group processes

Question 1

what is a group?

Answer 1

“two or more individuals in face-to-face [not included in modern ones because of online] interaction, each aware of his or her membership in the group, each aware of the others who belong to the group, and each aware of their positive interdependence as they strive to achieve mutual goals”

Question 2

what are the different types of groups?

Answer 2

strong interpersonal relationships

formed to fulfil task(s)

groups based on large social categories

groups based on weak social relationships

transitory groups

Question 3

what are examples of strong interpersonal relationships?

Answer 3

families

small groups of close friends

Question 4

what are examples of groups formed to fulfil task(s)?

Answer 4

committees

work groups

Question 5

what are examples of groups based on large social categories?

Answer 5

women

Americans

Question 6

what are examples of groups based on weak social relationships?

Answer 6

people who enjoy Taylor Swift’s music

people from the same local area

Question 7

what are examples of transitory groups?

Answer 7

people waiting at the bus stop

people in the queue at the bank

Question 8

who investigated minimal groups and when?

Answer 8

Tajfel, Billig, Bundy and Flament

1971

Question 9

how did Tajfel, Billig, Bundy and Flament (1971) investigated minimal groups?

Answer 9

split randomly into two groups

people allocated more money to their “own” group rather than other group

cannot be explained by self-interest (didn’t get a share) or existing friendships (random allocation)

shows how easily bias (and groups) can develop

Question 10

who first investigated social facilitation and when?

Answer 10

Triplett

1898

Question 11

what was Triplett’s (1898) study into social facilitation?

Answer 11

observed track cyclists

found performances faster when timed alone and when timed and racing alongside other cyclists

hypothesised presence of audience, particularly in competition, “energised” performance on motor task

tested hypothesis using “fishing line” apparatus - found children performed better when racing against each other than when alone

Question 12

who coined the term “social facilitation” and when?

Answer 12

Allport

1920

Question 13

what is Allport (1920) suggest about social facilitation?

Answer 13

suggested more generalised effect - “mere presence”

“entirely passive and unresponsive audience that is only physically present”

improvement in performance due to mere presence of others as co-actors or passive audience

Question 14

is social facilitation just in humans?

Answer 14

no

kangaroos, monkeys and horses eat more and run faster when other members of species doing same thing

Question 15

what is social inhibition?

Answer 15

some studies showed presence of others impairs performance for humans and animals

Question 16

what evidence is there of social inhibition?

Answer 16

complex task done more slowly in presence of other people than alone (Schmitt et al, 1986)

men take longer to urinate when someone standing immediately beside them at a urinal than alone (Middlemist et al, 1976)

Question 17

who created the drive theory and when?

Answer 17

Zajonc

1965

Question 18

what is Zajonc’s (1965) drive theory?

Answer 18

argued mere presence of others creates increase in arousal and energises “dominant response”

when anxious, tend to do better on easy tasks (already good at) and worse on difficult ones (that normally struggle at)

Question 19

what is a dominant response?

Answer 19

what is typically done in that situation

well-learnt/habitual response

Question 20

what happens if a dominant response is correct (easy)?

Answer 20

performance facilitated

Question 21

what happens if a dominant response is incorrect (difficult)?

Answer 21

performance inhibited

Question 22

who came up with the evaluation apprehension theory and when?

Answer 22

Cottrell

1972

Question 23

what is the evaluation apprehension theory?

Answer 23

learn about social reward/punishment contingencies (approval, disapproval) based on others’ evaluation

perception of “evaluating” audience creates arousal, not mere presence

social facilitation is an acquired effect based on perceived evaluations of others

evaluation apprehension sometimes helpful but sometimes unnecessary for social facilitation

Question 24

what did Cottrell et al (1968) find in their study of the evaluation apprehension theory?

Answer 24

support hypothesis in experiment with three audience conditions

blindfolded (cannot see participant)

merely present (passive and uninterested)

attentive audience

tasks were well-learned (easy)

social facilitation found when audience perceived to be evaluative (attentive), wanting to perform well for audience worked in their favour

Question 25

who found evidence that disagreed with the evaluation apprehension theory and when?

Answer 25

Markus 1978

Question 26

what did Markus's (1978) study find?

Answer 26

time taken to dress in familiar clothes (easy task, own clothes) vs unfamiliar clothes (difficult task, lab coat and unfamiliar shoes) as a function of social presence three conditions - alone, in presence of inattentive audience, in presence of attentive audience familiar (easy) quicker than difficult attentive audience speeded up performance in easy task inattentive and attentive not much different in difficult task

Question 27

what did Schmitt et al (1986) find in their study about the evaluation apprehension theory?

