Week 7-8 Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

Define fuzzy sets when discussing groups?

A

Categories are considered to be fuzzy sets of features organised around a prototype

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Define entitativity

A

Perceived unity
The property of a group that makes it seem like a coherent, distincty and unitary entity
Relatively homogenous, clearly structure internally, and has sharp boundaries that make it distinct from other groups

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Are children more likely to perform better when competing / being watched or when alone?

What is this effect called?

A

Easy or well known tasks are improved
Difficult or new tasks deteriorate

Social facilitation

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What is drive theory?

A

The physical presence of others instinctively causes arousal that motivates performance of habitual behaviour patterns - makes easy things easier and hard things harder

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Define evaluation apprehension?

A

Concern about being evaluated by others who are present that can lead to social faciltiation or inhibition

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Is the mere presence of another person, regardless of whether they are scrutinising the participants, enough to activate social facilitation or inhibition?

A

Yes!

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Define self-discrepancy theory

A

When people become self-aware and focus their attention on themself, for example by being in front of a mirror or in the presence of others, they compare their actual self (their task performance) and their ideal self (how they would like to perform). The discrepancy between actual and ideal increases motivation and effort to align the two.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What does Baron believe happens when attention is overloaded?

A

Capacity of attention is finite. When it is overloaded, we narrow our focus on difficult tasks and thus miss cues that may be important: thus social presence impairs performance. Simple tasks only require a few cues and therefore when we narrow our focus we eliminate distractions rather than important info.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What is coordination loss?

A

Deterioration in group performance compared to individual performance due to problems in coordinating behaviour between group members; more dominant members do more, potentially drowning input of less dominant members

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What is social loafing?

A

A reduction in individual effort when working on a collective task (one in which our outputs are pooled with those of other group members) compared with working either alone or co-actively (our outputs are not pooled)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Would social loafing be more obvious in large groups or small groups?

A

Small groups; as the number of members increases, the impact of each additional member on an individual’s performance decreases.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What are three reasons for social loafing?

A

Output equity
We believe that others loaf, so we loaf to maintain equity and avoid being a “sucker”

Evaluation apprehention
When we are anonymous or can’t be identified we don’t have to worry about being evaluated by others, so we hang back and loaf especially when the task is not engaging

Matching to standard
Often we don’t have a clear sense of the group’s standards or norms so we hang back and loaf

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What is social compensation?

A

Increased effort on a collective tasks to compensate for other group members’ actual, perceived or anticipated lack of effort or ability.
Might be demonstrated when competing against an outgroup or when the task is particularly attractive.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What factors might influence someone to work harder in groups?

A

Coming from a collectivist culture (E.g. east Asian)
Belief and expectation that the group will be able to achieve important goals.
Identify strongly with the group and consider their actions actually define group membership.
Are in a group with high levels of solidarity and cohesiveness.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What is task taxonomy? What are the three dimensions of task taxonomy?

A

Is the task divisible or unitary?

  • Divisible = benefits from division of labour. E.g. building a house
  • Unitary = task can’t sensibly be broken into subtasks. E.g. pulling a rope

Is it a maximising or an optimising task?

  • Maximising = open-ended task that stresses quantity: the objective is to do as much as possible. E.g. Pulling the rope
  • Optimising = Task that has a predetermined standard; the objective is to meet the standard. E.g. maintaining a specified fixed force on the rope

How are individual inputs related to the group’s product?

  • Additive = The group’s product is the sum of all the individual inputs. E.g. A group of people planting trees
  • Compensatory = The group’s product is the average of the individuals inputs. E.g. A group of people estimating the number of bars in Amsterdam
  • Disjunctive = Task where the group selects one individual’s input as its adopted product. E.g. A group of people proposing things to do over the weekend with adopt one person’s suggestion
  • Conjunctive = Group’s product is determined by the rate or level of performance of the slowest or least able member. E.g. An assembly line
  • Discretionary = Relationship between individual inputs and the group’s product is not directly dictated by the task features or social conventions; instead the group is free to decide on its preferred course of action. E.g. A group that decides to shovel snow together
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Using task taxonomy, what three descriptors would describe a tug-of-war?

A

Unitary
Maximising
Additive

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Using task taxonomy, what three descriptors would describe assembling a car?

