Lecture 8 - Intragroup & Intergroup Dynamics

Question 1

What is a social group?

Answer 1

2 or more people who share some common characteristic (or goal) that is socially meaningful to themselves or others

Question 2

How do groups differ?

Answer 2

they differ with regard to how much INTERACTION & INTERDEPENDENCE exists between members

Question 3

What is interdependence?

Answer 3

the extent to which each group member’s thoughts, feelings and actions impact the others

Question 4

What are the 2 types of interdependence?

Answer 4

task interdependence - where group members rely on each other for mastery of material rewards through the performance of collective
tasks

social interdependence - where group members rely on each other for feelings of connectedness, respect & acceptance.

Question 5

What are the 2 main types of grouos?

Answer 5

1) primary / intimacy groups - family, friends; focused on social interdependence

2) secondary / task groups - work teams, committees; but social interdependence can influence their performance of tasks (e.g if group members don’t get along)

Question 6

What did Tuckman (1985) describe?

Answer 6

the typical stages of efforts to coordinate task and social interdependence

1. forming
2. storming
3. norming
4. performing
5. adjourning

Fat Sam Navigates Peaceful Alleyways

Question 7

What is 1. Forming?

Answer 7

where individuals come together to form a group

members try to understand the nature of their interdependence, group structure, and group goals

usually have a group leader

Question 8

What is 2. Storming?

Answer 8

negotiations occur around nature of group member roles + responsibilities

involves conflict (relationship, task, process conflict)

Question 9

How do conflicts impact performance?

Answer 9

Relationship and process conflict DECREASE performance

Task conflict INCREASES performance

Question 10

What is 3. Norming?

Answer 10

where group norms emerge

characterized by consensus, harmony, stability, commitment, and cohesion + group related social identity

trust + commitment are high; leadership viewed as normal + acceptable

Question 11

What is 4. Performing?

Answer 11

where members cooperate to solve problems, make decision, or produce outputs

involves exchange of info, productive resolution of disagreements, and a continued commitment to group goals

Question 12

What is 5. Adjourning?

Answer 12

the dissolution of the group

when the group has fulfilled its purpose, or was set to end at a particular time

often marked by a period of evaluating wok, sharing feelings about group

can be difficult if commitment made is important to identity of group members

Question 13

What is group socialization?

Answer 13

refers to the cognitive, affective, and behavioural changes that occur as individuals join and leave groups

Question 14

What were the 3 mutual processes proposed by Moreland and Levine (that occur when the individual leaves and joins groups)?

Answer 14

1) investigation - trying to seek out info about the group & group seeking info about potential member

2) socialisation - where group tries to mould the individual into one of them (team player); member acquires and internalizes group knowledge, adopts norms, becomes fully committed + identity

3) maintenance - now a fully committed group member, the individual takes on a specific role in the group

Question 15

What is social facilitation?

Answer 15

an increase in the likelihood of highly accessible responses due to the presence of others - we show an increased effort in the presence of others

Question 16

What did Markus (1978) find about social facilitation?

Answer 16

that mere presence (others simply being present) and being watched (attentive audience) improves the performance of familiar actions but impairs the performance of unfamiliar actions

Question 17

Why does social facilitation happen?

Answer 17

• the presence of others can INCREASE AROUSAL - being watched can lead to EVALUATION APPREHENSION, or DISTRACTION
• increased arousal can lead to better performance for well-rehearsed, accessible responses (DOMINANT RESPONSES) but worse performance for novel, complex, inaccessible responses (NON-DOMINANT RESPONSES)

Question 18

What is social loafing?

Answer 18

the tendency to exert less effort on a task when done in a group that when done alone

Question 19

Social loafing and social facilitation describe the ___________ and not the performance itself

Answer 19

motivational process

Question 20

What did Latane, Williams, and Harkins (1979) find about social loafing?

