group processes

Question 1

What is a group, and what types exist?

Answer 1

A group- is two more people who share a common definition and evaluation of themselves and behave in accordance with such a definition.

• group members interact and influence on another
• group members perceive themselves to be part of a coherent unit they wee as different from another group
• groups in social psych are social categories of people, who share a combination of traits
• groups can be both good and bad
• they can have big impacts on our thoughts, feelings and behaviour

Question 2

What is the social facilitation effect, and what are some of the major theoretical explanations for this effect?

Answer 2

NOTE: that the mere presence of other can both influence our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours

social facilitation is the improvement in the performance of well learned/easy tasks, and a deterioration in the performance of poorly learned/ difficult tasks, in the mere presence of others

Question 3

What processes underpin social loafing, and what factors influence how much we engage in social loafing?

Answer 3

Social leafing
-reduction in individual effort when working on a collective task when compared to working alone (loss of motivation) the thinking is that some members will have a loss in motivation because other member will pic up the slack.

Factors influencing social loafing include expectations of co-worker performance, task meaningfulness and culture.

Question 4

How do we define the key features of groups, what contributes to them, and how do they impact group functioning? This includes group entitativity, group cohesion, group socialisation and group structure (roles and status).

Answer 4

groups differ according in their entitativity: how much they are perceived as a coherent, distinct, and unified ‘whole’ (how much the boundaries of the group is defined)
-internal organization rather than a set of independent individuals
Entitativity is highest for intimacy groups, such as the family, lower for task groups, lower yet for social categories (e.g., people of the same religion), and lowest for transitory groups, such as people waiting at the same bus stop

low entitativity (fuzzy boundaries, unstructured, heterogenous)

High entitativity (clear boundaries, well-structures, homogenous)
tend to:
-Group members interact with one another often
-the group is important to its members in some way
-groups members share common goals and aims
-groups persist overtime

groups also differ according in their cohesiveness: degree of solidarity and oneness in a group, it is what affectively ‘binds’ the group together

low cohesion (low solidarity

or high cohesion (high solidarity)

• group memeber are highly ‘attracted’ to the group (personal attraction: liking someone based on their qualities vs social attraction: liking someone based on their group identity)
• group members are highly committed to the group
• have a uniformity of conduct, and group members perceive themselves to be similar in important ways
• have a high level of mutual support

structure:

groups can also differ in their structure Status/roles: division of the group members into different positions, patterns, and activities within the group ( the different characteristics of each group member)

status: the position/rank a group member has
- status can very overtime and situations
- comes from having skills/competencies related to the task (specific status), or having skills valued in society (diffuse status) eg. low=subordinate vs high (leader)

roles: coherent set of behaviours or functions that group members occupying specific positions are expected to perform or do
-represents division of labor in the group
-can be informal and implicit, some explicitly assigned
OTHER question has more

another key feature:
groups are developed over time, and the way in which a group contributes to how one thinks, fells and acts

norms: implicit rules that inform group members what is expected of them eg. what emotions to express, what actions to take in certain situations, how to view certain social situations. groups are reliant on norms.

prototype:
an abstract representation of the most typical member of a category ( in this case, the ‘typical’ group member). if you closely embody the ingroups defining attributes, the more influence you will have in the ingroup. people who really represent a typical category have the most influence on the group and changing the groups norms.

Question 5

What are the reasons for joining, and staying in, groups?

Answer 5

not all groups are created equal- the content of some groups is ‘good,’ some content if other is ‘bad’

-ensure survival/safety, self protection (evolutionary perspective)
attain goals, especially
-accomplish goals that cannot be achieved alone eg social change, decision making.

• fulfil need for affiliation (seeking out others), intimacy (having warm relationships)
• increase belonging and reduce psychological cost of being isolated/lonely (social ostracism)

gain self-knowledge, and reduce uncertainty about oneself (uncertainty-identity theory)

-increase self-esteem and self-image (social comparison theory, social identity theory)

reduce our fear of death and existential anxiety ( raising self esteem) (terror management theory)

-reduce subjective uncertainty and threat in the social world ( social identity theory)

people are more likely to associate and stay in groups with others who are:

• in close proximity (mere-exposure event)
• express similar attitudes and values (negative and positive)
• respond positively to the individual

Question 6

How do groups make decisions?

