Sociocultural Approach Studies Flashcards
Describe Drury’s Study
A: Investigate the role of SIT on helping using VR
M:
PPTS: 40 students from Uni of Sussex 20-25, 7 male, rest = female
Independent samples design where ppts either felt part of group or as an individual
Ppts used VR to experience an emergency in London metro, needed to escape fire, to do so could push people out of way or help them
Before: thought about emergency situation & read news report about fire in Kings Cross metro where 31 died, asked to close eyes & imagine sights, noises and smells in scenario
Group-identification ppts told that are on their way home from football match with group of other fans of the same team, fans all wore same colour as ppt
Individual-identification ppts told on way home from day of shopping
R: Ppts in group with high in-group identification gave more help & pushed others less than those without
C: Supports SIT, especially in-group favouritism as ppts gave assistance to others with shared identity, this identity causes people to act as a group
Describe Bandura’s Study
A: Investigate if children will imitate aggressive behaviour they’ve witnessed by an adult if have opportunity
M:
PPTS: 36 boys, 36 girls 37-69 months, mean age = 52 months
One male & one female adult role models
3 conditions: control group, group exposed to aggressive model, group exposed to passive model
Children exposed to adult models subdivided by gender & model gender into 8 experimental conditions with 6 children in & control group with 24 ppts (12 boys, 12 girls)
Matched pairs design, researchers asked nursery staff which children most aggressive & observed children in playground to determine aggression levels, done so same level of aggression in each group
Children tested individually
Stage 1: taken to experimental room with one corner as child’s play area with objects with high interest for children e.g. stickers, adult on other side with blocks, mallet & Bobo doll
Non-aggressive: model played with blocks quietly, ignoring Bobo
Aggressive: model started playing with bricks, after 1 min started being physically & verbally aggressive with Bobo in scripted way e.g. “raised the Bobo doll, picked up the mallet and struck the doll on the head” and saying “Pow!”
Stage 2: mild aggression arousal of child, taken into room with attractive toys & told that couldn’t play with them as experimenter’s best toys reserved for other children
Stage 3: in room with variety of toys non-aggressive, e.g. crayons, and aggressive, e.g. mallet and Bobo
Child kept in room for 20 mins & behaviour observed by judges through one-way mirror at 5s intervals
3 measures of imitation recorded: physical aggression, verbal aggression, non-aggressive verbal responses, as well as non-imitative behaviour
R:
Children who saw aggressive model made more aggressive acts than non-aggressive model viewers
Boys more aggressive acts than girls
Boys made more imitative physical aggression when watching male model than female (25.8 vs 12.4 mean aggression score), girls also made more imitative physical aggression when watching male model
Highest figure = non-imitative aggression in boys = 36.7
Control imitative physical aggression girls = 0.7, boys = 2.0
C: Behaviour can be learned by imitation even if isn’t reinforced, children able to learn social behaviour e.g, aggression through observational learning
Describe Hilliard & Liben’s Study
A: Determine how social category salience may play a role in stereotype development and inter-group behaviour in elementary school children
M:
PPTS: 57 US children 3-5 years old from 2 different preschools with gender neutral policies to avoid gendered language
Each child completed gender attitude test - shown pics of activities/occupations and asked whether girls/boys/both should ‘perform’ it
22 culturally masc (e.g. firefighter), 20 culturally fem (e.g. play with dolls) & 24 neutral (e.g. fly a kite) items - lower number of ‘both’ responses indicated gender stereotypes
Schools then randomly allocated to ½ conditions
High salience condition - children made aware of gender through gender-specific language, separate girls and boys bulletin boards etc - forms in&out-groups
Low salience condition - teachers did not change behaviour (control group)
Gender attitude test completed again after 2 weeks
R:
Pre-test - similar number of ‘both’ responses in both groups
Post-test - children in high salience condition had significant increase in their gender stereotypes than control group - i.e. decrease in ‘boths’ therefore more stereotypes
C: Children who are divided into in-groups and out-groups through high gender salience create stereotypes of out-groups and confine themselves into in-group
Describe Steele & Aronson’s Study
A: Investigate how stereotype threat may affect an individual’s test performance in African Americans
M:
PPTS: 76 black&white undergraduates from Stanford University
2 IVS - race of ppt & test descriptions
Ppts given same standardised test of verbal ability
2 conditions:
1 told that test was to diagnose intellectual ability
1 told that test was on problem-solving
R:
Black subjects did poorly when when told test was test of intellectual ability (stereotype threat condition), but did just as well as white subjects when they believed was a test of problem-solving skills (non-threat condition)
