How groups influence individuals

Groups change how individuals behave.

Social facilitation: the presence of others arouses us. This improves performance on tasks we already do well (or simple tasks), and can harm performance on new or difficult ones. It works best when each person's effort is evaluated individually.

Social loafing: when people work together on a pooled task, each puts in less effort, as in a tug-of-war. In a study by Bibb Latané and colleagues, people were asked to clap and cheer as loudly as possible. As group size grew, the noise made per person fell.

Why social loafing happens:

• members feel less responsible for the result;
• individual effort is not evaluated;
• there is no comparison of individual effort;
• poor coordination;
• membership seems unimportant.

Remedies:

• make each person's effort identifiable;
• increase commitment to the task;
• show the task is important;
• value each person's contribution;
• build group cohesiveness.

Group polarisation: after discussion, a group's view becomes more extreme in the direction it already leaned. A group mildly in favour of a risky plan ends up strongly in favour. Why?

• Members hear new arguments supporting their side.
• The bandwagon effect: seeing others agree, people go along.
• Identification with the group: members adopt what they see as the group's position, and push it further.

So groups do not always make moderate decisions. Groups can lift or lower effort, and can push views to extremes.