Psychology Test - 12

The correct answer is Relationship. 

Key Points

Group Formation

• Group formation is some contact and some form of interaction between people.
• This interaction is facilitated by the following conditions:
• Proximity: Repeated interactions with the same set of individuals give us a chance to know them, and their interests and attitudes. Common interests, attitudes, and background are important determinants of your liking for your group members.
• Similarity: Being exposed to someone over a period of time makes us assess our similarities and paves the way for
  formation of groups.
• Common motives and goals: When people have common motives or goals, they get together and form a group which may facilitate their goal attainment.

The correct answer is Adjourning.

Key Points 

Group structure

• Group structure develops as members interact.
• Over time this interaction shows regularities in distribution of task to be performed, responsibilities assigned to members, and the prestige or relative status of members.

Four important elements of group structure are:

1. Roles: are socially defined expectations that individuals in a given situation are expected to fulfil. 

2. Norms: are expected standards of behaviour and beliefs established, agreed upon, and enforced by group members.

3. Status: refers to the relative social position given to group members by others. This relative position or status may be either ascribed (given may be because of one’s seniority) or achieved (the person has achieved status because of expertise or hard work).

4. Cohesiveness: refers to togetherness, binding, or mutual attraction among group members. As the group becomes more cohesive, group members start to think, feel and act as a social unit, and less like isolated individuals.

The correct answer is Social Loafing.

Key Points

Social Loafing

• Social facilitation research suggests that presence of others leads to arousal and can motivate individuals to enhance their performance if they are already good at solving something. This enhancement occurs when a person’s efforts are individually evaluated.
• Social loafing is a reduction in individual effort when working on a collective task, i.e. one in which outputs are pooled with those of other group members.
• An example of such a task is the game of tug-of-war. It is not possible for you to identify how much force each member of the team has been exerting. Such situations give opportunities to group members to relax and become a free rider.

The explanation for social loafing are:

• Group members feel less responsible for the overall task being performed and therefore exert less effort.
• Motivation of members decreases because they realise that their contributions will not be evaluated on individual basis.
• The performance of the group is not to be compared with other groups.
• There is an improper coordination (or no coordination) among members.
• Belonging to the same group is not important for members. It is only an aggregate of individuals.

Social loafing may be reduced by:

• Making the efforts of each person identifiable.
• Increasing the pressure to work hard (making group members committed to successful task performance).
• Increasing the apparent importance or value of a task.
• Making people feel that their individual contribution is important.
• Strengthening group cohesiveness which increases the motivation for successful group outcome

The correct answer is Obedience.

Key Points

• Conformity is a type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group. 
• This change is in response to real (involving the physical presence of others) or imagined (involving the pressure of social norms/expectations) group pressure.

Determinants of Conformity

• Size of the group 
• Size of the minority
• Nature of the task 
• Public or private expression of behaviour 
• Personality
   

Additional Information Social influence:

• The term ‘social influence’ refers to those processes whereby our attitudes and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people.
• Throughout the day you may encounter a number of situations where others have tried to influence you and make you think in ways they want. Your parents, teachers, friends, radio, and television commercials create one or the other kind of social influence.
• Social influence is a part of our life. In some situations, social influence on us is very strong as a result of which we tend to do things that we otherwise would have not done.
   

Three important group influence processes, i.e. conformity, compliance, and obedience.

• Obedience is the most direct and explicit form of social influence,
• Compliance is less direct than obedience because someone has requested and thus you comply (here, the probability of refusal is there).
• Conformity is the most indirect form (you are conforming because you do not want to deviate from the norm)

The correct answer is ​The door-in-the-face technique.

Key Points

​Compliance

• Compliance is less direct than obedience because someone has requested and thus you comply (here, the probability of refusal is there).

The following techniques have been found to work when someone wants another person to comply

• The foot-in-the-door technique: The person begins by making a small request that the other person is not likely to refuse. Once the other person carries out the request, a bigger request is made. Simply because the other person has already complied with the Smaller request, he or she may feel uncomfortable refusing the second request.
• For example, someone may come to us on behalf of a group and give us a gift (something free), saying that it is for promotion. Soon afterwards, another member of the same group may come to us again, and ask us to buy a product made by the group.
• The deadline technique: In this technique, a ‘last date’ is announced until which a particular product or ‘an offer’ will be available. The aim is to make people ‘hurry’ and make the purchase before they miss the rare opportunity. It is more likely that people will buy a product under this deadline condition than if there is no such deadline.
• The door-in-the-face technique: In this technique, you begin with a large request and when this is refused a later request for something smaller, the one that was actually desired, is made, which is usually granted by the person.
   

Additional Information

 Social influence:

• The term ‘social influence’ refers to those processes whereby our attitudes and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people.
• Throughout the day you may encounter a number of situations where others have tried to influence you and make you think in ways they want. Your parents, teachers, friends, radio, and television commercials create one or the other kind of social influence.
• Social influence is a part of our life. In some situations, social influence on us is very strong as a result of which we tend to do things that we otherwise would have not done.
   

