Chapter 8: Group Influence Flashcards
Social facilitation
dominant tendencies enhanced when more evaluation occurs
Social Loafing
The tendency for people to exert less effort when they pool their efforts toward a common goal than when they are individually accountable,
Deindividuation
Loss of self-awareness and evaluation apprehension
occurs in group situations that foster responsiveness to group norms, good or bad
Group polarization
Group-produced enhancement of members’ preexisting tendencies;
a strengthening of the members’ average tendency, not a split within the group
Groupthink
concurrence-seeking thinking becomes so dominant in a cohesive in-group that it tends to override realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action.
Symptoms of groupthink
- Illusion of invulnerability
- Collective efforts to rationalize
- Unquestioned belief in group’s inherent morality
- Stereotyped views of rivals as too evil to warrant genuine attempts to negotiate
- Direct pressure on dissenting members
- Self-censorship
- Shared illusion of unanimity
- Mindguards
Preventing groupthink
- Slow down
- Critical analysis
- Attempt impartially
- Devil’s advocate
- Subdivide then reunite
- Welcome critiques
Evaluation apprehension
Concern for how others are evaluating us
Mere presence
Even in situations where there should be no evaluation apprehension or distraction, social facilitation can still occur.
Risky shift
decisions made in groups to be less conservative than the decision of the average group member
Informational influence
Conformity occurring when people accept evidence about reality provided by other people
Normative influence
Conformity based on a person’s desire to fulfill others’ expectations, often to gain acceptance
Pluralistic ignorance
occurs when people mistakenly believe that everyone else holds a different opinion than their own, results in them not expressing this opinion.
