group process

What is a group?

Two or more people who influence each other.

What is entitativity?

Seeing a group as a real, meaningful social unit.

What does high entitativity mean?

The group feels more like a "real group."

What factors increase entitativity?

• Common fate (shared outcomes)

• Similarity among members

• Shared values

What is permeability?

How easy it is to join or leave a group.

How does permeability affect entitativity?

More permeability = less entitativity.

Less permeability = more entitativity.

What are intimacy groups?

Groups based on close relationships.
Examples: Family, friends, gangs.

What are task groups?

Groups formed to accomplish goals.
Examples: Work teams, school groups.

What are social categories?

Groups based on shared characteristics.
Examples: Gender, ethnicity.

What is a cluster of people?

People gathered together but not really connected.
Example: A line at the bank.

why do people join groups

need to belong

need to achieve goals

Which groups satisfy the need to belong?

Intimacy groups and social categories.

Which groups help achieve goals?

Task groups and social categories.

What is social facilitation?

When the presence of others affects performance.

What is the mere presence hypothesis?

Just having others around increases arousal.

How does social facilitation affect easy tasks?

Performance improves.

How does social facilitation affect difficult or new tasks?

Performance gets worse.

What is the main conclusion of social facilitation?

Others help with easy tasks but hurt performance on difficult tasks.

What is social loafing?

Putting in less effort when working in a group.

When does social loafing happen?

When individual efforts are combined and not easily noticed.

What happened in Latane's study?

• With one other person: 18% less effort

• With many others: 25% less effort

What is diffusion of responsibility?

Feeling less responsible because other people are present.

Why does diffusion of responsibility cause social loafing?

People think others will pick up the slack.

What role does accountability play?

Less accountability leads to more social loafing.