Group Processes 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
why do people join groups?
- accomplish objectives that would be more difficult to meet individually
- innate need to belong
- need to feel distinctive from those who do not belong to the same groups
- define one’s identity
- establish social norms
what are social norms?
explicit or implicit rules defining what is acceptable behavior
what are social roles?
shared expectations in a group about how particular people are supposed to behave
what are the results of Zimbardo’s prison experiment?
what was the criticism of the study?
- participants’ personal identities and sense of decency got lost
- participants figured out what the study was about and role-played in manner that they thought was expected of them
what is group cohesiveness?
qualities of a group that bind members together and promote liking between them
how does reason for group formation affect group cohesiveness?
- group formed for social reasons → increased cohesiveness → members likely to stay in group, take part in group activities, and try to recruit new like-minded members
- group formed to solve problems
- if task requires close cooperation → increased cohesiveness → perform well
- if relations of group members more important than finding solution to problem → cohesiveness can affect optimal performance
how does diversity affect a group?
diversity might decrease group’s cohesiveness and morale but predicts improved performance in terms of group creativity, information sharing, and flexible problem solving
what is social facilitation?
when people are in presence of others and individual performance can be evaluated, tendency to perform better on simple tasks and worse on complex tasks
why does social facilitation occur?
presence of others increases physiological arousal
why does presence of others cause arousal?
- other people cause us to become particularly alert and vigilant
- other people make us apprehensive about how we’re being evaluated
- other people distract us from the task at hand
what is social loafing?
when people are in presence of others and individual performance cannot be evaluated, tendency to perform worse on simple or unimportant tasks but better on complex or important tasks
how does social loafing work?
being with other people means we can merge into a group, becoming less noticeable than when we are alone, we should become relaxed -> decreased arousal
what is relational interdependence?
tendency to focus on and care about personal relationships with other individuals (women > men in this)
what is deindividuation?
loosening of normal constraints on behaviour when people can’t be identified
what are the effects of deindividuation?
- makes people less accountable
- increases obedience to group norms
what is process loss?
any aspect of group interaction that inhibits good problem solving
why does process loss occur?
- failure to share unique information
- groupthink
what is transactive memory?
combined memory of a group that is more efficient than the memory of the individual members
how does failure to share unique information affect groups?
how to resolve this problem?
- groups tend to focus on information they already collectively share, talking less about unique information
- unique information is more likely to be brought up later in discussion - group discussions should therefore last long enough
- leverage transactive memory and assign members to specific areas of expertise so they know they alone are responsible for certain types of information
what is groupthink?
kind of decision process in which maintaining group cohesiveness and solidarity is more important than considering the facts in a realistic manner
what are the antecedents of groupthink?
- highly cohesive group (group is valued and attractive, people want to be part of it)
- group is isolated from contrary opinions
- ruled by directive leader
- high stress (members perceive threats to the group)
- poor decision making procedures (no standard methods to consider alternative viewpoint)
what are ways to reduce groupthink?
- remain impartial
- seek outside opinions
- create subgroups
- seek anonymous opinions
what is group polarisation?
tendency for groups to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclinations of their members
how does group polarisation affect groups?
- if the individual members are leaning toward a risky decision, group discussion will exaggerate that risky tendency
- if people are inclined to be conservative, groups tend to make even more conservative decision than individuals do
why does group polarisation occur?
- persuasive arguments
- social comparison
what is the great person theory?
does it work?
- idea that certain key personality traits make a person a good leader, regardless of the situation
- not proven as few personality characteristics correlate strongly with leadership effectiveness
what is a transactional leader?
set clear, short-term goals and reward people who meet them
what is a transformational leader?
inspire followers to focus on common, long-term goals
what is the contingency theory of leadership?
The effectiveness of a leader depends both on how task- or relationship-oriented the leader is and on the amount of control the leader has over the group
what are task-oriented leaders and when are they effective?
- task-oriented leaders are more concerned with getting the job done than with workers’ feelings and relationships, clear delegation of tasks
- work well in high and low-control work situations
what are relationship-oriented leaders and when are they effective?
- relationship-oriented leaders are more concerned with workers’ feelings and relationships
- do well in moderate-control work situations, where the leader can promote strong relations between individual employees
what is social dilemma?
A conflict in which the most beneficial action for an individual will, if chosen by most people, have harmful effects on everyone
how to increase cooperation in prisoner’s dilemma?
- change norms of expected behaviour
- tit for tat strategy
- allow individuals rather than groups to resolve a conflict
what is the tit-for-tat strategy?
encouraging cooperation by at first acting cooperatively, but always responding the way your opponent did on the previous trial
what are the results of Deutsch and Krauss Trucking Game?
- both sides lost money when one side had gate, both sides had gates, being able to communicate (people used the opportunity to threaten each other)
- however, when people were instructed on how to communicate and to work our a fair solution, communication did help to foster trust
what is negotiation?
communication between opposing sides in a conflict in which offers and counteroffers are made and a solution occurs only when both parties agree
what is in integrative solution?
a solution to a conflict whereby the parties make trade-offs on issues, with each side conceding the most on issues that are unimportant to it but important to the other side
what are symptoms of groupthink?
- illusion of invulnerability
- belief in the moral correctness of the group
- stereotyped views of out-group
- self-censorship
- direct pressure on dissenters to conform
- illusion of unanimity
- mindguards
what are consequences of groupthink?
- incomplete survey of alternatives
- failure to examine risks of favoured alternative
- poor information search
- failure to develop contingency plans
