1. Chapter 8 – Groups Part 1: March 20, 2012

2. Groups and Social Processes Groups are 2 or more people who interact and perceive themselves as a unit/”us” More than just being physically together

3. Functions of Groups Why join a group? –Need for social interaction –Roles within groups – –Group cohesiveness -

4. Presence of Others Does presence of others (co-actors) even influence us? Early research – what were the results? What is social facilitation?

5. –1) Physio arousal from others –2) Dominant response –3) Type of task influences performance –Zajonc’s research w/cockroaches: –Evaluation apprehension – how does it work?

6. Social Loafing Group members don’t pull their weight to help the group. –Rowing experiments – what were the results? –What is the role of accountability? –Best solution?

7. Gender, Culture, and Social Loafing Who slacks off the most? ’93 review of 150 studies of social loafing –What were the results based on gender? –Results based on culture?

8. Deindividuation Relax normal constraints on behavior when in a crowd What causes this? – 1) –2) Diener’s Halloween research – results?

9. Group Performance Process loss can reduce group perf. –How? –Brainstorming example –

10. Group Polarization Group discussion strengthens members’ initial attitudes  polarization Typical Group Study: –What is the procedure/method? Found ‘risky shift’ effect – what is it?

11. Possible reasons for group polarization – –1. Pooling of ideas - –2. Social Comparison – what is the effect?