Topic Eight

Question 1

Topic One

What are fuzzy sets?

What is entitativity?

What is social facilitation?

Drive theory of social facilitation?

What is Cottrell’s evaluation apprehension model?

self-discrepancy theory?

Answer 1

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

Entitativity:

• Some groups are more clearly so than others
• ‘groupiness’

Social facilitation: the mere presence of others who were not participating at all generally improves the performance of a task, though not always
- However, research has also revealed that social presence, such as this, can produce quite the opposite effect - social inhibition or impairment of task performance.

Drive theory:

• Increased arousal or motivation is thus an instinctive reaction to social presence.
• This arousal energises or ‘drives’ our dominant response - those actions that are best learned and most habitual in that situation

Evaluation apprehension model:

• Social presence produces an acquired arousal (drive) based on evaluation apprehension
• argues that people learn that the social rewards and punishments we receive are based on how others evaluate us.

discrepancy theory:-
The discrepancy between actual and ideal self increases motivation and effort to bring actual into line with ideal, so on easy tasks performance improves. On difficult tasks the discrepancy is too great, so people give up trying, and performance deteriorates.

Question 2

Topic One continued:

Loafing - what is coordination loss?

What is social loading?

Reasons for social loafing?

What factors effect how hard someone works in a group (3)

Social compensation effect

Steiner’s 3 task taxonomy dimensions

Answer 2

coordination loss in loafing:
- deterioration in group performance compared with individual performance, due to problems in coordinating behaviour

Social loafing = Social loafing = A reduction in individual effort when working on a collective task

Reasons:

• A change from being alone to having one other person present had the biggest impact
• As the group gets bigger, the impact of each additional member on one’s performance decreases

Factors effecting effort in group work:

1. Output equity - we believe that others loaf; so, to maintain equity and avoid being a ‘sucker’ we loaf too.
2. Evaluation apprehension - we worry about being evaluated by others; but when we are anonymous and cannot be identified, we hang back and loaf, especially when a task is not engaging.
3. Matching to standard - often, we do not have a clear sense of the group’s standards or norms; so, we hang back and loaf

Social compensation effect = when the task and the group are so important that the individual feels a need to compensate for anticipated loafing

Task taxonomy dimensions:
1. Is the task divisible or unitary?
- divisible = benefits from division of labour
unitary - cant be broken up
2. Is ti a maximising or an optimising task?
- max = open ended, requires quantity
- optimising - predetermined standard
3. How are individual inputs related to the group’s product?
- An additive task is one where the group’s product is the sum of all the individual inputs
- A compensatory task is one where the groups product is the average of the inputs.
- A disjunctive task if one where the group selects as its adopted product one individuals input.

Question 3

Topic Two - How groups work

What is group cohesiveness?

What is group socialisation?

Five phases of group socialisation - NOT SURE

Three general types of roles in groups:

Initiation rites, three important functions:

How does cognitive dissonance explain initiation rites?

Answer 3

Group cohesiveness = the property of a group that affectively binds people, as group members, to one another and to the group as a whole, giving the group a sense of solidarity and oneness

What is group socialisation?
- the dynamic relationship between the group and its members that describes the passage of members through a group in terms of commitment and of changing roles

Three general types of social group roles:

1. Non member - includes ex members and just joined members
2. Quasi-member = new members who have not attained full member status, and members who have lost status
3. Full member = closely identify, have privileges and responsibilities.

Role transitions can create conflict when they should’ve or haven’t occurred:
Initiation rites are central, functions:
- Symbolic - allow public recognition
- Apprenticeship - help people become accustomed
- Loyalty elicitation - enhances commitment

Why do we commit to groups with unpleasant initiations?

• An aversive initiation creates dissonance between the two thoughts - ‘i underwent pain to join’, and ‘some aspects of this group are bad’
• reduce dissonance by revising my opinion of the group - downplaying negative aspects and focusing on positive aspects

Question 4

Topic Three - what groups do

What are roles?

Define status

What is expectations states theory?

What is a communication network?
What are better for simple/complex tasks?

Answer 4

Roles = Patterns of behaviour that distinguish between different activities within the group, and that interrelate to one another for the greater good of the group.

• govern how they relate to and interact
• can be informal and implicit
• can be formal and explicit
• divide labour
• facilitate functioning

Status = Consensual evaluation of the prestige of a role or role occupant in a group, or of the prestige of a group and its members as a whole

Expectations states theory:
Theory of the emergence of roles as a consequence of people’s status-based expectations about others’ performance.
Status within a group derives from two sets of characteristics:
- specific status characteristics are attributes that relate directly to the persons ability on the task
- Diffuse status characteristics are attributes that do not relate, but are generally positive/negatively valued.

Communication network = set of rules governing how communication will take place between different roles in a group

• In centralised networks all communications go through a communication hub or centre point, whereas in decentralised networks every role can communicate directly with every other role.
• For simple tasks, centralisation improves group performance:
• For complex tasks, a de­centralised structure works better

Question 5

Topic Four - Why do people join groups

Reasons for joining groups

Uncertainty-identity theory?

Terror management theory?

