Sociocultural Approach Flashcards
Social Identity Theory (minimal groups paradigm)
Tajfel et al. (1971)
Aim: To investigate the minimal groups paradigm and its relevance to the social identity theory.
Procedure: Adolescent male students in an experiment were falsely told they were grouped based on their art preferences. They were then asked to allocate virtual money to anonymous members of their supposed in-group or an out-group. Their allocation choices (maximum joint profit, maximum in-group profit, or maximum difference) were recorded.
Results: Participanst tended to favour their ingroup members by often selecting options that maximised the profit difference between the groups, even at the expense of potential maximum joint profit.
Conclusion: In-group favoritism and out-group discrimination can arise from trivial group distinction. In-group favoritism can be manipulated via minimal groups paradigm, in which participants use social categorization.
Social Identity Theory (self-esteem and group)
Cialdini (1976)
Aim: To investigate the role of social identity in self-esteem.
Procedure: A field study was carried out on campuses of 7 American universities with popular football teams. Researchers observed students’ clothing choices after a football game and recorded the frequency of students wearing collage-branded clothing after a win or loss. Researchers also asked students about their team’s performance.
Results: Students were more likely to wear collage-branded clothing after a victory. When asked about their teams’ performance students were more likely to use first person pronouns ‘we’ after a victory as opposed to third person ‘they’ after a loss.
Conclusion:To maintain a strong sense of self-esteem, people tend to closely associate themselves with a group when it’s successful and establish distance from it when it fails.
Social Cognitive Theory (observational learning)
Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961)
Aim: To investigate observational learning in children when confronted with an aggressive adult role model.
Procedure: Preschool age children were rated on their level of aggression and put into a matched pairs design. They were then observed with either an aggressive adult, a non-aggressive adult, or no adult interacting with a Bobo doll for around 10 minutes. Children then were exposed to a frustrating situation, by being denied access to attractive toys. Finally, they were put in a room where they had access to toys, including a Bobo doll and were observed through a one-way mirror. Same-sex and opposite-sex models were used equally across conditions.
Results: Children exposed to an aggressive model exhibited significantly more aggressive behaviours than other groups.
Same-sex models led to higher imitation rates.
Boys were more likely to imitate physical aggression, while girls verbal aggression.
Conclusion: Exposure to an aggressive role model can lead to imitative aggressive behaviour in children. Highlighting the role of observational learning.
Social Cognitive Theory (self-efficacy)
Perry, Perry and Rasmussen (1986)
Aim: To explore the relationship between percieved self-efficacy and reinforcement in aggressive behaviour in children/
Procedure: Elementary school children were categorized as either ‘aggressive’ or ‘non-aggressive’. They were then given two questionares, one measuring perceptions of self-efficacy in avoiding aggressive action and one measuring their outcome expectations (whether they expected a reward or punishment).
Results: ‘Aggressive’ children found it easier to engage in aggressive behaviour and more difficult to control those impulses. They were also more confident that aggressive behaviour would result in a reward rather than punishment.
Conclusion: Self-efficacy and percieved reinforcement are important cognitive determinants of social learning in relation to anti-social behaviour and aggression.
Stereotypes (Self-fulfilling prophecy)
Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968)
Aim: To investigate the role of self-fulfilling prophecy in regards to teachers’ expectations and students’ intelectual performance.
Procedure: Teachers were told that certain students were likely to be ‘intelectual bloomers’ based on a test. That test was not acctually conducted and ‘bloomers’ were chosen at radom. The researchers observed the classroom dynamics and at the end of the year students were given an IQ test.
Results: ‘Bloomers’ scored higher on the IQ test than their peers.
Conclusion: Teachers’ expectations altered the way students were being treated which affected their abilities, creating a self-fulfilling propehcy.
Stereotypes (Stereotype threat)
Steele and Aronson (1995)
Aim: To investigate the role of stereotype threat on intelectual test performance in African-American students.
Procedure: Stanford undergraduate students were given a verabal test. There were three conditions, in one researchers emphasized the tests diagnostic nature (stereotype threat condition), in the second one emphasis was put on problem-solving and for the third test participants were told it was unrelated with their intelectual ability.
Results: African-American students perforemed worse than their white peers in the stereotype threat condition but matched in others.
Conclusion: Being aware of a negative stereotype or expectation can lead to anxiety that decreases performance.
