Sociocultural

The sociocultural level of explanation centers around the effects of cultural and social factors and their impact on human behavior

Principles

 * Human beings are social animals that have a basic need to belong
 * Social and cultural environment influence behavior
 * Humans desire connectedness and belongingness to others
 * Humans construct conceptions of our individual and social self
 * Human beings' views of the world are resistant to change

Principles of the Sociocultural Level Demonstrated in Theories and Research

 * Zimbardo's prison experiment
 * Milgram's obedience studies original footage
 * Robber's Cave experiment and Realistic Conflict Theory (Sherif //et al.//, 1954/1961) and video
 * The self is contingent upon culture (Markus and Kitayama, 1991)
 * criticized by Matsumoto (1999)

Research Methods

 * Naturalistic Observation (Systematic //vs.// Casual)
 * Overt - know they're being observed
 * Covert - do not know they are being observed
 * When Prophecy Fails (Festinger //et al.//, 1956)
 * Interviews
 * Case Studies
 * <span style="mso-list: l9 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Ethical Concerns
 * <span style="mso-list: l9 level2 lfo3; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Use of deception in Milgram's studies
 * <span style="mso-list: l9 level2 lfo3; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Humiliation and potential trauma for prisoner's in Zimbardo's experiment

Role of Situational and Dispositional Factors in Behavior

 * <span style="mso-list: l5 level1 lfo4; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Actor-observer effect - attribute behavior to situational factors for ourselves but to dispositional factors for others
 * <span style="mso-list: l5 level1 lfo4; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Fundamental attribution error - overvalue dispositional internal factors but undervalue situational external factors
 * <span style="mso-list: l5 level2 lfo4; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">I did well on the test because I'm smart (dispositional) not because the test was easy (situational)

Attribution Errors

 * <span style="mso-list: l12 level1 lfo5; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Fundamental Attribution Error
 * <span style="mso-list: l12 level1 lfo5; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Illusory Correlation
 * <span style="mso-list: l12 level1 lfo5; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Self-serving bias
 * <span style="mso-list: l12 level1 lfo5; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Modesty bias

Evaluation of Social Identity Theory (Tajfel)

 * <span style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo6; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Based on social categorization
 * <span style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo6; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">We categorize as in-group (us) and out-group (them) even when randomly assigned to a group
 * <span style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo6; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Self-esteem is created by comparing the benefits of belonging to the in-group instead of the out-group
 * <span style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo6; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Cialdini//et a//l.. (1976) found college football supporters were more likely to represent their winning team by wearing team clothing and other insignia than when the team lost
 * <span style="mso-list: l3 level2 lfo6; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Bias to view group actions as positive because of our human need for a positive self-concept
 * <span style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo6; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Boys randomly assigned to a group based on their preference for Klee or Kandindsky paintings rated the out-group as less-likeable even though the out-group members were never actually disliked (Tajfel //et al.//, 1974)
 * <span style="mso-list: l3 level2 lfo6; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Further research has shown that group identity alone is not enough to produce intergroup conflict - there must be competition as well
 * <span style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo6; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Evaluation
 * <span style="mso-list: l3 level2 lfo6; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Describes but does not predict
 * <span style="mso-list: l3 level2 lfo6; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">There are situations where personal identity is stronger than the group identity
 * <span style="mso-list: l3 level2 lfo6; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Theory on its own is reductionist because it ignores the interaction of the environment and the self
 * <span style="mso-list: l3 level2 lfo6; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Think about cultural expectations, rewards as motivators, sense of belongingness, rewards used to motivate the in-group

Formation of Stereotypes and their Effect on Behavior

 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level1 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Social cognition
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level2 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Stereotyping is a naturally occurring cognitive phenomenon to conserve resources
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level3 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.5in;">Can be seen as schema processing
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level1 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Stereotype threat (Steele & Aronson, 1995) [|video]
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level2 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Individuals in a situation where they could be judged can inadvertently confirm a stereotype
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level2 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">African Americans told that a test of verbal ability genuinely represented their verbal skills performed worse than European Americans
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level2 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">When African Americans were told that the test was used to study how problems are generally solved they performed as well as the European Americans
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level2 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Steele (1997) argues that spotlight anxiety is responsible for stereotype threats because the emotional distress and pressure can undermine performance
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level1 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Campbell (1967) two sources stereotypes
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level2 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Personal experience with in-group members and the groups themselves
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level2 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Gatekeepers like the media, parents, teachers and other members of our culture
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level2 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Campbell says there is some truth to our stereotypes and that we generalize an experience with one in-group member to the entire group
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level2 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Criticism - errors in attribution are very common
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level1 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Hamilton and Gifford (1976) claim that illusory correlations are responsible for stereotypes
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level2 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">We see a relationship between two variables that actually have no relationship and overestimate a link between the two variables
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level3 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.5in;">A woman who is awful at driving
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level2 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">After the illusory correlation has been made we use confirmation bias to gather more evidence to support our illusory correlation
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level3 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.5in;">We will tend to find more bad female drivers but ignore female race drivers
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level1 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">General evaluation
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level2 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Investigating stereotypes is difficult because of the social desirability effect
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level2 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Researchers are instead using implicit measures of prejudice such as the IAT which has its own array of problems
 * <span style="mso-list: l10 level2 lfo7; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Interestingly, Williams Syndrome individuals do not show racial stereotypes but do show gender stereotypes (Santos //et al//., 2010)

