Study Notes on Group Dynamics, Social Facilitation, Decision Making, and Power

The Nature and Purpose of Group Living
Learning Objectives

  • Describe what makes a collection of individuals a group.

  • Identify three evolutionary benefits of groups.

Key Quote

  • "No man is an island, / entire of itself; / every man is a piece of the continent, / a part of the main." --John Donne, English Poet

Group Living and Human Nature

  • The case of Todd Ashker in the SHU at Pelican Bay underscores the fundamentally social nature of living beings, demonstrating the profound psychological and physical toll of social isolation.

  • Humans and most large primates, excluding orangutans, inherently live in groups, a pattern deeply rooted in evolutionary history.

  • The advantages provided by group life are recognized as crucial for survival and reproductive success, such as:

    • Providing care for vulnerable offspring: Group members can share the burdens of childcare, offering enhanced protection from dangers, foraging for food more efficiently, and educating the young, thereby significantly increasing offspring survival rates compared to solitary living.

    • Offering protection from predators: A larger group provides safety in numbers; common strategies include increased vigilance (more eyes and ears to detect threats), mobbing behavior to deter predators, and collective defense when necessary, making individuals less susceptible to attack.

    • Increasing efficiency in acquiring and sharing food: Cooperative hunting or foraging allows groups to tackle larger prey or exploit resources that would be inaccessible to individuals. Food sharing within a group ensures that resources benefit the entire collective, especially the young and sick, promoting overall group survival.

    • Strengthening defenses against stressors: Groups can offer mutual support during environmental challenges, share critical information about safe havens or resources, and provide emotional support, which buffers the physiological and psychological impact of individual stress.

  • Psychological Need for Groups: Group living creates a fundamental psychological need for connection and belonging (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Correll & Park, 2005). This need is as potent as basic physical needs, and when it is unmet, individuals can experience loneliness, anxiety, depression, and a decline in overall well-being, highlighting the critical role groups play in mental health and psychological stability.

Definitions of Groups

  • What constitutes a group? A group is defined as "a collection of individuals who have relations to one another that make them interdependent to some significant degree" (Cartwright & Zander, 1968, p. 46). This interdependence means that the actions and outcomes of one member affect the others.

  • Degrees of interdependence lead to varying degrees of "groupness," ranging from loose associations to highly integrated units.

    • Example: A family is typically more of a cohesive group than seminar participants, with their deep-seated emotional ties, shared history, and mutual reliance creating a far greater degree of interdependence.

  • National citizens can form a conceptual group, but tangible community interactions and shared local experiences establish a much stronger, more apparent group dynamic through direct interdependence.

Group Dynamics and Function

  • The chapter explores key aspects of group behavior, including:

    • How groups function and make decisions, considering both their efficiency and potential pitfalls.

    • The potential for group decision-making failures, such as groupthink, which can lead to disastrous outcomes.

    • How power dynamics operate within groups, influencing leadership, influence, and social hierarchies.

    • The transformation from orderly groups to chaotic mobs when individual identities are diminished through processes like deindividuation.

Social Facilitation
Learning Objectives

  • Describe the three elements of Zajonc's theory of mere presence.

  • Differentiate the mere presence hypothesis from the evaluation apprehension hypothesis.

  • Define social loafing and explain how it differs from mere presence effects.

Social Facilitation Explained

  • When practicing a skill (e.g., dance or language), individual performance can be profoundly influenced by the mere presence of an observer (e.g., a stranger or friend), or even co-actors.

  • Initial Research by Norman Triplett (1898):

    • Noted faster cycling times when cyclists competed directly against one another or were paced by a motor presence, compared to racing alone. He hypothesized that the presence of others served as a stimulus arousing a