4.1-4.2 SLA Outcomes

Sociocultural Level of Analysis

4.1 Sociocultural Cognition

•Outline principles that define the sociocultural level of analysis (for example, the social and cultural environment influences individual behavior; we want connectedness with, and a sense of belonging to, others; we construct our conceptions of the individual and social self).

One principal that defines the sociocultural level of analysis is the fact that humans are social animals and have a basic need to belong. Human behavior can only be fully understood when the social context the human is in is taken into account. Not only is the individual affected by a larger group, but the larger group is affected by the individual as well.

Culture is another principle that defines the sociocultural level of analysis because the beliefs that are deeply embedded in a culture the individual is in affects the way an individual perceives and understands things. The study of culture will help us further understand the effects it has on an individual's behavior, and appreciate the different in cultures. A third principle that defines the sociocultural level of analysis is that people have a social self as well as an individual self. This means that people behave differently when they are in social situations. Lastly, a principle that defines the sociocultural level of analysis is the fact that the way an individual perceives things are unlikely to change. A persons views of the world are unlikely to change because of prior experiences, such as culture.

• Explain how principles that define the sociocultural level of analysis may be demonstrated in research.

The goal is to see how people interact with each other, so the majority of research that is used for sociocultural research is qualitative. It is important to have subjects act in the most natural way that is possible, so experiments or studies that lack ecological validity are best to be avoided. Because we need subjects to act in a natural way, most of the studies used are naturalistic - as it really is. Participant observations, covert experiments, interviews and focus groups are used to collect and analyze data.

• Discuss how and why particular research methods are used at the sociocultural level of analysis (for example, participant/naturalistic observation, interviews, case studies).
• Discuss ethical considerations related to research studies at the sociocultural level of analysis.

 Methods that are used in research for sociocultural level of analysis are; participant observations, interviews, focus groups… these are all the best ways to observe the way an individual interacts with others in a social setting because they help keep the research/studies as naturalistic as possible - as the way things really are. The best method to ensure that subjects act in a natural way is "participant observation". The experimenter or researcher places him or herself in a social setting for an extended period of time and observes the behavior of the subject in their natural environment. These participant observations can be either covert (where the participant doesn't know they're being observed) or overt (where the participant knows they are being observed.) When it is overt, there is a chance that the participant may not act naturally… they may change the way they act. Therefore, in overt observations, it is important for the subject to trust the researcher. The researcher needs to be nonjudgmental and try to see the world through the subject's eyes. Covert observations do not have the problem of the subject acting in an unnatural way, which is an advantage. Covert observations are used with groups that may be a potential threat if they knew they were being observed - such as groups involved in gangs and drug transactions. Covert observations record the participant’s information without their consent, which has the potential to be an ethical violation in terms of the participant's privacy concerns.

• Describe the role of situational and dispositional factors in explaining behavior.

People are inclined to attribute dispositional (internal) and situational factors towards people's and their own behavior. People tend to attribute reasons to things that happen because they need reasons to understand why things happen. When people have reasons, they feel more stable and less tense, as opposed to when there are no reasons to explain why certain things have taken place. In the attribution theory, there are two types of factors people tend to use; dispositional factors, where people attribute reasons to the individual's personality, thoughts and opinions (For example, if a date was late to dinner: "does he actually hate me?" "he must think I'm boring…") and situational factors, where the individual's situation is held responsible for the happening (For example, if a date was late to dinner: "his alarm clock must be lagging." or "maybe a car ran over him?")

• Discuss two errors in attributions (for example, fundamental attribution error, illusory correlation, self‑serving bias).

Fundamental attribution error is an error in attribution in which people tend to overestimate the role of dispositional factors in an individual's behavior, and underestimate an individual's situational factors. People tend to gather information of other people by observing them and their actions, which usually leads to illogical conclusions. People tend to think of them-selves as adaptable and flexible, and easy to accept change. However, when people look at others, they do not have ENOUGH information to make a balanced decision, become a bit illogical and tend to attribute their behavior to disposition. (For example; "Oh, he's just that type of person")

Self-serving bias is an error in attribution that is similar to the fundamental attribution error. Self-serving bias is when people tend to accredit their successes to their own dispositional factors. On the other hand, people also tend to attribute their failures to situational factors. They do this to disassociate themselves from their own failures and to protect and stabilize our self-esteem. Thus, we can say that the attribution error, self-serving bias is a way for ourselves to protect ourselves.

• Evaluate social identity theory, making reference to relevant studies.

