Soc 319: Sociological Approaches to Social Psychology Group Conformity (cont’d)/ Group Performance April 9, 2009

D. How do groups react to dissenters? 1. Group efforts to manage “deviants” Apply pressure to make “deviant” conform Persuasion  threats  punishments Reject the deviant from the group. Expel from group Status degradation Psychological isolation

D. How do groups react to dissenters? (cont’d) 2. Minority fights back! “Active minority” might try to persuade majority group members to accept their viewpoint and adopt a new position (Moscovici, 1980). Influence of minority contingent upon: Size. >1 person. Consistency. Implies that the minority has a well- articulated and thoughtful position. Flexible negotiation style. Rigid negotiation style suggests that minority is inflexible and dogmatic. Similarity of identity (recall P-O-X model)

E. Groupthink 1. Definition. A mode of thinking and decision-making by group members where pressures for unanimity and cohesiveness overwhelm the group members’ motivation to appraise realistically the alternative courses of action (Janis 1972). “Illusion of consensus” 2. Examples: a. Cuban missile crisis b. Challenger disaster 3. Characteristics 4. Possible solutions

Group Performance I. Types of tasks performed by groups A. Unitary 1. Conjunctive 2. Disjunctive 3. Additive B. Divisible

When Did Michael Phelps Work Harder? Individual events? Team events?

II. Do individuals perform better alone, or with others? With others. A. Social facilitation effect 1. Early definition: the tendency of people to perform simple tasks better when others are present (Triplett) 2. Current definition: The strengthening of dominant responses, due to the presence of others (Zajonc) a. Evidence: Presence of other facilitates performance (speed & accuracy on well-practiced tasks, yet hinders performance on less familiar tasks. 3. What does the social facilitation effect occur? a. Evaluation apprehension b. Distraction

Performance of complex tasks impeded by audience (Zajonc)

III. Do individuals perform better alone, or with others? Alone A. Process loss 1. Definition. Actual productivity = (potential productivity - process loss) 2. Types of process loss a. Coordination losses b. Motivation losses.

III. Do individuals perform better alone, or with others? Alone B. Motivation loss 1. Social loafing a. Evidence: Latane study b. Explanations for social loafing 2. Free riding a. Explanations for free riding b. The reverse: social compensation 3. Inequity-based motivation losses a. The sucker effect

Increasing Group Size, Increasing Group Output

…But Decreasing Individual Input

III. Do individuals perform better alone, or with others? Alone C. “Guards” against motivation loss 1. Challenging or appealing task 2. Group members like each other