week 8 Group Processes Flashcards
(34 cards)
What is a group, and what types exist?
A group is 2 or more people as a category. The definitions of the category may be fuzzy. Groups vary widely in size, function, durability and success.
2 group types are:
a)Common-bond-group; requires interaction between members. Each member linked to the others in some way. eg friends, families, work groups.
b) Common-identity group;members may interact but don;t need to. Memebers are linked to the category as opposed to other members.eg Nationality, ethnicity, gender.
What do social psychologists mean when they discuss: a) fuzzy sets?; and b) entitativity?
Fuzzy sets; category with fuzzy features set around a prototype.
Entitativity-level of group distinctiveness. ie high entitativity of a group means the group is easily perceived as distinct from other groups. High level of cohesion, relatively homogenous with clear internal structure.
Describe Triplett’s (1898) classic study. What is meant by the term ‘social facilitation’?
Had children perform a pulley at pace alone or in presence of others. Some competed and performed better when others present and some performed worse.
Social Facilitation=when others are present, one may perform better at easy tasks.
The opposite is social impairment or social inhibition where perform more poorly in presence of others (usually more difficult tasks)
What is Zajonc’s (1965) drive theory of social facilitation?
Proposes that it is an advantage to be alert and ready for action when others are around. Thus there is an instinctive arousal when there are others.This works well to improve performance of a well learnt task but reduces performance by “rushing” a difficult or unfamiliar task.
What is Cottrell’s (1972) evaluation apprehension model? How does this differ from Zajonc and Triplett?
Drive theory says presence of others arouses us.
Cottrell’s Evaluation Apprehension Model says it is our own apprehension of being evaluated by others that arouses us.
What did Steiner (1972; 1976) propose? Be sure to use the term ‘coordination loss’ in your answer.
Steiner proposed that some people in groups do not get to contribute as overlooked by others. This is Coordination Loss and means that the group performance has decreased, compared with individual performance.
What is ‘social loafing’ and what reasons have been given to explain this phenomenon?
Social Loafing=reduction in individual performance when working as part of a collective. Explanations for this include;
a) coordination loss
b) loss of motivation; i) Output Equity-others loaf, therefore to be on par, we do too
ii) Evaluation Apprehension-if anonymous can hang back, therefore avoiding evaluation (which may be negative)
iii) Matching to Standard-we don’t have a clear idea of the group’s standards or methods, so hang back.
c) lazy-some one else will do it.
Sometimes people do work harder when they are in a group. What factors have been found to affect this?
Social Compensation=increased effort by individuals in a collective because they anticipate/believe that they need to compensate for others who will/do social loaf. Factors contributing top this occurring are:
team motivation, competing against an outgroup, collectivist culture, believe in group goal, strong group identity/cohesiveness
Briefly describe Steiner’s task taxonomy dimensions.
1.Is division of labor possible;
divisible task -can be divided into sub tasks
unitary task-cannot be broken into sub tasks
2. maximising vs optimising
maximising task=aim is to do as much as possible, no limit.
optimising task=aims to meet a certain standard, but not to exceed it.
3. how does individual effort effect task performance/
additive task=group product is sum of all members’input
Compensatory task=group’s product is average of members’input (eg 2 people provide estimates , thus group adopts average as answer)
further task classifications
Disjunctive task=group product is actually one member’s input (eg what to do one weekend? 1 person’s suggestion adopted by all).
Conjunctive task=group product determined by slowest individual’s rate.
Discretionary task=no dictates of what is required, but individuals in group each decide to participate.
What is group cohesiveness? What distinction was made by Hogg (1992) and why?
how much group is united in purpose and how efficient it is. Hogg made the distinction that “social attractiveness” is felt when someone likes someone based solely on group membership. Group cohesion can be based on this too, where members all feel united in eg love for Liverpool fc. This distinction was made because in large groups in is impossible to personally know everyone, yet the pull of shared similarity exists.
What is group socialisation? Briefly describe the five phases of group socialisation proposed by Moreland and Levine (1982).
relationship b/n group and its members. the way members pass through the group. Stages:
- investigation;group recruits members
- Socialisation;group gets new members who are assimilated
- Maintenance; roles of members are negotiated b/n members.
- Resocialisation;members either diverge and are lost or have their roles revised and then are resolialised and reinstated.
- Remembrance=after member leaves both parties may reflect upon time together.
Explain how cognitive dissonance is used here to explain initiation rites in groups.
If an initiation rite is quite horrible, participant may remember it as really not so bad, so can feel happier about having gone through it to join the group. Also tend to further endorse the merit of the group, seeing as how went through an ordeal to join.
