Chapter 8 Group Processes Groups involve direct interactions among group members over time and a shared fate identity or set of goals Collectives are people engaging in a common activity but having little direct interaction with others ex Concert audience of a show gym Social Facilitation the process whereby the presence of others enhances performance on easy tasks but impairs performance on difficult tasks Norman Triplett cyclists who competed against each other performed better than those cycling alone or against the clock o Hypothesized the presence of a rider releases the competitive instinct which increases nervous energy and enhances performance o Had children wing fishing reel and alternated between having them work alone and in parallel o Winding time was fasted when the children worked side by side parallel model o Subsequent research had inconsistent results reinstated with Zajonc s Robert Zajonc the presence of others increases arousal which can affect performance in different ways depending on the task at hand o Increased physiological arousal energizes behavior in the presence of others a surge of nondirectional energy o This arousal increases the individual s tendency to perform the dominant response the reaction elicited most quickly and easily by a given stimulus o The quality of an individual s performance varies according to the type of task incorrect and insects Easy well learned simple tasks dominant response usually correct Difficult complex unfamiliar tasks dominant response usually o Believes social facilitation is universal occurring in humans animals o Tested this with cockroaches in two different mazes Easy maze pairs raced faster competition Difficult maze singles raced faster With an audience raced faster in easy maze and slower in hard maze o Researchers are beginning to find neurological and physiological evidence consistent with predictions based on the theory such as evidence concerning patterns of brain activation and cardiovascular responses o Emphasizes how expectations about a task can also influence performance o A person led to expect a successful performance does better in presence of others vs being alone and a person expecting to do poorly does worse in presence of others ex Practicing a musical instrument and being told it sounds great even if it doesn t Critical attention to Zajonc s theory His proposition that social facilitation is uniquely social His proposition that the mere presence of others is sufficient to affect performance mere presence theory Alternative explanations of Social Facilitation Evaluation apprehension theory the presence of others will produce social facilitation effects only when those others are seen as potential evaluators there is a crowd of people around me AND they are judging my aptitude Distraction conflict theory the presence of others will produce social facilitation effects only when those others distract from the task and create attentional conflict confliction about where to pay attention only increases arousal Seems as if mere presence evaluation AND attention can contribute the impact others have on our own performance Questions Is it uniquely social Is mere presence sufficient Mere Presence Robert Zajonc Yes Yes Evaluation Apprehensi on Yes No No No Distraction Conflict Social loafing Group produced reductions in individual output on tasks where contributions are pooled ex Cheering volume decreases when in a group vs when cheering alone Ringelmann found that compared with what individuals produced when they worked on their own people s output declined when they worked together on simple tasks Sharing responsibility with others reduces the amount of effort that people put into more complex motor tasks ex Swimming in a relay race Ways of reducing social loafing When people believe that individual performance is being evaluated ex When people engage in tasks that they find important or meaningful When people believe that their own efforts are necessary for a successful Being watched outcome When people believe that groups with a good performance will be rewarded When people believe that groups with a bad performance will be punished When the group is small When people believe that group members will have sufficient info to be able to evaluate the quality of the group Breaking down complex tasks into easier simple ones being task oriented When working with acquaintances When working in a highly valued cohesive group Having high achievement motivation Cross cultural differences in social loafing Social loafing is less prevalent among women among East Asian collectivist cultures Social loafing is more prevalent among men among individualistic cultures Collectivist cultures will socially loaf if they are working in a group that has established a norm of low productivity and effort If the outcome is important to individual members of the group and if they believe they can help achieve the desired outcome then they are likely to engage in social compensation by increasing efforts on collective tasks to try to compensate for the anticipated social loafing or poor performance of other group members picking up the slack Two conditions are necessary for an individual to show social compensation Person must believe that co workers are performing inadequately could be relative Person must consider the quality of the group product as important Latane s Social Impact Theory social influence or impact of other people on an individual depends on the strength immediacy and number of the observers Strength the importance of observers determined by factors such as status age ability relationship to individual stronger the source the greater the influence o Conformity more likely to conform if the group seems competent o Compliance make targets feel obligated to reciprocate a small favor o Obedience authority figures gain strength by wearing uniforms Immediacy source s proximity in time and space to the target closeness to the individual ex In front of you vs through a webcam o Milgram Obedience is higher when the person is physically present o The closer others are geographically the more impact they have on us Number as number of observes increases so does their impact good or bad o Asch conformity rises with 1 4 live confederates further increases are negligible Predicts that people sometimes resist social pressure when social impact is divided among many strong and distant targets Latane believes that social impact