GROUP PROCESSES
Chapter 9
GROUP

Two or more people who interact and are
interdependent in that their needs and goals
cause them to influence each other.
GROUPS

Groups are a source of identity.

Groups give us social knowledge and clarify
ambiguity.

Groups establish some social norms.
CHARACTERISTICS OF GROUPS

Most groups have 2-6 members (Group members
interact.)

Group members are similar to each other

Groups create their own social norms


Social roles are shared expectations in the group
about how particular people should behave
Individual identities and personalities can get
lost (Zimbardo Prison Experiment)
GENDER ROLES




All societies have expectations about how people
will behave based on their gender.
These vary by culture, but universally people
identify nurturing, as female and as male.
Changing gender roles causes conflict and creates
role strain and ambiguity and sometimes role
conflict.
This has happened in the United States as
women’s appropriate roles have come to be
perceived as more like men’s.
GROUP COHESIVENESS


The qualities that bind group members together,
foster group loyalty, and contribute to
interpersonal liking.
Members of more cohesive groups tend to stay in
the group, to be active participants, and to
recruit new members.
SOCIAL FACILITATION: PRESENCE OF OTHERS



People tend to do better on simple tasks when in
the presence of others, but they tend to do worse
on complex tasks if their individual performance
can be evaluated.
The same is true of cockroaches.
In general, the presence of others causes
physiological arousal and affects our behavior in
a variety of way.
SOCIAL FACILITATION: PRESENCE OF OTHERS

Explanations for this phenomenon include:

1. Others cause us to become alert and vigilant.


2. Others make us apprehensive about how we
are being evaluated.
3. Others distract us from the task at hand.
SOCIAL LOAFING



When we can merge into the group and become
less identifiable or noticed, we feel more relaxed.
This has the opposite results of social facilitation.
If people cannot be identified, they do worse on
simple tasks and better on complex tasks.
The tendency to loaf is stronger in Western than
Asian cultures.
DEINDIVIDUATION: GETTING LOST IN THE CROWD




This loosens normal constraints and permits an
increase in impulsive and deviant behaviors.
This phenomenon partially explains mobs,
lootings, lynching's, etc.
People feel less accountable since it would be
hard to single them out for blame.
It increases the extent to which people obey
group norms (not always aggressive or antisocial).
GROUP DECISION MAKING




Groups can make decisions as good as those of
individuals
They do well if they listed to the most expert
member.
Groups are usually used to make important
decisions.
Some factors cause groups to make worse
decisions
GROUP DECISION MAKING


Groups tend to focus only on shared information
and to ignore that possessed by some members.
To counteract this:

Hold longer discussions

Assign specific group members to develop expertise in
one or more aspects of the issue and to then share
this with the group.
GROUPTHINK



Groupthink occurs when the group seizes an
initial solution and supports it rather than
considering other possible alternative.
It is most likely to happen in highly cohesive
groups whose leaders let their preferred courses
of action be known.
The focus of the group then comes to be pleasing
the leader and maintaining group cohesiveness
rather than finding the best solution to the
problem.
GROUPTHINK

In order to avoid groupthink:

The leader should remain impartial

Effort should be make to seek outside opinions

Subgroups for discussion/research can be created

Members can be allowed to express their opinions
anonymously.

Brainstorming techniques can be used.
GROUP POLARIZATION/RISKY SHIFT



Groups tend to make decisions that are more
extreme and/or involve more risks than their
members individually.
One explanation is that members give each other
new arguments toward the same goal/position.
Another explanation is that members gain
confidence in their direction when they realize
that others feel the same way.
LEADERSHIP


The Great Person Theory of Leadership says that
certain personality types will make good leaders
in any situation.
The correlational evidence is weak, but leaders
tend to be slightly more:





Intelligent, confident, charismatic, extroverted
Driven by the desire for power
Open to new experience
Stable – Lacking in nervousness
Socially skilled
LEADERSHIP STYLE THEORY


Transactional Leaders set clear, short-term goals
and reward those who reach them.
Transformational Leaders inspire their followers
to focus on long-term goals.
CONTINGENCY THEORY OF LEADERSHIP


Task-oriented leaders are more concerned with
getting the job done. Workers feelings and
relationships are secondary.
Relationship-oriented leaders are more concerned
with workers feelings and relationships.
CONTINGENCY THEORY OF LEADERSHIP



A comprehensive leadership theory should focus
on followers and the situation as well as the
leader.
Specific leaders may be successful in one
situation but not another.
More specifically, the success of the leadership
depends upon the leader type and the amount of
control or influence he or she has in the situation.
CONTINGENCY THEORY OF LEADER

Task-oriented leaders are most effective in:

High-control work situations where relationships
with subordinates are very good and work is very
well-defined.

Low-control work situations where leadersubordinate relationships are not very good and the
work is poorly defined.
CONTINGENCY THEORY OF LEADERSHIP

Relationship-oriented Leaders are most effective
in:

Moderate-control situations where:

Things are going fairly smoothly
Some work/attention is needed because of poor
relationships
SOCIAL DILEMMAS



Two people, groups, organizations, or even nations
have incompatible goals which place them in conflict.
A social dilemma is a situation where the most
beneficial action for an individual will have harmful
effects on others.
In the Prisoner’s dilemma game, rewards are set on a
contingency plan such that if both parties choose
cooperatively, the payoff is highest for both. If both
choose selfishly, both get the lowest payoff. However,
if only one cooperates, he/she gets the lowest payoff,
and the other gets the highest possible payoff.
PRISONER’S DILEMMA GAME


The dynamics of the game are such that in order to
choose cooperatively, one hopes that the other will do
likewise. In short, you must trust your partner.
How do we foster a cooperative strategy?





Allow friends to play.
Allow individuals, not groups, to play.
Let them expect future interaction with the other player.
Foster a cooperative norm (the Community Game).
Use a tit-for-tat strategy. Always respond the way the
other player did on the previous turn.