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Group Processes
Norman Triplett (1898)- Father of social psychology. Published first empirical article within the domain of social psychology. Constructed experiment with bicycle performance (alone or in group-when do they ride faster) -People rode faster when racing against other people rather than a clock Social Facilitation - increase in performance as the result of being in the presence of other people. Social Inhibition - decrease in performance as the result of being in the presence of other people. Mere Presence Explanation (Zajonc, 1965) 3 central tenants: o Predisposed to physiological arousal. Animals and humans are genetically predisposed to be aroused in the presence of Hans specifics. o Arousal enhances dominant response. Dominant response= very well learned. Social facilitation will be experienced if your good at something. o Arousal inhibits non-dominant response. Dominant vs. non is dependent on behavior. Michaels experiment
- Observed regularly playing pool players In college billiard room. Grad students stood next to pool table. o For the dominant players(people who were good at pool) 71% of the shots were made. o Non-dominant players (people who weren’t good) 36% shots made
- Then grad students actually stood next to the pool table and watched them play the game. o Dominant players made 80% of shots- performance increased-social facilitation o Non dominant players made 25%-performance decreased-social inhibition
Disagreements with Zajonc’s arguments:
Evaluation Apprehension (Cottrell, 1968) The concern for how others are evaluating us is what causes arousal and effects performance. Round peg in round hole test 3 conditions:
- Performed alone
- Others present-> faster and better performance
- Others present but blind folded-> same as condition 1 for Cottrell. For Zajonc, condition 2 &3 are the same. -No arousal, no change in performance.
- Also demonstrated in animals. Ex: cockroaches Distraction- conflict theory (Baron, 1986) When working on task- do I pay attention to task or specifics. Distraction causes arousal which effects performance. What to attend to. o Conflict of attention o Conflict increases arousal -Also applies to non social stimuli. Ex: talking about life All 3 arguments argue arousal effects performance and they all disagree on what causes arousal ALL MODELS ARE CORRECT! Social inhibition/facilitation occurs when person knows their individual performance can be evaluated.
Social Loafing- Tendency for people to exert less effort when working in a group vs. working alone.
Ringlmann(1933) – employed dynamometer (measures exerted force) Individuals pull alone then in a group. People exerted less effort in a group *People think only the group’s performance can be evaluated. WHY? Diffusion of responsibility- sense that an individual in a group, we are not responsible for the outcome. Free-rider effect- people in the group think their group will be successful-Their individual contribution isn’t needed.
different facility (basement). When you arrive you are stripped and given a new jail outfit. If Guard: Spiffy uniform, night stick, and sunglasses. Only one set of instructions; conduct a count 3 times a day. Janitors closet becomes hole of sanitary confinement Scheduled to last 3 weeks By the 5th^ day, things were getting out of control: Guards were more abusive, prisoners were to write their given names…every single one of them wrote their prisoner number. o They were losing their identity
social & situational factors Lack of self-awareness: We don’t think of ourselves as separate entities. We don’t attend to our own values or beliefs. Ed Daner (University of Washington): Halloween candy study o Arriving alone o Arriving in group: More likely to take more candy. o Asked who you are, you’re name, etc: Eliminates your extra candy taking o Bowl of candy and mirror behind bowl: Eliminates extra candy taking
1961: President Robert Kennedy and Eisenhower
Proposed invasion of Cuba Kennedy’s cabinet (smartest collection of people in politics) met to decide whether or not to execute Eisenhower’s plan… they decided to proceed 1400 Cuban exiles, trained them and gave them guns April 17th^ 1961- 1400 exiles invaded Cuba o Within hours all 1400 were captured or killed Kennedy says “how could we have been so stupid?”
1986: Nasa launches spaceship Challenger
In the morning, do we launch the space shuttle in sub freezing weather? Engineers warned them not to. Nasa made a group decision to go ahead and launch, 73 seconds after the launch everybody was killed
Groupthink: A faulty decision making process as the result of the group’s emphasis on concurrent seeking. The group thinks it’s more important that everyone agree than it is to be correct.
Antecedents
1. Group Cohesiveness: The more cohesive the group, the greater the tendency to try and agree. Upsetting the cohesiveness of the group is worse than making a correct decision. 2. Structural and procedural faults : How the group works as a unit. Structural faults as homogeneity Procedural faults as isolation from outside sources: Group isolates itself from information without the group. Don’t examine alternatives. Strong or directive leader
- Threatening Situation : Group believes it has to make an immediate decision. Valuing speed over accuracy Symptoms: How can you tell if a group of people are experiencing group think?
- Overestimations of one’s in-group Illusion of invulnerability. The group believes it can do no wrong. Intrinsic morality of group: The group believes it is morally superior
- Close-Mindedness Collective rationalization : Justifying past decisions Shared common stereotypes :
- Increased Conformity Pressure: If there is disagreement in the group, direct pressure to agree will occur. Direct pressure on dissenters Self-censorship : privately you do not agree, publically you go along with it Illusion of unanimity: Because of direct pressure and self censorship, it appears everyone is unanimous. Mindguards: Keep conflicting outside information away from the group Prevention: How do you keep a group from making faulty decisions?
- Non-opinionated _leader
- Outside consultants
- Re-assessment:_ Stop trying to justify previous decisions. Re-asses your current decision 4. Devil’s advocate: Someone to argue the group…challenge them 5. Subdivide: This would give a few different ideas instead of one collective idea. More likely to express disagreement in small group.
Situational factors: Do you perceive yourself as an individual or do you perceive yourself as a group? Do you interact with that group? Information about others: If you know that other people are doing their best to conserve a resource, then you are more likely to conserve the resource. If you know other people are gouging that resource, you are more likely to do the same. Most social dilemmas occur at large scale populations Structural factors: How the group is structured. Authority to control resources: Establish an authority to control the resource. We have a number of such agencies in the United States. What happens if they fail? lose money and protection Make smaller groups: If I have a common that supports 100 cows…Divide the commons into lots. Communication: If you have a group of people, there is potential they will view themselves as separate entities. If you get them to communicate they will perceive themselves as part of the group.
