PSY234 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Group Decision-Making, Pluralistic Ignorance, Murder Of Kitty Genovese
2 Jun 2018
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Week 12 Lecture – Group Influence
Lecture outline:
• Groups
• The presence of others
• Social facilitation
• Social loafing
• Helping and bystanders
• Deindividuation
• Group think
What is a group?
• Two or more people
• Interact with and influence each other
• Perceive one another as ‘us’
• Advantages of groups
o Evolutionary advantages = but not necessary
o Humans = distinct advantages for survival
o Better defended against predators/other humans
o Efficient food gathering and child rearing
Does the presence of others affect our performance?
• Triplett (1898): bicycle racing against the clock or against other competitors
• But problem of self-selection in the naturalistic setting
• Lab study: children winding fishing reels
Social Facilitation –
• Same for simple cognitive tasks (Allport, 1920)
o Multiplication problems or crossing out letters
o People performed better if there were 4 or 5 others present
o Even though they were working independently (not in competition)
• Social facilitation
o Tendency for the presence of others to improve a person’s
performance
o Social facilitation in lower animals (ants) – Chen, 1937 e.g. dogs eat
faster with other dogs around
o But other experiments found presence of others hindered performance
• Resolving the contradictions: Zajonc’s model of social facilitation
o Others presence → arousal → strengthens dominant responses →
either enhances easy behaviour or impairs difficult behaviour
o Cockroach maze experiment – faster getting through the maze when
alone
Why does arousal increase?
• Mere presence
o More alert and motivated when others are around, especially if they are
strangers
• Evaluation apprehension: looking bad in the eyes of others
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
o Joggers running around an oval (Worthington & Messick, 1983) →
women back to joggers or facing the joggers, ran faster when facing
o Size and status of audience affects anxiety of students performing a
learning task
o Evaluation apprehension in cockroaches?
Markus (1978):
• 1. Take off shoes
• 2. Put lab sock over their own socks
• 3. Put on oversized shoes & lab coat
• 4. After 10 mins, change back
o Familiar task – own shoes
o Unfamiliar task – lab coat, socks and shoes
• Timed them whilst doing this
• Subjects either did this alone, other condition had a repair man doing shit in
the background
• Results = lab clothing – took much longer for the non-dominant response, as
you had people in the room with you, you took much longer
o There was no social facilitation in that case
Individuals working towards a group goal –
• The presence of others increase the probability that the dominant response
will occur
• But what about when people are cooperating on a task?
• Does performance improve?
• Tug-of-war (Ingham et al. 1974) → when they believed they were pulling the
rope alone, there was more force (putting more effort in when alone)
Social Loafing –
• Latane et al. 1979 – yelling and clapping
o Earphones of clapping and yelling, subjects blindfolded
o IV = subject believed they were alone or in group
o DV = subject asked to clap and yell as loudly as they could
o 1/3 louder when they believed they were alone
• Social impact theory Latane et al.
o Social pressure directed toward a group is divided among its members
o As group size increases, each individual feels under less pressure to
contribute his/her maximum effort
Helping others
• The bystander effect:
o The finding that a person is less likely to provide help when there are
other bystanders
• Kitty Genovese
o 1964 raped, brutally assaulted over 30 min period and finally killed
o Residents heard, but few reacted
When do we help?
• If not callous and unconcerned, why didn’t they help?
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Lecture outline: groups, the presence of others, social facilitation, social loafing, helping and bystanders, deindividuation, group think. Does the presence of others affect our performance: triplett (1898): bicycle racing against the clock or against other competitors, but problem of self-selection in the naturalistic setting, lab study: children winding fishing reels. Put lab sock over their own socks: 3. Put on oversized shoes & lab coat: 4. Individuals working towards a group goal : the presence of others increase the probability that the dominant response will occur, but what about when people are cooperating on a task, does performance improve, tug-of-war (ingham et al. 1974) when they believed they were pulling the rope alone, there was more force (putting more effort in when alone) His reactions are shaped by the actions of others . Other situational influences: prior commitment (moriarty, 1975) if you say watch my things people will probably do that.