What are roles and how do they help determine a group structure?
roles outline specific sub tasks performed by individuals or sub groups. each comes with own set of norms. should help the functionality /effectiveness of the group
Study Research Classic 6.2. Why did Zimbardo conduct this study? What were the major findings and what explanation was offered?
role playing exercise done on male student volunteers assigned to be either a prisoner or a guard in a simulated prison. Conducted to see how people allown role adoption to determine their behaviour. Originallly planned to last 2 weeks, experiment stopped after 6 days as guards became increasingly brutal and prisoners, after an initial revolt, then become increasingly withdrawn, docile, and lost touch with reality, and displayed emotional disturbance.
Zimbardo explained as students adopted too well, the roles they thought they should display. But Reicher and Haslam explained it as participants being uncertain and so adopted group conformity.
Define ‘status’. What properties tend to be associated with higher status roles?
Status=the regard of others. The consensual evaluation of the level of prestige a role has. Higher status roles tend to be associated with ability, attraction or achievement (not necessarily in any related field). eg head juror usually given to someone with high status job outside of the legal proceedings.
What is expectations states theory?
This states that the status a member will be accorded within a group is determined by 2 assessments;
a) specific status characteristics-person’s attributes directly relating to their ability to aid the group’s function
and
b) diffuse status characteristics-attributes not directly related to achieving group’s purpose, but generally regarded by society as being +ve or -ve eg wealthy, attractive, white collar/blue collar etc.
What is a communication network? What sort of structure is best for relatively simple tasks? What about more complex tasks?
how group communicates.
Centralised network-all communications go through a central hub. usually necessary in big organisations but can mean peripheral members feel less satisfied and have less autonomy. But in large businesses, even though there is a centralised network, there is usually an adjacent less formal way of communicating too.
decentralised network-no centre. anyone can communicate with anyone else.
Describe: a) uncertainty-identity theory; and b) terror management theory.
Compare these two theories – which one is more social and which one is more sociobiological? Which do you agree with and why?
a) Uncertainty -identity theory;we join with groups to reduce our uncertainty about ourselves, as the group can be a guide for how we should behave/think.
b)Terror management theory; by associating with others we reduce our fear of death by raising self esteem.
Comparison:uncertainty-identy theory more social, and terror management more sociobiological.
I agree more with uncertainty-identy-theory as death avoidance is surely not a factor for young kids, and they still form groups.
Take a moment to reflect on what you consider good leadership and effective leadership. What is the difference (if any) for you?
Good leadership is effective but looks after crew too, Effective leadership may get things done but may not look after crew.
According to the research, what Big 5 personality types are most predictive of effective leadership? Do you agree with this ‘great person’ approach to leadership?
Extraverted, Open to Experience, and Conscietiousness. Mostly applicable.
Describe Fiedler’s contingency theory and prediction. Note the difference between ’task-orientated’ and ‘relationship-orientated leaders’.
Contingency Theory of Leadership-says the effectiveness of leadership style, depends upon the situation. (no one style suits all situations).
Fiedler had a contingency theory of leadership considering;
a)the leader i)task orientated leader authoritarian, value group success and derive self esteem from accomplishment, not on whether or not are liked.
ii)relationship orientated leader who is usually relaxed, friendly, non directive and sociable.derive self esteem from having a harmonious team.
and
b) the situation;
i) high situational control (good leader-follower relations, clearly defined task, high degree of authority vested in leader
or
ii) low situational control where there are poor leader-follower relations, a poorly defined task and little authority granted to leader.
using his Least Preferred Coworker scoring method, Fiedler found low lpc scores were obtained by task orientated leaders, and high lpc scores by relationship orientated leader.
task orientated leaders most effective when there is low situational control and relationship orientated leaders do best when there is middle situational control.
How does path-goal theory describe leadership function?
This is another leadership contingency theory although is sometimes also regarded as a Transactional Leadership Theory.Proposes the leader’s main function is to motivate and clarify pathways. this theory describes 2 pathways of leadership:
a) structuring-leader directs tasks
and
b)consideration-leader addresses followers’personal and emotional needs.
Compare and contrast transactional leadership with transformational leadership.
Transactional Leadership Theory views leadership as an exchange process b/n leader and followers. in return for leading, leader gets prestige, power, etc. There are several Transactional leadership theories;
a) Idiosyncratic credit is gained by a leader such that he is allowed to be a bit different/innovative.
b)Leader/member exchange Theory-leader is most effective if able to develop quality personalised exchange relationships with followers ie built on trust, loyalty etc etc.
Transformational Leadership Theory proposes that the best leaders inspire their followers to not only achieve the group goal, but to internalise it as their own, Followers are encouraged to learn and challenge themselves. This leadership style is achieved largely via charisma.
