Working in groups Flashcards
(18 cards)
What is influence of social facilitation/ presence of others?
Norman Triplett:
- cyclists race faster when competing against others as opposed to being alone
- children pulled on a fishing line faster in presence of others than when alone
What is social facilitation?
The tendency to perform BETTER in presence of others than when alone
What were the conclusions of Floyd Allport’s study into social facilitation?
Ppts were more productive in presence of others
- generated more arguments
Quality of work declined
- poorer arguments given
What is social inhibition?
Tendency to perform WORSE in presence of others than when alone
What was Zajonc’s theory into social facilitation/ inhibition?
Presence of others
Increase drive or arousal
Strengthens tendency to perform dominant/ well-learned response
If dominant response is correct, performance is improved (facilitation)
If dominant response is incorrect, performance is impaired (inhibition)
Explain Michaels’s study into SF and SI with billiards players
Shot accuracy of GOOD billiards players INCREASED in presence of others (71-80%)
Shot accuracy of POOR billiards players DECREASED in presence of others (30-25%)
What is significance of mere presence in performance?
Mere presence of others leads to arousal, which enhances performance of well-learned, simple tasks
- causes declines in performance on difficult tasks
What is significance of evaluation apprehension in performance?
Effect of mere presence is only true because presence of others implies we are being evaluated
- evaluation apprehension causes the arousal
What is the significance of Distraction-conflict in performance?
Presence of others is distracting
- causes attention to be divided between task and people present
- leads to conflict and arousal
Explain study of male skateboarders in context of evaluation apprehension
Male skateboarders did more risky tricks in presence of women
- means evaluator matters
mediated by increased testosterone levels
What are types of task that can affect productivity?
Conjunctive tasks
- Go at speed of slowest person
Additive tasks
- Total impact (trick or treating)
Disjunctive tasks
- Problem solving (science)
What is social loafing?
Tendency to work less on a collective activity than when alone
Most problematic for additive tasks, especially those with hidden contributions
Loafing is lower when reward for group success is valued, or task is challenging
Loafing lower when people work with acquaintances than strangers
What do Karau + Williams say are the factors that lower social loafing?
Importance of person’s contribution
Identifiability of person’s contributions
Valuing group success
What is social compensation?
Occurs when people exert effort to compensate for others in the group
What is the Kohler effect?
Occurs when a yoked dyad (matched pair) exerts more effort on a valued task than one person working alone
Specifically when the less competent person steps up to match the more competent person
What is difference between kohler effect and social compensation?
Kohler effect
- LESS competent person puts in increased effort
Social compensation
- MOST competent person puts in increased effort
What did Alex Osborne say are rules for brainstorming?
No criticism of ideas
Wild ideas especially welcome
High volume of ideas desired
Combine and improve ideas later
What did Taylor, Berry and Block discover about brainstorming?
Output of brainstorming of groups of 5 compared with output of 5 people working alone
Worked on abstract problems with no obviously correct solutions
Less ideas
Less unique ideas
Less high-quality ideas
- compared to those working alone
