The Individual and the Group - S

Question 1

Social Identity Theory (Tajfel and Turner, 1990)

Answer 1

A: Abrams et al designed an experiment to see if people were more likely to conform with behaviour from an in-group.
M: 50 psych students took a test of visual accuracy, 3 confederates were introduced. They were shown a stimulus line and had to match 3 other lines with it.
R: In 9/18 trials the participants responded correctly.
F: Participants conformed to the erroneous confederate judgements when thinking the confederates were from their in-group. Conforming: 5.23 (in) and 0.75 (out).
C: The results showed that social categorization can play a key role in one’s decision to conform.

Question 2

Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura 1961)

Answer 2

The theory: way of explaining behaviour including direct and indirect reinforcement. Bandura believed that behaviour is learnt from experience and that there are 3 concepts: observation, imitation, modelling and imitation due to identification.
A: To investigate if social behaviours can be acquired by imitation
M: 36 girls/boys watched an aggressive and non-aggressive model, some watched no model. They were tested through three stages, modelling, aggression arousal and a test for delayed imitation.
F: Children who observed aggressive models were more imitative than non-aggressive, and boys were more likely to imitate a same-sex model.
C: Findings support Bandura’s behaviourist theory that children learn behaviour through observational learning.

Question 3

Stereotyping (Stone et al, 2010)

Answer 3

Stereotypes are schemas, AKA the result of an illusory correlation. These come in many forms and culturally based prejudices about social groups can be classified as an illusory correlation. Confirmation bias is when people seek information supporting the relationship they see.
A: Researchers conducted an experiment to demonstrate the perceptual confirmation of racial stereotypes.
M: 2x2 design, participants were given photos of basketball players and listened to a basketball game to evaluate abilities.
F: Black athletes: more athletic ability and better game. White athletes: more basketball intelligence and hustle.
C: Participants relied on the stereotype of black and white athletes to guide evaluations of abilities and performance.