Chapter 7: Group Influence

What is a Group?

A collection of 3 or more people who interact with each other and are interdependent, in the sense that their needs and goals cause them to rely on each other

What is a Common-bond Group?

Groups that tend to involve face-to-face interaction and in which the individual members are bonded to each other

What is a Common-identity Group?

Groups where face-to-face interaction is often absent, and the members are linked together via the category as a whole, rather than each other

What is Entitativity?

The extent to which a group is perceived as being a coherent entity

Describe Low Entitativity

Group that’s more of a collection of individuals who happen to be in the same place at the same time e.g., standing in a line for smth

Describe High Entitativity

Members of an intimate group e.g., a family

What is Group Cohesion/Social Integration?

Qualities of a group that bind members together and promote liking among them

People feel, think, and act more like group members and less like isolated individuals

What factors influence Social Integration?

Number of people involved, the kinds of activities they engage in, the amount of time they have spent together

Describe High Group Cohesion

Members like each other, concur with the goals of the group, and have no desire to find some alternate group, they work well together

Describe Low Cohesion

Members don’t like each other, don’t share common goals, and are actively seeking other groups.

Lack a shared identity, are less likely to work well together

What are some Role-Related Conflicts within a Group?

• Role Assignment

• Role Ambiguity

• Role Strain

• Inter-role Conflict

• Role Dissensus

• Role Innovation

What is the Role-Assignment Conflict?

Conflicts over the decisions regarding who should play which role

What is the Role Ambiguity Conflict?

If the expectations of other group members are unclear, then the person may be uncertain how to behave

What is the Role Strain Conflict?

A person may lack the knowledge, ability, or motivation to play a role effectively

What is the Inter-role Conflict?

A person may play more than one role, and the roles may have conflicting requirements

What is the Role Dissensus Conflict?

Group members may disagree about how a role should be played

What is the Role Innovation Conflict?

Role conflicts can sometimes be resolved by changing a role in suitable ways

What is Status?

The individual’s position, or rank, within the group

What are Status Systems?

The status system of a group reflects the distribution of power among its members

What is the Expectation States Theory?

Group members form expectations about each person’s probable contributions to the achievement of group goals

How does Expectation States Theory work?

Relevant characteristics to the achievement of group goals have more impact on expectations (but even irrelevant ones are considered)

People whose characteristics are more positive lead to better expectations and are assigned higher status by the group

Initial status assignments can be modified later on by actual contributions, however someone with an unfairly low assignment may have difficulty proving their worth

What is the Ethological Theory?

Group members assess each person’s strength by evaluating their appearance and demeanor

How does the Ethological Theory work?

People who seem especially strong or weak are immediately assigned to high or low status respectively

Everyone else must engage in brief “dominance contests” which lead to “winners” and “losers” who are assigned status accordingly

Initial assignments can be modified over time based on further information and/or performance

What is the relation between Status and Conformity?

High status group members are more idiosyncratic and variable in their behaviour than low status members

Junior members/low status members appear to be more aware of the need to conform to group norms

What is Social Facilitation?

The presence of others increases the chances that a person will produce their dominant response (usually when individual performance can be measured)

What is a Dominant Response?

The action that is most likely to occur in a situation or on a task when the individual is alone

What does Social Facilitation suggest about the presence of others?

The mere presence of others is physiologically arousing, causes us to be sensitive/alert to their presence

Simple task - arousal caused by others helps us to be more alert

Difficult task - already needs our full attention, so arousal caused by others is an unhelpful distraction

What is the Evaluation Apprehension Theory?

Performance will be enhanced/impaired in the presence of others who are in a position to evaluate our performance, not just that others are present

What is the Distraction-conflict Theory?

Being distracted while working on a task creates attentional conflict. Want to focus on task and also on distracting stimulus, this conflict increases arousal. Suggests any distraction can produce the same effect, not just the social aspect.

What is Social Loafing?

A group-produced reduction in individual output on tasks where contributions are pooled and when individual effort cannot be detected

Some will be aware, others will not be aware and think they are working as hard as they can

What is the Bad Apple Effect?

One social loafer can cause others to loaf as well. (Do not want to do all the work on behalf of others once they notice social loafing)

What is Altruistic Punishment?

The finding that people will sometimes sacrifice their own gain for the betterment of all, by punishing people who cheat the system (even if it costs them personally the punish the free rider)

What conditions minimize Social Loafing?

• When people believe their individual performance can be identified

• The task is important/meaningful to them

• People believe their own efforts are necessary for a successful outcome

• Group expects to be punished for poor performance

• Group is small

• Group is cohesive

What is Deindividuation?

The loss of a person’s sense of individuality and the reduction of normal constraints against deviant behaviour

What factors contribute to Deindividuation?

Arousal, Anonymity, Reduced feelings of individual responsibility

Accountability and Attentional environment cues make deviant behaviour more likely to occur

What are Accountability Cues?

These affect the individual’s cost-reward calculations.

When accountability is low, those who commit deviant acts are less likely to be caught/punished, and people may deliberately choose to engage in gratifying but usually inhibited behaviours

What are Attentional Cues?

They focus the person’s attention away from the self.

They then pay less attention to internal standards of conduct, react more to the immediate situation, and is less sensitive to long-term consequences of behaviour

What is Groupthink?

A way of thinking that can occur in decision-making groups when pressure to agree leads to inadequate appraisal of options and poor decisions

What 3 characteristics contribute to Groupthink?

Cohesiveness, Structure, Stress

How does Cohesiveness contribute to Groupthink?

Highly cohesive groups are more likely to reject members with deviant opinions. Members also have more desire to be/remain members

How does Structure contribute to Groupthink?

Groups that are composed of people from similar backgrounds, isolated from other people, directed by a strong leader, and lacking in systematic procedures for making and reviewing decisions

How does Stress contribute to Groupthink?

Under stress, urgency can overrule accuracy, and the reassuring support of other group members becomes highly desirable

What is Risky Shift?

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

What is Group Polarization?

The tendency for group discussion to strengthen the initial leanings of the members in a group, thereby making decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclinations of the group members

What is the Persuasive Arguments Theory?

The greater the number and persuasiveness of the arguments to which group members are exposed, the more extreme their attitudes become

Members may focus on the one type of arguments when talking to each other and fail to bring up the other arguments which may be important to consider

How does Social Comparison lead to Group Polarization?

Individuals develop their view of social reality by comparing themselves with others. As individuals learn that most of the other group members lean in one direction on some issue, they may adopt a more extreme attitude in this same direction

How does Social Categorization lead to Group Polarization?

Groups may polarize as a way to differentiate themselves from other groups

Individuals within the group may react to information from ingroup members differently from the way they react to information from outgroup members