SCLOA STUDIES

Social Identity Theory 2

Social Cognitive Theory 2

Stereotypes 3

Cultural Origins of Behavior, Cultural Dimensions 4

Enculturation 5

Acculturation 6
Social Identity Theory

● Sherif et al. (1954)

○ Aim: To observe the nature and spontaneous development of
group organization, attitudes, and norms
○ Methodology:
■ 22 boys aged 11-12, all healthy, socially well-adjusted,
somewhat average intelligence, and from table white,
protestant, middle-class homes
■ 2 conditions; "The Eagles" and "The Rattlers"
■ The researchers organized a summer camp with the camp
park staff (covert observation)
■ Researchers collected data by direct observation notes or
cameras and microphones
■ The two groups were kept separate on camp and played a
lot of activities to create a group bond and identity
■ After group identities were established, the researchers
introduced "conflict" through games and situations where
one group would be benefited at the expense of the other
■ The games started well until the boys started insulting the
opposing group and started showing hostility
■ This confirmed that conflict can arise between groups from
group identity
■ During a 2-day cooling period, when the boys were asked to
list features of the 2 groups, they tended to characterize
their in-group with favorable terms and characterized the
out-group with unfavorable terms
■ The researchers wanted to resolve the conflict between the
groups by making them work together, which eased the
 tension and resulted in less negative ratings of the other
group
○ Results:
■ The study revealed one of the ways that intergroup conflict
and negative intergroup attitudes may emerge.

Social Cognitive Theory

● Bandura (1961)
○ Aim: To demonstrate that if children are passive witnesses to
aggression, they will imitate the aggressive behavior when given
the opportunity.
○ Methodology:
■ 72 participants, 36 girls and 36 boys with a mean age of 52
months
■ One female and one male acted as role models
■ 3 conditions; a control group (no models), a group exposed
to an aggressive model, and a group exposed to a passive
model
■ Groups were further broken down to 6 children of the
same sex and were exposed to either the aggressive
or non-aggressive condition, with or without
same-sex models in each condition
■ The non-aggressive condition had the model play
with other dolls, ignoring the Bobo doll
■ The aggressive condition had the model play with
other toys and then aggressively played with the
Bobo doll
■ Aggression was displayed physically and verbally
 ■ In stage 2, the child was taken to a room with attractive toys
that were told not to be played with
■ In stage 3, the child was taken to a room with
non-aggressive toys and the Bobo doll
○ Results:
■ Children who saw the aggressive model made more
aggressive acts than children who saw the non-aggressive
model
■ When the model was the same sex, the children showed
more aggression
■ The boys showed more aggression than the girls, but the
girls punched the bobo more than the guys

Stereotypes

● Steele and Aronson (1995)

○ Aim: To see how stereotype threat affects test performance in
African Americans
○ Methodology:
■ 76 male and females, black and white undergraduates from
Stanford University
■ 2 independent variables; race of the participant and the test
description
■ Participants were given a standardized test of verbal ability
■ 2 conditions; focus on verbal ability and focus on
problem-solving
○ Results:
■ No significant difference between genders (gender is not a
factor to test scores)
 ■ The African Americans did poorly when they believed that
the test was a test of their ability but did just as well as
Americans when it was a test of their problem-solving
■ African Americans performed less well than their white
counterparts in the stereotype threat condition
■ The non-threat condition had their performance equated
with their white counterparts

Cultural Origins of Behavior, Cultural Dimensions

● Berry (1967)
○ Aim: To measure the level of conformity in collectivistic and
individualistic societies either exposed or not exposed to Western
influence
○ Methodology:
■ 3 distinct cultures, 120 participants in each group; Temne
society (collectivistic), Inuit (individualistic), and Scots
(control)
■ Temne and Inuit were made up of people who had
never had a Western education (traditional) and
those who had Western education/employment
(transitional/accultured group)
■ Scots were urban and rural
■ Everyone was brought into a room alone and was given a
set of 9 lines
■ For the first two tests, they were asked to match the line at
the bottom with a line that was at the top that looked
similar
 ■ This was done twice to ensure that directions were
understood
■ The questions were given in their own language using a
pre-translated set of instructions and questions
■ After the first two trials, there were 4 more
■ On the third trial, they received a hint; "most
[respective culture] people say that [designated line]
is equal to the line at the top"
■ This hint was given to test whether the participants would
conform or not
■ For the third trial, the correct answer was given, but in the
4-6 trials, wrong responses were given, with each response
being 5 lines away from the correct one
■ DV: The number of lines that were away from the correct
line total score is 0-15
○ Results:
■ Temne:
■ Traditional: 9.04
■ Transitional: 8.61
■ Inuit
■ Traditional: 2.75
■ Transitional: 2.25
○ The traditional had higher conformity rates than transitional
Enculturation

● Fagot et al. (1978)

○ Aim: To investigate the role that parents may play in gender-role
development
○ Methodology:
■ 24 families (12 with a boy and 12 with a girl) that were white
but varied in income
■ Observers used a checklist of 46 child behaviors and 19
reactions by the parents
■ 5 60-minute observations were completed for each family
over 5 weeks
■ The observer used time sampling, taking note of each
child's behavior every 60 seconds and the parents' response
■ Two observers were used to establish inter-code reliability,
which reduces researcher bias
■ The agreement between the observers on the child's
behavior was 0.93 and the parent's reaction was 0.83
■ After observations, each parent was asked to rate the 46
behaviors more appropriate for girls, boys, or neutral
○ Results:
■ Boys were more likely to be left alone than girls and
negative responses were given
■ Parents gave more positive feedback when children played
with "same-sex" toys (e.g. dolls for girls and blocks for boys)
■ Heavy motor activities were highly criticized by parents of
girls
■ Fathers were more concerned with appropriate "sex-typing"
than mothers
 ■ Both parents found more behaviors more appropriate for
girls only than for boys
■ On the questionnaire, the parents did not see asking for
help as a "sex-preferred" behavior, but their actions showed
otherwise, suggesting that parents are not fully aware of
the methods they use to socialize with their children

Acculturation

● Berry (1967)
○ Aim: To measure the level of conformity in collectivistic and
individualistic societies either exposed or not exposed to Western
influence
○ Methodology:
■ 3 distinct cultures, 120 participants in each group; Temne
society (collectivistic), Inuit (individualistic), and Scots
(control)
■ Temne and Inuit were made up of people who had
never had a Western education (traditional) and
those who had Western education/employment
(transitional/accultured group)
■ Scots were urban and rural
■ Everyone was brought into a room alone and was given a
set of 9 lines
■ For the first two tests, they were asked to match the line at
the bottom with a line that was at the top that looked
similar
■ This was done twice to ensure that directions were
understood
 ■ The questions were given in their own language using a
pre-translated set of instructions and questions
■ After the first two trials, there were 4 more
■ On the third trial, they received a hint; "most
[respective culture] people say that [designated line]
is equal to the line at the top"
■ This hint was given to test whether the participants would
conform or not
■ For the third trial, the correct answer was given, but in the
4-6 trials, wrong responses were given, with each response
being 5 lines away from the correct one
■ DV: The number of lines that were away from the correct
line total score is 0-15
○ Results:
■ Temne:
■ Traditional: 9.04
■ Transitional: 8.61
■ Inuit
■ Traditional: 2.75
■ Transitional: 2.25
○ The traditional had higher conformity rates than transitional