what a group consists of and why they exist
- 2 or more people (most are 3-6)
- to serve a common goal or purpose
- groups influence each other, and we tend to group up with people who are like us
important functions of the group
- they define who we are
- they enforce social norms (can be group-specific)
social norms within groups and what occurs if they are violated
norms = how we SHOULD act within the group
if violated, we can be exiled from the group and its members
social roles in groups
allow people to be leaders, serve specific functions, perform well and be influential
appearing too dedicated when you are not to the group causes what
fraud or covering up mistakes because you are in over your head
group cohesiveness
qualities of a group that binds the members together and promotes mutual liking
what occurs if a group has been formed for social reasons
it is more cohesive
what occurs if a group has been formed due to work
it is less likely to be cohesive; but it can increase
group cohesiveness
people tend to like being in groups where everyone is similar to them
encourages similarity
we gravitate toward groups before we join them if we are like them
mcleod, lobel, and cox (1996) diversity study results
showed that people rated their groups better when they were all the same race
however, the diverse group was able to produce better work within the study
zajonc (196) cockroach study results
example of social facilitation
The cockroaches performed worse when a crowd of other cockroaches was looking at the one completing the task and the task was hard, and they performed well when the task was easy
social facilitation
we perform well on simple tasks when others are around and our individual performance is being evaluated, and worse on difficult ones when others are around our individual performance is being evaluated
why does social facilitation occur?
- having others around increases arousal
- we are concerned as to how we are being perceived (being tested)
- we are being distracted
social loafing
when other people are present, we do not experience arousal when completing a task if our individual performance is being evaluated
why does social loafing occur
- we don’t care if we do well or not because it is not being evaluated
when are we more likely to engage in social loafing
when we expect to work together with those who belong to a different culture than our own
in what cultures is social loafing more likely to appear in and why
western– because they have an independent view of the self
relational interdependence
tendency to focus on and care about your individual relationships with others
- women have a higher relational interdependence
deindividuation
diminishment of normal behavioral rules when people are not able to be identified
- occurs a lot online because we can hide behind a screen
what are the effects of deindividuation
- makes people feel less accountable for their actions (they are anonymous)
- increases obedience to group norms (people act more in line with group norms when they are deindividuated)
process loss and what it causes
any aspect of group interaction that inhibits good problem solving
- causes communication problems –> groups may not try hard enough to find out who is the most fit for the problem at hand, and instead let incompetent people take the lead
what groups focus on in communication
knowledge that is collectively shared between the members
- can lead to some members being left out of relevant information since it may be assumed that they already know
unique information in group discussion
more likely to show up later in discussions because it is not exactly in line with what a group would normally share
transactive information
when the combined memory of a group is more efficient than the memory of individual members
- instead, have everyone in the group specialize in one type of knowledge and bring it to the group to combine knowledge
