Chapter 14: Groups

group

a collection of at least two people who are doing or being something together

evaluation apprehension

concern about how others are judging you and/or your performance

dominant response

a behavior that takes very little effort or thought and is frequently the default or habitual response to a specific situation

social facilitation theory

proposition that the presence of others increases the dominant response tendency

social loafing

the finding that people reduce effort when working in a group, compared to when working alone

altruistic punishment

the finding that people will sometimes sacrifice their own gain for the betterment of all, by punishing people who cheat the system

commons dilemma

the tendency for shared or jointly owned resources to be squandered and not used in an optimal or advantageous fashion

brainstorming

a form of creative thinking in groups, using a procedure in which all group members are encouraged to generate as many ideas as possible while interacting and stimulating each other

transactive memory

a process by which members of a small group remember different kinds of information

groupthink

the tendency of group members to think alike, which often leads to bad decisions

self-censorship

choosing not to express doubts or other information that goes against a group’s plans and views

risky shift

a tendency for groups to take greater risks than the same individuals (on average) would have decided to take individually

group polarization

a shift toward a more extreme position resulting from group discussion

power

one person’s control over another person, including what happens to that person

legitimizing myths

explanations used to justify why people in power deserve to be in power