A

Divisible
Optimising
Disjunctive

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Is group performance better than individual performance?

A

Steiner believes that generally the group performance is inferior to group potential

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Why might group performance be inferior to group potential?

A

Due to process loss
Losses due to the coordination of individual members’ activities, disproportionate influence on the part of specific power group members, and various social detractors

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

What sorts of tasks favour group performance?

A

Additive - group performs better than most individuals

Compensatory - average is most likely to be correct

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

What sorts of tasks might be performed poorly by groups?

A

Conjunctive - group’s performance is equal to the worst individual’s performance
Disjunctive - group’s performance is equal to or worse than the best idea proposed

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

What’s the difference between personal attraction and social liking?

A

Personal attraction
Felt for close friends and relations

Social liking
Felt for someone based only on shared group membership, such as another supporter of his sports team

You may like someone as a group member but not as an individual and vice versa.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

What are three processes of group socialisation?

A

Evaluation
Individual compares the benefits of group membership with other potential groups.
Group evaluates individuals in terms of their potential contribution to the group.

Commitment
Both parties agree on goals and values, to feel positive ties, to be willing to exert effort, and to desire continued membership

Role transition

  • Non-member - including prospective members and ex-members
  • Quasi-member - new members who have not attained full status and marginal members who have lost that status
  • Full member - closely identified with the group and have all the privileges and responsibilities associated with actual membership
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

What happens if an individual is more committed to the group than the group is to the individual, or vice versa?

A

Instability, with the less committed party exerting power over the more committed party

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

What are Moreland and Levine’s five stages of group socialisation?

A
  1. Investigation
    Mutual investigation by group and individual
  2. Socialisation
    Group assimilates new members
  3. Maintenance
    Rule negotiation takes place between full members.
    Role dissatisfaction can lead to role transition “divergence”
  4. Resocialisation
    Re-assimilation of divergent members, or departure of divergent member if unsuccessful
  5. Remembrance
    Reminiscing about departed members
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

What are three functions of initiation rites?

A

Symbolic
Allow consensual public recognition of a change in identity
E.g. Wedding

Apprenticeship
Help people become accustomed to new roles and normative standards

Loyalty elicitation
Pleasant initiations with gifts and special dispensations which elicit gratitude, enhancing commitment to the group

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

Why might people join or stay members of groups with painful initiation rites?

A

Negative aspects of the group are downplayed, positive aspects are focused on. The outcome is a more favourable evaluation of the group and thus greater commitment.

Thus a more extreme initiation will lead to greater dissonance and a more favourable evaluation of the group.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

What is expectation states theory

What are the two characteristics of expectation states theory?

A

Theory of the emergence of roles as a consequence of people’s status-based expectations about others’ performance.

  1. Specific status characteristics
    Attributes that relate directly to the person’s ability on the group’s task
    E.g. being a good athlete in a sports team
  2. Diffuse status characteristics
    Attributes that do not relate directly to ability on theg roup task but are generally positively or negatively value in society
    E.g. being wealthy, having a white-collar job, being white, being good looking
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

In what contexts are diffuse status characteristics valued?

A

In and out of relevant contexts.
E.g. group members may assume that someone with high diffuse status, such as a doctor, may be able to promote the group’s goals and therefore has higher specific status.
This mechanism is demonstrated in juries where the role of foreperson almost always went to people with higher occupational status outside the context of the jury.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
30
Q

What are two forms of communication networks?

A

Centralised
All communication goes through a central hub and is referred to relevant members from there.
Allows members to focus on their individual roles.
Common in large organisations.
Effective for simple or well-established processes.
Can be rigid and inefficient on complex tasks.
Peripheral members may feel that they have less power.

De-centralised
Every member can directly contact every other member.
Better for complex tasks, where quantity and complexity of information could overwhelm a central hub.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
31
Q

How do subgroups function?

A

Unlike roles, which generally cooperate for the greater good of the group, subgroups often compete and come into conflict. This may be prevalent when larger groups contain subgroups taht have destructive intergroup relations in society as a whole.
E.g. Protestants and Catholics working in the same company in Northern Ireland, or departments in a conglomerate after a merger.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
32
Q

Why do people join groups?

