Lecture 4- Group processes Flashcards
What are the 2 types of groups?
-Strong interpersonal relationships eg family, friends
-Groups formed to fulfil tasks eg work groups
What are other types of groups?
-Large social categories eg women, Americans -Weak social relationships eg Same local area, Taylor Swift fans
-Transitory groups eg waiting at bus stop
What is Tajifel et al (1971) minimal group theory?
-Minimal groups split randomly into 2 -People allocated more money into their ‘own’ group than the other group.
-Demonstrates how easily bias + in group favouritism develops.
What can’t be explained by Tajfel 1971 minimal group theory?
-Self-interest (as they didn’t get a share). -Existing friendships (as allocation was random)
What is the early work of Social Facilitation?
Triplett (1898)- Observed track cyclists and found performances were faster when they were timed alone and times/raced w/ other cyclists.
-Suggested presence of audience energised performance
What does Allport (1920) say about Social Facilitation?
Termed the phenomenon social facilitation. -Also created ‘mere presence’ effect, which is considered an entirely passive and unresponsive audience, only physically present.
-Improvement in performance due to mere presence eg co-stars, passive audience.
What does the DIndo et al study say about Social facilitation in animals?
Kangaroos, monkeys and horses eat more and run faster when other members of their species are doing the same thing.
What theory contrasts Social facilitation?
Social Inhibition
What are 2 examples of Social Inhibition?
-Complex task (typing name backwards), done more slowly in the presence of other people than alone (Schmitt et al, 1986). -Men take longer to urinate when someone is standing immediately beside them at a urinal than alone (Middlemist, et al., 1976)
What does Zajonc’s drive theory (1965) suggest?
Argued mere presence of others creates an increase in arousal and energises dominant response (habitual response).
When people are anxious, they tend to do better on easy tasks (already good at) and worse on difficult ones (that they normally struggle at).
* If the dominant response is correct (easy), then performance will be facilitated.
* If the dominant response is incorrect (difficult), then performance will be inhibited.
What does Hogg + Vaughan (2014) say about facilitation vs Inhibition?
An improvement in the performance of well-learnt/easy tasks and a deterioration in the performance of poorly learnt/difficult tasks in the mere presence of members of the same species
What 3 things does Contrell (1972) say about Evaluation Apprehension?
-We learn about social reward / punishment contingencies (e.g., approval and disapproval) based on others’ evaluation. -Perception of an ‘evaluating’ audience creates arousal, not mere presence. -Social facilitation is an acquired effect based on perceived evaluations of others.
Describe Contrell (1972) study on Evaluation Apprehension?
Used 3 conditions of Blindfolded, Merely present, Attentive audience
-Tasks were easy and well learned and study discovered social facilitation was found when the audience was perceived to be evaluative (attentive); wanting to perform well for their audience worked in their favour
What does Markus (1978) say about Evaluation Apprehension?
Less supportive
-Study of time taken to dress in familiar/unfamiliar clothes in function of social presence (alone, inattentive audience, attentive audience). -Found attentive audience sped up performance in easy task (familiar) but for difficult task there was little difference in attentive/inattentive
What does Schmitt (1986) say about Evaluation Apprehension?
Asked ppts to type name or code backwards into computer. -Mere presence of others made performance on simple task quicker but difficult task slower. -However, adding in an evaluation apprehension condition made little difference to the typing speed.W
What do the 3 studies suggest about Evaluation Apprehension?
Suggests evaluation apprehension is sometimes helpful but sometimes unnecessary for social facilitation.
What does the Distraction-Conflict theory say?
Suggests people become distracted, focusing on what others are doing (evaluating them), and perform worse.
What does Sanders et al (1978) say about the Distraction-Conflcit theory?
Had participants complete an easy or difficult digit task, but either alone or someone doing the same task/someone doing a different task -Found people performed worse when someone did the same thing as them (eg more distraction).
What does Siemon (2023) say about whether different types of evaluation matter?
Examined whether using AI-based idea evaluation led to evaluation apprehension. -Participants express less evaluation apprehension when presenting their idea to Alan (AI) than Phillip. -The results show that when humans are involved in evaluating an idea, people tend to feel concerned.
What does the Ringelmann effect (Social loafing) say about tasks in groups?
-Found that men pulling on a rope attached to a dynamometer exerted less force than the number of people in the group
What are the reasons for the Ringelmann effect (Social loafing)?
-Coordination loss as group size inhibits movement, distraction, and jostling. -Motivation loss as ppts did not try as hard so less motivated.
How does Ingham expand on the Ringelmann effect?
Investigated this real group and pseudo group pulling on a rope blind folded. Real group: Groups of varying size. Pseudo-group: Only one true participant, rest were confederates who did not pull at all.
What are the 2 reasons Green et al (1991) says are why people loaf?
Output equity
Evaluation apprehension
How does Latane et al (1979) support the Ringelmann effect of rope pulling?
Supported this through clapping/shouting/cheering and found amount of cheering/noise made per person reduced by 29% in 2- person but 60% in 6-person groups.
What is Output Equity regarding Social loafing?
When people learn others are not pulling their weight, they too can lose motivation and put less effort in.
What is Evaluation Apprehension regarding social loafing?
Individuals only believe their efforts are being judged when they perform alone; in groups, people are not accountable.
What are the 2 ways to reduce social loafing?
Identifiability
Individual responsibility
What is Identifiability regarding reducing social loafing?
When people’s individual contributions to a task can be identified eg people shout louder in group shouting task when they think everyone’s individual volume is recorded.
What is Individual responsibility regarding reducing social loafing?
When people know they could make a unique contribution to a task eg in group task of dot watching, people worked harder if they thought they were solely responsible for watching a particular segment.
What does Kara & Williams (1993) say about social loafing across cultures?
Appears to be robust across gender, culture and task, although the effect is smaller for subjects from Eastern cultures.
-Western individuals attach greater importance to outcomes of eval of individual performance. -Eastern individuals are more likely to attach moderate importance to group harmony and success.
What is the Collective effort model?
-People will put effort into group task when they believe their input will have an impact and when completing the task is likely to bring them something of value eg concrete (Money) or abstract (Satisfaction).
What is Group performance regarding Collective effort model?
Group behaviour can differ from the behaviour of solitary individuals. Also, how groups arrive at decisions and deal with problems is no exception.
What is group polarisation?
People often discuss topics with those who are similarly minded, which can strengthen the attitudes.
What does Moscovici and Zavalloni (1969) say about Group polarisation?
Found that group discussions enhanced French students (already) positive towards their president and enhanced their (already) negative attitudes towards Americans.
What does McCauley & Segal (1987) say about Group polarisation?
Found as people come together to share their grievances, they are often in isolation from others – likely becoming more extreme over time, leading to actions eg violence.
What does McGlynn et al (1995) say about group problem solving?
When groups get together and critique each other’s ideas, they have been found to come up with better-quality ideas
What does Mullen et al (1991) say about group problem solving?
More effective when small rather than large groups and if the experimenter is not present to monitor the process
What does Diehl & Stroebe (1987) say about group problem solving?
If only simple group decisions occur, with no break-out from individuals, solitary efforts are typically better than the group’s
What is considered the key aspect of problem solving?
To ensure a combination of group and individual brainstorming.
What is Groupthink?
Objections to poor group decisions are suppressed to maintain group harmony
In what conditions does Groupthink occur?
Stressful situation without a clear, correct solution.
-Cohesive group of like-minded people, cut off from external influences.
-Strong, vocal leader.
What are the consequences of groupthink?
Group does not carry out adequate research especially of risks and alternative options are not considered so members cascade around same opinion.
