Sociocultural Flashcards
Outline the principles that define the sociocultural level of analysis?
- Humans are social creatures with a need to belong
We value group membership and will often change our behaviour to “fit in” with the group e.g. young girls feeling they have to drink alcohol/smoke because the rest of their friendship group are doing so. - Culture influences behaviour
Cultural factors such as the values and beliefs of a society can influence the way a member of that society behaves. e.g. the “personal space” of individuals varies between cultures and we can unwittingly make others feel very uncomfortable by “invading” their space even though we - because of our own norms feel perfectly comfortable. In In Britain it is polite to finish your plate of food to show that you enjoyed it, however it is rude in Japan because it shows they did not feed you enough. - Our views of the world are resistant to change.
We hold prejudicial views about people in the form of stereotypes, that we look to confirm e.g. when we see a female driver we are watching her reverse to see her make a mistake. - Humans have a social self
People have more than one individual identity, people have a collective or social identity, when Princess Diana died many people across the UK mourned as if she was their family. Many behaviours determined by members of the group that they’re in such as family, community, club or nationality. You make social comparisons within these groups
Explain how principles that define the sociocultural level of analysis may be demonstrated in research?
Human beings are social creatures with a need to belong:
ASCH (1951)
Discuss how and one research method is used at the sociocultural level of analysis?
Experiments
ASCH (1951)
Discuss one ethical consideration related to research at the sociocultural level of analysis?
Deception
ROSS (1977) - do not use deception
ASCH (1951) - did use deception
Or could do psychological harm and do Bandura
Describe the role of situational and dispositional factors in explaining behaviour?
We have a need to attribute behaviours to things and understand why things happen. When people try to understand behaviour, they are acting like naive psychologists. From observing other people’s actions, people make inferences about intention and responsibility.
Dispositional factors - the cause of behaviour are factors occurring inside the individual (e.g. personality, childhood, experience, cognitive schemas, biological factors)
Situational factors - the cause of behaviour are factors occurring outside the individual (e.g. situation and context)
Actor observer effect
People tend to make an attribution about behaviour depending on whether they are performing it themselves or observing someone else doing it. When people discuss their own behaviour they tend to attribute it to situational factors - that is something to do with external factors; when people observe someone else’s behaviour, they are more likely to attribute it to dispositional factors - that is something to do with personal internal factors. This is in order to retain self esteem and hope. For example, if you blame your own intelligence rather than the teacher for example, this does not leave room for personal growth and decreases your self esteem.
People suffering from depression often attribute positive behaviours to situational factors instead and therefore they do not boost their self esteem or see their self worth as others do.
ASCH
1951
Aim: To investigate whether people would still conform to social pressure even when there were clear right and wrong answers.
SHOWING NORMATIVE CONFORMITY
Procedure: A group of 7 to 9 male students were told they would be taking part in a “psychological experiment in visual judgement”. They were told they would be estimating the length of lines. The participants were shown two large white cards. On one card there was a single vertical black line - the ‘standard line’. On the other card there were three vertical lines of various lengths. The participants were asked to choose the line on the second card which matched the ‘standard line’. One was very clearly correct. The real participant among the load of actors was sat last but one. The actors were told to guess wrong on 12/18 of the trials. He carried out research on 123 participants. After the experiment he interviewed the participants.
Findings: In the 6 non-critical trials 95% of the participants made no mistakes. However, on the ‘critical trials’ 37% of the responses were in line with the wrong majority and 76% of participants conformed on at least one of the critical trials.
Afterwards most participants said they had conformed in order to avoid criticism and social disapproval.
Explain one error in attribution?
Fundamental attribution error
Attribution error argues that people are more likely to explain another person’s actions by pointing to dispositional factors rather than to the situation. This is possibly because the world is very complex and therefore if we assume all strangers are ‘lazy’ instead of considering all the possibilities this is simpler, it also boosts our self esteem too. It makes life simpler when we do not have all the information. We also tend to underestimate the situational factors. This is called fundamental attribution error. For example, if we see an actor playing lots of roles as a loving and kind male, people may see the actor like this therefore placing it with his disposition.
