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Sociocultural Level of Analysis: Sociocultural Cognition

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Sociocultural Level of Analysis: Sociocultural Cognition PART I * Though experiments are sometimes used, the majority of research today is more qualitative in nature. – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Sociocultural Level of Analysis: Sociocultural Cognition


1
Sociocultural Level of AnalysisSociocultural
Cognition
  • Part I

2
Principles of the Sociocultural Level of Analysis
  • 1. Human beings are social animals and we have a
    basic need to belong.
  • The biological and cognitive systems that makeup
    the individual are embedded in an even larger
    system of interrelationships with other
    individuals.
  • The relationship between the individual is
    affected by being part of a group is
    bidirectional as an individual is affected by
    being part of a group, the individual can also
    effect behavior in the group.

3
Principles of the Sociocultural Level of Analysis
  • 2. Culture influences behavior.
  • Culture can be defined as the norms and values
    that define a society.
  • In a multicultural society there is a need to
    understand the effect of culture on a persons
    behavior, because the study of culture may help
    people better understand and appreciate cultural
    differences.

4
Principles of the Sociocultural Level of Analysis
  • 3. Humans are social animals, they have a social
    self.
  • People not only have an individual identity, but
    also a collective or social one as well.
  • Social identities are very important to the
    definition of who we are, and many behaviors are
    determined by membership of groups such as
    family, community, club, or nationality.

5
Principles of the Sociocultural Level of Analysis
  • 4. Peoples views of the world are resistant to
    change.
  • A world view can be defined as the way the world
    is understood how it is supposed to work, why it
    works the way it does, and what values are
    essential in the world community.
  • According to psychologists the sense of self is
    developed within social and cultural contexts.

6
Research Methods at the Sociocultural Level of
Analysis
  • In sociocultural research, the goal is to see how
    people interact with each other. nature.
  • Behavior of participants needs to be as realistic
    as possible.
  • A significant amount of the research is
    naturalistic- as it really is.
  • Research is done in the environments in which the
    behavior is most likely to take place.

7
Research Methods at the Sociocultural Level of
Analysis
  • Participant observation researchers immerses
    themselves in a social setting for an extended
    period of time and observe behavior.
  • Overt observation when the participants of a
    group know that they are being observed.
  • Researcher must obtain trust of the group being
    observed.
  • Covert observation when the participants of a
    group do NOT know they are being observed.
  • Sometimes used with groups that would be hostile
    to an outsider observing or would not want to be
    open and honest, or the activity is illegal (e.g.
    drug use).
  • Interviews
  • Focus groups

8
When Prophecy FailsLeon Festinger et al.s (1956)
  • When Prophecy Fails is a 1956 classic book in
    social psychology by Leon Festinger, Henry
    Riecken, and Stanley Schachter about a UFO cult
    that believes the end of the world is at hand.
  • Festinger and his associates read an interesting
    item in their local newspaper headlined "Prophecy
    from planet Clarion call to city flee that
    flood." A housewife from Chicago, named Dorothy
    Martin, had mysteriously been given messages in
    her house in the form of "automatic writing" from
    alien beings on the planet Clarion.
  • These messages revealed that the world would end
    in a great flood before dawn on December 21,
    1954. Martins cult incorporated ideas from what
    was to become Scientology.
  • The group of believers, headed by Martin, had
    taken strong behavioral steps to indicate their
    degree of commitment to the belief. They had left
    jobs, college, and spouses, and had given away
    money and possessions to prepare for their
    departure on the flying saucer, which was to
    rescue the group of true believers.

9
When Prophecy FailsLeon Festinger et al.s (1956)
  • Festinger and his colleagues infiltrated Martins
    group and reported the following sequence of
    events
  • Prior to December 20. The group shuns publicity.
    Interviews are given only grudgingly. Access to
    Martins house is only provided to those who can
    convince the group that they are true believers.
    The group evolves a belief systemprovided by the
    automatic writing from the planet Clarionto
    explain the details of the cataclysm, the reason
    for its occurrence, and the manner in which the
    group would be saved from the disaster.
  • December 20. The group expects a visitor from
    outer space to call upon them at midnight and to
    escort them to a waiting spacecraft. As
    instructed, the group goes to great lengths to
    remove all metallic items from their persons. As
    midnight approaches, zippers, bra straps, and
    other objects are discarded. The group waits.
  • 1205 A.M., December 21. No visitor. Someone in
    the group notices that another clock in the room
    shows 1155. The group agrees that it is not yet
    midnight.