Answer 6

Explicit or implicit decision-making rules that relate individual opinions to a final group decision

James Davis distinguished between several explicit or implicit decision-making rules that groups can adopt:
• Unanimity – discussion is aimed at pressurising deviants to conform
. • Majority wins – discussion confirms the majority position, which is then adopted as the group position.
• Truth wins – discussion reveals the position that can be demonstrated to be correct.
• Two-thirds majority – unless there is a two-thirds majority, the group is unable to reach a decision.
• First shift – the group ultimately adopts a decision in line with the direction of the first shift in opinion shown by any member of the group.

Question 7

What are brainstorming and groupthink, and how do they impact group functioning?

Answer 7

brainstorming- a process whereby people meet as a group to generate new ideas, quickly and with little inhibition

• does generate more ideas, but no evidence than id individuals worked on their own
• BEST is individual generation, then debating in the group, creates better idea and solutions

why does this happen?

• illusion of group effectivity: we think we produce better ideas in groups rather then alone
• production blocking: interupts and taking terms blocks creativity
• evaluation apprehension: you still want to look good to others, and so self-censor
• social loafing: there is motivation loss becasue of the collective nature of the task

groupthink:
the desire to reach an undisputed agreement overrides adoption of rational decion-making procedures
-so the cohesion between group members is more important than rational decisions
charactoristics that lead to this
- group members are expected to support groups decision strongly (whatever it may be) and reject information
-once it develops, its hard to stop even light of evidence

why does it happen?

• excessive group cohesiveness
• norms of the group ( lack of norms encouraging procedure)
• high stress from external threat and take complexity

Question 8

How is group polarisation defined, what is its consequences, and how do the three main theoretical explanations of group polarisation differ?

Answer 8

Group polarization= tendency for groups to produce decisions after a discussion that are more extreme then mean/ average of members initial positions
- can be towards more risk or more caution- all depends on the groups initial preference
“political polarization”
-social media (have initial view, then the average group members view becomes more extreme)

why?
hear novel arguments that support our view, reinforce our own initial position (persuasive arguments theory)
-seek social approval
-if we identify with the group, we want to feel part of it by conforming to its norms (social identity theory)

not always negative, it depends on the initial discussion. the discussion is intensifying the initial views.

Question 9

Categories groups:
what are key points when considering the perception aspect of groups?
and what types of groups are there?
ingroups/outgroups?
Common-bound groups/common-identity groups?

Answer 9

in almost all groups it is not actually being a member that counts, but whether you and/or your group considers you a group member-the group must be meaningful to you.

ingroups:
view ourselves as belonging to the group. the more you identify with the group, the more it will impact your thought, feelings, and behaviour

outgroups:
do not perceive ourselves as belonging to the group

groups also differ according to how members are linked to one another (how er are associated with the group- low/medium/hig)

-common-bound groups
-require interaction between group members.
group members are linked to each person in the group in some way. eg. friendships, families, work teams

common-identity groups

• don`t require interaction (but can still have interaction)
• group members linked together via the category as a whole rather then specifically to each other
  eg. nationality, gender, ethnicity.

Question 10

Group features roles classified in groups? what are these
tasks,
social-emotional
procedural?

Answer 10

task roles (helps/hinders the groups ability to achieve goals)

• information gatherers (seek to provide factual information/feedback)
• Devils advocate (argues apposing view)
• energizer (the cheerleader)

social-emotional (building and maintaining effective relationships)
-encourager (created a safe space for others to share)
-Compromiser (mediated conflict/disagreement)
tension releaser (uses humor or changes the subject to reduce tension)

procedural (how to accomplish the goal)
-facilitator (managing the flow of the group
gatekeeper
(maintain communication between group members)
Recorder (tracks the groups grogress, sometimes the scribe

these can be implicit or explicit

Question 11

what is deindividuation?

Answer 11

a reduced sense of self-awareness seen in crowds

-people act on whatever norms are operative in crowds (but you must identify with the group)

Question 12

What do social psychologists mean when they discuss: a) fuzzy sets?; and b) entitativity?

Answer 12

fuzzy sets- are sets of features organized around a prototype.
groups are made of these overlapping attributes that on the whole distinguish between those in the group and those outside.

entitativity- how much they are perceived as a coherent, distinct and unified ‘whole’
high entitativity means clear boundaries, well structured, distinct from other groups

Question 13

What is meant by the term ‘social facilitation’?

