Topic 9 - Group Processes Flashcards
What is a group?
2 or more people who interact and are interdependent in the sense that their needs and goals cause them to influence each other; assembled for a common purpose
dyad = exactly 2 people
4 reasons why people join groups?
1) Sense of belonging
2) Source of information: help us resolve ambiguity in the social world
3) Source of identity
- Help us define who we are (I AM this)
- Help us feel distinct from other groups (I am NOT that)
4) Establish social norms: help guide action
Why do we join groups from an evolutionary standpoint?
Better able to survive
Evolutionary drive
As a consequence, this need to belong has become innate and present in all societies
What is the difference between social norms and group norms?
Social norms: ideas about what behaviours are acceptable in a society (expended obedience)
- Ex. don’t laugh at a funeral, don’t cry at a comedy show
Group norms: specific to particular groups
What is expected of people differs across groups and situations
- Ex. Hell’s Angels, Grandma’s quilting group
What are social roles?
shared expectations in a group about how particular people are supposed to behave in that group
What is a potential cost to having social roles?
can have role enmeshment. Can get so far into a role that their personality, values, and identities can get lost.
Risk of DEINDIVIDUATION (where own sense of self can get blurred or lost)
Describe the Stanford prison experiment.
Didn’t take long to slip into roles, quickly took things much too far. Obedience to authority and adhering to social roles caused issues.
What is group cohesiveness?
qualities of a group that bind members together and promote liking between members
How does group cohesiveness impact likelihood to stay in group, take part in group activities, and recruiting?
The more cohesive a group is, the more its members are likely to:
- Stay in the group
- Take part in group activities
- Try to recruit new like-minded members
When does cohesiveness help performance? When does it hinder performance?
If task requires close cooperation - cohesiveness helps performance
If maintaining good relationships among group members becomes more important than finding the best solution, cohesiveness can become a negative factor
- Might have problems making strong business decisions for example
Why do group members tend to be alike in age, gender, and opinions?
Groups attract people already similar to existing members
Group members more likely to recruit similar others
Groups operate in ways that encourage similarity in the members (promote conformity, obedience to norms and roles)
What is a strength of a homogenous group? What is a strength of a diverse group?
homogenous groups = more cohesive
diverse groups = often perform better (creative problem solving, information sharing, flexible problem solving)
What are 3 ways in which individual behaviour is impacted by a group setting?
social facilitation
social loafing
deindividuation
What is social facilitation?
when the presence of others energizes us
What is social loafing?
when the presence of others relaxes us
What is deindividuation?
the loosening of normal social constraints on behaviour when people can’t be personally identified
According to social facilitation theories, how do people perform on simple vs. complex tasks when in the presence of others?
Social facilitation: People do better on simple (well-learned) tasks and worse on complex (difficult) tasks when they are in the presence of others and their individual performance can be evaluated.
Why/how presence of others improves performance?
arousal
presence of others increases arousal
arousal increases HR, alertness, etc. and improved performance when task is simple
Fluster effect if challenging - arousal can then diminish performance
3 theories of why the presence of others causes arousal / social facilitation:
1) Other people cause us to become particularly alert and vigilant
2) Other people make us apprehensive about how we’re being evaluated (evaluation apprehension)
- Wondering what they might be thinking about us
3) Other people distract us from the task at hand
How was social loafing tested experimentally? What was the result?
tug of rope
When a group pulled on a rope, each individual exerted less effort than when doing it alone
How was performance impacted by social loafing (in complex vs. simple tasks)?
People did worse on simple tasks but better on complex tasks when they are in the presence of others and their individual performance cannot be evaluated.
Will working in the presence of others when working in a group diminish performance? What are the 2 things we need to know?
1) Can individual efforts be evaluated?
2) Is the task simple or complex?
Is social loafing more likely among men or women? Why?
Social loafing is more likely among men than women.
Females tend to focus on and care more about personal relationships with other individuals on average. This may make females less likely to participate in social loafing when in groups, because we don’t want personal relationships with others to be diminished.
Is social loafing tendency higher in Western or Eastern/Asian countries?
Higher tendency to social loaf in Western cultures because of how we define ourselves.
Asian cultures: slightly more interdependent self; reduces social loafing tendencies because it risks alienating oneself from the group
Western - more egocentric self; focus on self.
What is the result of deindividuation?
Loss of self-awareness in groups
- Sense of anonymity
Characteristic of the individual in the crowd
Psychological state of decreased self-evaluation or self-consciousness
What is the role of special dress or clothing for a group?
Can be aimed at reducing individual awareness, self-consciousness, and sense of self as individuals
Encourages adoption of group norms and background of identity within group
How does hiding identity before going into battle impact violence?
Warriors that hide identity before going into battle, were significantly more likely to kill, torture, or mutilate prisoners, than those who did not hide their identities
Why does deindividuation lead to impulsive and sometimes violent acts?
makes people feel less personally accountable
increases obedience to group norms (not always violent)
Can deindividuation lead to positive behaviour?
Yes, it can have both positive and negative effects.
