Outline principles that define the sociocultural level of analysis. (8)
Outline (8) – Give a brief account or summary.
Principle 1 – Human beings are social animals, we feel a need to belong.
Conformity
- The yield to group pressure. The pressure can be real (involving physical presence) or imagined (pressure of social norms/expectations)
- Complying – Change in behaviour without internalising the opinion or reason
- Identification – Changes behaviour and opinion to identify with the influencing group
- Internalising – Change in behaviour and opinion
Solomon Asch – Asch’s Paradigm Experiment (Conformity) |
[A] |
Investigate the existence of conformity. |
[P] |
- Subject was placed into a room with 6 confederates and the experimenter.
- Subject was deceived that the 6 confederates were participants just like them.
- The subject was placed on the second last seat so they will be the second last to give an answer.
- The group of subject and confederates were asked to select the line on the second card that matched the line on the first card.
- There were 18 sets of cards in total, some of which had lines that were completely different in length, others are similar in length.
- Confederates were instructed to answer correctly on some of the cards but answer incorrectly for most.
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[F] |
- 75% conformed at least once to the wrong answer
- 32% conformed to more than half of the wrong answers
- 24% did not conform at all
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[C] |
- Conformity happened
- Those who did not conform sparked further research
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[E] |
- Ecological validity: Low, lab conditions.
- Controlled environment removed confounding variables.
- Meaningless stimuli.
- Gender bias, only male participants were used.
- Culture bias, only population of the US were used.
- Cannot be generalised to all population.
- Ethics: Deception, but subjects were debriefed.
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Principle 2 – Social and cultural environment affects/influences behaviour.
Social Learning Theory (Theorist: Albert Bandura)
- Learning by observing and imitating role models
- A.R.R.M.
- Attention – Paying attention to the model.
- Retention – Retain the behaviour of the model that was observed.
- Reproduction – Replicate the behaviour of the learning model.
- Motivation – Learners must want to display what they have learnt from the learning model.
Albert Bandura – Bobo Doll Experiment (SLT) |
[A] |
To demonstrate that learning can occur through observation of role models. |
[P] |
- 36 boys and 36 girls from age 3 to 6 were divided into groups according to their aggression evaluation from their parents and teachers.
- Group 1 was exposed to adult models who showed aggression by beating up a Bobo Doll. Models were of both genders.
- Group 2 observed an adult model who displayed no aggression. Models were of both genders.
- Group 3 was a controlled group who did not see any model. (Control)
- The children were then placed into the room with a Bobo doll after 10 minutes of watching the model.
|
[F] |
- Children who observed the aggressive model showed significantly more aggression both physically and verbally.
- Boys were more likely to imitate physical aggression.
- Girls were more likely to imitate verbal aggression.
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[C] |
- Social learning theory was demonstrated in the study because the children showed signs of observational learning.
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[E] |
- Ethics: Induced aggression.
- Oversimplification of the learning process.
- Ecological validity: Low, lab conditions.
- Confounding variable: children unfamiliar with doll were 5 times more likely to imitate aggressive behaviour.
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Principle 3 – Humans have a social self.
Social Identity Theory (Theorist: Henry Tajfel)
- Social Categorisation
- Grouping of different social circles based on the members’ stereotypical culture and behaviour.
- Social Identity
- Identifying yourself with a particular social group based on their in-group norms.
- Cultural expectations
- Belongingness
- Social Comparison
- Comparing in-group members with out-group members, looking fro benefits to be in the in-group which boosts self esteem.
- Positive Distinctiveness
- Using verbal or non-verbal cues to make your social group more socially valued, creating an increasingly positive meaning for the group’s identity.
- Rewards as motivators.
Henry Tajfel – Intergroup discrimination Experiment (SIT) |
[A] |
To test the Social Identity Theory. |
[P] |
- 48 boys were assigned at random to 2 groups based on their preference between Klee or Kandinsky’s art work.
- Asked to rate in-group and out-group based on traits e.g. like-ability.
|
[F] |
- Tajfel found that the out-group was rated less likeable, but never actually disliked.
|
[C] |
- There seems to be a preference of the in-group over out-group, however it is not clear that they make social comparisons to enhance either self-esteem.
- Later research – Social identity does not account for intergroup conflict. In the absence of competition, social comparison can be positive.
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[E] |
- Supports Social Identity Theory.
- Showed the formation and the features of SIT.
- Ecological validity: Low, lab conditions.
- Meaningless groups.
- Controlled environment removed confounding variables.
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Principle 4 – People’s view on the world are resistant to change.
Attributions
- Situational attributions
- Attributing to situational or external factors (e.g. Weather)
- Dispositional attributions
- Attributing to personal or internal factors (e.g. Intelligence)
Errors in attributions
- Fundamental Attribution Error
- When the role of disposition is overestimated and the affect of the situation is underestimated.
Lee et al. – Audience and Game show experiment (FAE) |
[A] |
Demonstrate the Fundamental Attributional Error (FAE). |
[P] |
- Subjects were split into groups of hosts, audiences and contestants, randomly.
- Hosts were asked to design there own questions.
- Audiences watched the show.
- After the game show the audience were asked to rank the intelligence of people taken part.
|
[F] |
- Audience consistently rated the hosts smarter.
|
[C] |
- They failed to attribute the role to the person’s situation (random assignation of role).
- Instead attributed the person’s performance to dispositional factors.
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[E] |
- Only student participants were used.
- University students spend their days listening to professors – authority figures who ask questions and give answers and is a learned response rather than attribution error.
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