Group Behaviour

Question 1

Though definitions are contested, what is a group?

Answer 1

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

Question 2

What are examples of different group forms?

Answer 2

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

Question 3

What exist between groups?

Answer 3

Similarities and differences.

Question 4

What are groups essentially?

Answer 4

Categories

Question 5

Why do groups matter?

Answer 5

• 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.

Question 6

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

Answer 6

Forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.

Question 7

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

Answer 7

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

Question 8

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

Answer 8

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

Question 9

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

Answer 9

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

Question 10

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

Answer 10

Group members work toward achieving their goals.

Question 11

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

Answer 11

The group disbands once its goals have been achieved.

Question 12

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

Answer 12

The group will perform well.

Question 13

What both exist in relation to working in a group?

Answer 13

Gains and losses.

Question 14

Which equation can reflect a group’s actual performance?

Answer 14

Potential performance - process losses

Question 15

To what does the term actual group performance refer?

Answer 15

To the performance level attained by a group.

Question 16

To what does the term potential performance refer?

Answer 16

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

Question 17

To what does the term process losses refer?

Answer 17

To performance difficulties that arise from coordination and motivation problems.

Question 18

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

Answer 18

Process gains

Question 19

To what does the term process gains refer?

Answer 19

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

Question 20

To what can process gains contribute?

Answer 20

To a group’s potential performance.

Question 21

To which concept does the Ringleman Effect refer?

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

Of what do free-riders take advantage without contribution?

Answer 22

A public shared resource

Question 23

How do free-riders differ from social loafers?

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Why do people engage in social loafing?

Answer 24

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).

Question 25

Who are more likely to loaf?

Answer 25

• Men
• Those from more individualistic cultures.

Question 26

How can social loafing be reduced?

Answer 26

• 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).

Question 27

What sometimes exist within groups?

Answer 27

Serious problems

Question 28

When does groupthink occur?

Answer 28

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.

Question 29

In which two situations is groupthink more likely to occur?

Answer 29

• 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.

Question 30

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

Answer 30

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

Question 31

To what is groupthink related?

Answer 31

Low-quality decision making.

Question 32

How is groupthink defined?

Answer 32

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