This error is very common because people like to think of themselves as adaptable, flexible and ever changing human beings, and do not like to ‘type’ themselves, but when they look at others they do not have enough information about them to make a balanced decision so they assume it is disposition when they consider their own behaviour they tend to think they would have acted differently under different circumstances.
Placing the blame on the individual is common practise in western cultures.
ROSS (1977)
IF IT ASKS FOR 2 DO SELF SERVING BIAS.
Another error in attribution is the self-serving bias (SSB).
SSB is the tendency to attribute success to stable, dispositional factors and failures to temporary, situational factors.
Explain one study related to social identity theory?
Social identity theory is the theory of how we see ourselves within a social context. Henri Taifel’s social identity theory assumes that individuals strive to improve their self image by trying to enhance their self esteem, based on either personal identity or various social identities. It allows people to not only boost their self esteem by their own personal achievement but through affiliation with successful groups. This helps to explain the importance of self belonging. It is based on the principle of social categorisation.
Our social identity is derived from the social groups that we belong to (in group) and that we do not belong to. We find our identity through social categorisation where we categorise our social environment into in groups and out groups based on shared characteristics. You then socially identify with your group and make a social comparison and compare whole in groups with out groups to make themselves look and feel better and boost self esteem.
It has been used to explain ethnocentrism, stereotyping and conformity.
CIALDINI ET AL (1976)
Explain the formation of stereotypes?
A stereotype is a cognitive representation of a social group that helps simplify the social world and allow assumptions to be made about a person based on limited information. Stereotypes are a type of schema which you apply to all members of a group. Stereotyping is a system of categorisation which helps us to predict the behaviour of others. Because of the nature of stereotyping about people they are false predictions.
They are:
- Often acquired indirectly from other people and social norms and not from personal experience.
- Tend to be very general in nature and individuals acknowledge that they cannot be applied to all members of the group. The stereotype serves as a heuristic - the person is like this until proven otherwise.
- Prone to confirmation bias - that is, we tend to see examples - whether on the street, in print, or even on television that confirm our stereotypes and we tend to ignore evidence that contradicts them.
They are formed by ILLUSIONARY CORRELATION
Sometimes a perception can be formed that there is a relationship between events, actions and behaviours when in fact, no relationship exists. For example, a woman lives next to a university and some students are loud and disrespectful. When she chooses a new home, she refuses to live near college students generalising that the behaviour of her previous neighbours is indicative of all university students even though these would be completely different ones.
EFFECT OF THEM - LUIS (1990) (use if the question says effect AT ALL)
But if the question just references the formation of stereotypes you need to do
HAMILTON AND GIFFORD (1976)
Explain the use of compliance techniques?
Compliance is the modification of behaviour in response to a direct request, even though the person making the request has no power to enforce compliance. There are 6 reasons why we comply: - Reciprocity - Commitment - Scarcity - Consensus - Authority - Liking
Regan (1971) more people bought raffle tickets from people who has previously bought them a soft drink.
DOOR IN THE FACE
This is a compliance technique in which a large request is made first, on the assumption that it will be rejected and then followed by a smaller one. The person asked feels guilty about rejecting the higher offer and fear rejection, the second option gives them an opportunity to redeem themselves for less. It is a contrast and the lower request seems much better in comparison. E.g. Someone asking for £50 and then you feel guilty and are glad to redeem yourself when they ask for £10.
CIALDINI ET AL (1975)
Just in case they ask for two
FOOT IN THE DOOR - getting people to make a commitment and increase compliance by first asking for a small request and then following it up with a large one. E.g. asking for a small donation then asking people to sign up to £10 a month. People perceive themselves as helpful for complying with the small request and wish to continue being helpful. People want to be consistent.
Explain the role of a cultural dimension on behaviour?
Cultural dimensions are the perspectives of a culture based on values and cultural norms.
Hosted (1973) came up with 5 cultural dimensions:
- Individualism vs collectivism
- Power distance
- Uncertainty avoidance
- Masculinity / femininity
- Long term vs short term orientation
Individual vs Collectivism
These are two different types of cultures. Individualism is when your identity is defined by personal characteristics, the focus is on you, and your individual choices and achievements. They put emphasis on self reliance and speaking your own mind.