Ex. women’s groups and being able to express self more freely and vulnerably; can be a positive experience
Does deindividuation require face-to-face contact?
No - ex. cyberbullying or online aggression
What are the pros and cons of deindividuation online?
Pros: free and open discussion of difficult topics - ex. to voice mental health concerns
Cons: reduction in common civility; bullying
What are outcomes of victimization (such as in the example of cyberbullying)?
- Reduced ability to learn
- Feeling unsafe at school
- Increased social, mental health, and behavioural problems
- Physical problems - headaches, stomach aches
- Reduced self-esteem
What is trolling?
Posting inflammatory and digressive or off-topic messages in an online community with the intent of provoking readers into displaying emotional responses, either for the troll’s amusement or a specific gain
How can deindividuation be reduced?
- Enhance personal identification
- Reduce feelings of anonymity
- Create virtual panopticon
○ No sense of when they are being watched or not - act as if in a state of constant surveillance.
What is a panopticon?
From tower, guard can see every cell and inmate, but inmates can’t see into the tower
No sense of when they are being watched or not - act as if in a state of constant surveillance
When can groups perform better than individuals?
when group members freely contribute independent opinions from a variety of viewpoints
if people are motivated to search for the answer that is best for the entire group, not just themselves
when they rely on group members’ unique areas of expertise
Do groups usually perform better than individuals?
Often these things that make groups perform well don’t happen, so they become less effective
What is process loss?
any aspect of group interaction that inhibits good problem solving
inefficient problem-solving in groups
What are the reasons for process loss for group problem solving?
Groups might not try hard enough to find the most competent member
Most competent members might find it difficult to speak up or disagree with everyone
- Conformity variables, etc.
Communication problems arise within group
What are 2 important forms of process loss?
failure to share unique information
groupthink
Explain the issue of failure to share unique information
negatively impacts group decision-making or problem-solving
- Groups often fail to share information that only some members have
- Groups tend to focus on the information they share and ignore facts known to only some members
- Failure to collect and aggregate unique information
What is groupthink?
A kind of thinking in which maintaining group cohesiveness and solidarity is more important that objectively considering the facts
When is groupthink most likely to occur?
- Highly cohesive group
- Isolated from contrary opinions
- Ruled by a directive leader who makes his or her wishes known and does not encourage dissent
What are antecedents of groupthink?
- Group is highly cohesive
- Group isolation
- Directive leader
- High stress
- Poor decision-making procedures
What are symptoms of groupthink?
- Illusion of invulnerability
- Belief in the moral correctness of the group
- Stereotyped views of out-group
- Self-censorship
- Direct pressure on dissenters to conform
- Illusion of unanimity
- Mindguards
What kinds of defective decision making can result from groupthink?
- Incomplete survey of alternatives
- Failure to examine risks of the favored alternative
- Poor information search
- Failure to develop contingency plans
What is group polarization?
Tendency for groups to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclination of its members - toward greater risk if people’s initial tendency is to be risky and toward greater caution if people’s initial tendency is to be cautious
Joining a group is likely to lead an individual’s attitudes to become more extreme
How does joining a group possibly impact the opinions of an individual?
Group is likely to be made up of people like you, so you are not encountering counter-evidence or different opinions
attitude becomes more extreme
What are the 2 main reasons that group polarization occur?
persuasive arguments interpretation:
- individual bring to the group a set of arguments, some of which others have not considered
social comparison interpretation:
- in order to be liked, many people then take a position that is similar to everyone else’s but a little more extreme
Describe polarization in American politics.
- Moving apart, more polarization as the years go on
- Increasingly problematic and conflict occurring
How does targeted media impact polarization?
Social media feeds and on-demand media tend to vary widely based on a user’s past preferences and experiences - tailored to us and what we are known to think, agree with, etc.
What you click on will influence what you are exposed to, even like Netflix.
What is the great person theory for leadership?
idea that certain key personality traits make a person a good leader, regardless of the situation
ex. Leaders tend to be slightly more intelligent, extroverted, confident, charismatic.
What does research say about how personality or individual differences and leadership abilities are related?
says that they are only WEAKLY related
In a study of individual factors in effective leadership, what 3 individual factors were actually related to effective leadership?
people more likely to be effective leaders shared 3 things:
all tall, small families, published books before taking office
What are the 2 types of leadership styles?
transactional leaders
transformational leaders
What is the difference between transactional leaders and transformational leaders?
Transactional leaders: set clear, short-term goals and reward people who meet them
Transformational leaders: inspire followers to focus on common, long-term goals.
Is being a transactional or transformational leader linked to personality traits?
No, not closely linked with personality traits, not as if they are born to be one type of leader or another.
What are some of the strengths of transactional leaders and transformational leaders?
Transactional leaders - do a good job of making sure the needs of the organization are met and that things run smoothly, good organizers
Transformational leaders: think outside the box, good at identifying long-term goals and inspire their followers to work hard to meet these goals.
Is being a transactional leader or transformational leader mutually exclusive?
Not mutually exclusive, in fact most effective leaders adopt both styles to some extent.