Define social ostracism

Answer 5

Reasons to join groups:

• proximity - we tend to like people we are close to
• To accomplish goals that cannot be accomplished alone
• Pleasure of human company
• Protection/safety
• Support

Uncertainty-identity theory:

• people do not like to feel uncertain about who they are, or about attitudes and behaviours that reflect on who they are.
• Joining a group is an effective solution

Terror management theory:
the most fundamental threat that people face is the inevitability of death

Social ostracism = exclusion from a group by common consent.

Question 6

Topic Five - Leadership

Difference between good leaders and effective leaders

What big 5 personality types are predictive of leadership

Contingency theories of leadership

• task orientated
• relationship orientated

What is path-goal theory?

Answer 6

• An effective leader is someone who is successful in setting new goals and influencing others to achieve them. The evaluation of leadership is largely an objective matter of fact
• Good leaders are those who have attributes we applaud, use means we approve of, and set and achieve goals we value.

The Big Five personality types:
Best predictors of leadership:
1. Open to experience
2. Extraversion
3. Conscientious 
Other two:
4. Agreeableness 
5. Neuroticism 

Contingency theories:
recognise whether a particular leadership style is effective depends on the properties of the situation.

task-oriented leaders ho are authoritarian, value group success and derive self­ esteem from task accomplishment rather than being liked by the group;

relationship-oriented leaders are relaxed, friendly, non-directive and sociable, and gain self esteem from happy and harmonious group relations

Path goal theory theory of leadership that can also be classified as a transactional theory - focuses on how ‘structuring’ and ‘consideration’ behaviours motivate followers
- A leaders main function is to motivate by clarifying the paths that will help them reach their goals
Two classes of leader behaviour:
1. structuring (directs task related activities)
2. Consideration (leader addresses personal and emotional needs)

Question 7

Topic Five continued:

What is transactional leadership?

What is the leader-member exchange theory?

What is transformational leadership?

What is leader categorisation theory?

Answer 7

Transactional leadership = view leadership as a process of exchange.
- Followers provide the leader with social approval, praise, prestige, status and power in exchange for the leader’s role in leading the group towards valued goals + providing recognition and rewards

LMX theory = effective leadership rests on the ability of the leader to develop good-quality personalised exchange relationships with individual members

Transformational leadership: focuses on the way that leaders transform group goals and actions - mainly through the exercise of charisma.
- Transactional leaders appeal to followers’ self-interest, whereas transforma­tional leaders literally want to transform a group

Leadership categorisation theory:
we have schemas about how leaders behave in different leadership scenarios
- When a leader is categorised as a particular type of leader, the schema fills in details about how that leader will behave.

Question 8

Topic Five continued:

What is social identity theory of leadership?

What role does prototypically play in determining effective leadership?

4 main barriers to women claiming authority:

What is the glass ceiling?

Answer 8

Social identity theory = explains leadership as an identity process in which in salient groups prototypical leaders are more effective than less prototypical leaders

Prototypically in leadership:

• they embody group attributes
• they are liked, and popular
• they are trusted
• they acquire charisma, constructed by the group members

Four main barriers women face:

1. Incongruity - stereotypes of incompetence
2. Lack of management experience
3. Family responsibility
4. Lack of motivation - shy away from self promotion

Glass ceiling = an invisible barrier that prevents women, and other minorities from attaining top leadership positions

Question 9

Topic Six - Group decision making

The five decision making rules within groups:

Effect of rule strictness and power distribution

What is transactive memory?

Answer 9

Five rules:

1. Unanimity - discussion is aimed at pressuring deviants to conform
2. Majority wins - discussion confirms the majority position, which is then adopted as the group position
3. Truth wins - discussion reveals the position that can be demonstrated to be correct
4. Two thirds majority - unless there is a two-thirds majority, the group is unable to reach a decision
5. First shift - the group ultimately adopts a decision in line with the direction of the first shift in opinion shown by any member of group.

Effect of rule strictness:

• stricter rules are more egalitarian in that decision-making power is better distributed across the group
• Stricter rules can make final agreement in the group slower, more exhaustive and difficult to attain, but it can enhance liking for fellow members and satisfaction with the quality of the decision.

Transactive memory = when embers of a group share memories, allowing a group to remember more information than if no transactive memory system was present.

Question 10

Topic Six continued:

Production blocking

Illusion of group effectivity - 3 reasons

What is groupthink?

What is group polarisation?

Explanations for group polarisation: 3

Answer 10

Production blocking = issue with brainstorming, that it is difficult to get ideas out whilst everyone else is simultaneously.

Illusion of group effectivity = reason why people use brainstorming despite ineffective evidence
- We feel like idea generating is more creative/productive

Reasons:

1. 1. People are exposed to some ideas they had not heard before but forget whether these were their own or those of others, and so exaggerate their own contribution.
2. People enjoy the exercise in a group more than being alone and so feel more satisfied with their performance.
3. People recognise production blocking but think it only applies to themselves

Group think = 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.

Group polarisation = Tendency for group discussion to produce more extreme group decisions than the mean of members’ pre-discussion opinions, in the direction favoured by the mean.
Explanations:
1. Persuasive arguments theory - - When we hear novel arguments that support our position on an issue we become more entrenched in our view

2. Social comparison/cultural values - we seek social approval and avoid social censure
3. Social identity theory - As group members we identify with, construct and conform to an in group norm. This also accentuates differences between their group and other groups