the power of the group Flashcards
(18 cards)
what defines a group
- two or more people who are seen as a unit and interact with one another
- may be people who do or do not know each other
- may be defined by some common feature
- group membership can be brief or extended \
- groups come in all shapes and sizes
- most have common goals that determine the actions of each individual
cohesion
- the extent to which members of a group are connected
- shared intimacy, history, or background enhances cohesion
eg. religious groups have a high level of cohesion because their members share a belief that the group has great importance
how does a group influence individual behaviour
social facilitation
- enhances performance when around others
- familiar or simple tasks
- task = easy and arousal = low enhances performance
social inhibition
- hindered performance by the presence of others
- unfamiliar or difficult tasks
- task = hard, arousal = high
what leads to arousal
3 factors:
1) mere presence: the simple presence of others arouses physical arousal
2) evaluation apprehension: feeling judged enhances self-consciousness - this can lead to poorer performance
3) distraction conflict theory: the presence of others can take attention away from performance - this can lead to poorer performance
also affected by the difficulty of the task
social facilitation vs. social inhibition
- audience is present
- physiological arousal increases
- dominant response enhanced:
- if new task - audience increases nervousness - performance suffers
- if well practiced task - audience boosts energy - performance is better
social loafing
- being in a group can cause a decrease in effort
- when working towards collective goal, each individual exerts less effort that if competing individually
- is seen when individual performance is not assessed (eg, group projects)
Ingam et al (1974): when blindfolded students were led to believe that others were pulling behind them in a game of tug of war, they exerted less effort than when they knew they were pulling alone
reducing social loafing
- the belief that individual effort will be noted by the assessor
- increasing each group members commitment \
- increasing task importance
deindividuation
- to let go of self awareness and restraint and go along with the group
- can be caused by a sense of anonymity within a group
- can lead to very dangerous behaviours
eg. mob mentality, riots
3 factors that contribute to deindividuation
1) arousal
2) anonymity
3) reduced feelings of responsibility
- Zimbardo’s Stanford prison study
- children in costumes (Diener, Fraser, Kelem, 19760
* Halloween, person left bowl of treats and bowl of money, had to go into house cause the phone was ringing, but told the kids to take 1 chocolate
* then studied to see if they would take more and/or the money and if they would act as a group
- anonymity of the internet: people make abusive or offensive posts they wouldn’t make if held accountable
eg. Jimmy Kimmel: celebrities read mean tweets
social identity deindividuation (SIDE)
- deindividuation results from a shifting of identity
- an individual changed their focus from the self to the group
- leads to conformity to the norms in that group
- can lead to a loss of elf awareness
eg. cult behaviour - Heaven’s gate, 1997
how does a group makes decisions
risky shift:
- we will take greater risk as a group than we will as individuals
- related to social loafing, as responsibility is spread out among group members
- risk taking is related to social status in a group
group polarization
- an attitude/belief can become magnified within a group after being discussed among group members
- we may play off of the emotions/attitudes of others in the group
- a prime example is jury deliberation
- social comparison - adjusting our own attitudes for favourable standing in a group
groupthink
- the desire for groups to function smoothly may cause the group to ignore other solutions to a problem
- maintaining the harmony of the group can exert pressure to avoid raising red flags
eg. challenger explosion - group pressure to launch took precedence over the engineers warnings
solutions to groupthink
- remain open to criticism
- work with diverse people
- include members outside of the group
- train members in group decision making
causes of group conflict
conflict = a perceived incompatibility of actions, goals, or ideas
causes:
1) realistic conflict theory
- when different groups compete for resources
- Sherif - robbers cave study
2) hostile attributional bias
- the assumption that others have hostile or negative intentions
- blaming other people when we don’t achieve a goal
the prisoners dilemma - a social dilemma - individual short term gain vs. group long term
look at graph on slides
what influences cooperation
- results from prisoners game find behaviour changes across repeated games
- people decide based in how the other person acted in a trial
- exposure to the negative outcomes of competing fosters cooperation
resolving conflict
- bargaining (negotiations)
- seeking a common ground
- differing parties discuss and resolve conflict
- counter offers and concessions
- goal: everyone to win a little and no one has to feel like they lost
- GRIT: graduated and reciprocated initiatives in tension reduction
- AKA “gradual reduction in tension”
- compromise: key, and it leads to de-escalation of emotions and hostility
- goal is trust and cooperation toward a mutually acceptable outcome
