3A Others: Social Psychology Flashcards
Define group
Collection of two or more people who interact with and influence one another and share a common purpose
Explain what deindividuation is and the two factors it consists of.
Abandoning usual restraints to join in on group behaviour
Factors include:
- Anonymity
- Shift in attention
Describe Zimbardo & Colleague’s study on deindividuation including the method & results (1970)
Examined the impact of deindividuation on student’s willingness to deliver electric shocks to another student. One group had their identities concealed with hoodies and the other group were in normal clothing with name tags.
Results showed anonymous students prepared to deliver stronger shocks than the identifiable, due to power of the individual being an unidentifiable face in the crowd.
What did Reicher say that deindividuation leads to?
- Increased awareness of social norms, where positive social norms = positive group behaviour
Describe Johnson & Downing’s study on deindividuation (1979)
- Separated participants into two groups of nurses and the KKK where half of each group had their faces seen and the other half hidden
- Nurses behaved in caring norms of the group (decreased shocks)
- KKK behaved in manners of the group (increased shocks)
- Anonymity increased normative tendencies
Describe cooperation in groups
- Groups need to work together to achieve a desired outcome
- problems can arise when there is group conflict and the group doesn’t work together
- Boosts productivity
Describe competition in groups
- Reduces group cohesion
- Increases group solidarity
- Leads to intergroup hostility for scarce but valued resources
Describe brainstorming in groups
- Is used to generate ideas in a group
- Members are encouraged to to be uninhibited in generating their ideas
- Can offer suggestions without worrying if they’re practical or not
- Encouraged to build on or combine ideas already offered
Define social loafing
Putting less effort into an activity when in a group then when alone, as people feel less accountable for their actions and feel that their efforts aren’t as important
Describe Alan Ingham’s study of social loafing
- Asked blindfolded students to pull a rope as hard as they could
- Tricked into believing they were a part of a team, and only put in 82Z% effort compared to when pulling alone
Name the 5 ways in which social loafing can be reduced
- If the task is interesting to the individual
- If individual performance is monitored
- Members are motivated
- Individual contribution is essential to success
- If the individual identifies strongly with the group
Describe communication as a factor affecting group behaviour
- Thought that groups could generate more ideas & create products faster when working together
- This is not always the case when:
People are easily distracted
One person is ‘running the show’
Only one person can talk at a time
Describe closeness as a factor affecting group behaviour
- How much a person feels apart of a group will affect their behaviour
Describe continuity of relationships as a factor affecting group behaviour
- defined as a state of stability and absence of disrupting from a relationship over a long period of time
- If the relationship is stable, group exhibits cohesive behaviour
Describe group cohesiveness as a factor affecting group behaviour
- Needs to be organised
- Tasks & roles assigned
- Strengths and weaknesses need to be known
- Encourage cooperation not competition
- High cohesiveness = high productivity
