ch. 8: group processes

intragroup processes

processes that happen within a group

intergroup processes

processes that occur between groups of people

social facilitation

when people do better on a task in the prescence of other than when they’re alone

social inhibition

when people do worse on a task in the prescence of others than when they’re alone

social loafing

a group-produced reduction in individual output on easy tasks where contributions are pooled

collective effort model

a model that describes people's motivation to exert effort in group tasks as depending on whether they believe their distinct efforts will be identifiable, their efforts will make a difference in the group’s success, and they’ll experience positive outcomes

social compensation

the notion that if a project is important to you, you may work even harder to compensate for the poor performance or social loafing of others

group polarization

when initial tendencies of group members become more extreme following group discussion`

risky shift

a process by which groups tend to make riskier decisions than individuals would make alone

groupthink

a group decision-making style that is characterized by an excessive tendency among group members to seek concurrence, and unanimity, as opposed to making the best decisions

ethnocentrism

the belief that one’s cultural values are shared by others

social dilemma

situations where if all individuals make self-interested choices the result will be the worst possible outcome for everyone

common resources dilemma

a social dilemma in which each person can take as much as they want of a common resource, but if everyone takes as much as they want, resources will eventually be completely depleted

public goods dilemma

a type of social dilemma wgere each person must decide what to contribute to a common pool of resources that will not exist unless people contribute to it

prisoners dilemma

the situation in which two people may choose tgo either cooperate or compete with each other

tit-for-tat

a strategy in a prisoner's dilemma situation whereby one starts with cooperation, and then does whatever one's partner does on each subsequent interaction (e.g., cooperate after cooperation and compete after competition from one's partner)