A
  • Proximity can reveal similar interests, attitudes and beliefs
  • Accomplish goals that we can’t do alone
  • Pleasure of human company
  • Self-protection and personal safety
  • Emotional support
  • Basic need to belong
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
33
Q

What is uncertainty-identity theory?

A

People are motivated to reduce uncertainty about who they are. Groups provide us with a recognised way to define and evaluate who we are, how we should behave, and how we will niteract with and be treated by others.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
34
Q

What is terror management theory?

A

The most fundamental human motivation is fear of death. People join groups because they raise self-esteem and make people feel good about themselves; they feel less mortal, and more positive about life.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
35
Q

How do people react to social exclusion or ostracism?

A
  • Self-consciousness and embarrassment
  • Loss of emotional support
  • Loss of ability to achieve complex goals
  • Instability in our sense of self
  • Loss of confidence in how we should behave
  • Negative feelings are amplified when exlusion is intentional
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
36
Q

How are marginal members of groups viewed?

A

Commonly disliked by full members, sometimes even more than outgroup members; they are treated as traitors or deviants.

Subjective group dynamics theorise that this is because they undermine normative consensus in the group and thus threaten its integrity.

37
Q

What positive influence may marginal members have on groups?

A

They can be a force for social change by criticising group norms. Groups are more accepting of criticism by ingroup members than outgroups.

38
Q

What is leadership?

A

Process of social influence through which an individual enlists and mobilises the aid of others in the attainment of a collective goal

39
Q

What is the difference between effective and good leadership?

A

Effective
Successful in setting goals and influencing others to achieve them.
Objective matter of fact - how much influence did the leader have in setting new goals and were the goals achieved?

Good
Subjective judgement based on one’s preferences, persepctives or goals.
We evaluate leaders in terms of their character, morality of the means they use to influence others, and the nature of the goals they aim for. Good leaders have attributes we applaud, use means we approve of, and set and achieve goals we value.

40
Q

Is leadership innate?

A

There is no evidence for this; no “leadership gene” has been discovered.

There is also no combination of personality traits that commonly defines leaders; correlations among traits and effective leadership has been demonstrated to be quite low.

41
Q

What attributes are leaders likely to have?

A

Attributes that are relevant to the situation; a leader in sports might not be a leader in science or business.

42
Q

What are two styles of leadership?

Which is likely to be dominant?

A

Task specialist
Concentrating on the group task
Likely to be dominant

Socioemotional specialist
Paying attention to members’ relationships

43
Q

What are contingency theories of leadership?

What are their flaws?

A

Recognise whether a particular leadership style is effective depends on the properties of the situation.

Largely quantitative rather than qualitative

44
Q

What is high vs low situational control?

A

High
Good leader-member relations
Clearly defined task
High degree of authority vested in the leadership role

Low
Poor leader-member relations
Poorly defined task
Little authority vested in the leadership role

45
Q

What scale is measured by rating who you working with the least?

A

Least-preferred coworker scale

46
Q

What theory assumes that a leader’s main goal is to motivate followers by clarifying the paths that will help them reach their goals?

A

Path-goal theory

47
Q

What are the two classes of leaders in path-goal theory?

A

Structure
Leader directs task-related activities
Effective when followers are unclear about their goals and how to reach them, e.g. on new or ambiguous tasks.
Can seem like micromanagement when task is easy.

Consideration
Leader addresses followers’ personal and emotional needs
Effective when the task is boring or uncomfortable.
Ineffective when followers are already engaged because it can be superfluous or distracting.

48
Q

What is transactional leadership?

A

Approach to leadership that focuses on the transaction of resources between leader and followers.
Followers provide leader with approval, praise, prestige, power. Leader directs the group towards valued goals and recognitses and rewards tasks completed.

49
Q

What is idiosyncratic credit?

How is it accrued?

A

Followers reward leaders for achieving group goals by allowing them to be relatively idiosyncratic.

Accrued by:

  1. Initially conforming closely to group norms
  2. Making sure the group feels it has democratically elected you as leader
  3. Making sure you are considered competent to fulfil the group’s objectives
  4. Being seen to identify with the group, its ideals, and its aspirations
50
Q

What theory of leadership demonstrated effective leadership resting on the ability of the leader to develop good-quality personalised exchange relationships with individual members?

