soc 463/663 (social psych of education) - intro & theories

Week 1: !

!

Introductions

Melanie Tannenbaum Sociology 463/663 Spring 2015

This Week

Who are you?

!! What will this class be like?

!! Theoretical Approaches/Overview

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This Week

Who are you?



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On Your Small Index Card…

Name

! Major/Concentration

! Why are you taking this class?

! One defining and/or interesting fact about yourself.

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About MeName: Melanie Tannenbaum

!Background: I’m originally from NY. I graduated from Duke with a B.A. in psychology (concentrating in educational psychology) in 2009, and I’m about to receive my Ph.D. in social psychology from UIUC (I’m defending my dissertation this semester). I’ve researched achievement goals, persuasion, motivation, and the use of “scare tactics” in behavior change.

!Interesting Fact: This isn’t all I teach! I’m also a group fitness instructor in my free time; I teach PiYo (Pilates/Yoga), Zumba, and SurfSet. I also like competing in mud runs ☺ I’ve done 2 5Ks, 3 Super Spartans, 3 Tough Mudders, and participated in the TM Beta Test this year to pick the new obstacles for 2015!

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This Week

Who are you?



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Goals Take a moment to reflect on why you are taking this class.

! Do you want to be a teacher?

Do you want to go into policy?

Do you want to go into research?

! Even if you are taking this class because of a requirement, you should never only be taking a class because it’s a requirement.

! Take advantage of this opportunity to build your skillset, improve your own life, and maximize your own educations.

Goals

I really want you to reflect on what YOU want to get out of this course, and keep those goals in mind with every choice that you

make throughout the class.

ReadingsYes…there is a lot of reading.

Do I want you to do all of it? Of course!

However…

I will emphasize (in class) which readings are “most important” for the coming week and which ones can be skimmed.

Reading response papers do not have to address all of the readings for that week.

Before the midterm/final exams, I will make sure you know what concepts you need to feel comfortable with. It’s up to you to read/study the materials appropriately.

You have freedom in writing your essays to choose which topics you want to focus on.

Readings There are two books required for this class. They are both short, easy reads, but I strongly recommend you try to fit them in throughout the semester rather than the week they are assigned.

! The Stupidity Epidemic is available at the UNR bookstore.

!The Learning Gap is available on Amazon for very cheap.

!Other than these 2 books, the readings are all articles or book chapters that will be posted on WebCampus.

Reactions You have to submit ten reaction papers via email by 5 PM on the Monday of the week in which we will be discussing those papers.

There are 13 weeks of content in class, so this allows you to skip 3 weeks.

There is no length minimum or maximum — I expect around 1 page, double spaced.

Undergraduates must discuss at least 2 of the readings. Graduate students must discuss at least 3 of the readings. (Unless it’s a week with only 2 readings. Then, 2 readings. Just use your head.)

ReactionsWhat makes a good response paper?

Keep in mind what the goals are.

! Keep you accountable/on track with the readings.

Provide us with discussion material, questions, concerns, connections, etc. for class so we don’t sit around awkwardly silent for an hour.

Let me know ahead of time what people in the class found confusing, interesting, upsetting, intriguing, etc. so I can tailor our class discussion or prepare to answer any specific questions ahead of time.

ReactionsThey will be graded from 0-10.

!For the most part…

!0 = Didn’t send it in.

!5 = Sent it in late or only discussed 1

reading, that sort of thing.

!10 = Fulfilled requirements (discussed

2-3 readings), clearly read the material, put in a good faith effort.

Essays Because this is a capstone course, you are required to do at a significant amount of writing over the course of the semester.

You will have to turn in three essays in order to pass this class.

Essays should be double spaced with 12-point Times New Roman font and 1” or 1.25” margins.

Each essay should be between 2,200 and 2,800 words long (roughly 9-12 pages).

EssaysWhat makes a good essay?

Keep in mind what the goals are.

! Demonstrate relative knowledge.

! Understand, integrate, and draw connections between assigned (and other) materials.

! Show that you have taken a topic from the course that you find interesting and really explored it in depth.