What is Zajonc’s (1965) drive theory of social facilitation?

Answer 13

social facilitation- an improvement in well learned easy tasks and a deteriation in the performance of poorly learned difficult tasks.

drive theory-that the physcial presence of others from the same species instinctively causes arousal that motivates performance of habitual behaviour patterns.

Question 14

What is Cottrell’s (1972) evaluation apprehension model? How does this differ from Zajonc and Triplett?

Answer 14

Cottell argues that in difference to Zajoc and Triplett, who felt it was the mere physical precence of others that increased arousal.
cottells evaluation apprehension model- suggest it is more the concern about being evaluated by others who are present can lead to social facilitation. so socail rewards and punishments (approval and disapproval) are based on how others perceive us.

Question 15

What did Steiner (1972; 1976) propose? Be sure to use the term ‘coordination loss’ in your answer.

Answer 15

coordination loss- is that some individuals find in difficult to coordinate their behaviour effectively, so some become distracted and their input is drowned out by others who are more influential.

Question 16

What is ‘social loafing’ and what reasons have been given to explain this phenomenon?

Answer 16

Social loafing- is the reduction in individual effort when working on a collective task (one in which out output are pooled with those of other group members) compared with working either alone or co-actively (outputs are not pooled).

explanation

• output equity- we believe that others loaf; so to maintain equity and avoid being a ‘sucker’ we loaf too.
• evaluation apprehension- we worry about being evaluated by others; but when we are anonymous and cannot be identified, we hang back and loaf, especially when task is not engaging
• matching to standard- often, we do not have a clear sense of the group standards or norms; so we hang back and loaf

Question 17

Sometimes people do work harder when they are in a group. What factors have been found to affect this?

Answer 17

social compensation- increased effort on a collective task to compensate for other group members’ actual, perceived or anticipated lack of effort or ability.
this happens when the task and the group increases individual motivation and effort.

Question 18

Briefly describe Steiner’s task taxonomy dimensions.

Answer 18

group tasks can be classified according to whether a division of labor is possible; whether there is a predetermined standard to be met ; and how an individual’s inputs can constribute pg 184

Question 19

What is group cohesiveness? What distinction was made by Hogg (1992) and why?

Answer 19

the property of a group that affectively binds people, as group members, to one another and to the group as a whole, giving the group a sense of solidarity and oneness.
cohesiveness has been attributed primarily to the development of bonds of mutual liking among people- where there are strong mutual bonds of liking you have not only a group but a cohesive groups
factors that increase liking eg similarity, cooperation, interpersonal acceptance, shared threat generally raise cohesiveness.

mutual liking may be relatively reliable index of cohesiveness in small groups where people know each other but is a less reliable index for large groups

this is the distinction Hogg made:
distinguished between personal attraction and social attraction. eg. James might feel personally attracted to his long term friends or locals at his pub. might feel social attraction when his liking for someone is based on only on shared group membership, such as supporter of another football team.

Question 20

What is group socialisation? Briefly describe the five phases of group socialisation proposed by Moreland and Levine (1982).

Answer 20

group socialisation- Dynamic relationship between the group and its members that describes the passage of members through a group in terms of commitment and changing roles.
so it descrides the passage of individuals through groups overtime as they experience 3 basic ongoing processes: evaluation, commitment and role transition.
pg 187

Question 21

Explain how cognitive dissonance is used here to explain initiation rites in groups.

Answer 21

initiation rights- often painful or embarrassing public procedure to mark group members’ movements from one role to another.
initiation can be pleasant (wedding) but also can be painful/humiliating
-so this is weird, surley people would avoid joining groups with severe initiations, and if unfortunatly unable to do so, then at least they should later hate the group and feel no sense of commitment.
this is where cognitive dissonance is used to explain,

eg an aversive initiation creates dissonance between two thoughts; ‘i knowingly underwent a painful experience to join this group’ and ‘some aspects of the group are not great’ i reduce the dissonance by downplaying the negative aspects of the group and focus on the positive. the outcome is therefore a more positive evaluation of the group.

Question 22

What are roles and how do they help determine a group structure?

Answer 22

group structure- divisions of a group into different roles that often differ with respect to status and prestige.

roles- patterns of behaviour that distinguish between different activities within the group, and that interrelate to one another for the greater good of the group.