C: Stereotype threat leads to black participants fulfilling their negative group stereotype about their ability as a result of stereotype threat causing spotlight anxiety which disrupts test performance
Describe Odden & Rochat’s Study
A: Investigate role of social cognitive learning theory, or observational learning, on development of cultural norms in Samoa, specifically behaviour of line fishing and conceptual understanding of rank and hierarchy
M:
PPTS: 28 children in one Samoan village
Longitudinal study of 25 months
Samoa - hierarchical culture where parents don’t spend much time with children & believe can learn important skills & values on own
Interviews & observations conducted & a multiple choice test of basic knowledge about village’s chief system given to 46 12 year olds
R:
Young males spend much time watching adult males fish but no direct instruction, around 10 children borrow fishing equipment & independently experiment & by 12 can fish solo
Most children had broad understanding of concepts & rituals of society as overhear parent conversations as not directly taught about chief system in school
C: Cultural norms not directly taught, instead learned via active observation of adults by children in community (SCT)
Describe Lueck & Wilson’s Study
A: Investigate variables that may predict acculturative stress in a nationally representative sample of Asian immigrants & Asian Americans
M:
PPTS: 2095 Asian Americans, 1271 = first-generation immigrants who were 18+ when came to US, rest were born in US to first-generation immigrant parents
Semi-structured interviews conducted
Randomly selected sample of ppts contacted to validate data taken from their interviews
Interviews measured participants’ level of acculturative stress & impact of language proficiency, language preference, discrimination, social networks, family cohesion & socioeconomic status on acculturative stress
R:
70% of sample found to have acculturative stress according to their acculturative stress score
Bilingual language preference contributed to lower acculturative stress, stress may arise when native language not known well enough to discuss sensitive issues with family members with English ability or when can’t use both equally to make friends in & outside their community
Negative treatment i.e. discrimination lead to higher acculturative stress
Sharing similar views with family lead to lower acculturative stress
Lower among those satisfied with economic opportunities in US
C: Acculturative stress is common with many variables which affect it
Describe Berry’s Study
Investigate level of conformity in individualistic & collectivist societies by applying a version of Asch Paradigm
PPTS: 3 distinctly different cultures
Each group made up of people who had never had western education & maintained traditional way of living & people who were in transition, either having western education/western employment
Tenme of Sierra Leone (collectivist) - society based on rice farming, 90 traditional & 32 transitional
Inuit people of Baffin Island, Canada (individualist) - survive by hunting & fishing, 91 traditional & 31 transitional
Control group of 62 rural & 60 urban Scots
Approx 120 ppts in each group
Brought into room by him/herself
Given set of 9 lines
Asked to match line below that most closely matched line on top
2 x practice tests to ensure understood
In control condition ppts given image of line & asked to match it
In experimental condition on trial 3-6 told e.g. ‘Other Temne seem to think that it is line C, what do you think?’
In control condition no significant errors made
On trial 3 correct answer given, 4-6 wrong answer given
In experimental condition Temne much more likely to conform to incorrect answer than Inuits who had lower rate of conformity han Scots
No significant difference between traditional & transitional groups
Collectivist culture had higher conformity rate than individualistic culture, many be due to desire for social harmony & importance of interdependence in collectivist culture
Describe Kulkofsky et al’s Study
Investigate role of culture on flashbulb memory, see if difference in rate of flashbulb memories in collectivist & individualistic cultures
PPTS: 274 adults from 5 countries: China, Germany, Turkey, UK & USA, all identified as middle class
Given 5 mins to recall as many memories as could of public events occurring in lifetime which had to have occurred at least 1 year ago
List of events used to create memory questionnaire which included questions about: where were you/what time of day/what were you doing/whom were you with when heard about event & how you heard about in (mirrors original questionnaire used by B&K
Then asked questions about personal importance of event to them
Questionnaire & instructions constructed in english & back-translated into other languages
In collectivist culture e.g. China, personal importance & intensity of emotion played less of role in predicting FBM compared with more individualistic cultures that place greater emphasis on an individual’s personal involvement & emotional experiences
As less focus on individual experiences in Chinese culture, less rehearsal of triggering event so less chance of developing FBM
National importance equally linked to FBM formation across cultures
Culture you belong to affects way you perceive & respond to emotional event which may influence how you think & talk about event, affecting memory formation - as less overt/covert rehearsal