Exams There will be two exams — one midterm & one final.

Most likely, they will be short answer questions. I may include multiple choice, matching, or true/false questions.

The main focus of these exams will be getting you to think, make connections, and synthesize/analyze the information on your own. I want to know what you think and what you have learned & retained.

So, the exams will likely not be a strict regurgitation of information we’ve covered in class — but if you have a good grasp of the material, it should all make sense.

Attendance 10% of your grade is “class participation,” which basically just means attendance.

! I don’t want to penalize people for using the drop/add period, so I will start taking attendance on February 3.

! You will get 3 “free” absences. After 3 absences, I will subtract 2 points from your participation grade (out of a possible 100) for each subsequent absence.

This Week

Who are you?



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Important Points

Sociology Functionalist Theory Conflict Theory Symbolic Interactionism

!Psychological Sociology

!Social Psychology

!Other Important Concepts

Functionalist Theory

Society is like a machine; parts interact to produce the energy to make society work


Education gives people common, shared values &

socializes them into roles to maintain social order.


Émile Durkheim Talcott Parsons


Émile Durkheim

!Industrialization, urbanization, and modernization led to the breakdown of traditional rituals & methods of social control.

!!This led to the breakdown of social solidarity & cohesion.

!!Anomie: Normlessness in society.

“Society can survive only if there exists among its members a sufficient degree of homogeneity; education perpetuates and reinforces this homogeneity by fixing in the child, from the beginning, the essential

similarities that collective life demands.”

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Émile Durkheim

“But, on the other hand, without a certain diversity all cooperation would be impossible; education assures the persistence of this necessary

diversity by being itself diversified and specialized.”

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Émile Durkheim

“Education is, then, only the means by which society prepares, within the children, the essential conditions of its very existence…We come, then, to the following formula: Education is the influence exercised by adult

generations on those that are not yet ready for social life. Its object is to arouse and to develop in the child a certain number of physical,

intellectual, and moral states which are demanded of him by both the political society as a whole and the special milieu for which he is

specifically destined.”

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Émile Durkheim


Émile Durkheim

Education

Shared Values

Peaceful Cohesion


Talcott Parsons

Order & stability in society are the result of the influence of certain values (not a certain structure)

Stable, supportive families are the key to successful socialization

Sexual Division of Labor

Families will operate most efficiently with clear-cut sexual divisions of labor

Women should perform expressive (care/security) roles, and men should perform instrumental (breadwinner) roles.


Talcott Parsons

Education

Good, Moral Values

Peaceful Cohesion

Functionalist TheoryAll of society hangs together organically

Different institutions fulfill different functions

Everything is in the service of maintaining the existing social order

Education = Societal Reproduction

Provides society with the workforce/labor it needs

Creates the mindset that keeps society together

Provides training to make people useful members of society

Functionalist TheoryStability

Education trains the next generation

Existing inequalities are reproduced because they function well

Democracy

Education as the “great equalizer”

Generates potential for innovation

Allows social mobility & opportunity

Functionalist TheoryProblems

The relationship between schooling, skills, and jobs is not as rational as functionalists suggest

!The role of schools in providing equality of opportunity is more problematic than functionalists suggest

!Large-scale research casts doubt on the idea that more schooling brings about more meritocracy

Conflict Theory

The class system separates owners from workers (the

proletariat), and workers from the benefits of their own labor.

Conflict Theory

Class struggle is inevitable; in the end, the proletariat

(working class) will rise up and overthrow the capitalists.

Conflict Theory

Karl Marx Max Weber

Conflict Theory

Karl Marx

Didn’t write much about education, but intellectual founder of conflict theory.

!The class system makes class struggle inevitable.

!Critique of modern capitalism; the proletariat (working class) will eventually rise up and overthrow the capitalists, and establish a socialist society.

!Dominant groups impose values/ideas on subordinate groups.

Conflict Theory

Max Weber

Power relations between dominant & subordinate groups structure societies, BUT class differences alone can’t capture & explain everything.