• so roles focus on what an individual or a subgroup does within the group.
• roles govern how they relate to and interact with another subgroup within the group, often for the greater good of the group as a whole. eg roles of a waiter and cook.

Question 23

Study Research Classic 6.2. Why did Zimbardo conduct this study? What were the major findings and what explanation was offered?

Answer 23

was interested how people adopt and internalize roles to guide behaviour. He was also interested in whether it is the prescription of the role rather than the personality of the role occupant that governs in-role behaviour.
his explanation was that students complied to well.

however this was challenged arguing that the participants were confronted by the situation that raised their feelings of uncertainty about themselves. in order to reduce this uncertainty they internalized the identities available, and adopted the appropriate behaviours to define themselves. the process was one of group identification and conformity to group norms motivated by uncertainty about their self-concept.

Question 24

Define ‘status’. What properties tend to be associated with higher status roles?

Answer 24

those with high status are values and considered prestigious by the group, and enable the role occupants to be innovative and influential. in most groups the highest status role is that of leader. Status hierarchies in groups can vary overtime and across situations.

Question 25

What is expectations states theory?

Answer 25

it is the theory of the emergence of roles as a consequence of people’s status-based expectations about others performance.
status within a group derives from two distinct set of charactoristics
-specific status characteristics are attributes that relate directly to the person’s ability on the group’s task. eg being a good athlete in a sports team, a good musician in a band
-diffuse status charactoristics- are attributes that do not relate directly to ability on the group task but are generally positively or negatively values in society (eg. being wealthy, having white collar job, being white).

Question 26

What is a communication network? What sort of structure is best for relatively simple tasks? What about more complex tasks?

Answer 26

communication network-set of rules governing how communication will take place between different roles in a group.

relatively simple tasks- it is best to use centralized (where the information goes through a hub or center point) the hub person is able to receive, integrate and pass on information effectively

for complex task task decentralization (networks where every role can communicate directly with every other role), the quantity and complexity of the task would overwhelm a hub person, peripheral members would experience delays and miscommunication and coordination of the group would suffer.

Question 27

What effect can centralised networks have on group satisfaction?

Answer 27

because all communication goes through the hub, peripheral members can feel they have less autonomy and power. this often reduces overall satisfaction, harmony and solidarity, and can produce group conflict
job satisfaction and organizational commitment are influenced by the amount of control that employees feel they have, and that control is related to communication networks, in particular to how much participation employees feel they have in decision making.

Question 28

Describe: a) uncertainty-identity theory; and b) terror management theory

Answer 28

the uncertainty-people are motivated to reduce uncertainty about who they are, or about their thoughts or actions that reflect on who they are.

identity theory- people do not like to feel uncertain about who they are, or about attitudes and behaviours that reflect on who they are. Joining or identifying with a group is an effective way to reduce uncertainty.

terror management- the most fundamental human motivation is to reduce the terror of the inevitability of death. self esteem may be centrally implicated in effective terror management.

• affiliation and group formation are highly effective terror management strategies because they raise self-esteem and make people feel good about themselves - they feel immortal, and positive and excited about life

Question 29

Define social ostracism. Now watch Professor Kip Williams discuss his research on ostracism. Kip Williams on Ostracism

Answer 29

Exclusion from a group by common consent.

Williams found that people feel self-conscious and embarrassed. and the cyberspace ostracism had much the same effect as face to face ostracism.
also that in almost all groups it is not actually being a member that counts, but a matter of whether you are your group consider that you are.

Question 30

define leadership.

what consists of an effective leader?

Answer 30

getting the group members to achieve the group’s goals.
it is a process of social influence through which a individual enlists and mobilizes the aid of others in the attainment of a collective goal.

what is not leadership is the use of power, through reinforcement and the threat or use of punishment to make people do things.

• an effective leader is someone who is successful in setting new goals and influencing others to achieve them. however, evaluating if someone is a good or bad leader is very much as subjective experience and down to personal preference.
• Perhaps effective leaders have an enduring constellation of personality attributes, acquired very early in life, which imbues them with charisma and a predisposition to lead.

Question 31

According to the research, what Big 5 personality types are most predictive of effective leadership?

Answer 31

OCEAN

the best predicators of effective leadership were being extraverted, open to experience, and conscientious.

Question 32

Describe Fiedler’s contingency theory and prediction. Note the difference between ’task-orientated’ and ‘relationship-orientated leaders’.

