Explain one study of cultural groups

Question 1

theory

Answer 1

A cultural group refers to a population that shares common values, beliefs, and behaviors, which are often shaped by social and economic structures.
Cultural groups are often categorized as individualistic or collectivistic. Individualistic cultures tend to emphasize personal independence, while collectivistic cultures value group harmony and cooperation.

Question 2

aim

Answer 2

One study that explains cultural groups is Berry’s study. The aim was to measure the level of conformity in two types of societies – individualistic and collectivist – by applying a version of the Asch’s paradigm.

Question 3

procedure

Answer 3

Berry studied three different cultural groups: the Temne of Sierra Leone (rice farmers, representing a collectivistic society), the Inuit of Baffin Island, Canada (hunters and fishers, representing an individualistic society), and a control group of urban and rural Scots. Each cultural group was further divided into traditional and transitional subgroups depending on their exposure to Western education or employment. Around 120 participants were tested in each cultural group.
Participants were asked to complete a visual line-matching task similar to the Asch conformity paradigm. After two practice trials to ensure understanding, they were told (in their native language) what most people in their cultural group supposedly answered on the task—even though this response was sometimes incorrect. The degree to which participants conformed to this answer was recorded by measuring how far their answer deviated from the correct line.

Question 4

results

Answer 4

The results showed that the Temne had the highest conformity scores (showing their collectivistic norms), while the Inuit had the lowest (showing their individualistic norms), with the Scots falling in between. These findings held regardless of whether the participants were traditional or transitional.

Question 5

link

Answer 5

This study supports the concept of cultural groups by showing that societies can be meaningfully categorized based on shared environmental, economic, and social conditions that shape common cultural norms and values. By comparing the Temne and Inuit, Berry demonstrated that cultural groups like collectivistic and individualistic societies emerge from these shared conditions. The consistent differences in cognitive styles between the groups provide evidence that cultural context influences how members of a group think and act, supporting the idea that cultural groups can be identified and distinguished based on collective norms shaped by their environment.