Social Psychology
Chapter 16
Groups
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What is a group?
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Two or more individuals
Who interact with one another
Are interdependent upon one another
Aware of belonging to a group
Characteristics of Effective Work Teams
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Informal, relaxed atmosphere
Lot of “on-task” discussion (all members participate)
Well-defined tasks or objectives
Group members listen to one another
There IS disagreement
Criticism is frequent, frank, comfortable and constructive
Ideas and feelings are freely expressed
Clear assignments are made and accepted
Group leadership shifts to members from time to time
The group is aware of how it is operating
From Douglas McGregor, The Human Side of Enterprise, pp. 232-235. Copyright © 1960
Elements of Group Structure
Norms - implicit or explicit rules that regulate the
behavior of group members.
Prescriptive - tell members how to behave.
Proscriptive - tell members how NOT to behave.
Cohesiveness - “forces” that bind group members together
“Cost” of getting into group.
The higher the cost the more attracted and committed we are to the group.
External threats or severe competition
Past history of success
Group size.
Smaller groups are more cohesive
Elements of Group Structure
Roles - differentiation of function within groups.
Task-oriented roles - focus on getting the group’s job done.
Relations-oriented roles - focus on reducing interpersonal
friction and maintaining good
relationships within the group.
Goal(s) - a desired state of affairs
Direct and motivate group effort
Provide a vision of what the group could/should be
Aid in solving group conflict
Used to evaluate effectiveness of group processes/procedures
How Groups Influence Behavior
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Group Productivity
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Are groups more productive than individuals
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Depends upon
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Type of task
Social Facilitation
Social Loafing
Types of Tasks
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Additive tasks
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Conjunctive tasks
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the groups final product is determined by its poorest performing
member (the weakest link in the chain).
Disjunctive tasks
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the contributions of each member are combined into a single
group product.
the groups final product is determined by the best or most
competent person in the group.
Compensatory tasks
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the contributions of various members a averaged together to form
a single group outcome.
Social Facilitation
Distraction-Conflict Theory
Tendency to pay
attention to
audience or coactors
Organism
performing
some task
Presence of
audience
or coactors
Conflict
Tendency to pay
attention to task
Increased
arousal
Social
facilitation
effects
Tendency to slack off
when individual effort
cannot be monitored
Social Loafing
Latane’, Williams, and Harkins (1979)
Sound Pressure per Person
10
Potential
productivity
Reduced effort
8
Coordination loss
6
Pseudogroup
productivity
4
Actual group
productivity
Obtained output
2
0
1
2
3
4
Group Size
5
6
Making Decisions in Groups
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Group Polarization
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Groupthink
Group Polarization
Group Polarization- tendency to shift toward more
extreme positions after group discussion
Risky
Neutral
Cautious
Groupthink
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Groupthink- syndrome of bad decision-making
12.17
How Groups Influence Behavior
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Conformity
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Yielding to social pressure
Factors that influence conformity
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Asch studies
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Group size (magic #’s 4 & 7)
Group unanimity
How Groups Influence Behavior
• Obedience
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Form of compliance when people follow direct
commands, typically from an authority figure.
 Milgram
studies