Group dynamics

Question 1

Group

Answer 1

Collection of people perceived to be bonded together in a coherent unit to some degree

Question 2

Evolutionary perspective on groups

Answer 2

Essential - impossible to perform certain tasks without a group, makes us more adaptive

Question 3

Benefits of groups

Answer 3

Self-knowledge, coping (control and support), prestige, help us reach goals

Question 4

Costs of groups

Answer 4

Barriers to joining (fees, hazing), restricted personal freedom, time/energy/resources, emotional distress when leaving (brain circuits overlap for social rejection and physical pain)

Question 5

Entitativity

Answer 5

Group coherence, determined by frequency of interaction, importance, common goals, and perceived similarity

Question 6

Study on social facilitation (biking)

Answer 6

People were faster when trying to beat others compared to beating their own personal record

Question 7

Study on social facilitation (fishing)

Answer 7

Children wound the fishing reel faster when they were around others compared to alone

Question 8

Social facilitation

Answer 8

Presence of others improves performance when it is an easy task/something you are good at

Question 9

Social inhibition

Answer 9

Presence of others hurts performance when task is new or difficult

Question 10

Study on facilitation vs inhibition (cockroaches)

Answer 10

Presence of other cockroaches led to better performance in simple maze and worse performance in complex maze

Question 11

Study on facilitation vs inhibition (pool)

Answer 11

Good pool players performed better with an audience and bad pool players performed worse

Question 12

Why task difficulty matters for facilitation/inhibition

Answer 12

Arousal strengthens dominant responses and interferes with non-dominant responses; presence of others causes arousal (evaluation apprehension, alertness/vigilance, distraction)

Question 13

Why task difficulty matters for facilitation/inhibition

Answer 13

Arousal strengthens dominant responses and interferes with non-dominant responses; presence of others causes arousal (evaluation apprehension, alertness/vigilance, distraction)

Question 14

Study on evaluation apprerhension

Answer 14

Social facilitation on an easy task only happened when audience was present and could see compared to when audience was blindfolded or when participant was alone

Question 15

Study on alertness/vigilance

Answer 15

Participants dressed faster when in the presence of others for easy task (own clothes) and slower in the presence of others for hard task (provided clothes)

Question 16

Study on distraction

Answer 16

When distracted, participants became aroused and experienced social inhibition or facilitation

Question 17

Social loafing

Answer 17

Presence of others lets you off the hook

Question 18

Study on social loafing (tug of war group size)

Answer 18

People put in the least work in a large group compared to the smaller group and when they were alone

Question 19

Study on social loafing (cheering/clapping)

Answer 19

Sound output decreased as group size increased - in a replication study, they gave participants headphones and a blindfold; given pseudo-groups of 2 and 6, and told them to shout; were loudest when they were alone, then with one other person, and least loud when they thought they were in a group of 6

Question 20

Group cohesiveness

Answer 20

Perceived similarity leads to high cohesiveness; people tend to gravitate toward similar others

Question 21

Study on group cohesiveness

Answer 21

All-white vs diverse groups, solved “tourist problem”; all-white group had higher cohesiveness but the diverse group had more effective and feasible ideas

Question 22

Deindividuation

Answer 22

Lose constraints on behavior when we can’t be identified

Question 23

Processes driving deindividuation

Answer 23

Decrease in accountability, increase in obedience to group norms

Question 24

Study on deindividuation (giving out shocks or money)

Answer 24

Independent or group tasks, could give either shocks or money to a confederate; deindividuated participants gave out higher levels of shocks or money (stronger effect on anti-social behavior)

Question 25

Study on deindividuation (trick or treating)

Answer 25

Either alone or in a group and anonymous or identified; identified kids didn't take as much extra candy, anonymous and in a group had more kids take extra candy

Question 26

Contributors to deindividuation

Answer 26

Size of group and anonymity

Question 27

Groupthink

Answer 27

Flawed thinking that occurs when group cohesiveness is valued over the thoughtful consideration of information

Question 28

Groupthink study

Answer 28

3 conditions - highly cohesive group, isolated from contrary opinions, directive leader; more perceptions of invulnerability and self-censorship with all three conditions

Question 29

Risky shift

Answer 29

Groups make riskier decisions

Question 30

Group polarization

Answer 30

Shift toward extreme positions

Question 31

Study on tendency of groups to focus on shared information

Answer 31

Had to make decisions in groups about student body president, candidate A has most positive qualities; everyone in shared information group could see candidate A's 8 positive qualities, people in distributed information group could only see 2 of A's positive qualities; shared information group reliably picked candidate A, distributed group failed to pick A because they didn't pool together the information each person had

Question 32

Avoiding groupthink

Answer 32

Group leader remains impartial, seek opinions from people outside the group, create subgroups where you discuss then come together, anonymous voting

Question 33

Study on groupthink (juries)

Answer 33

Homogeneous (all white) vs diverse, evaluated Black defendant on trial for sexual assault; white jurors in all-white group saw defendant as more guilty than white jurors in diverse group; white jurors in diverse group raised more novel case facts and race-related issues than in all white-group

Question 34

Mutually helping

Answer 34

Both sides benefit

Question 35

Negative interdependence

Answer 35

Not possible for two people to attain the same outcome

Question 36

Social dilemmas

Answer 36

Most beneficial action for an individual will, if chosen by most people, be harmful to everyone

Question 37

Prisoner's dilemma

Answer 37

Cooperative option benefits both sides, but individual outcome may be more appealing; If both parties choose individual outcome they both lose

Question 38

Arousal and social facilitation

Answer 38

Presence of others increases arousal, makes it easier to perform a dominant response but harder to do something complex or learn something new; others cause us to become alert and vigilant, evaluation apprehension, distract us from task at hand

Question 39

Process loss

Answer 39

Any aspect of group interaction that inhibits good problem solving

Question 40

Failure to share unique information

Answer 40

Groups tend to focus on shared information, lose opportunity to learn new information

Question 41

Transactive memory

Answer 41

Combined memory of a group is more efficient than that of individual members

Question 42

Reasons for group polarization

Answer 42

Persuasive arguments (members bring in arguments others haven't considered) and social comparison (people will take similar positions to group members)

Question 43

Great person theory of leadership

Answer 43

Certain personality traits make a person a good leader, regardless of the situation

Question 44

Transactional leader

Answer 44

Set clear, short-term goals and reward those who meet them

Question 45

Transformational leader

Answer 45

Inspire followers to focus on common, long-term goals

Question 46

Contingency theory of leadership

Answer 46

Leadership effectiveness depends on how task-oriented or relationship-oriented the leader is and on the amount of control and influence they have

Question 47

Task-oriented leader

Answer 47

Getting job done is more important than feelings and relationships; do better in high and low control work situations

Question 48

Relationship-oriented leader

Answer 48

Feelings and relationships are more important than getting the job done; do well in moderate-control work situations

Question 49

Glass cliff

Answer 49

Women tend to be placed in crisis and high-risk situations

Question 50

Social dilemmas

Question 51

Tit-for-tat strategy

Answer 51

Start with cooperative option, then always respond with the way your partner did on previous trials

Question 52

Negotiation

Answer 52

Offers and counteroffers made, solution only when both parties agree

Question 53

Integrative solution

Answer 53

Outcome where parties make trade-offs according to different interests