Group Processes Flashcards
What is a group?
- Collection of people who are perceived to be bonded
together in a coherent unit to some degree. - Usually between 3-6 people
- Common identity
What are the benefits of being a part of a group?
- Self-knowledge
- Coping
- Prestige
- Goals
What are the costs of being a part of a group?
- Barriers to join
- Restricted personal freedom
- Time energy and resources
- Emotional distress while leaving
What is another word of group coherence? What is is group coherence determined by?
- Entitativity
- Frequency of interaction
- Importance
- Common goals
- Perceived similarity
What does the Dartmouth vs. Princeton study tell us about groups?
Group identity can influence perceptions of objective matters (in this case, infractions) –> confirmation bias
What does the maple syrup study tell us about group identity salience?
Those that received a Canadian prime rather than a personal prime were more likely to rate the maple syrup as pleasant
Does the mere presence of others
affect our performance?
Yes! It can improve performance through social facilitation
How does task difficulty impact performance?
simple & well-learned: social facilitation
complex & unfamiliar: social inhibition
Why does task difficulty matter?
- Arousal level through presence of others
- Arousal can strengthen dominant responses (well-learned) but it can interfere with non-dominant responses
Why does the presence of others increase arousal?
- Evaluation apprehension
- Alertness/vigilance (dominant versus non-dominant)
- Distraction/divided attention
These are not mutually exclusive!
In the evaluation apprehension study, which condition showed social facilitation?
- Having an audience watching complete an easy task (this one!)
- Being alone
- Blindfolded audience
In the alertness/vigilance study, which condition showed social facilitation?
The dominant response (own clothes) was completed much faster in the presence of others compared to being alone or and the non-dominant response (stranger’s clothes) was completed slower than being alone
When a crowd of people clap or cheer, it is difficult to
tell just how loud each individual is applauding or
cheering. If people tend to clap louder when they are
alone than when they are in a crowd, they are probably
engaging in __________.
Social loafing
From what we know about social loafing, it can probably be overcome by __________ .
a. making each individual’s output identifiable
What is deindividuation?
The loosening of normal constraints on behavior when people can’t be identified (such as when they are in a crowd).
What social psychological processes drive deindividuation?
- Decreases accountability
- Increases obedience to group norms
What does the shock study tell us about deindividuation?
Deindividuation increased the extremity of both prosocial and antisocial behavior (but more so antisocial behavior –> distributing shocks)
What are contributors to deindividuation?
Group size and anonymity
Sarah never thought of herself as a bully, but recently realized that she is sometimes mean to people in ways she never would be otherwise. Sarah’s poor behavior is likely occurring in _________ due to ___________.
Large groups; deindividuation
What phenomenon does the Bay of Pigs invasion represent?
Groupthink
What increases the probability of groupthink behaviors?
1.Highly cohesive group
2.Isolated from contrary opinions
3.Directive (opinionated, authoritative) leader
What are the outcomes of groupthink?
- Perception of invulnerability
- Self-censorship
What happens as a result of group consensus?
- Risky shift: groups make riskier decisions than individuals
- Group polarization: Shift towards extreme positions
Why does group consensus happen?
*Social comparison: Normative social influence
*More arguments: Informational social influence
What does the shared information study around candidates tell us?
- When the whole group met together they were able to pool information and make a more informed decision on how to approach choosing the candidate
- Shared information is useful
How do we avoid group think?
- Group leader remains impartial
- Seek opinions from people outside of the group
- Create subgroups
- Anonymous voting
What is mutual helping?
Where both sides benefit
What is negative interdependence?
Where it is not possible for two people to attain the same outcome.
What are social dilemmas?
Each person gains by acting selfishly, but everyone loses if everyone is selfish.
For Halloween, Jeff wears a sheet and goes to a
party as a ghost. How is this costume likely to
influence his behavior? He will __________.
feel less personally accountable for his behavior
