Sociocultural Levels of Analysis SL-Prep
4.1 Outline principles that define the sociocultural levels of analysis
A. Human beings are social animals with a basic need to belong – humans are motivated to have important
relationships with other people.
1. Howarth (2002) Brixton study
B. Culture influences human behavior - Human create and shape culture and they are influenced by cluture
1. Berry
C. Humans have a social self which reflects their group membership – group members give rise to social identities
and comparison with other groups. This might lead to bias in information processing and discrimination.
1. in-groups vs. out-groups
2. Tajfel – minimal group paradigm
4.2 Describe the role of situational and dispositional factors in explaining behavior
A. Attribution Theory (Heider 1958) – based on the idea that people are naïve scientist who try to explain
observable behavior.
B. Attribution theory is based on the assumption that people:
1. tend to look for causes and reasons for other people’s behavior because they feel there are motives behind
the behavior
2. Individuals construct their own theories as to why people behave the way they do.
3. People have the need to understand, predict and control the environment around them.
What is the cause of the observed behavior?
It is caused by something within the
person (personality) – internal factors
It is caused by something outside of
the person (situational) – external
factors
Dispositional attribution
Situational attribution
(Intelligence, personality, attitude)
(group pressure, social norms,
weather, luck)
4. Empirical Research
a. Evans-Pritchard (pg 103)
4.3 Discuss two errors in attribution
1. Fundemental attribution Error (FAE)
a. Lee et al (1977) – quiz show
b. Suedfeld (2003) Holocaust survivors
2. Cultural bias in FAE
c. Self-Serving Bias vs Modesty Bias
strengths and limitations of SSB?
i. Miller and Ross (1975)
ii. Kashima and Triandis; Chandler et al, 1990
FAE
Strengths + empirical research
Limitations + empirical research
4.4 Evaluate social identity theory
A. Tajfel and Turner (1979)
Categorization: people are categorized
based on the shared characteristics
(group membership)→ ingroups and
outgroups
In-group: groups members seen as
individuals + positive traits (→in-group
favoritism)
↨
Social comparison to obtain positive
distinctiveness of in-group
↨
Out-group: members seen as similar +
negative traits (→discrimination)
Social Identity Thoery (SIT)
Strenghts
Limitations
4.5 Explain the formation of stereotypes and their effect on behavior
A. How doe stereotypes form?
B. Sociocultural learning, categorizing and schema processing
Empirical research: Hamilton and Gifford
Implicit personality (e.g. illusory
correlations such as “blonds are stupid”
Rogers and Frantz (1962)
↨
Categorization: people are
categorized based on shared
characteristics (group membership)
stereotypes (schema)
↓
Ingroup: group members seen as
individuals + positive traits
(→ingroup favoritism)
↨
Generalization: attributions of the
category (group) are generalized to all
members of the category
↨
Schema Processing: memory
representations of stereotypes (schema)
influence perception and evaluation of
stereotyped individuals. Stereotypes are
often automatically activated
↨
Outgroup: group members seen as
similar + negative traits
Conformational bias: people tend to pay
attention to information that confirms
their beliefs →stereotypes resistance to
change (stereotypes as defaults)
4.6Explain Social learning theory, making reference to two relevant studies
A. Bandura – KNOW THIS STUDY [ AIM, METHOD, PROCEDURE, FINDINGS, CONCLUSION, EVALUATION]
1. People learn behavior, attitudes, emotional reactions and norms through diret experience, but also through
observing other humans
2. Four important factors in social learning (observational learning)
a. Attention - paying attention is a condition of learning.
b. Retention – remembering what the model did is a condition for imitating behavior
c. Reproduction – capacity, skill
d. Motivation – importance of model or reward; desire
4.7 Compliance Techniques
A. Norm (or rule) of reciprocity: Cialdini (1993) – we treat others the way they treat us.
1. Reciprocity – Door-in-the-Face
a. Cialdini – “county youth counseling program”
2. Authority
Commitment – FOOT IN THE DOOR technique; Low-balling
a. Dickerson et al., (1992) water conservation
b. Cialdini (1974)
3. Liking
4. Scarcity
5. Social proof – Hazing
a. Aronson and Mills (1959)
4.8 Evaluate research on conformity to group norms
1. Asch (1951) experimental investigation of conformity to the majority
1. Aim
2. Procedure
3. Results
4. Strengths and Limitations
4.9 Discuss factors influencing conformity
1. Group size
a. Asch
b. Moscovici
2. Groups unanimity
a. Asch
b. Moscovici
3. Cultural norms as a factor
a. Berry (1967)
4.10 Define the terms culture and cultural norms
1. Culture:
2. Cultural Norms
4.11 Examine the role of two cultural dimensions on behavior
1. Collectivism vs. individualism
2. monochronic vs polychromic
3. Uncertainty vs avoidance
4. Long-term orientation vs short term orientation
4.12 Explain, using examples, emic and etic concepts
1. Emic research studies one culture alone to understand culture-specific behavior
2. Researchers attempt to study the behavior through the eyes of the people who live in that culture (Berry
3. Etic research compares psychological phenomena across cultures to find out what could be universal in human
behavior.
4. Compare and contrast culture phenomena across cultures to determine whether the phenomena is culture
specific or universal.
5. Examples: Kashima and Trindis (1986) Self-Serving Bia and Modesty Bias; Berry (1967) Temne and Inuits