Answer 20

There was a decrease in clapping / cheering loudness as group size increased - performance was highest when participants were alone

Question 21

How can social loathing be reduced?

Answer 21

1. make the task more interesting / involving
2. increase participant accountability
3. reduce group size
4. increase commitment to / identification with the group

Question 22

Do collectivist or individualist cultures show more loading?

Answer 22

People from collectivist cultures show less loafing than those from individualistic cultures

Question 23

What is de-individualization?

Answer 23

refers to the psychological state in which group or social identity completely dominates personal / individual identity so that group norms become maximally salient

one acts as a prototypical group member

Question 24

What causes de-individualisation?

Answer 24

caused by anonymity, wearing uniforms, being in a crowd of group members, or just being one amongst similar others

INCREASES accessibility of group norms, decreases accessibility of PERSONAL standards

Question 25

What did Johnson & Downing (1979) find about de-individualisation?

Answer 25

They found that deindividualisation (anonymity) exacerbates the effects of group norms on behaviour – people were more likely to administer shocks (adhering to group norms) when deindividualized (more anonymous) or wearing uniforms

Question 26

What is social categorization?

Answer 26

refers to the basic human tendency to classify stimuli in different categories

social groups influence what we think, feel & do, & form one of the key bases of social perception

can be automatic (we view others based on gender, age, race. . .)

Question 27

What is self-categorization?

Answer 27

refers to the process of seeing oneself as a group member

• esp when accessibility is high (experiencing direct reminders of group membership - i’m a unimelb student)
• esp when salience is high (when we are the minority)

Question 28

What are some processes that make up group socialization?

Answer 28

1) social facilitation
2) social loafing
3) de-individuation
4) social categorization
5) self-categorization

Question 29

What is the category differentiation model proposed by Doise (1978)

Answer 29

we tend to over-estimate differences b/w our group and other groups (intergroup differentiation) as well as overestimate similarities b/w ourselves & other group members (within group homogeneity)

Question 30

What did Platz & Hosch (1988) find about outgroup homogeneity?

Answer 30

convenience store clerks were better at remembering members of their own racial group

outgroup homogeneity = seeing outgroup members as all alike makes it difficult to identify a single member of that group

Question 31

Define stereotype

Answer 31

a cognitive representation of impressions/expectancies about a social group (probable behaviour, traits, features)

Question 32

Distinguish between stereotypes and prejudices

Answer 32

stereotype = belief

prejudice = evaluation (attitudes) of a social group
or its members

discrimination = behaviour

Question 33

What did Duncan (1976) find about stereotyping?

Answer 33

had white American participants witness an ambiguous shove
(aggressive or playful) between confederates of different social categories (white vs African American). The stereotype of the group to which the shover belonged
influenced their interpretation – aggression was part of the African American stereotype.

Question 34

What is the stereotype content model (Fiske et al, 2002)?

Answer 34

suggests that stereotypes tend to be formed around 2 broad dimensions of content - WARMTH, and COMPETENCE

4 types of stereotypes:
1) paternalistic
2) admiration
3) envious
4) contemptuous

Question 35

What is enough to activate a stereotype?

Answer 35

can be automatically activated

even the mere presence of a social category cue (e.g. category label, salient category feature) can be enough

Question 36

What is the implicit associations test (IAT)?

Answer 36

an implicit measure of the associations between social categories + attitudes (prejudice, self-esteem)

work on a response-time paradigm which tells us something about the underlying stereotypes

Question 37

What is ingroup favouritism?

Answer 37

we tend to have more favourable attitudes and behaviours towards groups to which we belong than to groups to which we don’t belong

Question 38

When does ingroup favouritism occur?

Answer 38

under minimal conditions (minimal group paradigm)

Tajfel et al – mere categorization based on minimal group conditions elicited ingroup favouritism

linked to social identity theory

Question 39

What is social identity theory?

