Group Processes

Question 1

What is a group?

Answer 1

• Collection of people who are perceived to be bonded
  together in a coherent unit to some degree.
• Usually between 3-6 people
• Common identity

Question 2

What are the benefits of being a part of a group?

Answer 2

• Self-knowledge
• Coping
• Prestige
• Goals

Question 3

What are the costs of being a part of a group?

Answer 3

• Barriers to join
• Restricted personal freedom
• Time energy and resources
• Emotional distress while leaving

Question 4

What is another word of group coherence? What is is group coherence determined by?

Answer 4

• Entitativity
• Frequency of interaction
• Importance
• Common goals
• Perceived similarity

Question 5

What does the Dartmouth vs. Princeton study tell us about groups?

Answer 5

Group identity can influence perceptions of objective matters (in this case, infractions) –> confirmation bias

Question 6

What does the maple syrup study tell us about group identity salience?

Answer 6

Those that received a Canadian prime rather than a personal prime were more likely to rate the maple syrup as pleasant

Question 7

Does the mere presence of others
affect our performance?

Answer 7

Yes! It can improve performance through social facilitation

Question 8

How does task difficulty impact performance?

Answer 8

simple & well-learned: social facilitation
complex & unfamiliar: social inhibition

Question 9

Why does task difficulty matter?

Answer 9

• Arousal level through presence of others
• Arousal can strengthen dominant responses (well-learned) but it can interfere with non-dominant responses

Question 10

Why does the presence of others increase arousal?

Answer 10

• Evaluation apprehension
• Alertness/vigilance (dominant versus non-dominant)
• Distraction/divided attention
  These are not mutually exclusive!

Question 11

In the evaluation apprehension study, which condition showed social facilitation?

Answer 11

• Having an audience watching complete an easy task (this one!)
• Being alone
• Blindfolded audience

Question 12

In the alertness/vigilance study, which condition showed social facilitation?

Answer 12

The dominant response (own clothes) was completed much faster in the presence of others compared to being alone or and the non-dominant response (stranger’s clothes) was completed slower than being alone

Question 13

When a crowd of people clap or cheer, it is difficult to
tell just how loud each individual is applauding or
cheering. If people tend to clap louder when they are
alone than when they are in a crowd, they are probably
engaging in __________.

Answer 13

Social loafing

Question 14

From what we know about social loafing, it can probably be overcome by __________ .

Answer 14

a. making each individual’s output identifiable

Question 15

What is deindividuation?

Answer 15

The loosening of normal constraints on behavior when people can’t be identified (such as when they are in a crowd).

Question 16

What social psychological processes drive deindividuation?

Answer 16

1. Decreases accountability
2. Increases obedience to group norms

Question 17

What does the shock study tell us about deindividuation?

Answer 17

Deindividuation increased the extremity of both prosocial and antisocial behavior (but more so antisocial behavior –> distributing shocks)

Question 18

What are contributors to deindividuation?

Answer 18

Group size and anonymity

Question 19

Sarah never thought of herself as a bully, but recently realized that she is sometimes mean to people in ways she never would be otherwise. Sarah’s poor behavior is likely occurring in _________ due to ___________.

Answer 19

Large groups; deindividuation

Question 20

What phenomenon does the Bay of Pigs invasion represent?

Answer 20

Groupthink

Question 21

What increases the probability of groupthink behaviors?

Answer 21

1.Highly cohesive group
2.Isolated from contrary opinions
3.Directive (opinionated, authoritative) leader

Question 22

What are the outcomes of groupthink?

Answer 22

• Perception of invulnerability
• Self-censorship

Question 23

What happens as a result of group consensus?

Answer 23

• Risky shift: groups make riskier decisions than individuals
• Group polarization: Shift towards extreme positions

Question 24

Why does group consensus happen?

Answer 24

*Social comparison: Normative social influence
*More arguments: Informational social influence

Question 25

What does the shared information study around candidates tell us?

Answer 25

• When the whole group met together they were able to pool information and make a more informed decision on how to approach choosing the candidate
• Shared information is useful

Question 26

How do we avoid group think?

Answer 26

1. Group leader remains impartial
2. Seek opinions from people outside of the group
3. Create subgroups
4. Anonymous voting

Question 27

What is mutual helping?

Answer 27

Where both sides benefit

Question 28

What is negative interdependence?

Answer 28

Where it is not possible for two people to attain the same outcome.

Question 29

What are social dilemmas?

Answer 29

Each person gains by acting selfishly, but everyone loses if everyone is selfish.

Question 30

For Halloween, Jeff wears a sheet and goes to a
party as a ghost. How is this costume likely to
influence his behavior? He will __________.

Answer 30

feel less personally accountable for his behavior