Social Learning Theory

 * <span style="mso-list: l15 level1 lfo8; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Social learning involves
 * <span style="mso-list: l15 level2 lfo8; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Attention - pay attention to model
 * <span style="mso-list: l15 level2 lfo8; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Retention - remember behavior observed
 * <span style="mso-list: l15 level2 lfo8; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Motor reproduction - have the ability to emulate the observed action
 * <span style="mso-list: l15 level2 lfo8; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Motivation - observers must want to demonstrate what they have just observed
 * <span style="mso-list: l15 level1 lfo8; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Bobo Doll Studies (Bandura //et al//., 1961)
 * <span style="mso-list: l15 level1 lfo8; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Huesmann & Eron (1986) longitudinal study discovered a positive correlation between number of hours of violent television watched and their levels of aggression as teenagers
 * <span style="mso-list: l15 level1 lfo8; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Canadian children became more aggressive 2 years after television was introduced (Kimball & Zabrack, 1986)
 * <span style="mso-list: l15 level1 lfo8; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Evaluation of Social Learning Theory
 * <span style="mso-list: l15 level2 lfo8; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Helps explain how behaviors can be passed on without trial-and-error learning
 * <span style="mso-list: l15 level2 lfo8; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Behavior can be acquired but not demonstrated
 * <span style="mso-list: l15 level3 lfo8; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.5in;">Makes it difficult to establish that the behavior is a result of socially learned behavior
 * <span style="mso-list: l15 level2 lfo8; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 1.0in;">Cannot explain why some people never learn a behavior despite observation, retention, motor reprodction and motivation

Compliance Techniques

 * <span style="mso-list: l6 level1 lfo9; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Foot in the door
 * <span style="mso-list: l6 level1 lfo9; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Door in the face
 * <span style="mso-list: l6 level1 lfo9; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Low balling
 * <span style="mso-list: l6 level1 lfo9; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Demonstrations

Evaluation of Research on Conformity to Group Norms

 * <span style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo10; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Asch (1951;1955) [|video]
 * <span style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo10; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Crutchfield (1955)
 * <span style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo10; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Moscovici and Minority Influence (1969)
 * <span style="mso-list: l4 level1 lfo10; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Perrin & Spencer (1980)

Factors Influencing Conformity

 * <span style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo11; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Culture
 * <span style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo11; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Groupthink
 * <span style="mso-list: l7 level1 lfo11; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Minority Influence

Three definitions of culture (Peace Corps, as cited in PBS)

 * <span style="mso-list: l13 level1 lfo12; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Culture: is a shared, learned, symbolic system of values, beliefs and attitudes that shapes and influences perception and behavior
 * <span style="mso-list: l13 level1 lfo12; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Culture: The system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning
 * <span style="mso-list: l13 level1 lfo12; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Culture: all the things that make up a people's entire way of life

Culture Norms

 * <span style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo13; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Cultural norms are patterns of behavior typical of a specific group normally passed down from generation to generation via observational learning.
 * <span style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo13; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">They can be thought of as traditions like wedding rituals or rites of passage, ways of raising children and views on how to care for the elderly.

Role of Cultural Dimensions on Behavior

 * <span style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo14; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Individualism/Collectivism
 * <span style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo14; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Masculinity/Femininity

Emic and Etic Concepts

 * <span style="mso-list: l8 level1 lfo15; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Emic - relates to the intrinsic values of the society that are important to its members
 * <span style="mso-list: l8 level1 lfo15; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Etic - relates to extrinsic properties of a society that are important for scientific observation

Additional Resources

 * <span style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo16; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Towards the Definition of Culture
 * <span style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo16; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Stanford Prison Experiment Documentary
 * <span style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo16; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Zimbardo Lecture on Evil
 * <span style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo16; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;">Emic/Etic Distinction