A

Leader-member exchange theory

51
Q

What is charismatic leadership?

What Big 5 personality traits are associated with charismatic leadership?

A

Leadership style based upon the leader’s (perceived) possession of charisma.

Extraverted, agreeable, intellectually open to experience

52
Q

How does the role of charisma differ in the social identity theory of leadership?

What kind of bias is demonstrated?

A

Charisma may be a consequence rather than a cause of effective leadership.
The leader is prototypical of the group - embodies valued characteristics of the group - and thus the group constructs a charismatic leadership personality for the leader.

An example of correspondence bias

53
Q

What is leader categorisation theory?

A

We have a variety of schemas about how different types of leaders behave in different situations. When a leader is categorised as a particular type of leader, the schema fills in details about how that leader will behave.

54
Q

What is the social identity theory of leadership?

A

People look to their leaders to express and epitomise, clarify, forge, transform, and consolidate their identity.

The more salient a group is and the more people identify with it, the more that group prototypicality because a basis for effective leadership.

55
Q

What are five ways to enhance how prototypical followers think you are?

A
  1. Talk up your prototypical attributes and talk down your behaviours that aren’t
  2. Identify deviants or marginal members to highlight your own prototypicality or construct a particular prototype for the group that enhances your prototypicality
  3. Secure your own leadership position by vilifying contenders for leadership and casting them as non-prototypical
  4. Identify groups as relevant comparison outgroups that cast the most favourable light on your own prototypicality
  5. Raise of lower the salience of the group depending on how prototypical you are.
56
Q

How does role congruity theory explain the lack of women in leadership positions?

A

Social stereotypes of women are inconsistent with people’s schemas of leadership, thus women are evaluated as poor leaders

57
Q

What four main barriers to women claiming authority? (Bowles and McGinn)

A

Incongruity - women don’t fit schemas of leadership
Lack of management experience
Family responsibility
Lack of motivation - women aren’t as hungry for leadership as men and shy away from self-promotion

58
Q

How does stereotype threat affect women in leadership?

A

Women fear that engative stereotypes about women and leadership will be confirmed, and so they feel less motivated to lead.

59
Q

What are social decisions schemes?

Name give examples.

A

Explicit or implicit decision-making rules that relate individual opinions to a final group decision.

Unanimity - discussion is aimed at pressuring deviants to conform
Majority wins
Truth wins - discussion reveals the position that can be demonstrated to be correct
Two-thirds majority - group is unable to reach a decision unless there is a two-thirds majority
First shift - Group adopts a decision in line with the direction of the first shift in opinion shown by any member of the group

60
Q

Are groups or individuals more likely to remember accurately?

A

Groups
Each individual contributes memory, and the group is better able to determine veracity, particularly when the memory task is a simple one.

61
Q

What is transactive memory?

A

Group members have a shared memory for who within the groupo remembers what and is the expert on what.

62
Q

What is a downside of transactive memory?

A

When a group member leaves, their memory is lost and has to be rebuilt or replaced. This is more serious in close relationships where the departure of a lifelong partner can result in irretrievable loss.

63
Q

Is group brainstorming better than individual brainstorming?

Why?

A

Not necessarily. Nominal groups in which individuals brainstorm by themselves without interacting with others are more productive.

People loaf in groups
Evaluation apprehension
Production blocking - reduction in individual creativity and productivity in brainstorming groups due to interruptions and turn-taking

64
Q

What is groupthink?

A

A mode of thinking in highly cohesive groups in which the desire to reach unanimous agreement overrides the motivation to adopt proper rational decision-making procedures.

65
Q

What are some antecedents and symptoms of groupthink?

A

Antecedents

  • Excessive group cohesiveness
  • Insulation of group from external information and influence
  • Lack of impartial leadership
  • Lack of norms encouraging proper procedure
  • Ideological homogeneity of membership
  • High stress from external threat or task complexity

Symptoms

  • Feelings of invulnerability and unanimity
  • Unquestioning belief that the group must be right
  • Tendency to ignore or discredit information contrary to group’s position
  • Direct pressure exerted on dissidents to bring them into line
  • Stereotyping of outgroup members
66
Q

Do groups or individuals tend to make more conservative decisions?