10
When Prophecy FailsLeon Festinger et al.s (1956)
  • Festinger and his colleagues infiltrated Martins
    group and reported the following sequence of
    events
  • 1210 A.M. The second clock strikes midnight.
    Still no visitor. The group sits in stunned
    silence. The cataclysm itself is no more than
    seven hours away.
  • 400 A.M. The group has been sitting in stunned
    silence. A few attempts at finding explanations
    have failed. Martin begins to cry.
  • 445 A.M. Another message by automatic writing is
    sent to Martin. It states, in effect, that the
    God of Earth has decided to spare the planet from
    destruction. The cataclysm has been called off
    "The little group, sitting all night long, had
    spread so much light that God had saved the world
    from destruction."
  • Afternoon, December 21. Newspapers are called
    interviews are sought. In a reversal of its
    previous distaste for publicity, the group begins
    an urgent campaign to spread its message to as
    broad an audience as possible.

11
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12
Attribution Theory
  • Attribution theory is defined as how people
    interpret and explain causal relationships in the
    social world.
  • People may have different ways of attributing
    causes to events.
  • When people try to understand behavior, they
    observe other peoples reactions, and make
    inferences about intention and responsibility.

13
Attribution Theory
  • Actor-observer effect people tend to make an
    attribution about a behavior depending whether
    they are performing it themselves or observing
    somebody else doing it.
  • Situational factors something to do with
    external factors.
  • Dispositional factors something to do with
    personal (internal) factors.

14
Errors in Attribution
  • Fundamental attribution error when people
    overestimate the role of dispositional factors in
    an individuals behavior and underestimate the
    situational factors.
  • Self-serving bias (SSB) people take their
    successes, attribute them to dispositional
    factors, and dissociate themselves from their
    failures, attributing them to situational factors.

15
Errors in AttributionGreenberg
  • Greenberg et. al (1982) argue that the reason we
    do this is to protect our self-esteem.
  • If we can attribute our success to dispositional
    factors, it boosts our self-esteem, and if we can
    attribute our failures to factors beyond our
    control, we can protect our self-esteem.
  • Miller and Ross (1975) argued that cognitive
    factors play a role in SSB, we usually expect to
    succeed at a task.
  • If we expect to succeed and we do, we attribute
    it to our skill and ability.
  • If we expect to succeed and fail, we feel that it
    was bad luck or external factors
  • If we expect to fail and we dont so well, we
    attribute it to dispositional factors.
  • If we expect to fail and we succeed, we attribute
    it to external factors and luck.

16
Errors in AttributionMiller and Ross
  • Miller and Ross (1975) argued that cognitive
    factors play a role in SSB, we usually expect to
    succeed at a task.
  • If we expect to succeed and we do, we attribute
    it to our skill and ability.
  • If we expect to succeed and fail, we feel that it
    was bad luck or external factors
  • If we expect to fail and we dont so well, we
    attribute it to dispositional factors.
  • If we expect to fail and we succeed, we attribute
    it to external factors and luck.
  • There is an exception people who are severely
    depressed tend to make more dispositional
    attribution thus blaming themselves for feeling
    miserable.

17
Errors in AttributionKashima and Triandis
  • Kashima and Triandis (1986) found there were
    significant cultural differences between US and
    Japanese students.
  • In the experiment participants were asked to
    remember details of slides of scenes from
    unfamiliar countries.
  • When asked to explain their performance, the
    Americans tended to attribute their success to
    ability while the Japanese tended to explain
    their failures in terms of lack of ability. This
    is called the modesty bias.

18
Errors in AttributionModesty Bias
  • Chandler et al. (1990) also observed this bias in
    Japanese students, and Watkins and Regmi (1990)
    found the same in Nepalese students.
  • The role of culture is pivotal in understanding
    the modesty bias.
  • Bond, Leung, and Wan (1982) found that Chinese
    students who exhibited the modesty bias indtead
    of the SSB were more popular with their peers.
  • Kashima and Triandis argue that because of the
    more collective nature of many Asian societies
    if people derive their self-esteem not from
    individual accomplishment but from group
    identity, they are less likely to use the SSB
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