!Status Groups derived from…

Class ($$)

Power

Culture (Race, Education, Religion, Ethnicity…)

!Education is used as a “marker” of having the right values (i.e., the values that the existing high-status/high-power people want you to have).

Conflicting interests of the “haves” and “have nots”

Economic (Marx)

Economic, Cultural, Prestige, or Political (Weber)

Dominant groups want to maintain hierarchy through education

Marx: Economic Structure ! Culture ! Action

Education reproduces inequality (to advantage the powerful)

Weber: Economic Structure ! Action | Culture ! Action

“Status Culture”

Cultural ideas (independent of economic structure) shape who is awarded prestige & power

Conflict Theory

Code Theory

Basil Bernstein

Language

Credentialism

Randall Collins

Earned Status Markers

Cultural Capital

Pierre Bourdieu

Participation in High Status Culture

Modern Conflict Theories

The language people use in everyday conversation both reflects and shapes the assumptions of a certain social group.

Relationships established within the social group affect the way that group uses language, and the type of speech that is used.

Restricted vs. Elaborated Code

Restricted: Speak using “insider” knowledge; phrases interjected into the middle or end of a thought to confirm understanding.

“You know,” “You know what I mean,“ “Right?”

Elaborated: Longer, more complicated sentence structure.

Complete thoughts providing all necessary details.

Restricted = More common in lower- and working-class backgrounds; impacts ability to do well in school, especially language subjects.

Modern Conflict Theories: Code Theory

Democratic society has competition between different groups

Social Classes

Professions

Educational requirements help groups maintain power

Keep control with the professional (high status) group

Gatekeeping

“We decide who joins”

The higher the entrance requirements, the higher the prestige

Does it really matter that you went to Harvard/Yale/Princeton, or does it just matter that you have the “name brand” on your resume?

Modern Conflict Theories: Credentialism

“Capital” includes much more than just money.

Economic Capital ($$)

Social Capital (Networks, friends, family members, peers)

Cultural Capital (Educational attainment, knowledge, attitudes)

Cultural Capital includes…

Embodied (Language style, personality, way of thinking, character)

Objectified (Scientific instruments, works of art, books, classy stuff)

Institutionalized (Academic credentials, qualifications)

There are a lot of “things” that we can possess that make us higher/lower status, higher/lower class, etc. that aren’t just our bank accounts.

Modern Conflict Theories: Cultural Capital

Evidence for Conflict Theories

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46Less Than HSHS DegreePost-HS VocationalSome CollegeCollege DegreeGraduate Degree

1937

Unskilled Professions

Less Than HSHS DegreePost-HS VocationalSome CollegeCollege DegreeGraduate Degree

1967


1937

Semiskilled Professions


1967


1937

Skilled Professions


1967


1937

Clerical Jobs


1967


1937

Managerial Jobs


1967


1937

Professional Jobs


1967

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0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1965

% 17 Year Olds with HS Diploma% of 18-21 Year Olds in College% 15-24 Year Olds with BA Degree% 25-34 Year Olds with MA Degree

50

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1965

% 17 Year Olds with HS Diploma% of 18-21 Year Olds in College% 15-24 Year Olds with BA Degree% 25-34 Year Olds with MA Degree

Why is education becoming more

necessary in society?

Technical-Function TheoryThe skill requirements of jobs in industrial society are always increasing because of technological change.

The proportion of low-skill jobs goes down.

The proportion of high-skill jobs goes up.

The same jobs get upgraded in skill requirements.

Formal education provides the training (specific skills & general capacities) necessary for higher-skilled jobs.

Educational requirements for employment are always rising, and more of the population must spend more time in school.

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The proportion of low-skill jobs goes down.

The proportion of high-skill jobs goes up.

The same jobs get upgraded in skill requirements.

Formal education provides the training (specific skills & general capacities) necessary for higher-skilled jobs.

Educational requirements for employment are always rising, and more of the population must spend more time in school.

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Serious issues with this explanation.


!This only accounts for a little bit of the educational rise.

!15% of the increase in education of the US labor force during the 20th century can be attributed to shifts in occupational structure.

