Chapter 8 - Group Influence Flashcards
Social facilitation
Social arousal facilitates dominant responses, such as eating, running, or simple motor skills, but hinders more effortful responses.
Social loafing
The tendency to make less effort when you believe your individual effort is not being monitored, only the success of your group. (Ex: Someone always slacks on the group project. Communisst farms are less productive).
Deindividuation
Loss of a sense of ones own identity because of the anonymity of being in a larger group. (Ex: Ku Klux Klan Members are more likely too be brutal because they are wearing masks and in a group- they do not feel responsible as individuals for their actions.)
Group polarization
The tendency to become more X if you hang out with a lot of people who are also X.
Groupthink
The tendency of decision making groups to suppress dissent in favor of harmony.
Preventing groupthink
Encourage diverse opinions. Being impartial. Critical evaluations. Subdivide the group.
Symptoms of groupthink
Making decisions that people actually had doubts about, and maybe nobody wanted! Illusion of invulnerability. Unquestioned belief in the group’s morality. Closed-mindedness. Views rivals as too evil, weak, or stupid.
Evaluation apprehension
The discomfort of being evaluated by onlookers, which can cause one to “choke” or make mistakes.
Mere presence
We can experience some social effects (such as social facilitation) just through another person’s presence.
Risky shift
People in groups make more risky decisions than people by themselves. (In reality, it’s group polarization. People lean further towards their initial inclinations)
Informational influence
People are influenced by arguments alone.
Normative influence
We may have stronger opinions once we know that others share our views.
Pluralistic ignorance
People don’t realize how often or how strongly others exhibit the socially preferred tendency.
