Sociology Group Influence
As a professional swimmer, during which situation are you most likely to swim faster and better? Why? 1) during a race against people of opposing swim teams 2) by yourself in practice with your coach timing you
#1 -- social facilitation The presence of others will strengthen your dominant response (which in this case, is swimming well, because you are an expert/professional, swimming comes effortless to you)
Identify what this group did wrong that may have facilitated them to make a faulty decision, as well as what they did right that could've led them in the right direction: a group of all female engineers with similar educational backgrounds needed to make a decision regarding how to build a new, critical operating tank for their power plant. Before the meeting, the project manager secretly assigned one person to agree with everything she said. She also decided to invite a guest lecturer for their meeting who is an expert on the types of machine they need to build. To begin the meeting, they introduced themselves and stated their initial reason for being at the meeting and how they think they should go about building the tank. The manager then decided to split the engineers into smaller groups varying by specialty and then reconvene to discuss the final outcome. At the last minute, the manager decided it would be a better idea to address any lingering doubts at a second meeting next week.
(preventing groupthink) Good: -guest lecturer expert -subdividing groups based on specialty and reconvening -addressing doubts at a second meeting Bad: -assigning person to agree with her; should have assigned a "devils advocate"--someone to welcome dissent -began meeting by stating opinions; should have remained impartial and non-biased
According to Zimbardo's Model of deindividuation, what are some antecedent conditions (besides anonymity) that allow deindividuation to occur to facilitate behavioral effects such as impulsivity, irrationality, etc?
-diffusion of responsibility -energizing effects of others (larger group) -stimulus overload
Three ways we can counteract deindividuation
-presence of mirrors -large name tags -no uniforms (individualized clothing) self identity is salient
What are three situations where social loafing does not occur in group efforts?
1) The task is challenging/appealing 2) The group members are friends 3) There is a big reward for their effort
Would you, as a biology major in "introduction to calculus" class be more likely to preform better on your calc final if you were in a room alone or if you were in your classroom with all of your other classmates? Why?
Alone -- social inhibition The presence of others will hamper performance when the task is complex (and, you are not an expert in the subject/task, so your dominant response will be not to preform well)
Why do animal studies suggest that social arousal may be an innate physiological mechanism?
Animals show the same social arousal effects/behaviors as humans but do not experience the cognitive overload of trying to attend to others' evaluations of them while preforming
When asked to complete a timed task of completing 10 problems of simple (single digits only) addition, would you preform better or worse if people were watching? Why?
Better; it is a simple and well-learned task, your dominant response is correct, and your performance will improve as you are a bit anxious (from the timing and the audience)
Shannon just started washing her hair with baking soda and vinegar. So far she likes it, but she is still a little unsure. She then has a conversation with one of your friends, Darla, who has been washing her hair this way for years, and tells Shannon about the wonderful benefits that she has experienced. After this conversation, Shannon raves about this method and says it is a life changing experience. What concept does this demonstrate?
Group polarization--group discussion often strengthen members initial opinions
Why would two workout partners be considered a group while two people next to each other on a bus would not be?
Groups must have collective influence--must feel a sense of "we" for longer than a few moments; groups will affect their members and members will affect their groups
In the situation above, where a man wearing sunglasses would be more likely to cheat while gambling as opposed to a man not wearing sunglasses, what is the independent and dependent variable? What is the mediator in the relationship?
IV: wearing sunglasses or not mediator: perceived anonymity (with person wearing sunglasses) DV: unethical behavior (or not)
In one study, participants were blindfolded and told to make as much noise as possible. One group was told they were in a room alone, and another group was told that they were with 3 other people making noise, when in fact, all participants were observed making noise alone. Which participants made less noise? What concept is this?
People made less noise when being told they were in a group; people perceived themselves as making equal noise in both situations Social loafing
If you are asked to build a wooden birdhouse from scratch in one day for $500, would you be likely to succeed and build a better birdhouse or build a very unstable and unattractive birdhouse if your interested buyer was watching you the whole day? Why? What if you are a very experienced wood-worker?
Preform worse (build unstable house); this is a complex task, this behavior must have been learned, your dominant response is incorrect and your performance will suffer when you are anxious If you are an expert--even though this is a complex task, your dominant response would be correct and you would thrive under a bit of pressure
Why are runners likely to run faster in individual races rather than relay races?
Social loafing The end-time reflects the result of the overall group, not of each individual runner and thus they are not held accountable for their individual contribution to the group (nobody can detect who was the slowest or who's time was the worst if they lost the relay race)
Who would be more likely to cheat while gambling, a person wearing sunglasses or a person without sunglasses? Why?
Sunglasses--perceived anonymity increases deindividuation; darkness (sunglasses) increases feeling of being anonymous
What happens when a person in a group preforming a task together experiences no evaluation apprehension?
They give less effort (nobody is watching them/nobody can tell that they are giving less effort among the group)
Explain why group polarization occurs using concepts of informative and normative influence
We turn to other people for information, and we also want to be liked by them. Our initial opinion is strengthened when we hear new ideas from others that are in favor of/fit in with our initial argument (it gives us a new reason to be in favor) Also, hearing yourself say your position out loud makes you believe it more--"saying is believing" effect--(goes along with principle of consistency)
How does evaluation apprehension explain why we become aroused when in the presence of others?
We're concerned with how others evaluate us, so we must attend to the task while also attending to others' evaluation of us which produces cognitive overload --> leads to arousal
In a study on children and how much Halloween candy they will take from a bowl without being watched, describe the conditions that will most likely facilitate the children to take the most candy
When they are in large groups (bigger groups = more arousal, more anonymity) and are not identifiable (did not give names to person handing out candy, covered by ghost costume, etc)
When trying to dispute complex philosophical arguments, would being in a group of classmates benefit you in putting together this presentation vs. if this was not a group project? Why?
being in a group would not enhance your presentation when compared to if you did the presentation alone---the answer is unclear/complex/subjective
An experience of loss of self awareness and evaluation apprehension that occurs in group situations that foster anonymity
deindividuation
What occurs when arousal (from groups) and the diffusion of responsibility combine?
deindividuation
During a war why did soldiers who all painted their faces with tribal war paint demonstrate more aggressive, intense and sadistic acts during the war than soldiers who did not paint their face?
deindividuation--face paint gave soldiers anonymity; uniforms also increase deindividuation
How does stimulus overload (distraction) increase deindividuation?
distraction increases social facilitation (arousal) which relies on the social norms/enviornmental cues of the group/situation -- leading us to act in such away that aligns with the group
What is groupthink?
faulty thinking in highly cohesive groups, suppressing dissent in the interest of harmony
Give examples of situations where deindividuation may occur among an individual in the group and why these occur
food fights, riots, online chat rooms behaviors depend on the group norms/environmental cues; when we feel we cannot be recognized or directly attributed to the event, normal restraints no longer affect our behavior
Which type of group would be more at risk for making rash or faulty decisions: 1) a group of all female engineers with similar educational backgrounds and a very charming project manager 2) a group of all male construction workers with varying job titles and different bosses
group 1 (more subjective to groupthink--very cohesive, homogenous and isolated, directive charismatic leader)
Explain the "risky shift" phenomenon
groups will make riskier choices; groups will need less of a guarantee that something will happen in order to say "go for it" except in extremely risky situations--then, a group will need more of a guarantee than you would if you were by yourself
Your friends and you decide to go out for trivia night. In this situation, would a large group of friends increase or decrease your likelihood at success during the game vs. if you were alone or with one other person? Why?
increases chances; larger groups of people--pool your knowledge together to decide on factual/precise information
