Chapter 12: Groups

Question 1

Social Facilitation

Answer 1

Initially a term for enhanced performance in the presence of others; now a broader term for the effect, positive or negative, of the presence of other people on performance

Question 2

Dominant Response

Answer 2

in a person’s hierarchy of possible responses in any context, the response he or she is most likely to make

Question 3

Evaluation Apprehension

Answer 3

people’s concern about how they might appear to others, or be evaluated by them

Question 4

Distraction-Conflict Theory

Answer 4

a theory based on the idea that being aware of another person’s presence creates a conflict between paying attention to that person and paying attention to the task at hand, and that this attentional conflict is arousing and produces social facilitation effects

Question 5

Social Loafing

Answer 5

the tendency to exert less effort when working on a group task in which individual contributions cannot be monitored

Question 6

Groupthink

Answer 6

faulty thinking by members of highly cohesive groups in which the critical scrutiny that should be devoted to the issues at hand is subverted by social pressures to reach consensus

Question 7

Self-Censorship

Answer 7

Withholding information or opinions in group discussions

Question 8

Risky Shift

Answer 8

the tendency for groups to make riskier decisions than individuals would

Question 9

Group Polarization

Answer 9

the tendency for group decisions to be more extreme than those made by individuals; whatever way the group as a whole is leaning, group discussion tends to make it lean further in that direction

Question 10

Power

Answer 10

the ability to control one’s own outcomes and those of others; the freedom to act

Question 11

Authority

Answer 11

power that derives from institutionalized roles or arrangements

Question 12

Dominance

Answer 12

behavior enacted with the goal of acquiring or demonstrating power

Question 13

Status

Answer 13

the outcome of an evaluation of attributes that produces differences in respect and prominence, and which contributes to determining a person’s power within a group

Question 14

Approach/Inhibition Theory

Answer 14

a theory maintaining that high-power individuals are inclined to go after their goals and make quick (and sometimes rash) judgements, whereas low-power people are more likely to constrain their behavior and pay careful attention to others

Question 15

Deindividuation

Answer 15

a reduced sense of individual identity accompanied by diminished self-regulation that can come over people when they are in a large group

Question 16

Individuation

Answer 16

an enhanced sense of individual identity produced by focusing attention on the self, which generally leads people to act carefully and deliberately and in accordance with their sense of propriety and values

Question 17

Self-Awareness Theory

Answer 17

a theory maintaining that when people focus their attention inward on themselves, they become concerned with self-evaluation and how their current behavior conforms to their internal standards and values

Question 18

Spotlight Effect

Answer 18

people’s conviction that other people are paying attention to them (to their appearance and behavior) more than they actually are