Lecture 09 Group Processes

Question 1

Group

Answer 1

Dyads
- 2 or more people
- Interact
- Interdependent
- Needs and goals cause them to influence each other

Question 2

Why do people join groups?

Answer 2

• Completing tasks that are more difficult alone
• Satisfying basic, innate needs: Need to belong
• A need to be distinctive from outgroup
• Groups also help us define who we are

Question 3

Groups help us define who we are by…

Answer 3

1. Reducing confusion and ambiguity in our social world
2. Shaping our understanding of the world and our place in it
3. Establishing social norms, which are explicit or implicit rules

Question 4

Group Composition and Functions

Answer 4

1. Social norms
2. Social roles
3. Group cohesiveness
4. Group diversity

Question 5

Social Norms

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Social Roles

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Stanford Prison Experiment Criticism

Answer 7

• 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

Question 8

Group Cohesiveness

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Disadvantages of Cohesiveness

Answer 9

• If group focus on problem-solving function
• Cohesiveness interferes with task performance when relationships become more important

Question 10

Practice question: Social Roles

Answer 10

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?

Question 11

Group Effects on Individual Performance

Answer 11

• Social facilitation
• Social loafing
• Gender and cultural differences in social loafing
• Deindividuation

Question 12

Social Facilitation

Answer 12

The effects of the mere presence
- A situation without opportunities for interaction
- Simple: improves performance
- Complex: perform worse
- Arousal

Question 13

Why does the presence of others causes arousal?

Answer 13

1. Alertness: Others are less predictable than objects
2. Evaluation apprehension: When others can see us, they can evaluate us -> Anxiety
3. Distraction: Divided attention -> arousal -> social facilitation

Question 14

Social Loafing

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Social Facilitation Model

Answer 15

1. Presence of Other
2. Can be evaluated
3. Alertness + Evaluation apprehension + Distraction
4. Arousal
5. Simple: enhanced performance
   Complex: impaired performance

Question 16

Social Loafing Model

Answer 16

1. Presence of Other
2. Cannot be evaluated
3. No evaluation apprehension
4. Relaxation
5. Simple: impaired performance
   Complex: enhanced performance

Question 17

Deindividuation

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Making Decisions as Groups

Answer 18

• 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

Question 19

Process Loss

Answer 19

Group interaction that inhibits (interferes 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
disagree with the rest of the group.
- Communication problems, including failure to listen or allowing one person to dominate discussion

Question 20

Causes of Process Loss

Answer 20

1. Failure to share unique information
2. Groupthink

Question 21

Antecedents of Groupthink

Answer 21

• High cohesiveness
• Group isolation
• A directive leader
• High stress
• Poor decision making process: no alternative viewpoints

Question 22

Symptoms of Groupthink

Answer 22

• 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

Question 23

Consequences of Groupthink

Answer 23

• Unable to consider possibility
• Fail to examine the own way
• Rely only the own way
• No plan B

Question 24

Reducing Groupthink

Answer 24

• Being impartial: unbiased
• Seeking outside opinions
• Creating subgroups -> different recommendations
• Seeking anonymous opinions: No fear

Question 25

Group Polarization

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Causes of Group Polarization

Answer 26

1. Additional persuasive arguments: additional arguments supporting the group’s initial recommendation
2. Social comparisons: Checking how others are feeling and lean strongly in that direction

Question 27

Social Media on Political Polarization

Answer 27

• 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.