Group Processes Flashcards
Social Facilitation
(1898 triplet study & Zajonc’s 1969 cockroach study)
The presence of other people causes arousal and increases our dominant response when the individual performance can be evaluated. Social facilitation increases the tendency to
1. Perform better on simple tasks by facilitating a well-learnt response
2. Perform worse on complex tasks by inhibiting a less practised response
How does social facilitation make us aroused?
- State of alertness induced in presence of others,
- Evaluation apprehension by being concerned about how others are evaluating us, and
- Distraction-conflict when attention need to be divided
will cause arousal.
Social Loafing
The presence of other people causes relaxation and reduces our dominant response when the individual performance cannot be evaluated. We
- Perform worse on simple tasks due to impairment
- Perform better on complex tasks due to enhancement
How does social loafing inhibit arousal?
Due to the lack of evaluation, there is no evaluation apprehension.
Who may engage in social loafing more?
- People from individualistic cultures. Asians with interdependent view of the self may have reduced tendency toward social loafing
- People with lower relational interdependence (ie. men)
Deindividuation
The loosening of normal constraints on behaviour when people can’t be identified such as being in a crowd, leading to impulsive and deviant acts. This works because
- People feel less accountable,
- Obedience to group norms is increased, and
- Virtual interaction reduces inhibition of behaviour.
What happens when groups make decisions?
Outcomes include
- Process loss,
- Transactive memory,
- Groupthink, and
- Group polarisation.
Process Loss
Any aspect of group interaction that inhibits good problem solving, such as
- Not trying hard enough to find who the most competent members are,
- Competent members find it difficult to disagree with others,
- Failure to share unique information,
- Communication problems
Transactive memory
The combined memory of a group that is more efficient than the memory of individual members when they specialise in remembering different parts of a task through distribution of mental labour
Groupthink
Group decision making style characterised by the tendency to seek agreement and solidarity rather than accuracy, resulting in inferior decision making process where the group makes worse decisions than the individuals would.
Antecedents of Groupthink
Groupthink occurs because
- The group is highly cohesive,
- The group is isolated from contrary opinions,
- The leader is directive,
- There is high stress where members perceive threats to the group, or
- There are poor decision-making procedures.
Symptoms of Groupthink
You know groupthink is happening when
1. Illusion of invulnerability,
2. Belief in the moral correctness of the group,
3. Stereotyped views of out-group,
4. Self-censorship due to the fear of ruining group’s morale and being criticised,
5. Direct pressure on dissenters to conform,
6. Illusion of unanimity, and
7. Mindguards
occur.
Outcomes of Groupthink
Defective decision making includes
- Incomplete survey of alternatives,
- Failure to examine risks of the favoured alternative,
- Poor information search, and
- Failure to develop contingency plans.
How can groupthink be minimised?
- The leader remains impartial,
- Outside opinions are sought,
- Subgroups are created,
- Members’ anonymous opinions are collected, and
- Having someone to play the devil’s advocate.
Group polarisation
The tendency for groups to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclinations of their members, resulting in
- Riskier decision made if individual tendency is risky, and
- More cautious decision made if individual tendency is cautious.