Answer 27

asked participants to type either their name or a code backwards on a computer mere presence of others made people perform the simple task quicker and difficult task slower however adding in evaluation apprehension condition made little difference to typing speed

Question 28

what is the distraction-conflict theory?

Answer 28

people become distracted, focusing ("drive") on what others are doing (i.e. evaluating them) and perform worse

Question 29

who investigated the distraction-conflict theory and when?

Answer 29

Saunders et al 1978

Question 30

what was Saunders et al's (1978) study on distraction-conflict theory?

Answer 30

participants complete easy or difficult task conditions - alone, someone doing same task, someone doing different task performed worse when someone did the same thing as them (i.e. more distraction) Sanders (1981) showed bursts of light could similarly affect social facilitation

Question 31

who investigated the effect that who is evaluating you can have and when?

Answer 31

Siemon 2023

Question 32

what did Siemon's (2023) study show about the effect of who is evaluating you?

Answer 32

examined whether using AI-based evaluation led to evaluation apprehension Finnish participant presented idea to either Alan (AI) or Phillip (human) express less evaluation apprehension when presenting idea to Alan than Phillip results show when humans are involved in evaluating an idea, people tend to feel more concerned

Question 33

what is another name for social loafing?

Answer 33

Ringelmann effect

Question 34

what is social loafing?

Answer 34

loss in motivation "reduction in individual effort when working on a collective task compared with working alone"

Question 35

what did Ringelmann (1913, 1927) show in his experiments into social loafing?

Answer 35

men pulled on rope attached to dynamometer exerted less force than number of people in group

Question 36

what were the reasons for the effect Ringelmann (1913, 1927) found?

Answer 36

coordination loss (as group size inhibits movement, distraction and jostling) motivation (participants didn't try as hard, less motivated)

Question 37

what did Ingham et al (1974) find when they investigated social loafing?

Answer 37

investigated with "real groups" and "pseudo-groups" pulling on a rope participants blindfolded real groups = groups of varying size pseudo-group = only one true participant, rest confederates who didn't pull at all difference between potential performance and pseudo-groups performance = motivation loss (significant) difference between pseudo-groups and real groups performance = coordination loss

Question 38

what did Latane et al (1979) find in their study into social loafing?

Answer 38

recording amount of cheering/clapping noise made per person (blindfolded) reduced by 29% in two-person groups, 49% in four-person groups and 60% in six-person groups

Question 39

why do people social loaf (Geen, 1991)?

Answer 39

output equity evaluation apprehension

Question 40

what is output equity (Geen, 1991)?

Answer 40

when people learn others are not pulling their weight, they too can lose motivation and put less effort in

Question 41

what is evaluation apprehension in social loafing (Geen, 1991)?

Answer 41

individuals only believe their efforts are being judged when they perform alone in groups, people are not accountable

Question 42

how can social loafing be reduced?

Answer 42

identifiability - when people's individual contributions to a task can be identified individual responsibility - when people know they can make a unique contribution to a task

Question 43

is social loafing robust?

Answer 43

appears to be robust across gender, culture and task affect smaller for subjects from Eastern cultures

Question 44

what is the collective effort model?

Answer 44

people will put effort into a group task when believe input will have an impact completing task is likely to bring them something of value

Question 45

what is group polarisation?

Answer 45

often discuss topics with those who are similarly minded which can strengthen attitudes

Question 46

who investigated group polarisation and when?

Answer 46

Moscovici and Zavalloni 1969

Question 47

what did Moscovici and Zavalloni's (1969) study show?

Answer 47

group discussions enhanced French students (already) positive attitudes towards their president and enhanced their (already) negative attitudes towards Americans

Question 48

what did McCauley and Segal (1987) show about group polarisation?

Answer 48

as people come together to share their grievances, often in isolation from others, likely to become more extreme over time, leading to actions (violence) that might not have happened on their own

Question 49

when is group problem-solving useful?

Answer 49

in certain contexts if only simple group decisions occur, with no break-out from individuals, solitary effort typically better than groups key is to ensure combination of group and individual brain-storming

Question 50

what did McGlynn et al (1995) find about group problem solving?

Answer 50

when groups get together and critique each other's ideas, found to come up with better-quality ideas

Question 51

what did Mullen et al (1991) find about group problem solving?

Answer 51

more effective when small rather than large groups and when experimenter not present to monitor process

Question 52

what is group think?

Answer 52

where objections to poor group decisions are suppressed to maintain group harmony (Janis, 1982) very specific phenomenon

Question 53

what are the conditions for group-think?

Answer 53

stressful situation without clear, correct solution cohesive group of like-minded people, cut off from external (moderating) influences strong, vocal leader

Question 54

what are the consequences of group-think?

Answer 54

group doesn't carry out adequate research alternative objects not considered, group members cascade around same opinion risks not adequately assessed