Group Influence 1
- Created by: Sess
- Created on: 15-05-15 14:32
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- Group Influence 1
- Definition
- Two or more people who interact + influence one another
- Excludes those physically together but not in a group
- Shaw (1981)
- Social Faciliation
- Hinders Performance
- There is an additional body of research that suggests that it actually hinders performance
- Animals learn mazes slower in the presence of others
- Allee et al (1936)
- Zajonc's brilliance
- Evidence in support of Zajonc's theory
- In others' presence, students take less time to learn a simple maze than to learn a complex one alone
- Hilary + Hunt (1973)
- Good pool shooters in a student uniongot 71% of their shots on target while nuobserved, compaired to 80% when observed
- Poor pool shooters got 36% when alone, 25% when observed
- Michaels et al (1982)
- In others' presence, students take less time to learn a simple maze than to learn a complex one alone
- He proposed that th epresence of others increases arousal, enhances whatever response is dominant
- If it's an easy task, performance increases. If its a difficult task, performance decreases.
- Zajonc's findings may have real world implications for offices.
- They may use open plan for simple tasks but provide offices when it a more complex task
- Evidence in support of Zajonc's theory
- Virtual People
- Park + Catrambere (2007)
- They got ppts to do anagrams, mazes, maths on a computer with a virtual human watching them from another computer
- When the task was easy, performance increased but decreased for complex tasks
- Proposed Explanation
- Distractions
- We wonder what others think of our performance so we get distracted and the conflict overloads our cognitive systems causing arousal
- Sanders et al (1986)
- Observers make us nervous as we do not know how they are evaluating us
- He blindfolded observers. Just their mere presence did not boost ppt's performance on simple tasks
- Cotrell (1968)
- Distractions
- The mere presence of others facilitates performance
- Those that do not compete, reward or punish but are simply there
- Triplett (1898)
- The first controlled social psych lab experiment was conducted into this
- Children were told to wind string round a fishing rod
- They worked faster in the presence of others than alone
- Triplett (1898)
- This experiment did not reach statistical significance however.
- Strube (2005)
- But! Many other studies found an effect, not just in humans
- Ants excavate faster in the presence of others
- Allport (1920)
- Chicken eat more grain in the presence of others
- Dashiell (1930)
- Ants excavate faster in the presence of others
- Hinders Performance
- Social Loafing
- Possible Explanations
- Being in a group reduces evaluation apprehension
- Individuals believed they were being evaluated when alone
- Karau + Williams (1993)
- Assembly line workers produced 16% more product when their individual output is measured, even when pay is not affected
- Fauller + Williams (1996)
- Uni swim team members swam faster in relays if their individual times were read out
- Williams et al (1989)
- Being in a group reduces evaluation apprehension
- Evidence Against
- If the goal is very compelling eg. a championship, everyone puts their all in.
- Karau + Williams (1993)
- This occurs if there is a belief that their efforts will be rewarded or if their sense of self depends on group success
- If the goal is very compelling eg. a championship, everyone puts their all in.
- People put in less effort when in a group if they are not individually accountable for their work.
- Ringleman (1900s)
- Ppts were asked to be blindfolded + tug a rope.
- They pulled 18% harder when they thought they were alone compared to when they thought they were with 5 others.
- Ingham (1974)
- Blind-folded and headphoned people sat in a semicircle and were blasted with the sound of clapping and shouting.
- Ppts were then told to clap alone or with those around them.
- They produced 1/3 less noise when they thought they were doing it as a group
- Latane et al (1979)
- Possible Explanations
- Definition
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