Group Behaviour Flashcards

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1
Q

Though definitions are contested, what is a group?

A

Two or more people experiencing some common fate or coexisting within some social structure or interacting on a face-to-face basis.

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2
Q

What are examples of different group forms?

A
  • Large or small
  • Short-lived or long-lasting
  • Concentrated or dispersed
  • Informal or structured
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3
Q

What exist between groups?

A

Similarities and differences.

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4
Q

What are groups essentially?

A

Categories

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5
Q

Why do groups matter?

A
  • They help us to resolve ambiguity in the social world.
  • They help us define who we are.
  • They help us feel distinct from other groups.
  • They help us to know which social norms to adopt and follow.
  • They help us to achieve complex tasks together.
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6
Q

What are the five steps involved in the development of a group?

A

Forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.

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7
Q

What happens in the first step involved in the development of a group (forming)?

A

Group members try to get to know each other and establish a common understanding.

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8
Q

What happens in the second step involved in the development of a group (storming)?

A

The group is in conflict, the members resist being controlled by the group, and disagreements arise concerning leadership in the group.

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9
Q

What happens in the third step involved in the development of a group (norming)?

A

Group members develop close ties, feelings of friendship and camaraderie abound, and group members share a common purpose.

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10
Q

What happens in the fourth step involved in the development of a group (performing)?

A

Group members work toward achieving their goals.

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11
Q

What happens in the fifth step involved in the development of a group (adjourning)?

A

The group disbands once its goals have been achieved.

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12
Q

How will a group perform if the average cognitive abilities and expertise of the group’s members is high?

A

The group will perform well.

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13
Q

What both exist in relation to working in a group?

A

Gains and losses.

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14
Q

Which equation can reflect a group’s actual performance?

A

Potential performance - process losses

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15
Q

To what does the term actual group performance refer?

A

To the performance level attained by a group.

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16
Q

To what does the term potential performance refer?

A

To the highest level of performance a group is capable of achieving at a given point in time.

17
Q

To what does the term process losses refer?

A

To performance difficulties that arise from coordination and motivation problems.

18
Q

What can cause the potential performance of a group to increase over time?

A

Process gains

19
Q

To what does the term process gains refer?

A

To increases in potential performance that result from new ways of motivating and coordinating group members.

20
Q

To what can process gains contribute?

A

To a group’s potential performance.

21
Q

To which concept does the Ringleman Effect refer?

A

To the concept of a group’s actual performance decreasing the more people that are added to the group, in relation to their expected performance.

22
Q

Of what do free-riders take advantage without contribution?

A

A public shared resource

23
Q

How do free-riders differ from social loafers?

A

Unlike free-riders, social loafers exert a reduced amount of effort into a task, but still contribute to a public shared resource.

24
Q

Why do people engage in social loafing?

A

For reasons pertaining to fairness (not wanting to do more than their share in expecting others to loaf), lack of evaluation (are able to disappear into the crowd if effort is unidentifiable), and matching to a standard (if there is an unclear performance standard).

25
Q

Who are more likely to loaf?

A
  • Men
  • Those from more individualistic cultures.
26
Q

How can social loafing be reduced?

A
  • By ensuring that the team task is perceived to be meaningful and important.
  • By ensuring that individual contributions are identifiable and publicly valued.
  • By ensuring that individuals feel that they are making valuable contributions to their team.
  • By keeping teams as small as possible.
  • Via social compensation (at the extreme).
27
Q

What sometimes exist within groups?

A

Serious problems

28
Q

When does groupthink occur?

A

When a group that is made up of members who may actually be very competent and thus quite capable of making excellent decisions nevertheless end up making a poor one as a result of flawed group process and strong conformity pressures.

29
Q

In which two situations is groupthink more likely to occur?

A
  • In a situation in which group members feel strongly bound to a social identity.
  • In a situation of stress and crisis, when a group needs to rise to the occasion and make an important decision.
30
Q

What is an example of a situation in which group members may feel strongly bound to a social identity?

A

In the situation in which a group has a powerful and directive leader who creates a positive group feeling.

31
Q

To what is groupthink related?

A

Low-quality decision making.

32
Q

How is groupthink defined?

A

Groupthink can be defined as the process of making low-quality decisions due to biased information processing in the direction of a popular view.