1. The Relationship between mind and society
Objective 4

2. Questions to ponder regarding mind and society:
How do humans as cultural animals form groups (social structures & societies) that differ from other social animals?
How does our health; societal labels, roles, & statuses; and mental cognition about one’s self affect social behavior?
Psychologically (not politically), how does an individualistic mindset vs. a collectivistic mindset affect social outcomes?

3. Groups
What is a group?
A collection of at least two people who are doing or being something together
Groups have common goals and loyalties
Groups can be small (2 people) or large (societies, countries, etc.)
Social animals tend to live in groups; for reasons which there are several clear benefits:
Promote safety and comfort
find and share food
do tasks that no one individual can do alone

4. Social Groups Affecting Mind & Behavior
Working in a group setting may:
Yield more creativity (brainstorming) and promote flexibility.
May bring in different information.
Can make better decisions.
Can be harder to cooperate and work together; however, successful joint efforts improve total performance.
May yield poor results if we are not cognizant of how different backgrounds can result in poor communication and misunderstandings.
GroupThink: Tendency of group members to think alike, especially when doing so leads to bad decisions
People will be more inclined to not speak up when they think they are the only opposing viewpoint (self censorship), when they respect the group, when the group is cohesive, when there is no other example of defiance, or when the group believes it is superior etc.

5. Social Groups Affecting Mind & Behavior
Social loafing: People reduce effort when working in a group, compared to when working alone
How might we modify group assignments to decrease social loafing?
Bad apple effect: One social loafer can cause other people to loaf as well
Shared resources and commons dilemma
Tendency for shared resources to be squandered and not used optimally
Altruistic punishment: people will sacrifice their own gain to punish cheaters
Deindividuation can lead to problems due to a loss of self-awareness and individual accountability in a group. Being anonymous makes people more willing to violate norms. This is how mob violence can occur: When you take away responsibility, violence can increase.
How the group handles conflict can make or break the group

6. Social Groups Affecting Mind & Behavior
Foolish committees
Committee can end up being less than the sum of its parts
Pressures toward group harmony
Group polarization effect
Group polarization occurs when group discussion leads people to become more extreme in the direction of their initial opinions
Risky shift
Groups take greater risks than the same individuals would have taken individually
Wallach, Kogan, and Bem (1964) proposed that greater risks are chosen due to a diffusion of responsibility, where emotional bonds decrease anxieties and risk is perceived as shared.
Collins and Guetzkow (1964) suggested that high risk-takers are more confident and hence may persuade others to take greater risks.
Brown (1965) indicates that social status in groups is often associated with risk-taking, leading people to avoid a low risk position.
Bateson (1966) suggests that as people pay attention to a possible action, they become more familiar and comfortable with it and hence perceive less risk.

7. Zajonc’s Theory of Social Facilitation
Social facilitation theory: presence of others increases dominant response tendency
Evaluation apprehension: concern about how others are judging your performance
Dominant response: most common reaction to a given situation
To demonstrate this effect, students can type part of a paper alone, then type the rest while someone watches them. In which condition are they slower/faster?

8. Power & Leadership Characteristics of good leaders
Decisive, competent, honest, good moral character , and possess a vision
Characteristics of toxic/dangerous leaders
Indifference towards those suffering, intolerance of criticism, and grandiose sense of entitlement
Depending on the strength of our emotional and physical health, our self esteem, our values, perspectives, and experiences, we can be influenced by both by people we know on a personal and impersonal level and by large and small groups in minor and profound ways. Without being aware of this, we are at a greater risk for manipulation.
WARNING: THIS TED TALK INCLUDES HARSH DEPICTIONS OF RACISM. PLEASE DO NOT WATCH IF YOU THINK THIS MAY BE TRAUMATIC TO HEAR.