Module 76 REVIEW

• 76-1 How does the presence of others influence our actions via social facilitation, social loafing, and deindividuation?

• In social facilitation, the mere presence of others arouses us, improving our performance on easy or well-learned tasks but decreasing it on difficult ones.
• In social loafing, participating in a group project makes us feel less responsible, and we may free ride on others’ efforts.
• When the presence of others both arouses us and makes us feel anonymous, we may experience deindividuation—loss of self-awareness and self-restraint.

• 76-2 How can group interaction enable group polarization?

• In group polarization, group discussions with like-minded others strengthen members’ prevailing beliefs and attitudes.

• 76-3 What role does the Internet play in group polarization?

• Internet communication magnifies the effect of connecting like-minded people, for better and for worse. People find support, which strengthens their ideas, but also often isolation from those with different opinions. Separation plus conversation may thus lead to group polarization.

• 76-4 How can group interaction enable groupthink?

• Groupthink is driven by a desire for harmony within a decision-making group, overriding realistic appraisal of alternatives.
• Group leaders can harness the benefits of group interaction by assigning people to identify possible problems, and by welcoming various opinions and expert critique.

• 76-5 How does culture affect our behavior?

• A culture is a set of behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group and transmitted from one generation to the next.
• Cultures differ across time and space.

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. Maggie is an excellent hockey player, and she is playing in the final hockey game of her high school career. The cheering of the fans causes her to score three goals in the game, a record for her. The most likely explanation for her performance is
   1. social loafing.
   2. group behavior.
   3. social facilitation.
   4. deindividuation.
   5. group polarization.
2. Following a natural disaster, it is not uncommon for large groups of people to loot stores and take far more than they might need to help them survive the situation. This behavior is best explained by the concept of
   1. culture.
   2. social facilitation.
   3. groupthink.
   4. deindividuation.
   5. group polarization.
3. Marie disagrees with the answer her math review group comes up with. She does not voice her own answer because she does not want to go against the group. Marie is being affected by
   1. group polarization.
   2. groupthink.
   3. social loafing.
   4. social facilitation.
   5. cultural influences.
4. The enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next is known as
   1. deindividuation.
   2. groupthink.
   3. social facilitation.
   4. culture.
   5. social loafing.

Practice FRQs

1. Describe the four possible causes of social loafing.

Answer

1 point: People acting as part of a group feel less accountable. Page 785

1 point: Group members may view their individual contributions as dispensable. Page 785

1 point: People in a group may overestimate their own efforts, not considering how much others are contributing. Page 785

1 point: Unless highly motivated and strongly identified with the group, people may free ride on others’ efforts. Page 785

2. Anonymous reviews of restaurants tend to be more negative than those where the name of the reviewer is attached. Explain why this is, using the following terms: deindividuation and group polarization.

(2 points)