Three important group influence processes, i.e. conformity, compliance, and obedience.

• Obedience is the most direct and explicit form of social influence,
• Compliance is less direct than obedience because someone has requested and thus you comply (here, the probability of refusal is there).
• Conformity is the most indirect form (you are conforming because you do not want to deviate from the norm)

The correct answer is Obedience.

Key Points

Obedience

• When compliance is shown to an instruction or order from a person in authority, such as parents, teachers, leaders, or policemen, that behaviour is called obedience.
• Why people show obedience is easy to understand.
• Most often it is because if we disobey, some punishment might follow.
• Sometimes, it is because we believe that persons in authority must be obeyed.
• People in authority have effective means for enforcing their orders. 
   

Additional Information

 Social influence:

• The term ‘social influence’ refers to those processes whereby our attitudes and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people.
• Throughout the day you may encounter a number of situations where others have tried to influence you and make you think in ways they want. Your parents, teachers, friends, radio, and television commercials create one or the other kind of social influence.
• Social influence is a part of our life. In some situations, social influence on us is very strong as a result of which we tend to do things that we otherwise would have not done.
   

Three important group influence processes, i.e. conformity, compliance, and obedience.

• Obedience is the most direct and explicit form of social influence,
• Compliance is less direct than obedience because someone has requested and thus you comply (here, the probability of refusal is there).
• Conformity is the most indirect form (you are conforming because you do not want to deviate from the norm)

The correct answer is Social identity.

Key Points

Cooperation and Competition

• People interact with each other in different contexts. Behaviours in most social situations are characterised by either ‘cooperation’ or ‘competition’.
• When groups work together to achieve shared goals, we refer to it as cooperation.
• he rewards in cooperative situations are group rewards and not individual rewards. However, when members try to maximise their own benefits and work for the realisation of selfinterest, competition is likely to result.

Determinants of Cooperation and Competition:

• Reward structure: Psychologists believe that whether people will cooperate or compete will depend on the reward structure. Cooperative reward structure is one in which there is promotive interdependence. Each is beneficiary of the reward and reward is possible only if all contribute. A competitive reward structure is one in which one can get a reward only if others do not get it.
• Interpersonal communication: When there is good interpersonal communication, then cooperation is the likely consequence. Communication facilitates interaction, and discussion. As a result, group members can convince each other and learn about each other.
• Reciprocity: Reciprocity means that people feel obliged to return what they get. Initial cooperation may encourage more cooperation. Competition may provoke more competition. If someone helps, you feel like helping that person; on the other hand, if someone refuses to help you when you need help, you would not like to help that person also.

The correct answer is Introduction of superordinate goals.

Key Points Conflict Resolution Strategies: 

• Conflicts can be reduced if we know about their causes.
• The processes that increase conflict can be turned around to reduce it also.
• A number of strategies have been suggested by psychologists.

Some of these are :

• Respect for other group’s norms - It is to respect and be sensitive to the strong norms of various social and ethnic groups.
• Structural solutions - Redistributing the societal resources according to principles based on justice.
• Negotiations -  Conflict can also be resolved through negotiations and third party interventions
• Redrawing group boundaries -This can be done by creating conditions where groups boundaries are redefined and groups come to perceive themselves as belonging to a common group.
• Increasing intergroup contacts -  This can be done by involving groups in conflict on neutral grounds through community projects and events.
• Altering perceptions - By altering perceptions and reactions through persuasion, educational and media appeals, and portrayal of groups differently in society.
• Introduction of superordinate goals - By introducing superordinate goals, intergroup conflict can be reduced. A superordinate goal is mutually beneficial to both parties, hence both groups work cooperatively.

Social influence:

• The term ‘social influence’ refers to those processes whereby our attitudes and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people.
• Throughout the day you may encounter a number of situations where others have tried to influence you and make you think in ways they want. Your parents, teachers, friends, radio, and television commercials create one or the other kind of social influence.
• Social influence is a part of our life. In some situations, social influence on us is very strong as a result of which we tend to do things that we otherwise would have not done.
• Three important group influence processes, i.e. conformity, compliance, and obedience.

Cooperation: 

• When groups work together to achieve shared goals, we refer to it as cooperation.
• The rewards in cooperative situations are group rewards and not individual rewards. 

Hence, Behaviour according to the group norm is called Conformity.

Basic to group formation is some contact and some form of interaction between people. This interaction is facilitated by Proximity, Similarity, Common motives, and goals.

Stages of Group Formation:

• Groups usually go through different stages of formation, conflict, stabilization, performance, and dismissal.
• Tuckman suggested that groups pass through five developmental sequences.
  • These stages are: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning.