Sociocultural Level of Analysis Questions

Social psychologists believe that as the individual is affected by being part of a group, the individual can also affect behaviour in the group. What is the term used to describe this phenomenon?

• Reciprocal determinism

• Social Identity Theory

• Social determinism

• Bidirectional ambiguity

Answer explanation

Bandura's theory of reciprocal determinism says that our behaviour with a group is bidirectional - an individual affects a group's behaviour and the group influences an individual's behaviour.

According to Asch, why did the participants conform?

• A combination of informational and normative social influence.

• Referential social influence

• Normative social influence

• Informational social influence

Answer explanation

There were some participants who claimed that they thought they didn't understand the directions.  In this case, they followed what others did - a case of informational social influence.  In addition, some said that they felt that they didn't want to look stupid.  In this case, it was normative social influence.

What was the control group in Asch's study?

• A second group was allowed to ask questions.

• Participants matched the lines alone - with no confederates.

• A second group had more participants.

• A second group was told that they were late and to write down their responses.

Answer explanation

Asch wanted to make sure that it was in fact the power of social pressure - and not the ability to read the lines - that made the difference in the participants' responses.

Which of the following is not an advantage of collecting qualitative data?

• It is a  more holistic approach to studying an individual.

• The data is very rich, giving a lot of information to the researcher.

• Qualitative data is easier to analyse than quantitative data.

• Qualitative data is often naturalistic, studying an individual in their normal social context. 

Answer explanation

Quantitative data has the advantage of easily being analysed through statistical analysis; for qualitative data, researchers must carry out content analysis to establish trends in the data.

What does it mean when we say that a social identity has become "salient"?

• That is resistant to change.

• That it can change over time.

• That we are more aware of that particular social identity.

• That we are unaware of the influence of that particular social identity.

Answer explanation

Salience is an important concept in SIT.  It says that when a social identity becomes more salient - that is, when we are made more conscious of this aspect of our identity - it is more likely to have an effect on our behaviour.

Which of the following is not a component of social identity theory?

• Social categorization into in-groups and out-groups

• Social comparison

• Social cognitive learning theory

• In-group bias and the tendency to use group identity to promote self-esteem.

Answer explanation

Tajfel argued that social categorization was the first step, followed by social comparison to those in the out-group.  This then leads to an in-group bias and sense of increased self-esteem. Modern SIT questions whether self-esteem is necessarily the outcome.  Social learning theory is a different theory that looks at how we learn by imitating a model.

What were the findings of Tajfel & Turner’s “Kandinsky vs Klee” study?

• The boys' level of self-esteem increased as a result of being in their in-group.

• The simple act of categorizing oneself as a member of a group led the boys to display in-group favoritism.

• The boys began to dislike members of the out-group.

• The boys began to show more competition when they believed that they were competing with an out-group, rather than against members of their in-group.

Answer explanation

As a result of their groupings, the boys were trying to maximize the point difference between the two groups - an example of in-group favoritism.  The debriefing did not find that the boys were in any way hostile to the boys in the out-group.  The researchers also did not measure the levels of self-esteem of the boys before and after the activity. 

Which of the following is not a factor in social cognitive learning theory?

• Being able to remember the actions of the model.

• Paying attention to a model.

• Having a motivation to replicate the behaviour.

• The model must be a member of the learner's in-group.

Answer explanation

Although research shows that we are more likely to imitate someone who is in our in-group, it is not a necessary factor in social cognitive learning theory.

What is meant by vicarious reinforcement?

• When we are exposed to something over time and learn through repetition.

• When we see someone else get feedback and therefore imitate the behaviour.

• When we get negative feedback and therefore stop a behaviour.

• When we get positive feedback and therefore continue a behaviour.

Answer explanation

Vicarious reinforcement means that we don't have to personally experience a reward or a punishment for a behaviour; we can watch another person experience it and then learn though the process of observation.

The children in Bandura’s study may have acted more aggressive because they thought that the researcher wanted them to.  This is an example of:

• Optimism bias

• Expectancy effect

• Screw you effect

• Researcher bias

Answer explanation

This is an example of a demand characteristic known as "expectancy effect" - when participants try to behave in the way that they think that the researcher wants them to behave.