Group Influence Question 1: Does the presence of others enhance or diminish performance?

Group Situation How is behavior Arousal Sense of Concept name altered by presence of Responsibility others? Running a 50 meter Work harder High High Social facilitation dash.

A group project for Work less hard Low Low Social loafing class where everyone gets the same grade Watching your Act crazy, uninhibited High Low deindividuation favorite basketball team win the NCAA tournament.

Social facilitation – the presence of others enhance performance (competitions, recitals, plays, speeches) Social loafing – the presence of others diminishes performance (group project) Deindividuation – the presence of others makes one act in unrestrained ways (fans at sports event)

Question 2: Who leans toward more cautious decisions: individuals or groups?

Group polarization – group discussion strengthens a group’s dominant point of view and produces a shift toward a more extreme decision in that direction groupthink – members of a group emphasize concurrence at the expense of critical thinking in arriving at a decision Factors that contribute to groupthink: 1. high degree of group cohesiveness (people in the group like each other and the group) 2. group works in isolation 3. individual members don’t share information unique to them 4. high decision stress 5. Dominating leadership 6. lack of standard procedures for appraisal

Question 3: What is the best way persuade someone of your beliefs?

Persuasion – Two methods of persuading others:  Central route to persuasion – the person ponders the content and logic of message. o Example: You should buy this car because ______ ______-- the individual is encouraged to not look at the content of the message, but at the source. Factors such as the attractiveness and expertise of the source, the mere number of the arguments presented, stimuli such as music played with the ad, and ______. o Example: You should buy this type of car because ______Attitudes changed through the ______route to persuasion are strong, stable, predictive of behavior and resistant to change, while attitudes formed through the ______route are weak. However, the central route requires active processing. Thus, the peripheral route is more effective when the subject doesn’t want to put forth the effort to process (such as for low-impact decisions, like what shoes to wear today). o Normative social influence - influence resulting from a desire to gain approval of others. o Informational social influence - influence resulting from one’s willingness to accept others’ opinions