group processes Flashcards
what is a group?
two or more individuals in face to face interaction, each aware of his or her membership in the group, who belongs to the group (Johnson and Johnson 1987)
what are the the types of groups? (Lickel et al 2000)
Strong interpersonal relationships
Formed to fulfil tasks
Groups based on large social categories
Groups based on weak social
Transitory groups
What are the strong interpersonal relationships?
Families
Small groups of close friends
What are formed to fulfil tasks?
Committees
Work groups
what are minimal groups? (Tajfel, Billig, bundy, flament 1971 replicated by wilder 1975)
Split randomly into two groups
People allocated more money to their own group than the other group and the affect could not be explained by :
Self interest (as they didn’t get a share)
Existing friendships (as allocation was random)
What was Triplett (1898) study?
He observed track cyclist and found performances were faster when :
Timed alone
Timed and racing alongside other cyclists
What did Triplett hypothesise?
That the presence of an audience particularly in a competition, energised performance on motor task
What apparatus did Triplett test his hypothesis and why?
Fishing line apparatus and found children performed better when racing against each other than when alone
what phenomenon did allport (1920) term
social facilitation
what is mere presence?
defined as an entirely passive and unresponsive audience that is only physically present (Hogg and Vaughan)
when do kangaroos and monkeys eat more and run faster?
when other members of species are doing the same thing
What tasks were experimented for social inhibition?
Complex - typing name backwards which was done slower in presence of people (Schmitt et al )
Men take longer to urinate when standing beside someone rather than alone (Middlemist et al 1976)
what does mere presence increase?
arousal and dominance
how does being anxious affect ability to do tasks?
they tend to do better on easy tasks and worse on difficult ones
what happens if the dominant response is correct?
performance will be facilitated
what if the dominant response is incorrect?
performance is inhibited
What is the 2 parts to zajoncs drive theory
Social facilitation
Social Inhibition
What Is Cottrell (1972) evaluation apprehension theory ?
We learn about social reward/punishment contingencies eg approval and disapproval based on others evaluation
why is social facilitation an acquired effects?
Based on perceived evaluations of others
What were the 3 audience conditions in Cottrell et al Evolution apprehension ?
Blindfolded (cannot see ppt)
Merely present (passive and uninterested)
Attentive audience
when was social facilitation found in the evaluation apprehension study?
when the audience was perceived to be evaluative; wanting to perform well for their audience worked in their favour
whose research was less in support of evaluation apprehension?
Markus 1978
What was Markus 1978s study?
Time taken to dress in familiar clothes (easy task, own clothes) / unfamiliar clothes (difficult task, lab coat and unfamiliar shoes) as a function of social presence
what were the 3 conditions in evolution apprehension?
- alone
- in the presence of inattentive audience
- in presence of attentive audience
when did the attentive audience speed up?
easy task
What did Schmitt et al do for evaluation apprehension?
Asked ppts to type either their name or a code backwards on a computer
what was the effect mere presence had on schmitts study?
Made people perform the simple task quicker and the difficult task slower
What did adding an evaluation apprehension do to the typing speed?
It made little difference
What was Sanders experiment for distraction conflict theory?
Sanders et al had ppts complete an easy or difficult digit task, but :
- Alone
- Someone doing the same task or someone doing a different task
What is the distraction conflict theory?
People become distracted focusing drive on what others are doing and performing worse
What was sanders results?
People performed worse when someone did the same thing as them (i.e more distraction)
Showed bursts of light could similarly affect social facilitation
what did Siemon 2023 examine?
Whether using AI - based idea evaluation led to evaluation apprehension where a Finnish ppt presented an idea to either Al or Philip
What was the results of Siemon 2023?
Ppts expressed less evaluation apprehension when presenting to AI than Phillip showing that when humans are involved in evaluating an idea people tend to feel concerned
What did Ringelmann find for social loafing?
Ringelman (1913, 1927) found that men pulling on a rope attached to a dynamometer exerted less force than the number of people in the group
what is the reasons for social loafing?
Coordination loss : as group size inhibits movement, distraction and jostling
Motivation loss : Ppts did not try as hard; less motivated
what did Ingham et al investigate?
Investigated this with real groups and pseudo groups pulling on a rope ; ppt blind folded
who was in Ingham’s real and pseudo group?
Real : groups of varying size
Pseudo group : Only one true ppt rest were confederates who did not pull a rope
How did Latane support social loafing?
Clapping, shouting and cheering tasks
What were Latanes results?
Recorded amount of cheering/ clapping noise made per person (blind folded) reduced by :
29% in 2 person groups
49% in 4 person groups
60% in 6 person groups
why did Geen say people loaf?
Output equity - where people learn others are not pulling their weight they can lose motivation and put less effort in
Evaluation apprehension - individuals only believe their efforts are being judged when they perform alone; in groups people are not accountable
How are ways we can reduce social loafing ?
Identifiability - when peoples individual contributions to a task can be identified
Individual responsibility - when people know they can make a unique contribution to a task
what did Williams et al suggest about Identifiability?
People shout louder in a group shouting task when they think every individuals volume can be recorded
What did Harkins & Petty suggest about individual responsibility?
In a group task, watching for dots on a screen :
Ppl worked harder if they thought they were solely responsible for watching a particular segment vs
If they thought others were watching too, even when no one would know how many dots they had personally spotted
can we replicate social loafing across groups?
Social loafing appears to be robust across gender, culture and task although the effect is smaller for subjects from eastern cultures (karau and Williams)
what is the impact of groups on performance on the collective effort model
People will put effort into a group task when :
They believe their input will have an impact
Completing the task is likely to bring them something they value which could include concrete things such as Money or abstracts such as enjoyment
what is group polarisation?
people who often discuss topics with those who are similarly minded which can strengthen the attitudes
what was moscovivis study for group polarisation ?
1969
found that group discussions enhanced French students already positive towards their president and enhanced their negative attitudes towards Americans
what did mcglynn suggest about group problem solving ?
when groups get together and critique each others ideas, they have been found to come up with better quality ideas
what did Mullen suggest about group problem solving ?
more effective when small rather than large groups and if the experimenter is not present to monitor the process
what did diehle and stroebe 1987 suggest about group problem solving?
if only simple group decisions occur with no breakout from individuals solitary efforts are better
What is group think ?
very specific phenomenon thought to occur under particular conditions where there is stressful situations without a clear correct solution
cohesive group of clear minded people cut off from external influences
what did Janis say is the consequences of group think?
the group does not carry out adequate research so alternatives options are not considered; group members cascade around the same opinion
