Transcript { The Socio-cultural Level of Analysis

The Socio-cultural
Level of Analysis
{
Understanding Attribution will
help us to understand the two
concepts of situational and
dispositional
causes of
{
behavior…
Understanding attribution in order to better
understand situational and dispositional
factors…


Attribution – how people interpret and explain
causal relationships in the social world. We, as
humans have a need to understand why things
happen.
ATTRIBUTION THEORY - motivational theory
looking at how the human beings construct the
meaning of an event based on his /her motives to
find a cause and his/her knowledge of the
environment.
Understanding attribution in order to better
understand situational and dispositional
factors…

Att. Theory basically looks at how people make
sense of their world; what cause and effect
inferences they make about the behaviors of
others and of themselves.

Example: In the middle of the lecture someone
walks in class late…we can attribute the student
being late to the following reasons-he or she is
always late (dispositional), or he or she was in
a discussion with a teacher (situational).
Understanding attribution in order to better
understand situational and dispositional factors…

The purpose behind making attributions
is to achieve COGNITIVE CONTROL
over one's environment by explaining
and understanding the causes behind
behaviors and environmental
occurrences.

Fritz Heider, who coined the phrase in
1958, states that there is a strong need in
individuals to understand momentary
events by attributing them to people's
external factors or to stable
characteristics of internal factors.
Understanding attribution in order to better
understand situational and dispositional
factors…
Two basic kinds of attributions made: Internal
and External
Internal factors - dispositional
 External factors - situational

Describe the role of situational and
dispositional factors in explaining
behavior
What are you being asked to do?
Provide a clear definition of each.
 Provide a detailed account of the role that each
play in explaining behavior.
 Provide relevant examples of situational and
dispositional behavior in society.

Dispositional and Situational Factors of
Behavior

Dispositional factors of behavior: The cause of
behavior are factors occuring inside the
individual (e.g. personality, past experience,
cognitive/cultural schemas, biological factors)

Situational factors of behavior: The cause of
behavior are factors occuring outside the
individual (e.g. situation and context)
Dispositional and Situational Factors of
Behavior

Whenever people are interacting with each other or
engaging in any group activity, they tend to make quick
judgments (attributions) about each other. They judge the
motive behind a person's actions and attribute it to
dispositional or situational causes.

Dispositional attribution is the assumption that a person's
behavior reflects his internal dispositions like his
personality, beliefs, attitude etc.
Situational attribution is the assumption that a person's
behavior is influenced by an external influence from the
environment or culture.

Examples of how situational and
dispositional factors differ...
You have just taken a mock exam and been told by your
teacher that you have not done very well. This surprises
you since you had been revising for weeks before the
exam.
How do you explain your poor performance? Situational
or dispositional?
Question of the day...
Does situational or dispositional factors better
explain behavior?
The power of the situation
Human behavior is explained by the
social situation (situational factors)
more than individual personality
(dispositional factors). Situations play a
greater role in human behavior than
most people want to believe (Zimbardo,
1971).
Zimbardo also describes the social
situation as the single biggest indicator of
understanding human behavior. He
asserts that good people can do evil
things if the situation calls for it (The
Prison study can be mentioned to show
this phenomena)…
The power of the situation

For example, when a couple of guards were clearly
reluctant to push the prisoners, it was a nudge from the
experimenters (in their role as wardens and
superintendent) that caused them to be more
aggressive.

The more passive guards were also motivated by the
actions of the most aggressive on their shift.

This shows that it is possible for people with negative
dispositions to situationally impact others.

