| A | B |
|---|
| Group | Two or more people who, for longer than a few moments, interact w/ and influence one another and perceive one another as “us” |
| Co-Actors | Co-participants working individually on a noncompetitive activity |
| Social Facilitation | (1) Original meaning: the tendency of people to perform simple or well-learned tasks better when others are present. (2) Current meaning: the strengthening of dominant (prevalent, likely) responses in the presence of others |
| The Effects of Social Arousal | Robert Zajonc reconciled apparently conflicting findings by proposing that arousal from others’ presence strengthens dominant responses (the correct responses only on easy or well-learned tasks) |
| Evaluation Apprehension | Concern for how others are evaluating us • Other experiments confirmed Cottrell’s conclusion: The enhancement of dominant responses is strongest when people think they are being evaluated |
| Social Loafing | The tendency for people to exert less effort when they pool their efforts toward a common goal than when they are individually accountable |
| Free Riders | People who benefit from the group but give little in return |
| Deindividuation | Loss of self-awareness and evaluation apprehension; occurs in group situations that foster responsiveness to group norms, good or bad |
| Self-Awareness | A self-conscious state in which attention focuses on oneself. It makes people more sensitive to their own attitudes and dispositions |
| Group Polarization | Group-produced enhancement of members’ preexisting tendencies; a strengthening of the members’ average tendencies; a strengthening of the members’ average tendency, not a split w/in the group |
| Social Comparison | Evaluating one’s opinions and abilities by comparing oneself w/ others |
| Pluralistic Ignorance | A false impression of what most other people are thinking or feeling, or how they are responding |
| Groupthink | "The mode of thinking that persons engage in when concurrence-seeking becomes so dominant in a cohesive in-group that it tends to override realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action.”—Irving Janis (1971) |
| Overestimate Their Group's Might and Right | An Illusion of Invulnerability and Unquestioned Belief in the group's morality |
| An Illusion of Invulnerability | The groups Janis studied all developed an excessive optimism that blinded them to warnings of danger |
| Unquestioned Belief in the Group's Morality | Group members assume the inherent morality of their group and ignore ethical and moral issues |
| Group Members also Become Close-Minded | Rationalization and Stereotyped View of Opponent |
| Rationalization | The groups discount challenges by collectively justifying their decisions |
| Stereotyped View of Opponent | Participants in these groupthink tanks consider their enemies too evil to negotiate w/ or too defend weak and unintelligent to defend themselves against the planned initiative |
| The Group Suffers from Pressure Toward Uniformity | Conformity Pressure, Self-Censorship, Illusion of Unanimity, and Mind Guards |
| Conformity Pressure | Group members rebuffed those who raised doubts about the group’s assumptions and plans, at times not by argument but by personal sarcasm |
| Self-Censorship | To avoid uncomfortable disagreements, members withheld or discounted their misgivings |
| Illusion of Unanimity | Self-Censorship and pressure not to puncture the consensus create an illusion of unanimity. What is more, the apparent consensus confirms the group’s decision. The absence of dissent created an illusion of unanimity |
| Mindguards | Some members protect the group from information that would call into question the effectiveness or morality of its decisions |
| Social Loafing Theory | Large groups cause some individuals to free-ride on others’ efforts |
| Normative Influence Theory | They cause others to feel apprehensive about voicing oddball ideas |
| Three Ways to Enhance Group Brainstorming | (1)Combine Group and Solitary Brainstorming (2) Have Group Members Interact by Writing (3) Incorporate Electronic Brainstorming |
| Combine Group and Solitary Brainstorming | Group brainstorming is most productive when it precedes solo brainstorming, individuals’ ideas can continue flowing w/o being impeded by the group context that allows only one person to speak at a time |
| Have Group Members Interact by Writing | Group priming, w/o being impeded by the one-at-a-time rule, is to have group members write and read, rather than speak and listen. When leaders urge people to generate lots of ideas they generate both more ideas and more good ideas |
| Incorporate Electronic Brainstorming | There is a potentially more efficient way to avoid the verbal traffic jams of traditional group brainstorming in larger groups: Let individuals produce and read ideas on networked computers |
| Leadership | The process by which certain group members motivate and guide the group |
| Task Leadership | Leadership that organizes work, sets standards, and focuses on goals |
| Social Leadership | Leadership that builds teamwork, mediates conflict, and offers support |
| Directive Style | A style that can work well if the leader is bright enough to give good orders. Being goal oriented, such leaders also keep the group’s attention and effort focused on its mission |
| Democratic Style | A style that delegates authority, welcomes input from team members, and helps prevent groupthink |
| Transformational Leadership | Leadership that, enabled a leader’s vision and inspiration, exerts significant influence |
| Transformational Leaders | Articulate high standards, inspire people to share their vision, and offer personal attention (Bono & Judge, 2004) |
