Week 8: Group Processes Flashcards
What is a group? What 2 parts are there?
- collection of 3 or more people
1. interact
2. interdependent
What is it called when there are 2 people in a group?
dyad
What are 3 reasons we join groups?
- forming relationships is INNATE
- defines who we are as individuals
- motivates people to become involved in social change
What are social norms?
specify how group members should behave and what is sen as acceptable
- some all are expected to obey (ex: traffic rules)
- some vary based on group(ex: dress code)
What are social roles?
shared expectations by group members on how particular people in the group are supposed to behave
ex: boss vs employee
Getting too caught up in a role can result in a loss of identity and personality change.
true or false
true
What is group cohesiveness?
- the qualities of a group that bind members together and promote liking among them.
- how similar the group members are to each other, makes the group members like each other
What is group diversity?
- of how diverse a group’s composition is
- age, sex, beliefs, and opinions.
the more diverse groups that tend to make better decisions. true or false
true
the presence of others decreases physiological arousal. true or false
false –> INCREASES
what is social facilitation? When does it occur?
- the tendency for people to do BETTER on SIMPLE tasks but WORSE on COMPLEX tasks
-when in the presence of others and their individual performance can be evaluated.
What are the 3 theories to explain the role of arousal in social facilitation?
- other people cause us to become alert and vigilant
- they make us apprehensive about how we’re being evaluated –> embarassed if we do bad or happy if we do well especially when we are getting evaluated
- they distract us from the task at hand
What is social loafing? When does it occur?
- the tendency for people to do WORSE on SIMPLE tasks but BETTER on COMPLEX tasks
- when they are in the presence of others and their individual performance CANNOT be evaluated.
Being relaxed improves performance on complex tasks and impairs performance on simple tasks. true or false
true
What is deindividuation?
loosening of normal constraints on behaviour when people are in a group, leading to an increase in impulsive and deviant acts.
ex: say you use a fake account on insta to make nasty comments more than if you were on an account that had your name in it. this is deindividuation
What are 3 reasons for deindividuation in groups?
- Being in a group and wearing a uniform or disguise increases anonymity (less accountable, harder to single out)
- The presence of others lowers self-awareness (shifts people away from their moral standards)
- increases the extent to which people obey the group norms whether they are good or bad
What is one major function of a group?
making decisions
What is process loss?
any aspect of group interaction that inhibits good problem solving
What is groupthink?
- kind of thinking in which maintaining group cohesiveness and solidarity is more important than considering the facts in a realistic manner.
- Causes people to reach an inferior decision, sometimes with disastrous consequences.
How can we overcome process loss?
people learn who is responsible for what kinds of information and take the time to discuss these unshared data
What are 4 things the make groupthink less likely?
- remaining impartial
- seeking outside opinions
- creating subgroups
- seeking anonymous opinions
What is group polarization?
tendency for groups to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclinations of their members
What are the 2 reasons for group polarization to occur?
- persuasive arguments explanation
- social comparison interpretation
What is “persuasive arguments explanation”?
- The result is that group members end up with a greater number of arguments in support of their position than they initially started out with, and ultimately a more extreme attitude
