PSY 240 EXAM 4

Purdue Dr. Gulker

Social Facilitation

the effect of the presence of others on your performance (positive or negative)

Triplett 1898

observed that cyclists recorded faster times when competing against others than racing alone

• follow-up studies showed that the presence of others can also IMPAIR performance

Zajonc’s Theory of Mere Presence

the presence of others increases arousal, and arousal increases an individual’s DOMINANT responses

Dominant Response

the response a person is most likely to make in their hierarchy of possible responses in any context

• easy or well-practiced: response often correct

• difficult or novel: incorrect

Evaluation Apprehension

people’s concern about how they might appear or be evaluated by others

Social Loafing

the tendency to put less effort when working on a group task in which individual contributions CANNOT be monitored

Groupthink

groups that are highly cohesive can produce poor group decisions because maintaining group harmony may be emphasized over making an accurate judgement

• faulty thinking by members of highly cohesive groups in which the critical scrutiny that should be devoted to the issues at hand is subverted by social pressures to reach consensus

Self-Censorship

withholding information or opinions in group discussions

The study that Zajonc did to prove his theory

Roaches ran faster through a simple maze versus a complex maze in the presence of “spectator” roaches

• Tying your own shoes vs tying shoes you’ve never worn before in front of others

Janis’s Groupthink Hypothesis

antecedent conditions —> motivation —> symptoms of groupthink —> symptoms of defective decision-making

Janis’s suggestions for reducing groupthink

• group leaders should refrain from making their decisions known at first

• group leaders should talk with each group member individually

• bring in outside opinions

• assign a “devil’s advocate”

• develop an alternate plan

Group Polarization

tendency for group decisions to be more extreme than those made by individuals

Social Comparison

evaluating ourselves based on others

• our drive to be “better” than others makes us want to be more extreme to try and differentiate ourselves

Power

the ability to control one’s own outcomes and those of others; the freedom to act

• power varies based on relationship

Social Hierarchy

the relational nature of power manifests in a social hierarchy, or in an arrangement of individuals within a group in terms of their relative power

Status

the outcome of an evaluation of attributes that produces differences in respect and prominence, and which contributes to determining a person’s power within a group

Leadership is based on

people who can provide rewards to the group

• NOT based on expertise, knowledge, and technical skill alone

Approach/Inhibition Theory

high-power individuals are inclined to go after their goals and make quick, sometimes rash, judgments

lower-power people are more likely to constraint their behavior and pay careful attention to others

Power and Empathy

when we have power, we do things for ourselves and are looking out for ourselves

• people feeling less powerful were aware that they were constrained by others

• “E” study

Power and Unethical Behavior

people who were driving a higher-end car (not their personal car) cut off pedestrians more compared to a piece of junk

• assuming that BMW drivers are terrible isn’t dispositional attribution… you’re actually kind of right