What was learnt in terms of the type of leadership in the Rajneesh Movement?
there was blended leadership
charisma and order
What is the contingency theory of leadership?
leadership effectiveness depends on how task-oriented or relationship-oriented the leader is and on the amount of control/influence the leader has over the group
According to the contingency theory of leadership, what are the 2 types of leaders?
1) Task-oriented leader: concerned more with getting the job done than with workers’ feelings and relationships
2) Relationship-oriented leader: concerned primarily with workers’ feelings and relationships between the group members
In what situations are task-oriented leaders most effective?
high-control work situations
- when leader’s position is powerful (clear hierarchy and task)
- work is structures and well-defined
low-control work situations
- when leader’s position is not powerful (ambiguous who is in charge)
- work is not clearly defined
In what situations are relationship-oriented leaders most effective?
moderate-control work situations
- things are running fairly smoothly
- some attention to poor relationships / hurt feelings is needed
What are the gender differences in leadership?
more difficult for women to achieve leadership positions
In business leadership, what % of chief executive officers of Fortune 500 companies are womne?
<10%
higher rates in Norway, Sweden, France, and Australia
lower rates in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan
Is the representation of women in companies’ board of directors the same around the world?
No, huge variations around the globe
but overall trend that women are under-represented
According to the social psychology perspective, what is a big part of why it is difficult for women to achieve leadership positions?
A big part of this from social psychology perspective is due to gender stereotypes
What are the gender stereotypes in Canada and US in terms of good leaders?
What traits are women often stereotyped to have?
belief that good leaders have agentic traits (assertive, controlling, dominant, independent - traditionally associated with masculinity)
Women are often stereotyped as having more communal traits (concerned with the welfare of others, warm, helpful, affectionate)
Explain the double bind for women in terms of gender and leadership.
if warm and communal (fitting stereotype) - maybe more likeable, viewed as having low leadership potential
if agentic and forceful - more likely to be seen as unlikeable and not acting like a woman should; maybe more leadership potential
What is it that people believe is holding women back from top jobs?
- Women held to higher standards
- General populous or business not ready or willing to hire/elect women leaders
- Family responsibilities don’t leave enough time
- Women don’t have sufficient connections/party support
- Idea that women are not tough enough - sexist
- Idea that women don’t make as good managers - sexism
What is the glass cliff vs. glass ceiling?
Glass cliff:
Women are thought to be better at managing crises (especially interpersonal)
- Puts them in precarious positions where they are brought into lead during tense situations where it is difficult to succeed
- Even when women have broken through the glass ceiling into top positions, they are more likely than men to be put in charge of units that are in crisis and in which the risk of failure is very high
Glass ceiling: - invisible barrier that prevents a given demographic (women or other minorities) from rising above a certain level in a particular hierarchy)
What does the USask example of our 1 female president represent?
example of glass cliff
How does culture influence leadership?
there are cultural differences and similarities
differences:
- autonomous leaders are valued more in Eastern Europe than Latin America
similarities in leadership qualities:
- charisma
- team-orientation
What happens when individuals in groups have incompatible or conflicting goals?
potential for interpersonal conflict
What is a social dilemma?
a conflict in which the most beneficial action for an individual, if chosen by most people, will have harmful effects on everyone
What is best for an individual is not always best for the group as a whole.
What can be a result of the social dilemma?
Can create conflict and disappointment when the individual actions are causing collective loss
What is the prisoner’s dilemma?
2 people, acting in their own self-interest, can bring about poor outcomes for themselves
What is game theory?
Game theory explores how when we interact with others, how we make decisions and what is most strategic from mathematical perspective
Often highlights the ways in which humans act, which are not always conducive to their own self-interest
What makes people more likely to adopt a cooperative strategy in the case of the prisoner’s dilemma?
They are playing the game with a friend
Expecting to interact with their partner in the future
Change norms about expected behaviour (ex. change name from “Wall Street game” to “Community game”)
Others employ a tit-for-tat approach
(Training you to be more cooperative)
In this social age, what else can help deter people from violating rules or legal restrictions? How do social dilemmas take on a different shape?
harsh social shaming
removed anonymity, exposed exploiters
What are key features of new religious movements or cults?
Authoritarian charismatic leader
Formal indoctrination / thought reform program
- Indoctrination - process of teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically –> actively pursuing uncritical acceptance of the groups’ belief, derailing dissent or critical thinking
Exploitation / destruction / control
- Ex. insisting handing over paychecks, that they cut ties with loved ones outside the group, or engage in self-harming behaviours to show devotion to the group
Transcendent belief system (beyond the range of normal/physical human experience)
What is indoctrination?
Process of teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically –> actively pursuing uncritical acceptance of the groups’ belief, derailing dissent or critical thinking
What are common elements of indoctrination?
Recruit vulnerable persons
Soft sell - suggest you need something more in life
Indoctrination into truth and better way of life / demonizing of dominant culture
Foster intense attachment to leader
Construct on external enemy
Foster peer pressure - conformity
Leaders exhibit sociopathic, narcissistic traits - demands obedience
