Weeks 7-8 Flashcards
Define fuzzy sets when discussing groups?
Categories are considered to be fuzzy sets of features organised around a prototype
Define entitativity
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
Are children more likely to perform better when competing / being watched or when alone?
What is this effect called?
Easy or well known tasks are improved
Difficult or new tasks deteriorate
Social facilitation
What is drive theory?
The physical presence of others instinctively causes arousal that motivates performance of habitual behaviour patterns - makes easy things easier and hard things harder
Define evaluation apprehension?
Concern about being evaluated by others who are present that can lead to social faciltiation or inhibition
Is the mere presence of another person, regardless of whether they are scrutinising the participants, enough to activate social facilitation or inhibition?
Yes!
Define self-discrepancy theory
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.
What does Baron believe happens when attention is overloaded?
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.
What is coordination loss?
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
What is social loafing?
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)
Would social loafing be more obvious in large groups or small groups?
Small groups; as the number of members increases, the impact of each additional member on an individual’s performance decreases.
What are three reasons for social loafing?
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
What is social compensation?
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.
What factors might influence someone to work harder in groups?
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.
What is task taxonomy? What are the three dimensions of task taxonomy?
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
Using task taxonomy, what three descriptors would describe a tug-of-war?
Unitary
Maximising
Additive
Using task taxonomy, what three descriptors would describe assembling a car?
Divisible
Optimising
Disjunctive
Is group performance better than individual performance?
Steiner believes that generally the group performance is inferior to group potential
Why might group performance be inferior to group potential?
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
What sorts of tasks favour group performance?
Additive - group performs better than most individuals
Compensatory - average is most likely to be correct
What sorts of tasks might be performed poorly by groups?
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
What’s the difference between personal attraction and social liking?
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.
What are three processes of group socialisation?
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
What happens if an individual is more committed to the group than the group is to the individual, or vice versa?
Instability, with the less committed party exerting power over the more committed party
What are Moreland and Levine’s five stages of group socialisation?
- Investigation
Mutual investigation by group and individual - Socialisation
Group assimilates new members - Maintenance
Rule negotiation takes place between full members.
Role dissatisfaction can lead to role transition “divergence” - Resocialisation
Re-assimilation of divergent members, or departure of divergent member if unsuccessful - Remembrance
Reminiscing about departed members
What are three functions of initiation rites?
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
Why might people join or stay members of groups with painful initiation rites?
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.
What is expectation states theory
What are the two characteristics of expectation states theory?
Theory of the emergence of roles as a consequence of people’s status-based expectations about others’ performance.
- 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 - 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
In what contexts are diffuse status characteristics valued?
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.
What are two forms of communication networks?
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 do subgroups function?
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.
Why do people join groups?
- 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
What is uncertainty-identity theory?
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.
What is terror management theory?
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 do people react to social exclusion or ostracism?
- 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 are marginal members of groups viewed?
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.
What positive influence may marginal members have on groups?
They can be a force for social change by criticising group norms. Groups are more accepting of criticism by ingroup members than outgroups.
What is leadership?
Process of social influence through which an individual enlists and mobilises the aid of others in the attainment of a collective goal
