Sociocultural Level of Analysis: Sociocultural Cognition

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Sociocultural Level of AnalysisSociocultural
Cognition

• Part I

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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