Sociocultural (core) Flashcards
Tajfel et al
Aim: Demonstrate that when individuals are placed in a group based on minimal characteristics, it’s possible to create discrimination depite there being no existing prejudice.
Procedure: 64 boys (ages 14-15) asked if they liked Kandinsky or Klee more (paintings)
- Random allocation, however participants thought they were being allocated based on which paintings they liked best.
- Had to rate outgroup and ingroup members based on a set of points.
Results: Tendency to give higher points for their ingroup but lower points for the outgroup.
Conclusion: Minimal group paradigm creates discrimination.
Hamilton and Gifford
Aim: To test if illusory correlations shape how we perceive a group.
Illusory correlations: The tendency to incorrectly identify correlations where there are none.
Procedure: 70 American undergraduate students (35 females, 35 males).
- Booklet given with the description of a person.
- Told that group A had 26 people and group B had 13 people.
- Given the description of the person, they were asked if they were from group A or group B.
- They also had to rank members of each group on a series of characteristics (popular, social, intelligent, etc.) and attribute these behaviors to people in either group A or group B.
Results: Group A ranked higher and attributed more positive traits.
Group B ranked lower and attributed less positive traits.
Conclusion: Illusory correlations (less people in the group means its worse) shape how other individuals view others and create stereotypes.
Bandura, Ross and Ross
Aim: To find out if children learnt aggressive behavior by observing adults active in an aggressive manner towards a toy.
Procedure: 72 children.
- 24 aggressive role models
—– female model (6 girls and 6 boys)
——male model (6 girls and 6 boys)
- 24 non aggressive role models
—— male model (6 girls and 6 boys).
——-Female model (6 girls and 6 boys)
- Control group = no model
Placed in the room with Bobo after watching the interaction.
Results: Children in the first group: More aggressive. Boys followed male model more than girls and girls followed more female model.
girls also displayed more verbal aggression and boys physical aggression.
Conclusion: Vicarious learning influences child behavior.
Joy, Kimbal and Zabrack
Aim: Study the impact of television in children’s aggressive behavior.
Procedure: 3 small towns (2 experimental and 1 controlled town no tv) in british columbia.
- 1973: No TV
- 1975: TV introduced.
- 120 children.
- Observed physical and verbal aggression in the playground.
- TV viewing habits obtained for each kid.
Results: Aggressive behavior increased significantly once tv was introduced. No changes in controlled town. Males were more aggressive than females
Steele and Aronson
Aim: To see the effects of stereotype threat in the performance of African Americans
Procedure: 114 standford undergrad students. Some where white, asian, black, etc.
- Group 1: Given test and told it was an intelligence based test.
- Group 2: Given test and told it was a problem solving test.
They were the same test.
Results: African Americans performed better when told it was a problem solving test.
Conclusion: Stereotype threat prevented them from performing better when told their intelligence was being tested.
Novotny and Polonsky
Aim: Investigate attitudes towards muslims in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Procedure: 716 uni students from Czech and Slovak cities.
- Stratified sample based on degree in uni.
- 4 sections:
1. Knowledge about Islam
2. Subjective views about islam
3. Geographical knowledge
4. Personal characteristics
Results: There were fewer opportunities for these people to know a muslim person. 10% had muslim friends and 23% knew someone who was muslim.
- The more participants knew about Islam, the less threteaned they felt.
Conclusion: Links back to the contact hypothesis which says that once you have increased contact with a group of people, you feel less threatened.
Eylon and Au
Aim: To investigate PDI in the workplace
Procedure: 135 MBA Canadian uni students.
- Devided into groups depending on their country of origin.
- Placed in either empowering or disempowering conditions + controlled group.
Results: High PDI country of origin people did worse in disempowering conditions. Overall more satisfaction in empowering conditions.
Conclusion: PDI might affect work performance in the workplace but not satisfaction.
Meeuwesen, Van de Brink and Hofstede
Aim: To test if PDI could predict cross-cultural differences in patient-doctor communication.
Procedure: 10 European countries, 307 doctors, 5000+ patients.
- Observed doctor visits
Results:
High PDI nationalities: Shorter visits, one sided communication
Low PDI nationalities:
Longer visits, two sided communication.
Conclusion: Nationalities and where people come from can predict examination communication patterns.
Fagot et al
Aim: To investigate parents in gender role development.
Procedure: Overt naturalistic observation.
- 24 families (either lived in campuses, houses or apartments) it was their first child, and lived together.
- 46 behavior checklist (making note of behaviors every 60 seconds of child playing) for 5 weeks.
Results: Girls were encouraged to play with feminine toys while boys with masculine toys. Boys were left alone more and were encouraged to do more physical activities.
Conclusion: Enculturation from parents to children about gender roles.
Becker et al
Aim: Investigate if tv has an impact on eating patterns of Fijian teenage girls.
Procedure: Natural experiment.
- Did EAT-26 (western eating test) before and after tv was introduced in Fiji (3 years later).
- Fijian culture: eat a lot of rich foods. Seen as desirable.
- Semi-structured interview after EAT-26 test to confirm results of binging and purging behaviors.
Results:
A higher average score in the year in which Fijian girls were introduced TV.
Conclusion: TV shaped eating attitudes in Fiji, even if their local culture was totally different. Shows how acculturation can happen.
