Exam 2: Group vs. Self

Question 1

Do Groups Make Better Decisions Than Individuals?

Answer 1

At times, no!!

Question 2

Groupthink

Answer 2

• Tendency to suppress dissent in the interest of group harmony
• Seeking agreement/maintaining group harmony becomes more important than realistic appraisal of all courses of action
• More concerned about group reaction

Question 3

What Leads to Groupthink? (Antecedent Conditions)

Answer 3

• Highly cohesive group (inclusion)
• Homogenous group members (all the same)
• Directive leader who voices opinion (person with power has an effect on your decision)
• Lack procedures to consider alternatives (too difficult to make others be on-board with an alternative idea)
• Insulation from outside forces (no opportunity to get outside opinions)
• Pressure to come to decision in short time
• Perceive threats to group (high stress)

Question 4

What Leads to Groupthink? (Symptoms)

Answer 4

• Outgroup Homogenic Effect: you think outgroup is all the same/don’t know about topic & ingroup is good/knowledgable on topic
• Illusion of Invulnerability: creating excessive optimism & encouraging risk taking
• Illusion of Unanimity: silence is viewed as agreement
• Belief that the “group” is good
• Stereotyped view of outgroup
• Direct pressure to conform
• Mindguards: people who prevent disagreement right immediately
• Result is defective decisions

Question 5

How Can We Prevent Groupthink? (Prevention)

Answer 5

• Leader encourages dissent
• Leader remains impartial
• Group divides into subgroups
• Invite outside members
• Assign “devil’s advocate”
• Secret ballot
• After preliminary decision, 2nd meeting to express doubts

Question 6

Is Brainstorming Good or Bad?

Answer 6

• Can be bad because people are afraid to say ideas that aren’t similar to others’ ideas
• Less ideas are made
• Evaluation Apprehension: predicts that when we work in groups, our concern of what they’ll think influences our decisions
• Social Loafing: when a person exerts less effort to achieve a goal when working in a group than when working alone

Question 7

Group Decision Making Pitfall

Answer 7

• Failure to share unique information
• Solutions
  a. Discussion last long enough to move beyond what everyone knows
  b. Assign group members specific areas of information to discuss

Question 8

Groups vs. Self

Answer 8

Group Function > Self Function

• When everyone trusts each other & don’t mind criticism
• If tasks require multiple abilities/level of expertise
• When there’s division of labor

Self Function > Group Function

• Additive tasks (same jobs)
• When social loafing occurs
• Focus is on common knowledge

Question 9

Cohesive Groups

Answer 9

• Cohesive groups aren’t more effective (only if the group values high performance)
• Waste time on unrelated common interests
• Exert more normative influence

Question 10

Diverse Groups

Answer 10

• Good for decision making (effective)

- Not good for cohesion/unity (not effective)

Question 11

Abilene Paradox

Answer 11

-When a group of people collectively make a decision that is counter to the preferences of many or all of the individuals in the group