Chapter 9: Group Processes: Influence in Social Groups Flashcards
what is a group
Two or more people who interact and are interdependent in the sense that their needs and goals cause them to influence each other
-Baseball team vs. people waiting for a bus
why do people join groups
1) Groups have a number of other benefits:
-Important source of information:
-Help us resolve ambiguity in the social world
2) Important aspect of identity:
-Help us define who we are
-Help us feel distinct from other groups
3) Establishment of social norms
what are social norms
Expectations about behavior within the group
what are social roles
-Shared expectations about how particular people are supposed to behave in that group
-If enmeshed in a role, individual identities and personalities can get lost
explain the Zimbardo prison experiment
Zimbardo and colleagues (1973) randomly assigned male volunteers to play roles for two weeks as:
-Prisoners
-Guards
Researchers had to end the experiment after only six days because people took the experiment too seriously and things were becoming dangerous for the prisoners
People reported that they did not feel like they were in an experiment, but that they were in a movie and were just doing what they were told
explain the prison abuse at Abu Ghirab
-2004, American military guards routinely abused prisoners in Abu Ghraib, a prison in Iraq.
-Physical beatings, sexual abuse, and psychological humiliation
The American public was shocked by pictures of
these abuses (guards would take pictures and send them back to people in the states)
-A few bad apples happen to end up in the unit guarding the prisoners?
“What’s bad is the barrel” (Zimbardo)
-Prisons are bad places and people in prisons are funneled into this role to be abusive
what can the presence of others mean
1) Performing a task in front of people
-Playing golf with spectators
-Solitary act – we’ll talk about this one first
2) Performing a task collectively with people
-Playing tug-of-war on a team
-Collective act – we’ll talk about this one second
what is social facilitation
People do better on simple tasks, and worse on complex tasks, when they are in the presence of others and their individual performance can be evaluated
Simple or well-learned task
-Presence of others improves performance
Complex or difficult task
-Presence of others hinders performance
explain the social facilitation study about fishing
-By themselves or in the presence of other children
-They wound fishing rod faster when in the presence of other children than when by themselves
Simple task
-One of the first social psychology experiments ever done
explain the cockroach study and social facilitation
-Study with roaches, either a simple maze or a complex maze
-In the simple maze, cockroaches performed better when there were other roaches watching (finished the maze faster)
-In the complex maze, cockroaches performed worse when there were other roaches watching (finished the maze slower)
explain the explanation for social facilitation; arousal and the dominant response
The presence of others increases physiological arousal
-i.e., our bodies become more energized
-Arousal exists elicits the dominant response – whatever is most likely to happen becomes more likely to happen
Simple tasks: dominant response is success
Complex or new tasks: dominant response is failure
what are three theories about why the presence of others causes arousal and social facilitation
1) Other people cause us to become particularly alert and vigilant.
-Other people are unpredictable, so you have to be more alert around them compared to when you’re by yourself
2) Other people make us apprehensive about how we’re being evaluated.
3) Other people distract us from the task at hand.
what is social loafing
Occurs when individual efforts cannot be distinguished from other group members’ efforts
If less noticeable than when alone: increase relaxation.
-Opposite of social facilitation
People do
-worse on simple tasks
-when you are relaxed you get lazy on things that are easier
-but better on complex tasks
-less pressure on you, easier to relax
explain the social loafing study about pulling a rope
When a group pulled on a rope, each individual exerted less effort than when doing it alone.
-Measured how many pounds of force each individual could pull on the rope, then had all of the members pull the rope (should be a simple task)
-You should get the same amount of lbs on the group rope when adding the individual scores together
-Another early psychology experiment
Result: the numbers did not add up, people were slacking off
explain gender and social loafing
In a review of more than 150 studies:
-Social loafing is more likely among men.
-Women are higher than men in relational interdependence. (men are more concerned with self-goals)
-Personal relationships with other individuals is very important
-This makes women less likely to engage in social loafing (do not want to let down their group)
culture and social loafing
Tendency to loaf stronger in Western cultures than in Asian cultures
Why?
-Asian cultures: Interdependent self
-Reduces social loafing
social facilitation vs. social loafing
Social Facilitation:
-individual performance evaluated
-Others are watching
-Arousal enhances performance on simple tasks but impairs performance on complex tasks.
Social Loafing:
-individual performance not evaluated
-In a group
-Relaxation impairs performance on
simple tasks but improves performance on complex tasks.
what do we need to know to predict if presence of others will help or hurt performance
-need to know two things:
-Can individual efforts be evaluated?
-Is the task simple or complex?
what is deindividuation and some examples
The loosening of normal constraints on behavior when people cannot be differentiated (such as when they are in a crowd), leading to an increase in impulsive and deviant acts
-Massacre at My Lai during the Vietnam War
-Mobs of soccer fans sometimes attacking each other
-Hysterical fans at rock concerts who trampled each other to death
-Lynching of African Americans by people cloaked in the anonymity of white robes
-Mullen (1986) – more people = more savagery
-Watson (1973) – cultures where warriors hide their identities are more savage in battle
-Mischief night: easier for kids to do because they went out in costume
what can deindividuation lead to
Deindividuation sometimes leads to impulsive and sometime violent acts
-Makes people feel less accountable
Increases obedience to group norms
But deindividuation does not always lead to aggressive or antisocial behavior.
-Depends on what the norm of the group is
explain deindividuation online
Deindividuation does not require face-to-face contact
-Example: feeling less inhibited on social media that’s anonymous – internet trolls
Cyberspace also provides advantages for the free and open discussion of difficult topics.
Cost seems to be a reduction in common civility.
The phenomenon of the internet “troll” is a modern example of deindividuation, made possible by the feelings of anonymity that often go along with being online.
what is process loss
Any aspect of group interaction that inhibits good problem solving
explain failure to share unique information
Groups tend to focus on the information they share and ignore facts only some members know
-Leads to poor decisions
study about failure to share unique information
Groups of 4 students must decide if they will elect candidate A who has 4 negative qualities and 8 positive qualities (but is the best candidate for the job)
-One group: every student gets all the information
-Other group: every student gets all 4 negative traits and only two positive traits
Results: group where everyone got all the information select the right candidate, the group where people are not given all the information do not select the right candidate (shows that they do not share information that other people do not know)
