Page 564 - Understanding Psychology

Figure 19.4 Performance Factors
Some people perform better in front of crowds, and others do not. Whether you show social facilitation or social inhibition depends on your past experience, the task at hand, and the crowd itself. When might social inhibition occur?
group polarization: theory that group discussion reinforces the majority’s point of view and shifts group members’ opinions to a more extreme position
complex tasks or tasks that involved unfamiliar factors to the participants. So, in effect, how you perform in front of a crowd depends on what you are doing. For example, if you are an expert tennis player but a novice piano player, you may perform better in front of others while playing tennis but poorly in front of others when you are trying to play a rendi- tion of “Heart and Soul.”
The effect of a crowd on your behavior may also be a reflection of your concern about being evaluated. For exam- ple, you may play an excellent game of tennis in front of your friends and parents, but your performance may slip while playing in front of college recruiters.
INTERACTIONS WITHIN GROUPS
Providing an individual with values and a sense of iden- tity is only one aspect of the group’s meaning to him or her. The particular role he or she plays in the group’s activities is also important. Each group member has certain unique abil- ities and interests, and the group has a number of different tasks that need to be performed. The study of the roles var- ious members play in the group and how these roles are interrelated is the study of group structure.
There are many aspects to group structure: the personal relationships between individual members, such as liking relationships and trusting relationships; the rank of each member on a particular dimension, such as power, popular- ity, status, or amount of resources; and the roles various
members play. A role is behavior expected of an individual because of his or her membership in a particular group. Thus, when your class meets, someone has the role of teacher, and others have the role of students. Is someone a student leader in your class? Does someone always remain silent? Is another person always making jokes? Each of us has multiple roles that shift as we merge with different groups. Occasionally, we may find ourselves in role conflict, such as if you switch schools and your old school plays your new school in football.
Decision Making
Most groups must make decisions. For example, you and your friends must decide what to do Saturday night. Jurors must decide whether a defendant is guilty or not guilty. A president’s advisory committee must determine the proper solution to a company crisis. Group polarization and groupthink are two processes that affect group decision making.
Group Polarization Have you ever expressed an opinion and discussed it with a group of friends? How did the discussion affect the strength of your opinion? According to group polarization, if you discuss an
550 Chapter 19 / Group Interaction