PSY 223 1nd Edition Lecture 16 Outline of Last Lecture I Discrimination contd a Costs of prejudice stereotyping and discrimination II Group Processes III Social Facilitation IV Social loafing V Deindividuation VI Groups Outline of Current Lecture VII Group Characteristics VIII Group Decision Making a Group Polarization IX Groupthink X Group Performance XI Aggression Current Lecture 10 22 Group Characteristics Roles shared expectations of how people are supposed to behave e g instrumental role task get need to get this done vs expressive role relational made people feel good good because of ambiguity so you know what is expected of you Norms rules of conduct how you re supposed to behave in group Cohesiveness forces exerted on a group that push its members closer together Productiveness and decision making in regards to cohesiveness depends These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Group Decision Making Do groups make better decisions than individuals Answer groups tend to make decisions that are more extreme in the same direction as the individuals initial predisposition called group polarization risky people usually have even more risker decisions same goes for cautiousness Explanations for Group Polarization Persuasive arguments perspective individuals hear additional arguments supporting their own decision Social comparison perspective in order to be liked many people will take a position that is similar to the others but a little more extreme Groupthink an extreme form of group polarization occurs when consensus seeking is more important than critical analysis 3 characteristics that contribute 1 Highly cohesive groups 2 A threatening situational context 3 A particular group structure members with similar backgrounds isolated from other people and directed by a strong leader Symptoms An overestimation of one s ingroup illusion of invulnerability Closed mindedness Increased pressures towards conformity Other Problems Biased sampling of information groups spend more time discussing shared information and unique information known by only one or a few may not get discussed Channels of communication sometimes important information doesn t get to decision makers because of rules of communication Strategies to reduce groupthink Consult with outsider Leaders should encourage criticism Have different subgroups and a devil s advocate Group Performance Process Loss the reduction in group performance due to obstacles created by group processes e g problems of coordination or motivation Although group produces more than an individual doesn t always work to potential social loafing process lost Additive Tasks group product is sum of member contributions Sometimes group performance defined by the weak link conjunctive task But sometimes group performance is defined by most capable member disjunctive task one person knows the answer Aggression Unfortunately aggression and violence is common Aggression is behavior Aggression is on purpose 2 types Emotional Aggression also called reactive aggression an act of aggression stemming from feelings of anger often impulsive inflicting harm for its own sake Instrumental Aggression also called proactive aggression aggression as an means to some goal other than causing pain