Does this happen in real life?
The power of the situation

Simply put, we adapt to our situations (This is
supported by prinicple 1 and 3). Every situation and
setting requires a different set of mannerisms. For
example, people act differently in class then when
they are around teachers.
 Class is often a lot more
strict and proper and to
maintain those
expectations, one must
carefully consider what
they say and what they
do.
Both playing a role in behavior…


Many social psychologists (Milgram,
Zimbardo, Asch) strongly assert that the
social situation is more important than a
persons disposition.
Although dispositions play an important role
in how people react to their situation.
Both playing a role in behavior…

What is a real world example of
two people with contrasting
dispositions behaving differently in
the same situation?
The power of dispositions on situations
The power of the interaction between these two attributions
are evident when a person is compelled do certain activities
that he or she does not want to, but does so because of
peer pressure.
 For example, a person might not enjoy going to a party,
might not like to drink, and might hate to smoke. However,
the peer pressure situationally influences a person to do
all these unwanted things.

Can our tendency to over
emphasize dispositional or
situational factors cause
wrongful judgment?
Objective 2.2
Discuss Two Errors in Attributions.
Provide a clear definition of attributions.
 Identify and define two specific errors
associated with attributions.
 Provide research supporting these errors
 Provide a personal analysis of each
error/research on each error.

What are you being asked to do? (page 36
and 37 of your IB syllabus)

Attributions determine how a person
constructs the meaning of an event based on
his /her motives to find a cause and his/her
knowledge of the environment.

In other words, Attributions look at how we
make sense of the world; it gives us control
of our surroundings.
Attribution: revisited from
2.1

Heider (1958) was the first to propose
a psychological theory of attribution.

Heider discussed what he called
“naïve” or “commonsense”
psychology. In his view, people were
like amateur scientists, “erroneously
trying to understand other people’s
behavior by piecing together
information until they arrived at a
reasonable explanation or cause”.
Attribution: revisited from
2.1
As previously noted, the purpose behind
making attribution is to achieve cognitive
control over one's environment by explaining
and understanding the causes behind
behaviors and environmental occurrences.
Our attributions are, however, significantly
driven by our emotional and motivational
drives.
How can this create errors in attribution?
Formation of attribution
error
Research has shown that we have a tendency
to make automatic errors in our attributions.
There are two important errors or mistakes we
tend make when assigning attributions.


Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)
Self-Serving Bias (SSB)
Formation of attribution
error

When we overestimate the role of dispositional
factors in an individual’s behavior-and
underestimate the situational factors-it is called
the fundamental attribution error.
Fundamental Attribution
Error

Briefly describe the following actor’s
personality (as best of you can).
Example of FAE
Will Ferrell
Sylvester Stallone

According to FAE, we attribute these
characteristics to their personality
(dispositional) and not the fact that these are
paid actors who auditioned and were merely
imitating these personalities in films
(situational).
Example of FAE


Why is this error so common? Some
psychologists argue it is because people tend
to think of themselves as adaptable, flexible
and ever-changing human beings. We do not
like to think of ourselves as a “type” of person.
However, when we look at others, we do not
have enough information about them (in most
cases) to make a balanced decision, so we
attribute behavior to disposition (this will help us
later understand the formation of stereotypes).
Understanding FAE


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Ross et. al. (1977) proposed and demonstrated this
error in research that aimed to see if student
participants would make FAE even when they knew
that all of the actors were simply playing a role.
In their study, participants were randomly assigned
to one of three roles: a game show host,
contestants on the game show, or members of
the audience.
The game show host were instructed to design their
own questions. The audience then watched the
game show through a series of questions.
Research into FAE

When the game show was over, the observers
were asked to rank the intelligence of the people
who had taken part. They consistently ranked
the game show host as the most intelligent,
even though they knew that this person was
randomly assigned to this position, and-more
significantly-he or she had written the
questions.

They failed to attribute the role of the person’s
situation-that is, being allowed to ask the
questions-and instead attributed the person’s
performance to dispositional factors-in this case,
intelligence.
Research into FAE
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Although this study was taken from a very small
university student sample, it reflects what we see
everyday in life.
People with social power usually initiate and control
conversations (such as teachers, doctors, etc.); their
knowledge concerning a particular topic can give
others the impression that they are knowledgeable
on a large range of other topics as well.
Medical doctors and teachers are often seen as
experts on topics that are not within their area of
expertise.
Research into FAE

Another error in attribution is the self-serving
bias (SSB). This is seen when people take
credit for their successes, attributing them to
dispositional factors, and dissociate themselves
from their failures, attributing them to situational
factors.
Self Serving Bias

A fundamental attribution error is when people try to
find reasons for someone's behavior, they tend to
overestimate personality factors and
underestimate situational factors.