Answer 32

an effective leader has the right attributes to deal with the situation. In general way, we can distinguish between two leadership styles, one that concentrates on the groups task and on getting things done (task specialist) and one that pays attention to the members’ relationships (socioemotional specialist).

so contingency theory- theories of leadership that consider the leadership effectiveness of particular behaviours or behavioral styles to be contingent on the nature of leadership situation.

Fred Fiedler theory- distinguishes between task-orientated leaders who are authoritarian, values group success and derive self-esteem from task accomplishment rather than being liked by the group.

and relationship orientated leaders who are relaxed, friendly, non-directive and sociable, and gain self-esteem from happy and harmonious group relations.

Question 33

According to Fiedler, how does situational control interact with leadership type?

Answer 33

classification of task characteristics in terms of how much control effective task performance requires. this can very from high (good leader-member relations, a clearly defined task, and a high degree of authority vested in the leadership role) to low (poor-member relations, a poorly defined task and little authority vested in the leadership role).

task orientated leaders are most effective when situational control is low ( the group need a directive leader to get things done) when its high the group is doing fine, so there is little need to worry about moral and relationships with the group

relationship-orientated leaders are more effective when situational control lies between these extremes.

Question 34

How does path-goal theory describe leadership function?

Answer 34

assumes that a leader’s aim function is to motivate followers by clarifying the paths (how the behave) that will help them reach their goals.
two classes of behaviour-
structuring (the leader directs task-related activities) and consideration ( the leader addresses followers personal and emotional needs)

Question 35

Compare and contrast transactional leadership with transformational leadership.

Answer 35

transactional leadership- approach to leadership that focuses on the transaction of resources between leader and followers. Also a style of leadership.
process of exchange- followers provide the leader with social approval, praise, prestige, status and power in exchange for the leader’s role in leading the group towards valued goals and in providing followers with recognition and rewards for completing the task.

GOLD STANDARD theory
tranformational leadership-
approach to leadership that focuses on the way that leaders transform group goals and actions- mainly through the exercise of charisma.
so key difference is that transactional leader appeal to self-interests, whereas tranformational leaders literally want to transform a group.
transformational leaders aim to; raise the aspirations of followers, improve their abilities, challenge their besic thinking to help them develop better mindsets and practices; and provide energy and a sense of urgency. such leaders can change how followers think, behave and conform to the leader’s vision. They inspire their followers to identify with them and their vision, to identify with the organization’s core values, and to internalize the group as a part of their identity.

Question 36

What is the social identity theory of leadership?

What role does prototypicality play in determining effective leadership.

Answer 36

groups proved people with a social identity- a sense of who they are, how they should behave and how others will treat them. people want to know more about the groups norms, and look to internalize a prototype of the group to guide their actions. the most direct and reliable source of this come from others in the group who already seem to be highly prototypical. this kind of person who embodies the prototype is the focus of attention and respect and is highly influential - they are or can be the leader.
-people look to their leaders to express and epitomize their identity, to clarify and focus their identity, to consolidate, anchor their identity.

Question 37

How does leader categorisation theory and social identity theory of leadership differ from the earlier theories?

Answer 37

identity - about people consolidating their identity and basing a leader of a typical prototype.

categorisation- we have a variety of schemas about how different types of leader behave in different leadership situations. When a leader is categorized as a particular type of leader, the schema dills in detail about how the leader will behave.

Question 38

What is Davis’ social decisions schemes model? Make sure that you can define and distinguish between the these decision-making rules in Table 6.1.

Answer 38

explicit or implicit decision-making rules that relate individual opinions to a final group decision.
groups can adopt:
unanimity- discussion is aimed at pressuring deviants to conform.
majority wins- discussion confirms the majority position, which is then adopted as the group position
truth wins- discussion reveals the position that can be demonstrated to be correct
two-thirds majority- unless there is two thirds majority, the group is unable to reach a decision
first shift- the group ultimately adopts a decision in line with the direction of the first shift opinion shown by any member of the group.

Question 39

How might rule strictness and power distribution effect group functioning and satisfaction?

Answer 39

the strictness and power distribution of the rule affect both group functioning and member satisfaction eg. stricter rules can make final agreement in the group slower, more exhaustive and difficult to attain, but it can enhance liking for fellow members and satisfaction with the quality of the decision.