PSYC212 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Social Identity Theory, Social Loafing, Social Facilitation
Document Summary
What is a group: non social group: a collection of independent people who are not interacting. Social group: a collection of interdependent, interacting people - shared goal: reference group: a (real or imagined) group with whom beliefs, attitudes, etc. , are compared. Group that is relative for own social comparison: social facilitation - if the task is simple then performance improves when in the presence of others. However, if the task is complex performance is impaired by the presence of others. Evidence: zajonc et al. (1969) - found that when cockroaches were put in a simple maze they would run maze faster in the presence of other cockroaches. But in a complex maze the cockroaches ran slower when in the presence of other cockroaches. Found that if a pool-player was below average then the presence of others decreased their performance. (i. e. making the shot was a complex task).