A self-serving bias is when a person describes their
own behavior and tend to choose attributions that
are favorable to themselves. This means that
people like to take credit for their good actions and
let the situation account for their bad actions.
What is the difference?

American football coaches and players tend to credit their wins to
internal factors-for example, being in good shape, the hard work
they have put in, the natural talent of the team-and their failures to
external factors-for example, weather, fouls, cheating, etc. Is this
true?
SSB

Greenberg et. al (1982) argued that the reason we do this is to
protect our self esteem. How does SSB help to maintain selfesteem?
Why do we tend to employ SSB?


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.
In other words, the SSB serves as a mean of self protection. Can
this serve an evolutionary purpose? How so?
Why do we tend to employ SSB?


One pair of studies that is a classic example of a study examining
the self-serving bias researchy by Wolosin, Sherman, and Till
(1973).
The aim of the study was to see if participant attributed success
internally more than failure, which tends to be attributed to
external factors
SSB in research



Participants participated in a decision-making task in which they
had to choose among a pairs of geographic locations where the
participant thought they were more likely to meet a friend.
In one experiment, the participant performed the task in
cooperation with another individual, and in the other experiment,
the participant was in competition with the other individual.
How do you think the participant would attribute the positive
feedback? The negative feedback?
SSB in research


After the task was completed, feedback was given to the
participant. In the cooperative case, the participants assumed
more responsibility when they received positive feedback
compared to participants who received neutral or negative
feedback. The partner was assigned more responsibility in
failure outcomes.
In the competitive condition, again the participant exhibited more
self-attribution in the success condition, and in the failure
conditions, situational factors were given the most responsibility
by the participants (Wolosin et al., 1973).
SSB in research


Questions have been raised as to whether the self-serving bias is
a legitimate universal concept or not. Most notably in the
literature, the questioning by Miller & Ross (1975), examined the
self-serving bias as “fact or fiction.”
Not all the studies in the past that were hypothesized to show a
self-serving bias demonstrated the effect.
Critics of SSB
Critics of SSB
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
Also, Miller and Ross claimed they found that there was a
fault in some of the older studies’ methodology. They
claimed that there was little support for the concept in the
most general form. They argued that the literature
provided more support for the idea that people take
credit for success and not as much support for people
blaming external factors for failure.
Also, they claimed that the self enhancing effect could be
caused by other factors other than the self-serving bias,
such as, the tendency for people to expect success, the
tendency for people to notice a correlation between
successful events and behavior more than with
unsuccessful events, and that people misinterpret
contingency (Miller & Ross, 1975).
Critics of SSB


Although many researcher criticize the attribution error, many
studies have supported and demonstrated the concept.
It has explained the self-seeking nature of humans to protect
general idea about ourselves and others.
Introductory discussion
Write down some of the groups that you identify
or associate yourself with.
 If the aforementioned groups call for a specific
set of characteristics, explain them.
 Name at least 4 people in this class who feel you
most identify with. Explain this connection.

The argument of “self” as part of a group.
Do you feel connected or a sense of
belongingness to the groups you identify with the
most?
 Are you offended when someone talks negatively
about the group(s) you belong to?


Would a piece of YOUR identity be taken away if
the group(s) you identify with the most were
taken away?
Introductory discussion
Write down some of the groups that you identify
or associate yourself with.
 If the aforementioned groups call for a specific
set of characteristics, explain them.
 Name at least 4 people in this class who feel you
most identify with. Explain this connection.

The argument of “self” as part of a group.
Do you feel connected or a sense of
belongingness to the groups you identify with the
most?
 Are you offended when someone talks negatively
about the group(s) you belong to?


Would a piece of YOUR identity be taken away if
the group(s) you identify with the most were
taken away?
Objective 2.3
Evaluate social identity theory, making reference
to relevant studies.
What are you being asked to do?
Provide a clear definition of social identity theory
(SIT).
 Present an evaluation of SIT by analyzing
assumptions, strengths, and limitations.
 Make reference to relevant research on SIT.

Social identification
•Social identification (SI) is the process by which we define
ourselves in terms and categories that we share with other
people.
•In contrast to characterizations of personal identity,
which may be highly personal, social identities assume
some commonalities with others.
•In other words, SI refers specifically to those aspects of
a person that are defined in terms of his or her
group memberships (this directly relates to principle 3).
Social identification
•Although most people are members of many different
groups, only some of those groups are meaningful in
terms of how we define ourselves (as with the
example from our discussion).
•In these cases, our self-definition is shared with other
people who also claim that categorical membership,
for example, as a woman, as a Muslim, as a marathon
runner, or as a IB student.
Examples of social groups
•Race
•Religion
•Occupation
•Sport
•Class (upper, middle, lower)
•Sexual orientation
•Club/Organization
Social identity theory
•Social identity theory is based on the assumption that
individuals have a basic need for positive selfesteem, and that self-esteem is wrapped in both
personal and social identities.
•We all have various social identities, based on the
groups to which we belong and with which we
identify.
Social identity theory
•Social Identity Theory (SIT)
was developed by Henri Tajfel in
1979.
•The theory was originally
developed to understand the
psychological basis of intergroup
discrimination.
What is intergroup discrimination
Intergroup discrimination
The minimal conditions that would lead members of
one group to discriminate in favor of the in-group to
which they belonged and against another out-group.
Tajfel’s research
•According to Tajfel, our social identity contributes
to how we feel about ourselves so we seek
positive social identities to maintain and enhance
our self-esteem. Very rarely will we associate
ourselves with a group that we do not deem positive.
•One way of achieving a positive social identity is to
compare our group (in-group) with other groups
(out-groups). Therefore we develop in-group bias or
favoritism.
Tajfel’s research
•Social identity theory predicts that this bias towards
one’s own group can lead to prejudice and the
formation of positive or negative stereotypes (which
is a strength in regards to how the theory explains
stereotypes).
•The theory also speaks to the human tendency to
conform to groups.
Tajfel’s research
Tajfel identified three fundamental cognitive processes
underlying social identity theory;
•Categorization: The first is our tendency to categorize
individuals, including ourselves into groups. This leads to
categorization of the social world into ‘them’ and ‘us’.
Categorizing or grouping ourselves can take place with
incredible ease as demonstrated in Tajfel’s famous
“Minimal Group” studies.
Listen to Tajfel discuss his original experiment
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00yw6km
Read more on Tajfel’s Minimal Group Studies
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gary.sturt/tajfel.htm
Tajfel’s research
Identification: We also adopt the identity of the group we
have categorized ourselves as belonging to which
means we may adopt some of the values and behaviors of that
group. Having this social identity enhances our self-esteem
and acceptance to the group.
What is an example of a social group that requires you to adopt a set
of values and behaviors?
Tajfel’s research
•Comparison: We enhance the sense of identity by making
comparisons with other groups (known as out-groups). Having
a positive social identity or positive distinctiveness means
drawing favorable comparisons with other relevant groups.
•It was the assumption of Tajfel that if our self-esteem is to be
maintained our group needs to compare favorably with other
groups.
•Social Comparison occurs between our group and other
groups that share something in common with us, these are the
out group – in order to make our in-group seem good, we
make unfair negative comparisons to the out group.
Relevant Research
