Journal

1. Journal • What social groups are you a part of? (Family, clubs, friends, etc.) Has your membership in these social groups ever influenced your personal decisions? How or how not? LEARNING TARGETS • I can distinguish between a primary group and secondary group

2. What is a group? • Two or more people who identify with and interact with one another • Primary group: a small social group whose members share personal and lasting relationships • Secondary group: a large and impersonal social group whose members pursue a specific goal or activity How would you answer the question, “How are you?”

3. How are we influenced by groups? • Journal: What is the difference between a primary and secondary group? What are two primary groups that you belong to? • Learning Target: I can explain how groups affect what I do and how I act

4. Social Loafing • The tendency of individuals to put forth less effort when they are part of a group • Because all members of the group are pooling their effort to achieve a common goal, each member of the group contributes less than they would if they were individually responsible. • This happens when there is NO individual accountability. • Does this really happen?

5. Social Loafing • Though it is a tendency to “loaf”, certain factors reduce the likelihood • Engaging and interactive activities • Being part of a close group (primary group) • Individual accountability

6. Social Facilitation • Is our performance hindered or enhanced by the presence of others?

7. Social Facilitation • Tendency for people to do better on simple tasks when in the presence of other people. • This implies that whenever people are being watched by others, they will do well on things that they are already good at doing.

8. Group Conformity • Solomon Asch’s Experiment (on conformity) • Video uploaded to wiki

9. Losing our sense of self in a group • April 2003: In the wake of American troops entering Iraq’s cities, looters ran rampant • “ They came in mobs: A group of 50 would come, they would go, and another would come” • Reports of the events led the rest of the world wondering • What happened to the looters’ sense of morality? • Why did such behavior erupt?

10. When do we lose our sense of self? • When we are aroused and responsibility is diffused, normal inhibitions diminish. • When normal inhibitions diminish, results are startling! • Power of the group can lead create a sense of excitement, of being caught up in something bigger than your self. • Rock concert

11. When do we lose our sense of self? • Group Size: this can make members unidentifiable • You can hide behind the mask of your group • You focus on the situation, and not on yourself • Since “everyone is doing it” we can contribute our behavior to the situation and not to our own choices

12. When do we lose our sense of self? • Physical Anonymity • New York University Experiment (Klan-like outfits) • Internet and anonymity • Does it always bring out the worst in us? • Nurse Uniforms • Being anonymous makes us less self-conscious, more group-conscious and more responsive to social cues

13. When do we lose our sense of self? • Diminished Self-Awareness • Unself-conscious, deinividuated people are less restrained, less self-regulated and more likely to act without thinking about their own values • Acting in front of a TV camera or mirror led to increased self control and their actions more clearly reflected their values