Social Psychology David Myers 10e Copyright 2010 McGraw-Hill Companies1

Chapter Eight Group Influence 2

What Is a Group? Two or more people who, for longer than a few moments, interact with and influence one another and perceive one another as “us” 3

Social Facilitation: How Are We Affected by the Presence of Others? The Mere Presence of Others – Social facilitation Strengthening of dominant responses whether correct or incorrect in the presence of others – Boosts performance on easy tasks – Impairs performance on difficult tasks 4

Social Facilitation: How Are We Affected by the Presence of Others? Crowding: The Presence of Many Others – Effect of others’ presence increases with their number – Being in a crowd intensifies positive or negative reactions – Enhances arousal 5

Social Facilitation: How Are We Affected by the Presence of Others? Why Are We Aroused in the Presence of Others? – Evaluation apprehension Concern for how others are evaluating us – Driven by distraction When we wonder how co-actors are doing or how an audience is reacting, we become distracted – Mere presence Can be arousing even when we are not evaluated or distracted 6

Social Loafing: Do Individuals Exert Less Effort in a Group? Social Loafing – Tendency for people to exert less effort when they pool their efforts toward a common goal than when they are individually accountable 7

Social Loafing: Do Individuals Exert Less Effort in a Group? Many Hands Make Light Work – Effort decreases as group size increases – Free riders People who benefit from the group but give little in return 8

Social Loafing: Do Individuals Exert Less Effort in a Group? Social Loafing in Everyday Life – People in groups loaf less when the task is Challenging Appealing – Rewards are significant Involving – Team spirit 9

Deindividuation: When Do People Lose Their Sense of Self in Groups? Deindividuation – Loss of self-awareness and evaluation apprehension; occurs in group situations that foster responsiveness to group norms, good or bad 10

Deindividuation: When Do People Lose Their Sense of Self in Groups? Group Size – Larger the group the more its members lose self- awareness and become willing to commit atrocities People’s attention is focused on the situation, not on themselves – “Everyone’s doing it” attitude – They contribute their behavior to the situation rather than to their own choices 11

Deindividuation: When Do People Lose Their Sense of Self in Groups? Physical Anonymity – Being anonymous makes one less self-conscious, more group-conscious, and more responsive to cues present in the situation, whether negative or positive Figure 8.712

Deindividuation: When Do People Lose Their Sense of Self in Groups? Arousing and Distracting Activities – When we act in an impulsive way as a group, we are not thinking about our values; we are reacting to the immediate situation Impulsive group action absorbs our attention 13

Deindividuation: When Do People Lose Their Sense of Self in Groups? Diminished Self-Awareness – Tend to increase people’s responsiveness to the immediate situation, be it negative or positive 14

Group Polarization: Do Groups Intensify Our Opinions? Group Polarization – Group-produced enhancement of members’ preexisting tendencies; a strengthening of the members’ average tendency, not a split within the group 15

Group Polarization: Do Groups Intensify Our Opinions? “Risky Shift” Phenomenon – Occurs not only when a group decides by consensus; after a brief discussion, individuals, too, will alter their decisions Juries Business committees Military organizations Teen drivers 16

Group Polarization: Do Groups Intensify Our Opinions? Do Groups Intensify Opinions? – Group polarization experiments Moscovici and Zavalloni (1969) Mititoshi Isozaki (1984) Markus Brauer, et al. (2001) 17

Group Polarization: Do Groups Intensify Our Opinions? Do Groups Intensify Opinions? – Group polarization in everyday life Schools – Accentuation effect Communities – Self-segregation Internet Terrorists organizations 18

Group Polarization: Do Groups Intensify Our Opinions? Explaining Polarization – Informational influence Arguments Active participation 19

Group Polarization: Do Groups Intensify Our Opinions? Explaining Polarization – Normative influence Social comparison – Evaluating one’s opinions and abilities by comparing oneself with others Pluralistic ignorance – A false impression of what most other people are thinking or feeling, or how they are responding 20

Groupthink: Do Groups Hinder or Assist Good Decisions? Mode of thinking that persons engage in when concurrence-seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive in-group that it tends to override realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action – Caused by Cohesive group Isolation of the group from dissenting viewpoints Directive leader 21 Challenger

Groupthink: Do Groups Hinder or Assist Good Decisions? Systems of Groupthink – Following lead group members to overestimate their group’s might and right Illusion of invulnerability Unquestioned belief in the group’s morality 22

Groupthink: Do Groups Hinder or Assist Good Decisions? Systems of Groupthink – Following leads group members to become closed-minded Rationalization Stereotyped view of opponent 23

Groupthink: Do Groups Hinder or Assist Good Decisions? Systems of Groupthink – Following leads group to feel pressure toward uniformity Conformity pressure Self-censorship Illusion of unanimity Mind guards 24 Groupthink

Groupthink: Do Groups Hinder or Assist Good Decisions? Critiquing Groupthink – Directive leadership is associated with poorer decisions – Groups do prefer supporting over challenging information – When members look to a group for acceptance, approval, and social identity, they may suppress disagreeable thoughts 25

Groupthink: Do Groups Hinder or Assist Good Decisions? Preventing Groupthink – Be impartial – Encourage critical evaluation – Occasionally subdivide the group, then reunite and air differences – Welcome critiques from outside experts and associates – Call a second-chance meeting 26

Groupthink: Do Groups Hinder or Assist Good Decisions? Group Problem Solving – Combine group and solitary brainstorming – Have group members interact by writing – Incorporate electronic brainstorming 27

The Influence of the Minority: How Do Individuals Influence the Group? Consistency – Minority slowness effect Self-Confidence – Portrayed by consistency and persistence Defections from the Majority – Minority person who defects from the majority is more persuasive than a consistent minority voice 28

The Influence of the Minority: How Do Individuals Influence the Group? Is Leadership Minority Influence? – Leadership Process by which certain group members motivate and guide the group – Formal and informal group leaders exert disproportionate influence 29

The Influence of the Minority: How Do Individuals Influence the Group? Is Leadership Minority Influence? – Task leadership Organizes work, sets standards, and focuses on goals – Social leadership Builds teamwork, mediates conflict, and offers support – Transformational leadership Enabled by a leader’s vision and inspiration, exerts significant influence 30