A

Groups - group decision making is an averaging process that errs towards caution

67
Q

What is group polarisation?

A

Tendency for group discussion to produce more extreme group decisions than then mean of members’ pre-discussed opinoions, in the direction favoured by the mean.

68
Q

What is persuasive arguments theory?

A

When we hear novel arguments that support our position on an issue we become more entrenched in our view.

69
Q

How do social comparison / cultural values explain group polarisation?

A

Humans seek social approval and avoid social censure. Group discussion reveals which views are socially desirable or culturally valued, so in groups that already lean in one direction we shift further to gain approval and avoid disapproval from others.

70
Q

What is pluralistic ignorance?

A

A situation where people in a group privately reject a norm but assume that others accept it.

71
Q

How does social identity theory explain group polarisation?

A

As group members we identify with, construct, and conform to an ingroup norm. Norms minimise variability within the ingroup and distinguish it from outgroups. However they may be reactive to outgroup positions, not necessarily reflective of ingroup member’s opinions, thus polarising the group.

72
Q

How is jury decision making flawed?

A
  • Attractive people more likely to be acquitted
  • Black people receive harsher sentences
  • Recency effect of information presented
  • Evidence that is rule inadmissible is likely to still affect jury’s deliberation
73
Q

What kinds of behaviours may conceal prejudice?

A

Reluctance to help
Tokenism - trivial positive acts that conceal a reluctance to engage in meaningful acts
Reverse discrimination - favouritism of the group that is prejudiced

74
Q

What evidence indicates that racial prejudice is changing but not declining?

A

People used to characterise African Americans as superstitious, lazy, and ignorant.
Now they characterise them as athletic, rhythmic, criminal, hostile, loud and less intelligent.

75
Q

How is new racism challenging to social psychology?

A

It is less overt than racism has been historically and can be harder to identify, though still destructive.

76
Q

What are common sex stereotypes believed by both men and women?

A

Men are competent and independent, but less nice.

Women are warm and expressive, but less competent.

77
Q

What are the four major female stereotypes in western cultures?

A

Housewife
Sexy woman
Career woman
Feminist / athlete / lesbian

78
Q

What are two common male subtypes?

A

Businessman

Macho man

79
Q

Why might self-promoting women be socially rejected?

A

Sex stereotypes cast men as agentic, forceful, decisive, and independent. Women who exhibit these qualities are perceived as unfeminine and may be disliked, viewed as lacking in interpersonal skills, and less likely to be hired.

80
Q

What might result from internalised stigma?

A

Concealable stigmas such as homosexuality, illness, religion may result in emotional and psychological costs.

81
Q

What is Kurzban and Leary’s evolutionary theory for why stigma occurs?

A

Helps us avoid poor social exchange partners who may threaten our access to resources, or who, by virtue of being different, may carry communicable pathogens.

82
Q

What is stereotype threat?

A

Feeling that we will be judged and treated in terms of negative stereotypes of our group, and that we will inadvertently confirm these stereotypes through our behaviour.

83
Q

What are some ways to reduce stereotypes threat?

A
  • Know about stereotype threat
  • Reduce the degree to which one’s identity is tied to a performance that may attract negative feedback
  • Reduce the extent to which one’s self-esteem is tied to such a performance
  • Identify strongly with one’s stigmatised group
  • Have extensive favourable intergroup contact with the anxiety-provoking outgroup
84
Q

What is attributional ambiguity?

A

Stigmatised individuals become sensistive to the causes of others’ treatment of them.
E.g. Suspecting they are promoted because of tokenism

85
Q

What is authoritarian personality theory and what is hypothesised to cause it?

A

Personality syndrome originating in childhood that predisposes individuals to be prejudiced.
Stems from autocractice and punitive child-rearing.

86
Q

What is social dominance theory?

A

Prejudice, exploitation, and oppression are attributed to an ideology that legitimises a hierarchy of social groups.

87
Q

What is social justification theory?

What theory is it closely linked with?

A

People vary along a dimension that measure the extent to which they justify the political status quo, and the social and economic policies that go with this.

Social dominance theory

88
Q

Continue page 238

A

Continue page 238