socio Flashcards
Social Identity Theory
The theory: Social Identity Theory posits that individuals categorise themselves into in-groups to which they feel a sense of belonging, often leading to in-group bias, where members favour their own group over out-groups.
Sherif et al summer camp study
* Aim: To study groups and observe the natural development of group organization and prejudice and group norms.
* Sample: 22 white, protestant, socially well-adjusted boys.
* Procedure: were taken to a fake summer camp.
○ Boys were divided into 2 groups and participated in challenges. Group hierarchies emerged and each group had norms develop. Social control was maintained through ridicule. Each group selected a symbol and name, strengthening ingroup identity.
○ Then researchers introduced and caused conflict through the games. The boys began to demonstrate more hostility and refused contact with the other group. The boys negatively rated boys in other groups. Support increased between each group.
○ Initial attempts to reconcile the group were not successful, so the researchers introduced superordinate goals which eased tensions.
* Conclusion: Through this summer camp, the boys developed their own in and out group, identifying more and more with their own group as the study went on, supporting the Social Identity Theory, and effecting how they saw themselves and others.
Social Cognitive Theory
Observational learning through imitation and identification
Aim: To determine the role of Social Cognitive Learning Theory (observational learning) on the development of cultural norms
Procedure
- Longitudinal study on Samoan families
- Observed that children as young as 10-12 would borrow parents’ fishing equipment and fish on their own, despite the fact that children largely don’t fish due to limited resources
Results/findings/implications
- Suggests that children learn from observing the adults in their society even despite the lack of direct tuition
Evaluation:
- Not causational - simply observing a pattern, but high predictive and eco validity
Formations of Stereotypes & their effects on behavior
Roger and Franz - modern day zimbabwe (South Rhodesia)
* Aim: to investigate if attitudes of European settlers in Africa would be inversely correlated to time spent
* Sample: 500 white European settlers who lived in modern day Zimbabwe for a range of years, highly representative of white population
* Procedure: survey on whether they want to change laws that separated and treated the different groups discriminatorily
* Results: supported hypothesis, where the longer someone lived in South Rhodesia, the more they supported discriminatory laws.
Conclusion: This supports SIT because longer someone was with their ingroup and being compared to their outgroup, the more they identified to their group and therefore wanted to be separated from the outgroup.
Culture and its influence on behavior and cognition
-Cultural groups
Study 1: Individualism and Collectivism FBM
Aim: To determine how people in individualistic vs collectivist cultures experience FBM differently
Procedure:
- Participants were asked to recall as many national events as possible from at least a year ago during their lifetime
- Then, participants were given a questionnaire asking about where the participants were when they heard of the event, what they were doing, etc and then they were asked how personally or nationally/internationally significant the event was and other questions about how much the person talks about the event, etc
Results:
- In collectivistic cultures, like China, personal relevance played less of a role in predicting the formation of a FBM than it did in more individualistic cultures that stress the importance of personally relevant events.
- National relevance was equally predictive across collectivist and individualist cultures
Findings/implications:
In individualist cultures, the rehearsal of personally significant events is more common and frequent, and thus FBM memories are more likely to form for personally significant events in individualistic cultures, demonstrating that culture plays a role in the rehearsal of memory. However, this finding is undermined to some extent by the fact that FBM for nationally significant events were not more or less common in individualist or collectivist cultures.
Cultural dimensions
-Individualism v. collectivism
Study 1: Individualism and Collectivism FBM
Aim: To determine how people in individualistic vs collectivist cultures experience FBM differently
Procedure:
- Participants were asked to recall as many national events as possible from at least a year ago during their lifetime
- Then, participants were given a questionnaire asking about where the participants were when they heard of the event, what they were doing, etc and then they were asked how personally or nationally/internationally significant the event was and other questions about how much the person talks about the event, etc
Results:
- In collectivistic cultures, like China, personal relevance played less of a role in predicting the formation of a FBM than it did in more individualistic cultures that stress the importance of personally relevant events.
- National relevance was equally predictive across collectivist and individualist cultures
Findings/implications:
In individualist cultures, the rehearsal of personally significant events is more common and frequent, and thus FBM memories are more likely to form for personally significant events in individualistic cultures, demonstrating that culture plays a role in the rehearsal of memory. However, this finding is undermined to some extent by the fact that FBM for nationally significant events were not more or less common in individualist or collectivist cultures.
Enculturation
-Norms
Aim: To determine the role of Social Cognitive Learning Theory (observational learning) on the development of cultural norms
Procedure
- Longitudinal study on Samoan families
- Observed that children as young as 10-12 would borrow parents’ fishing equipment and fish on their own, despite the fact that children largely don’t fish due to limited resources
Results/findings/implications
- Suggests that children learn from observing the adults in their society even despite the lack of direct tuition
Evaluation:
Not causational - simply observing a pattern, but high predictive and eco validity
Acculturation
-Assimilate/assimilation
Aim:
- To see what factors would crease the level of acculturative stress in Asian immigrants to the USA
- Sample of 2095 immigrants – 1271 1st generation and the rest were born in the USA
Procedure:
- Semi structured interviews asking about their experience as an immigrant in the united states
Results
- Bilinguals had low acculturative stress
- Preference for only speaking English increases high acculturative stress
- Negative treatment –> acculturative stress
Sharing values with one’s family lowers acculturative stress