Collectivism is when your identity is defined by the characteristics of collective groups to which you belong. They put emphasis on relationships and social harmony. Agreeing with someone is more likely to be seen as a sign of sensitivity than as a submission to someone else’s will. They have shared responsibility.
BERRY (1967)
BOND AND SMITH (1996)
Explain social learning theory?
Social learning theory attributed to Bandura, assumes that humans learn behaviours, attitudes and norms through observational learning. This is when you observe behaviour and imitate it. For example, we watch people look before crossing a road, do the same and then avoid the consequences of not doing it without getting hit to teach us this.
A ‘norm’ is a set of rules based on socially or culturally shared beliefs or behaviours. They regulate our behaviour in a group. These are passed on through observational learning to the next generation. If they deviate from these normals that may be punished or stigmatised, or alternatively, create a positive change in society. But they may be excluded and ‘humans are social animals with a need to belong’ so norms usually determine behaviour to avoid this happening.
According to Bandura social learning theory involves the following four conditions:
- Attention - be interested enough to watch it
- Retention - remember it
- Reproduction - physically and cognitively imitate it
- Motivation - a successful outcome
BANDURA (1961)
Evaluate research on conformity to group norms?
This research relates to the principle that “humans are social creatures with a need to belong”. We conform in order to fit into groups if we act abnormally we risk being excluded from the group, and following the principle that we “need to belong” we follow norms and conform in order to avoid this.
Conformity is a “type of social influence in which individuals change their attitudes and behaviour to adhere to existing social norms, in response to the influence of real or imagined pressure from a majority group.
Deutsch and Gerard (1955) distinguished two main reasons for conforming:
- Normative social influence
This type of conformity is driven by a need to feel accepted and as though we belong. We want people to like us, and if we don’t conform we may stand out, and we criticised or rejected. This type of conformity is also known as compliance or public conformity, because we usually do not change our underlying beliefs. We secretly have our own opinions, we just choose to hide them. - Informational social influence
We need to to feel that our ideas and beliefs are correct, in order to feel in charge of the world. When we are not sure about something then we tend to look to other people for guidance as by using someone else’s opinions we feel more able to find our own. This often happens in unfamiliar or ambiguous situations were the ‘correct’ answer is not always obvious. When we conform because of this type of influence, we usually come to believe the opinion that we adopt, we convert to another person’s view. This is known as private conformity.
ASCH (1951)
Discuss factors influencing conformity?
Why do people conform?
- People want to be right (e.g. if the answer is ambiguous with the information available)
- People want to be liked/accepted as they have a need for social approval.
We are looking at CULTURE influencing conformity.
The cultural dimension of individualism-collectivism is related to levels of conformity in different cultures. Collectivism cultures are more conforming than individualist cultures.
BERRY (1967)
BOND AND SMITH (1996)
Just in case it asks for 2 - Situational factors
SITUATIONAL FACTORS
- Lack of unanimity - if everyone is not in agreement then although you may not have the same answer as anyone else there is no majority.
- Size of the majority - The size of the people all saying one answer that is not yours
- Task difficulty - if task is difficult you may doubt your ability and use others.
- An ally - you are not the only one with your answer
Define the term ‘culture’?
Culture:
- Dynamic system of rules, implicit, or explicit, established by a social group.
- Surface culture (Visible, explicit) - music, clothing, food, art literature, drama dance, housing technology, transport, family life
- Deep culture (invisible, implicit) - emotions, beliefs, expressions, religion.
Lonner (1995) = Culture can be defined as the common rules that regulate interactions and behaviour in a group as well as a number of shared values and attitudes in the group.
Kroeber and Kluckholn (1992) found 161 definitions of culture, it is not easy to define.
Culture gives us shared ideas, beliefs and attitudes and traditions that we share with a large group of people and they give up a sense of identity.
Hofted (1995) sees culture as a ‘mental software’ that is cultural schemas which have been internalised and are shared by members of a sociocultural group in order to guide behaviours. “collective programming of the mind that distinguishes members of one group from another”.
