Lecture 08-2 Group Processes Flashcards
Group
Dyads
- 2 or more people
- Interact
- Interdependent
- Needs and goals cause them to influence each other
Why do people join groups?
- Completing TASKS that are more difficult alone
- Satisfying basic, innate NEEDS: Need to belong
- A need to be distinctive from out-group
- Groups also help us DEFINES who we are
Groups help us define who we are by…
- Reducing confusion and ambiguity in our social world
- Shaping our understanding of the world and our place in it
- Establishing social norms, which are explicit or implicit rules
Group Composition and Functions
- Social norms
- Social roles
- Group cohesiveness
- Group diversity
Social Norms
A group’s implicit (and explicit) rules for acceptable beliefs, values, and behaviors
- Violating norms: pressured to change their behavior, avoided, and leave a group
Social Roles
Shared EXPECTATIONS about how particular group members are supposed to behave
- More specific than social norms
- Make social situations more PREDICTABLE
- Follow a set of clear, well-defined roles, they tend to be satisfied and perform well
- e.g. Stanford prison experiment
Stanford Prison Experiment Criticism
- Expectation Effect: Participants may have determined the purpose of the study played their role in the manner they thought was expected
- Researcher effect: One of the researchers played the role of prison warden and may have encouraged the behavior of the students
Group Cohesiveness
Qualities of a group that bind (connect) members together and promote mutual liking
- High cohesiveness, less likely to leave, participate more in group activities, and recruit new members
Disadvantages of Cohesiveness
If group focus on problem-solving function
- Cohesiveness interferes with task performance when relationships become more important
Practice question: Social Roles
Zimbardo’s study is one of the most famous and controversial studies in the history of psychology.
- Do you find the study convincing?
- Why or why not?
No.
- There were many control in the study, such as age, gender, individual differences, instruction
- It’s might also be influence by media portrayal and public understanding of prison
Group Effects on Individual Performance
- Social facilitation
- Social loafing
- Gender and cultural differences in social loafing
- Deindividuation
Social Facilitation
The effects of the mere presence
- A situation without opportunities for interaction
- Simple: improves performance
- Complex: perform worse
- Arousal
Why does the presence of others causes arousal?
- Alertness: Others are less predictable than objects
- Evaluation apprehension: When others can see us, they can evaluate us -> Anxiety
- Distraction: Divided attention -> arousal -> social facilitation
Social Loafing
Relax when they are in the presence of others and cannot be individually evaluated for their performance
- Simple: reduce performance
- Complex: improve performance
- Men
- Western
- Different cultures: expect less cooperation from dissimilar others
Social Facilitation Model
- Presence of Other
- Can be evaluated
- Alertness + Evaluation apprehension + Distraction
- Arousal
- Simple: enhanced performance
Complex: impaired performance
Social Loafing Model
- Presence of Other
- Cannot be evaluated
- No evaluation apprehension
- Relaxation
- Simple: impaired performance
Complex: enhanced performance
Deindividuation
The loosening of normal constraints on behavior when people cannot be identified
- exhibit behaviors that they would never exhibit when they are identifiable
- reduces accountability
- increases obedience to group norms > societal norms
+ create spaces for safe, honest, and open discussion
Making Decisions as Groups
- Members freely contribute independent opinions from a VARIETY of viewpoints
- Members are motivated to search for the best answer for the ENTIRE group, not themselves
- Relying on members’ unique areas of EXPERTISE
Process Loss
Group interaction that inhibits (INTEFERES with) good problem solving
- Groups fail to identify the most COMPETENT members and instead rely on people who know less or have no idea what they are talking about
- The most competent group members find it difficult to DISAGREEwith the rest of the group
- COMMUNICATION problems, including failure to listen or allowing one person to dominate discussion
Causes of Process Loss
- Failure to share unique information
- Groupthink
Antecedents of Groupthink
- High cohesiveness
- Group isolation
- A directive leader
- High stress
- Poor decision making process: no alternative viewpoints
Symptoms of Groupthink
- Illusion of Invulnerability: can do no wrong
- Belief in the moral correctness of the group
- Stereotype
- Self-censorship
- Pressure to conform
- Illusion of Unanimity: everyone agrees
- Mindguards: protect leaders from contrary viewpoints
Consequences of Groupthink
- Unable to consider possibility
- Fail to examine the own way
- Rely only the own way
- No plan B
Reducing Groupthink
- Being impartial: unbiased
- Seeking outside opinions
- Creating subgroups -> different recommendations
- Seeking anonymous opinions: No fear
Group Polarization
Enhance the initial inclinations of group members
- The change is toward greater risk if people’s initial tendency is to be risky
- The change is toward greater caution if people initially tend toward caution
- members are usually not aware of that group polarization
Causes of Group Polarization
- Additional persuasive arguments: additional arguments supporting the group’s initial recommendation
- Social comparisons: Checking how others are feeling and lean strongly in that direction
Social Media on Political Polarization
- Engaging in emotional content that is consistent with their opinion, so companies like Facebook expose people to content that fits their existing opinions to increase profits.
- People become more convinced that they are correct and that others agree with their views.
