Group Influence Flashcards
WHAT IS A GROUP?
Two or more people who, for longer than a few moments, interact with and influence one another and
perceive one another as “us”, not just saying “hi”
collective groups
A set of people engaged in common activities but having minimal direct interaction
Two or more people engaged in a common behaviour
The mere presence of others
The presence of others enhances
performance on easy tasks but impairs it on difficult ones
There is an effect of having people around called social facilitation
You can also just think about it
Experiment, racing with people beside you makes you go faster
In some situations having people around will make you do better—in some will make you do worse
Having other people around you increases arousal—this strengthens dominant response if you are trying to do something difficult, the arousal will give bad effect
Evaluation apprehension can be distracted
Mere presence
Intensity of arousal increases as crowd gets larger
the effects of social arousal
Robert Zajonc reconciled apparently conflicting findings by proposing that arousal from other’s presence strengthens dominant responses (the correct responses only on easy or well-learned tasks
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
Have a group of people to accomplish something
Typically when in group everyone will slack a bit
Group members slacking to reduce their efforts of additive tasks, causing group to fall short of its potential
minimizing social loafing
To minimize;
It is something you like
Your individual work is evaluated
Something you care about
Your effort is necessary for success(don’t trust group)
Keep groups small
Liking the people in your group
friends with people in group
free riders
people who benefit from the group but give little in return - women less likely to do this than men
anti social behaviours
likely to cause distress, alarm or harassment to others
prosocial
doing something nice/bettering yourself
neutral social behaviour
does not favour any side or group
DEINDIVIDUATION
Temporary reduction of self awareness and personal responsibility— can be brought of by anonymity, darkness
A reduction of normal constraints against deviant behaviour due to loss of individuality
Feeling more anonymous in the large group than they normally do
Makes in easier to engage in behaviours that violate social norms
Occurs in group situations that foster anonymity and draw attention away from the individual
Comes from loss of self awareness and self evaluation
Facilitating factors;
Group size—the larger the group the more—you feel
Physical anonymity—ie/Halloween costume
Arousing and distracting activities—other things going on around you pulling attention away from away
Diminished self awareness
Being a part of a group will help with deindividualization
We have reduced fear of being evaluated and facing deindividualization
All these increase chance of deviance
Group polarization
Tendency of a group to decide on a more extreme course of action than would be suggested by average of individual judgments
Risky shift—likely to engage in more risk taking—group polarization
Discussing opinions increases preexisting thoughts
Both risky and cautious shift
The phenomenon in which individual attitudes become
more extreme and exaggerated
through group discussion
Shifting their position
Ie/ if group member favoured moderately risky position polarization would occur if they shifted to an even greater risk following discussion and vise versa
If you have a group more diverse
Can have pos and neg effects
discussion and group polarization
discussion increased polarization between homogenous groups of high and low prejudice high school students
talking over racial issues increased prejudice in a high prejudice group and decreased it in a low prejudice group
Group think
Make very bad decisions— typically feel invulnerable
Typically results in poor decision
A group decision-making style characterized by an excessive tendency among group members to seek agreement that leads to a high probability of making a bad decision
Usually small group
Pressure for unanimity within group overwhelm desire to realistically evaluate alternative courses of action
Trouble weighing pros and cons— fear distrusting group consensus
Meet repeatedly over time
Make important decisions
Symptoms of group think
Overestimating the group’s might and right
Closemindedness
Pressures toward uniformity;
Overestimating the group’s might and right
An illusion of invulnerability—thinking they are invulnerable and cannot fall—display excessive optimism and take excessive risks
Unquestioned belief in the group’s morality
Unquestioned belief in groups inherit morality—ignoring ethical consequences of decision
closemindedness
happens when groups are small and you become close—if someone criticizes them they are dismissed
Rationalization— may discount warnings, that if they noticed may make them reconsider their assumptions
Stereotyped view of opponent—“leader evil”
Pressures toward uniformity
Conformity pressure—pressure on people who argue against group
Self censorship—minimizes importance of own doubts if they have a deviation from group consensus
Illusion of unanimity—despite doubts, group members share illusion that unanimity exists
Mindguards— people who protect against info that may shatter complacency
preventing groupthink
Be impartial– leader shouldn’t annonce preference
Assign a “devils advocate”– to challenge positions of other group members even if they agree
Subdivide the group– smaller group to discuss independently then bring together
Invite critiques from outside experts
Call a “second chance” meeting to air lingering doubts– if there are any doubts
Brainstorming
People brainstorming alone come
up with more and better ideas than
those brainstorming in a group
designed to withhold criticism and defer judgement till later
generates as many ideas as possible
because you are not being restricted
social loafing
worrying about what others are saying
the influence of the minority
attempt by an active minority to persuade majority members to accept their viewpoint and adopt an new position
Consistency–you disagree with something but wait to say something to see if it is worth saying anything
minority slowness effect
stimulating creative thinking
becoming the focus of debate
self confidence
defections from the majority
consistency
you disagree with something but wait to say something to see if it is worth saying anything
minority slowness effect
stimulating creative thinking
becoming the focus of debate
Self-censorship
minimizes importance of own doubts if they have a deviation from group consensus
Illusion of unanimity
despite doubts, group members share illusion that unanimity exists
Mind guards
people who protect against info that may shatter complacency
Conformity pressure
pressure on people who argue against group
