Chapter 8 Lecture 2

Question 1

Explain Thomas Et Al’s study about group polarization regarding how a leader affects everything

Answer 1

• looked at the mistreatment of chicken/raising chickens in inhumane conditions
• one group was given a pamphlet of info from a LEADER talking about how the government hasn’t done anything to prevent inhumane treatment. In the pamphlet it says “we need to lobby the government and engage in peaceful protest and take action within the law to stand up for our chickens”
• another group was given a pamphlet of information from a LEADER, and it says to “ramp up the protests and take more extreme actions”

Then, the group discussed amonst themselves. Group polarization was seen. GROUPS DIVErGED AMONGST THEMSELVES EVEN IF THEY WERE BOTH NUTRAL ON THE TOPIC INITIALLY (the leader and pamphlet in either condition changed their opinion/ made them lean in a direction)

• the peaceful protest group were more in favour for legal protest
• the extreme action group were in favour of engaging in more radical action.

THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT BC IT CAN BE APPLIED TO TERRORIST GROUPS: where leaders are a proponent of violence, neutral followed then discuss their leaders attitudes, causing them to be in favour of this leaders opinion.

ALSO SEEN IN BUSINESS WORLD: if company is making a risky decision, if they discuss it in groups, then it is more likely that they will make the risky decision

Question 2

Explain the study about how group polarization has a role in the legal system (study)

Answer 2

• seen in juries
• study made a mock trial (very realistic, real lawyers and everything)
• created 69 groups of 12 person juries.
• participants heard lawyers on both sides of the issue, then the individual jurors were first asked what their verdict was, and different levels of punishment.
• 80% of individual jurors thought the guy was guilty, but they were uncertain about charge type, so they individually elected to say it was mansalughter

-they then discussed their verdict with each other
after discussion, 100% of jurors thought he was guilty.
- also shifted to a MORE EXTREME DISCUSSION FOR CHARGE: they recommended a HARSHER sentence for 2nd degree murder, even though individually they thought they’d charge with manslaughter

ON THE OTHER HAND: studies show if the juries believe the accused is innocent, they become even more lenient. Evident that Group polarization exacerbates whatever state the individuals were leaning towards.

Question 3

T/F: we tend to not be aware of GP effects

Answer 3

true. we often do not notive that we shift our views.

Question 4

2 theoretical camps for diverse group decision making

Answer 4

1) information/decision making: when there’s diversity in a group, it can improve the performance of the group because we have a broader range of perspectives and skills

2) social categoization perspective: we have a built in tendency to classify people as in groups and out groups. The tendency to compartmentalize people. We end up favouring the in group and discriminate against the out group.
Therefore, it is not very beneficial to have diversity in groups because there will be a clicking and lack of cohesiveness.

Question 5

Explain the diversity study where students had to brainstorm ways to attract tourists to USA (Mcleod et al)

Answer 5

• they put students in brainstorming groups
  group 1 had all white students
  group 2 had diverse students.

–measured quality of ideas and how much group members liked each other

found that group 1 had greater liking for other group members (MORE COHESIVENESS), and group 2 had higher qualities of ideas.

Question 6

Explain the diversity study where businesses were assessed (Herring et al 2009). Describe the follow up study.

Answer 6

• 1000 businesses in USA. correlational study where they tracked the gender and racial diversity in 1000 businesses.

Found that greater diversity = greater profits for business == more successful

FOLLOW UP STUDY (LEVINE ET AL 2015)

• more experimental than the business study
• stock market traders had to predict where the market would go
  1) ethically diverse group of market traders
  2) non-diverse group of market traders
• the ethically diverse group of market traders predicted the markets better, compared to the homogenous group of market traders.

Question 7

research shows that better _____ occurs in ethicallyy diverse groups, but the _____ is higher in homogenous groups.

Answer 7

research shows that better PRODUCTIVITY AND IDEAS occurs in ethicallyy diverse groups, but the COHESIVENESS is higher in homogenous groups.

Question 8

T/F: diverse groups never reach the same amount of cohesiveness as homogenous groups

Answer 8

false. decreased livingness and cohesiveness is SHORT TERM. If you follow a diverse group for a longer period of time, there is an increase in closeness. Therefore, relationships start rocky, but they end up liking each other, and may even begin to exhibit pride in their diversity.