Chapter 14 - Groups

1. Chapter 14 - Groups • Obedience/Cooperation • What Groups Are and Do • Groups, Roles, and Selves • Group Action • How Groups Think • Power and Leadership

2. Tradeoffs - Prisoner’s Dilemma • Choice is between cooperative response and an antagonistic response • Choice is between what is best for one person versus what is best for everyone • Non-zero-sum game

3. Obedience • Following orders from an authority figure • Milgram (1963) • Majority of participants delivered extreme shocks to a screaming victim in obedience to an authority figure

4. Obedience • Milgram’s research represented obedience as a negative (negative outcome) • Without obedience, society would not function • Obedience fosters • Social acceptance • Group life

5. What Groups Are • Groups are two or more people doing or being something together • Groups feel similar to one another • Presence of an outgroup • Direct interactions with each other over a period of time • Joint membership in a social category based on sex, race, or other attributes • A shared, common fate, identity, or set of goals

6. What Groups Do • In human evolution • Safety in numbers • Help others find food • Accomplish tasks that are too difficult for the individual

7. Why Join a Group? The complexities and ambitions of human life require that we work in groups Humans have an innate need to belong to groups Social brain hypothesis May not only protect against physical threat, but also help gain personal and social identity

8. Table 8.1: Stages of Group Development

9. What Groups Do • Cultural groups • Preserve information and pass it along to future generations • Use information to organize themselves • Benefit from role differentiation and division of labor

10. Tradeoffs - Diversity in Groups • Diversity involves tradeoffs • Can be more creative and flexible • Better chance of bringing in different information • Can be harder to cooperate and work together

11. Group Roles People’s roles in a group can be formal or informal. Two fundamental types of roles: An instrumental role to help the group achieve its tasks An expressive role to provide emotional support and maintain morale Beneficial to match roles to each member’s characteristics and skill set

12. Groups, Roles and Selves • One main function of a group is to accomplish something. • Having unique roles help us work together • Roles are defined by the system; exist independent of the person in that role • People need to be flexible to take on and drop roles

13. Groups, Roles, and Selves • Deindividuation vs. Differentiation • Is it best to be anonymous or openly identified? • Example • Voting – We keep our vote private to protect ourselves • Problems with Deindividuation • Aggression, Antisocial behavior • Individual beliefs become lost

14. Groups, Roles, and Selves • Optimal distinctiveness theory • Tension between the need to be similar to group members and distinctive from them • If we feel too similar, we try to become different. If we feel too different, we try to become similar. • Identifying people in groups and holding them accountable produces better results

15. Deindividuation and Mob Violence • Problems with Deindividuation • Aggression, Antisocial behavior • Individual beliefs become lost • Deindividuation can lead to antisocial behavior • Being anonymous to outsiders makes people more willing to violate norms • Stop worrying about what others think of them – more willing to behave badly • Accountability is best predictor of aggression

16. Deindividuation Theory • Deindividuation theory is a social psychological account of the individual in the crowd • Deindividuation is a psychological state of decreased self-evaluation, causing anti-normative and disinhibited behavior • Zimbardo, Haney, Banks, & Jaffe (1973) • One of the all-time great psychological experiments • Illustrates deindividuation

17. Stanford Prison Experiment • Thirty years ago, a group of young men were rounded up by Palo Alto police and dropped off at a new jail -- in the Stanford Psychology Department

18. These were just like real arrests… • On a quiet Sunday morning... each was arrested for violation of Penal Codes 211, Armed Robbery or Burglary, a 459 PC • Some arrested still vividly remember the shock of having neighbors come out to watch the commotion as TV cameras recorded the hand-cuffing for the “nightly news”

19. The deindividuation process starts • Guards • Uniforms • “Weapons” • Glasses • Prisoners • Stripped • Numbered • Humiliating attire

20. Treated poorly from the start… • Strip searched, sprayed for lice and locked up with chains around their ankles, the "prisoners" were part of an experiment to test people's reactions to power dynamics in social situations

21. Don’t mess with us… • Other college student volunteers -- the "guards" -- were given authority to dictate 24-hour-a-day rules

22. Soon, they were humiliating the prisoners

23. And it got worse and worse…

24. It didn’t take long… • Less than 36 hours into the experiment, Prisoner #8612 began suffering from acute emotional disturbance, disorganized thinking, uncontrollable crying, and rage…he was released

25. A final note… • No guards left the experiment – most seemed to enjoy it • The prisoners were abused – some sobbed their way out

26. It’s all in the “uniform”? • Does the traditional police or military uniform bring about a sense of deindividuation? When else do people wear uniforms?

