Groups

1. Groups Video Clip 2: Reginald Denny

2. Outline • Why we live in groups • Social facilitation • Social loafing • Group decision making

3. Best reliable predictor of brain size in primates is social group size • Human beings are adapted to live in social groups • All primates except ourangutans

4. Benefits of group living • Protection from predation and from intergroup conflict • Collective hunting of big game & coordinated food gathering • Cultural learning

5. Social exclusion is painfulEisenberger, Lieberman, & Williams (2003) • Virtual ball-tossing game • Inclusion vs. exclusion rounds • fMRI scan • dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC)

6. Social exclusion is painfulEisenberger, Lieberman, & Williams (2003) • Greater activation of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) when excluded • Excluded subjects who reported being more upset showed greater activation of dACC • Human sensitivity to social exclusion • Physical pain = social pain

7. The Nature and Purpose of Group Living Group - A collection of individuals that have relations to one another that make them interdependent to some significant degree Groups vary in the degree of cohesion and interdependence

8. Social Facilitation The effect of the presence of others on performance • Does the presence of others increase or decrease performance? • Resolving the Contradiction: Zajonc’s theory

10. Social Facilitation Facilitation: dominant response • Task is easy • Person is expert Inhibition: non-dominant response • Task is hard/complex • Person is novice

11. Social Loafing • Social loafing: decreased effort put forth by individuals when working in a group • Finding: burglars working in groups more likely to get caught! • Ingham (1974): blindfolded ppts pulled 18% harder when they thought were alone • Explanation: diffusion of responsibility

12. Social Loafing Less social loafing: • Task is challenging and involving • Individuals are identifiable • Members are friends • Groups are cohesive • In collectivistic cultures and among women

13. Group Decision Making • Important decisions are made in groups… • Governments • Juries • Committees • Company executive boards • How do groups affect decision making?

14. Group Decision Making • Are many heads better than one? • Disastrous decisions by groups • Ex: Kennedy’s Bay of Pigs invasion • Modern example: Iraq invasion • Groupthink: social pressures to reach consensus in a highly cohesive group which leads to disastrous decisions

15. Group Decision Making • Conditions that foster groupthink: • Stressful situation • Like minded members of group • Isolation from outside influences • Lack of procedures • Strong group leader

16. Group Decision Making • Symptoms of groupthink • Illusion of invulnerability • Dissent is discouraged, esp. by “mindguards” • Self-sensorship, illusion of unanimity • One-sided debate (collective rationalization) • Unwillingness to consider alternatives

17. Group Decision Making • Strategies to reduce groupthink • Encourage criticism • Input from outside sources • Generate different ideas, approaches before decisions is made • Watch out for illusion of invulnerability