Tajfel and Turner (1979) identified three variables
whose contribution to the emergence of in-group
favoritism is particularly important.
A) the extent to which individuals identify with an
in-group to internalize that group membership as
an aspect of their self-concept.
B) the extent to which the prevailing context
provides ground for comparison between groups.
C) the perceived relevance of the comparison group,
which itself will be shaped by the relative and
absolute status of the in-group.
Evaluation of Social identity theory
Assumptions of SIT
•In the Social Identity Theory, a person has not one,
“personal self”, but rather several selves that
correspond to widening circles of group membership.
What does this mean?
•Different social contexts may trigger an individual to
think, feel and act on basis of his “particular social
group”(Turner et al, 1987).
What are examples of this?
Other Assumptions of SIT
•After being categorized as being apart of a social
group(s), individuals seek to achieve positive selfesteem by positively differentiating their in-group
from a comparison out-group on some valued
dimension (self-serving bias).
Is this true?
•This quest for positive distinctiveness means that
people’s sense of who they are is defined in terms of
‘we’ rather than ‘I’. Is this true? Why or why not?
Strengths of SIT
1.SIT has high experimental support.
For example, Tajfel’s series of studies on minimal
groups which tested to see if prejudice and
discrimination could be created between people simply
because he placed them into distinctive groups.
He found that the simple act of grouping was
enough to induce prejudice. Similarly, in a series of
early studies into prejudice Sherif (1954) found that
boys of a similar age and background were quick to
become hostile to each other when they were put into
two discrete groups during a stay at summer camp.
Strengths of SIT
2) Social Identity Theory has a considerable
impact on social psychology.
It is tested in a wide range of fields and settings and includes
prejudice, stereotyping, negotiation and language use.
The theory has also implications on the way people deal with
social and organizational change.
Strengths of SIT
3) A further strength of social identity theory is that
it provides explanation for real world behavior.
How do we see in-group bias in the real world?
Strengths of SIT
•Furthermore social identity theory can be applied usefully
to reduce prejudice by using the common-in-groupidentity model (Gaertner 1993).
• By re-drawing the group boundary to include rather than
exclude the out group, then hostility between the two
groups would cease.
Strengths of SIT
•For example, in the case of a multi-cultural high school
suffering from race related violence, researchers switched the
students primary social identity from being race members
while at school to being students of the school. There was a
marked decrease in inter-racial violence.
•This is why we are less likely to see racial and other
prejudice when two people assumptiously belong to a
similar sub-group (such as the lower likelihood of racial
discrimination between IB students).
Limitations of SIT
1) Belonging to a group does not necessarily lead to
social identification with that group, since people do
reject their social group. What are examples?
Limitations of SIT
2) Many researchers believe that it is too simplistic an account
of group behavior. Prejudice is usually based on historical
relationships, rather than simply grouping. Conflict could be
due to a history of competition between the groups. This idea is
more consistent with Sherif’s Realistic Conflict Theory which
is an alternative theory of prejudice.
Read more:
http://www.spring.org.uk/2007/09/war-peace-and-role-of-power-in-sherifs.php
Limitations of SIT
3) A further criticism of social identity theory is that by
taking a situational approach it does ignore
dispositional factors that may lead to prejudice.
Perhaps some people are more likely to discriminate
because of their up bringing or personality.
Objective 2.4
Explain the Formation of
Stereotypes and Their Effect on
Behavior
{
What is a stereotype?
What are you being asked to do?
Provide a clear definition of a stereotype.
 Explain the ways that stereotypes form.
 Explain how stereotypes effect behavior

How would you define
stereotype?
What is a stereotype?
A schema or set of beliefs or expectations about
a person based on his or her group
membership.
 In other words, it is placing group disposition
on a person based on their identification with a
group.
 It can also be defined as a social perception of
an individual in terms of group membership or
physical attributes” (Crane and Jette).