The social identity theory is a theory that assumes that people strive to improve their own self-images by creating a larger self-esteem, based on their personal identity or social identities. People can increase their self-esteem by being with successful in-groups, and doing so indicates the importance of social belonging. The social identity theory is also based on the process of social categorization… categorizing successful in-groups and in-group favoritism, as well as conformity to in-group norms. When people are in a group, they assume that it is their in-group, and all others outside of their in-group are a part of the out-group. They develop in-group favoritism and discrimination against the out-group. This favoring the in-group and discriminating the out-group is also known as "social comparison", which is a way that people maintain and heighten their self-esteem. Although the social identity theory is a good way to understand human behavior, it does not portray human behavior accurately because sometimes, our personal identity is stronger than our group identity, and we develop a sense of individualism. Also, the in-group will not always be the ONLY factor affecting a person's thoughts and in-group favoritism (behavior). It can also be a result of the environment that interacts with the "self"… cultural expectations and social norms also play a big role in the way an individual behaves.

• Explain the formation of stereotypes and their effect on behavior.

 A stereotype is defined as the social perception of an individual in terms of group-membership or physical attributes that are often exaggerated. It’s a generalization that is made of a group or somebody who belongs in a group, and the generalization can be either positive or negative, and it also affects the person who holds the stereotype.

Stereotype threats are threats that occur when one is in a situation where they might be judged. They feel that whatever they do may lead to the confirming of the stereotype… this is pressure to the individual. When the individual feels stress such as this, they actually perform at a lower or worse rate due to the emotional distress and pressure. When their performance at a certain task is undermined because of the pressure, the stereotype is confirmed by others that are present.

How does a stereotype form? A stereotype forms when people have a personal experience with a certain person or group, and also from gatekeepers (media, parents, other members in our culture). Personal experience with a person will be inevitably categorized, and then the experience will be generalized to the whole group that person is from. Gatekeepers help with the formation of stereotypes because the media and other gatekeepers spread these generalizations made.

Stereotypes are also a result of illusory correlation, or confirmation bias. An individual will find correlations between variables (when there is no correlation) in order to confirm a stereotype that was made of a person/group. Also, an individual is likely to ignore all facts/evidence that contradict the stereotype, and recognize all the evidence that supports it (confirmation bias).

4.2 Social and Cultural Norms

• Explain social learning theory, making reference to two relevant studies.

Humans learn by observing others… this is called the social learning theory. By observational learning, people watch a model's behavior and copy (imitate) their behavior. Sometimes, the model attempts to have a direct effect on the student, but most of the time models do not attempt to have direct effect and rather tend to influence an individual's behavior without intending to do so. When the model tries to have a direct effect on the individual, it is usually a teacher/student or parent/child relationship. When the model is not aiming to influence an individual's behavior and does so unknowingly, it is usually through media. The social learning theory requires four steps…

                1) Attention: the model must grab the attention of an individual

                2) Retention: model's behavior must stay with the individual even after the model leaves

                3) Motor reproduction: the individual must replicate the behavior

                4) Motivation: the individual must be motivated to demonstrate whatever they learned.

Motivation is affected by many factors such as: (the observer seeing the) repetition of the model's behavior, liking the model, the rewards or punishments the model receives after the action, and identification with the model (if the model is alike to them or not, in terms of gender and age or even profession).

Albert Bandura performed a study studying the social learning theory, as well as the significance of the theory when using same-sex models.  There were 36 boys and 36 girls, all ages 3-6 years old. They were divided into groups by aggression, which the parents contributed to by saying whether their child was aggressive or not. To see if children would imitate behavior, one group was shown a video where an adult showed aggression toward a bobo doll. A second group was shown a video of a model that was assembling toys for 10 minutes, and the control group was not shown a model at all. (Some girl children saw women models, boy children saw male models… this is a factor that affects the social learning theory… "Likeness to the model" One the other hand, some kids saw videos of opposite sex models). After being shown the video, the children were placed in a room with toys. Then, shortly after, they were taken to another room that closely resembled the room that their model was in, with the same bobo doll. As a result of the experiment, the social learning theory was demonstrated in the study - children in the group that were shown the aggression video acted the same way, beating, punching and hitting the bobo doll in a similar way that their models had. The children in the aggression group were significantly more aggressive than those in the other groups - both verbally AND physically. As for the same-sex model theory, girls were more likely to imitate verbal aggression and boys physical aggression. (Boys who saw the women models beating the bobo doll in the video also said "girls shouldn't do that"… thus kids were more likely to imitate same-sex models). This experiment has low ecological validity because it was carried out in a lab. Also, the aggression of models in the videos were not all standardized, so the children may have all seen different levels of aggression… this would affect how they imitated the models.

A study was carried in Canada that also tested the social learning theory: children were found to be significantly more aggressive in a village two years after television had been introduced to the town. This study shows that there may have been a link with aggression and television (children imitating models they see on TV)… but there could have been other factors that affected the violence in children as well.

• Discuss the use of compliance techniques

Compliance is from the direct pressure to respond to a request (the direct pressure is not necessarily evident to the subject.) There are many compliance techniques, and of these, the most major techniques are: DITF, FITD and reciprocity.

 The door in the face technique is a technique where a large request is made at first. The first request is so large that it is already determined by the requester that it will be turned down. After the subject turns the large request down, the requester then asks a smaller request, which will seem much easier to fulfill and agree to, compared to the first request. The smaller request is actually the request that the requester wanted the subject to comply to, and because the subject feels guilty for turning down the first request, they are likely to agree to the second request. They tend to do this because they feel as if the requested has had to concede his former request to a smaller one.

