Week 7 - Group Influence

A Group

A Group

two or more people who, for longer than a few moments, interact with, influence, and perceive one another as "us"

Social Facilitation Study: Triplett (1898)

- mere presence of others has an impact on our behaviour
- others may be passive or co-actors
- children winding fishing reels
- when in presence of others, wound reels faster

Social Facilitation Effect

- tendency of people to perform simple or well-learned tasks better when others are present
- strengthening of the dominant responses owing to the presence of others

Effects of Social Arousal

Crowding

- intensifies positive or negative reactions
- enhances arousal

Reasons for Arousal

1. evaluation apprehension
2. driven by distraction
3. mere presence

Collective Effort Effects: Rope Pulling

- rope-pulling apparatus
- collective effort of tug-of-war teams only about half of sum of individual efforts
- people try less in groups

Social Loafing

- tendency for people to exert less effort when they pool their efforts toward a common goal than when they are individually accountable
- free riders: people who benefit from group but give little in return

less likely to occur when:
- task is challenging, appealing, or involving
- when group members are friends

Social Loafing vs Facilitation

Deindividuation

- loss of self-awareness and evaluation apprehension
- occurs in group situations that foster anonymity and draw attention away from the individual
- group experiences that diminish self-consciousness tend to disconnect behaviour from attitudes

Deindividuation Facilitators

- group size
- physical anonymity
- arousing and distracting activities

Group Polarization

group-produced enhancement of member's pre-existing tendencies
- strengthening of the members average tendencies, not a split within the group
- impact of group discussion on individual opinions: the "risky shift"

Group Polarization: Normative Influence

most persuaded by our "reference groups"

Group Polarization: Information Influence

combining of ideas which likely favour the dominant viewpoint

Groupthink

- tendency for groups (while in decision making process) to suppress dissenting cognitions in the interest of ensuring group harmony
- "mode of thinking" that individuals engage in when concurrence-seeking becomes dominant in a cohesive ingroup
- overrides realistic appraisals of alternative courses of action

Groupthink Symptoms: Overestimating the group's might and right

1. an illusion of invulnerability
2. unquestioned belief in the group's morality

Groupthink Symptoms: Group members becoming close-minded

3. rationalization
4. stereotyped view of opponent

Groupthink Symptoms: Pressure to conform and be uniform

5. conformity pressure
6. self-censorship
7. illusion of unanimity
8. mindguards

Preventing Groupthink

- be impartial
- assign a devil's advocate
- subdivide the group
- invite critiques from outside experts
- have a "second chance" meeting as opportunity to discuss lingering doubts

Group Problem Solving Methods

- combine group and solitary brainstorming
- have group members interact by writing
- incorporate electronic brainstorming

4 Types of Leadership

1. Task leadership
2. Social leadership
3. Transactional leadership
4. Transformational leadership

Task Leadership

- directive style
- goal-oriented
- motivates high achievement

Social Leadership

- democratic style
- delegate authority
- welcome input from team members
- good for morale

Transactional Leadership

- focus on getting to know subordinates
- listen carefully
- fulfill others' needs

Transformational Leadership

- consistently stick to goals
- self-confident and charismatic that makes them influential
- motivates others to identify and commit themselves to goal

Individuals Influencing Group

- influence of the minority
- consistency: minority slowness effect
- self-confidence
- defections from majority penetrate unanimity