Answer 39

we are composed of personal and group-related (social) identities

we tend to have a positive self-concept (valuing me and mine) - in order to maintain positive self-esteem

motivated to increase positivity of ingroups

Question 40

What is an example of group serving biases? (What did Oskamp & Harty propose)

Answer 40

actions are deemed positive when performed by ingroup, but not when performed by outgroup (killing when conducted by the ingroup versus conducted by the enemy outgroup)

Question 41

What is the ultimate attribution error (group serving bias)?

Answer 41

ingroup positive behaviours are attributed to disposition (internal factors) whereas outgroup positive behaviours are attributed to situation (external factors). AND VICE VERSA

Pettigrew, 1979

Question 42

Ariyanto et al (2009) - what did they find about ultimate attribution error?

Answer 42

a study where Muslims or
Christians read about either Muslims or Christians doing bad things to one another.
Participants attributed the violent behaviour of their ingroup to a history of conflict in the area, self-defence etc (situational explanations), whereas when asked to attribute the behaviour of the outgroup their explanations were all dispositional (e.g.
because the outgroup are bad people, because they are fanatics).

This was done to
enhance/maintain the positive image of the group, and therefore maintain/enhance
their own self-esteem.

Question 43

What is escalation?

Answer 43

group categorization lays the groundwork for conflict

other factors escalate the US vs THEM mentality (threat, competition)

Question 44

What does realistic conflict theory say about competition?

Answer 44

suggests that intergroup hostility arises from competition amongst groups for scarce (& thus valued) material resources

Question 45

What did Taylor & Moriarty find about realistic conflict theory?

Answer 45

divided participants into two groups, and asked them to
problem solve for reward.

There were two conditions
– interdependent vs competitive.

Ingroup favouritism was exacerbated under the
competition condition.

Question 46

What is intergroup threat? And what does integrated threat theory suggest?

Answer 46

suggests that outgroups pose a range of threats:

1) REALISTIC - material wellbeing

2) SYMBOLIC - threat to system of values

3) INTERGROUP ANXIETY - feelings of anxiety people experience during intergroup interactions associated with negative outcomes for the self (embarrassed, rejected, ridiculed)

Question 47

What is a good method of prejudice reduction?

Answer 47

CONTACT
the more contact one has with an outgroup, the less prejudice one expresses - can either be extended contact or imagined contact

Question 48

When is contact (as a method of prejudice reduction) most effective?

Answer 48

when people are of equal status, have shared goals, and the contact is sanctioned by an authority, and there is an absence of competition

Question 49

How does contact help to reduce prejudice?

Answer 49

reducing anxiety about the outgroup, and increasing empathy / perspective taking

however, direct contact does NOT help by increasing knowledge about the other group

Question 50

What is extended contact?

Answer 50

knowing that other ingroup members have outgroup friends can reduce intergroup bias

Wright et al found that friendliness was the only condition out of 3 that led to less prejudice towards outgroup

Question 51

What did Galinsky & Moskowitz (2000) find about empathy & perspective taking in reducing prejudice?

Answer 51

formed groups based on the minimal group paradigm,
and found that taking the perspective of an outgroup member reduces ingroup
favouritism.

Question 52

How does changing categorization of outgroup members reduce prejudice?

Answer 52

RECATEGORIATION = us vs them becomes ‘we’

DECATEGORISATION = ‘they’ becoming individuals

Question 53

What did Gaertner et al find about changing categorisation and prejudice?

Answer 53

Gaertner et al. (1989) found that in-group favouritism decreased both when participants
were re-categorized into one new, subordinate group with new structure & identity, as well as when decategorized into separate individuals with nicknames. Reductions in favouritism were highest in the de-categorization (separate individuals) condition

Question 54

What is one final method of reducing prejudice?

Answer 54

PROMOTING COOPERATION (positive interdependence / shared goals)

ROBBER’S CAVE: When cooperative interaction was introduced, with superordinate goals (shared
goals that can only be achieved if the groups work together), intergroup conflict was markedly decreased