ values→ conformity
(high-food accumulation)

Question 10

(Barry et al. 1959)

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Answer 10

Barry et al. (1959) studied connections between economic systems and “child training practices”
46 cultures, ranging from low to high food accumulation
Child training practices is a general term to describe how values and cultural norms were taught
They measured what types of values and norms were encouraged
E.g. obedience, compliance, independence, initiative
Compared high and low food accumulating cultures
Found that:
high food accumulating cultures used child training practices that encouraged responsibility and obedience
Low food accumulating cultures used child training practices that encouraged initiative and independence.