HL Socio-cultural Studies IB Course Companion and Study Guide References Festinger et al (1956) • Festinger and his team covertly observed a religious cult in Chicago that believed the world would end on December 21st and that they would be rescued by flying saucers if they followed the rituals and texts. When the prophesy did not take place, the cult decided that God had not destroyed the world because of their prayers. • World predicted to end at midnight although it did not, so discounted counter evidence as being a minute shy of midnight and they went to belief that they were spared because they were the light of humanity. • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Prophecy_Fails • Attributions in the sports pages. By Lau, Richard R.; Russell, Dan Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 39(1), Jul 1980, 29-38 Abstract • Extended the generality of attribution research by exploring several important issues in a highly involving real-world setting in which attributions naturally occur: athletic competition. 107 newspaper accounts of baseball and football games were coded for attributional content. These data support a motivational or self-enhancement explanation for the tendency to make internal attributions (talent or hardwork) for success and external attributions (injuries or bad weather) for failure. No support was found for D. T. Miller and M. Ross's (1975) contention that this tendency is mediated by expectancies. It was also found that more attributions were made after unexpected, as opposed to expected, outcomes. There was a tendency for relatively more stable attributions to be given after expected outcomes. The advantages and disadvantages of studying attributions in archival data and the possibility of attributions justifying rather than explaining behavior are discussed. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) • http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=buy.optionToBuy&id=1981-23644-001 Greenberg et al. (1982) • Self serving bias protects self esteem. – It boosts our self-esteem to attribute our successes to dispositional factors. – It boosts our self-esteem to attribute our failures to situational factors. – For example, when a student remembers a class, he or she remembers good grades earned. – Study: 46 male undergraduate students aged 18-24, IV: favorable or unfavorable test scores and IV: public versus private performance, 12 out of 20 correct; then rated how well they did; those in the favorable group liked the study a lot more and those in the public group were more dependent on the experimenter; those in the private group were more individualistic Self-serving biases in the attribution of causality: Fact or fiction? Miller, Dale T.; Ross, Michael Psychological Bulletin, Vol 82(2), Mar 1975, 213-225. • If we expect to succeed, and we do, we attribute it to our skill and ability. If we expect to succeed and do not, then we feel it is bad luck or external factors. • A review of the evidence for and against the proposition that self-serving biases affect attributions of causality indicates that there is little empirical support for the proposition in its most general form. Some support was found for the contention that individuals engage in self-enhancing attributions under conditions of success, but only minimal evidence suggested that individuals engage in self-protective attributions under conditions of failure. Moreover, it was proposed that the self-enhancing effect may not be due to motivational distortion, but rather to the tendency of people to (a) expect their behavior to produce success, (b) discern a closer covariation between behavior and outcomes in the case of increasing success than in the case of constant failure, and (c) misconstrue the meaning of contingency. (60 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) Kashima and Triandis (1986) • 202 US undergraduate and 34 Japanese graduate students • Asked participants to remember details of 15 slides of scenes from unfamiliar countries Israel, Greece, and Iran • 5 minute recognition test, 5 slides from life in India, 3 minute test, randomly assigned to success (12 of 15) or failure (5 of 15) group, attribution questionnarie • When asked to explain their performance, Americans tended to attribute success to ability and failure to external factors—SSB while the Japanese tended to explain their failures in terms of their lack of ability—modesty bias. Bond, Leung, and Wan (1982) Chinese students who exhibited the modesty bias instead of the SSB were more popular with their peers. . One possible explanation for this link is that modest behavior can help to deflect attention from ways in which individuals stand out from their group, thus promoting harmonious interpersonal relations within collectivist societies (see also Bond et al., 1982). Study: 56 student participants (224 American and 240 Chinese across two replications) watched confederates do an intellectual task (one competent and one incompetent who would give self enhancing or self effacing attributes); participants would rate -7 to +7 likeability, competence, and anxiety; self effacing better liked but less competent Tajfel’s Social Identity Theory • Social categorization • In-group, out-group • Social comparison—benefits of belonging to in-group versus out-group • Sherrif—Robbers Cave study and Tajfel—Klee and Kandinsky and dots studies http://www.spring.org.uk/2007/11/why-groupsand-prejudices-form-so.php Cialdini, R. B., et al. (1976). Basking in reflected glory: Three (football) field studies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 366-375. • • The idea of associating oneself with successful others was described by Cialdini and his co-authors as a relatively "true to life" theoretical phenomenon without much empirical support. In this classic article, the tendency to "bask in reflected glory (BIRG)" or associate oneself publicly with successful others was investigated by using a series of experiments with football fans from large prestigious football schools (e.g., Ohio State, Michigan, and Notre Dame). In an attempt to demonstrate BIRGing, the researchers conducted a field experiment (in large lecture halls across 7 different schools) where they observed student clothing/apparel on a Monday following a big football game. The researchers found that students tended to wear more apparel associating themselves with their own university (e.g., jersey or sweatshirt) when the football team won compared to when they lost. Based on these findings, the researchers sought to further understanding BIRGing effects and did so by randomly calling students and interviewing them about the performance of their schools football team following a game. The researchers found that people tended to use the pronoun "we" more to describe their team when they won and "they" more when the team had lost. In some of these experiments, the researchers manipulated the feelings of the participants by employing distraction tasks and giving positive/negative feedback. By way of this manipulation, the researchers were able to show that people tend to associate with positive others most closely when their own public image is threatened. This article is classic because it clearly demonstrated that people associate themselves with positive others even when they have no clear connection to the success of the positive others, which is essentially the BIRG phenomenon. Moscovici (1973) • Social representations—shared beliefs and explanations held by the society in which we live or the group to which we belong—are the foundation of social cognition, helps us to make sense of and master the world, enable communication of community by providing a social exchange and naming/classifying code • Fundamental cultural schemas 'So, you're from Brixton?': the struggle for recognition and esteem in a multicultural community Howarth, Caroline (2002) 'So, you're from Brixton?': the struggle for recognition and esteem in a multicultural community. Ethnicities, 2 (2). pp. 237-260. ISSN 1468-7968 • • • Focus group interviews The first section illustrates how identity is constructed through and against the representations held by others within particular social contexts. Focusing on the varying strategies that different young people adopt in constructing a positive identity reveals the salience of racist representations in the social construction of Brixton. The second section examines the effects this can have on the self-image and self-esteem of many in the study, looking in particular at strategies used to contest negative versions of blackness. This points to the racializing and gendering within the (re)production of local youth identities. The concluding section illustrates how some young people collaboratively develop the social and psychological resources to protect themselves against the prejudices of others. Together, this material reveals how social relationships and institutional cultures empower/disempower Brixton's youth in their collaborative struggle for recognition and esteem. This allows us to consider how new multicultures address, incorporate and resist new racisms and prejudices towards a locality. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/2435/ Jane Elliott • In grouping and out grouping via blue eyes and brown eyes Stereotype Threat—Steele and Aronson 1990s • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotype_thre at Spotlight anxiety causes emotional distress and pressure that may undermine performance. STEREOTYPES AND THE PERCEPTION OF GROUP DIFFERENCES. CAMPBELL, DONALD T. American Psychologist, Vol 22(10), Oct 1967, 817-829. • EMPHASIZES "THE WAY IN WHICH BOTH ANTHROPOLOGICAL EVIDENCE AND LEARNING THEORY PREDICT THAT IF THERE ARE GROUP DIFFERENCES OR DIFFERENTIALS IN SOCIAL INTERACTION, THESE WILL TEND TO APPEAR IN THE STEREOTYPES GROUPS HAVE OF EACH OTHER." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) • Sources of stereotypes: personal experience with individuals and groups and gatekeepers—media, parents, and other members of our culture. • Grain of truth hypothesis: an experience with an individual from a group will then be generalized to the group Hamilton and Gifford (1976) • Stereotypes are the result of an illusory correlation— people see a relationship between two variables even when there is none. Illusory correlation cognitive bias (relationship between two variables when there is none)confirmation bias (seek or remember information) • Study: reading task of 39 hypothetical characters (26 in group A, 13 in group B, but in both ratio to good to bad behavior was the same), 18 good behavior in group A but 17 perceived, 4 bad behaviors in group B but 6 perceived— How many people in each group performed good and bad behaviors? • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusory_correlation Snyder and Swann (1978) • Confirmation bias study • http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/HomePage/Faculty/Swann/public ations.htm • 58 female University of Minnesota students told that they would meet an introverted or extroverted person and then asked to prepare 12 questions—chosen from a list of 26—10 introvert oriented, 11 extrovert oriented, 5 neutral—not labeled. Four conditions given—combinations of introverted and extroverted and high certainty or low certainty. • Participants came up with questions that confirmed their perceptions, for example, what do you dislike about parties or are there times you wish you could be more outgoing or what do you do to liven up a party. Bandura’s social learning theory • Learn norms via observational learning • Includes attention, retention, motor reproduction, and motivation • Imitation and learning influences: consistency of model, identification with model, rewards and punishment—vicarious reinforcement, liking the model Imitation of nurturant and nonnurturant models. Yarrow, Marian R.; Scott, Phyllis M. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 23(2), Aug 1972, 259-270. • Investigated influences of the model-child relationship on the child's imitation in a laboratory setting. 118 preschool children were in small play groups under the supervision of either a nurturant or a nonnurturant caretaker. 2 female adults carried out both roles with different groups. In these contrasting contexts, the models performed standard responses incidentally during group play; other responses were performed in a play task, with Ss' attention directed to the model. Model nurturance and nonnurturance (a) had no effect on gross frequency of imitation; (b) had an influence on the content of imitated acts (nurturance was emphasized under nurturant models; nonnurturance, under nonnurturant models); and (c) were related to frequency of delayed and generalized imitation. Both nurturance and nonnurturance were significantly greater with nurturant models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) Bandura and Ross (1961) • 36 boys and 36 girls, 37 to 67 months old, 8 experimental groups, 6 participants in each • http://www.simplypsychology.org/bobodoll.html Longitudinal relations between children's exposure to TV violence and their aggressive and violent behavior in young adulthood: 1977-1992. Huesmann, L. Rowell; Moise-Titus, Jessica; Podolski, Cheryl-Lynn; Eron, Leonard D. Developmental Psychology, Vol 39(2), Mar 2003, 201-221. • Although the relation between TV-violence viewing and aggression in childhood has been clearly demonstrated, only a few studies have examined this relation from childhood to adulthood, and these studies of children growing up in the 1960s reported significant relations only for boys. The current study examines the longitudinal relations between TV-violence viewing at ages 6 to 10 and adult aggressive behavior about 15 years later for a sample growing up in the 1970s and 1980s. Follow-up archival data (N=450) and interview data (N=329) reveal that childhood exposure to media violence predicts young adult aggressive behavior for both males and females. Identification with aggressive TV characters and perceived realism of TV violence also predict later aggression. These relations persist even when the effects of socioeconomic status, intellectual ability, and a variety of parenting factors are controlled. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved) Kimball and Zabrack (1986) Three towns in Canada; children studied and found that they were more aggressive two years after the introduction of television; gender stereotyping increased; academic success decreased in the form of test scores • http://books.google.com/books?id=kUxCx79KpUAC&p g=PA30&lpg=PA30&dq=kimball+zabrack+1986+canada &source=bl&ots=UB_XSSXC-B&sig=h2u545uSu3tkv1Yo6pLxCa6aXY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VmfwUqu SF4qy2QXW4ID4AQ&ved=0CFAQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage &q=zabrack&f=false Charlton, Gunter, and Hannan (2002) • http://www.questia.com/library/104941544/bro adcast-television-effects-in-a-remote-community • On St Helena island television was introduced in 1995, so cameras were set up in playgrounds of two primary schools and behavior of children aged 3-8 was observed before and after TV introduction (natural experiment). Experimenters also interviewed teachers, parents, and some older children. There was no increase in aggressive or antisocial behavior—5 years later, too. Compliance techniques—result of direct pressure (Cialdini) • Authority • Commitment • Liking • Reciprocity Lynn and McCall (1998)—Mint increases tip; Cialdini et al. (1975) door-in-theface technique: http://faculty.babson.edu/krollag/org_site/soc_psych/cialdini_door_face. html; Dickerson et al. (1992) foot-in-the-door technique: university students to conserve water in dorm showers, first asked to sign a poster, then asked to do a survey about own water usage, then shower time was monitored; students who had signed the poster and completed the survey spent on average 3.5 minutes less in the shower • Scarcity • Social proof http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFdCzN7RYbw Conformity • Sherif’s conformity to the perceived group norm (1936)—point of light illusion, looks like it moves but does not, as individuals 2-6 inch moving estimate, in groups agreement to 4 inches • Asch’s conformity to the majority (1951) • http://www.simplypsychology.org/conformity.ht ml and http://www.simplypsychology.org/aschconformity.html Moscovici and Lage (1976) • Blue Green Study and minority influence: http://www.simplypsychology.org/minorityinfluence.html As opposed to groupthink in which group members have a unanimous opinion on an issue and do not seek out alternative or dissenting opinions Why conform? • Deutsch and Gerard (1955)—informational social influence and normative social influence • Festinger (1954)—social comparison—what others do and cognitive dissonance Counter conformity studies • Bond and Smith (1990s) meta-analysis of conformity studies using an Asch-type line judgment task (1952b, 1956) was conducted to investigate whether the level of conformity has changed over time and whether it is related cross-culturally to individualismcollectivism. The literature search produced 133 studies drawn from 17 countries. An analysis of U.S. studies found that conformity has declined since the 1950s. Results from 3 surveys were used to assess a country's individualism-collectivism, and for each survey the measures were found to be significantly related to conformity. Collectivist countries tended to show higher levels of conformity than individualist countries. Conformity research must attend more to cultural variables and to their role in the processes involved in social influence. • http://www.radford.edu/~jaspelme/_private/gradsoc_articles/indiv idualism_collectivism/conformity%20and%20culture.pdf Berry (1967) • Temne people of Sierra Leone conformed significantly more than the Inuit people of Canada. He explained this in terms of differences in economic practices—Temne single crop and therefore community/consensus/agreement reliance and Inuit continual hunting and gathering on an individual basis. Defining Culture • References a book that analyzed 128 definitions of culture, “a dynamic system of rules, explicit and implicit, established by groups in order to ensure their survival, involving attitudes, values, beliefs, norms, and behaviors” (Matsumoto, 2004) • Surface culture • Deep culture—beliefs, attitudes, and values (Kuschel, 2004) • Common rules that regulate interactions and behavior in a group, as well as shared values and attitudes (Lonner, 1995) • Mental software—internalized cultural schemas that influence thinking, emotions, and behavior i.e. collective mental programming (Hofstede, 2002) • Etic (universal) vs. emic (culturally specific) Hofstede (1973) • 88, 0000, multinational IBM company employee surveys about morale in the workplacetrends from the 40 most represented countries in the surveysculture is a collective phenomenon distinguished by dimensions • Culture as mental programming or mental software • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstede's_cultural _dimensions_theory • Confucian work dynamism: instead of focusing on truth, some cultures focus on virtue (Bond, 1988) • China and other Asian countries—long-term orientation—value persistence, loyalty, and trustworthiness • Finland, France, Germany, and the US have a short-term orientation (Hofstede). Mead (1935) • New Guinea observations • Three cultures: one of which men and women had similar nonaggressive behaviors, second men and women both unpleasant and ruthless, third women were dominant and men cared about physical appearance and were more emotional; gender roles vary between cultures; compromised findings due to outsider influence (Hawthorne effect) • http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/mead/fieldsepik.html