Understanding stereotypes
Stereotypes are essentially schemas for a group
based on social and cultural experiences with
members of that group. It is essentially a way
to “place group information on someone when
individual information is not known”.
 To simply state, stereotype is the result of
fundamental attribution error, where people
attach group disposition to behavior in a
situation.

How do we form our stereotypes?
(the common sense view)
The formation of stereotypes
Henri Tajfel proposed that stereotyping (i.e. putting
people into groups and categories) is because of a
human tendency to group things together. In doing so
we tend to exaggerate:
 1. the differences between groups (intergroup
discrimination)
 2. the similarities of things in the same group.

The formation of stereotypes

The commonsense answer to the se questions is
captured in social learning theory. Simply put, we learn
stereotypes from parents (our first and most influential
teachers), friends (e.g., peers), and the media.

Research supports commonsense here but also
indicates that commonsense does not tell the whole story.
The formation of stereotypes

The commonsense answer to the se questions is
captured in social learning theory. Simply put, we learn
stereotypes from parents (our first and most influential
teachers), friends (e.g., peers), and the media.

Research supports commonsense here but also
indicates that commonsense does not tell the whole story.
The formation of stereotypes
Another explanation for how we form stereotypes
comes from research in cognitive psychology on the
categorization process.
 People have a tendency to categorize the world, both
the social and physical world, into a way that makes it
fit into our previous understanding (previously held
schema). This can be seen as “the unwritten principle” of
SCLOA (principle 4)

The formation of stereotypes

Tajfel and others showed empirical support for this
explanation of stereotypes by theorizing that they
develop as a result of what was called social
categorization (Tajfel & Turner, 1971&1979).

The Social categorization view of stereotypes is that we
essentially think categorically by labeling objects, experiences,
and people according to categories—it assumes that stereotypes
are the natural mode of thought.
The formation of stereotypes

Tajfel and others showed empirical support for this
explanation of stereotypes by theorizing that they
develop as a result of what was called social
categorization (Tajfel & Turner, 1971&1979).

The Social categorization view of stereotypes is that we
essentially think categorically by labeling objects, experiences,
and people according to categories—it assumes that stereotypes
are the natural mode of thought.
The formation of stereotypes

Proponents of Social Identity Theory believe this
happens for 2 key reasons.
1.
2.
Cognitive efficiency - once you have categorized you no
longer need to consider information about each individual
member of the group. How does this apply to stereotypes?
It satisfies the need to understand and predict the social
world: Maintaining a level of cognitive control over our world
and to some extent over others-or what he or she is likely to
do (predict).
The formation of stereotypes

Proponents of Social Identity Theory believe this
happens for 2 key reasons.
1.
2.
Cognitive efficiency - once you have categorized you no
longer need to consider information about each individual
member of the group. How does this apply to stereotypes?
It satisfies the need to understand and predict the social
world: Maintaining a level of cognitive control over our world
and to some extent over others-or what he or she is likely to
do (predict).
Can stereotypes influence how we
behave? How so?
How stereotypes effect behavior
As we have previously learned at the CLOA, schemas
can guide our behavior.
 This means that our social schemas (stereotypes) can
consciously or even unconsciously guide our behavior.

Effects of stereotypes (both positive
and negative) on behavior…
Help us to approach current and future situations
(explain this to the reader).
 Creates a bias towards certain people places, or
situations-which can have an evolutionary benefit
(explain this).
 The threat of confirming a group stereotype can also
influence behavior.

Stereo threat
Stereotype threat refers to being at risk of confirming,
as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about
one's group (Steele & Aronson, 1995).
 In other words, it is the experience of anxiety or
concern in a situation where a person has the
potential to confirm a negative stereotype about their
social group.

Stereo threat
Individuals (both children and adults) are exposed to
negative stereotypes through various outlets (e.g., peers,
family, commercials, television shows, magazines) and
socialization.
 Research has suggested that group stereotypes can
sometimes positively and or negatively influences
motivation, and other decision making.

Stereo threat

The effects of stereotype threat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2bAlUKtvMk
Questions?