Groups Flashcards
(48 cards)
What is group think?
excessive tendency to seek agreement among group members
What illusions are part of groupthink?
illusion of unanimity- think everyone has same opinion
illusion of invulnerability- think group must come to correct decision
How can groupthink be prevented?
- Keep leader’s opinion secret
- encourage objections
- break large group into smaller groups then come back into large group
What is group polarization?
Majority opinion in group gets magnified
What is risky shift?
Originally thought groups make riskier decisions than individuals (replaced with group polarization)
What are the mechanisms behind group polarization?
- Persuasive arguments theory: more arguments for majority opinion
- increases group confidence in position
When will group polarization lead to good or bad decisions?
- how qualified group members are
- are members thinking critically about arguments
What is social facilitation?
Presence of others enhances performance on easy tasks but impairs it on difficult ones
What was the reeling experiment? What were the results?
- got kids to reel in line alone or with other kids present
- winner gets prize
- faster if with other participants
What is Zajonc’s generalized drive hypothesis?
social facilitation because:
- yerkes-dodson law (simple/well-learned tasks need high arousal; difficult/new tasks need low arousal)
- mere presence of others increases dominant response
What was the cockroach experiment? What were the results?
- cockroaches ran easy or hard maze
- other cockroaches watching or not
- social facilitation shown in cockroaches
What was the billiards experiment?
- field experiment where they watched people play pool
- crowded around player to see if performance changed
- social facilitation
What is the evaluation apprehension hypothesis in social facilitation?
People evaluating you increases arousal and causes dominant response
What is social loafing?
reduction in individual task output when contributions are pooled
What were the 2 hypothesized mechanisms for loafing?
- coordination loss
- loss of motivation
What was the rope tugging experiment? What were the findings?
- either pulling alone, in real group or group with confederates pretend pulling
- confederate group: adding more confederates increases loafing (motivation loss)
- real group: less pulling than confederate group (coordination loss)
Why do we loaf?
Diffusion of responsibility
What is the role of gender in loafing?
Men loaf more, unless only man in the group
When won’t we loaf?
- friends with group members
- task is important to us
What is social compensation?
Collectivists work harder in groups than alone
What was the butter knife experiment? What were the results?
- in individualist culture
- confederate said they would try (or not)
- confederate not trying: participant comes up with more than if alone
- confederate trying: participant comes up with less than if alone
What are groups vs collectives?
group - direct interactions, shared fate/identity/goals
collective - people engaging in same activity but not interacting
What are roles? What are the two types?
- set of expected behaviours
- instrumental: help group achieve task
- expressive: emotional support/boosting morale
What are norms? What is loyal deviance?
- rules of conduct
- loyal deviance: defy norm because you think norm is bad for group
