GROUPS

Question 1

What is Johnsons and Johnsons group properties (1987)

Answer 1

– A collection of individuals who are interacting with eachother
– A social unit of 2 or more individuals who perceive themselves as belonging to a group
– a collection of individuals ….
– who are interdependent’
– who join to achieve a goal
– whoa are trying to satisfy a need through their joint association
– who are structed by set of roles and norms
– who influence eachother

Question 2

What are the 3 important group processes

Answer 2

– group polarization
– group loafing
– group cohesion

Question 3

what is group polarisation?

Answer 3

o group produced enhancement of members preexisting tendencies, a strengthening of the members average tendency, not a split within the group- shift of opinion to the polar majority opinion in the group

o look at attitudes and opinion individually, then a group discussion is made, this group discussion will enhance their attitude
o why this happens- because of groupthink= this is a process of thinking that persons engage in when concurrence seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive in group that it tends to override realistic appraisal of alternative course of action (Janis, 1971)

Question 4

what is group think?

Answer 4

Groupthink is a term developed by social psychologist Irving Janis in 1972 to describe suboptimal decisions made by a group due to group social pressures. It is a phenomenon in which the ways of approaching problems or matters are dealt by the consensus of a group rather than by individuals acting independently. Essentially, groupthink occurs when a group makes faulty or ineffective decisions just for the sake of reaching an agreement.

o Group thinking can cause problems;
– Illusion of invulnerability-
– Unquestioned belief in group morality
– Rationalization
– Stereotypes view of opponent
– Conformity pressure
– Self-censorship
– Illusion of unanimity
-Bad decisions due to lack of opposition
-Lack of creativity
-Overconfidence in groupthink negatively impacts the profitability of an organization
-Optimal solutions to problems may be overlooked
-Lack of feedback on decisions and hence poor decision-making

Question 5

how can we prevent group think?

Answer 5

– Being impartial- not endorsing any position
– Encouraging critical evaluation
– Occasionally divide the group into sub groups
– Welcoming critiques from outside experts

Question 6

what is social loafing?

Answer 6

o Group members may be less motivated and may put less effort in the task when they perform as a part of a group
o Latane et al., (1979) noticed that the noise produced by a single participant alone was louder when there were six people shouting or clapping- this may be due to social loafing, all the group members are putting less effort in
o People in groups loaf less when the task if challenging, appealing and involving
o People in groups loaf less when the other members are their friends or when they strongly identify with their group
o Ringelmann effect- individual effort on a task diminishes as group size increases- this may be due to coordination losses or motivation losses
o Free rider effect- gaining the benefits of group membership by avoiding costly obligations of membership and by allowing other members to incur these costs

Question 7

Green 1991 reasons why we loaf?

Answer 7

1. Output equity- we believe others loaf so to maintain equity we also load
2. Evaluation apprehension- we worry about being evaluated by others, when we hyang back and loaf we cannot be identified
3. Matching to standard- when we do not have a clear sense of the groups strandards norms we hang back and loaf