PS261 Ch. 8: Group Processes

Why join a group?

1) To provide protection and feel secure

2) Heightens our desire to belong

Social Brain Hypothesis

The hypothesis that the human brain has evolved, so that humans can maintain larger ingroups.

Smaller brain=smaller clan

Social Identity Hypothesis

Being part of a group helps define who we are. The negative side: we tend to overestimate differences btwn groups.

What is a group?

The extent to which we see them as separate entities.

What makes of entity?

-proximity: how much do individuals in the group share proximity

-similarity: the extent to which the individuals exhibit similar behaviors

- common fate: the extent to which individuals in a group experience interrelated outcomes.

What is entitativity?

A measure of groupiness/degree of cohesiveness

Group Roles

Within groups there are individuals that perform certain roles to make group successful or not.

There are 2 roles in a group

1) Instrumental: helps groups achieve its tasks

2) Expressive: Provide emotional support

Why is there group dysfunction?

1) Role Uncertainty: mismatch btwn characteristics of a role w/ the skill set of an individual performing the role.

2) Loosing Yourself in Role: Role suits you, but you loose your individual identity for that role.

Stanford Prison Experiment

Philip Zimbardo's study of the effect of roles on behavior. Participants were randomly assigned to play either prisoners or guards in a mock prison. The study was ended early because of the "guards'" role-induced cruelty.

Group Norms

Rules for how group members should act.

What are the two types of rules?

1) Formal Rules: Written down, easy to figure out, and specific

2) Informal Rules: Subtle cues taken from behavior of group members that takes time to understand.

What does tolerance for deviation depend on?

Whether the group is heterogeneous or homogeneous.

Hetergeneous

diverse, individualism, tolerates not going along w/ the norm.

Homogeneous

everyone the same, collectivist, does not tolerate individualism.

Social Facilitation

The affect of arousal from the presence of others on an individuals performance

Social Drive Theory/Mere Presence Theory (Zajonc)

Explains why people may not do well on a task in the presence of others even if you have practice.

What is the Dominant Response?

the behavior you consider to be an easy behavior, an automatic response.

How does increased arousal affect dominant response?

It strengthens it, so for an easy task performance enhanced, but for difficult task performance impaired.

Evaluation Apprehension Theory

a theory that the presence of others will produce social facilitation effects only when those others are seen as potential evaluators

Distraction Conflict Theory

the presence of others will produce social facilitation effects only when those others distract from the task and create attentional conflict

Social Loafing

the tendency for people to put less effort into a simple task when working with others on that task.

What are the three reasons social loafing happens?

1) Collective Effort Model

2) Social Compensation

3) Sucker Effect

Collective Effort Model

The personal values that are important to everyone decide whether a person performs a collective task.

Social Compensation

working harder in a group than when alone to compensate for other members' lower output.

Sucker Effect

an outcome that occurs when group members become concerned that the others are holding back, at which point they reduce their own efforts to the level they believe is being exhibited by others.

(don't want to be a sucker)

How does culture affect loafing?

-People in collectivist societies social loaf less because the retaliation of social loafing is extreme.

-People in individualist societies social loaf more because it is more tolerant for them to do so.

What is deindividuation?

Being part of a group leads you to take on group identity and lose your own.

What can lead to inappropriate behaviors in a group?

Believing no one knows who we are.

Social Identity Model of Deindividuation Effects (SIDE)

Your behavior, even when anonymous, is going to be driven by the social/group norm.

What is group polarization?

The group making a decision and how they go about it. (Decision tends to be majority)

What are the causes of group polarization?

1) persuasive arguments theory

2) social comparison

3) differentiation

Persuasive Arguments Theory

The number and persuasiveness during the deliberation process the more exposure the more persuaded.

Social Comparison

Occurs because we compare ourselves to others and start to think like them.

Differentiation

We want to differentiate from other groups.

What is Groupthink?

When people are together in a group they tend to make poor decisions.

--> Agreement takes priority over accuracy.

What are the symptoms of groupthink?

1) Illusion of Invulnerability

2) Inherent Morality

3) Collective Rationalization

4) Close Mindedness

Illusion of Invulnerability

Group believes their ability is better than others, so they ignore danger and take risks.

Inherent Morality

Believe in the rightness of their cause and decisions, so ignore moral consequences.

Collective Rationalization

ignoring warnings against the idea of the group.

What makes up the close-mindedness of groups?

1) Stereotyped views of out-groups

2) Direct pressure on dissenters

3) Mind guards

4) Self-censorship

5) Illusion of unanimity

Stereotyped views of out-groups

Show prejudice towards out-groups

Direct pressure on dissenters

Members of the group feel like they are not allowed to express differing views.

Mindguards

Certain group members that protect the leader from information that is problematic. (such as dissent)

Self-censorship

People will not really say what they feel and just go along.

Illusion of unanimity

Majority view assumed to be unanimous individually, but actually not.

Escalation Effects (Entrapment)

the condition in which commitments to a failing course of action are increased to justify investments already made

What is the irony of groups?

We perform worse in groups.

What is a resource dilemma?

2 or more people share a limited resource, so there is a competition to get an advantage.

What are the 2 types of resource dilemmas?

1) Commons Dilemma

2) Public Goods Dilemma

Commons Dilemma

Do you take some or all

Public Goods Dilemma

Contribute resources or not contribute to common goal.

What are the gender differences between cooperation and competition?

Women and men are equally competitive, but women are more cooperative.

What are the bad implications of groups?

- Filter bubbles on social media: shown info we like

- Poor decisions: People in group act differently than they would alone.

What are the good implications of groups?

- Improve self-esteem

- Norm of respect

- Solidarity across groups

What is the Prisoner's Dilemma?

a game in which players act in rational, self-interested ways that leave everyone worse off.

What did the Prisoner's Dilemma show?

That sometimes self interest decision is worse for you and you are better to cooperate.

What makes you more likely to cooperate?

1) level of trust

2) Sense of belonging

3) Group Identity

Social Value Orientation

The extent to which an individual is 'pro-self' or 'prosocial', which determines the extent to which people will be cooperative.