sociocultural approach: cultural influences on individual attitudes, identity and behaviours

Question 1

enculturation

Answer 1

the process by which people learn the appropriate and necessary skills and norms in the context of their culture

Question 2

3 ways to learn skills and norms (explain them)

Answer 2

direct tuition, refers to your parents telling you what to do

participatory learning

observation, links to Social Cognitive Theory, it is watching the model do something, and participatory learning is where children engage in an activity and then transfer that learning to later situations

Question 3

behavioural effect of enculturation

Answer 3

gender role stereotypes

Question 4

gender role

Answer 4

a social role encompassing a range of behaviours and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate or desirable for people based on their biological or perceived sex

Question 5

fagot 1978, aim

Answer 5

To investigate the roles parents may play on gender role development

Question 6

fagot 1978, method

Answer 6

Toddlers and their parents were observed in their homes using an observation checklist. The researchers wanted to examine the parental reaction when the behaviour of the child was not stereotypically ‘gender appropriate’.

Question 7

fagot 1978, results

Answer 7

Parents reacted more favourably when the child was engaged in gender-appropriate behaviour and was more likely to give negative responses to gender-inappropriate behaviours. After the study, Fagot interviewied the parents and found that the parents perceptions of their interactions with their toddlers did not correlate with the observations.

Question 8

fagot 1978, conclusion

Answer 8

This showed Fagot that the reactions are not a concious behaviour. This study suggests that we learn gender-role stereotypes and gender-appropriate behaviour through our interactions with our parents. Direct tuition can be seen as when the parent reacts negatively to the toddler’s stereotypically gender inappropriate behaviour, the toddler is then deterred from this behaviour and is less likely to repeat that behaviour.

Question 9

fagot 1978, strengths

Answer 9

Naturalistic, high ecological validity, in the parent’s home so observed interactions were likely to be natural and realistic

Question 10

fagot 1978, weaknesses

Answer 10

Demand characteristics as it was an overt observation, parents could have changed their behaviour to be seen more favourably, reducing validity of the findings

Does not show the effect on children

Question 11

smith and Lloyd, aim

Answer 11

to see how gender labelling would affect toy choice for children

Question 12

smith and Lloyd, method

Answer 12

They got new mothers to play with six month old babies, however they were unaware of the babies’ gender.
The babies were cross-dressed, meaning that if the baby was a boy, it was dressed and named as a girl but if the baby was a girl, it was dressed and named as a boy.
The mother and the child were then put into a room with gendered toys, such as footballs for a boy and dolls for a girl.
The interactions between the mother and the child were filmed.

Question 13

smith and Lloyd, results

Answer 13

Smith and Lloyd found that mothers chose toys that matched their perception of the gender of the baby and they were also more active when they thought the baby was a boy

Question 14

smith and Lloyd, conclusion

Answer 14

This study suggests that the way parents interact with a child may play a role in enculturation, teaching the child what is appropriate behaviour in their culture. In this case, the appropriate behaviour is the toys they play with and accepted levels of physical activity.

Question 15

smith and Lloyd, strengths

Answer 15

Lab experiment, highly standardised, same toys presented for each mother

Question 16

smith and Lloyd, weaknesses

Answer 16

Lacks mundane realism as they are not their children however it still does represent stereotypes

Doesn’t show us whether the mothers’ reactions have an effect on behaviour

Question 17

enculturation, critical thinking

Answer 17

SCT suggests that children learn gender role stereotypes by imitating their mothers

SCT can’t explain significant variation in the degree of childrens’ conformity

Too many variables- cannot restrict enculturation to modelling of behaviour

Most research is correlational- can’t establish cause and effect relationship between parents teaching cultural norms & childrens’ behaviour and cognition

Other variables- genetics & biological differences

Low predictive power- doesn’t explain why some don’t conform

Most caregivers are female- makes us question how boys learn cultural norms
→ highlights the importance of peers & socialising factors

It is a complex process which occurs over time

Question 18

acculturation

Answer 18

people may change as a result of contact with other cultures in order to assimilate with a new culture

Question 19

2 types of acculturation + example of each

Answer 19

Voluntary → migrant workers
Involuntary → refugees

Question 20

acculturation strategies used by individuals proposed by Berry (1974)

Answer 20

assimilation
integration
marginalisation
separation

Question 21

assimilation

Answer 21

when an individual abandons their original culture and adopts the cultural behaviour of their new culture

Question 22

integration

Answer 22

when there is an interest in adopting the behaviours and values of the new culture, while still maintaining their original culture

