Group Think Flashcards
What is a group?
Two or more people who interact with and influence one another, and perceive one another as “us”
What is Social facilitation
the presence of other increases arousal and strengthens the dominate responses, this enhances easy behaviour and impairs difficult behaviour
see diagram
How does crowding impact arousal? How does this effect increase? What are the impacts on emotions?
Being in a crowd, or in crowded conditions, is similarly arousing and has the same types of effects on performance (facilitates dominant responses).
The effect of others’ presence increases with the number of people
Being in a crowd also intensifies positive or negative emotions
What are the 3 reasons we’re aroused by others’ presence?
Evaluation apprehension, distraction, and mere presence
* evaluation apprehension - we are worried about how we are perceived
* presence of others is also distracting, and that accounts for some of the effects as well. People wonder how co-actors are doing or reacting, and they get distracted. This conflict between paying attention to others and paying attention to the task overloads our cognitive system, causing arousal
* The mere presence of others seems to be arousing
What is social loafing?
when people’s efforts are pooled and individual effort is not evaluated, people generally exert less effort in groups than individually
What factors cause others’ presence to lead to social faciliation vs social loafing.
individual efforts are evaluated -> evulation apprehension -> arousal -> SF
individual efforts are pool and not evaluated -> no evulation apprehension -> less arousal -> SL
What is the effect of group size on social loafing?
As group size increases, this causes a diffision of responsibility and increase social loafing. This levels off after group sizes of 5.
What culture has less social loafing?
collectivist
What are the 3 factors that decrease social loafing?
when the task is challenging, the group is cohesive, and people are committed to the group, social loafing is less likely
What is deindividuation?
Loss of self-awareness and evaluation apprehension
When does deindividuation occur? 3 factors
Occurs when people are in a large group, are physically anonymous, and are aroused and distracted.
The resulting diminished self-awareness and self-restraint tend to increase people’s responsiveness to the immediate situation, be it negative or positive
what is the group polarization phenomenon?
Discussion typically strengthens the average inclination of group members.
Why does group polarization happen?
informational influence and normative influence
What are the 3 reasons (and 8 symptoms) of group think?
group members to overestimate their group’s might and right:
(1) an illusion of invulnerability
(2) unquestioned belief in the group’s morality
group members also become closed-minded:
(3) rationalization
(4) stereotyped views of the opposition
the group suffers from pressures toward uniformity
(5) pressure to conform
(6) self-censorship of misgivings
(7) an illusion of unanimity
(8) “mindguards” who protect the group from unpleasant information.
how do we prevent group think? 5 ways
upholding impartiality
encouraging “devil’s advocate” positions
subdividing and then reuniting to discuss a decision
seeking outside input,
having a “second-chance” meeting before implementing a decision