27. Had to wear jeans today… • Casually dressed teachers achieve higher academic performance and receive fewer disciplinary problems from students (Lang,1986). • But in general, studies of the effects of attire on observer perceptions have shown that formal or professional dress is the most positively perceived (e.g., Harris et al., 1983; Bassett, 1979). 

28. Had to wear jeans today… • The effects of formal versus casual clothing had a different impact on perceived educator traits. Formal clothing tends to improve the perception of credibility, intelligence and competence but hurts observed perceptions of likeability and approachability (e.g., Leathers, 1992).

29. Had to wear jeans today… • Teachers who dressed formally were viewed as being more organized, knowledgeable, and better prepared (i.e., having enhanced "cool" perceptions), while those wearing less formal clothing were seen as friendlier, flexible, sympathetic, fair and enthusiastic (i.e., better "warm" perceptions) (Rollman, 1990).

30. Group Norms Groups establish norms or rules of conduct for members. Norms may be either formal or informal.

31. Group Cohesiveness The forces exerted on a group that push its members closer together. Cohesiveness and group performance are causally related. But relationship is complex

32. Individuals in Groups:The Presence of Others

33. Groups Action • Theory of social facilitation (Zajonc, 1965) • Presence of others increases arousal • Arousal increases dominant response • Triplett’s study of cyclists • Presence of others can improve people’s performance, especially familiar, easy tasks

34. Groups Action • Theory of social facilitation (Zajonc, 1965) • Social Inhibition • Presence of others increases arousal • Arousal decreases a non-dominant response • Study of cockroaches (1969) • Presence of others can decrease people’s performance on unfamiliar, difficult tasks

35. Social Loafing“Free Rider Problem” • Ringelmann (1913) • Farm workers – as number of workers increased, output did not increase as much. • People reduce effort when working in a group • Not individually identified or accountable • Not wanting to be a ‘sucker’ • Bad apple effect

36. Social Loafing“Free Rider Problem” • Loafing is more likely to occur • When members are deindividuated: No individual accountability • When others are loafing • In men • Loafing is less likely to occur • When one’s cooperation is unique to the group • When the group is meaningful & cohesive

37. Punishing Cheaters and Free Riders • Altruistic punishment • People will sometimes sacrifice their own gain, to benefit all, by punishing free riders • Goes against Economic theory which suggest we want to maximize our payoffs • May be considered guarding the culture • Culture depends on a system; cheat the system, ruin it for all

38. Shared Resources and the Commons Dilemma • Costs of private ownership • Inequality • Ambition, greed • Cost of communal ownership • Lack of preserving care • Commons dilemma • Squandering of shared resources

39. Shared Resources and the Commons Dilemma • Conflicts within commons dilemma • Social conscience versus selfish impulse • Time (Now versus tomorrow) • Factors influencing commons dilemma • Communication • Behavior of others

40. How Groups Think • Brainstorming • A form of creative thinking • People enjoy the process and evaluate it favorably • Individuals want to participate in brainstorming • BUT: Output is lower than individuals working alone

41. How Groups Think • Collective wisdom of group is better than individual experts • People must act as independent members of a group and share their diverse information • Examples: Galton’s study and Who Wants to be a Millionaire

42. Why Do People Love Teams? • Many people believe teams • Make better decisions • Improve performance • People enjoy working on teams • Satisfies their need to belong • Feel confident, effective and superior

43. Transactive Memory • Members of a small group remember different things • Begins at learning stage where group can decide roles for learning different things

44. Groupthink • Tendency of group members to think alike • Specifically group clings to shared but flawed view rather than being open to the truth (Janus, 1972, 1982) • Roots in desire to get along

45. Groupthink • Factors that encourage groupthink • Fairly similar and cohesive group to start • Strong, directive leader • Group is isolated in some sense from others • Group regards itself as superior • High Stress

46. Groupthink • Signs of groupthink • Pressure toward conformity • Appearance of unanimous agreement • Self-censorship • Illusion of invulnerability • Sense of moral superiority • Tendency to overestimate opponents

47. Avoiding Groupthink • Leader should be nondirective • Norm of openness should be established • Outside evaluators should make unannounced visits to observe group dynamics

48. Group Polarization and Risky Shift • Risky shift • Group is willing to take greater risks than individuals (on average) • Group polarization effect • Movement toward either extreme (risk or caution) resulting from group discussion

49. Committees • Why aren’t committees effective? • The desire for group harmony stifles free exchange of information • Focus on common knowledge rather than unique information people have

50. Committees • How can they be effective? • Respect each other’s knowledge • Share individual knowledge • Allow each member to be individually responsible for one task / piece of information