PSYC 104 Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Nominal Group Technique, Social Dilemma, Brainstorming
PSYC104 Chapter 8 Reading Notes: Group Processes
- People are often at their best and worst in groups rather than as individuals (296)
oIndividuals form communities, pool resources, and share successes within groups.
However, in groups, stereotypes turn into oppression, frustration turns into mob
violence, and conflicts turn into wars (297)
- Fundamentals of groups
oGroups can consist of people who have joint membership in a social category based on
sex, race, or other attributes (298)
oGroups can vary in degree to which they are distinct entities. Some ‘groups’ are people
engaging in common activities but having little direct interaction, which is more like a
collective. Other groups are more integrated, which engage in purposeful activities with
lots of interactions over time and a clear boundary of who’s in the group. People tend to
identify more strongly with more integrated groups and are more satisfied with them
oPurpose of joining a group
Innate need to belong to groups due to evolutionary pressure to increase chance of
survival and reproduction
Social brain hypothesis: unusually large size of primate’s brains evolved because of
their unusually complex social worlds. We evolved a range of psychological
mechanisms that promote attraction to and capacity for living in groups
Group life protects against threat and uncertainty, but also allows a greater sense of
personal and social identity
Social identity theory: important part of people’s feelings of self-worth comes from
their identification with groups, so people care a great deal about being part of
groups and about how their groups are valued
oKey features of groups: roles, norms, and cohesiveness
Roles: people’s set of expected behaviors; can be formal or informal (299)
Instrumental role: help group achieve its tasks
Expressive role: provide emotional support and maintain morale
Both instrumental and expressive roles can be assumed by the same person (but
usually different). Importance of each can fluctuate based on the group’s needs
Important to give roles to people that fit their personality/ability. Detrimental to
groups to give people roles that conflict with other roles they have, or to be
uncertain about the role people play in each group. Negative correlation
between role ambiguity and job performance
Role uncertainty, instability, and conflict associated with problems beyond job
performance
Sometimes, detrimental if one gets so absorbed in a role that they lose
themselves and their personal beliefs and sense of morality in their group role.
Ex: Stanford Prison study. People that were assigned the role of the guard
became cruel and sadistic
Norms: rules of conduct for members; may be formal or informal (300)
Gives people sense of what it means to be a good group member
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How tolerant groups are to violations of norms can be a kind of norm itself
Groups can be harsh against members that deviate from norms because
deviations can threaten group members’ sense of uniformity and social identity
From a Paul Hutchison study, deviation from a group norm was met with more
tolerance if the participants saw the group as more variable than if they saw
their group as typically sharing similar backgrounds and values (301)
Cohesiveness: forces exerted on a group that push its members closer together
Groups whose members share similar attitudes and closely follow the groups
norms are more likely than other groups to be cohesive
Cohesive groups tend to feel commitment to group tasks, feel positively toward
other members, feel group pride, and engage in many interactions in the group
Not clear of the cause and effect relationship. Seems like the cause effect of
success on cohesion is more reliable than the effect of cohesion on success
Group cohesion associated with better performance, but other variables
determine when and to what extent this relationship emerges. Ex: how large is
the group? Is cohesion due to task cohesion or interpersonal cohesion? What
type of task is the group performing?
Highly cohesive groups vulnerable to terrible decisions because members fear
going against a leader or group norm
oCulture and cohesiveness
Group cohesiveness can be affected in different ways depending on people’s culture
Ex: if group members were always late or didn’t carry their share of the workload,
cohesiveness suffered more among Japanese/Pacific Islanders than among Anglos.
Increases in task complexity or autonomy improved group cohesiveness more for
teams in the US than in Hong Kong
Extent to which groups are comfortable with conflict and heated debate among its
members varies across culture. More troubling amongst Chinese strangers/friends
and American strangers. Improvement with American friends (302)
- Individuals in groups: the presence of others
oSocial facilitation: when others arouse us
The presence of others increases arousal, which can affect performance in different
ways, depending on the task at hand
Zajonc solution: 3-step process (303)
1) presence of others creates general physiological arousal, which energizes
behavior. All animals tend to become aroused in the presence of conspecifics
(members of their own species)
2) increased arousal enhances an individual’s tendency to perform the dominant
response
3) quality of performance varies based on the type of task. Dominant response is
usually correct on easy tasks, but incorrect on hard tasks
social facilitation: the presence of others helps performance on easy tasks but hurts
performance on difficult tasks. Presence facilitates dominant response, not
necessarily the task itself
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Firefighters, police officers, etc. must train so much to make correct responses
become their dominant response in highly arousing situations (304)
Alternative explanations for social facilitation (305)
Zojanc suggested mere presence of others is sufficient for social facilitation
However, evaluation apprehension theory states performance will be enhanced
or impaired only in presence of others who are able to evaluate the performance
Also, distraction-conflict theory states that being distracted while working on
tasks creates attentional conflict, increasing our arousal and social facilitation
oSocial loafing: when others relax us
Individuals in groups tend to work less hard compared to as individuals (306)
Sharing responsibility with others reduces the amount of effort that people put into
more complex motor tasks, cognitive tasks, and real world behaviors
Collective effort model: Individuals will try hard on a collective task when they think
their efforts will help them achieve outcomes they personally value. They may even
participate in social compensation by increasing their efforts to compensate for
anticipated social loafing of other group members
If outcome isn’t personally important or if they believe their efforts won’t affect the
outcome, or if they feel they cannot compensate for other social loafing, they are
less likely to exert effort (sucker effect) (307)
oCulture and social loafing
Social loafing is less prevalent among women than among men and less prevalent
among people from East Asians compared to Western countries
However, some people from collectivist cultures may be especially likely to socially
loaf if that group has a norm of low productivity and effort. They don’t want to
deviate from the group norm, so they conform to the norm of working less hard
oDeindividuation: the loss of a person’s sense of individuality and the reduction of normal
constraints against deviant behavior (308)
Arousal, anonymity, and reduced feelings of individual responsibility contribute to
deindividuation
Accountability cues/attentional cues make deviant behaviors more likely to occur
Accountability cues: affect individual’s cost-reward calculations. Low
accountability associated with more extreme and destructive behaviors
Attentional cues: focus a person’s attention away from the self
Ex: online behavior is much more hostile due to anonymity (309)
Social identity model of deindividuation effects (SIDE): whether deindividuation
affects people for better or for worse reflects the characteristics and norms of the
group immediately surrounding the individual as well as the group’s power to act
according to these norms (310)
As personal identity and internal controls are submerged, social identity emerges
and conformity to the group increases
- Group performance: problems and solutions (311)
oLosses and gains in groups
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Document Summary
People are often at their best and worst in groups rather than as individuals (296: individuals form communities, pool resources, and share successes within groups. However, in groups, stereotypes turn into oppression, frustration turns into mob violence, and conflicts turn into wars (297) Fundamentals of groups: groups can consist of people who have joint membership in a social category based on sex, race, or other attributes (298, groups can vary in degree to which they are distinct entities. Some groups" are people engaging in common activities but having little direct interaction, which is more like a collective. Other groups are more integrated, which engage in purposeful activities with lots of interactions over time and a clear boundary of who"s in the group. People tend to identify more strongly with more integrated groups and are more satisfied with them: purpose of joining a group. Innate need to belong to groups due to evolutionary pressure to increase chance of survival and reproduction.