!The other 85% occurred within job categories.

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Technical-Function TheoryFormal education provides the training (specific skills & general capacities) necessary for higher-skilled jobs.

!Better educated employees are not generally more productive, and are sometimes actually less productive (Berg, 1970)

!Graduates of vocational programs are no more likely to be employed than HS dropouts (Plunkett, 1960; Duncan, 1964)

!Most skilled manual workers acquire skills on the job or casually; formal retraining is used only for a small number of jobs (Collins, 1969; Bright, 1958)

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Technical-Function TheoryEducational requirements for employment are always rising, and more of the population must spend more time in school.

!Even in nonmanual jobs, there is questionable utility for school.

!Only a small percentage of knowledge people gain in courses is retained through next few years (Learned & Wood, 1938)

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Credentialism!Randall Collins

!Educational credentials (like college diplomas) serve more importantly as status symbols than indicators of real achievement.

!Society isn’t becoming more expert; education is just being used more and more by the dominant groups to secure more advantageous places in society for themselves & their children.

Institutional Theory!John Meyer

!Democratic belief that “civilized societies” have expansive, highly developed educational systems.

!Educational expansion often precedes labor market demands.

Interactionist Theory

George H. Mead Erving Goffman

Symbolic Interactionism

Focus on Human Agency

Social structure shapes individual action, BUT…

Individual action also shapes social structure

Focus on Self; “Social Construction of Reality”

Everything is a function of active individual & societal meaning-making & interpretation.

Nothing just “is.”

Inequality is created and reproduced through individual action and interpretation.

Interactionist Theory

Individual Action & Social Construction

Cognitive Interpretation

Subjective Meaning

Socialization, Everyday Encounters

Empathic Understanding of Social Actors

Not much emphasis on causality

Qualitative, not Quantitative

Participant Observation, Ethnography

http://youtu.be/jFQIIM8IRZU


http://youtu.be/jFQIIM8IRZU

Power of the SituationProximal Forces Distal Forces

• Here & Now !!

• Immediate Situation !!

• Perceptions/Construal !!

• Perceiving/reacting to immediate situation

• Removed in Time !!

• Culture/Socialization !!

• Evolution !!

• Shapes behavior on a broader scale

Construal: Interpretations & inferences about stimuli or situations.

!What is this symbol?

The Role of Construal

Many times, the actual situation itself is not as important as

how you interpret it.

!!

Construals determine how we perceive and judge the world around us & social situations.

The Role of Construal

Symbolic InteractionismExample: Race & gender as “social constructs.”

People’s assumptions about race/gender impact how they interact with others.

!Teachers call on & praise boys more often (Jones & Dindia, 2004)

!When teachers think that students are smart, they spend more time with them, call on them more often, and praise them more when they are correct (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968)

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!Development of gender roles within classroom interactions

!Teachers’ expectations of pupils’ abilities impact how much they actually learn.

!Social interactions that occur within schools shape how children are socialized and impact society on a much broader level.

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Functionalism Conflict Theory Symbolic Interactionism

Education socializes children & prepares them

for life in society.

Education produces & reproduces societal

inequality.

Focuses on interactions during schooling & their

outcomes.

Teaches knowledge & also values, ethics, beliefs,

habits, and norms.

Requiring certain credentials can be a tool

for discrimination.

Subjective meanings people put on objects,

events, & behaviors.

Education provides occupational training.

Education can confer status, “upper class”

culture, etc.

People behave based on what they believe, not

just “truth.”

Education keeps kids “off the streets” and out of trouble; provides social

control.

Educational is often used to signal having the

“right” attitudes/values.

In the process of social interaction, people develop & rely on

subjective meaning.

Important Points



!Social Psychology


Wide-Spread Approach

Individual characteristics as a function of position in social structure

Correlational

Psychological Sociology

A B B A

A BC

? ?

? ?

