Transcript What is a group?

Social Psychology
Lecture 4: People in Groups
(Chapter 8; Hogg & Vaughan)
At the end of the lecture . . .
• “Compare and contrast social
psychological accounts of the ‘group’”
• What is a group?
• Why do people join groups?
• The effect of the group on individual
performance
• Group cohesiveness and group
socialisation
• Norms
• Group structure
What is a group?
• Although groups vary enormously and can be
defined in many different ways, some general
distinctions can be made. One important distinction is
between similarity-based categorical groups
(common-identity groups), and interaction-based
dynamic groups (common bond groups).
• Another distinction can be made between aggregates
and groups: An aggregate (e.g., people at a bus
queue) becomes a human group (e.g., a team) to the
extent that people identify with it, are interdependent
with one another, have a common fate, and so forth.
• However, all groups are social categories and they
vary in entitativity; that is, how much they appear to
act like a distinct, coherent, and bounded entity.
• Many social psychological definitions of groups
exclude large-scale social categories; they focus on
interpersonal interaction, which, of course, cannot
define a large category such as an entire nation.
Why do people join groups?
• There are many reasons for joining a group: They
provide protection, allow us to do things we cannot do
alone, validate our attitudes, and provide social
support and a sense of collective identity. Groups
reduce uncertainty about who we are, how we should
behave, and how others will treat us. Groups satisfy a
basic need to belong, and, according to
terror management theory, we affiliate with others to
buffer ourselves against fear of our inevitable death.
• The consequences of not joining groups or not being
accepted by groups can be very dire. Not being a
member of a group is a lonely existence, depriving us
of social interaction, social and physical protection,
the ability to achieve complex goals, a stable sense of
who we are, and confidence in how we should
behave. Indeed, social ostracism can be one of the
worst punishments.
Groups are important: The effect of the
group on individual performance
• Sometimes, people perform tasks better, or
worse, when they are in front of other people.
According to the drive theory, the mere
presence of others (audience effect) has a
social facilitation effect in which we are
psychologically driven to perform easy, welllearned tasks better, and difficult, poorly
learned tasks worse in the presence of others.
Drive Effects: Time taken for an easy and a difficult typing task as a
function of social presence (Schmitt, Gilovich, Goore & Joseph, 1986)
Easy task: Typed their
name on a computer
Difficult task: typed in
backwards
interspersed with digits
Drive effect on both.
Having an incidental
audience improved the
performance on the
easy task, and
impaired it on the
difficult task. Attentive
audience had no
additional effect.
The effect of the group on
individual performance
• An alternative view is that it is not the mere presence of
others that has this drive effect, but rather the fact that
others evaluate us and we are apprehensive about this
(evaluation apprehension model).
Evaluation apprehension: Time taken to dress in familiar and unfamiliar clothes
as a function of social presence (Markus, 1978).
Easy task: Own
clothing
Difficult task:
Unfamiliar clothing
Evaluation
apprehension
happened with the
easy task, the
attentive audience
reduced the time to
get dressed.
Drive effect on the
difficult task with
both audiences
increasing the
time.
The effect of the group on
individual performance
• Yet another explanation is that other people are
distracting, causing a conflict between attending to the
task and attending to the audience, and this produces the
drive effect (distraction-conflict theory).
The effect of the group on
individual performance
• Generally, the degree of performance when in a group is
also influenced by the nature of the task: Is the task
divisible into subroutines; is the objective quantity or
quality; and so forth (task taxonomy)….
• Nevertheless, there is a general tendency for people in
groups to perform worse than when they are alone
(process loss).
Ringelmann (1913)
Ingham, Levinger, Graves & Peckham (1974)
Group cohesiveness
• Cohesiveness is a key feature of groups.
Cohesive groups have greater esprit de corps,
greater solidarity, and often work more
smoothly together as integrated wholes.
• Although cohesiveness is often associated
with liking among members, a useful
distinction lies between liking based on
interpersonal relationships (personal
attraction) and liking based on common
group membership (social attraction).
Cohesiveness is directly associated with the
latter and only indirectly with the former, to the
extent that groups provide a context for
friendships to form.
Festinger, Schachter and Back’s (1950) theory of group
cohesiveness
General framework of the social cohesion/interpersonal interdependence model
Hogg (1992)
Group socialisation
• Tuckman (1965)
• Groups change over time - they have a
life trajectory. Members get to know one
another (forming); they argue over what
the group represents (storming);
consensus and a common identity
emerges (norming); the group works
smoothly and effortlessly (performing);
and finally, the group dissolves because
it has fulfilled its goals, or members lose
interest and leave (adjourning).
Phases of group socialisation (Moreland & Levine, 1982).
A model of the process of group socialisation (Moreland &
Levine ,1982
)
Norms
• Norms define and prescribe how one should behave
(using one’s perceptions, feelings, attitudes, and
behaviours) as a member of a particular social group —
they provide a frame of reference for our behaviour.
• Norms have a powerful, long-term, internalized effect
on our behaviour, influencing what we do even when no
one is watching. Because norms are often the hidden
background of daily life, we may not be aware of them;
they need to be violated for us to suddenly discover
they exist (ethnomethodology).
• Norms are a guide for action, so they are relatively
enduring and only change to respond to changed
circumstances. Norm violation is usually punished by
the group in different ways, particularly if you are a
marginal member of a group and the norms relate to
defining features of the group. More central members
are allowed some leeway to deviate from the group’s
norms.
Group structure
• No groups are homogeneous; all are
structured to differing extents and in different
ways. One of the clearest features of group
structure is the use of roles.
• Roles are much like norms but operate within
the group. They specify subgroup activities (a
division of labour within the group) and how
subgroups interact to benefit the group as a
whole. Roles scan be formal or informal and
can vary in how specific or general they are.
People tend to attribute role behaviour to the
personality of the people in the role
• All roles are not equal. Roles vary in status,
some having more power, influence, and
prestige.
Group structure
• Groups are structured in terms of how easily
subgroups or roles can communicate with one
another. Communication networks vary in
terms of how centralised they are. Centralised
networks are efficient for simple tasks but can
make fringe groups feel disenfranchised and
marginalized; decentralised networks are
more inclusive and possibly more effective for
complex tasks.
Communication networks that have been studied experimentally
What about your
friendship group?
Group structure
• Groups are also structured in terms of nested
subgroups (e.g., the sales department in an
organization) and crosscutting categories
(e.g., social psychologists within a
psychology department).
• Finally, groups also contain marginal
members or groups who are rejected by the
rest of the group and who may form a
schism that tries to change the group
through minority influence.
Revision Advice
• Issues around performance and establishing
and maintaining groups. It will help you to
draw a spider diagram to ensure you are
clear which theory applies to which
• Most theories having differing views and you
acknowledge this. Show awareness of the
various view-points
At the end of the lecture . . .
• “Compare and contrast social
psychological accounts of the ‘group’”
• What is a group?
• Why do people join groups?
• The effect of the group on individual
performance
• Group cohesiveness and group
socialisation
• Norms
• Group structure