The foot in the door technique is a technique when a small commitment or request is made to an individual. Once the individual complies or agrees to fulfill the commitment/request, a related request is then asked of the individual. The second request is usually a larger request, but it is likely that the individual will agree because people tend to want to be committed and consistent in their beliefs. Thus, this is an effective technique when trying to get an individual to commit to a large request - you simply have them agree to a smaller (but related) request first, so they have a sense of commitment/ develop a sense of consistency.

Lastly, the reciprocity principle is a principle that ensures that what you give to others will always be returned to you in some form. When people do nice things for you, you are more likely to feel a need or an urge to do something nice back for them. This is reciprocity, and is an effective technique for compliance because it is a social norm - treat others the same way that they treat us.

• Evaluate research on conformity to group norms.

Conformity is when people feel they have to adjust their own thoughts, beliefs or opinions in order to be in agreement with a certain person or a group. People tend to want to conform to group norms because they have a need to belong in a social setting. Because people want to "belong" and want to avoid cognitive dissonance, they willingly or unwillingly change their ideas about things to be in agreement with an in-group.

• Discuss factors influencing conformity (for example, culture, groupthink, risky shift, minority influence).

 Culture and minority opinions are factors that influence how a person conforms. Culture is a large and impressive factor because the ideas that a person has because of the culture they are in controls their perception of reality. Some cultures are known to look at conformity as a positive attribute (such as Japan and east-Asian cultures) while Western cultures tend to frown upon conformity. This shows that the likelihood of an individual conforming to a group is directly affected by the culture the situation is set in. If you were in a culture that looks at conformity positively, you would be more likely to conform and "go with the flow", while if you were from a cultural background that treasures individualism, you would be less likely to conform.

Minority opinions can influence conformity within groups if they are CONSISTENT. Consistent minority opinions in a group show individuals that there ARE dissenting opinions and it the fact that the dissenting opinions are consistent shows that there is a commitment to an alternative view of things. Without minority opinions, a group's decision making process would be flawed. If there were no minority opinions, there would be groupthink within a group - where a group all agrees unanimously on a subject and alternative ideas are not suggested… thus the group is blinded by the optimism that their decisions and ideas will always be successful.

• Define the terms “culture” and “cultural norms”.

Culture can be defined as common rules that regulate interactions and behavior in a group, as well as a number of shared values and attitudes in the group. Culture is a dynamic system of rules, explicit and implicit, involving attitudes, values, beliefs, norms and behaviors. There is a deep culture and a surface culture. Surface culture often refers to the culture that you can see, such as; food, clothing, and language. Deep culture often refers to the beliefs and attitude that underpin cultural manifestations.

Cultural norms are behavior patterns that are typical to a specific culture. They are usually passed down generation by generation, through parents, peers, media and religious leaders.

• Examine the role of two cultural dimensions on behavior

Individualist societies and collectivist societies:

Individualist societies tend to have loose ties between individuals… they are expected to be able to take care of themselves as well as their immediate families. On the other hand, collectivist societies integrate each individual upon birth with close communal relationships and people tend to be strongly bonded together. In a collectivist group, if an individual is not able to meet expectations of their group the results are sometimes severe (i.e. a shunning or being banned from certain luxuries that other members in the group/culture have access to) Individualist cultures tend to have a well-defined boundary between individuals and society, while collectivist cultures tend to have a sense of connectedness/connection within each member of that society/culture.

A second dimension is uncertainty v.s. avoidance. This tests a culture's tolerability for uncertainty and ambiguity. In some cultures, members of that culture are alright with uncertainties and ambiguities, and deal well with vague situations. On the other hand, other cultures' members feel uncomfortable when faced with ambiguous and vague situations. These uncertainty-avoiding cultures stabilize themselves by setting many laws, regulations and rules within their culture, and on a religious/philosophical level, believe in absolute Truth ("There can only be on Truth, and we have it")

• Using examples, explain emic and etic concepts

Understanding the role of culture in human behavior is essential in a multicultural world. Many of the founding theorists of psychology took a solely western view. They attempted to find universal behaviors – they were looking for rules of human behavior that could be applied to all cultures around the world. This is an ETIC approach to psychology. Etic approaches are taken within cross-cultural psychology where behavior is compared across specific cultures. For example, etic studies involve drawing on the notion of universal properties of cultures, which share common perceptual, cognitive, and emotional structures.
The emic approach to psychology looks at behaviors that are culturally specific. Emics have challenged psychologists to re-examine their ideas of truth with regard to culture. In most cases, truth might be relative, based on the culture in which one is raised. In that case, it is important for psychologists to recognize these cultural variations in order to best understand members of other cultural groups. For example, how “politeness” or “decorum” is defined varies depending on the culture that is being observed.