Working ClassMiddle Class

Trait

% S

elec

ting

Trai

t as

Mos

t Des

irabl

eMelvin Kohn

Parental values depend on social class

Important Points



!Social Psychology


Individual Focus

Social Cognition, Perception, Motivation, Attitudes, Stereotypes…

!Intra- and Inter-Individual Processes

“How do stereotypes influence social judgment?”

!Individual = Cognitively Limited but Motivated Actor

!Quantitative Methods & Experiments

Social Psychology

Experiments

Manipulate independent variable (A), keeping all else constant

Observe effects on dependent variable (B)

Random assignment to experimental conditions

Allows for causal conclusions

Variation in A causes variation in B

Potential Problems

May be too contrived, artificial

Generalizability from college students?

Social Psychology

“In short, psychology needs something real to study, and education provides it; education needs a scientific methodology for addressing its

problems, and psychology provides it.”

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Mayer (2001)

Hypothesis: Children need to have phonological awareness (awareness that words can be broken down into sound units & sound units can be

combined to form words) in order to learn how to read.

Evidence:

1. Students who have difficulty learning to read also score lower on tests of phonological awareness.

2. Students who lack phonological awareness when they enter elementary school are also less likely to be strong readers later on.

3. 5- and 6-year-olds who received specialized phonological awareness training for 2 years were 5 times more likely than a control/comparison

group to be able to read words containing 2 or 3 sounds after the training.

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Mayer (2001)

Hypothesis: People understand passages about history by relating the new material to relevant prior knowledge.

Evidence:

“In 1763, Britain & the colonies ended a 7-year war with the French & Indians.”

Most students lack useful/relevant background knowledge to really understand this passage, what it means, or why it’s important.

By re-writing the passage to clarify that Britain and France both wanted the same piece of land in North America, which resulted in the conflict known as the

French & Indian War, students were able to activate their conflict schema — prior knowledge that conflicts occur when two people want to own the same thing.

Students who read the revised passage scored over 50% higher on an essay test.

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Mayer (2001)

Overview of Research Methods/Understanding

Experiments

CorrelationCorrelation Coefficient: A statistical value that indicates how well you can predict one variable using another

A number between -1.00 and +1.00

!All of these correlation coefficients COULD have come from a correlational design or an experimental design.

!Also... CORRELATION DOES NOT IMPLY CAUSATION!

The ability to say one variables CAUSES the other comes from the type of research design, not the type of results.

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Understanding CorrelationsMagnitude

The size of the correlation

0.8 is “stronger” than 0.2

Correlation between IQ and final grade: 0.8

Correlation between SAT score and final grade: 0.2

Final grade & IQ have a stronger correlation than final grade & SAT score

Direction

Whether the correlation is positive or negative

-0.8 is negative; 0.8 is positive

Correlation between IQ and final grade: -0.8

Having a higher IQ is related to having a lower final grade

Correlation between IQ and final grade: 0.8

Having a higher IQ is related to having a higher final grade

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Understanding Correlations!Magnitude

How strong is the relationship?

How closely are the two variables related to each other?

Doesn’t matter if one goes up when the other goes down.

!Direction

Do the variables go in the same direction (as one gets bigger, the other gets bigger) or do they go in opposite directions (as one gets bigger, the other gets smaller)?

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Problems with Correlations!Reverse Causality

X may cause Y

Y may cause X

!!Third Variable Problem

X and Y may BOTH be caused by some unmeasured variable Z

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Causality

We should only make causal claims (“X causes Y”) if we have conducted an experiment that includes:

Manipulation of Independent Variables

Random Assignment

Control Conditions

!These factors take care of concerns with both reverse causality and third variable problems.

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Experimental Design

Independent Variable (IV)

The variable that is manipulated by the researcher

Hypothesized to cause changes in the DV

Assignment to different levels must be random.

!Dependent Variables (DVs)

The variable(s) that are measured — Grades, scores, etc.

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Experimental Design

Control Condition

A group assigned to some inherently meaningful level of an IV

Often “0” (the absence of the IV) but sometimes not

Used as the comparison group

!Random Assignment

Assigning participants to different groups such that they are just as likely to be placed into one group as another.