Question 23

separation

Answer 23

when migrants maintain their own culture and minimise contact with the new culture

Question 24

marginalisation

Answer 24

when it is not really possible to maintain one’s original culture, but because of exclusion or discrimination, it is not possible to assimilate into the new culture

Question 25

acculturative stress (culture shock)

Answer 25

↳ psychological and social difficulties that may accompany acculturation, often resulting in anxiety, depression and other forms of mental and physical stress

↳ reduction in the mental health and wellbeing of ethnic minorities that occurs during the process of adaptation to a new culture

Question 26

miranda and matheny (2000), aim

Answer 26

to see which factors in the lives of Latino immigrants to the US would decrease the levels of acculturative stress

Question 27

miranda and matheny (2000), method

Answer 27

random sample of 197 Latino immigrants to the US. questionnaire and series of standardised tests to assess family cohesion, level of acculturation, acculturative stress and coping strategies for stress

Question 28

miranda and matheny (2000), results

Answer 28

Immigrants with effective strategies, good proficiency in English, and a strong family structure were less likely to experience acculturative stress.

Immigrants who had spent a longer time in the US were less likely to demonstrate this stress and show a higher level of acculturation

Question 29

miranda and matheny (2000), conclusion

Answer 29

Acculturation may lead to acculturative stress if the immigrant has not integrated or assimilated into the new culture.

Many protective factors that may influence the extent to which an individual acculturates and the effect this will have on mental health

Question 30

miranda and matheny (2000), strengths

Answer 30

Standardised
Low gender bias
Ethical: informed consent, no deception, confidential, right to withdraw, protected from harm

Question 31

miranda and matheny (2000), weaknesses

Answer 31

Not generalisable- only carried out on Latino cultures

Social desirability bias- false responses

Correlational

Questionnaires and tests are reductionist- conclusions drawn may be influenced by multiple factors e.g. biological

Question 32

lueck and wilson 2010, aim

Answer 32

to investigate the variables that may predict acculturative stress in a nationally representative sample of Asian immigrants and Asian Americans

Question 33

lueck and wilson 2010, sample

Answer 33

2095 Asian immigrants- several different Asian cultures including Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese

Question 34

lueck and wilson 2010, method

Answer 34

Semi-structured interviews, either face-to-face or over the internet (interviewers had cultural and linguistic backgrounds similar to those of the target population), randomly selected sample of PPS was contacted to validate the data taken from their interview
Interviews measured the PPS level of acculturative stress and measured: impact of language proficiency, language preference, discrimination, social networks, family cohesion and socioeconomic status on acculturative stress

Question 35

lueck and wilson 2010, results

Answer 35

Results
70% had acculturative stress

Less likely to have acculturative stress → bilingualism, sharing similar beliefs as family, satisfaction with economic opportunities

More likely to have acculturative stress → speaking only English, negative treatment

Question 36

lueck and wilson 2010, conclusion

Answer 36

Integration is the best acculturation strategy to reduce acculturative stress. Because only speaking English is a predictor for high stress and bilingualism is preferred

Acculturation is likely to lead to acculturative stress if an immigrant assimilates to their culture and loses aspects of their native culture

Question 37

lueck and wilson 2010, strengths

Answer 37

Semi-structured interviews → more personal than questionnaires, allow for follow up questions (if interesting or unclear response), avoids issue of misunderstanding or an ambiguous/ undeveloped answer

Large sample which is representative

Diverse sample

Question 38

lueck and wilson 2010, weaknesses

Answer 38

Semi-structured interviews → time consuming, costly, need to train interviewers, open to interviewer effects (interviewer’s characteristics may lead to the interviewee disclosing more/ less information)

Construct of acculturative stress and level of acculturation are quite subjective
→ a reported level of economic satisfaction differs to that of another person
→ measuring the extent to which one shares values with family assumes that values of Asian culture are the same for all families

Only Asian sample, certain assumptions made by Asians which could result in ‘ecological fallacy’ e.g. assumptions that cultures are collectivist without measuring each individual level of collectivism

Question 39

acculturation, critical thinking

Answer 39

Complex

Holistic approach to understanding human health & wellness → hard to know the extent to which the variables involved play a role

Refugees, maybe trauma, can’t go back home → different to international workers who plan to go back home (no acculturation benefit)

Berry’s model is helpful but simplistic
→ labels people as having a ‘strategy’ but strategies are context-dependant
→ is in one direction → immigrants must fit mainstream culture → hierarchical
→ doesn’t understand that culture changes over time, “Culture is dynamic”- Matsumoto