chap 7 group influence Flashcards
What Is a Group?
A group exists when two or more people interact for more than a few moments, affect one another in some way, and think of themselves as “us.”
Social Facilitation: How Are We Affected by the Presence of Others?
The presence of others is arousing and helps our performance on easy tasks but hurts our performance on difficult tasks.
Being in a crowd, or in crowded conditions, is similarly arousing and has the same types of effects on performance.
But why are we aroused by others’ presence? This occurs partly because we worry about how we are evaluated by others. The presence of others is also distracting, and that accounts for some of the effects as well. Still, the mere presence of others seems to be arousing throughout the animal kingdom and may be a part of our evolutionary heritage.
Social Loafing: Do Individuals Exert Less Effort in a Group?
When people’s efforts are pooled and individual effort is not evaluated, people generally exert less effort in groups than individually.
Such social loafing is common in everyday life, but when the task is challenging, the group is cohesive, and people are committed to the group, social loafing is less evident.
Deindividuation: When Do People Lose Their Sense of Self in Groups?
Deindividuation occurs when people are in a large group, are physically anonymous, and are aroused and distracted.
The resulting diminished self-awareness and self-restraint tend to increase people’s responsiveness to the immediate situation, be it negative or positive.
Group Polarization: Do Groups Intensify Our Opinions?`
When researchers originally studied the ways that groups make decisions differently from individuals, they found that groups make riskier decisions; but as they examined more types of decisions, they found that groups make more polarized decisions. If individuals would tend to be risky, then groups would make riskier decisions, but if individuals would tend to play it safe, then groups would make less risky decisions.
Groups intensify decisions through group discussions.
Group discussions intensify decisions by exposing us to new arguments and through our comparisons with others in the group.
Groupthink: Do Groups Hinder or Assist Good Decisions?
Analysis of several international fiascos indicates that group cohesion can override realistic appraisal of a situation, leading to bad decisions. This is especially true when group members strongly desire unity, when they are isolated from opposing ideas, and when the leader signals what he or she wants from the group.
Symptomatic of this overriding concern for harmony, labelled groupthink, are (1)an illusion of invulnerability, (2)rationalization, (3)unquestioned belief in the group’s morality, (4)stereotyped views of the opposition, (5)pressure to conform, (6)self-censorship of misgivings, (7)an illusion of unanimity, and (8)“mindguards” who protect the group from unpleasant information.
Critics have noted that some aspects of Janis’s groupthink model (such as directive leadership) seem more implicated in flawed decisions than others (such as cohesiveness).
Both in experiments and in actual history, groups sometimes decide wisely. These cases suggest ways to prevent groupthink: upholding impartiality, encouraging “devil’s advocate” positions, subdividing and then reuniting to discuss a decision, seeking outside input, and having a “second-chance” meeting before implementing a decision.
Research on group problem solving suggests that groups can be more accurate than individuals; groups also generate more and better ideas if the group is small or if, in a large group, individual brainstorming follows the group session.
Leadership: How Do Leaders Shape the Group’s Actions?
Some leaders focus more on tasks and other leaders focus more on the social functioning of the group. Leaders who focus on tasks are often most effective for very high- and very low-functioning groups.
Some leaders, however, combine social and task leadership by listening to followers and seeking to meet their needs but, at the same time, holding them to high standards for performance. These transactional leaders are often very effective.
Other leaders gain a following through their charisma and by offering personal attention. These transformational leaders inspire people to make self-sacrifices for the sake of the group and can lead others to be committed and engaged in the task at hand.
The Influence of the Minority: How Do Individuals Influence the Group?
When minority group members are consistent, they are more likely to influence the group.
When minority group members have self-confidence, they are more likely to influence the group.
When minority group members are consistent and self-confident, they create an atmosphere in which defection from the majority viewpoint can occur.
New Pi R test?
tendency to compliance is a part of agreeableness trade. a personality test.
mere presence?
people are not competing, don’t reward or punish, and in fact do nothing except be present as a passive audience or as co-actors.
distruption effect?
worsening of the performance in the presence of others.
who is Robert Zajouc?
a social psychologist wondered whether these seemingly contradictory findings could be reconciled. Asoften happens at creative moments in science, Zajonc (1965) used one field of research to illuminate another. The illumination came from a well-established principle in experimental psychology: Arousal enhances whatever response tendency is dominant
the effect of social arousal?
boost of performance on easy tasks and hurt performance on difficult tasks.
evaluation apprehension?
it should boost performance on easy tasks and hurt performance on difficult tasks.
Cottrell’s conclusion?
The enhancement of dominant responses is strongest when people think they are being evaluated