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Random assignment to a manipulated independent variable (IV) is the hallmark of experimental design.

This ensures that people are evenly distributed across conditions.

“Cancels out” pre-existing differences between subjects.

!Allows us to conclude that different levels of the IV actually cause differences in the DV.

No longer need to worry about reverse causality or third variable problems.

86Importance of Random Assignment

Importance of Random Assignment

Hypothesis: Being in an accelerated class increases motivation.

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Motivated Students

Unmotivated Students

Initial group

Accelerated Class

Basic Class


○ Without Random Assignment:Accelerated Class

Basic Class


○ With Random Assignment:Accelerated Class

Basic Class

Does random assignment solve all of our concerns?

No!

You can still get biased samples for various reasons.

It’s important to replicate findings (ideally with different subject populations and different measures).

!Overall, if a result replicates while using random assignment and manipulating IVs, we’re comfortable making claims about causality.

!Causal logic should not be a black-and-white “yes/no” decision.

90Importance of Random Assignment

Other Useful Concepts for Understanding Research

Reliability & Validity Reliability

Does the measure consistently give you the same assessment of the underlying variable?

If you take an IQ test four times over a year, will you get the same results (or pretty close) each time?

!Validity

Does the measure accurately capture the variable?

Is an IQ test the best way to capture everything important that we want to know about intelligence?

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Reliability & Validity

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Reliability & ValidityWeighing yourself on a scale…

You “really” weigh 150 pounds

You weigh yourself every day for 1 week

!Scale #1: Reliable but not valid

120, 121, 119, 120, 120, 123, 117

Consistent, but nowhere close to 150

!Scale #2: Valid but not reliable

150, 140, 160, 145, 165, 130, 170

Averages out to 150, but very inconsistent

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Reliability & Validity

Example: Intelligence & IQ

!If IQ is a reliable measure, you should get (roughly) the same IQ score every single time you take an IQ test.

!If IQ is a valid measure, it should correlate very strongly & positively with your GPA, SAT/ACT scores, teacher evaluations, and scores on other intelligence tests, like the Cognitive Reflection Test.

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Important Points



!Social Psychology


Social StructureRelatively stable patterns of social interaction that characterize human social life

Micro Structures

Status

Social Roles

Macro Structures

Social Institutions

Social structures are created by individuals and

Individuals are shaped by social structures.

Social InteractionBasis of social structure

Critically important for psychological life

Characteristics

Social Structure

Dynamic

Mutual Influence

Behavioral & Cognitive Aspects

Situational/Environmental Factors

Expectations

The Thomas TheoremIf people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.

Objective Reality

Subjective Understanding

Subjective Response

Individual Behavior

Inzlicht & Ben-Zeev (Study 1)

Is women’s math performance affected by the presence of men?

!If so, how?

Wom

en’s

Acc

ura

cy

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

Math Scores Verbal Scores


Women do worse on math (but not verbal) tests

in the presence of men


Wom

en’s

Ma

th P

erfo

rma

nce

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

1 woman 2 men

2 women 1 man

3 women 0 men

Important PointsSociology

Functionalist Theory Conflict Theory Symbolic Interactionism

Psychological Sociology

Intra- and inter-individual processes as a function of position within society

Social Psychology

Intra- and Inter-individual processes

Other Important Concepts

Social Interaction

Social Structures

104Group 1 Group 2 Group 3

Functionalism Conflict Theory Symbolic Interactionism

Do you think that you are learning skills in

college that you will use in your job

someday?

In your opinion, what is the value of a college degree? Why did you

go to college? Why do you think most people

go to college?

What do you think are some examples of classroom objects/

situations that students might interpret

differently?

Do you think that some majors teach more practical skills than others? If so, how?

Other than the examples already discussed, can you think of any more examples of non-

monetary “capital”?

How & why do you think teachers form

expectations of students?

What are some examples of things

learned in the classroom that help

society function well/effectively?

Which groups benefit the most from the

current higher education system? How could this be

changed?

What are some “big things” other than

gender roles that might be socialized through

classroom interactions?