Chapter 8: People in groups
Groups = two or more people who share a common definition and evaluation of themselves
and behave in accordance with such a definition.
Entitativity = the property of a group that makes it seem like a coherent, distinct and unitary
entity.
→ high entitativity groups have clear boundaries and are internally well-structured and
relatively homogeneous.
Members of common-bond groups (groups based upon attachment among members)
operate according to an egocentric principle of maximizing their reward and minimizing their
costs with respect to their own contributions.
→ personal goals are more salient than group goals
Members of common-identity groups (groups based on direct attachment to the group)
operate according to an altruistic principle of maximizing the group’s rewards and minimizing
its costs through their own contributions
→ group goals are more salient than personal goals
Individualists believe that people in groups behave in much the same way as they do in
pairs or by themselves and that group processes are really nothing more than interpersonal
processes between several people.
Collectivists believe that the behavior of people in groups is influenced by unique social
processes and cognitive representations that can only occur in and emerge from groups.
7 major emphasis, the group is:
1. a collection of individuals who are interacting with one another
2. a social unit of two or more individuals who perceive themselves as belonging to a
group
3. a collection of individuals who are interdependent
4. a collection of individuals who join together to achieve a goal
5. a collection of individuals who are trying to satisfy a need through their joint
association
6. a collection of individuals whose interactions are structured by a set of roles and
norms
7. a collection of individuals who influence each other
Social facilitation = an improvement in the performance of well-learned/easy tasks and a
deterioration in the performance of poorly learned/difficult tasks in the mere presence of
members of the same species.
Mere presence = refers to an entirely passive and unresponsive audience that is only
physically present.
Audience effects = impact of the presence of others on individual task performance.
37
, Drive theory = Zajonc’s theory that the physical presence of members of the same species
instinctively causes arousal that motivates performance of habitual behavior patterns.
→ If the performance is correct it is social facilitation, if the performance is wrong it is social
inhibition
Evaluation apprehension model = the argument that the physical presence of members of
the same species causes drive because people have learned to be apprehensive about
being evaluated.
→ mere presence accelerates performance on easy tasks and slows performance of the
difficult task.
Distraction-conflict theory = the physical presence of members of the same species is
distracting and produces conflict between attending to the task and attending to the
audience.
Meta-analysis = statistical procedure that combines data from different studies to measure
the overall reliability and strength of specific effects.
→ revealed that mere presence only accounted for 0.3-3.0% of variation in behavior.
Task taxonomy = group tasks can be classified, based on answering 3 questions:
1. Is the task divisible or unitary?
a. A divisible task is one that benefits from a division of labor, where different
people perform different subtasks.
b. A unitary task cannot sensibly be broken into subtasks. Building a house is a
divisible task and pulling a rope unitary tasks.
2. Is it a maximizing or optimizing task?
a. A maximizing task is an open-ended task that stresses quantity: the
objective is to do as much as possible.
b. An optimizing task is one that has a set standard: the objective is to meet
the standard, neither to exceed nor fall short of it.
3. How are individual inputs related to the group’s product?
a. An additive task is one where the group’s product is the sum of all the
individual inputs (e.g. group of people planting trees).
b. A compensatory task is one where the group’s product is the average of the
individuals’ inputs.
c. A disjunctive task is one where the group selects as its adopted product one
individual’s input
d. A conjunctive task is one where the group’s product is determined by the
rate or level of performance of the slowest or least-able member.
e. A discretionary task is one where the relationship between individual inputs
and the group’s product is not directly dictated by task features or social
conventions; instead, the group is free to decide on its preferred course of
action.
Process loss = deterioration in group performance in comparison to individual performance
due to the whole range of possible interferences among members.
Coordination loss = deterioration in group performance compared with individual
performance, due to problems in coordinating behavior.
38
Groups = two or more people who share a common definition and evaluation of themselves
and behave in accordance with such a definition.
Entitativity = the property of a group that makes it seem like a coherent, distinct and unitary
entity.
→ high entitativity groups have clear boundaries and are internally well-structured and
relatively homogeneous.
Members of common-bond groups (groups based upon attachment among members)
operate according to an egocentric principle of maximizing their reward and minimizing their
costs with respect to their own contributions.
→ personal goals are more salient than group goals
Members of common-identity groups (groups based on direct attachment to the group)
operate according to an altruistic principle of maximizing the group’s rewards and minimizing
its costs through their own contributions
→ group goals are more salient than personal goals
Individualists believe that people in groups behave in much the same way as they do in
pairs or by themselves and that group processes are really nothing more than interpersonal
processes between several people.
Collectivists believe that the behavior of people in groups is influenced by unique social
processes and cognitive representations that can only occur in and emerge from groups.
7 major emphasis, the group is:
1. a collection of individuals who are interacting with one another
2. a social unit of two or more individuals who perceive themselves as belonging to a
group
3. a collection of individuals who are interdependent
4. a collection of individuals who join together to achieve a goal
5. a collection of individuals who are trying to satisfy a need through their joint
association
6. a collection of individuals whose interactions are structured by a set of roles and
norms
7. a collection of individuals who influence each other
Social facilitation = an improvement in the performance of well-learned/easy tasks and a
deterioration in the performance of poorly learned/difficult tasks in the mere presence of
members of the same species.
Mere presence = refers to an entirely passive and unresponsive audience that is only
physically present.
Audience effects = impact of the presence of others on individual task performance.
37
, Drive theory = Zajonc’s theory that the physical presence of members of the same species
instinctively causes arousal that motivates performance of habitual behavior patterns.
→ If the performance is correct it is social facilitation, if the performance is wrong it is social
inhibition
Evaluation apprehension model = the argument that the physical presence of members of
the same species causes drive because people have learned to be apprehensive about
being evaluated.
→ mere presence accelerates performance on easy tasks and slows performance of the
difficult task.
Distraction-conflict theory = the physical presence of members of the same species is
distracting and produces conflict between attending to the task and attending to the
audience.
Meta-analysis = statistical procedure that combines data from different studies to measure
the overall reliability and strength of specific effects.
→ revealed that mere presence only accounted for 0.3-3.0% of variation in behavior.
Task taxonomy = group tasks can be classified, based on answering 3 questions:
1. Is the task divisible or unitary?
a. A divisible task is one that benefits from a division of labor, where different
people perform different subtasks.
b. A unitary task cannot sensibly be broken into subtasks. Building a house is a
divisible task and pulling a rope unitary tasks.
2. Is it a maximizing or optimizing task?
a. A maximizing task is an open-ended task that stresses quantity: the
objective is to do as much as possible.
b. An optimizing task is one that has a set standard: the objective is to meet
the standard, neither to exceed nor fall short of it.
3. How are individual inputs related to the group’s product?
a. An additive task is one where the group’s product is the sum of all the
individual inputs (e.g. group of people planting trees).
b. A compensatory task is one where the group’s product is the average of the
individuals’ inputs.
c. A disjunctive task is one where the group selects as its adopted product one
individual’s input
d. A conjunctive task is one where the group’s product is determined by the
rate or level of performance of the slowest or least-able member.
e. A discretionary task is one where the relationship between individual inputs
and the group’s product is not directly dictated by task features or social
conventions; instead, the group is free to decide on its preferred course of
action.
Process loss = deterioration in group performance in comparison to individual performance
due to the whole range of possible interferences among members.
Coordination loss = deterioration in group performance compared with individual
performance, due to problems in coordinating behavior.
38
